Archers: Surprise Round; Wraiths: Round 1
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
Karl, since you have had several opportunities to sleep, and have never sent me an updated spell list, my sheet (and the one on sakeriver) just show you with the default spell list you've had for some time now. But you have them all memorized.
From: Dan
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
As the night wore on Kasen wonders if leaving the farmhouse hadn't been a mistake. Surely it would have made a more comfortable place to sleep, and what were the odds any had learned of their meeting point? If they had he couldn't imagine the Duke sending troops into the unnatural night, not while he was preparing for a siege.
In truth he had been afraid and had acted in fear, leaving behind the relative protection of the farmhouse for the open field where it would be even harder to hide 3 men and 5 horses. A knight of Helm did not make such mistakes. A true knight kept his head at all times and did not let fear touch him. Perhaps they had been right all along...
A trick of the darkness perhaps, but the road seems to go on forever and the lulling motion of Stormcloud's strides and low murmur of the wizard's voices see Kasen drifting into a half sleep, allowing Stormcloud to pick her own steps.
Then Elise's apparition rips him from his rest.
"Elise..."
The words were true, he had technically stolen Conal's sword and armour, but coming from her mouth they carried no weight. She had the gall, the audacity to accuse him while he knew, he *knew* that Conal had died by her hand and she had seduced the head of their order, blinded him and bent him to her will? The hell she would touch any part of Truth but the blade. He smiles to himself, "Seems I'm always dreaming of sticking something inside her."
And yet, he finds himself unsure as he pulls Truth free from its scabbard. She knew he had it. She knew he wore Conal's armour. He did not pretend that wielding them made him more powerful than she, not by far. And so he wondered if this ghost could even feel the blade. Nonetheless, truth is man's only defence, and truth can topple one's greatest foe. Helm would see him through. He had to.
He forces a smile at Sa'id's words. "Don't let it touch me? If only I'd met you earlier Sa'id, you could have saved me many a lump in the practice yard." Keep the men happy, keep them confident. This was no different than staring down a cavalry charge with nothing but a pointy stick between you and a ton of horse, man and metal.
He pulls Stormcloud to the side, letting his size block as much of the road as possible, forcing the creature to go through him before the wizards, while leaving him free to hack down at the wraith if it comes within reach.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
:)
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
> Would Farron know whether "Hold Person" would work on a wraith or not?
It wouldn't, but Sa'id's Hold Undead would.
From: Ty
Subject: The Exodus; Black Magic
Garyth leads his men northeast, riding hard. They can hear another barrage of arrows fired off in the distance to their right, but they ride past it. After a few moments, Garyth begins to angle off to the east, letting the Halfling position slip farther and farther to his right flank. Then, when they are exactly (he thinks) 90 degrees to his right, he yanks the reins hard over and leads the Falcons on a charge south.
For a moment, there is only darkness, and he begins to think maybe he miscalculated, then suddenly a group of Murrkat materialize around the horses. One of them goes under Garyth's horse before he even sees him. He can hear Robert's crossbow fire, and the twang of Pensive's bow, but it is so dark out here away from the camp, he isn't sure he could hit anything more than three feet from him. The Halflings run around them cursing, and Garyth yells out, "Kill any that you see!" They may not get them all, but at the very least they can keep them from shooting the town.
He is just starting to think of drawing his sword when a Halfling runs out of the dark and throws something at his horse. It hits the horses flank and break with a sound like glass. Garyth spins to see what it did, but as far as he can see it just made a large brightly glowing spot on the horses flank. "Wait-" a barrage of arrows begins falling around him. "A second group!" he yells. He can hear Vincy yell, "To the east!" The spot on his horse is bright enough to illuminate the ground around him for 60'.
The arrows continue to rain down. Robert yelps once as an arrow goes through his arm [damage 4], and Garyth's horse jumps when an arrow goes into its flank [damage 3].
[surprise round over. Map with details attached]
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
Now, with map!
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
Ty, how far away is the other group of archers? And would I be wrong in assuming that our horses are trained for mounted combat?
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
You have no idea how far away the other group is. Based on the volume of arrows and the low number of hits, probably not real close. Most likely they are just firing at the light.
You're horses are light warhorses provided by the Falcon's. They are not only trained for combat, they've actually seen some action too. If not, Garyth's horse would have dumped him on his head when the arrow hit.
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
Farron looks in horror and the apparition of Elise transforms into the wraith. His horror deepens as Sa'id yells to "not let it touch you." If a necromancer tells you something is especially dangerous, you can bet it isn't something you want to see.
He mentally runs through his list of spells for the day, no simple tasks seeing as the day started what seems like a week ago now. He finger the rod of iron in his robe pocket but discards that option as he's sure that would be useless against a wraith. He feels the candle but can't quickly think what summoned creature would do the most damage against their foe. Finally he ops for the shaving of licorice root. Pinching it between his fingers he makes the arcane movements and recites the words to give an added boost of speed to the group. (Casts Hasten on Kasen, Sa'id and himself).
From: Karl
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
Oh, and he moves in whatever direction is away from the wraith, trying to keep out of melee range.
From: Ty
Subject: Two wizards out of town; the wrath of Elise 1
[Initiative rolls Kasen 21, Wraith3 17, Wraith2 15, Farron 9, Wraith1 8, Sa'id 5]
Kasen dances Storm sideways, putting her right flank to the approaching wraith, and readying his greatsword (readied attack). He curses that he has never been initiated into the mysteries of the White Hart. He knows that his brethren there enjoy special protections from such undead creatures and their life draining attacks.
Farron begins backing his horse away from the approaching wraith and mentally preparing his haste spell, when the horse lets out a little scream of fear. He swivels his head, and sees a second wraith bearing down on him, and a third moving toward Sa'id. They are trapped inside the legs of a tripod. He remembers thinking that his horse could probably outrun the wraith, and curses. There won't be any running now. The wraith will have reached him in seconds [wraith3 and wraith2 will be able to attack next round].
Farron grits his teeth and finishes his spell. The air around him seems to take on a muddy and thick quality, while his blood seems to bubble. The approaching Wraiths slow down noticeably. [group hasted]
The first wraith noticed, the one that Elise sent her message through, moves into range with Kasen, who immediately swings his greatsword at it. [Incorporeal creature 43%, hit; Attack 25 vs AC15, hit; damage 14] Truth not only strikes the approaching Wraith, but seems to flash with an inner fire when it does so, and the wraith screeches as a slice is opened in it's ghostly fabric. Sir Conal's weapon is a mighty token, and blessed by Helm. These evil undead are not immune to its power.
But the damaged wraith recovers quickly, and glides forward with claws outstretched. [Attack 11 vs AC14(hasted touch attack AC); miss] Without thinking, Kasen brings Truth up to deflect the approaching claws, and it does seem to have some effect. The creature shies back from the glowing blade.
Sa'id, seeing that the wraith is now too close to kasen, changes the direction of his spell, and fires it at the wraith approaching from his rear. [Fireball spell; incorporeal creature 1%; hit; damage 19] There is a flash and a streak of light, then the world erupts into flaming brilliance for a short second. Sa'id throws one hand over his eyes, and his night vision is overwhelmed by the flash. When he looks again, the approaching wraith seems shredded and charred by the attack. Good. His fire magic does have an effect. But he knows that such creatures are difficult to harm even with magic, as they can fade in and out of reality.
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
OOC: Wait is that 60 FEET, or 60 INCHES? I can never remember which is one apostrophe and which is two. . .
Pensive will attack the northernmost enemy with the stonesash as a reach weapon, without using flurry of blows. If he's too far away, he'll fire on the same enemy with the bow, and try to close the gap between them.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
60 feet. It's glowing very brightly.
This is very probably the trap Rennik warned of.
From: Mark
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
So is Garyth's nickname "Target" now?
Mark
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
This won't make any difference to my round, but is Pensive's low light vision helping at all?
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wra(i)th of Elise
> no simple tasks seeing as the day started what seems like a week ago now.
:)
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic
Garyth curses. On a night this dark, a light might as well be a bullseye. As much as he hates to give up the advantage of a mounted position, only a madman would make himself such a target. He jumps down from the horse, weapons in hand almost before he reaches the ground [Quick Draw].
OOC: Garyth will try to do a fast dismount (free action). If he is able to do that, he'll try to send the horse away (I don't know if that requires a full-round or move-equivalent Handle Animal action, and preferably he'd like the horse to go east toward the second group of archers). If there isn't time for that, or if there's time left after doing that, he'll attack the nearest halfling.
From: Dan
Subject: Re: Two wizards out of town; the wrath of Elise 1
There was hope then, if Helm could work through Truth and strike the evil down, if he could assume the creature would not simply pass through him to the wizards behind him. Peripherally aware of the two incoming threats he hacks down at the first wraith, hoping to fell it quickly.
Full Attack (assuming I can do that from horseback)