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The party climbs the steps. As they climb there are many doors that are closed they leave behind. By the seventh floor there is a sense of dread that begins to wear done on the humans and Hobbits. Even the two tough Dwarves feel heavy limb. Gilraen begins to sing her greater Song of Estë that raises the spirits of all.
Gwaelur & Theogrim hears thumping footsteps coming up behind and doors slamming shut and creaking loudly.
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At the front of the party, Sir Thoroncir takes heart in the uplifting purity of his true love's song, and climbs the stairs steadily and purposefully, prepared for whatever he might find above. His keen-edged longsword is ready in his gloved right hand, and his shield, emblazoned with the White Tree, Winged Crown and Seven Stars of Gondor, is a comforting weight on his left forearm.
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Do you ever get the feeling you are being shepharded somewhere you don't want to go.
What do you reckon, head up the stairs quickly or face the oncoming foe?
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Gwaelur, perfectly balanced axe at the ready, faces the rear, eyes blazing with the promise of battle.
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*improvises an inspiring counter-melody to Gilraen's song*
What kind of battleground are we looking at here? If we're too short of space to work together effectively, we should head up quickly and find somewhere better.
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Most of the party would be on wide stairs and the center on a landing near a door. The party can fight here, bash open the door to the 7th floor and use that floor, climb swiftly for the top or try to drop down on those seemingly climbing.
The advantage of the current location is Gwaelur is excellent at fighting down and two archers would be shooting down to support. Theogrim should not be at any disadvantage.
Thoroncir will have no major issues fighting up though Gwaelur will and might be better at the door with someone replacing him in the front like Ceol. The Hobbits would probably be best supporting Bitur at the door.
Clearly gaining a floor would allow the party to fight better as a unit. But it might be tough to gain the floor and we do not know the room layouts.
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It does sound like the stairs are a known (if imperfect) quantity. Ceol will gladly swap places with Gwaelur (or whoever else) if it gives us a tactical edge. He will prepare for combat, chanting a prayer to Eonwë for strength and skill in battle.
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Deor will try to position himself on the landing so that he can support either those fighting below him or those above him.
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"I'm fine holding the landing and door with Gwaelur and the Hobbits if the taller amongst us guard the flanks on the stairs. The bad news is that there's no doubt more of them than us. The good news is, we control choke points. They are unlikely to be able to swarm us.
"However, if the rest of you think it's better for us to try to take over this floor, we should make haste to do so, but I fear that we won't be able to before we get surrounded from those pursuing us on the stairs and whatever lies in wait for us on this floor."
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Thoroncir says, "I agree with Ceol. Let us stand fast here, defeating whatever enemies now approach from below. We may then advance and take the next floor while remaining together and supporting each other."
-
__/_________________/
_/_Ceol Thoroncir___ /
/_Mull. Gilraen _____/
|Deor_Redward_Rori_|
|___Drinoleth _Bitur Door
|_Ithilneth____Sala _|
\Gil-Gandel Prestolwen\
_\Gwaelur Theogrim___\
__\__________________\
This is a rough Layout of party on stairs and landing. It shows Bitur at the door and Gwaelur and Theogrim on the lower stairs. The spell casters are fairly well protected. Rorimac is ready to help forward or at the door to protect Redward.
The party waits a few minutes. Redward decides this is the time to cast his Mass Strength spell. It increases the strength and thus “to hits” and damages in melee for 6 members. He raises his own to the 18:10 range for a +1/+2, Rorimac to 18:51 for a +1/+2, Thoroncir, Bitur, Gwaelur and Ceol to 18:00 for a +1/+2 overall. He’ll need 10 minutes to complete the casting though but figures he’ll have time to complete it at least before we get to the top.
The footsteps are getting closer in the next few minutes.
Any other prep or change of plans?
-
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"I hate waiting, I'm going to take a look up the stairs and see what it's like up a floor", says Mulligan.
She quickly and stealthily heads off past Thoroncir and Ceol.
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Prestolwen exclaims, "Fool of a Took. Be careful."
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Mulligan turns round to Prestolwen, noting the concern in her voice, winks and then heads up the stairs.
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Mulligan goes up the stairs and finds the 8th & 9th floor landings are clear. As she starts up to the top floor though she feels a cold dread clamp down on her. Something very strong, old and evil is above her and too near for comfort.
What does Mulligan try to do?
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Mulligan mutters to herself. "It's there, waiting for us at the top in the Royal Apartments. If we defeat him now, will the rest of the troops fall or will we have to fight past them anyway."
She pauses thinking over the options and then decides what to do.
"The others need to know, we should take him now while we are still fresh. Trying after a battle could be futile"
She turns and runs back down the stairs to let the others know what awaits them at the top and to tell them that sometimes it is better to be a fool.
Ref Add-in
Mulligan reaches deep into her Hobbit reserve of spirit and breaks the growing spell and races back down to the party swiftly throwing off the dread she felt.
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After hearing Mulligan's report, Thoroncir suggests that the party advance to the next (eighth floor) landing, and fight from there.
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"Do you feel we'd have a better tactical position there, Thoroncir?"
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"Actually Sir Thoroncir, I was contemplating something along the lines of dealing with the evil waiting at the top of the stairs first, before his minions get to us.", corrects Mulligan, "As in, lay him to rest while we are still strong instead of being weakened from fighting. I don't think going up or down a floor will matter. It's the minions below, and It above. We have been shepharded into a trap and my only question is how to break out."
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Redward still casting his time consuming spell can do nothing but chant louder.
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Let's press on. We can handle things as they come up, and standing still will only allow our enemies to plan. We know that the room is not filled with enemies, so let's take it while that's still true.
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Ithilneth stands ready with her bow. "I think staying in the stairwell will leave us exposed to attack from multiple directions. However, we will get no rest in this tower until the greater enemy is met. Moving up to dispose of that is likely our best hope."
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The Man of Gondor has already stated his views, but will of course abide by the decision of our Elf-captain.
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Both Mulligan and Rorimac turn round to look at Gil-Gandel waiting for his decision.
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"Just bring me some heads to cleave," Gwaelur grumbled. "Behind or ahead matters not."
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Gwaelur's request is soon realized. As the party dithered and Redward continued to chant out his spell those from below reached the rear of the party. Two armed undead corpses of foul smell followed by two frightful visages of horror. This is 5 rounds into Redward's casting. As Gwaelur and Theogrim swing, the door drops towards Bitur and 6 dark wights are massed to come out.
__/_________________/
_/_Ceol Thoroncir___ /
/_Mull. Gilraen _____/
|Deor_Redward_Rori_| ☻☻
|___Drinoleth _Bitur ☻☻
|_Ithilneth____Sala _| ☻☻
\Gil-Gandel Prestolwen\
_\Gwaelur Theogrim___\
__\__:hist:____:hist:___\
___\____:mad:______:mad:___\
Gwaelur's Axe and War Shield both hit and the monster is driven back a step but sweeps his wicked curved blade at Gwaelur's knees. The chain mail absorbs the blow and Gwaelur holds his position and sends a second blow down cleaving the monsters head. Theogrim's two handed blow hit the second corpse and slows it a bit. The corpse returns the favor and does 9 points of damage to Theogrim.
Prestolwen fires arrow after arrow into Theogrim's foe. 5 magic arrows strike it and it drops backwards. Gil-Gandel put 4 +3 arrows in the greater foe approaching Gwaelur. The creature comes on.
It is still quiet to the front.
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Gwaelur comes to the aid of Theogrim, swinging his axe at the second corpse.
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Stand your ground and bravely fight, ye who ne'er retreated!
Men of lore and men of might cannot be defeated!
Shades who dwelt in darkness long, cruel and overbearing,
Servants of the Lord of Wrong - witness now our daring!
Flee before our righteous ire, holy vengeance spurn you,
Perish else in wizard-fire, come to blast and burn you.
Spectre foul and evil wight, darkness unavailing,
Fly before Eternal Light, ever pure, unfailing!
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The Bardic song has given those fighting a bonus to hit these foul beings.
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Deor will hold his fire for now- these enemies don't seem to pose much of a threat yet.
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How wide is the door? If it's only wide enough for only one person, Bitur will stand center in front of it, leaving enough clearance for allies to his flank to be able to hit adjacent to him, but not enough for more than one enemy to try to muscle through.
If it's wider than that, he'll shout for help to create a wall to make the enemies ranks as narrow as possible. The smaller the choke point, the easier it'll be. Fighting six at once is not going to be good for us.
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Ceol will sheathe his swords, draw his bow, and begin to fire at whichever targets present themselves. In between shots, he will keep an eye on the stairs above us.
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Thoroncir would like to help but knows better than to abandon his current position just yet, not knowing what dread foes might emerge from upstairs at any time.
Nice poem, Malacandra! Very well done indeed.
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Rorimac will provide what aid to Bitur he can against the creatures through the door.
Mulligan will scout a little bit further up the stairs to give advance warning should other undead appear.
-
_._/_________________/
_./_Ceol Thoroncir___ /
./_Mull. Gilraen _____/
|Deor_Redward._Rori_| ☻☻
|___Drinoleth ._Bitur ☻☻
|_Ithilneth____Sala ._| ☻☻
.\Gil-Gandel Prestolwen\
_.\Gwaelur Theogrim_.._\ Theogrim is down 9 points.
_._\____:mad:__..__:mad:_.___\ Gwaelur's foe is injured
_.__\_______.:hist: _..___\ This foul smelling undead corpse badly injured and down
Gilraen is still singing and now tries to turn the 6 dark wights at the door. Her Bauble is held high in her left hand and blazes and her song is ended as she cries out, "A Elbereth Gilthoniel o menel palan-diriel, le nallon sí di-nguruthos! A tiro nin, Fanuilos!" and with her right hand the Rod of Kanotir blazes as she completes her command. To her surprise the wraiths do not waver in their attack.
The effect of her song will last another 14 rounds. Song of Estë that gives friends a +1 Save and -1 to be hit and damage
The 6 dark wights are singsonging in some unknown tongue and Sala blanches and shouts back in a similar tongue. Then in Westron says, "Not today our souls you drink!"
The wights fight without weapons but fear and cold cold touch. Thus two come through the door. Sala is first to strike with his Magic Rapier, he hits and hits again and the wights look surprised as their chant is interrupted. Bitur strike twice on the other with Axe and Shield and does 33 swiftly to his foe as Rorimac strikes the same with both his swords. Meriadoc’s youngest son seems to have inherited his father’s bravery against the dark spirits of the dead. Ceol has a shot on the same wight with his bow and sends an arrow into the target but the silver arrow has no effect on the foe.
The dark wights ignore the plate armoured Bitur and reach for Rorimac and Sala respectively. Rori is hit for 7 points of mostly cold-like damage as his left shoulder freezes from their foul touch but his Hobbit constitution resists the draining aspects of the touch. Sala is not so lucky. He is hit for 6 and loses life force. Sala was drained a level.
Sala strikes 4 more times having hit six times in all. His foe looks almost shredded but is not yet done haunting the living.
Bitur hits again with his shield and Rorimac with Kkósal’s bane. This foe too is nearly destroyed.
Mulligan checks ahead and finds the way up still clear. Apparently the main foe is expending others to do its work.
Gwaelur wisely sensing that Theogrim is in far more danger strikes with axe and shield at Theogrim’s foe. The horror is staggered by the blows of the huge axe and war shield and Theogrim striking with his Two-Handed sword, driving it back a few steps. Theogrim feels a dread that he only fights off with the songs of Gilraen and Gil-Gandel. As it regains the steps Gwaelur again hits it twice and partially blocks Theogrim. All this buys time for Prestolwen to hits it with 5 more magic arrows and seeing it drop twitching to the stairs and roll back. He final arrow of the round goes into the injured undead corpse.
Gil-Gandel puts 5 more +3 arrows in the greater foe approaching Gwaelur and it drops.
Drindoleth casts Cure Light on Sala and heals him 6 points. He is down only1 now..
Mulligan is nearly a floor up.
_._/_________________/
_./_Ceol Thoroncir___ /
./_____ Gilraen _____/
|Deor_Redward .Rori | ☻ Rori is down 7 point
|___Drinoleth .Bitur☻☻☻
|_Ithilneth____Sala☻| ☻ Sala is down 1 point and a level
.\Gil-Gandel Prestolwen\
_.\_.._Gwaelur Theogrim\ Theogrim is down 9 points.
_._\__________..___.___\
_.__\_______.:hist: _..___\ This foul smelling undead corpse is badly injured
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Up above Mulligan finds the stairs she’s on grow colder and the darkness grow heavier. A feeling of dread is growing in her again. Though a Hobbit and thus never suffering from a fear of tight places, she feels as though the walls are closing in on her.
There is the sound of more heavy footsteps from below. This would seem to match the foul smelling undead corpses.
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Bitur will continue his fierce attacks against the wights. Right now they seem like the biggest threat to the party. Things that can drain levels are bad. Real bad. Hopefully Gwaelur and Theogrim can hold our flank against the corpses. At least the visages are defeated.
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Mulligan's spirits drop as she feels the walls close in. "We delayed too long. The undead are controlled by him and will just wear us down. He's probably aiding them in the same way Gilraen aids us. If we stay where we are, we are going to get ground down by waves of them, by as many as he can summon."
Rorimac continues swinging against the wights in the doorway
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Mulligan clears her throat and shouts back down. "Guys, the big bad is casting up here. I really think you need to hurry up."
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Hearing Mulligan's warning, Sir Thoroncir says, "Let us quickly finish off those undead foes with whom we have already clashed, and then ascend further ere more of their kind arrive from below, that we might take the battle to whatever dark presence rules this tower!"
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Agreed. Is Ceol within 10' of the people fighting the wights? If not, see if we can edge him in a little closer so that his aura can help protect them. As soon as the undead corpse drops, we need to press on upstairs.
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Deor can use his Fireballs to clear out lots of wights at once, giving the party a window to advance, or can hold off and try to devastate the leader quickly. It seems like the leader is relying on his wights to wear us down, which implies that he can't handle us on his own, so casting now might be the best plan.
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Let them have it. We are well able to seriously hurt a single target through force of arms, and if you can dispose of a large number of weaker enemies quickly, this is probably a better use of your gifts. Are you able to leave a Wall of Fire behind us to deter pursuit?
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I haven't got a Wall of Fire prepared today. I can leave a great number of Webs, though.
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1 attachment(s)
Deor's Fireball actually seems to do extra damage to the four still beyond door.
They retreat from the blast. Bitur, Rorimac and Sala finish off their pair of foes. Gwaelur and Theogrim kill the last undead corpse.
Ceol approaches to help if possible with his sword out now that he knows his arrows will not bite the bodies of the wights.
Gwaelur and Theogrim make short work of the last undead corpse.
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Mulligan is nearly a floor up.
_____________________________________
_._/__________________/_____________..|
_./_____Thoroncir____ /______________..|
./__ Gilraen _______._/______________._.|
|_____Redward _.____|__ Ithilneth Rori ☻.|
|______Deor_____________._ Ceol☻☻[]
|_______________.__|_Gil-Gandel__Bitur☻|
.\______ Prestolwen__l\________________.|
_.\_Sala____Drinoleth.._\ _______________|
_._\__Gwaelur Theogrim_\ ___________,,__|
_.__\_______.____ _..___\______________|
Ceol leads Rorimac and Bitur against the wights driving them to the wall of the room. Ithilneth and Gil-Gandel follow to fire magic arrows at their foe. Ithilneth says, "Sala, Prestolwen gather the magic arrows so we have them for above. Prestolwen keep a few of mine if needed." Sala goes to the job immediately.
Bitur kills his foe and Rorimac hits his twice and with Ithilneth's arrows it drops.
Ceol hits twice killing his foe as Gil-Gandel's arrows and 1 from Ithilneth finish of the last.
Drinoleth gives Sala a Goodberry casts Cure Light on Theogrim curing 5 and then 4 Goodberries.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Deor casts a web to delay the pursuit.
Redward is 9 rounds of 10 into his spellcasting. Next round many party members will be stronger. Does the party wait the one round?
Rorimac sees a broken skeleton at his feet with a silver ring on its left ring finger. The ring has a series of golden runes on it.
Mulligan is nearly a floor up.
_____________________________________
_._/__________________/_____________..|
_./_____Thoroncir____ /______________..|
./__ Gilraen _______._/______________._.|
|_____Redward _.____| Ithilneth Rori____ .|
|______Deor_____________._ Ceol___.[]
|_______________.__|_Gil-Gandel__Bitur__|
.\______ Prestolwen__l\________________.|
_.\_Sala____Drinoleth.._\ __..___.________|
_._\__Gwaelur Theogrim_\ ___________,,__|
_.__\_______.____ _..___\______________|
____Attachment 7Attachment 7Attachment 7Attachment 7Attachment 7Attachment 7Attachment 7__
Rori is down 7 point, Sala is down a level.
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I say keep pushing. These wights and their master are relying on having a stable, organized defense to hold us off, so let's not give them a chance to reorganize. Let's move forward in an orderly way, and keep harrying the enemy without breaking our own formations much. One round will likely pass before we make further contact anyway.
They don't like flame, either. I can work one more Fireball easily, and flaming swords might be a good idea here, too.
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Thoroncir entirely agrees with Deor; let us go higher and keep the pressure on.
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Mulligan keeps look out nearly a floor above waiting for her friends to finish their work and come up.
Rorimac gets out a piece of cloth, slips the ring off and puts it into a pocket without touching it. It can be examined later.
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Mulligan keeps look out nearly a floor above waiting for her friends to finish their work and come up.
Rorimac gets out a piece of cloth, slips the ring off and puts it into a pocket without touching it. It can be examined later.
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Yes, let's advance in formation, staying close to Redward as he finishes his spell.
