Rennik and Garyth Withdraw, Cadfael Charges In, Farron Hit Again
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
The tatoos on Mission's body are hot on his skin-- his legs itch to sprint into battle. But he resists the urge, and shakes Sa'id.
"It is not a good time to be laying about, mage," Mission says.
He will continue to guard Sa'id.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
Ty, what is the reach of the tentacles? Is Farron in danger from them at this point? Do they block him from casting against the half-elf if he chooses to? (that's mainly an academic question seeing as he has a more immediate threat on his side of the tentacle fence.)
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
Farron sees his spell fade and knows he is now one of the few targets they have left to choose. He grabs his staff and thrusts it forward. The eyes in the weasel-head of the staff glow blue as he begins to activate one of its spells (cast Shield).
Sa'id, still a little groggy looks up at the wall of tentacles, at Cadfael and Farron and the dim forms of the halfling archers. He looks down and sees the broken halves of the arrow that was pulled from his throad and snaps to attention. With building fury he thrusts his hands forward and says the words what will send a scorching ray of fire directly at the archer closest to Farron.
(Ty, Sa'id's action is assuming that he is not in peril from the tentacles. If it is, then, of course, he will move away from them ASAP.)
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
Sa'id is nowhere near the tentacles.
The tentacles are the gray circle with black dots in it on the map I sent. Sa'id is pretty far away from it.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
Oh, and Farron will yell "Get away from the tentacles" as loudly as possible.
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
Cursed spellweavers and their cowardly ways, Rennik thinks to himself. The perversions grown from Mielikki's womb must surely be spawned from the same foul pits that birthed Kor Garesh himself. Hearing Caller Farron's words of warning, and having no wish to be near the tentacles at all, Rennik withdraws from the scene westward, past the bodies of the fallen halflings.
"Tichenor! Come!" He yells to the wolf growling at the man who had kicked him, with blood spattered across its muzzle and fur. Surely Mielikki's gift of providence has been more a boon than he even imagined.
Keeping clear of the tentacles and the ranger, Rennik removes himself from harm's way, circling slightly behind the ranger as he moves. Glancing again at the ichorous black tentacles which have burst forth from the ground, he thinks ruefully of the hellspawn witch that circles overhead. If he got his hands on the foul beast, he would cut her tongue and hands from her body, gouge out her eyes, and turn her loose in the jungle to be preyed upon by scavaging reptiles - if they could even stomach her wretched form.
Once outside threat range, he spins his halberd in his hands and looks for an opening to dart in behind the ranger.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
The lights danced and twirled about Garyth's head, and he laughed. He hadn't seen anything so amazing since... well, he'd actually never seen anything like it. He had a vague feeling that there was something he was supposed to be doing, but the thought kept slipping away before he could focus on it. And besides, the lights were far too pretty for him to be bothered.
The ground shook, and he looked away long enough to see the black tentacles rising from the ground. Startled, he glances around, seeing the ranger beginning to rise. What was he doing? He takes a step back away from the tentacles, but that takes him closer to the half-elf. He moves around the elf to the northeast, seeing Rennik move in the opposite direction. Good. Hopefully while the half-elf is busy with one of them, the other will have a chance to strike,
OOC: Garyth will move northeast outside the range of the tentacles, circling around the ranger. If he can do that with a five-foot step, then that's what he'll do and make a full attack. Otherwise, he'll just do a standard attack. Dodge point still on the ranger.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (4)
OOC: Ah, strike that. Garyth withdraws eastward. Better to save some HP.
From: Ty
Subject: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (5)
[Initiative Rennik 24, Tichenor 22, Garyth 22, Farron 22, Eagle1 22, Eagle2 22, Ranger 21, Witch 21, (11)black tentacles 21, Sa'id 19, halfling 18, halfling 15, Mission 14, Cadfael 4]
Calling Tichenor to his side, Rennik moves away from both the rapidly recovering ranger, and the mass of tentacles that look like they are starting to come to life. He circles away to the west, and then begins moving north, trying to force his opponent to put the tentacles at his back.
Garyth nods to Rennik and does the same, moving to the east and then north. Now the half elf has two opponents coming at him from two different sides, and the mass of tentacles behind him. It would be an uncomfortable position for anyone. Garyth glances at the tentacles and shudders. There is something profoundly disturbing about them. He starts to understand why Rennik and Mission are so distrustful of spellcasters.
Farron turns to face the two halflings that fired at him, holding out his staff and uttering a word of power. The eyes of the staff glow momentarily. There is no visible effect, but Farron knows that he is now protected by magic [shield spell cast, AC +4].
Above, there can be heard the screech of a raptor [Attacks 19, 10, 6, hit, miss, miss; damage 3], and the angry shriek of a woman. A second eagle cries [Attacks 12, 7, 5, miss] followed by a cackle from the witch.
The half elf, having finally shaken off the last effects of the hold spell, moves toward the retreating Garyth. Clearly, he does not want to leave his back to the tentacles any more than anyone else. Garyth just barely has time to bring his guard up before the ranger takes another quick slash at him [Attack 23, hit; Damage 14]. This time he deflects the frigid blade with his own, but the ranger shifts after the parry and cuts a long slice down Garyth's forearm. Again, there is a terrible feeling of cold in the cut.
There is a rustling in the leaves above, followed by a thump in the branches, and then one very stunned looking celestial eagle drops to the ground about fifteen feet from Mission. It lays in the leaves and mud, moving its wings slowly and cawing to itself.
The black tentacles jerk to life, and begin flailing all around. It would be very dangerous to move anywhere within ten feet of the writhing mass.
Sa'id sits up, looking around him groggily. Ahead he can see Farron and Cadfael confronted by two halflings, as well as the patch of black tentacles. He decides to help Farron out, but is out of range of his scorching ray spell. He climbs slowly to his feet, and begins walking that direction. [Scorching ray has 40' range. Sa'id is about 55' from halflings. Getting up is a move action. He is taking two move actions, one to get up, one to walk at least 15' closer.]
Mission falls in next to him with a concerned expression on his face. "Should you be up walking like this?" Sa'id waves his hand vaguely and keeps moving.
The two halflings, seeing Farron standing still and playing with his staff, decide this is an excellent time to shoot him some more. [Attacks 18, 22, versus shielded AC of 17, both hit; Damage 4, 6] In spite of his magical shield, both arrows penetrate and strike home. Farron staggers back with an arrow in his shoulder, and one in his arm. He is starting to bleed quite a lot now, and is getting concerned about the beating he's taking.
Cadfael sees Farron hit twice more, and he charges at the nearest halfling yelling at the top of his voice to draw their attention to him. The halfling turns and has just enough time to register surprise when Cadfael's heavy mace slams into his head [Attack: Charge +1, 24, hit; Damage 7]. The halfling staggers back, one eye crushed shut by the blow.
[Need actions for round 6, everyone can play now!]
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (5)
OOC: Is the half-elf close enough that a Bull Rush would push him into the tentacles?
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Chase; Avenging Sa'id (5)
Rennik, watching the ranger move to attack Garyth, abandons any hope of throwing the half-elf into the writhing mass of tentacles. The poetic justice of the witch's spell destroying her ally would have been sweet, but the ranger is too cunning an adversary to fall for such tactics.
Darting in behind the ranger, with Tichenor at his heel, Rennik swings the halberd again at the ranger's midsection, hoping to either flank his opponent or open an opportunity for Tichenor or Garyth to wound him. As he charges forward, he yells "Galthoreth belethereon sulmeth, eleth yothelli sethri helthorian!" (translated from the elvish: fornicator with devilspawn witches, you shall taste the cold of my steel before death!)
(OOC note: I can apparently only speak elvish when drunk. This warrants further study.)