Oooo, okay, I was just writing the Kith-doll having leapt out of the books to attack, but I'll nix that for now. Kith is pretty distracted, and will just assume the dolls were convenienctly smooshed when the skespider splattered into the door.

Ch'doll

Mosic has 6 spells left, 2 1st, 2nd, and 3rds  I was thinking that too, reading about the burning kitty cat  

And yeah, I got that about the doors as well. I was planning on ending the little post I'm starting with us finally getting the door open and seeing whatever we see e.g. Aranwen alone, Ara gone, some form of Morgana, etc.

Woooo! Let it burn!

And np, that was more of an FYI just in case, I'll add it to my post.

Rer: what'll we see with the doors open?

*glares at the computer screen*

I'd really rather not  

Haha yeaaaaah, that would suuuuck. It'd suck for any of them, really, considering they're all trying to stay under the radar at this point and having an off-the-leash doppelganger isn't exactly subtle :3

Hoooboy. That is VERY much like those mirror sprites haha

Let me know if I got any part of it wrong:
"The Kithran doll crouched, ready to leap at her again, and as it did, another form manifested just beside it. Indistinct but for a mask, it lunged and struck out at Kith’s gut as the doll struck at her face.Kith surged backward away from both, watching the mask impossibly frown as its strike missed, before fading away once again."

Also, I don't feel like I properly expressed how cool those blood collectors are. The design both aestheically and mechanically is reeeeeeeally awesome! Their dresses change color to reflect the blood they've obtained? The more they collect, the more accurately the dolls reflect the original? Tooooo cool!

Yes! Thanks! Way cooler than what I was thinking 

Now that you mention it, YES IT DOES. Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Also, I'm trying to imagine this: "the shade that appears is somewhat indistinct in form, but is exactly the same size, proportions, and holds blades that look the same as the real Kithran"

The doll leaping at Kith is maybe 8in to a foot (20cm to 30.5cm if you're from a sane country) tall, but when it attacks her Kith sees an indistict form that is her size leaping at her?

I'll add that to my post.

Hey.

Hey.

Hey.

. . . . 

TAG!

* * * * * *

And in case it matters:

Mosic used 1 of 3 second level spells to cast Guiding Bolt at a higher level (usually a 1st level spell), hitting the the shit out of that leg (at 2nd level, that's 5d6, and I rolled pretty well ), plus the glow afterward gave the next strike advantage. RP as you wish, Catman.

He used 2 of 4 first level spells to cast Bless to give the three of them +1d4 on attacks and saving throws (mechanically, it's a concentration spell, so if he gets hit there's a chance he'll drop the spell, do with that what you will), and to cast Healing Word on Ch'dau.

For those following at home who give an eff, he still has:

1 of 2 channels left to use destroy undead--though this creature's CR is likely too high to be affected.
2 of 4 level 1 spells
2of 3 level 2 spells
2 of 2 level 3 spells

Good day

Admiring my handicraft, a familiar, chilling voice spoke as the door creaked behind them.

Kithran turned in time to see a small doll version of herself and Ch’dau closing the door on Aranwen.

“Aranwen, quickly!” Ch’dau called as the bladesinger rushed forward. Kith leaped around the Cidal and raced toward the door to pull her through, but they were all too late. The doors closed and their bladesinger was gone.

“Damn it,” Kith growled, drawing her blades as the puppets began securing the door, but before she could act the disembodied voice returned around them and she spun around.

So easily distracted, it snickered at them, I’d look up if I were you.

Her head jerked back as she looked up and all thoughts of the dolls behind her and the Sylvari beyond were briefly wiped from her mind as she realized the horrific creature she had been dreading hung maniacally just above her by a tangled web of the witch’s threads. “Gods . . . .” she whispered as the sound of snapping fingers echoed through the room and the thing began to tumble down toward her. Her breath caught just as a kazari paw shoved her away and the monstrosity crashed down atop Ch’dau.

Kithran stumbled back against a high-backed chair, which crashed into the bookshelf behind her. She watched as Ch’dau batted at those terrible bone-dagger legs with his blades, while the laughing skulls throughout its body chittered away at him, stretching as far as they could on what was left of their spinal cords for another bite.

Kith shook her head and looked back toward the doors, the handles of which the puppets had wrapped in that webbing, very much like the threads she cut Ch’dau out of. She took a breath and leapt forward, “Mosic! Help Ch’dau! Do something magical!” and she rushed once more to the door. She fell into a slide and kicked the kazari doll back, stabbing at the one on the handles that looked similar to her.

This doll was more difficult to hit, jumping and dodging her strikes, then leaping at her face.

A sudden flash of powerful golden light drenched her, and a familiar wave of warm energy jolted her forward, smashing the doll on her face into the door and allowing her to grab it and toss it aside. Kith looked behind her to see the Cidal priest standing before the demonic creature, his breathing heavy and his palms outstretched before him. One of the middle legs of the bone spider hung more limp than the rest, and the entire creature shimmered in a golden light.

Wasting no more time, Kith turned back to the door and started cutting at the threads, and another lighter feeling of that Falloes energy surrounded her.

She had hardly began to tear into them when something tapped the side of her leg where she knelt. She looked down at the Ch’dau doll, having finally recovered and beginning to tug at her. Kith spun her blade around in her hand and made to strike down at this thing, but as she swiped another small weight hit her in her opposite side. The miniature version of her clung to her torso, a stabbing pain beginning to throb there and she could feel blood dampen the inside of her shirt as the thing began to crawl up her. Kith grabbed at it, but it easily jumped away from her grasp, and as it leapt from her back onto the handle, she could feel the kazari doll begin to crawl up her other side as well.

The Kithran doll crouched, ready to leap at her again, and as it did, another form manifested just beside it. Indistinct but for a mask, it lunged and struck out at Kith’s gut as the doll struck at her face. Kith surged backward away from both, watching the mask impossibly frown as its strike missed, before fading away once again.

She landed on her back just below the skeletal spider and a real kazari roar filled the room. She looked up in time to dodge the spearlike leg, and almost missed another as she spotted Ch’dau take a hit across his chest, blood immediately soaking his silver fur. Kith managed to dodge a fatal strike from the second, but not before she too was hit by its razorlike leg, right through her shoulder.

As the leg retracted to strike again, Kithran rolled out from under it, to the opposite side of the room from Ch’dau. She winced, holding her dripping shoulder and backing up against the bookshelf, as the creature, a little more worse for wear than when it had first fallen atop them, turned back to Ch’dau. 

The door would have to wait.

She hoped Aranwen could as well, as she turned toward the bookshelf and began to climb.

Grasping onto the wooden shelf, she turned around, pulling and kicking books away to get as much a grip and footing as she could. Ch’dau struck fiercely at the creature, and Mosic mumbled to himself as his hands formed different symbols in the air before him.

Alright, just have to watch out for the back leg sneak attack, and this should go much better than last time. Just one more second an--

Kithran squinted, noticing a third doll in a white dress near Ch’dau’s feet. It didn’t seem to harm him, but instead gathered something at the floor beneath him and moved on to another splotch on the floor. Our blood.

She was about to call out to Mosic once more to do something about the thing, but a beam of golden light shot down through the ceiling at it. The doll just barely hopped out of its way, and the priest instead took out his mace.

Good priest. Now--oh shit.

The creature reared up, two of its legs poised to strike at the kazari from above. Kithran launched herself off the shelf, bringing her feet out in front of her, and crashing with all of her weight into the back of what accounted for the creature’s head. Ch’dau ducked and spun out of the way as it fell forward into the opposite wall. Kith grasped onto the sinewy bones, forcing herself not to comprehend what she was grabbing, and pulled herself up to the top of the abomination once again. She leaped over the clacking jaws, toward one of the weaker-looking legs.

“I can’t think of anything witty right now,” she called, striking at the crumbling joint and kicking away at one of the skulls reaching out from the body, “just move, cat!” and she heard Ch’dau growl in return.

KNOPE

The amount of times I write "Kitheran" instead of "Kithran" is too damn high.

Whew, this is exciting.

Are they very hearty? If someone were to, say, mace their shit up in an attempt to open the door, how would they fight back?

Honestly I'm having trouble getting the gingerbread man from Shrek out of my head as these things lol

Let's get this thing!

Kith is pretty upset they've lost their bladesinger, she would have been so helpful . . . But at least they got a cleric this time!

Heading over to the doggo cafe for some coffee and to write in a few!

To clarify: are we in the study?

Will it be just the bone spider, or will the dolls do anything?

Oh yeah, all of my torture/brainwashing ish is all just gallows-humor and things I tell myself to get into messed-up Kith brain. It's uh, not a great situation they've got going there.

I do look forward to the Aranwen/Kith dynamic. I think about it a lot both in regards to KCandK and HC/HC2/HCA. It's one thing, among many, that I'm bummed we weren't both there in the beginning of HC for, or had even contemplated the relationship until way later. I imagine that, having grown much more comfortable and accustomed to Ara and the way Ara treats her, it would have been kind of funny for Kith to go back to try and seem tough in front of the new people That being said, I'm looking forward to her finding comfort in both Ara and Ch'dau in KCandK. Just want my girl to be happy.

I also do ultimately find it funny that Ch'dau is cat-dad. He is just her buddy, aaaand is technically a few years younger--though I think relatively the same age or a little older based on his lifespan. I think in Aftermath, the fatherliness will likely come out more, after they'd all been through so much turmoil, but in KCandK and HC, he's just her bestie.

Aaahhhh, I love these characters so much haha.

Are you trying to tell me, that brainwashed women and their sociopathic tormentors can't be in love? I thought this was 2020!

And yeah, I don't even think Kith really feels like an adult yet, she just looks like one to most of the world and uses it to her advantage. I kind of think that's how a lot of people feel--though in the case of her Sylvari side, it is true haha.

P.S. *raising finger to the sky* AND ANOTHER THING, Kith wasn't into the torture or punishments. She came to believe she needed and deserved them, but she didn't like or get off on them. She liked the post-pain cuddles from the powerful, lovely priestess afterward  and was also feeling pretty lonely with almost everyone she loved DEAD.

P.S.S. Fun fact: at the time of HC, Kithran is 28 (baby Sylvari), the same age as Tara was when she passed away :3 though her bday is coming up, as it is in KCandK. Sort of. 1st of Dhenns  so still a few months away. Plenty of time to find that perfect gift! Better get her something nice! 

#LoveIsLove

My pure pure pure pure angel child eyes!

Could have just left it at your last post, omgggg

sounds like you have a fun night ahead of you Eol!

Have a good night!

My forgiveness is easily won over by several unmarked $100 bills sent to a specific dropbox location at exactly 2100 this evening.

So you have time, buddy

No worries, Eol! Can't wait