Session Start: Sat Jan 17 18:06:19 2009
Session Ident: #castlevania
* Logging for #castlevania started
<Holmes> [Unpause]
<Holmes> [The intrepid party finds itself locked in combat with a
trio of cult agents while they hold the breach in the Well's
defenses.]
* Nyyx , despite her sudden weakness, eyes the shadow coldly and goes
in for the kill, driving her sword into its vitals and carving it up
from the inside out. Her blade whips out of its body in a spiral of
partially incorporeal shreds as it falls apart behind her.
<Holmes> [The corporeal remains of the creature drop into the rushing
current and are swept over the side.  The spider creature looms
behind Skip.]
* Olivia starts to smirk as she gestures twice with her wand, saying,
"Too bad, you'd look better as a frog." But her two blasts go wide,
causing the smirk to fade, and instead she says, as she disappears
from view, "But I look great invisible. You'll have to trust me on
that though..."
* Skip watches his target fall to Nyyx's wrath, then turns his
attention to the groping mechano-spider behind him. Arcing through
the air, Skip soars past the creature's limbs and lands a glancing
hit on its torso before soaring even higher and disappearing.
* Charlotte rushes and fires a couple arrows, which miss
<Holmes> [Biff leaps and bounds down the stairs.  The cell doors are
still the same featureless steel.]
<Holmes> [The spider-like creature scuttles along the wall and slices
once at Nyyx, cutting her and leaving behind a corrosive venom.  Nyyx
is made of stern stuff however, and pushes on.]
<Holmes> [The man in red strides past where Olivia used to be and
slices at Charlotte, leaving a bloody wound.]
<Charlotte> Nngh
<Holmes> [The spiders and water continue to flow through the breach
and onto the ice seal.  The spiders below can be heard chipping away
at the seal.]
<Holmes> [Above, spells lance across the ceiling and an explosion
rocks the sentry post.  Stone dust makes it difficult to see what is
happening.]
* Theodore launches a double-volley of magic missiles into the back
of the assassin that done shanked one of his bitches.
<Holmes> [The blasts impact on the man in red and leave damaged cloth
and black flesh and a nimbus of pale smoke.] 
<Holmes> [However, the man seems unfazed despite his injuries.]
* Nyyx grits her teeth, and some of her wounds appear to knit
themselves closed. She takes a swing at the mechanical spider and
lops off a good chunk of metal, a few more of her cuts healing over
in the process.
* Olivia appears just long enough to throw three bolts of force at
Mr. Shanks at rapid speed. The first one goes very wide, probably
killing that poor frog-insect, but the other two orbs smash into his
back. And just as quickly as she appeared, she fades away again!
"Better try to hit me, or you're gonna get nowhere..." she teases.
* Charlotte makes a careful retreat to put some distance between her
and her attacker
* Skip checks the scene, then decides to take another swipe at
spidey. With a clank of his bracers, he sounds the advance. A quick
fly-by-stabbing yields a solid hit on the unsuspecting monstrosity.
<Holmes> [The spider wheels on Skip and slashes twice.  As the second
hit lands, Skip feels a bit of the spring in his limbs fade.]
<Holmes> [The man in red turns away from Charlotte and runs along
then up the wall and nearly reaches Nyyx.]
<Holmes> [The fighting continues up above but is far quieter now.
The sizzle of electricity and a few errant yells can be heard.]
<Holmes> [Biff continues to leap down the stairs and finds himself
infront of a metal cell door set into the wall.  Rather than solid
steel, this door is comprised of metal bars.  It looks like Biff
could just slide through.]
<Holmes> [A large armored figure is bound by black stone around its
limbs to the far wall of the chamber beyond.]
<Holmes> [The spiders continue to scitter below and the water
continues to fill the well above the seal.]
<Holmes> [Beyond the breach, screaming and the crash of stone can be
heard.  Whatever is out there is very large.]
* Biff looks through the bars, trying to figure out what the hell is
back there.
<Holmes> [The armor covers the figure completely and apart from the
inhuman size of the thing, nothing telling can be decerned.]
<Biff> Uh.  Right.  You are clearly one of those high priority
prisoners.
* Biff sticks his head in and looks for a kill switch of some sort.
Something that screams "PRESS ME!" at least.
<Holmes> [A collection of runes on the wall to the left could well be
it.]
<Biff> Well... fifty fifty shot, I suppose.  Either it'll kill you or
we'll all be totally screwed.
* Biff tries to activate them.
<Holmes> [Biff intones the spell Read Magic and attempts to invoke
the runes.  This appears to function as a trigger as the runes glow
white hot for a moment and then fade from the wall.]
<Biff> Uhoh. 
* Biff looks at the dude.
<Holmes> [The armor finally stirs for a moment and the head turns as
though on casters to face the cat.  A grinding noise can be heard
overhead.]
<Holmes> [The armor utters a single word, coming out as a gravely
grinding whisper: "Finally."  An iron rod, three inches thick and
twelve feet long breaks through the ceiling and impales the armor
through the helm and downward.  The figure expells a dense smoke and
then is still.]
* Biff lets out a long sigh and heads out to find the next cell.
* Nyyx meanwhile swings twice more at the spider, whiffing once and
landing one hit. A few more cuts heal up.
* Charlotte fires a pair of arrows athte spider. One of the arrows
plunges into it, hitting something that may have been important,
since it promptly dies after.
<Holmes> [The spider loses its hold on the wall and crashes into the
stairs below.  It lies still in a twisted heap of metal.]
* Skip flies up to the man in red, takes two sudden swipes, and
misses horribly.
* Olivia follows up Skip's swings by reappearing, wand out as she
narrows her eyes, watches, and then plants an orb of force square in
the center of the guy's back. She says quietly, "That'll do it." She
then glances up at the dusty fracas.
<Holmes> [The figure, clothes tattered and streaming smoke, falls
from the wall, smashes into the stairwell and is carried over the
edge of the stairs to crash on the ice dozens of feet below.]
<Holmes> [Theodore steps up to Olivia and with a few words, leaves
her unbound by gravity.]
* Olivia then takes Theo's flight (which he may or may not pose!) and
takes off up the core of the stairwell, towards the fracas above as
she says, "There's still the guy coming in from up top!"
<Holmes> [Olivia flies up to the edge of the dust cloud.  She thinks
that she can hear fighting in the sentry post itself.]
<Holmes> [Biff goes running for the next cell.]
* Nyyx floats upward after Olivia toward the sounds of fighting.
* Charlotte gets started on trying to treat her wound....
* Olivia grins as she flies up, disappearing as she gets close to the
cloud and then dives into it, wand at the ready.
<Holmes> [Olivia enters the cloud and drifts to within several feet
of the sentry post.  Goggles is locked in combat with the only sentry
left standing.  One is clearly dead and slumped over the railing.
Another has been garroted and is struggling on the floor.  The last
is trapped in close combat with the brute and is quickly losing
ground from the looks of things.]
<Holmes> [Goggle's clothes are smoking from the spells sent his way
but he doesn't seem to notice.]
* Olivia becomes visible quickly in the cloud as orbs of force fly
from her wand, pushing the dust around in pretty patterns as all
three slam into the goggled assailant. She grins and brushes her hair
back, saying, "Ha! Exhilarating."
<Holmes> [Far below, Biff reaches another cell door.  Flickering
green light can be seen within.]
* Biff sticks his head in and looks for the killswitch.
<Holmes> [There is a set of runes set into the floor a few feet
before the start of a magic circle set into the worn stones.  At the
center of the circle is a figure, wrapped in dark cloth and shrouded
in darkness.  Putresence hangs around the creature but cannot break
the circle.]
* Biff runs up to the runes and trains his magic on them.
<Holmes> [As Biff approaches the runes, the unnaturalness of the
creature at the other end of the room takes hold.  Whatever it is, it
should not be in this world.  It is make of something too real.]
<Biff> ...man, so this is what it's like to be two hundred percent
sober.
<Holmes> [With a start, Biff continues onward and triggers the runes.
Dark water rushes down on the figure, burning it away.  It never
screams.  The feeling of dread fades as soon as it is gone.]
<Holmes> [Up above, the goggled figure takes several hits in the back
and drops to the ground smoking.  Without a word, the remaining
sentry drops to his knees and struggles to get the garrot off of his
cohort.]
* Olivia goes to find/check the entry point for Goggles. He had to
get in somehow!
* Nyyx watches the figure drop, then makes her way up to join Olivia.
"I'm going back for those goggles later."
* Biff turns and runs for the next cell.
* Olivia glances over at Nyyx and half-smiles. "Has anyone told you
you're a vision when you leap into combat?"
* Nyyx smiles in the fog. "Not that I can recall, no. You made
awfully quick work of Goggles, though."
* Olivia glances to Nyyx's wounds and says, "It's a specialty of
mine." She presses her lips together, then says, "Hold still a moment
and I can take care of some of those wounds?"
* Nyyx nods. "Thank you. As always."
<Charlotte> Hey! The spiders are headed for the walls!
<Nyyx> Do you need help taking care of them?
* Olivia focuses energy on Nyyx, murmuring a few prayers to Boccob as
the healing energies rush in blah blah metaphor. She then pulls her
hands back and smiles more widely, saying, "For you, anytime."
<Holmes> [As Charlotte, Skip and Theodore are watching spiders, Biff
is about halfway to the next cell and Olivia and Nyyx are floating
along the east wall near the roof, there is an explosion at the top
of the sentry post.]
* Nyyx shouts something expressive in an abyssal tongue as she tries
to dive out of the way of any falling debris.
<Holmes> [The entire upper area of the well is covered in dust and
debris as the concussive blast echoes outward.  The sentry post
itself sways and then breaks loose from the roof.  Olivia and Nyyx
lose sight of the sentries in the chaos.]
* Olivia doesn't need to dive. She can move at 60 feet per move
action! But she definitely doesn't try to catch any debris, instead
yelling, "Look out, falling sentry post!"
* Charlotte runs for cover!
<Holmes> [Skip and Theodore retreat until their backs are up against
the tower wall.]
<Holmes> [PAUSE]
Session Close: Sat Jan 17 22:46:53 2009