Edgar chases after the Owl, and swoops on it from behind, scoring a raking hit with its claws as he strikes the glowing bird. To your surprise he doesn’t pass through it but seems to be deflected upwards in his flight, hi momentum taking him barely over Callum's head and then just over Ravn's, as the priest appears at the top of the stairway.
Callum's headlong rush up the stairs is slowed when Ravn appears at the top of the narrow stairwell almost blocking the path. The two almost get tangled up with each other, but somehow Callum manages to squeeze past. The owl seems to ignore Ravn banking to miss him and continues its attack on Callum. The now almost stationary Callum makes a much cleaner target for the owl's next swoop, as it banks sharply and almost disappears into the wall, before returning for another strike.
Elsbeth follows Callum onto the stairs, Madelyn and Kerim move to follow, while Peter continues his self-appointed watch into the room.
OOC - I was going to give the owl an attack penalty for Edgar's successful attack, but the almost collision between Callum and Ravn cancelled it out.
The owl's attacking from out of the wall, appears to be a successful tactic and it almost lands on Callum as it strikes (for another 8 points of damage). Then, unusually, it seems to hover, a manouver that owls are not generally familiar with, and scrabble around on Callum's back.
OOC: I would like a d20 saving throw (vs spells) for Callum please :)
Unsure what to do, Rolf can only assume the source of Callum's attacker must lie within. With a hasty gesture after the owl, he says to Peter, "The reason behind the attacks have to be within." He rushes over to the screened off area, intent on entering. It appears that his burning need to aid Callum is overriding his respect for the honored dead.
Peter step away from the door to allow Rolf free access to the neww room.
He looks from Rolf to the door the others are leaving from and then back to Rolf, unsure of what to do next.
Mandrake, spurred on by the brave actions of Edgar and the observations, that perhaps the thing can only affect and thus only be effected by the living, rushes up behind Callum and, more easily, squeezes past Ravn. Reaching the prostrate figure, with the owl sitting on it’s prize, Mandrake reaches down and tries to pluck the bird from the warrior, and hold it tight, wings pinned and talons and beak well away.
Callum yelps in pain again as the owl gets in another attack and settles on his back. As he feels it land he dives to the ground and tries to roll.
OOC: and incidentally fails his saving throw unless he has a mysterious bonus of about +4. Fortunately (or perhaps not), he manages to contain the warp frenzy!
The owl seems to sink into Callum's back, the shock of it forcing even the normally impassive Callum to rear back in surprise, and then drops again.
When Callum rises again, the shape of an Owl's head is clearly visible on his upper chest
Seeing Mandrake and Elsbeth squezzing past him in pursuit of the owl-struck Callum, Ravn decides to heed the druid's suggestion and enter the basement, following Rolf into the darkness of below to search for reasons for the feathery spectre's appearance.
Callum stretches and screams, his body writhing and expanding. His muscles expand to enormous size, his limbs distort and sparks run over his body, leaping from the points of his spiked hair, his mouth stretches impossibly wide to an insane grin and his eyes bulge nd seem almost to shine. He sheathes the dagger and heaves his sword around. Screaming incoherent war cries, he charges down into the newly discovered room, barging all in his path out of the way. As soon as he enters the room he swings his sword in a huge arc towards the statue.
"Skirnir's shield" exclaims Peter as he sees Callum's twisted form with the ghostly owl's head on its chest rushing towards him. Without thinking he pulls Rolf away from the doorway and out of Callum's way, trying to avoid the collision..
Callum barges past every one, forcing his way into the inner chamber and taking an almighty swing at the statue, striking it hard and squarely across the body. However, to the amazement of those who watch, the staue suddenly moves swing its sword at Callum, catching him with a nasty looking blow. Even more surprisingly, it swings its stump at Callum as well, catching him a glancing blow as it passes him.
In the quiet, after the first exchange, you become aware of whirring noises emanating from the statue and then a gentle red glow coming from its eys as its metal eyelids open. This light bathes the room in its dim rosy light, making it just light enouigh to see clearly.
Elsbeth jumps out of the way in horror, drawing her scimitar as Callum runs by. As quicklky, the druid follows.
"Gods preserve us, he's possessed!" she tells herself as she follows.
Rushing on past Peter, Rolf looks around quickly, hoping to find some sort of inspiration as to how to help Callum. Suddenly Callum, enraged to the point of disfigurement, charges in. His massive sword comes free and launches a devastating attack at the statue. It's all Rolf can do to make sure he's out of the blades path. And then the statue seems to come to life and counter-attacks. The statue continues to show signs of life, eyes opening to pools of ruby light.
Whatever is going on, the statue seems to show early signs of winning the battle. Only then does he notice the owl face on Callum's chest and his puzzlement grows. Well, whatever else is going on, it's Callum's body being struck and Rolf couldn't stand by doing nothing. He moves back a bit and draws his own blade. Waiting for an opening, he brings it down on the statue's shoulder with all of his might.
OOC: Rolf rolls a 9.
Rolf stikes the metal monster on the shoulder, but his blade slides off with out doing any damage.
OOC: Its metal armour casing makes it AC2 - just so you can calculate your hits easier. :)
Edgar's attempts to keep clear of the owl's claws and his own surprise at the success of his attack (which had nothing to do with the nighthunter's insubstantiality and everything to do with the raven's nerves at the unlikely role reversal) causes him to all but lose control of his flight path necessitating some emergency manoevering to miss first Callum and then the approaching Ravn.
By the time he has banked around, the owl has already merged with the warrior, and Edgar can only watch in amazement as Callum undergoes the transformation and launches an attack against the statue.
With Rolf and Elsbeth joining the big fellow, and the rest pressing close, it is obvious that there is no place for a raven to lend his assistance, and so he settles atop the door to watch, ready for the chance to assist if needs be, though he quails at the thought of it.
Peter's face whitens further as he watches Rolf and the transfigured Callum launch attacks on the statue. he holds his shield and dagger ready and takes half a pace towards the battle.
But then appears to think better of it and stands his ground, waiting to see what happens.
Madelyn sees the owl's face on Callum's chest as he rushes past amd makes the same assumption as Elsbeth - the man is possessed by the owl. There is a clear look of indecision on her face, as she hesitates for a moment.
Then she sheathes her sword and raises her shield, which displays the Eye symbol of Odin and advances to the door of the room. "Begone, minion of Hel" she states in a loud, but slightly quavering, voice while brandishing her shield at Callum.
The scene unfolding in the underground chamber is a very confusing one - so, too, to the Runecaster. Realizing that he does not know exactly what is going on but realizing that the Celt warrior has entered some sort of berserker trance, Ravn opts for strengthening their force first.
So he tears a strip of cloth from his shirt and dips one end of it into the meadhorn, wiping up sticky honey with it. Then, sticky cloth in one hand and the spear raised in the other, Ravn steps forward near Rolf - minding carefully the warrior's swordplay - to patch the sticky cloth to his shoulder, all the while chanting verses in the Northern tongue.
"ODIN! Mäktiga Alfader! Skydda och bevara denna din Kämpe mot alla Ondor! THOR! Dundrets Betvingare! Leda denna din Kämpes värja rakt emot Ondskans Hjärta! FREY! Livsgivare! Ingjuda denna din Kämpe Blodets Styrka och gör honom stark!"
Once attached, the sticky cloth begins to glow with an eerie greyish light, almost like fog. Uddhugg caws loudly and flutters about, an unexpected breeze brings a vague foresty scent to the chamber, and you can hear a distant roll of thunder...
OOC: That's an Aid spell on Rolf, granting +1 to hit, +1 bonus to saves, and 1d8 extra hit points (=+7) that may even bring his hit point total to exceed the normal maximum.
As events go on, Rolf's attention is disrupted as a wet, sticky cloth is settled on his shoulder thanks to Ravn. He shrugs a bit, but doesn't have the time to do more. Master Ashengrey chants but Rolf does his best to put that out of his mind, siddling about and looking for an opening. Suddenly, the cloth begins to glow ever so slighty and Rolf feels a warming surge working it's way through his body. Whatever Ravn has done, it seems to be a beneficial thing.
Both the owl and the metal man seem to be ignoring Madelyn's bravely presented shield, but it does notice Rolf's attack on his rear. It swings around, trying to hit your leader with its stump and its sword again strikes at Callum. In the rosy light from its eyes it appears that smoke, or steam, is escaping from its severed wrist. In the dim room, the glowing parchment on Rolf's shoulder struggles against the light from the monster's eye, but doesn't seem to change to angry red nature of the light much.
The sword strikes through Callum's defence to make a large gash along his side (7pts) while the stump catches Rolf a solid blow against his shoulder (4pts)
Rolf grunts as he's clubbed in the shoulder by the statue, but he'd taken worse before and hopefully, would live to take worse again. He makes a spinning move to build up move force behind the blow and cuts at the neck, trying to find any place that appears to be a point of weakness. But his attack goes for naught. "The eyes," he gasps, "Cover his head."
OOC: Rolled a 9.
Callum ducks and swings to keep up the momentum of his huge sword but this time the statue manages to use it's sword to deflect the blow over it's head.
Seeing as her turning attempt doesn't seem to be having any effect, Madelyn braces the shield against her body and charges towards the metal man.
However, at the last moment she realises that she will hit Rolf instead and aborts the run. Moving to one side, obviously frustrated, she draws her sword and awaits her opportunity.
*phew*
Ravn, worrying at first that Rolf would shrug off the Aiding cloth, bretahes a sigh of relief as the thick honey from the meadhorn proves it adhesivity.
His next thought is to patch up the somewhat battered Celt, but Callum's wild swings and steaming fury makes him reconsider. By all the hairs on the Fenris Wolf, I'm NOT going near that! Instead, he focuses his mind on summoning Thor's and Odin's favors for the battle. So he raises his spear above his head in both hands and intones an ancient battle hymn said to be sung every evening in Valhalla after a long day of exercise on the Ida plain.
"Jätte komm nu till valen
spring fram utav ditt skjul
låt höra ditt grymma läte
och visa din åsyn så ful
Och vågar du trots att du ser mej
med Asornas styrka stå
Då skall jag nog banneme ta dej
och tampa dej gul och blå"
The sounds within the chamber seem to distort, a distant clatter of arms and cries of fighting and dying men approaching to mix with the metallic repetition of Rolf's blade against the statue and Callum's voiced battle rage. Uddhugg caws ever louder and increasingly frantic, and you can all feel the tenperature rising, your blood beginning to boil with battle lust and the certainty that the gods are on YOUR side, not with that rusty piece of junk.
Meanwhile, Ravn continues to chant the ancient battle hymn.
"Jätte spring fort genom skogen
stick hem till ditt ruttna bo
och göm dej som bäst uti logen
annars hittar jag dej må du tro
Och törs du dej än en gång visa
åter på valen igen
då bliva nog slutet din lisa
och döden din ende vän."
OOC: Chant spell, granting +1 to hit, damage and saves for all those friendly to the caster. Enjoy!
Having made his way back down the stairs and to the doorway, Mandrake can see no way that he can provide any help, having used all his magic this day and being no warrior.
Quite apart from this he cannot be sure which combatant he would aid given the ability, the possessed Callum or the maniacal machine. Instead then he drags his eyes from the unfolding screen and looks about the room for anything else that may throw a light on the situation, or indeed anything that looks interesting enough to risk further investigation.
"The eyes !" cries Edgar, heeding Rolf's words from his vantage point atop the door ...
Calling down to Mandrake, he asks the gnome urgently, hopping from one foot to the other in agitation, "Do you have a ... a sack or something light that I might fly over and drop it atop the statue's head ??"
OOC: Ah, not that it matters, given my roll (7, unadjusted which won't help), but it might be funny to see me miss spectacularily ! ;>