Bad Santa

The invisible Yeti arrived back to us after conversing with Light Touch, and reported on his state. Much discussion ensued, but we all feared those silver staves, so we sat back and observed.

Yeti told us that he had made it very clear to Light Touch to wait for us to make the first move, and to not try anything stupid. Well, we assume Light Touch neglected to follow these instructions, because he was soon brought outside, from the long-house, and strung up on a whipping cross. Already he was limping from a beating.

Even from our spying-distance, at the tree line, we could hear Light Touch's shouted taunts and invective aimed at the drow.

"Is that all you've got, you lilly-livered black honkeys?!"

The drow started to whip him with a large stock whip. Light Touch would scream hysterically from the obvious agony after each lash, but would then continue with his insane tirade: "Call that a lash?! I've been beaten by baby elves harder than that! And they had broken arms. You bunch of black pussies!"

Eventually the beating was so severe that he passed out.

"Zees is not the Light Touch I know," I muttered disconsolately. "Something 'as come over 'eem."

"It's almost as if he 'as a new soul. A temporary one mayhaps, " mused Peg Groups dryly.

The drow dragged the bleeding broken body inside the main mansion.

"Pick the drow off one at a time," was the plan.

So we set up an ambush. Sure enough, we targetted a solitary drow who had ventured out. He was no match for our combined force, and in a hail of crossbow bolts, and sword strikes he went down.

And now we had a silver staff. John Wayne played with it a bit. There was a trigger, an on-off switch, a power setting and a charge left meter. On maximum, the damage was phenomenal, but at that setting, there was only one of two shots.

Two drow were sent out to search for their missing comrade. With the staff and conventional weapons, they were soon dropped. This did cost us the entire energy from the first staff, but now we had two more.

And any damage we received, I could cure. I did not have my link to Illana, nor my "Illana gift" spells, but my "normal" priesty spells worked. And I could recharge.

An hour or so later, floating over the mansion, was the large red sleigh. In it were two drow with staves, and bad Santa himself. It was totally silent and eerily floated towards us.

Yeti cast an illusion of snow and woods and we hid under it. So they hovered over the entire area, saw nothing, and presumably got bored and returned to base.

An hour later, John Wayne went in to town, invisible (a la Yeti), and shot the sleigh with the staff on full-power. He punched a hole in the side of it and it started to burn. That staff was now empty, so he returned to us.

Soon followed a mighty bellow of rage, which echoed like a clarion call in the frosty night air.

The drow then all withdrew to central mansion, to hunker down.

Yeti rested and recharged, then made Peg Groups and Wizz invisible and they snuck up to the building.

Yeti, John Wayne and me hid by the tree line, 30 metres (Medium range) from the mansion.

There was one elf in the top of the mansion, staff at the ready, all the time.

Peg Groups and Wizz then tried to get inside, but just as they made a move, the main door flew open and out rushed four drow plus Santa himself.

They all had staves and Santa had an enormous bladed-whip. We fired. Two drow engaged Peg and Wizz. while, while the other two and Santa engaged us. Despite being 30 metres away, Santa's whip was long enough to reach us. Luckily, he missed. But we didn't and he, and the final four when down in a hail of cross-bow bolts, sword strikes, and staff bolts.

Peg and Wizz were massively damaged, so I had to use up all my cures on them.