Fae Mhor Priestess

Somewhere in Northwestern Tarlanor, 3rd March 1655

Readying themselves for the next onslaught, Gorfang, Eloy and Uruk hefted an assortment of weapons. Lynien braced herself with her back to the wall next to the arch at the foot of the stairs, striking a flame to ignite a pouch of oil.

Eloy muttered an idea to Gorfang, who nodded and dipped a massive green hand into his belt-pouch and flicked a handful of caltops onto the stairs with a nasty grin. Lynien finished preparing the oil and backhanded it into the stairwell, but forgot to take account of the angles and smashed it right in the archway - only a lightning-swift dodge saving her from a toasting.

Three male Fae Mhor warriors, mailed and armed with curved swords, charged down the stairs and straight into the sudden blast of fire. Yells and curses showed that two had stood on the caltrops, and they slowed, hopping, leaving only one to reach the bottom of the stairs and face the companions. He took a massive swipe at Uruk, missed, and was fatally skewered by Gorfang, Eloy and Uruk simultaneously. Lynien drew Balacalantar and the Shadowdagger.

From farther up the stairs, the sound of a spell being cast was heard, accompanied by soft and ominous twangings. A volley of tiny darts flicked through the flames, one striking Uruk in the shoulder, and the companions remembered the pistol crossbows the earlier Fae Mhor had been carrying.

The two remaining warriors charged down the stairs, but as they came, one gripped his leg, screamed, and dropped like a string-cut puppet. The last one attacked Gorfang, but was hurled back again as the orc's maul smashed him off his feet. He scrabbled into his pouch for a potion as the others converged on him. More bolts fell amongst the party, and Eloy suddenly clutched his throat and toppled over.

A moment later the sounds of another spell came from above. There was a flash, and the sound of pattering feet.

Lynien waved frantically at Bog, who scuttled over and bent over Eloy. He drew out the tiny bolt and rubbed a dried herb on the wound, and the human warrior's eyes fluttered open as he groaned miserably. As he recovered, it crossed his mind that the bolts must be coated with sleep poison ... and so must the ones they had looted.

Gorfang struck out with the black sword for the first time. Half-expecting it to be cursed or ineffectual, he was pleasantly surprised when it sheared through the Fae Mhor's skull, completely halving his skull. A tiny bolt stuck in his arm, but he ignored it. A moment later, a fiendish hyaena, summoned by someone above, bounded down the stairs and hurled itself on Eloy. Gorfang wielded the maul and flattened its' entire front half in one crushing blow.

Enraged, Eloy sprang to his feet. The fire was just dying down, and once it was gone, he hurled himself snarling up the still-hot stairs. Missing the caltrops - which he'd completely forgotten - by pure blind chance, he reached the top of the flight with Gorfang and Uruk right behind him. Lynien, lagging behind, dug out her pistol crossbow, looked at it thoughtfully, and loaded it.

DM's Note: In all the years we've been playing 3e, this is the first time I can remember that anyone's executed a Bull Rush at the table....

At the top of the stairs, three more Fae Mhor - priestesses this time by the look of them - were dropping their hand crossbows and unhooking black maces, while behind them, a fourth priestess, a superior by her adornments, attitude and position to the rear - was preparing another spell.

The three lesser priestesses blocked the top of the stairs, but Eloy cannoned straight into the rightmost, sending her staggering back. Into the space created stepped Uruk and Gorfang, who attacked left and right. Both wounded their targets; and then Uruk's foe, not relishing fighting the huge half-orc toe-to-toe, attempted to dive past him to attack from behind. Her move went wrong, however, and Uruk chopped violently downwards. Below, Lynien looked up in surprise to see a corpse and a head tumbling down the stairs towards her ... separately. She snapped off a shot upwards at the priestess, but Gorfang moved into its' path, and the tiny dart struck him. He didn't appear to notice, but Lynien packed the crossbow away and turned to looting the dead acolyte at her feet.

Gorfang engaged the middle of the two acolytes, and struck home - the black sword sliding through dusky elven flesh like a hot wire through wax. He moved to where he could reach Eloy's foe as Uruk stepped through the gap to confront the priestess Valaquania. He raised his blade, but suddenly his eyes glazed, and his attention wandered as the Sanctuary spell she had cast prevented him from attacking her at the crucial instant. Smiling wickedly at him, she calmly cast Meld into Stone and stepped backwards into the wall and out of the battle.

The last acolyte, abandoned, struck desperately at Eloy, drawing blood one last time, but his backslash struck her neatly in the side of the neck and her head spun off across the antechamber.

Once everyone had their breath back, and a combination of Boom Boom and other methods had soothed their wounds, the party tallied up the loot from the battle....