A Hero Falls
Subject: The Chase; A hero falls...
Everything happens at once.
Mission speaks quickly to Rennik about the witch, and takes Promise back. Rennik draws his bow, and prepares to fire into the trees above. Garyth already has his sword and mace in his hands, and looks this way and that, searching for an enemy. Sa'id prepares to cast a spell.
There is a terrible roar, and something charges out of the jungle behind the party. Garyth spins around to face it, and nearly drops his sword. It is a terrible creature of flame, ten feet high. He can feel the wash of heat coming off of it as it moves closer. His only thought is how could that sneak up on us?
Rennik curses, because the flame creature stands between the group and Kalama territory. Either they will have to fight it or go around it. He is just starting to shout orders when Farron yells out, "It's not real! The fire thing isn't real! It's just an illusion!" [will save 21 vs DC18]
But it's too late; the distraction has served its purpose. Mission hears the distinctive sound of bow twangs come from the forest behind and throws himself to the side, cradling his son and shielding him with his body. A volley of arrows passes over him and slams into the party, who are still facing the fiery illusion.
Cadfael is struck once in the shoulder [damage 5]. Rennik is hit twice, in rapid succession [damage 4, 7]. A single arrow strikes Garyth, but sticks in armor without hurting him. Several arrows flash by and disappear into the jungle, one of them passing through the illusionary creature without a mark.
Farron spins around, and for one brief second feels the thrill of not having been hit, his heart pounding. Then he hears a gurgle sound and turns to Sa'id. The wizard has been hit twice. One arrow sticks out of his chest, and is buried halfway to the fletches. That is terrifying enough. The second arrow nearly makes Farron vomit. It has struck Sa'id in the throat, and the metal tip sticks out the back of his head, a bit of gray matter dangling from it. [Damage 8, Critical hit, Damage 23] Farron is still standing in shock when Sa'id falls to the ground twitching. [current hp -6]
Rennik and Garyth both spin to face the direction of the arrow shots. It is blank jungle behind them.
[Initiative Rennik 24, Garyth 22, Farron 22, Ranger 21, halfling 18, halfling 15, halfling 15, Mission 14, halfling 14, halfling 11, Cadfael 4]
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
Please remember to reply to everyone when you send in your turns. Thanks!
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
Rennik watches a scant moment as Sa'id falls, saying a silent prayer to Mielikki to care for his soul. He then pushes all thoughts of the necromancer from his mind, focusing on the task at hand. There is no use dwelling on the dead, or he would likely join the unfortunate mage.
Wishing he had some way of creating fire quickly, his mind drifts back unbidden to the spellweaver and the flame that could leap forth from his hands... his plan for the moss slipped unhappily from his mind. The smoke would hinder the party as much as their enemies, and would undoubtedly kill Promise. Rennik curses under his breath and forces himself again to think.
His mind whirls. The arrows were well placed, grouped close - his mind rationalizes, fighting back thoughts of Sa'id as a person, thinking mechanically about the archer. Whoever fired them was very good - a lot better than Rennik was himself. And judging from the other arrows and the ambush, there were at least five. Plus that damnable witch - there's no way they could followed the party's trail without her aid. Curse spellweavers and their arts!
The time from bow twang to the arrows hitting his flesh was near instantaneous... he pauses, realizing suddenly that he'd been hit. The wounds were numb, shock still holding off the pain. If he stopped to long to think about them, the pain would rush in on him all at once - which he knows he can't afford. The distance... focus on the distance.... 50 feet, farthest. The jungle would prohibit accuracy from any further out, anyway.
Five, six... close at hand... likely Murrkat, plus that ranger. Their advantages are cover and ranged weapons - which Rennik plans to take away in short order. This fight must end quickly, before more of the halflings arrive. They have an opportunity to hit them fast and hard, and they needed to take it.
Judging from the angles of the arrows that him and Sa'id, and making his best approximation at where *he* would set up for a shot in the undergrowth, Rennik makes his best guess. Dropping his bow at his feet, useless at this range with no visibile targets, he reaches behind and pulls the shortened halberd from his axe's sheath and runs at the ambush to engage the enemy.
"Garyth! Tichenor! Stay close! There are no more than five - we cut through twice that like wet leaves!"
[OOC: Of course, these are probably level 14 murrkat ranger/barbarian/cleric/monks... ;) Is there any way to use Rennik's BAB ranged bonus as a mod for figuring out the best archer ambush spots in the jungle? Or to estimate the direction the arrows came from?]
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
Actually, it is not that difficult to tell where the arrows came from. Rennik will be able to charge into the assassins in short order. Or, at least the one that shot him.
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
Ahhh... that's right.
level 14 murrkat ranger/barbarian/cleric/monk/ASSASSINS
Now I understand perfectly... :-D
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
In this usage, assassins is a descriptor, not a class.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
Garyth staggers as the arrow strikes him. The impact was hard enough to turn him half-way around, far enough to see Sa'id slump lifelessly to the ground. After all this, and now one of his companions gone in a flash.
Grimly, he breaks the shaft off where it enters his armor. He is moving almost before Rennik can even call for him, a cry springing to his lips. "Overlook!" he shouts, and springs forward toward his attackers.
[Full Attack]
From: Ty
Subject: testing the list
Test?
From: Dan
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
OOC: Forgive the prattling pre-battle bits. But it looks like the old E-mails sent to the defunct list are lost and I figured I need to write *something* about the run through the woods. Don't worry, it's brief(ish).
IC: Only a short time has been spent fleeing through the jungle if he thinks about it. It had been like moving through a dream, capturing every moment and enjoying it for the purity of the sensation. That kind of dedication draws time out and as the sun moved across the sky the day itself stood still. In the back of his mind he knew that this euphoria was a shield preventing him from being washed away by his sense of loss. A feeling he was hard pressed to justify. A small voice at first, but growing louder during the flight from the temple. And in its noise he found that denial of that feeling, of what they were facing, denial of the enormity of what he had done was filling the void of the weight he used to carry. It had given him something to focus on. A false smile was still a smile of a sort. And thus armed he lay down to sleep when told.
Hours or moments later he woke when shaken although he did so only grudgingly. If not for the dead of night and the tense nature of the moment the others would surely have noticed how aloof he was, but it was hard to stay focussed. All the worries of the party, all their danger could not touch him. What was there to fear? The difficult part was over. He had walked into the belly of fear and plucked out hope for the future -- an impossible task and a world more danger than a lone witch and her followers. Pelor would not let them fail.
Still, a soft grunt forced its way through his lips when the arrow tore through his shoulder. He was fortunate, it did not catch on a bone and passed easily through the flesh of his outer arm. Though he turned instinctively to watch the wounding arrow finish its flight the necromancer's fall stole his attention away and he never did learn where the arrow fell.
It comes like second nature; they needn't have woken him for this. The arrows tease out easily from Sa'id's body, made easy that the man is not conscious to struggle. Pelor's blood flows through Cadfael's veins, spilling down his arm and out over Sa'id's face. And so the God's blood mingles with man's when Cadfael places his hand on Sa'id's forehead to coax the fire back to his eyes. [Cure Serious Wounds]
From: Raja
Subject: Test email
This is a test of the Overlook campaign mailing list on my server.
Raja
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Test email
Whoa, it worked.
Now lay down and play dead, wizard boy!
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Test email
*gurgle*
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Chase; A hero falls...
Did they mean to miss him? He was closest to the attackers, and they fired over his head. Mission feels an exhuberent fierceness lock his heart. He was tired of running, tired of . . .
Caution. Wisdom. Promise is silent in his arms.
Mission sucks in a breath. How many attackers were there? And with bows and arrows aplenty.
Close the gap-- the party couldn't run, obviously, not with the witch flying above, and a tracker after them. Grimly, Mission faces the forest where the arrows had come from.
"Sand take you all," he mutters at the darkness, and shifts Promise to hold him with one arm.
OOC: He will follow Rennick into the fray, keeping one hand free to use the Deflect Arrows feat.
From: Dan
Subject: This had better work *grumble*
For some reason I don't appear to be getting the messages I send from my yahoo account. So I'm going to try again from my Hotmail account. Sorry to those of you who get this twice.
[Editor's Note: The rest of this entry is the same as the previous one from Dan.]
From: Raja
Subject: Re: This had better work *grumble*
I got this one, as well as one from Scott, earlier tonight. Was I the only one?
From: Matt
Subject: Re: This had better work *grumble*
I got two from Dan saying essentially the same thing, two from Scott as well, and the test email