Session Start: Sat Jan 03 16:52:09 2009
Session Ident: #castlevania
* Logging for #castlevania started
<Holmes> [The intrepid party is at the east end of the gap between the city proper and the Well, Lifebreak's prison, currently under seige by several hundred undead and constructs.]
<Holmes> [As the party approaches, several dozen of the monsters turn and charge them.  Only seconds remain for them to react!]
<Biff> Nyyx, Skip, plug the gap.
* Biff throws up a wall of ice with a convenient hole in it, two zombies wide.
* Nyyx makes for the gap in the wall.
* Biff uses it to close off the whole street.
* Demota is now known as Charlotte
* Charlotte starts backing up and readies her bow.
* Skip follows Nyyx, ready to check anything that gets past her sword.
* Nyyx grins through the hole in the ice wall, her sword gripped in both hands. "Come and get some."
<Biff> Charlotte's a ditz.
<Holmes> [The mob of undead and constructs surges toward the break in the wall, ready to rend Nyyx and Skip to bits.  The closest is only a dozen feet away.]
* Skip digs his feet in and waits for the oncoming rush of ghoulies.
* Nyyx waits expectantly.
* Charlotte starts shooting past Skip and Nyyx
* Olivia gestures with her wand as Theo sends out a good old fashioned fire-fire ball, blowing up large portions of the hapless minions. Then a second sonic detonation adds to the chaos! She's got a wide grin on her face.
<Holmes> [The sonic fireballs hit with a deep bass thump, rattling the pavement and throwing corpses and metal into the air.  Undaunted, the horde rushes on, slamming into Nyyx and Skip.]
* Nyyx sweeps her adamantine blade through two of the things as they come into range, shredding one and crippling the second.
* Skip springs into action as the first ghoulie comes into range. Three quick slices yield two solid hits, and his prey is left to decorate the ground in lovely shades of green, brown, and yuck.
<Holmes> [The remaining ghoul within reach retaliates, missing widely.]
<Skip> You'll have to do better than that!
<Olivia> [Theo lays down further harshness, decimating them 8 times over with another burst of fire.]
<Holmes> [Two lonely attackers remain.  The rest of the horde are still attacking the Well itself.]
* Charlotte points her bow at them and releases two arrows, one right after the other, without bothering to see and wait if the first hit.
* Charlotte lands an arrow in one of the ghouls, sinking it deeply in its chest before it dissolves apart.
* Skip schools the last one.
* Nyyx tears the last attacker to shreds. "Done."
<Biff> Impressive teamwork there.
<Nyyx> Why do I get the feeling that was just the easy part?
* Nyyx smirks.
<Biff> Because we used almost no resources and they went down like a cheap playhouse villain.
<Biff> Let's go.
* Nyyx gets going.
* Biff stops maintaining the wall of ice, but it stubbornly remains put for another quarter-minute.
<Holmes> [The party advances on the Well.  The prison is a wide tower of stone set apart from the rest of the city by a ring of empty pavement.  Dozens of undead and spiders have swarmed the building.  The undead are ringed around the ground floor, trying to claw their ways in ineffectually.  The metal spiders, on the other hand, have scaled the walls and swarm over the surface of the tower, searching for a way in.]
* Charlotte steps along, taking in the ... sights.
<Holmes> [Periodically, the spiders swarm around one of the narrow windows set high on the tower, clipping at the stone with abandon.  Quickly, blasts of heat and light send them dodging away along the stone.  It won't be long before they get through at this rate.]
* Nyyx surveys the scene thoughtfully.
<Nyyx> Anything we can do about these spiders?
<Charlotte> Dunno.
<Holmes> [The ground shakes again.  This time, the reason is not immediately apparent.]
* Olivia frowns slightly and murmurs, "Time passes too quickly."
<Biff> ...why is the ground shaking?
<Nyyx> Hm. I don't like the sound of that.
<Biff> The ground is not supposed to shake.
<Biff> THey had better not be sapping the tower.
<Biff> Let's find a way inside, pronto.
* Nyyx nods.
* Nyyx scans the surface of the tower for possible entry points.
<Holmes> [The only apparent entry points for the tower are the narrow windows that the spiders are testing and maybe the roof.]
<Biff> Ahoy, the tower!  Reinforcements coming in!
<Biff> Everybody circle of hands, I'll teleport us up there.
* Nyyx joins hands with the people next to her.
* Biff waits for everyone to join hands, then fast forwards through the spell and BAMF up to the top of the tower.
<Charlotte> That was fast.
* Nyyx immediately searches for a way in from the roof.
* Skip looks around to see what kind of roof they are on.
<Holmes> [With a rush of air, the party materializes on the roof of the Well.  The roof is a flat stone circle about 50' across.  The clipping of the spiders can be heard below.  To the east, a collection of figures can be seen approaching from the direction of the central tower.]
* Nyyx assumes an aggressive martial stance in preparation for oncoming attackers.
<Holmes> [As the party surveys the situation from the roof, the ground shakes again from somewhere below.  As the figures in the distance approach, the party can see that there are twelve of them.  The one in front is almost certainly His Emminent Remains unless someone else wanders around with a large red-bladed scythe.  No one can recognize the others.  They are likely Boccobites or Nerull clergy.]
<Nyyx> I think they're on our side.
<Charlotte> Alright, so...that's good.
<Biff> Good.  Let's get inside.
* Nyyx meanwhile unbuckles a quiver from her back and hands it to Charlotte. "If you're running low, take this."
<Charlotte> Ah! Thanks.
* Charlotte accepts it.
* Nyyx looks for the nearest way inside. "You're welcome."
<Nyyx> You'd make better use out of them, anyway.
* Biff reaches back and pulls a wolf out of his pants, then casts a quick spell on it and sends it down the outside of the wall to hunt spiders.
<Holmes> [Nyyx looks around and sees that there is no way into the Well from the roof.]
<Nyyx> I don't see any way in from up here. I saw some narrow windows a bit down the wall, though.
* Olivia nods and replies, "I could slip through, likely."
* Nyyx hangs upsidedown over the edge of the roof and shouts in the direction of the nearest window, "We're coming in! Don't shoot; we're with the Mercykiller!" She turns back to glance at Olivia.
* Olivia looks back to Nyyx, then quickly rappels down so she can adds, "We come on behalf of Boccob and the Mercykiller, to help protect this prison from the vicious assaults that threaten it, after having defeated the beast in the depths of the sewers the evening before this."
* Nyyx mouths a thank you at Olivia and gives her a thumbs up.
<Holmes> Voice from the window: "Alright, we'll blow out the window in ten seconds!  You'll have another twenty to get in here before we close it up!"
* Olivia looks away from Nyyx a moment, then back at her with a nod and a smile back. She holds position with Nyyx... until that warning.
* Biff climbs down the side of the tower.
* Nyyx climbs off to the side.
* Olivia says back up at Biff, as she climbs back up, "They're gonna blow out the wall!"
<Holmes> [The party backs off and true to their word, the stone around the window explodes out and showers down below, taking several spiders down with it.  Sensing an opening, the nearby spiders start advancing toward the gap!]
* Nyyx scrambles for the opening.
<Nyyx> Hurry, we've got 10 seconds.
* Olivia rappels down again to swing through the hole.
* Skip is all spider-like as he makes for the opening.
<Holmes> [Theo fatman's it down on Olivia's rope.]
* Biff hops inside without further ado.
* Charlotte heads for it!
<Holmes> [Bringing up the rear, Charlotte grabs the rope and hops off of the side.  Soon, the party is through the gap.  Inside the tower, the party finds itself in a narrow passageway running parallel with the outer wall.  A young man jams a rod into the stone near the opening and speaks the command word.]
<Holmes> [Suddenly, the stone expands to fill the breach in the wall over with a solid sheet of rock.]
<Skip> Woah.
* Nyyx blinks a couple times. "That's convenient."
<Biff> Magic makes seiges so much easier.
<Nyyx> Thank you for letting us in, by the way. I was preparing to dismantle it myself. Have any of those things gotten in yet?
<Holmes> Young man: "Well, one fewer window to guard.  I should get you downstairs."
<Biff> On both sides.
* Nyyx nods. "Please."
<Holmes> Young man: "Nothing's gotten in up here, but it sounds bad below.  C'mon.  Although, we have to go up first."
<Biff> If the ground is shaking because they're breaking in from the bottom, we're in a hell of a lot of trouble.
* Olivia nods slightly. We'd been briefed!
<Biff> Better make it quick, kid.
<Holmes> [The man walks off down the hall.  On closer inspection, the hallway angles gently upward as turns.]
* Biff follows along after him.
* Charlotte follows uneasily. @_@
* Nyyx follows along briskly.
* Skip follows with a flourish.
<Holmes> [Since the party is already almost at the top of the tower, it is only a matter of seconds before the hallway terminates in an opening on the right side.  Through the opening, an observation chamber attached to the roof can be seen.  More a gondola than a chamber proper, the observation platform hangs from the roof by several large chains and gives the three figures within a clear view down the Well.]
<Holmes> [The core of the Well itself, as one would expect, is a hollow shaft with a spiral stairwell curving around the inner wall.  More green torchlight illuminates the Well for the next several hundred feet down.]
<Holmes> [The three figures in the observation chamber are watching the pit closely, wands out and ready.  A mass of figures can be seen about a third of the way down the well, clusters around the east wall.  The rumbling is worse inside the tower.]
<Biff> Oi, what's going on down here?
* Nyyx continues to follow, keeping a sharp eye out for anything that can be solved with a good beating.
* Charlotte steps along, being careful not to fall.
<Holmes> [As the party starts to run down the inner stairwell, Nyyx is struck with a sudden voice in her mind.  "This is Mercykiller.  At the Well.  Cult is breaking through below.  I will tear up the street and hit from behind.  Kill all the prisoners."]
* Nyyx murmurs to everyone else, "Did anyone else hear that?"
<Biff> Hear what?
* Olivia shakes her head slightly.
<Nyyx> I just heard His Eminent Remains' voice in my head telling us to kill all the prisoners. His Eminent Remains' group is apparently tearing up the street and hitting it from the behind. The cult is breaking through below.
<Biff> ...are we even capable of killing all the prisoners?
<Nyyx> I guess we'll find out.
<Holmes> [The party continues running down the stairs.  After another hundred or so feet, there is a loud crash outside.  The dull thud of stone raining against the tower can be heard.]
<Charlotte> Not without something really really big.
* Biff calls out, "Hey, you guys got some sort of emergency kill alla prisoners button or something?"
<Biff> cause that'd be real useful right about now!
<Holmes> Young man: "I don't know.  We just don't open the cells.  I expect there are failsafes for the prisoners in the maximum security area at the bottom.  The others, probably not."
* Nyyx nods. "We'll keep an eye out. I guess the rest we'll have to handle."
<Holmes> [The party decends to about seventy feet above the cluster of figures along the east wall.  The figures appear to be young men and women, living, and human.  In the next instant, a 15' by 15' section of the east wall shatters as two large construct charge through.]
* Nyyx grits her teeth. "What a pain."
<Holmes> [These are more of the same bulky diggers that the party saw in the sewers yesterday.  They are quickly followed by hundreds of spiders swarming through the gaps and over the side of the stairwell.]
<Biff> Speak of the devil.
<Charlotte> Gah!
<Holmes> [Spells from the figures shoot out and blast the spiders in quick secession, but sudden breach has destroyed all coordination and the casters quickly find themselves point blank with their enemies.]
<Biff> REINFORCEMENTS HAVE ARRIVED
<Nyyx> What timing.
* Biff launches a small ball of fog from the Kitty Kannon. It flies down into the tunnel and detonates, filling the entire tunnel with goopy fog.
<Biff> Hey Olivia, maybe you oughta web that entrance up a bit?
* Olivia nods and half-smiles, pulling somethig out of her belt as she says, "That I can do."
* Olivia tosses the whatever the pulled out of her belt towards the breach, causing a burst of sticky webbing to anchor itself to the walls and stem the tide!
<Holmes> [The defenders try to reorganize and pick off spiders while dodging the two golems.  The flow of spiders out of the breach slows and it should just be a matter of time before the wall can be resealed.  The party continues to charge down the stairs toward the breach.]
* Charlotte reaches for her bow and looks the golems over, scanning for weak points...
* Nyyx eyes one of the golems in a thoughtful way as they charge down the stairs, and she smiles slightly.
<Holmes> [END OF SESSION]
Session Close: Sat Jan 03 21:48:15 2009