Wrath of the Raven

The halfling struts up to Menzo.

"You were a bit cheerier the last time we met."

The tiefing's eyes widen.

"You know of these creatures, Novad?"

"Er, yes. Sort of. Be quiet, Gudon." He waves dismissively at the necromancer. "Master Fang, you are a sight for sore eyes! I dare say I got it right this time, eh?" He nudged the shifters knee. "Mambele, I see you've been enjoying the gloves! Tiagarth! You're... here! And Miss Tulkavoa're, such a pleasure. Now, you all must have a fountain of questions, oh yes! But unfortunately we have a problem. You see, these three idiots have no idea that I'm about to betray them to you. They're dears, really, but I am tired of them. So why don't we get you all fit and fiddled and step back from Mambele."

All of you, except for Mambele, are forced to step away from the warlock. The further you get from him the better you feel, until you seem to be healed of all your wounds.

"Very good. Now, this won't hurt a bit..." The halfling steps toward Mambele and touches his crown, ever so gently. Though the warlock did not bend and the halfling did not jump. "And now, er, I shall leave!"

"What!? Novad! What have you done!? Kill them!" The tiefling shouts. But before anyone can react, Mambele explodes with light!

Mambele's bleakness had given way to baffled wonder as the halfling entered the scene, and he had made no move to stop Davon, or whoever this guy was when he approached. "You know, from one merchant to another, I can tell right away you must not get a lot of repeat busin.....GGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!"

Mambele's form disappears in a giant burst of silver light. No. Not a burst. The whole room has gone dark even as the warlock burns like a wicker man, as if he was sucking the light out of the room and feeding the flames with it. The light seems to bleach the black and purple of his robes into a ghasty white, and his slim frame grows even more gaunt, his already sharp features now gleaming like the edge of a blade. His rich dark skin grows ashen, even as his eyes darken to solid black dots on his face. Despite the brightness of the flash, there's is nothing of the liveliness of true fire in it, but it's instead a dead light. Like the reflected shimmer off the moon.

It is hard to decide if he is beautiful or hideous, but he is unmistakenly angry. He stands tall before the necromancers, and utters a single command.

"Release them!"

It is patently clear that he is not talking about the adventuring party.

Before Fang has a chance to exclaim how happy he is to actually see a familiar face (or even a living face aside from his comrades), he is pushed back away from Mambele. He looks down, noticing his wounds are healing. "Hmmm... a good start... now if I could just get my scythe and go all "cut cut, chop chop" on these cadavers..." he said with a gleeful smirk. His silent contemplating was interrupted as he looked up at the screaming warlock, a hint of concern showing up on the shifter's face. "... Okay, this is different."

Mambele's voice causes the spirits holding you hostage to act strangely. It feels as if they are pulling out of your body, toward the warlock.

Unfortunately the wight is not as easily swayed.

He leaps at the warlock with claws outstretched!

---

+8 vs Mambele's AC

The member 'Eternal Eclipse' has done the following action : Die rolls

'd20' : 18

Hits

As soon as the claws touch Mambele's skin the wight shrieks in pain. It quickly backs off, whimpering, holding it's blackened and charred hands close to it's body.

The tiefling narrows his eyes. "You are not to be taken lightly, I see. Very well. What would you have of us?" His tone is casual but forced.

Mambele does not smile, but his anger grows less daunting.

"You don't know? What would I have of you? Perhaps you meant what would I have for you? Is my gift a surprise to anyone by now? My gift to all of nature's children? It is a lusterless gift to be sure, but to see an ungrateful child throwing it down and stomping on it.... to see it tearing it off the hands of his siblings, breaking it and carving it into a mockery of itself!"

His anger has steadily been growing again, and his transformation grows more frightening in the process, most noticeably in his hands, which curve into scythelike talons. "To see them try to cheat me out of what's rightfully mine, with their ridiculous carnival puppetry! And then feign ignorance before me!"


He lifts up a clawed hand and sweeps it down in a slicing motion towards the necromancers!

The necromancer to the left of the tiefling quickly steps forward, raising his staff against the blow.

Mambele's talons ring out as they strike the implement but the blow is nullified.

"You are a servant of the Raven Queen but I serve the rightful ruler of death. Orcus is my shield and blade and immortality is my cloak." His hood pulls back to reveal features that, while mistaken for elven, quickly reveal themselves to be eladrin. His solid blue eyes burn with a cold light.

The tielfing is shocked. "Grekus? What is going on?"

"You are a fool, Gudon. Sylva, take him." The other elf, or possible eladrin, grabs the tiefling and pulls him into the shadows.

As the warlock and necromancer stared each other down, Menzo peered around for his sword, finally seeing it right where the wight dropped their weapons. He shuffles off to the side and picks up his blade and shield.

He hands the shifter his silvered scythe. Tulka's and Tiagarth's main weapons were pretty much a part of them so all that was left was Mambele's rod, and it didn't look like the warlock needed it.

"What do you think? Should we intervene or let them go at it?" He asks the group.

Tulka looks as quizzical as a tree can. "We are not sure what Mambele man is and is doing. We will help if he needs it, but this one thinks he is bright and strong like the sun. This one will be like the moon and watch."

Tiagarth changes into a shadow cat and prowls over to menzo.

"RRROOOOAAARRR I want to tear them apart"

"Fang? You're unusually silent. What do you think?"

"Orcus has no followers! Only prisoners who try to outrun his lash, and foolish underlings who think tormenting their fellow prisoners is power!"

Despite his bravado, Mambele looks visibly perturbed at the revelation, and for a second his skin darkens ever so slightly towards its natural color. "Tuesday. Today is tuesday. Sehanine's stag looks to the east..." he whispers softly before surrendering again to the terrifying power that inflames his brain.

Good thing too, as Mambele seems a bit out of his league on his own right about now. An unfelt wind blows ripples on his clothes, and his dreads flap like black feathered wings. His pack of divination cards is caught in the maelstrom and flies out of his pocket to spiral around him in a gleaming white whirlwind. The pictures in the cards all flash frightening twisted visions too fast for the eye to catch before they suddenly fly towards his enemies!

Fang was silent a moment, his head lowered, his hands shaking as he gripped his scythe. Finally, he raised his head, a wicked grin plastered on his face. "ABOUT FREAKING TIME!" he cried out before rushing at the closest foe! Menzo had his answer.

As Mambele's cards fly toward the necromancer, the wight finds enough strength to leap in front of Fang's scythe.

---

Fang, roll an attack vs the Wight.

Fang pulls his silvered scythe back. "You wanna get torn to shreds first!? FINE BY ME, FREAK!!!" he said as he performed a vertical slash with his scythe.

+9 vs AC (I assume you mean only a melee basic attack).

The member 'Fang' has done the following action : Die rolls

'd20' : 14

Fang's scythe catches the wight in the side, piercing it's rotting body and ending it's un-life.

Mambele's cards swarm the eladrin. His irritation turns to pain as they seem to slash at him. The flitting shadows give the illusion of black feathers. Looking closely reveals flashes of talons and beaks.

"Enough!" He cries and slams the staff on the ground. The cards freeze in place, and drop to the ground. He pants, blood trickling from numerous gashes. "I'm not prepared for this. I will deal with you later." The shadows envelope him and he disappears.

Menzo steps forward, igniting his sword to chase away the darkness. "They're gone. All of them." He spits on the ground. "Good riddance."

Mambele breaks into a shiver and then stumbles like a drunk as he regains ahold of his senses. He's still quite ashen-faced, but this time it can be attributed to mere shock. With panicked gasping breaths, he tries to pull off his crown, as if blaming it for his transformation, but it is too tangled in his hair, and he soon gives up and leaves it on. "The hell??!" he finally blurts out, staring at the empty room before him, before turning around to see his unharmed companions in the back. Looking at Fang's battle-ready scythe, he shakes his hands in alarm, misreading his intentions. "Whoa! Whoa! It's me!"

Fang gives Mambele a confused look. "Yeah, I know it's you. You mean that wasn't you before? And where did those guys go!? I was just getting started..." he said with a light growl, looking down towards the wight he had just killed.

Tulka steps forward and places a hand calmly onto Mambele's shoulder. "Why does Mambele glows like sun?" she asked him.

Mambele looks embarrased but pleased at the attention. "You know, miss Tulka? When you're an astrologist, you start to get used to the idea that you're under the control of forces greater than yourself. But this... this I don't think I could get used to." he offers in lieu of an answer, with a soft grin. "Can we get out of here now?" he asks, still looking like a nervous wreck.

Menzo looks around the room, not quite satisfied that it was empty. But the search proves fruitless.

"Yeah. We should leave. I want an explanation, however. You can tell us on the way back to our 'friends'." You can tell by his tone of voice that he means the last sarcastically.

Suddenly there's a shifting of the rock in the corner and the genasi wheels with his blade ready. The trunk, which apparently followed you all the way up here, was scrabbling at the wall with it's spidery legs.

"Get away from there." He calls to it. But it doesn't heed him. "I said get away from- Hells!" He yells as the rock falls away and a large body tumbles down into the room.

Fang jumps back, scythe ready as he eyes the large body. "Another party crasher, one would hope!" Correction, FANG had hoped it was another party crasher.