From Across the Multiverse to Barovia: Expedition to Castle Ravenloft (IC)

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Spoiler

Show

I'm back!

As soon as there is room Arya will jump down and join the others (Triss and August)

Spoiler

Show

Jump check: (1d20)[7]
Dex check: (1d20+4)[14]

Not sure what is appropriate here.

[Fireheart]

"Woah, Ugly." T'riss says as she backpedal's quickly away from the skeleton attacking her.

Turning to face one of the zombies, she quickly lashes at it with her sickle.

OOC:

Spoiler

Show

Moving from G1 to H2 (going via G2 to activate skirmish, should trigger and AOO from S1)

attacks Z1
(1d20+8)[28]
dmg sickle
(1d6+4)[9] +undead bonus
skirmish dmg
(2d6)[5]

AC 18 for AoO
AC 22 for others

[Jeff the Green]

Through the mist you hear a quavering voice in the southwest of the basement. Even though you cannot understand the language, the words not only sound but feel vile. The undead creatures stand stalk still for a moment, as if in reverence before continuing their attack. In the main, they attack whomever is closest to them, except for the one Drifa had attacked, who stands more nimbly than any of the dead have proven capable of and dashes to stand next to the vulnerable Isaac.

The hulking brute now charges at August, its horrid fangs snapping at his back. You can see it now, its grotesque form piebald with both melanic and albino patches and its hair sprouting in unkempt and ragged patches. It slavers and howls as if in agony, but there is more intelligence in its eyes than in most of the creatures you've seen here.

Spoiler

Show

Arthros: Jump down (DC 15: (1d20+1)[9] damage (1d6)[6]), stand if necessary.
Ashlyn: Move to J1, smite Z1

Attack: [roll]1d20+13[/roll
Damage: (1d6+6)[9] plus DC 13 disease

D: Cast recitation (+3 to attack, AC, and saving throws)
G1: 5-foot step to G3, full attack August

Attack: (1d20+10)[19], (1d20+6)[9] (1d20+6)[17]
Damage: (1d8+3)[7] plus DC 15 disease plus Fort DC 15 paralysis for (1d4+1)[2] rounds, (1d4+1)[2] plus paralysis, (1d4+1)[3] plus paralysis

G2: Stand (swift action, no AoO) Withdraw to K8
Z1: Attack Aswin

Attack: (1d20+11)[28]
Damage: (1d6+6)[12] plus DC 13 disease

Z2: Attack Aswin

Attack: (1d20+11)[21]
Damage: (1d6+6)[9] plus DC 13 disease

Z3: Move to G1, attack T'riss

Attack: (1d20+11)[12]
Damage: (1d6+6)[7] plus DC 13 disease

S1: Move to H1, attack T'riss

Attack: (1d20+13)[31]
Damage: (1d6+6)[12] plus DC 13 disease

B: Charge August (end at H4)

Attack: (1d20+23)[38]
Damage: (1d8+15)[23] plus daze plus DC 13 disease

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Arya swings for the monster ahead of her, her flaming blade burning intensely.

Spoiler

Show

Move to F3. Attack G1.

initiative: (1d20+5)[17]

Burning Blade

Attack roll: (1d20+12)[22]
Damage: (2d6+5)[15]
Fire: (2d6+4)[13]
Truedeath: (1d6)[5]

[Mahrke]

This is what happens when you don't plan ahead....the cries from the adjoining room ring out, the battle deafening, and all the more troubling in this blinding fog. Something had to be done.

The professor steps forward, disappearing in an instant to instead step beside his companions from nowhere.

"Haste! Swiftness!" The words are spoken with urgency as time bends to the old man's will, the familiar "Opportunity..." sounding out from a few hazy moments into the future.

Spoiler

Show

Move Action: Dimension Hop to K1

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 3 PP
Augment: Personal
Effect: Teleport Isaac to K1.

Standard Action: Haste, Linked Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 6 pp, Psionic Focus
Augment: Enhance, Mass x2, Linked Power
Target: Aswin, Ashlyn, Arya
Effect: The targets gain a +1 bonus to Attack, AC, and Reflex, as well as a 30' enhancement bonus to movement speed, and an extra attack on a full attack action. Duration 6 rounds. Manifest Opportunity on Aswin at the beginning of Isaac's next turn.

Swift Action: Swiftness

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 3 PP
Target: Isaac
Effect: Isaac moves up 6 in the initiative count. As this was cast as the end of a round, he will act before the foes in the next round, effectively giving him another turn before they act, and after his allies have acted.

[Sallera]

The flailing shade's claws are easily deflected by shield and armour, but the wild-eyed brute's strike shatters August's field of broken possibilities and sends a wide crack through his buckler, and he stumbles under the blow, bruised and disoriented.

Spoiler

Show

So, ow. One more of those and August is going down. I take it the daze part is no-save?
Fort: (1d20+8)[13]

[TheFallenOne]

Two powerful slams got past Aswin's shield, but he saw he wasn't the one in most dire danger by far. "Elder! Get Drifa on the other side!" He let his hammer fly in wide arcs, trying to crush the wall of dead flesh separating the group.

Spoiler

Show

Drifa attacks G2
(1d20+14)[30] (1d8+12)[15]

Aswin smites Z2, PA 3
attack - (1d20+14)[22] (2d6+15)[27] trip - (1d20+14)[27]

and attacks Z1
attack - (1d20+11)[19] (2d6+9)[21]
attack - (1d20+6)[26] (2d6+9)[14]
another +2 on attacks, forgot flanking

[Mahrke]

The old man's speed is surprising, but, then again, his quickness has nothing to do with his weakened sinew, or creaky joints. He points to Drifa, and then to August, whirling a single bony digit in the air as he intones the power, "Transposition.". Again, the echoing, distorted voice of his future self is heard, even as Aswin is granted a brief opportunity to strike.

Spoiler

Show

Triggered Action: Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Trigger: Linked Opportunity activation
Effect: Aswin may make a free melee attack.

Move Action: Recover Psionic Focus
Standard Action: Transposition, Linked Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 2 pp, Psionic Focus
Target: Drifa, August
Effect: The targets switch places unless one of them makes a Will save (DC 19). Linked Opportunity on Drifa.

Buff Duration: Haste at 5 rounds.

[Jeff the Green]

Almost simultaneously the two ghouls fall, one to Arya's blade and the other to Drifa's fangs, though the others remain standing despite your efforts. The professor's teleportation effect lands Drifa and the hulking creature tangled on the floor. While the wolf still works to right itself, the piebald leaps up with surprising agility. It lunges at Arthros, who had presented himself as an easy target by casting a spell nearby. The remaining creatures respond to a harsh guttaral sound from the corner and begin attacking T'riss.

The same voice begins chanting again, and you feel the same horrid maggots appear on you in your last fight, sucking away the magic protections Arthros and Isaac have wrought.

Spoiler

Show

T'riss: Attack Z2
[indent]Attack: (1d20+6)[19]
Damage: (1d6)[1]
Arthros: Cast divine protection (+1 morale to everyone's AC and saving throws)
Ashlyn: Attack Z2

Attack: (1d20+10)[13]
Damage: (1d8+3)[6]

Z1: Attack T'riss

Attack: (1d20+11)[17]
Damage: (1d6+6)[10] plus DC 13 disease

Z2: Attack T'riss

Attack: (1d20+11)[15]
Damage: (1d6+6)[10] plus DC 13 disease

Z3:5-foot step to F3, attack Arthros

Attack: (1d20+11)[14]
Damage: (1d6+6)[9] plus DC 13 disease

S1: Attack T'riss

Attack: (1d20+13)[22]
Damage: (1d6+6)[9] plus DC 13 disease

B: Stand, 5-foot step to F4, attack Arthros

Attack: (1d20+21)[36]
Damage: (1d8+15)[20] plus daze plus DC 13 disease

D: Cast dispel magic, centered at H2/I3

Aswin loses divine protection (1: haste, 2: circle against evil, 3: mass conviction, 4: divine protection)
(1d4)[4] (1d20+6)[23]
(1d3)[1] (1d20+6)[11]
(1d2)[2] (1d20+6)[9]
(1d20+6)[7]
Arya loses mass conviction (1: haste, 2: mass conviction, 3: divine protection)
(1d3)[2] (1d20+6)[23]
(1d2)[2] (1d20+6)[21]
(1d20+6)[18]
Ashlyn loses mass conviction (1: haste, 2: mass conviction, 3: divine protection)
(1d3)[2] (1d20+6)[19]
(1d2)[1] (1d20+6)[8]
(1d20+6)[19]
Drifa loses mass conviction (1: mass conviction, 2: divine protection)
(1d2)[1] (1d20+6)[25]
(1d20+6)[18]
Isaac loses divine protection (1: mass conviction, 2: divine protection)
(1d2)[1] (1d20+6)[7]
(1d20+6)[20]
August loses mass conviction(1: mass conviction, 2: divine protection)
(1d2)[2] (1d20+6)[11]
(1d20+6)[19]
T'riss loses divine protection (1: mass conviction, 2: divine protection)
(1d2)[1] (1d20+6)[9]
(1d20+6)[25]

[Mahrke]

"Find the caster and lay it low!" Shouts Isaac as he feels the maggots trying to devour his magic...like a bad eraser marring painstakingly perfected formulas.

He gestures to Arya, shouting "Opportunity!", even as his previous magic has its effect on the great wolf, giving the pair an instant of slowed time to utilize in a lethal strike.

Spoiler

Show

Triggered Effect: Linked Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Trigger: Linked Opportunity Activation
Effect: Drifa makes a standard attack.

Standard Action: Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 1 pp
Target: Arya
Effect: Arya makes a standard attack.

Move Action: Regain Psionic Focus

[TheFallenOne]

Drifa snapped at the hulking corpse when it disentangled from her after her sudden change of location brought them to the ground. She warily stayed in a crouched position with too many of the creatures surrounding her and tore again at the leg of the thing savaging Arthros. Aswin meanwhile could do little more than keep hammering at the zombies blocking the corridor, but his eyes were firmly on the brute with mismatched skin. "That thing looks nasty. First to tear a limb off wins!"

Spoiler

Show

Attack Z2 until down, then Z1. Step west if either falls. PA 3
(1d20+11)[27] (2d6+9)[18]
(1d20+11)[16] (2d6+9)[16]
(1d20+6)[18] (2d6+9)[20]
+2 on the attacks aimed at Z1

Drifa attacks B
(1d20+10)[24] (1d8+12)[20] trip - (1d20+12)[30]

Opportunity attack likewise at B actually, make that Z3 if B is already tripped
(1d20+10)[28] (1d8+12)[14] trip - (1d20+12)[25]

[Sallera]

"My thanks, Isaac." Shaking his head to clear it of the lingering haze, August swiftly gets his new bearings and hurries through the mist to rejoin the fight. Unable to see the creature that attacked him through the fog, he unleashes his power on the skeletal shade instead, striking at its skull and spine with the denial of its reanimated state.

Spoiler

Show

Move to K2, attack S1.
Ranged touch: (1d20+5)[19]
Damage: 30
Concealment (miss on 1): (1d5)[1]

[Fireheart]

The attacks of the creatures are taking thier toll on T'riss. Several wounds bleed heavily.

She takes a step to back up toward the Great Wolf and Arya; hoping to limit the number of creatures who can attack her.

Still wielding the sickle, she slashes at the zombie.

OOC:
attacks Z3

Spoiler

Show

(1d20+8)[10]
(1d20+4)[8] dmg vs undead

If my count is right, T'riss is down to 9/42.

[Jeff the Green]

Aswin's hammer causes one of the zombies to crumble into dust, but still the others stand, as both T'riss's sickle and August's bolt of darkness miss their targets in the swirling mist. Arya strikes hard, once, twice, three times at the piebald monstrosity with her massive sword while trying to fend the creatures off of the dazed Arthros and injured T'riss. It seems to work, as the zombie batters at the knight's back rather than at Arthros, and the two still blockading the hall turn their attention to Aswin.

Drifa's fangs sink into the hulking piebald creature's thigh and it screams in shock, rather than pain, as it falls to the ground. With grace unexpected from its massive form, however, it rolls about and tries to sink its teeth into Drifa's neck.

As the two roll about in their struggle, you hear a horrid chanting from the back of the room, and the temperature drops. Aswin's sunrod flickers for a moment before returning to its full brightness, and the flame on Arya's blade begins to release a foul black smoke.

Spoiler

Show

Arya: Attack B

Attack: (1d20+12)[31]
Damage: (2d6+5)[11] plus (1d6)[6] fire plus (1d6)[4] truedeath
Attack: (1d20+12)[13]
Damage: (2d6+5)[13] plus (1d6)[2] fire plus (1d6)[4] truedeath
Attack: (1d20+12)[19]
Damage: (2d6+5)[12] plus (1d6)[4] fire plus (1d6)[2] truedeath

Arthros: Dazed
Ashlyn: Attack Z1

Smite: (1d20+13)[26]
Damage: (1d8+9)[15]
Attack: (1d20+5)[14]
Damage: (1d8+3)[10]

Z1: Attack Aswin

Attack: (1d20+11)[29]
Damage: (1d6+6)[7] plus DC 13 disease

Z3:Attack Arya

Attack: (1d20+11)[13]
Damage: (1d6+6)[7] plus DC 13 disease

S1: Attack Aswin

Attack: (1d20+13)[17]
Damage: (1d6+6)[11] plus DC 13 disease

B: Attack Drifa

Attack: (1d20+17)[33]
Damage: (1d8+15)[20] plus daze plus DC 13 disease

D: Cast... something

[Sallera]

Tilting his head as he attempts to pinpoint the skeletal creature through the fog, August brushes a finger over the bone raven's wing to steady his mental control, and once again extends the tendril of his denial toward the shade.

Spoiler

Show

Attack S1.
Ranged touch: (1d20+5)[25]
Damage: 30
Concealment (miss on 1): (1d5)[3]

[Mahrke]

Isaac takes stock of the battlefield...this needed to end, and quickly. There was little more he could do to direct affect either his foes or friends...but with a little repositioning, he was sure that the might of the allied warriors would fell their enemies.

"Dimension Hop!" Comes the call, and with it, the vertigo of a suddenly new perspective, the professor clasping his cane in two hands nervously at the proximity to these creatures he's been forced into. "Jolly good. Looks like its time for you to step up a bit then, eh?" He nods to the francophone paladin.

Spoiler

Show

Free Action: 5' Step to J1
Standard Action: Dimension Hop, Linked Opportunity (Cast Defensively, Concentration 24)

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 5, Psionic Focus, Vesper's Psionic Focus
Augments: Mass x1, Linked Power, Psionic Concentration
Targets: Triss, Aswin
Effect: Triss teleports to D4 (putting her in range of healing). Aswin teleports to F5, letting him flank with Arya. Opportunity targeting Aswin will occur at the beginning of Isaac's next turn.

Move Action: Regain Psionic Focus

Buff Duration: Haste at 3 rounds.

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Spoiler

Show

Woops, got confused with the order, thought I'd acted this round.

Arya continues to attack the monstrosity before her. Weaving and slashing amidst the noxious smoke.

Spoiler

Show

Arya attacks B again.

(1d20+13)[26]
Damage: (2d6+5)[11] Fire (1d6)[1] Truedeath: (1d6)[6]

(1d20+13)[29]
Damage: (2d6+5)[12] Fire (1d6)[3] Truedeath: (1d6)[2]

Remember anything Arya threatens is in difficult terrain.

Also, I think I should remember to use some of my manoeuvres...

[TheFallenOne]

Transported next to the powerful undead monstrosity, Aswin gave Arya a short nod of acknowledgement, then joined her in battering the creature into submission with powerful strikes.

Spoiler

Show

PA 5

Smite
attack - (1d20+14)[23] (2d6+17)[23] ignores first 6 DR
Smite
attack - (1d20+14)[23] (2d6+17)[27] ignores first 6 DR
attack - (1d20+6)[11] (2d6+11)[16]

[Jeff the Green]

Between Arya's mighty strikes and Aswin's powerful blows, the piebald creature is severely damaged. It howls and thrashes on the ground as though in pain, but still tears at Drifa.

Meanwhile, Arthros attends to T'riss, whose wounds instantly heal. She darts immediately to the zombie behind Arya and slashes into it with her sickle. Ashlyn darts in to protect Isaac from the two undead, slashing at the zombie and interposing between the professor and the skeleton.

Suddenly the chanting from the corner stops. To the west you see a dirty red flame appear, burning through the mist. It widens and darkens as you hear the sound of grating stone and screeching bats. A horrid form appears in the middle of the flame, a squat and mishapen dwarf with tusks and a pot belly. It growls and sucks in air before releasing it, a horrid stench of decomposing flesh and rotting peat.

From his new position, Aswin is finally able to glimpse the source of the foul magic that has plagued you in this basement: a worn and weary old man, his white hair dirty and matted and his clothes torn and disheveled. His face seems to express not only hatred and fear, but also despair and disgust. He weeps and screams as he watches the piebald creature, but composes himself to cast yet another spell. At his command, a great sword appears in his hand, coalesced from shadow and screeching with the agony of a tortured soul.

Spoiler

Show

Arthros: Cast cure serious wound for 36. Cast defensively: (1d20+11)[23]
T'riss: Move to F1

Attack: (1d20+8)[28]
Damage: (3d6+4)[14]

Ashlyn: 5-foot step to I1, attack Z1 (If Z1 falls, switch to S1)

Smite: (1d20+13)[18]
Damage: (1d8+9)[14]
Attack: (1d20+5)[18]
Damage: (1d8+3)[7]

Z1: Attack Ashlyn

Attack: (1d20+11)[28]
Damage: (1d6+6)[7] plus DC 13 disease

Z3:Attack Arya (flanking)

Attack: (1d20+13)[20]
Damage: (1d6+6)[10] plus DC 13 disease

S1: Attack Ashlyn

Attack: (1d20+13)[21]
Damage: (1d6+6)[7] plus DC 13 disease

B: Attack Drifa

Attack: (1d20+17)[21]
Damage: (1d8+15)[18] plus daze plus DC 13 disease

D: Cast blade of pain and fear
Su: SLA stinking cloud DC 13 at H2/I3

Arthros's save: (1d20+7)[8] Nauseated (1d4+1)[2] rounds if fail

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Arya just dodges the zombie's blow due to her enhanced reflexes and then struck out again at the near-dead creature before her.

Spoiler

Show

Arya's AC is temporarily 23 due to Haste, so she avoids the zombie's attack, yay!

(1d20+13)[27]
Damage (2d6+5)[12]
Fire (1d6)[5]
True Death (1d6)[5]

(1d20+13)[17]
Damage (2d6+5)[11]
Fire (1d6)[3]
True Death (1d6)[5]

[Mahrke]

The old man continues a frantic effort to aid his allies in their quest to down this seemingly-unkillable creature, chanting as he once-more allows them brief moments to seize the day.

Spoiler

Show

Triggered Action: Linked Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Target: Aswin
Effect: Aswin makes a melee attack.

Standard Action: Opportunity, Linked Opportunity (Defensive, Result 29)

Spoiler

Show

Cost: 2
Augment: Linked Power, Psionic Focus
Target: Arya
Effect: Arya makes a single melee attack. She will make another melee attack at the beginning of Isaac's next turn.

Move Action: Regain Psionic Focus
Vesper's Full Round: Regain Psionic Focus

Buff Tracker: Two more rounds on Haste.

[TheFallenOne]

In light of the remarkable toughness of the piebald Aswin could do little more than keep up the relentless assault, crushing the bones of the creature before it takes advantage of his incapacitated mount.

Spoiler

Show

first, Opportunity
(1d20+11)[29] (2d6+11)[14]

Full attack, PA 5. If B falls before my turn or to my Opportunity move to F8 and attack D
(1d20+11)[13] (2d6+11)[18]
(1d20+11)[28] (2d6+11)[23]
(1d20+6)[11] (2d6+11)[15]

[Fireheart]

Spotting the caster, T'riss dodges around the Zombie to get to him, drawing her rapier as she does.

"Finally," she says!

Spoiler

Show

moves to D1

attack w/ rapier
(1d20+9)[28]

dmg
(1d6+1)[5]
(2d6)[2]

should trigger AoO from Z3, AC 18

[Sallera]

Overcome by the cloud of foul vapours, August drops to one knee, coughing and clutching his stomach with his free hand as the wasted potential of his casting floats futilely around the other.

[Jeff the Green]

Arya's sword strikes hard and true at the piebald creature, severing an arm and its other hand. It starts to squeal and screech, but it is cut short by Aswin's hammer. It smashes the creature in the chest, crushing its ribs, and then its head, permanently stilling it.

A cry of rage and grief arises from the white-haired man in the corner, and he charges at Aswin, swinging his enormous black blade wildly.

At the same time, Arthros falls to his hands and knees, retching. It's a fatal mistake, as the potbellied dwarf lunges at him. It tears at the healer's throat with its tusks and scratches at his face. Somehow he hits an artery, and is rewarded with a stream of hot blood. Arthros collapses, dead.

Spoiler

Show

Arthros: Nauseated
Ashlyn: Attack S1 (shield bash)

Smite: (1d20+9)[17]
Damage: (1d6+3)[4]
Attack: (1d20+4)[10]
Damage: (1d6+3)[9]

Z3:Attack Arya

Attack: (1d20+11)[28]
Damage: (1d6+6)[12] plus DC 13 disease

S1: Attack Ashlyn

Attack: (1d20+13)[33]
Damage: (1d6+6)[7] plus DC 13 disease

D: Charge Aswin, attack with blade of pain and fear

Attack: (1d20+8)[21] (touch)
Damage: (1d6+3)[6] plus DC 15 frightened for (1d4)[3] rounds
Save: (1d20+9)[28]

Su: Attack Arthros

Attack: Cinematic
Damage: Cinematic

T'riss swiftly retaliates against the dwarf. Her rapier neatly skewers it, and it falls dead on top of Arthros. The remaining undead likewise fall to Ashlyn's shield and Arya's sword.

Only the old man remains. He flails wildly at Aswin and the now-recovered Drifa with his shrieking black blade, and it seems clear he has no intent to surrender.

[al'Lan Mandrag]

Seeing one of their number fall, Arya doesn't hesitate and moves at once to take the old man, but she manages to restrain herself enough to stop before hm, sword raised, but she doesn't attack.

"Should we end this man now? Or find out what he knows?" Arya's blood was up and she was willing to take the former course of action, but the fact that a living being was allied with these dead things gave her pause.

Spoiler

Show

Disease:
(1d20+7)[16]

[Mahrke]

The professor hobbles forward. Everything had gone to hell; their surgeon was on a swift road to the grave, and their last standing foe could very well be the only hint of a reasonable answer they'd get to this whole affair.

"Leave him alive! We need answers!" Shouts Isaac in a hoarse voice, his left hand trembling as his previous magic manifests.

Spoiler

Show

Triggered Action: Linked Opportunity

Spoiler

Show

Effect: Arya recieves a free attack.

Buff Tracker: Haste will end next round.

[Fireheart]

T'riss rushes to Arthros side, sheathing her rapier as she does. Shoving the dwarf off him, she presses her hand to his wound. With the other, she rummages through her bag searching for something.

Finding it, she pulls it out and lays it across his wounds. A single softly glowing thread runs through the linen bandage.

"Come, Healer, stay with us! Dark Maiden, if it is your will, let this man live."

Spoiler

Show

OOC: Blessed Bandage. Stabilizes but does not cure.

OOC2: While I recognize Arthros's demise is necessary out of game, it is what she'd do! I understand if he's already "dead" by the time she moves the dwarf and finds the bandage.

[TheFallenOne]

"Drifa! Ashlyn!" The wolf executed a well-practiced maneuver; she grabbed the fatally wounded Arthros by the fastening of his cloak and dragged him away from the heat of battle, dropping him in front of Ashlyn while Aswin tried to block subdue the last enemy before he could move to finish the job.

Spoiler

Show

Drifa stand up, steps to F3/G4 and picks up Arthros. She drops him into I2 in front of Ashlyn.

Aswin attacks D. -4 attack for nonlethal damage until I get a hit, following attacks are lethal; apply as needed. PA 2

(1d20+12)[18] (2d6+8)[14]
(1d20+12)[22] (2d6+8)[14]
(1d20+7)[8] (2d6+8)[17]

[Sallera]

A momentarily compulsion seizes August as the cloud sets in; gasping instead of breathing in, he manages to free enough air to rush forward and out of the cloud before it overcomes him. Upon sighting the maddened man from the previous night, he raises a hand in warning, absence and darkness floating around it. "You can tell us what we wish to know. Yield now, lest your prayers go ever unanswered."