Chapter 6a A time of Wolves

Riccardo teleports behind the mage and strikes at hime but a magical force blocks the blow from his sword as the Raven Cackles at him.

Justus
Wolves
Ardeth
Grogs

Justus follows Ardath's advice and blast one of the ravens if sap the griffins might.

Sap the Griffin's Strength, then [color=blue](PeVi 5, casting total 14+aura+die, penetration 2). On a raven

Ardeth and Justus both target the Spirit raven on the shoulder of Nestor, under the impact of the spells its might shrivels both Ardeth and Justus can tell that it's might is almost completely gone
The Grogs finish hacking the wolves into pieces so they will not be getting up again

The spear heads directly through the false image of Ardeth failing to strike her. Nestor casts a spell targeting Riccardo as he does so a red mist seeps out of the tree and his voice takes on a different timbre sounding almost like that of Mariella.
Riccardo collapses to the ground as if torn by a thousand knives (Incapacitated)
Nestor himself sinks to his knee's with blood pouring from his nose and ears, the raven on his shoulder flickers out of existance. However he shows clear signs of regaining his feet.

Justus stands for a moment looking at the pile of human in front of him. Justus points towards Riccardo, [color=red]Krispin take care of him. Ardath let’s finish this spirit once and for all. More blasting with sap the griffins might. Then Justus begin searching for more traces of spirit and if found they are getting a good blasting themselves.

[color=green]Ricardo: (unconscious and coughing up blood)
[color=red]gurgle

The only remaining foe on the battlefield is the possessed magus Nestor , however the spirit within him seems unassailable by the spells of Ardeth and Justus as it seems to have a might of about the 7th magnitude.

Nestor seems temprarily incapacitated but looks to be recovering quickly. The Grogs are runnign towards him and will start attacking him unless ordered otherwise.

Regius seems to have pased out .

(Regius is possessed by a much weaker rage spirit without Krispins intervention he would have been controlled by the spirit and attacked the other magi. It seems that the spirits avoid Krispin)

[color=green]Ricardo: [color=red]gurgle-glakk!

Krispin has been eerily silent this whole time, his eyes distant. Perhaps the vision rattled him more than it originally seemed. Perhaps it was continuing all along, and he was distracted by visions of blood and weapons. Perhaps this has been a very, very long day for a man who shuns anger and violence. Perhaps all three, but whatever the reason, he has not been himself. He has been helping as best he can and seems to be snapping out of it now.

He kneels down beside Ricardo, placing a hand gently on his forehead. Casting magic on a strange magus, even one without the Parma, is rude and probably criminal, depending on who you ask. Letting someone die who could be saved is unthinkable. He knows what he must do. They’re not friends yet… perhaps they will be when this is all over.

With a gentle push on the fallen Mercere’s forehead, he silently casts Restoration of the Mangled Body. Only faint scent of thyme gives him away as he infuses their fallen friend's body with Creo magic. Ricardo has +12 to his recovery roll thanks to magic and +3 for being attended by Krispin for a total of +15 to his recovery roll. Don’t botch. :stuck_out_tongue:

[color=red]Forgive me, sodales. I am not myself today, even though these spirits appear to be avoiding me. What shall we do now, and what does this all mean?

invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2086007/
for a "1", followed by...
invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2086009/
for a "3", how lame, which is doubled to be now a "6"
Plus other stuff :smiley:

[color=red]kaff-kaff! bleed; w..what happened?

Nestor is still foaming at the mouth and is starting to rise to his feet again.

Justus rush over to the fallen magus. [color=red]Guards do not slay that man. We need to capture him! Bind his hands behind his back and gag him. Knock him unconscious if needed but do not slay him, he is a magus of the order possessed by some vile thing. If he tries anything spell like give him a good whack with a stick.

The first grog to reach Nestor grabs him and is instantly possessed by one of the rage spirits and spins round drawing his axe to attack the other grogs

Krispin casts Entwining Vines on the whole lot at the earliest opportunity, unless someone else deals with it first and better. Ideally, he'll catch both Nestor and the angry grog. Except for the spirits, everyone seems to be blameless in this.

He will treat Justus’ wound at earliest opportunity, but it looks like things are still rough.

I post a sequence of actions that Justus will do.

  1. Draw dagger from belt.
  2. Teleport or jump to Nestor, Justus can fast cast if needed but he prefer not to cast spells if it is not needed.
  3. Stab Nestor (sorry soldae but it is for you own good)
  4. Fast cast The wizards leap to get out of Nestor’s reach.
  5. Use the blood on the dagger as an arcane connection and blast the spirit wit sap the griffins might.

Krispin traps Nestor and the grog in a net of vines, while Ardeth starts targeting the spirit possessing the grog with her magic and blasts it out of existance.
Justus is able to secure a sample of Blood from Nestor and is attacked by the spirits again as he touches the blood fortunatly these spirits are not able to breach his parma magica. The blood does serve as an arcane conneaction to the spirit and he is able to overcome it's magic resistance. As the spell impacts the spirit Nestor screams and blood gouts from a new wound on his torso.
To Justus and Ardeth the spirit does not seem to have weakened , except for a temporary flicker before it recovered its might

[color=red]Soldae… we can’t hurt it. Now what do we do? Shall we fight this thing and kill Nestor in the process!? Justus focus his spell casting on counterspells and destroying minor spirits that possess grogs.

[color=red]Then I suggest we take our wounded and run.

He pauses, and his tired eyes light up. [color=red]Justus, can I borrow your knife? I have one other idea.

If Justus will let him take the Arcane Connection for Penetration, the last thing Krispin will try is a Call to Slumber directly at Nestor. Perhaps if we put the host body to sleep the spirit will be unable to harm us (or him) for a while.

Not sure if this was clear earlier. The building at the edge of the clearing was a hermetic lab (probably Nestor's) and had a number of books and scrolls probably including any lab notes Nestor made.

Krispin is able to put Nestor to sleep.

You are in a clearing surrounded by Tree's and bushes many of them with thorns. Blood is dripping from the plants and soaking into the soggy ground. There are no breaks in the ring of plants (There was when you entered)
Near one edge of the clearing is a stone building probably erected with hermetic magic containing a lab, and small selection of books.
In the middle of the Clearing is a Yew tree with a noose hanging form its branches and a spear wound which is oozing blood. The spear lies on the ground at the side of the tree having flown out and skewered several people earlier.
Nestor is asleep next to the tree.
There are teh scatterred remains of two wolves the grogs have hacked to pieces. At the moment the rage spirits are quiesent