Making Halfling Kibble, The Ranger Enters
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (1)
Okay, check it out-- I *think* hypnotic pattern got two halflings. BECAUSE. . . the initiative order was Rennick, Tichenor, Garyth, Farron, Enemy Ranger, Halfling, Halfling, Halfling, Mission, Halfling, Halfling, Cadfael.
But we only saw the Ranger's attacks (that's who is next to Rennick, I think-- the damage inflicted is too high for the halflings), and the two halflings after Mission's turn. One halfling was killed by Garyth, taking that one out of the fight. That leaves two halflings, which either skipped their turn to throw off my calculations, or were hit by Farron's hypnosis, and haven't been able to reveal themselves to us.
Whatever the case, Mission is still keeping an eye out for arrows, and for the witch.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (1)
Well, Farron did change his aim to point to an area of the jungle he *thought* arrows were coming from, so Mission could very well be right.
Ty, when it says "Concentration+2" it means the Concentration modifier (i.e. 2) plus 2 rounds (meaning 4 rounds total) right? It's not the whole concentration score (i.e. 14) plus 2 (meaning 16 total) right?
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (1)
Actually, no. I am fairly certain it means number of rounds Farron concentrates on maintaining it, plus two more after he stops. So, if Farron takes any actions or casts any other spells, it lasts two more rounds from that point.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (1)
:bounces up and down: TYYY!!
Are we gonna get a turn today?
:)
:more bouncing:
From: Ty
Subject: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
[Initiative Rennik 24, Tichenor 22, Garyth 22, Farron 22, Ranger 21, Witch 21, halfling 18, halfling 15, Mission 14, Cadfael 4]
Rennik turns to face the halfling that stabbed Tichenor, a growl rumbling in his throat. The halfling takes a step backward, but Rennik is already leaping forward and a lightning fast rush. He actually has to jump over Tichenor, who ducks under him so fast it almost looks like precognition. Rennik's axe slashes down at the halfling's thigh [Attack 22, hit; damage 12; Fort save 20, save]. The edge of the weapon slices a chunk of thigh away in a bloody spray. After the first cut, Rennik shifts the aim of his weapon up [attack 14, miss], but the halfling is falling backward out of range from the force of his first hit, and he only cuts off a scrap of his opponents fur shirt.
Tichenor, have darted under Rennik when his master attacked, now lunges around from behind him to strike the falling halfling on his other leg [Attack 22, hit; damage 2]. He seems to just nip the inside of the halflings leg, but a second later a spray of bright arterial blood flows out, and the halfling goes down in a heap [dying].
Garyth steps toward the man who shot him in the back, moving as lightly as a dancer. In rapid succession he swings his long sword across the halflings throat, his mace into the side of his head, and following with a lunge to the chest [Attacks 12, 20, 25, miss, hit, hit; Damage 13, 6]. The halfling manages to use his bow to block the first slash at his throat, but that leaves him exposed for the mace strike to his head, followed by a lunge that drives the long sword completely through his chest [dying].
Farron struggles to sit up, and is just thinking of launching a magic missile when he realizes there are no live opponents in his view. He knows that he aimed his hypnotic image at an area of jungle that arrows had come from, so he rolls to his feet and begins moving in that direction, hoping to find them before the image wears off.
Garyth sees a movement out of the corner of his eye and turns to see the half elven ranger step out of the brush while drawing a long sword and dagger. The sword slashes at his face so quickly he almost doesn't see it [attack 24, hit; damage 15]. It slices a cut across his forehead that immediately begins bleeding into his eyes. But the pain of the cut is almost forgotten when the numbing cold spreads across his head. The sword leaves a trail of vapor in its wake like breath on a frigid morning.
Mission stands ready to stop any further missile shots at Cadfael and Sa'id, but nothing comes his way.
Cadfael regroups after the arrow shot, composes himself, and prays over Sa'id. While he prays, he breaks the shaft of the arrow in the wizard's neck in two, and draws it out from both sides. A warm glow flows from his hands and into the wound. Sa'id begins gasping and rolling his eyes wildly as he is drawn back from as close to the brink of death as a man can be [heals 17].
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
I'm unclear on the map at this point... would Rennik get an AoO on the ranger as he stepped toward Garyth? I'm not sure how close we are together, or which direction the ranger is coming from.
A new map, perhaps? Purty please?
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
New map.
No AOO.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
The blood stings as it drips into Garyth's eyes. It's thick from the unnatural cold. Garyth almost feels like his head will freeze; it's enough to make his teeth hurt.
He pauses for a split second, sizing up his opponent. The half-elf holds both weapons in an easy grip. When he had attacked, he only seemed to flick his wrist, but his blade had moved so fast that Garyth could hardly see it. This one will not go down so easily.
Garyth takes all this in with just a glance, no more than a heartbeat, really. The others might not even have noticed the pause, but this half-elf surely did. He brings his sword up into a guard position and advances.
OOC: Full attack again. Dodge point on the ranger.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
BTW, since Raja is out for a bit, we are going to leave Sa'id sort of out of it during this fight.
I think it's very appropriate considering he just had an arrow pulled out of his brain. We'll let him rest a bit.
So I'll do next turn after everyone but Raja (and mike who was quick) check in.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
Heh. The thing about being a fighter, especially a melee fighter, is that your options are kind of limited. You see something, you hit it. Occasionally, you run away. Makes combat responses nice and quick.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
No more arrows-- between Farron's magery and Rennick and Garyth's onslaught, they were free-
No. Mission watches as the half-elven fighter slashes Garyth across the face. But the human soldier readies himself despite the blood dripping down into his eyes.
Do you see this, Promise? What wisdom would the boy learn from the sacrifice here tonight? Because of the child, Sa'id had almost died. But for the cleric of Pelor, sand-taken, manipulative god, he would have died. And Farron, and savage Rennick . . . All had been blooded here tonight.
But not Mission. What was the lesson in this? Where did the Path lead him?
Enough-- he could not question every move and whim. There were other things closer at hand to worry about. Where had the witch gone?
The answer comes easily enough. To bring reinforcements. Perhaps a number of real soldiers, and not these. . . skirmishers.
Mission will continue to guard Sa'id.
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (2)
Rennik's mind is calming now, following the elven battle rythyms, floating along the modified paces of the sword dance and keeping the red haze at bay. His breathing forcibly controlled, he turns his head smoothly from the blood spurting out of the halfling's neck, watching the ranger's sword flick across Garyth's forehead.
The blow was fast and clean, a true student of the blade, like his own teacher among the elven rangers, Elbereth Gwendyllion. "The sword is not the weapon of a savage," he was told, and the blade was never taught to him - yet he had watched the fluid motions of the arcing longswords and matched them with his heavy axe.
The strength of his arms compensated for the weight of his weapon, and the wide, flat head of the weapon learned to match his teacher's thin slices stroke for stroke... almost. He did not have the grace of the elves for swordplay, nor the leverage provided by their long, thin arms.
Instead, he had savagery.
It was true that the sword was not the weapon of a savage, he learned. That weapon was the axe. A heavy axe would beat back a swordsman if wielded with strength and skill, and Rennik learned to lean into his blows, to add extra weight to throw his master off balance. His controlled ferocity matched the elf's skilled grace, and he finally forced Elbereth to yield.
It was his last day with the elves, but the memories flood back on him as he again falls into the rythmic breathing and pacing of the dance. The halberd was not his axe, but, shortened as it was, it would do - if he applied the correct force. The technique would be similar, though the balance and weight of the weapon had changed.
Shifting closer to the ranger, but outside Garyth's sword reach, Rennik swings the halberd blade at the ranger's left thigh with an elven curse (the equivalent of calling him a half-elf/half-orc - roughly approximated as saying his mother was a dirty whore who slept with half-orc men), leaning into the strike with the weight of his shoulder [Power Attack 1]. He then pulls the weapon free, spinning it deftly in his hands and bringing it down with force and leverage in an overhead chop at the ranger's breastbone adding another elven epithet (essentially that the ranger is only half-human because there were no dwarves around when his mother was getting frisky), with enough weight to crush any parrying weapon against the swordsman's chest [Power Attack 3].
[OOC: Well, they say you learn the insults in any language first. Heh.]
From: Raja
Subject: Update
Apologies in advance to those of you who get this message multiple times.
I'd update my Hatrack thread, but it seems I'm unable to log in. "We have no one registered by that name." Have I been banned?
In any case. Sa'id being out of it is fine, Ty. If he does become less discombobulated, I'd like him to use Scorching Ray on that ranger. Matt, Elotai is interested in continuing his chat with Holn but we can do that retroactively so I don't bog your game down.
Finally, for those unfortunate souls in MY game, finalize your purchases/hiring, update your character sheets with your new net worth, and beyond that wait at least eighteen hours for me to arrive in Christchurch (four more hours here in LAX, which was shut down earlier today, and then thirteen hours on the plane to Auckland, and then a short hop to Christchurch). Possibly eight more hours after that for me to sleep.
On the guard front, the consensus seems to be a small number of high-quality guards; after some investigation and negotiation, you are able to hire up to three mercenary soldiers from the town's guard for 4 sp per day apiece. (In game terms, these guys are levels 2-3). Dimuz will make a contribution toward this as well; he has provisioned the wagon already and now gives Art a purse containing an undisclosed amount for unforseen emergencies and so forth (Jake, we'll discuss that further later on). These funds can be used to subsidize your guard salaries (since you're looking at up to 12 sp per day for two weeks).
I was going to post a travelogue on my Hatrack thread, but I guess I'll wait to see if this strange ban-like thing is still in effect when I get to NZ. I'm keeping a journal of sorts. On a related note, we flew over the Grand Canyon today (BOS-LAX) and the pilot banked the plane a few times so we could get a good look. It's amazing!
I love planes. :) :) :)
Raja