Melani and the Wereboar; Archers: Round 3, Kenneth Dies; Wraiths: Round 5 Actions
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 2
You may not be as evil as I first thought. . .
From: Mark
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 2
If he wants a battle he can come join Melani. She has all she can handle and more. :)
Mark
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 2
Noemon's turn was fantastic. I keep wanting to write a good turn like that and keep drawing blanks. I've got plans for when we make camp, though...
From: Mark
Subject: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
She had done it. She had avenged her brother. Now his spirit could rest. The relief was a weight off of her own spirit. Now it was time to see to her survival. Survival? That hardly seemed likely. The 8 Murrkat scum were enough to deal with by themselves. In normal conditions she might be able to kill a few and fade away into the night. However it was the pig creature that really had her worried. She recognized what it was. The Bel'neth had taught her. Shapechanger. Werebeast. It was fast. She had no weapon that could hurt it. It could track her without seeing her. What else had the Bel'neth taught her about them? Damn she had to remember.
Still her people were not ones to just give up. Since she could not fight the beast, she would have to run. She would have to warn her people that there was a werebeast. It would take special planning to kill that creature. Maybe the humans could do it. They had large weapons. How best to keep distance between her and the beast? Well Murrkat would make a nice wall. Glancing behind her and judging the direction, she runs and tumbles by the two Murrkat the furthest away from the beast, trying to get the crowd between her and it. As she tumbles she yells "Warriors of Overlook, Attack!!!!! The witch is dead, attack!!!!!!!" as loud as she can, trying her best to get the Murrkat to take their eyes off of her, just for a second. That is all she might need.
OOC: If I can I want to do a combination double move/tumble to get by the two murrkat that are furthest away from the wereboar, while doing the bluff. Then try and hide. I know it is a lot and if the bluffs fail I guess I fight. Is there any tree near by that I can get my back against? How about the wind direction?
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
[Ok. Because of the gravity of what's happening here, I am exposing every roll. Even one's I would normally do behind the scenes.]
[Initiative Halfling6, Melani, wereboar, Halfling2, Halfling7, Halfling3, halfling8, halfling5, Halfling1, halfling4]
One of the Halflings darts in from the closing circle, and makes a quick slash at Melani [attack 8, miss], but she sidesteps the blade and shoves the Halfling away.
As the ring of Murrkat closes in on Melani, she spins to face the Halfling on the opposite side from the wereboar. Screaming at him to make him hesitate, she lunges forward, stepping on his foot and pushing him backwards, then grabbing his shirt and attempting to use his weight to launch herself over his head. [Tumble attempt 17 vs DC 25]
Unfortunately, the Murrkat twists away, doesn't fall backward. Instead, he stabs out at her with his short sword [AOO; attack 16, miss]. She is able to evade it easily, but it costs her momentum, and he is able to shove her back into the ring.
Outside the ring, the wereboar roars and, standing up to its full height, shoves its way into the ring, knocking one hapless Murrkat out of the way. It grabs at Melani with one massive claw [attack 29, hit; damage 9]. The wereboar snatches her from her feet, lifting her a yard off the ground, then slams her down, knocking the wind from her. She rolls away quickly, but suddenly she is being stabbed at from everywhere [2 attacks, 2 flank attacks; attacks 25, 24, 26, 15, hit, hit, hit, miss; damage 4, 5, 5]. She is able to push back to her feet, but she is bleeding from many cuts, and the wereboar moves toward her, an ugly contemptuous grin on its face.
"Maybe we don't kill this one. Maybe we takes this one to the mountain..."
From: Ty
Subject: The wrath of Elise
[Initiative rolls Kasen 21, Wraith3 17, Wraith2(held3) 15, Farron 9, Wraith1 8, Sa'id 5]
Kasen backs Storm away from the approaching wraith, using his knees to guide her, and swinging Truth in huge sweeping arcs. [Full attack 32, 32, 19, Ethereal creature 60% 6% 42% miss, hit, hit; Damage 32] The wraith's attack moves in directly into the path of the whirling blade, and three quick slices later, it is nothing more than fading shreds falling toward the ground.
[pausing mid turn so Raja can decide what he wants Sa'id to do now that wraith3 is dead.]
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
OOC: Shit what a time for a lousy tumble roll.
Lying on the ground, bleeding from several cuts, Melani remembers something her brother taught her. "What does the opposum do when surrounded by foes? He plays dead and waits for a better time to make his escape." With that she spits at the beasts and drops her dagger. "Yes, take me to the mountain. Maybe there I can send more of your foul kind to meet your dark god, just as I did the witch."
Mark
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
The wereboar moves forward with surprising speed, yanking the small scout off her feet, and dangling her in the air in front of his tusks.
"Or maybe I kill you now, and eat you here." His words are hard to make out, his tusks distorting his lips and making his speech animal and guttural. But Melani understands enough. If she wants to live, she will need a reason for the wereboar to keep her alive.
[If you don't do anything, I am going to do an odd or even roll to see if he just kills you. 50/50 chance. Or, you can attempt to bluff him, and I will give you the opposed bluff roll vs his sense motive. Make no mistake. Melani's life hangs by a thread here. I won't cheat the rolls to save her. Make it good, Mark.]
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
OOC: Crap, thanks. :)
Ok take care of the others for a while and let me see what the quick thinking halfling can come up with.
Mark
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The wrath of Elise
Ty, does casting Command Undead on the last wraith break the hold? Halt Undead says it's only broken in the case of an attack.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The wrath of Elise
If it makes it's saving throw, then yes it would break the hold. I would consider that an attack. If it fails its saving throw, then it doesn't matter.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The wrath of Elise
What AC penalty does the wraith take for being held?
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
"Humans. I know where they are going and what they plan on doing."
OOC: If she lives long enough she might expand on that.
mark
From: Ty
Subject: The Exodus; Black Magic 3
[Initiative Pensive, halfling23, Halfling 21, Robert, Munch, Halfling2, Halfling7, Garyth, Halfling12, Halfling3, Halfling20, Halfling14, Osred, Halfling6, Halfling17, Halfling22, Halfling4, Halfling24, Halfling19, Halfling10, Halfling8, Halfling18, Halfling15, Halfling9, Halfling13, Vincy, Halfling11, Halfling16]
Pensive wheels his horse around, then spurs it back to toward the Halfling who shot him, and, consequently, back towards the fleeing town. As he approaches he flips the stonesash to its full length, and snaps it at the Halfling bowman. [Attack 25, hit; damage 8] The sash strikes the Murrkat in the chest, driving him back briefly, but not causing him to drop his bow.
A pair of arrows come whistling in at Munch [Attacks 9, 22 vs AC 19, miss, hit; damage 4] one of them glancing off his shoulder.
Robert charges the Halfling nearest him, screaming and swinging his sword. [Attack 17 vs AC15, hit; damage 3] He strikes the Halfling a glancing blow as he passes.
Munch spins his horse to face the Halfling behind him, then charges. [Attack 10 vs AC15, miss] The nimble Murrkat darts low under his horse and evades the attack.
The Halfling Pensive has engaged drops his longbow, and draws his shortsword, then tries to tumble past the stonesash at Pensive's horse. [Tumble attempt 21 vs DC15, success] Pensive, yanks the stonesash back for another hit as the Halfling runs at him, but it is just too quick, and in the next moment it is right next to his horse.
The Halfling standing behind Kenneth shoots the struggling guardsman in the back as he tries to stand up. [Back attack 19 vs AC18, hit; damage 11; death] Kenneth never sees it happen. Suddenly the arrow head is protruding from the center of his chest, and he dies with a confused expression on his face.
Garyth is running toward Kenneth when he sees the arrow suddenly burst out of his chest. Kenneth just stares down at the arrow head for a second, then falls limply to the ground. Garyth screams in rage and charges the Halfling that just fired [Attack 16 vs AC15, hit; damage 11]. He runs straight at the Murrkat, and plunges his longsword into its throat right up to the guard, then yanks sideways. The halfling's head is nearly torn off.
An arrow comes in at Robert [Attack 16 vs AC20, miss] but lands a few feet from him.
The Halfling near Vincy drops his bow and pulls out a glass vial from his belt, then hurls it into the center of the melee. It breaks open with a blinding light, and spatters glowing liquid around the battle field.
Two more arrows come in at Pensive [Attacks 14, 11, miss, miss], but again the Monk is too fast, and easily moves in the saddle to avoid them.
Osred is charging toward Kenneth when he sees the young man die. His thoughts turn to revenge, but even that is taken from him when Garyth cuts the head off the Halfling. He rides up next to Garyth. Kenneth's horse stands nearby.
The other Halfling near Vincy takes a shot at him [attack 24 vs AC18, hit; damage 5], and hits him in the hip.
This is followed by two more arrows falling on the guardsman [Attack 13, 8, miss, miss], but both miss Vincy.
The Halfling firing at Munch takes another shot [Attack 9, miss] but misses.
The Halflings in the dark seem to have taken a special interest in Pensive, and two more arrows are sent his way. The monk sees them coming now, in the bright light from the glowing potion, and notices that the trajectory is much flatter and from a new angle. The Halflings are moving in and spreading out, though they do remain outside the circle of light. [Attacks 10, 9, miss, miss] With plenty of time to see them coming, Pensive has no trouble evading both arrows.
A Halfling moves up closer to Osred's back and fires at it. [Back attack 19 vs AC19, hit; damage 9] The arrow passes through the armor and sticks painfully into his back.
Another Halfling moves over behind Robert and fires into his back [Back attack natural 20, critical threat 1, hit; damage 6].
Another pair of arrows come whistling in at Pensive. [Attack 16, 24, miss, hit; damage 4] The first arrow is easy to avoid, but the second sneaks in past his guard and cuts a painful wound on his thigh.
The other Halfling near Robert fires up at him, but Robert is close enough to hit him while he draws the bow [AOO; attack 9, miss]. Unfortunately, the Halfling is too quick, and dodges Robert's thrust, then fires up at his face [Attack natural 1]. But Robert's swing did enough to spoil the halfling's aim, and the arrow shoots past.
An arrow flies in from the dark at Vincy. [Attack 16 vs AC18, miss]
Vincy can hear the captain yelling to cut clear and escape, but he is worried about leaving two archers to fire into his back if he does. So he attacks the nearest again [Attack natural 20, crit threat 7, hit; damage 5] The already wounded Murrkat goes down screeching, Vincy's sword having opening a third eye it its forehead.
Another two arrows come flying in from the dark at Garyth [Attack 20, 9, hit, miss; damage 6] and one of them scores a hit on his chest.
From: Ty
Subject: The Exodus; Black Magic 3
An updated map of the fight.
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
"Humans. I know where they are going and what they plan on doing."
[Bluff attempt 23 vs Sense Motive 10]
The wereboar yanks Melani closer, until she is choking on its fetid breath, and can see the chips and gouges in its tusks. For a moment she thinks she will die now. The wereboar will stick her head into its huge mouth, and just bite it off. This fear is not assuaged by the wereboar licking her face with its thick course tongue.
Then it chuckles. "Tie her up. She goes to the mountain."
Before she can even react, the wereboar lifts her over his head, then slams her to the ground with bone crunching force. Immediately she is swarmed by the surrounding Murrkat, who hit her repeatedly with their fists and the pommels of their swords. She finds herself oddly grateful to the Murrkat who finally knocks her unconscious.
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Melani out of the frying pan and into the fire
OOC:Now she gets the good bluff roll. ;)
Ok she lives for now. It depends on what happens when she wakes up but she does have 12 ranks in use rope and 12 ranks of escape artist. She will wait until she thinks the time is right.
Mark
From: Scott
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 3
Pensive does not see the guardsman die-- but he smells Garyth's rage like a burning wind, and turns back.
Blood and stone. Now he sees the dead man, and the body of the halfling in front of Garyth.
He whips the stonesash in half, and strikes out at the halfling nearest him.
OOC:
He will use flurry of blows this time, and if he kills the halfling, will charge forward fifty feet or so to put some distance between him and the other archers.
From: Raja
Subject: Re: The wrath of Elise
Before Sa'id's frustrated scream peters out, Kasen kills the second wraith. The necromancer regains some small measure of control over his anger. Sa'id moves his horse as close as possible to the two men.
"I will cast a spell, centred on Farron, to shield us in case the last wraith breaks free of my spell. We cannot attack from within the shield or it will be broken, but if we move away from Farron we will be free to attack." [Magic Circle against Evil, touching Farron]. "I will do what little I can for him," he says. "Do you have any skill in healing?"
OOC: Sa'id will cast the spell this round and use his heal skill on Farron next round to stabilize him.
From: Mike
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 3
Only a few short yards separate Garyth from Kenneth, but it might as well be a mile. He sees it happen as though in slow motion. Kenneth struggles to get his feet beneath him and, for a moment, his eyes meet Garyth's. There's trust there--he knows his captain won't let him down. This was the man that saved his life back at the battle outside Overlook. This is a man who gets the job done. I'm coming, thinks Garyth. Hold on, just hold on.
But suddenly a confused look comes over Kenneth's face. His eyes widen and he looks down to see the arrowhead that has sprouted from his chest. Kenneth lifts his head once more before he falls. Garyth can see the shock, and more, the incomprehension, the reproach that his captain didn't save him. Kenneth's mouth moves silently, as though he were trying to say something. Garyth can hear the voice in his head. How could you let this happen? How could you lead your men to death? And when Kenneth slumps to the ground, something inside Garyth snaps.
A guttural, primal scream tears from his throat as he falls on the halfling. There is no thought as he strikes, only blind, consuming, desperate rage. Garyth's blade cleaves the halfling's throat with a satisfying crunch, and he savagely twists his blade free. He whirls about, his bloodlust still not fulfilled. Two halflings advance on Robert, their brutish faces twisted in evil grins. With an arrow through his arm and another protruding from his back, Robert won't last much longer.
Completely disregarding his own safety, Garyth charges toward the two halflings.
From: Dan
Subject: Re: The wrath of Elise
"I have seen many wounds on the field, mage, but none like this. See to your friend, Helm will finish this."
Kasen gathers the reigns in his hands and urges Stormcloud in around the remaining wraith. Steadying himself in his saddle he dismembers it.
(Full Attack -- From behind it for any back attack bonuses and, hopefully, out of the magic circle)
From: Ty
Subject: Re: The wrath of Elise
BTW, forgot to roll Farron's stabilize roll.
Stabilize attempt 16%, fail. Farron at -5.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: The Exodus; Black Magic 2
Thanks Raja!