The Sunmaster's Tale, Round 2
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 1
OOC: Ty, how long does Pensive estimate it will take the two swordsmen to reach his position on the hill?
IC:
The tatoo on the back of Pensive's neck burns with a warmth that eases down his shoulders and biceps all the way to his forearms. He can feel the satin cords loosely wrapped there, shifting against his skin and the loose folds of his sleeve. Not yet, he wants to whisper to them. The time is not right.
The half-orc shrugged off his last arrow-- by the time Pensive could fire again, it would make no difference. But the guardsman, Robert, had struck one of the archers below-- Pensive changes his target to that man.
From: Mark
Subject: Up close and personal
Melani winces as the arrow creases her side, and that throws off her aim. Her arrrow goes just a little wide. She sees the big brute rushing towards her and hears the guardsman next to her draw his weapons and move to intercept. Knowing that she would stand little chance against the brute, she quickly drops her brothers bow next to the tree, praying that it will be safe here and that she will remember to retrive it if she lives. She darts behind the tree she was next to and tries to use what brush there is to hide. The other humans will have to be taken care of and she thinks she can move towards them in the brush, and be able to suprise them. She draws her visible dagger(Quick draw).
OOC:She is going to try and hide behind the tree to her right and move towards swordsman 3 and pikeman 1.
Mark
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Up close and personal
Her visible dagger? Does she have an invisible one, or does she just have one concealed somewhere on her person?
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Up close and personal
She actually has 4 daggers hidden around her body, as well as the obvious one at her side.
Mark
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 1
Osred pounds across the ground toward the brute, barely able to hear the sounds of battle over the jouncing clatter of his armor. His entire focus lies on the hulking barbarian bearing down on the young captain. Gods the man is huge! Even at this distance, his broad back looms like a wall even from this distance. It seems ridiculous to think that they could hope to stand against such a beast. A grim, tooth clenched smile splits Osred's face. It would be ridiculous, if they stood against him alone, but they do not. His god stands with them, and beside Hironeous this brute is a less than nothing, a maggot to be crushed underfoot.
At last, the brute is close enough for Osred to channel Hironeous's power. Not breaking his pace (OOC: unless you have to stand still to cast something like this), Osred raises his arms and appeals to Hironeous to lock the beast's limbs, to root him to the spot. [Osred casts Hold Person on the brute].
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 1
Man, I should really proof read before I send out a turn. Sorry about that folks.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 1
The swordsman are really struggling.
At least one or two more rounds, is Pensive's guess. [it will depend on some balance and climb rolls for the swordsmen, so there is an element of randomness to it]
From: Ty
Subject: The Sunmaster's tale
Sunmaster Fellus listens quietly to Sa'id's story. A smile breaks across his face when the wizard mentions Cadfael and Pelor saving him from death. But his smile quickly vanishes when the black dagger that steals souls is spoken of.
"Yes, we were told Cadfael was killed on his way here. The magistrate's men have already been here. No one entered the temple last night, and Cadfael's cell had not been slept in.
"I do not believe that brother Cadfael had any family in this city. Nor did I know him to have many friends, even inside the order. Certainly he rarely left the temple grounds. I fear that this is not going to help you, but I must admit something. Cadfael was something of a mystery even to us. He came here from our sister temple in Kardan, on the mainland, about a year ago. He brought with him an excellent letter of recommendation. The brothers in Kardan were sorry to see him leave so soon. It seems he had been with them less than two years.
"Now, it is unusual for a priest of Pelor to move about so much, but it is not forbidden. A brother must follow the path that the Sunlord illuminates."
Fellus sits back in his chair, almost seeming to slump. His face once again shows its great age, and he seems very frail until he speaks again.
"I quickly grew to love Cadfael. His fervor for our God was unmatched. His desire to help others was boundless. He was the very best that a man of God might be. In fact, he would often make me feel inadequate, not intentionally, but just because he burned so brightly and yet acted so humbly. I had thought..." here the Sunmaster trails off for a moment, and Sa'id is surprised to see that the man is crying. "I had thought perhaps he might take my place, when the Sunlord calls me to the Bright Halls."
"But he was in pain, always in pain. We could see it. Those of us who loved him could sense the great anguish in him. Something tore at his soul, always adding bitterness to any good. We tried to understand, but he was distant. He would not speak of it.
"Just before he left, he confessed to me that his dreams had been dark. Something was calling to him, and he felt it was the Sunlord's will that he answer. I meant to ask more, to draw him out, but soon after he told me this he was gone, not leaving any word on where he would go. I suspect he arrived in your town shortly after."
The Sunmaster wipes his eyes on his sleeve, and takes a long swallow of his wine. "Please, you must tell me more. What was it that hurt him so? Why did he leave?"
From: Karl
Subject: Re: The Sunmaster's tale
Farron looks to Sa'id. Should they tell him the rest? His immediate impulse is to tell Fellus what he knows, but Sa'id has shown more than once that he is the better man when it comes to knowing what to disclose, when to disclose it, and to whom. He waits for Sa'id's lead.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
[Initiative bowman1, bowman3, Pensive, Melani, Tichenor, Pikeman2, Pikeman1, Garyth, swordsman3, Brute, Vincy, swordsman1, swordsman2, bowman2, Osred, alchemist, Rennik, bowman4, Robert, Munch, swordsman4, Pickle]
The first bowman aims carefully through the mass of men in front of him to shoot at Melani again [Precise shot feat used, attack 10, miss]. His shot makes it through his running allies, but Melani is already moving to hide in the bushes, and dodges the arrow.
The third bowman, finally getting his bow lined up for a shot, fires at Pensive on the ridge above [attack 24 vs AC19, hit; Damage 6]. Pensive is able to mostly sidestep the arrow, but it clips the underside of his arm, cutting a nasty crease near his elbow.
Ignoring the pain, Pensive fires again at his previous target [attack 25 vs AC17, hit; Damage 7]. The bowman staggers from the hit, and looks to be bleeding severely from his two wounds.
Melani, hearing the whistle of the arrow passing by her, and seeing the mass of enemies charging her position, decides that the time has come to get out of sight. Using Garyth's movement toward the Brute as cover, she dives into a nearby bush, and crawls on her belly through the grass to a new position several yards away [Hide natural 20, total 37 vs DC25, hidden]. To those nearby, she seems to vanish as if she had taken an invisibility potion.
Tichenor waits for his master to act.
The second pikeman lumbers into range with Munch, and jabs his polearm at him [Attack 21 vs AC19, hit; Damage 4]. The guardsman twists his body to the side, just barely avoiding being impaled, though the tip of the weapon does score his ribs.
The pikeman's partner stabs at Garyth [attack 22 vs AC 17, hit; damage 11] and hits him with a vicious thrust into his right hip.
Garyth is staggered by the blow, but does not pause. He quickly snatches up with weapons [quickdraw feat used] and charges the approaching half orc. Not knowing that Melani has vanished behind him, he throws himself recklessly at the brute to protect her [Attack 19 vs AC19, hit; Damage 10]. The half orc barely has time to turn toward him before Garyth has struck a ringing blow off the side of the brute's metal cap. Garyth now appears to have the orc's attention.
The third swordsman peels off to attack Vincy, who is firing his crossbow from the flank. He charges at the guardsman [Attack 17 vs AC 18, miss], but Vincy throws his crossbow at the man and deflects his swing.
The half orc turns to face Garyth with a bass growl that seems to almost shake the ground. He lets out a ferocious yell, and seems to almost swell in size [Enraged]. He grips his orcish war axe in two hands, and swings one end in a vicious overhand chop that appears designed to turn Garyth into two much thinner guardsmen. [Attack 20 vs AC 19, hit; Damage 13] Garyth crosses his longsword and mace, trying to block the blow, but the half orc is too strong. The head of his axe crashes though Garyth's weapons, and lands a crushing blow on his shoulder. Garyth is quite surprised to see that he still has a left arm. In fact, his armor seems to have stopped the blow from cutting him because his block has slowed it down enough, but when he moves his arm, he can feel something grating in the joint. He tries not to think about that as he puts his guard back up.
Corporal Vincy snatches his weapon up from the ground, and counter attacks the swordsman who engaged him [attack 14 vs AC18, miss], but is unable to get past the man's guard.
The first swordsman continues lumbering up the steep slope toward Pensive, but half way up, loses his footing [balance roll failed], and tumbles back down the hill finally coming to rest against one of the wagon's wheels.
His companion has better luck [Climb roll succeeded], and manages to get up the hill and into melee range with Pensive.
The second bowman takes another shot at Munch [Attack 21 vs AC19, hit; Damage 8]. His arrow hits the guardsman in the chest, sticking into his armor, but not knocking him down.
Osred finally rumbles to a stop, hoping he is close enough to the now battling brute for his prayer to be effective. "Hieronious, let your strong arm for battle be shown, let your might be displayed, let the victory of your servants be assured. Strike the enemy of your people with the weight of your will, let movement be taken from him, so that his evil is contained. As you will, Lord of Battles, let it be done." Once again, Osred feels the power of his god flow through him, and as always, he is surprised and overwhelmed that so powerful a being would pay attention to the petitions of such a man. Again he must fight down the tears of joy that this feeling brings. Across the field from him, the Half orc seems to stiffen and slow [Will save 19 vs DC17, saved], but then howls in anger and shakes the spell from him. It appears the brute's gods favor him, as well.
Rennik, cursing to see the brute still moving after Osred's spell, fires two more arrows [Rapid shot feat used, attacks 19, 11, hit, miss; Damage 4 (-1) = 3]. One of them hits, even at this longer range, but it does not do any great damage. And Rennik knows the half orc is in his battle rage now. He will be all that much harder to bring down while the blood rage hides the pain of his wounds from him. Once the second arrow is away, he drops his bow and leaps down the slope, sliding with one hand behind him to steady him [Balance roll successful]. A second later he is at the bottom, Tichenor by his side. The wolf had a much easier time of the slope with four legs instead of two.
The last bowman, seeing the halfling suddenly down at the bottom of the slope with him, turns his shot away from Robert, and shoots at Rennik point blank. [attack 9, miss] Clearly, he is accustomed to firing at taller targets, because his arrow passes three inches above the halfling's head.
Robert fires at that bowman, just after his shot at Rennik [Attack 22 vs AC18, hit; Damage 7]. The arrow strikes the archer in the side, and slams him to the ground, clearly out of the fight. From above, Rennik hears a shout of, "We have your back, halfling!"
Munch is engaged by the pikeman, but when he sees the half orc hard pressing his captain, he shouts, "To the captain, Falcons! To the captain!" He then dodges a few steps away from the pikeman to attack the brute's flank. [attack 11, miss] His sword bounces harmlessly off the half orc's armored side.
The last swordsman runs at Pickle, slashing with his sword. [Attack 16 vs AC18, miss] Pickle is too quick for him, and dodges under the swing, then comes up stabbing with his own weapon [Attack natural 20, crit threat roll 19, critical hit; damage 18]. The charging swordsman impales himself on pickle's weapon, the blade coming a full foot out his back. He spits blood onto the guardsman chest, then collapses.
[new map attached]
From: Mark
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
Melani ducks down behind the brush and starts to move behind the brute. She sees an open spot in his armor and decides to stick her dagger in it. She hears the brute howling in rage at the pin pricks the arrows have been making, but she hopes that her dagger can do a little damage to this beast. Maybe it would overlook her in its rage.
OOC: Melani is going to try and make a sneek attack on the 1/2 orc. I know she will not be able to, but she does not. On the map this means moving to her left, I think, around the tree and end up between Munch and the brute, and attack the brute from behind.
Mark
From: Mark
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
That damned +2 for rage.
Mark
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
Actually, in this case, the 16 he rolled +1 for his 12 wisdom would have been enough anyway.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
I know. Sucks that he had a better initiative roll than I did.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
Ah well then, what can you do? I'll have to consult my player's handbook before I'll decide what Osred does from here.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
The half-orc's blow leaves Garyth reeling. He's outmatched, he knows it. But even as the fear begins to seep into his heart, he hears Munch's cry: To the captain! He has to hold on.
Garyth shifts back into a guard stance, looking for an opening in the huge orc's defenses.
OOC: Full attack, fighting defensively (+4 AC including Two-Weapon Defense). All attacks to the half-orc. Dodge point still on the half-orc.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Sunmaster's tale
Sa'id glances at Farron, sees his look, and shrugs. If the Sunmaster at Pelor's temple was a conspirator, there was no hope for their lives anyway.
"Sunmaster, Brother Cadfael wore a ring. We are not certain of how exactly this worked, but it seemed as though it gave a dark being access to his mind. Through his own strength and Pelor's grace he was able to resist this being and we were able to deal a blow to it and its followers, but he paid a high emotional price, and now, the ultimate price for his great deeds. We believe the followers of this being are responsible for his death; we have seen them use such black daggers before. Furthermore, it is this group whose army now marches on Overlook."
"I came here hoping, in part, that you knew more of him and that you could give me some clue as to where and how he came by this ring. But as things are, I have another question for you. What do you know of the recent murder of one of the White Hart? These two deaths may well be related."
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Sunmaster's tale
The Sunmaster pauses to let the weight of Sa'id's words sink in. "We never knew. He must have hidden it from us. What a terrible burden to carry alone. We would have helped him, if he'd let us. My heart now bears two hurts for Cadfael."
Sa'id waits patiently. Clearly this news has deeply affected the elderly priest.
"He was redeemed, in the end, Sunmaster. We all felt the touch of his god upon him. I myself... I too, was redeemed by him, in my own way. He was a great man."
The priest nods and smiles. "Thank you, young man. Now, to the other. We were all quite shocked by the murder in the White Hart order. I know, I know. No one has been able to prove it was murder. But Paladins do NOT commit suicide. Not a noble knight like Sir Basil."
The Sunmaster notices the blank look on Sa'id and Farron's faces. "I'm sorry. Details. Let's see. Several weeks ago, Sir Basil was found in his chambers, with a dagger in his heart. His own right hand gripped it, but it is obvious that someone could have done that after he was dead. No one could find any reason why the knight would kill himself, so rumors of foul play circulated. One of his fellow knights, a noble woman named Elise, was suspected. She had quarreled with Basil quite openly for some time. Apparently, he claimed he had evidence of some crime, and was trying to get the head of the order to charge her. It is my understanding that Sir Danbury was hesitant to charge her publicly. Claims the evidence was not conclusive.
"Of course, eyes would turn to Dame Elise, given the obvious suspicious nature of the timing. But she vanished one night without a trace, and no evidence against her was ever found. Sir Danbury has refused to pursue the matter further. He was quite fond of the young lady, I believe. Who could blame him? I've met her several times, and she was utterly charming in every case. It is hard to picture her as cold blooded assassin.
"But, the knife used was Sir Basil's own. Not a black dagger. Why do you think they are related?"
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Sunmaster's tale
"We met Elise," Sa'id says quietly. "Even if once she was a warrior with honor and virtue, those are the antithesis of what she is now. She fights for the drinker of souls, a part of the same group that marches on Overlook and is, I believe, responsible for Cadfael's murder. We have seen her holding one of these black daggers before a sacrificial altar. In fact, Cadfael rescued the newborn who was to be sacrificed."
He pauses. "Of course, this in no way establishes her guilt in the murder of Sir Basil; the case against Elise appears to be purely circumstantial. But the point is moot, as she is on the other side in the impending war... if she is brought to justice it will most likely be on the battlefield. I am just trying to learn as much as I can about anything that might be relevant."
"I would appreciate it deeply, Sunmaster, if you would refrain from telling anyone the details of our discussion today. After rescuing the baby, we had thought we would be safe in Nesalin. Clearly this is not the case, and our lives are at risk as much as the lives of our companions who departed with Nesalin's army to the defence of Overlook. My colleague Farron and I must be very careful in this city if we are to determine who killed our friend."
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
Osred curses under his breath, his face gone white with rage. How dare this bastard's god think to shield him from Hironeous's will. Almost without thought, he mutters "shield him from this, then, demon, if you can," and extends his open palm toward the brute's back [cast Searing Light]. Only after the spell has been cast does his mind process the image of Garyth strugging under the brute's blows. There is nothing he could do, he thinks; unless the brute was brought down, and quickly, the young captain would be beyond his help by the time he had crossed the ground that separated them.
From: Matt
Subject: Re: The Battle for Overlook; Battle for hill 19 round 2
At the bottom of the slide, Rennik drops his bow and pulls the shortened halberd from his waraxe's back sheath. Looking towards the alchemist's wagon, he feels an arrow whiz over his head and sees a bowman fall immediately in front of him, cut down by an arrow from above.
Another archer stands within feet of him, and Rennik turns the blade head into this one's chest. He shouts back toward Pensive and Robert, "This one's mine! Take out the far two!"
As he swings, he positions himself to move toward the alchemist's wagon. It would provide him cover from the other archers in the bowl, and it would give him access to the alchemical potions within. He was pretty confident he remembered what the alchemist gave the soldier, and he had just a touch of curiosity about what it might do to the Brute if he could get closer.
[OOC: If the guy tries to fire the bow, Rennik gets an AoO, no? Then he would get his regular attack?]