The entire room silences. The bartender pentagrams himself. A few people get up and run out the door. "I will do it, if you like, but there may be dangerous consequences. Sometimes the cards pull the future back to themselves, and make it happen now. Are you sure?"
"Dangerous? A fortune telling? I don't know what you're talking about, but I am not the type to go back on my words. And as I understand life and the Tarot, going full circle happens sooner or later anyway, better to go right ahead and not dawdle. Besides, you made me curious now."
The room empties as every living thing in it exits out whatever opening is closest. As the bartender runs he yells, "Whatever you break I am charging you for!" The old woman looks around. "One last chance to change your mind."
"Well, I have been a bit bored lately." Again a smile curls his lips. "If the cards can speed up my destiny, or draw it closer, then that's, albeit dangerous, ultimately a good idea. I do not fear death. And, if you're good at predicting I guess this will just be a shortcut and not an alteration of the future, right?" "So no thanks, I stick to my words: all 22 please."
"Idiot. But what the hell. This place sucks anyway. Any kind of excitement will be better than this hole." Berz settles in. And fondles his axe.
The old woman shuffles the cards as she talks. “I don’t really know what’s going to happen. It depends on the future of each person. I can almost guaranty that unless you are destined to never be in danger again, you will face great danger here today. I will not explain each card, because I won’t have time. What will happen, will happen. Also, you others,” She looks at Birz, Hort, and Swig. “What I said to you may come to pass now, or it may come to pass later. I can’t tell that. I can only tell that something will happen, not when. Here we go.” She sets the deck face down in a stack, and fans the cards out. In one motion, she flips the bottom card and the whole deck cascades over to face up. The deck begins to glow, each card a different color. Soon, you all begin to hear, see and smell strange things. All of the sights feature Rantic at various ages, and doing various things. Soon, the cards on the tables begin to flutter and flap, and actually come off the table. Each one flies over to one of the scenes. As each on touches an image, that image fades. Once all images have faded, the cards begin to circle Rantic in the air. They begin to fade, and soon there are none left. “Well, that was easy.” The crone says. “I wonder what’s going to happen now.” As soon as the words left her lips, there is a loud bellow from outside. The old woman gets up from the table. “My work is done.” She says. With that, she disappears in a flash of light. At that moment, a strange human shaped creature breaks down the door. It is a dull red from head to toe, and is mostly hairless. It is holding a greatsword, and wearing leather armor. Its head is shaped like a dog head. It scans the room, and on seeing Rantic and the others, bellows, “Rantic, I will kill you and all who aid you!” It charges at Rantic. (Because we don’t have a proper dice roller on the forums yet, I will roll initiative for everyone. Birz: 7 Hort:8 Rantic: 20 Swig: 9 Mob: 4.) Battle info: The room is a 40’x70’ rectangle. The bar extends out from the 40’ (North) back wall by 10 feet, and has one access door on the East side. There are 5 3’ wide tables with 4 chairs each staggered around the room, with a 20’ long table occupying the North West corner, lined up with the West wall, with benches on either side. In the south west corner there is a set of stairs going up. The front door is in the south east corner, and that is where the creature came in. There is a back door, set into the North wall, about 10’ from the West wall. There are a few small windows, but they are too small to climb out. Rantic is standing In the middle of the room, with the others at nearby tables. Swig is north of Rantic, Birz is on the West, and Hort on the East. You are about 10’-15’ away from each other. You all may talk, as it is a free action. Otherwise please follow the initiative order with your actions. And please check back as often as you can, as other might be waiting on you. Once you have all posted actions, I will post with the results.
I yell "Move back!" and I cast Black Tentacles on the area from the door (beneath the feet of the doghead), all the way towards me. I take care that I leave enough room open in front of me so as not to be at risk from being touched myself. I make it broad as well so the creature cannot go around it (I let it touch the walls). It has a 20 foot radius so that should work. "Ranged attacks!", I shout and I move backwards, to the bar.
"That's easy enough for me" Hort grabs the crossbow from his back and shoots the monster with it (+11 to hit. +1d6 ice damage.) then moves back.
Berz sighs. "Crom-dammit." He then grabs a table, upends it, and pushes it (while standing behind it for cover) up to to edge of the Black Tentacles. "Some of us don't need pretty spells or mechanical aides to kill what ails us. Or have them."
Swig gives the contents of his mug a quick appraisal, decides there isn't enough to mourn, and tosses it carelessly away. Snagging his crossbow in one hand, he rushes toward the big axe-hefting guy. "Ye lookin' like th' sort wot'll put this t' good use," he says, drawing out a length of black licorice from a pocket. Rather than offer it as a snack, he says something in the dwarven tongue, using the stick of licorice to draw a rune in the air next to Berz. Everything seems to slow down for the human, while his own reactions appear to keep their pace. [Casting haste on Berz: +1 on attacks, +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves, +30' to movement speeds, one extra attack on a Full Attack action. Enjoy!]
I just realized we skipped Swig earlier. I replied because I saw Hort move and I knew I was after him, but we missed Swig. So essentially, Swig ends up standing next to where Berz was, and Berz has an extra action to use on his turn, which he spends readying his axe. "What the? Woah...cool. Will do."
The southeast corner of the room erupts in a mass of twisting black tentacles. They grab the creature, and begin to constrict. Rantic moves to the bar area as Swig moves to Berz and casts a spell. Hort fires a bolt at the creature as Berz, seeming to move faster, flips a table and uses it for cover while he advances on the field of tentacles. The creature roars in pain and struggles to free himself, but is unsuccessful. (Constrict damage:1d6+4=9; Bolt attack: to hit; 20+11=31. Critical confirmation; 17+11=28, confirmed. Damage; 2d6 p+2d6 i=22. Total dam:31) Next round...
[I'm getting my turn out of the way, since it's pretty high on the list.] Swig laughs at the red-skinned beast. "Hah! Me mudder could beatcha! I seen tougher'n you at fam'ly reunions!" Raising his free hand again, he speaks a pair of hard-edged syllables, punctuating them with a high-pitched whistle. The air above the demon -- or whatever it is -- distorts like a heat mirage, disgorging several dozen bewildered battys that flap around the creature's head. [Casting summon swarm to conjure a swarm of bats, so that it overlaps the big guy. Keeping it back enough to allow the others a clear shot at him.]
Dragore quickly sizes up the creature to see if he can judge the effect the bolt and the tentacles had on him (does he look affected or not at all?), while moving to a spot behind Berz. His Scythe in his right hand he quickly casts and flings two Magic Missiles (1d4 + 1 damage for each missile) to the creature with his left hand.
(It is clear he was affected. He is being crushed by tentacles, and has a bolt in his eye.) Rantic observes the creature, and seems to like what he sees. He moves forward as Swig taunts it. Rantic casts a spell and 3 bolts of black energy hit the creature, blowing a chunk out of his shoulder. He slumps, and stops moving. Swig casts a spell, and a bunch of very angry Battys appear. They flap around the creatures head for a second, but then flap out the open window and into the night sky. (Magic missile damage: 3d4+3=14. The creature appears to have died. The Battys only attack living things, so thats why they flew away.) Yay, you won!
