Session 11 - Nightmare Ablaze
General Summary
11 Sar
Hendrid Prattchet stares down the arriving Edgewatch agents, sword cane drawn and poised to strike at the first person to approach him.
Artorius attempts to parley with Pratchett, but realizes quickly that the fiend is completely unapologetic in his crimes and threatens the lives of the guards.
The binumir spirits of Bashar and Nita Sachta materialize, hand in hand, seemingly fully attuned to Pratchett and under his influence.
Artorius attempts to parley with Pratchett but is immediately struck in the chest by a ray of enfeeblement, sapping his strength away and weakening his opening assault.
Feragni slinks into the room and moves around to the top of Pratchett's work table, covered in alchemical and surgical tools. Abigail follows, blessing herself and moving around the other side in order to corner Pratchett.
Pratchett, a skilled swordsman and aiding himself with spells and a poisoned blade, quickly begins to whittle away at the health of Abigail and Artorius. Meanwhile, the binumir spirits move in on Exley and Cara, affecting all of the Edgewatch cadets with their agonizing wail.
Cara does a fine job of nailing a few glancing and direct shots on Prattchet from afar, although he dodges and deflects just as many.
Exley pulls back, beginning to assault the binumir with magic missiles in an attempt to exorcise it.
Feragni, his arms elongating suddenly like a pair of flexible branches or woody vines, does his best to claw at Pratchett, while Artorius holds his ground, and Abigail, sword ablaze, steps in to stop the killer.
The spectral cries of Pratchett's binumir does a fine job of holding off Exley, Cara, and Fang, while Abigail, Feragni, and Artorius close ranks with Pratchett. His swordplay is a natural defense against Artorius's bastard sword, but he gradually begins losing ground against Abigail and Feragni flanking him.
Exley, apologizing to the twins, finishes obliterating their ectoplasmic form and the binumir fades from the force of his magic missile barrage. Their spirits are at rest.
With the destruction of the binumir, Pratchett plays his trump card. He retreats from combat to the far wall, triggers a hidden panel disguised as a flagstone, and is quickly shunted away from the threat of combat as a portion of the wall spins quickly 180 degrees. The rotating wall closes and pulls a length of twine suspended at the ceiling, collapsing the nearby brazier and setting alight the oil-soaked wooden walls around the spilled flames and coals.
Chaos erupts as the room, soaked in lamp oil, is quickly set ablaze.
The watch agents quickly mobilize and retreat from the room, grabbing what they can from Pratchett's dungeon. Feragni makes a dive for the wall Pratchett escaped through and is quickly shunted to the other side to safety. Artorius attempts the same, but can't find the panel. He retreats with the others as the room and surrounding hallways are engulfed in flames.
Pratchett, faced with the solo Feragni, continues his retreat from him, scattering several vials of alchemist's fire on the ground to cover his retreat back up to the main floor. Feragni follows and is dispatched on the stairs as Pratchett's sword cane finds its way down through his body, leaving him to die on the stairs.
The other four, unsure of where Feragni and Pratchett specifically escaped to, find the ysoki's unconscious body on the stairs and scoop him up. Abigail quickly patches up his wounds and returns him to consciousness.
The Edgewatch agents now have a serious dilemma on their hands: hunt down Pratchett and stop him before he can escape the Dreaming Palace, despite the early lead they have on them or quickly round up and rescue the other innocent civilians from the hotel. They confer that despite their ongoing investigation and desire to bring Pratchett to justice, they have a duty to the people still in the hotel to rescue them from the inferno growing around them from below.
TO BE CONTINUED
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