An
ambush - by Von Fedel!As the wagons roll on southwards, leaving the Knights of Silver cantering off to the north behind them, the western sky continues to darken. Within half an hour, the wind has picked up, and it starts to drizzle with rain, not heavily to start, but enough to make travelling somewhat more uncomfortable.
"Bloody storm coming!" yells Rostcal, cracking his whip over the heads of the lead horses to try to pick up the pace a little. The horses strain, but the wagons are heavy and cumbersome, and there is no real noticeable increase in speed. "Just what we need!" he says, obviously disgusted with the weather. Gesturing for the guard to put down his crossbow and join him, he hands the reins over. "Keep her going!" he says, before jumping down off the wagon and running back along the trail. Reaching the rear wagon, he stops, pulling out a something from a pocket and touching it each of the pair of heavy trunks. Dorn, sitting on the trunks, about 20 feet away, feels the wagons jerk a little, and start to accelerate. The gap between the last wagon and the third one starts to close.
Rostcal breaks into a run, slipping on a patch of mud and nearly falling, but catching himself as he moves back up the wagon train, again, touching each of the tree trunks with something mostly concealed in his hand. As he reaches the front wagon again, he clambers back to the drivers seat, taking the reins and whip. "Yah! he calls, cracking the whip over the heads of the team of horses. This time, the wagons lurch into a faster speed, causing those walking to have to jog to keep up.
Rostcal grins around at Blondung, the mage looking a little puzzled. "Useful, if costly, magic to help 'lighten the load'" he says.
A further hour passes, the wagons moving much faster this time and the storm slowly creeping closer, the wind gusting stronger and driving the rain almost sideways at times. The sky darkens further, making it seem almost like dusk rather than mid afternoon, and wet trickles of water start to work their way down once warm and dry necks. The temperature drops, making the travellers pull their cloaks around themselves more closely. "At least it's not a thunder storm" mutters Rostcal to Blondung.
A good two hours after the Knights had passed, the storm engulfs the group with a vengeance. With horizontal driving rain, there is little than anyone can do to avoid getting soaked, and despite the increase in speed from the lightened loads, the distant spires of Silverymoon remain hidden from view and it seems to be unlikely that the group will make it before night fall after all.
It is about then, that Ceely, jogging up ahead with the two riders, makes out several covered wagons, sitting stationary on the road ahead. A single figure sits in the driving place of the lead wagon. The other wagons seem abandoned, their horses standing miserably in their harnesses, battered by the rain.
Rostcal, peering into the murk, tries to make out what is going on, and slows the horses as they approach more slowly...
Herod aka Scott continued>:
> He will start to move forward to towards where Milo
> is to make sure that he is close to the lead wagon,
> but can react if they are attacked. He takes his battle
> axe out, and continues to hold onto his symbol of
> Tempus with his left hand.
Herod trots after Milo and Serena, trying to catch the Painbearer up.
<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> Hoping down from the lead wagon, Cleo reaches back
> to grab her bow and arrows. Breaking into a trot, Cleo
> glances left to right, trying to see if there is anything
> suspicious off in the rain.
Cleo also rushes after Serena, and Milo, joining Herod as the three of them moving ahead of the slowly moving Moonwood Mast wagons.
<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> When the wagons stop, Dorn, who is already in a
> bad mood due to all the rain and wind, yells out,
> "what the hell is goin on up there?!!"
OOC: SLOW not STOP actually.
The guard on the front of the fourth Moonwood Mast wagon looks around. "Some wagons blocking the trail it seems" he says.
<Dorn aka Doug continued>:
> "Cousin, there's something brewing up there, I
> don't know what it be, but be on your guard!"
Larz nods, acknowledging his cousin's shouted warning. Continuing to trudge after the wagon, Larz unlimbers his axe and looks around in all directions, squinting into the rain.
<Yvandel aka Steve wrote>:
> "I could keep that second one loaded for you if we
> have any troubles. I can't hit the broadside of a city
> wall myself. But I can try and keep you loaded and
> ready to shoot if we have some kind of trouble here."
The guard grins at Yvandel, rain dripping from his helm and plastering the dark
hair on his forehead before being whipped away by the strong wind. "That
might be good - usually the driver does that for me, but I guess he can concentrate
on the driving that way!"
****** NOTE THE FOLLOWING CANNOT BE SEEN BY LUCRETIA
(or for that matter, at all clearly by Larz/Dorn/Yvandel simply due to the distance/weather)
Meanwhile, right at the front, Ceely moves up past the front of the first covered wagon and approaches the bodies. The two mounted guards fan out, moving their horses parallel to her, pulling their horse bows out, nocking arrows and looking nervously all around for any sign of what might have killed these innocent people.
Ceely, a few paces from the bodies and with harpoon at the ready, hears Milo, Serena, Herod and Cleo jog up behind her. There are five bodies lying haphazardly on the ground. One of them, a good looking woman dressed in travelling clothes and a ripped cloak, lies on her right side, one leg and arm twisted awkwardly under her, blood and rain mingling on her face from a cut on the side of her head. Clutched protectively against her breast, half concealed by her cloak is a small bundle that still seems to be moving. Of the other four visible bodies, three look like typical caravan guards, all obviously dead - one with a significant dent in his head, one with his throat ripped out, and one with his limbs at unnatural angles. The cause of death for the final body, a few paces further on, is also easy to determine, as the body, charred and burnt is in an almost perfect circle of blackened earth and burnt grass.
*****
* NOTE: THE FOLLOWING CANNOT BE SEEN BY CEELY, MILO OR SERENA (as
the covered wagon is in the way)
(or for that matter, at all clearly by Larz/Dorn/Yvandel simply due to the distance/weather)
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "You <He points to one of the guards and calls him
> by name if he caught it in conversation> go alert the
> others, there are barbarians about."
OOC: ACTUALLY, there is only 1 guard with Lucretia - the other one is 30-40 yards back, but coming up.
The guard rises up in his saddles, and makes some large hand signals to the guard behind and those back on the wagon. Glancing back, Lucretia sees the guards on the wagons nod and become more wary. Rostcal calls a halt and stops the wagon train. He starts to delve into his pockets as if looking for something. Slightly behind him, Blondung grabs out the bone wand and peers into the teeth of the wind, blinking away the rain as he tries to search out any enemies.
<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> "You come with me we will sweep around this area
> here <He indicates the right flank> and see what we
> have hiding." "Hurry now."
The guard, having moved closer to the barbarian corpses on the floor, twists around in his saddle as Lucretia shouts to him. "Hey, these bodies have been..." he starts. What he is about to say is lost however, as Lucretia sees an obviously dead corpses lurch up on the other side, grabbing at the guard's leg and pulling him from the saddle. Six other corpses rise up and close around the hapless guard, who struggles to regain his feet. The corpses are bloated and have obviously been dead for a while. For a moment, as the wind shifts, Lucretia gets a waft of the stench of death from them.
***********
Merrell is next to Rostcal, who has finally stopped his wagon at a distance of about 150 feet (50 yards) from the first covered wagon. Visibility is about 100 yards through this rain... Getting proportionally worse as the distance grows. Hence those at the very back, Dorn & Larz, and to a lesser extent Yvandel, can see very little except shapes... Merrell however can see roughly what is happening...
<Ceely aka Deb wrote>:
> Studying the lone waggoneer, she looks for signs
> that he is alive, moving, or if he might be a trick
> to lull them closer to the empty wagons. She also
> looks for signs of a fight around the wagons, or
> maybe that the other drivers were near by.
The two guards riding at the front look worried. "Something don't look right about this!" says one, raising his voice slightly over the noise of the wind and rain. "Come on, let's get a closer look..." he mutters, and the two kick their horses into motion again, moving slowly towards the group of what looks like five wagons. Ceely, wishing she had a horse under her, splashes through the puddles behind them to get a slightly better look. The single figure sits slightly hunched on the driving seat of the closest wagon, curled up somewhat in protection from the weather. The hood of his travelling cloak is pulled low over his face and flapping somewhat in the wind. His gloved hands grip the reins tightly, and he doesn't seem to have noticed the party getting closer, or if he has, he certainly hasn't reacted.
Back on the lead tree wagon, Rostcal curses. "They've stopped in the middle of the bloody trail!" he growls, "probably all sheltering from the weather inside their covered wagons!" he mutters to Merrell by his side. On his other side, his colleague stands and waves his arms in some sort of signal back down the caravan. The various guards shift on their seats, looking around them more warily as they look for any possible ambush, checking their crossbows, the weapons covered with canvas to keep the cords dry.
Although there are no trees or rocky outcrops, there is plenty of wind-swept grasses and small bushes at the side of the trail, which could, with some difficulty, conceal possible prone attackers. Beyond the movement from the wind and rain however, there is no sign of hostile life to the sides.
<Serena aka Archon wrote>:
> Serena slides down from her perch on the downwind
> side of the first wagon, where she had attempted
> to take cover from the rainstorm. She peers ahead,
> trying to assess the scene.
Serena jumps lightly to the ground and moves out slightly to the side, to get a clearer view of the stationary wagons blocking the trail ahead. Up ahead, she can see the two advance riders, with Ceely lagging behind them on foot approaching the first of the group of wagons. The driver, the only man visible from this angle remains stationary as the forward scouts get closer, getting within about 20 yards of the first wagon. From here, some some 100 yards back, he is just a black lump on the lead wagon, in the rain.
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> "This doesn’t look good." <Lucretia will begin
> to scan the trees as he undoes the straps holding
> his spear on Thunderbolt> "Steady boy." <He will
> say to the horse as he senses the animal’s uneasiness.>
> "Any odd tracks about?" "Maybe they're just stuck."
Rostcal shakes his head in answer to Lucretia, Thunderbolt currently carrying the warrior within earshot. "Go ask your ranger friend about tracks!" he calls. "But I don't think they're stuck! If they were, they'd be busy trying to get the wagon's out of the mud, not just sitting there!"
<Serena aka Archon continued>:
> Turning to Lucretia, she calls, "Luc, ride out on
> the flank and see if there is anything hiding behind
> those wagons."
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> <Lucretia nods towards Serena and swings and spurs
> Thunderbolt into action...heading towards the right
> flank past the right guards to get a look see...spear
> in hand he goes fairly fast as moving targets have to
> be harder to hit. He will pull Thunderbolt to an
> abrupt stop and observe the wagons.>
Moving out towards the right flank as the lumber wagons continue to roll slowly forward, their wheels making sucking noises in the mud as the eight strong horses pull them through, Thunderbolt canters over the firmer ground to the side of the trail. From this angle, Lucretia can see that there are no other drivers on any of the other four wagons behind the first. There is no sign of any life, apart from the horses, all standing in their harnesses, stoically tolerating the wind and rain as only horses and other beasts of burden can. Stopping, some 50 yards off to one side and 50 yards to in front of the covered wagons, Lucretia shakes rain out of his eyes, and tries to get a good view under them, standing in his stirrups. Although dark under the wagons, he is fairly sure he can see clear air underneath, through the spokes of the wooden wagon wheels, and it doesn't look like there is anyone hiding under them.
<Milo aka Phil wrote>:
> [Milo will move up to the first wagon, and then if
> no-one else is moving forward to check on the man,
> will do so himself, even if others protest.]
Milo, concerned by the lack of movement of the distant wagon driver, grabs his staff, and drops himself off the tree trunks, narrowly avoiding a deep water filled wagon rut and moving to the reasonably firm ground to the side of the trail. Hurrying forward, he jogs forward, starting to close the distance between himself and the lead wagon. A sharp whistle, cutting across the rain makes him pause and look over to his right shoulder, and he can see the pair of mounted guards cantering forward on the right flank to join Lucretia. Turning away from the stinging rain, he focuses forward again, and continues to jog ahead of the tree wagons behind him.
<Ceely aka Deb wrote>:
> (Unless she sees something alarming/concerning, she
> will move closer to investigate)
At 20 yards away, the two mounted caravan guards stop their horses, Ceely trudging up to join them on their right hand side. "HEY!" yells one of them towards the man on the wagon. "ARE YOU..." His voice cuts off as his companion grabs his left arm, pointing towards something on the ground off to the left hand side of the wagons. Ceely peers around the neck of the horse next to her, and can see what the man had spotted - a number of corpses lying haphazardly in the grass at the side of the road. The man on the wagon doesn't react to the call.
Meanwhile, Lucretia glances around as other horseman joins him on the right flank. "Let's go a bit closer" he shouts over the wind. Goading his horse forward he moves forward several more places, before stopping again. "Look!" he points. In the grass about 20 yards or so ahead, Lucretia can see a leg sticking up at an awkward position. Shifting Thunderbolt sideways under him, more of the corpse comes into view, along with another one a few paces further away. Judging from the clothing he can see, rough leather hides and furs, it looks like it is probably a barbarian corpse, though of what tribe he can't tell.
"I think a battle must have happened here!" yells the guard, nudging his horse towards the corpses.
Back with the Moonwood Mast wagons, Rostcal stands, swaying as the wagon lurches below him, trying to see what is happening 60 or so yards ahead through the heavy rain. Blondung, slightly behind him remains huddled in his cloak, doing his best to remain dry. Yvandel nearly 300 feet further back on the third wagon, strains to see the blockage on the road ahead, pretty much unaware of what the flurry of activity is about. On the rear wagon, Dorn sits, occasionally looking back at his cousin Larz, the dwarven priest jogging along on the muddy rutted trail behind, several yards behind the last pack pony. As the wagons slow, Larz slows as well, glad for the chance to catch his breath.
END OF ROUND ONE
=============
<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "Cousin i have a bad feeling about this. Theres
> something funny going on up there with that stuck
> caravan in the middle of the road. Let's go take a
> look at whats going on up there."
Larz trudges up to Dorn, leans against the lee side of the wagon, taking a small respite from the driving rain. "I'll keep an eye out here at the back" Larz says sourly, climbing up onto the wagon to get a better view point.
Dorn starts to move towards the head of the long wagon train.
Meanwhile, up at the front, Cleo ducks in front of Ceely to expose what the prone woman is clutching to her body. Pulling the cloak aside, she sees a pale pair of chubby baby legs wiggling beneath the woman's arm.
In the distance behind her, over the noise of the rain, Merrell's voice can be heard, yelling "Luc is in trouble!"
Closer, she hears Serena call to the driver of the first covered wagon, the man slumped in his seat as if asleep or dead. He doesn't respond, not moving at all. The canvas covering the wagon shows little of it's content, lashed down tight on all sides. The whole wagon rocks slightly in the strong wind, and water runs off the canvas in an almost constant stream.
Moving quickly, Cleo reaches down, lifting the woman's arm to pull the baby free. At her side, Ceely gives a sudden yelp, as the eyes of the woman flick open. Suddenly, the woman moves, grabbing hold of Cleo's arm with a vice like grip and pulling Cleo down towards her. Slightly off balance, Cleo half topples on top of the woman, using her free hand to stop herself from crushing the woman or her baby. Rolling slightly, the woman's other hand come free and clubs at Cleo, catching the warrioress on her side like a bruising billy club. (OOC: 5hp damage, now on 24/33) Up close to the woman, Cleo hears a low moan come from between her blue lips, and realises the eyes are lifeless.
Ceely has more cause for alarm however, as the other four corpses suddenly rise, even the blackened burnt one. Behind her, Serena, Milo and Herod shudder and stumble slightly, as a stiffness settles over them. Shaking her head, Serena shrugs off the enchantment, as does Milo, but Herod stiffens further in mid step, his expression frozen except for his eyes which stare somewhat wildly as he realises none of his muscles are reacting to his mind.
The two mounted guards, look around as they realise the dead are starting to rise, raising their bows, unsure at what is going on.
Back at the wagons, Merrell, having seen the dead rising around Lucretia, hops down off the now stationary wagon, and takes several steps towards Lucretia. Back on the wagon, Rostcal stands up, yelling and waving towards the mounted guards and pointing towards Lucretia. Lucretia's voice, carried by the wind, can be heard yelling "UNDEAD!". The remaining mounted guard from the west flank goads his horse into a canter, pulling his horse bow from his it's sheath. The two other guards on the east side also canter forward.
The guard's horse, neighing loudly, breaks away from the undead, and skitters several feet away. The guard screams once, before he is pulled down under the flailing arms of the group of zombies. Hurling his spear towards the nearest zombie, where it embeds squarely in it's back, Lucretia, wheels Thunderbolt away from the hapless guard and gallops towards the other group closer to the covered wagon.
Merrell, still moving towards Lucretia, moves his fingers in an intricate pattern, his lips moving silently in the wind and rain. Two sparkling bolts of energy rip from his outstretched index finger, zipping across the intervening distance, around Lucretia as he moves away, and into one of the zombies. A flash of steam erupts at the point of impact, and the zombie staggers back a step, away from the guard for a moment.
END OF ROUND TWO
=============
Cleo recoils from the undead woman, jerking backwards to try to pull herself free from the vice like grip. For a moment, it seems like the undead grip will be too strong, but suddenly, Ceely steps up to her side and slams her harpoon into the woman, it's barbed point plunging deep into her belly and the ground below. The jerk finally rips the dead fingers free, loosening Cleo's arm enough for her to roll away and to her feet. Bumping into someone, Cleo looks around to see another undead reaching for her, and she steps back, scrabbling to draw her sword.
Behind her however, Milo has his holy symbol extended, and both Cleo and Ceely can hear his strident voice over the wind, calling on Ilmater to banish the undead. As Cleo finally draws her sword, the four standing zombies fall back, their arms held up as if to shield themselves from Milo's holy symbol, which glows brightly in the Painbearer's hand.
The undead pinned by Ceely's harpoon cannot flee however, and lashes out at Ceely. The ex-fisherwoman was used to avoiding the thrashing of freshly harpooned rake shark as they landed on the deck, and avoiding the undead's limbs was an easy task for her. Plunging her harpoon into a rake shark - a six foot shark commonly found in the waters of the Sword Coast - was a lot easier to handle than seeing it embedded in the stomach of a young woman.
Meanwhile, as Serena changes direction, away from the driver of the wagon and towards the side of the wagon instead, raising her sword to cut open the canvas, her eye is drawn along the trail towards the third covered wagon, which seems to be rocking rather more than would be caused by just the wind and rain.
Focusing on her original intention, she slashes her sword diagonally across the taught canvas, ripping it open. The canvas flaps in the wind, and Serena tries to see inside, but can see little but a jumbled mess of belongings. Unless they are lying down or hiding under something, Serena has a warm feeling that there is no-one in that wagon.
Looking back down the trail again as she steps slightly back from the wagon, Serena can see that the canvas seems to be blowing loose on that third wagon, as if it has been opened or ripped on the other side. Movement catches her eye between the first and second covered wagons, and she catches sight of Lucretia on Thunderbolt, passing down the line towards the third. Suddenly, a head and shoulders rises, visible above the third wagon, and Serena gasps as she suddenly realises what Lucretia has seen and is charging towards. The call she had dimly heard over the wind and the flapping canvas now suddenly makes sense - "GIANT!"
Behind her, as the four undead back off, both Cleo and Ceely also glance up towards the wagon train, their attention drawn by the huge figure. A guttural roar, easily audible over the rain and wind announces it's presence to just about everyone. Even Dorn, trundling up through the mud at the side of the Moonwood Masts, just passing Yvandel can hear it and peering through the rain at the dim outlines of the wagons ahead, he can just make out the distant silhouette of the giant. He breaks into a run, slipping and sliding in the mud, but just keeping his feet.
The presence of the giant isn't enough to keep Serena's full attention however, as something more insistent and a lot closer grabs it. When she had stepped close to the lee side of the first wagon, Serena had started to feel slightly warmer, and had unconsciously put it down to being momentarily out of the full force of the wind. Now, she suddenly becomes aware that this feeling of warmth is more than that, and if anything, she is starting to become hot! She looks down at herself, and can see that her chain mail armour is starting to steam slightly. Where the bare metal touches her skin, it feels hot, uncomfortably so and growing hotter by the moment!
Meanwhile, on the other side of the wagons, having spotted the giant ripping the canvas off the side of the wagon and unfolding itself from where it had been concealed, Lucretia had diverted his horse towards it, kicking Thunderbolt into a charge. As he nears the giant, he gulps as he sees the size of the small tree trunk that the giant has just pulled out from the wagon to use as a club. Drawing his bastard sword, Lucretia murmurs a prayer to Tymora as he charges towards the dirty and unkempt giant. He notes the combination of animal furs and pieces of metal armour that have been crudely sewn together and takes aim as he tries to skewer the behemoth with his long sword. At the last moment though, his attack is brushed aside by the huge club. The giant roars at him, and even in the strong wind, he can smell it's bad breath momentarily as he is nearly deafened by the giant's roar. Barely controlling Thunderbolt, who skitters sideways away from the giant, Lucretia ducks and the heavy club passes dangerously close to him. He becomes suddenly very aware that a few blows from that and he wouldn't feel like getting up again!
OOC: I hadn't seen a post from Merrell - so I've made an assumption on his action - Magic Missile spell towards the Giant... Sorry Mike if you would have done something else...
Back closer to Moonwood Masts, Merrell, who had been closing the distance towards Lucretia when the warrior had left the guard to his fate, had also seen the giant suddenly appear from it's hiding place. Almost instinctively, he repeats the motions he had just done, and another pair of magical darts burst from his fingertips to zip across the distance. They strike the giant in it's chest, but it doesn't seem to even notice, too intent on Lucretia.
On the wagon next to Rostcal, the guard had been aiming his crossbow at the undead surrounding his fallen comrade. Hearing the giant's roar, he curses, hesitating for a moment as he considers taking a shot at this new bigger target. As Thunderbolt shies aside, he gets the clearer shot he wanted, and fires, the bolt drifting only slightly in the strong wind and slamming into the giant's shoulder. Someone else takes advantage of the clearer line of fire, and a fraction of a second later, a bolt of lightning flashes into being, starting about mid-way between the two wagon trains, and extending some 80 feet on, striking the giant in the middle of it's broad chest. It staggers back, steaming slightly with a shocked expression on it's face and steam rising from it's scorched chest.
As some of the undead barbarians continue to beat up the doomed guard, a couple of them start to lumber their way towards Merrell and the wagons. The mounted guard from the right flank starts to use his horse bow to fire arrows at them. The first arrow misses, blown aside in the wind, but the second strikes, making the zombie jerk, but not stopping it's movement.
Of to the left flank, the two mounted guards also ride up, over-taking Dorn and using their bows on the advancing undead. A couple of arrows thunk into the one already hit, and another arrow hits the second zombie. The undead ignore the arrows, and continue on towards the wagons.
Up at the front, the other two mounted guards had also started by aiming their bows towards the undead, but upon hearing the giant's roar, instead aimed for that, loosing arrows into the teeth of the wind at the giant's upper body, showing clear above the covered wagon. The first guard's arrow strikes, but the second guard pulls too hard and snaps his bow string instead, his arrow dropping to the ground next to his horse. As the giant gets blasted back a few yards by Blondung's lightning bolt, the first guard lets fly again, this time his arrow going wide.
All this time, the veins start to bulge in Herod's forehead, as a red fog comes down over his eyes, and looses himself in a berserk fury. His muscles don't immediately respond however, and all that happens is that he seems to shake somewhat.
At the very back of the Moonwood Mast wagon train, Larz glances up at the sound of the distant giant's roar, and peers into the murk, squinting against the rain. Seeing the flash of lightning and the following crash of thunder, Larz looks to the guard and driver, the two of them both holding crossbows nervously now. "Come on!" he yells. "We're needed up the front!". So saying, he leaps back down into the mud, and starts to follow Dorn. The two men look at each other, and hesitantly climb down to follow.
On the third wagon, Yvandel also hears the distant giant's roar and sees the lightning bolt go off with it's following crash. The guard and driver look at each other, panicked expressions on their face, then look to Yvandel, the young mage having just finished cocking the spare crossbow.
(OOC: Going into a berserk fury whilst "magically held" was an excellent idea and good thinking on Scott's part, and so I decided to rule that it has a good chance of "breaking" the hold spell... I decided that going berserk would effectively give the PC another saving throw to throw off the spell... And of course, if that failed, he'd get another roll every round until either he succeeded in throwing off the spell, the spell expired or the berserk rage expired... Unfortunately, Herod has failed his roll again at the moment...)
END OF ROUND THREE
==============
Ceely doesn't waste any time, and still leaning on the harpoon with her left arm, draws her short sword with her right, and chops down hard on the pinned undead woman. The sword slams into the woman's neck, nearly severing the head from the body, and after a moment, the woman's body stops twitching.
Meanwhile, behind her, Milo having warded off the other four undead (#1-4), changes tactic, and starts to intone a prayer to Ilmater - the summoning of a weak air elemental. His lips move in concentration as the air inside the first wagon starts to swirl.
The zombies, no longer the focus of Milo's attention, stop their slow retreat, and start forward again, the hated goodly priest the focus of their attention. At Ceely's side, Cleo can see them advancing again, and prepares to defend herself as Ceely starts to pull her harpoon free again.
Back on the lead wagon, Rostcal is re-loading a crossbow as the guard picks up the second crossbow, aiming again for the giant. Blondung, standing just behind them, tucks the wand of lightning away and starts the gestures for casting magic missiles, as Lucretia has moved back into the line of fire at the giant. His spell is never completed however, as suddenly a bolt of lightning leaps vertically down out of the sky, smashing into Blondung and literally blowing the front of the cart to pieces. Blondung, Rostcal and the guard (#6) are thrown out to the ground, and lie twitching. The rear pair of horses also stagger and collapse in the remains of their harnesses, as the six horses in front of them, already spooked by the first lightning bolt that Blondung had zapped from his wand, leap into motion, ripping the remains of their harnesses free, and break loose, stampeding down the trail towards the other wagons.
The closest mounted guard (#2) struggles to control his horse as it shies away from the too close lightning strike. The other mounted guard (#5) maintains better control over his horse, and hesitates, blinking the lightning strike's after images away for a moment. Realising that the runaway horse were heading directly towards the group clustered close to the first of the covered wagons, he goads his horse to catch them, and manages to catch the lead horses bridle, pulling them to one side as he steers his own horse with his legs.
The remaining mounted guard closest to the Moonwood Mast's wagon train, after hesitating a moment in shock at the sudden blast of lightning, continues to fire arrows at the two closest zombies (#6 & #7). Two more arrows thunk into the same zombie that the guard had hit previously (#6). The zombie staggers slightly as the arrows hit, but all it does is slow it slightly, as it continues it's methodical progress towards the nearest living being - Merrell.
Merrell seems unconcerned however, and pulls out a wand, turning it on himself. Suddenly he starts to grow taller...
Meanwhile Lucretia struggles to control Thunderbolt, as the horse tries to follow it's namesake and flee from the incredibly loud and bright lightning bolt that had hit the giant a few moments earlier. Just as Lucretia wrests control back, goading the unfortunate mount back towards the giant, the lightning strike on Blondung occurs. Luckily, this was far enough away that the horse is not unduly affected by it, and Lucretia closes the gap, swinging his bastard sword in an arc over Thunderbolt's head to strike the giant. The blade cuts deep into the behemoth's side and the giant roars again, before dropping it's oversized club and suddenly grabbing Lucretia with both hands. It jerks Lucretia unceremoniously from his saddle and lifts the hapless warrior high over it's head as Thunderbolt skitters away again.
The giant looks towards the Moonwood Masts wagons for a second, searching for the source of the lightning bolt that had hit it a few moments earlier, but can't see Blondung. Instead, as an arrow bounces off a piece of it's armour from it's right, it turns and hurls Lucretia towards one of the mounted guards (#4) who had just fired his arrow at it. Lucretia flies through the air and catches a momentary glimpse of a very surprised guard before the two of them smack into each other, blasting guard and horse over.
Lucretia and the guard bounce along the ground for a few yards, somewhat tangled with each other before Lucretia can roll free. Amazingly, Lucretia finds that he has still managed to maintain hold of his weapon and doesn't appear to have lost anything. Very bruised and somewhat dazed, he staggers to his feet again (OOC: 7hp damage, now on 35/43) The guard also scrambles to his feet, dropping the remains of his broken bow and drawing his sword. The other guard continues to fire at the giant, but fails to hit it.
Meanwhile, Cleo realises that the zombies (#1-4) are closing again fast. Off to her right, a steaming Serena struggles to remove her now very hot chain mail armour, wincing as the hot metal burns her flesh (OOC: 3hp damage, now on 34/39). Behind her, Milo continues to concentrate on the summoning of the weak air elemental, and next to her, Ceely, having finished off the undead woman, continues to tug at her harpoon, trying to free it.
Leaping forward, Cleo sweeps her broadsword in a wide arc, trying to keep the zombies back away from Milo. Undeterred however, they continue forward, and even when she cuts deeply into one, they all press forward, grabbing and clubbing at her. Ducking and weaving, she avoids most of their blows and grasps, though one clips her, the blow numbing her shoulder in it's bruising collision (OOC: 3hp damage, now on 21/33). Close by, she can hear Dodge barking ferocially at the zombies, nipping at their ankles.
At her side, Ceely finally frees her harpoon and similarly avoids being hit by the flailing zombies. As Milo a few paces behind finally completes his spell, the roaring noise of a fully formed dust devil can just be heard over the noise of the storm, and the wagon rocks, it's canvas sucked in and torn further as the insides get jumbled around.
A few paces further back again, Herod struggles to overcome the hold spell. A sudden yell of "TEMPUS!" lets everyone know that his rage has finally broken through the magic holding him, and the red faced Battleguard staggers as he regains control over his limbs.
Back along the trail, Dorn finally reaches the front of the wagon train. Leaping over Rostcal, the merchant still twitching from being struck by lightning, he is confused for a moment as he sees what looks like two giants. Merrell, only 15 yards to his right, is still growing, the mage looming bigger and bigger, already taller than the original giant. Dorn doesn't stop to gawk however, and focuses on his first good view of the giant. Running pell mell towards it, he hurls his axe end over end towards it when he is still a good 50 yards or so from the giant. Even with his considerable strength behind it, the range is too far for a good throw, and the axe bounces into the ground close to the giant as it bends to pick up it's club again.
Looking up to see where the axe had come from the giant's eyes widen as it spots Merrell, the mage standing nearly three times as tall as the giant. Merrell, grins, holding his 45 foot long gigantic staff ready, and starts towards the giant, (taking care not to step on Dorn), and outdistancing the zombies who had just arrived close enough to hit him. The zombies turn towards the prone forms of Blondung and the guard that had been zapped by the lightning bolt. The guard, although shaking and twitching still, is staggering to his feet. Blondung remains motionless in the mud.
Meanwhile, Larz, with guard and driver from the rear wagon in tow, have passed Yvandel and the two other men on the third wagon, and are a good way up the 2nd wagon as well. The guard also hops down into the mud, following the dwarven Alaghor as the driver turns to Yvandel. "Is there anything you can do?!" he asks frantically. (OOC: Where have you gone Steve?????)
END OF ROUND FOUR
=============
The giant's eyes narrow against the wind and rain, and bellowing a challenge, it charges towards the huge figure of Merrell, winding up it's club. Merrell, still somewhat adjusting himself to his new perspective on the battlefield, gets a momentary feeling of vertigo as he looks down at the small figures below him.
Lifting his staff, Merrell focuses down on the charging giant, who barely comes up to his thigh. Undaunted by Merrell's size, the giant whacks his tree like club into the titan sized mage's knee. The sheer bulk of Merrell has the effect of lessening the effect of the blow, but it doesn't stop him from staggering sideways, his knee a sudden ball of pain (OOC: 6hp damage, now on 8/15).
(OOC: Officially, according the the rules, being enlarged neither effects armour class nor hit point - but I have difficulty in believing that it wouldn't have some effect. The giant "officially" did 18 hp damage, which would normally put Merrell out, but given the fact that Merrell is over 7 times larger than he should be, I'll use the . Of course, I think perhaps that I warped the rules completely when I decreed that the wand made a 50% increase for every charge... The spell says 10% increase per level... I think I may have also shot myself in the foot by decreeing that multiple charges could be expended in a single go. Ah, well, we have to work with what we have, and hope that it won't unbalance the game too much!)
Gritting his teeth, Merrell swings his staff at the giant below him. The staff, and his limbs for that matter, seem to move somewhat slower than he is used to, his sheer bulk making him feel a little ponderous (OOC: just a miss actually - no other specific game effects). The giant ducks the blow easily, and spins back, having run slightly past Merrell in his charge. Down at ground level, Serena, rapidly dumps her chain mail on the ground, where it starts to glow red hot, generating a localised cloud of steam as it vaporises the rain hitting it. Pausing to sling her bow (and quiver) back over her shoulder, grab her shield and sword, Serena looks up through the gap between the first and second covered wagons in time to see the giant charging by, obviously towards the enormous Merrell. Running towards the second covered wagon, Serena mounts the driver's seat, and peaks through the laced up canvas into the rear of the wagon. Inside, there is what looks like several crates, boxes and piles of blankets. There doesn't appear to be anyone in the wagon.
Meanwhile Herod, having thrown off the hold spell and now deep within a berserk rage, sees the giant and charges on an intercept course, crossing in front of the front wagon. Even through the red haze of his anger, Herod registers the fact that there is an even bigger figure on the battle field and just about recognises it as Merrell. (OOC: I rolled an intelligence roll - Herod did say "the biggest thing on the battle-field" in his post!). Following the giant, he charges up himself. chopping his axe at the giant's thigh and cutting deeply into it. The giant roars in pain.
Back on the far side of the trail, Lucretia, having picked himself up, launches himself in a run towards the giant. Passing the guard who he had been thrown at - the man still picking himself up - he realises his path will take him past the zombies that Ceely and Cleo are battling (#1-4). Charging from behind, he changes path and smacks the zombie on the outside of the group hard with his bastard sword. The heavy blade chops into the zombie's back (#1), and it staggers, almost knocked completely off balance.
<Ceely aka Deb wrote>:
> Using the sword to keep the zombies (#1/#2) at bay
> while she prepares to strike again.
> Her plan to harpoon it then use the sword to behead it.
(OOC: That worked well on the first zombie, because the zombie was already prone... These are up and walking - and it sounds a little like Ceely is trying to "use two weapons". For future reference, using two weapons incurs a "to-hit" penalty -2 to the right hand and -4 to the off hand. Being a ranger reduces this to 0 and -2 respectively. I'll assume that the harpoon is in the right hand, and sword is in the left. Of course, being specialised in harpoon, and NOT with short sword, means that she'll get 2 attacks every other round with the harpoon, and only 1 a round with the short sword...)
Righting itself, the zombie (#1) turns to flails at Lucretia, but Ceely takes advantage of Lucretia distracting it, and stabs forward with her harpoon, the sharp point taking it through the back of the neck with an audible crack. For a moment it stands still, before Ceely smacks it again, this time with her short sword and it collapses away from her, the point of her harpoon jerking free. As the second zombie (#2) steps towards Ceely, she whips her harpoon back and forward again, this time spearing it through it's stomach (2nd attack). It ignores the hit and grips the harpoon that pierces it with one hand as it lashes out with the other. Leaning backwards, Ceely just avoids the flailing hand.
At her side, Cleo swipes her broad sword at one of the zombies in front of her (#3), but it shies away at the last moment, and the blade whistles past harmlessly. One of the mounted guards (#3) rides up, chopping down on the same zombie with his short sword, making it's knees buckle for a moment. Similarly, the guard who had been knocked from his horse by Lucretia (#4), runs, somewhat wobbly legged, up to attack #2, but misses the zombie's back.
The zombie and it's partner continue to batter at Cleo, ignoring the mounted guard behind them, as one of them again clips her a numbing blow (OOC: 5hp damage, now on 16/33). Angered, Cleo lashes out again with her broad sword (2nd attack) and this time strikes cleanly, cleaving the head from the zombie's shoulders (Critical on #3!). The body collapses to the ground. Glancing down, Cleo can see the baby is still moving, though there is something about it that doesn't quite look right.
Meanwhile, behind Cleo and Ceely, Milo continues to concentrate on controlling the whirlwind, moving it forward across the now somewhat shredded wagon and over the still immobile driver. The dust devil swirls around the driver, agitating the horses, which start forwards, jerking the wagon forward, despite the break being on. As Milo watches, the man suddenly stands up from the seat, the wind whipping around him, but somehow not disturbing any of his cloak. As he rises, he allows his hood to fall back, and Von Fedel's manic face glares down at Milo. The priest of Cyric's mouth moves, and one hand clutches at his chest, gripping something beneath his cloak. A literal pall of gloom suddenly falls over the battlefield, engulfing everyone bar Yvandel still back on the third wagon - the young illusionist trying to persuade the wagon driver to drive the cumbersome wagon off the trail and up to the front. Everyone, even Herod in his battle rage, feels some despair and a sense of defeat that discourages him and saps his energy as the air all around visibly dims.
Back closer to the front of the Moonwood Masts wagon train, Dorn marvels again as his axe returns to his hands. Seeing the giant and Merrell on a collision course, Dorn turns and hurls his axe at the nearest zombie (#7), the heavy axe flying end over end to smack into it's chest, knocking it back a few paces. A horse canters past him and it's rider, one of the guards (#2), slashes down at the zombie as he passes, his short sword cutting into the zombie's shoulder and spinning it around a moment. Further over, the guard (#6) who had been blasted by the lightning strike along with Blondung and Rostcal, staggers to his feet and defends himself against the zombie (#6) approaching him, fending it off, but failing to damage it.
Larz, puffing somewhat arrives at the front of the wagon, and pauses to bend over Rostcal's body. Behind him are the three guards (#7-9) from the other wagons, and lagging a fair way behind that are a couple of the unarmed drivers, gathering together. The driver next to Yvandel shakes his head at Yvandel's suggestions, and leaps down from the wagon, moving forward to cluster with the other two drivers and leaving Yvandel alone on the third wagon.
Two of the guards (#7-8), seeing their companion being attacked on the other side of the wagon, scramble over the two dead horses and join him, drawing swords and attacking the undead with gusto, one of them cutting it with an over-hand chop. The third (#9) remains with loaded crossbow in hand, standing over Larz as the dwarf continues to tend to Rostcal.
The mounted guard (#1) on the western flank continues to fire arrows at the original group of zombies that had pulled down the first guard, the four of them (#5,#8,#9,#0) fast approaching Herod and Merrell. Both arrows are taken by the wind however, and go wide. The four zombies close on Herod and Merrell a couple of them trying to attack the enraged Battleguard, and a couple trying, somewhat futily to attack Merrell. Amazingly, one of them manages to grapple Merrell's ankle, where he can feel it's grip like a sharp needle in his foot. (OOC: 1 hp damage, now on 7/15)
On the eastern flank, another mounted guard (#5) slows the run-away horses and guides them in a circle back towards the Moonwood Mast wagons.
END OF ROUND FIVE
=============
Von Fedel looks down on Milo as the Painbearer runs forward. Around him, the
summoned dust devil whirls whipping the rain into a blur around him.
Von Fedel however seems unaffected by the swirling wind, and his eyes
narrow, his attention drawn instead towards Lucretia, the beefy warrior
leaving the zombies behind and charging up instead. Flicking his gaze
again to Milo virtually at his feet now, Von Fedel's eyes widen as
he sees the larger priest's intentions, and as Milo releases the break,
making the wagon lurch suddenly forward, Von Fedel braces himself.
As the wagon moves forward, Von Fedel staggers for a moment, then
jumps down on the other side of the wagon. Lucretia, rushing up to
Milo's side hesitates as he waits for the wagon to finish moving past.
As it clears, he is about to step forward, when Von Fedel points at
Milo, looking hard at Lucretia. "Kill!" he commands. Before
Lucretia can even comprehend what is going on, he finds that his arms
and sword are moving. Pivoting cleanly on his left foot, he swipes
his bastard sword in a vicious strike at Milo, aiming for the Painbearer's
neck. Surprised at the unexpected attack, it is all that Milo can
do to duck the decapitating blow, which whistles cleanly over his
head. Having missed with the initial attack, Lucretia reverses the
blow and lunges forwards, the point of the blade aimed at Milo's heart.
Desperately twisting in vain to avoid the blow, Milo manages to avoid
the fatal strike, and instead gasps as the blade scores a deep cut
along the side of his ribs (OOC: 14 points of damage! - Ouch! - now
on 10/29)
With Milo's blood dripping from his blade, Lucretia regains control
of his limbs, somewhat in shock at what the evil priest's command
has made him do. Milo, clutching his side, looks in horror at Lucretia,
then around at Von Fedel. The evil priest's laugh is wiped of his
face however as he is suddenly struck from the side by a flying battle
axe, the blade cutting deep into his left leg. Von Fedel staggers,
looking sideways to see Dorn with a triumphant expression on his face.
Meanwhile, Cleo and Ceely continue to do battle with the zombies,
aided by the two caravan guards. Ceely tries to pull the harpoon free,
but the zombie's grip is too strong, and Ceely has to chop at it with
her short sword instead. The palatable gloom saps her strength however,
and although the blade chops into the zombie, it doesn't have the
strength behind it that it would have otherwise had. Behind it, the
guard (#4)also attacks the same zombie, bringing his short sword in
a double handed blow onto it's shoulder. The blade cuts fairly deep,
but not enough to stop the zombie, and using the shaft of the harpoon
to pull itself closer, it clubs Ceely with it's free arm, it's fingers
raking across her chest like claws (OOC: 8hp damage, now on 23/33).
At her side, Cleo also fares badly. She slashes at the zombie (#4)
with her broad sword, but it steps inside the blow, deflecting the
blow and nearly hitting her before she skips back a step. Behind it,
the mounted guard (#3), trying hard to control his horse under the
conditions, again chops down on the zombie but misses.
Dodge barks wildly, snapping at the heels of the zombie (#2) attacking
Ceely.
Meanwhile, back on the wagons, Serena has an idea, and grabs the reins,
releasing the break. Shouting to the already nervous horses, she pulls
on the reins and tries to get them moving off the trail towards the
two fighting giants. Slowly the wagon starts to lumber into motion,
moving several paces off the road and towards the giants. In between
however are several zombies. The first (#0) gets knocked down by the
horses and run under the wagon wheels.The horses shy away from the
other zombie and the wagon lurch to a halt. Before Serena can get
it moving again however, the other zombies suddenly turn from a bright
light off to Serena's right. Larz, the priest of Clangeddin comes
storming across the battle field, holding his holy symbol in front
of him and his battle axe in the other, causing the zombies to stagger
away, shielding their eyes.
Beyond the fleeing zombies, Serena can see Merrell, Herod and the
giant still battling. Herod, fighting through the despair with his
rage, chops at the giant, but his battle axe skitters of a piece of
the monstrosity's armour and does nothing but vibrate the shaft in
his hands. The giant, pretty scorched and battered, keeps it's own
attention focused on it's own larger opponent, and aims again at Merrell's
sensitive knees, the heavy club smashing into the gigantic mage's
legs and making him stagger (OOC: 9hp damage, now on -2/15). Waves
of pain wash up Merrell's leg, and he suddenly finds it hard to stand,
let alone throw his enlarged staff at the giant. Darkness seems to
close around him and he feels as though he is falling from a great
height into darkness. It's not only his mind that falls. Some 40 feet
below, Herod is surprised as the giant seems to leap aside, and then
even more surprised when he realises why. He also tries to dive clear,
but Merrell's falling body catch him, the mage's legs slamming into
and crushing him into the ground as if an elephant had landed on him.
All his breath is knocked out of him, leaving him half pinned under
Merrell's gigantic body (14hp damage, now on 19/33).
Merrell's falling body also manages to crush one of the zombies (#5)
as it flees from Larz's empowered holy symbol.
Elsewhere on the battle field, one of the mounted guards (#2) continues
to slash at another of the fleeing zombies (#7) but his heart doesn't
seem in it, and he can't get a decent hit in. The three guards (#6,#7,#8)
next to the front Moonwood Masts wagon batter at the zombie in front
of them, taking out their frustration and anger on the zombie. Between
them they cut it down.
Finally, further back along the trail, Yvandel searching for possible places
that might be concealing an enemy spell-caster, makes his way far enough up
the wagon train to the edge of the globe of gloom, and looking to it's centre,
sees Von Fedel for the first time.
END OF ROUND SIX
=============
"Time to die you crazy piece of dung!" Lucretia yells, suddenly back in control of his body again. With a yell, the warrior leaps across the intervening gap, bastard sword leading as he avoids the dust devil Milo had summoned and aims to skewer the evil priest.
"HARLK!" screams Von Fedel, desperately twisting in vain to avoid the sudden attack. Despite the distraction of the vortex of water and wind next to the pair, Lucretia's heavy sword cuts along Von Fedel's side, drawing blood, and the evil priest staggers aside, one hand grabbing for his holy symbol, the metal disk with it's symbol of a skull faced sun now dangling free from his cloak. His other hand jerks out of his pocket where he had been putting it when Lucretia attacked, pulling out a small rod of iron, and his lips start to move, his brow furrowed in concentration. Lucretia, draws his sword back to strike again, but as he does so, he sees Von Fedel's mouth twist into a manic grin, and feels his muscles stiffen. Suddenly, he finds that he cannot move, and again he looses control of his body. With his sword raised above his head, he feels wide open to attack, vulnerable and helpless.
He doesn't feel alone. Behind him, Milo, in mid cast of his own spell of blessing, finds the words suddenly sticking in his throat, his tongue dry and his vocal cords suddenly emitting no more than a croak. He too suddenly becomes a runner up in a statue competition. Cleo, having left the zombies before, charges up and feels the evil priest's spell settling over her, and as her muscles stiffen, she stumbles, then crashes to the floor, skidding awkwardly to land in the mud at Milo's side. Luckily, even though her face is plastered with mud, she rolls onto her side, preventing her from suffocating in the mud and allowing her to see some what is happening around her.
Charging from the other direction, the unarmed dwarf also feels the power of the Dark God settle over him. But dwarves are made of sterner stuff, and having experienced that feeling before, he grits his teeth and shakes the spell off, stumbling a step before regaining his momentum. Roaring a challenge, Dorn surges forward. As he draws closer, Von Fedel's grin fades, but doesn't disappear completely as he sees the dwarf is unarmed. It disappears completely though when the enchanted battle axe reappears in Dorn's hands. Throwing himself backwards, a surprised von Fedel just about avoids a vicious blow from the axe, staggering back several steps as he regains his balance. "HARLK!" he yells again, this time somewhat more desperately.
Dodge, racing in between the combatants, stands over Cleo, growling and barking at Von Fedel.
Across the battle field, the giant looks up from his work. Having dropped his club and hopped over Merrell's body, the giant had just reached down and grabbed the trapped Herod. Pulling hard on the Battleguard's shoulders and upper arms, the giant tugs Herod free from Merrell's bulk. Feeling as though the giant would pull his arms from his body, Herod struggles, but to no avail. Even though his battle axe is still gripped in his own right hand, the way he is held by the giant makes it nigh on impossible for him to use it effectively on the behemoth. Rising, Harlk the giant takes a step towards his master, before a figure off to his left attracts his attention. Yvandel, running forward whilst waving and gesticulating wildly suddenly wishes he hadn't been, as Herod comes flying in his direction, thrown like a wooden puppet. The puppeteer tries to dive aside, but Herod, spinning through the air makes for a fairly large missile, and the priest's legs crack against the mage, knocking him over (OOC: 6hp damage, now on 6/12). Herod, smacking into the ground doesn't fare too well either, bouncing along the ground like an armoured sack of potatoes (OOC: 12hp damage, now on 7/33). Hit battle axe is torn from his grip in the impact, and lands a few paces away in the mud, still in the depths of his battle rage.
The giant, turning back towards Von Fedel doesn't notice as an arrow, shot from the shadows inside the now stationary second wagon whizzes past it's head. Lumbering into a run, it crosses the intervening distance, forcing Serena back out of the covered wagon to twist around for her second shot. Again, her arrow flies past the giant, blown wide by the wind.
Meanwhile, on the far side of the battle field, Ceely continues to battle with the zombies, finally ripping her harpoon free from the zombie, before slamming it back into the zombie (#2). This time, the blow takes it in the throat, the force of the blow knocking the zombie off it's feet. A quick chop with the sword finishes the job, the guard (#4) joining in to stab the body with his sword. Close by, the zombie (#4) that had been attacking Cleo starts after her as she charges towards Von Fedel, but, the mounted guard (#3) doesn't let it get far, slashing at it and making it turn towards him.
Close up to the front of Moonwood Masts, having defeated the zombie, the three guards (#6,#7) charge forward to assist their mounted companion (#2), still struggling with his zombie opponent (#7). Another of the mounted guards (#1) also rides up to help. Between the five of them, the zombie has no chance, and is quickly dispatched.
Larz, having seen Herod flying over his head, takes a moment to take his eyes away from the two fleeing zombies, and re-assesses his usefulness in the battle. Pulling a throwing axe from his belt, the dwarf lets fly at the giant's back, the axe lodging it it's shoulder. Hefting his main battle axe, Larz roars a challenge at the giant, who glances around, growling.
END OF ROUND SEVEN
==============
Cursing the weather under her breath, Serena draws her bow again, aiming at the broad side of the giant. Taking a moment to adjust for the wind, she lets fly again and this time her aim is true. The arrow thunks into the giant's side, just below it's left armpit. The giant grunts, reaching up with it's right hand to pluck the arrow free. It doesn't look around however, keeping it's focus on the dwarf attacking it's master, and stepping in to kick at the dwarf. Dorn, about to follow up his attack on Von Fedel throws himself flat as the giant's over-sized foot misses him by a hair's breadth. Knowing it to be impossible, he fancies for a moment that he can smell the stink of the giant's foot as it passes, and rolls to his feet, now somewhat plastered in mud.
Limping behind the giant now protecting it, Von Fedel starts to cast another spell, one hand pulling out a flimsy piece of metal foil from an invisible bag around his neck, the other hand already starting the somatic components and his lips moving. His eyes flick around as he sees the still mobile members of the party closing in on him and his giant companion.
Behind the immobile Milo and Lucretia, Ceely races up, her harpoon poised to
throw. To her right, Larz and Herod are also racing up.
Several of the caravan guards (#1,#2,#6,#7,#8) move to intercept the two zombies
approaching the enlarged, and still unconscious Merrell, whilst another pair,
(#3,#4) deal with the last remaining zombie on the eastern side of the trail.
But the heroes are all too slow, as Von Fedel's spell completes, and a small shimmering circle suddenly pops into view behind him, rapidly widening to about 10 foot wide, a few feet of it buried in the ground. Through the circle, can be seen what looks like the entrance into a cave, with part of the rock face around it cut by the plane of the circle. Several runes freshly carved into the entrance of the cave suddenly start to glow with a power of their own, clearly wards of some kind.
As Dorn looks to try and get by the giant, Von Fedel staggers backwards through the portal, stumbling into the cave entrance. "HARLK!" the priest shouts again, calling for his giant ally to follow him. The giant glances around, only to have his vision nearly obscured by a swarm of stirge that suddenly swarms around his head, dodging in and striking at areas of exposed flesh on his neck. The giant swipes at the stirge with one hand, crushing one against his neck and knocking another out of the sky as it continues to duck down towards the portal.
Cursing the giant, Dorn spots Larz rushing up to the giant's right, his cousin
slashing at the distracted giant, yelling "CLANGEDDIN!"
The giant however is amazingly lucky, as it drops to it's knees at
the last moment, and Larz's axe blow flies through the spot where
it's calf had just been.
With an echoing cry of "TEMPUS!", Herod also storms up, the Battleguard slipping on the mud as he tries to attack the giant and also catching nothing but air. (Sorry Scott - just really lousy rolls for you and Larz).
Seeing an opportunity, Ceely hurls her harpoon over Dorn's head, the weapon flying through the portal towards the priest of Cyric. Von Fedel twists to try to avoid the weapon's sharp point, but fails, and it gouges into his hip, knocking him back a few steps.
The giant, still swatting at the stirge buzzing around his head like oversized mosquitoes, tries to fumble it's way through the portal, but it has trouble coordinating itself, banging against the insubstantial edge of it instead.
Taking advantage of the giant's failure, Dorn leaps forward under it's elbow,
and charges towards Von Fedel. The runes and glyphs around the cave
entrance flare brightly as the dwarf starts to pass through both the
portal and the cave entrance, and he is suddenly repulsed as violently
as if he had run into a brick wall. A sparkle of energy emanating
from a particular glyph flashes across the width of the portal, coalescing
around the dwarf before fading as he bounces off, staggering backwards
for a moment.
Simultaneously, another glyph discharges a gout of flame towards him, half catching
him (OOC: successful save on that one so only half damage - dam 11hp, now on
26/38) as he falls backwards, his limbs stiffening. Three of the glyphs rapidly
fade from view, though there are three others that continue to glow.
Crashing to the ground, he finds himself paralysed, his limbs unresponsive to his mental command.
At his side, the giant finally manages to figure out the entrance to the portal, and starts to crawl through, his massive knee almost crushing the paralysed dwarf on the floor... Serena, taking aim on the large back-side of the giant, lets fly with another arrow. Being unable to see through the portal from her angle, the sight of the giant's head and shoulders disappearing into this air somewhat puts her aim off however, and the arrow whizzes over it's back, burying itself into the earth several tens of yards further on.
END OF ROUND EIGHT
==============
Larz and Herod, angered by their misses both lift their battle axes simultaneously towards the rear of the giant, chopping at it vigorously. As their blades strike, the giant howls in pain, before it's voice is summarily cut short. The portal collapses, scything the giant's body in two like a hot knife through butter, leaving the head and shoulderless corpse to collapse to the ground. Dorn finds himself half covered by the giant's left leg, which spasms once then goes limp. The pall of gloom and feeling of hopelessness that had surrounded the battle field suddenly lifts.
As the last of the zombies are battered down by the guards, Merrell stirs, coming round (OOC: Merrell back on 1hp) and the battle is finally over. At least for most.
For Herod, the battle is not yet finished however, and robbed of his enemy he howls in frustration, still deep within his battle fury...
OOC: Herod's berserk rage will last for four more rounds. He has two choices. Take 5 hp per round, or attack the nearest living target... The nearest living target is Larz... Scott - your choice... :-) Of course, Herod only HAS 7 hp at the moment, so a few rounds of "bashing his head against a wall to counter the battle lust" will pretty quickly knock him out.
For those of you held, paralysed or enlarged - those spells will wear off in due course... :-)
END OF COMBAT
==========
Still filled with rage, Herod cuts savagely at the giant's corpse one more time. Glancing around, he searches for another target. Seeing nothing but allies, he is about to throw down his axe when suddenly, four stirge, the remnants of the group that Herod had dimly recognised had been attacking the giant, arose from the other side of the giant's body and zoomed towards him!
Keeping a grip on his battle axe, Herod suddenly finds an outlet for his anger, swiping his battle axe repeatedly at them, knocking them one by one out of the air as they zipped around him. In the back of his mind, a small sane part of him wonders where these stirge could have come from and why they had first attacked the giant, and now why they were attacking him, but not his companions.
As the last of them smashes to the ground, Herod allows his battle axe to go limp in his hands, and wipes the rain from his eyes, his rage finally dissipating. He glances around the battlefield, noting the giant Merrell pushing himself back to his feet, rubbing at his sore knees. In the other direction, some of his other companions, frozen in various positions as he had been before his insane anger had freed him. Glancing across at Yvandel, he sees the mage squatting in the mud, smiling at the priest as if particularly pleased about something. Confused for a moment, he glances back at the dead stirge, only to see them fade from view, and it dawns that he had been fighting an illusion for the last few moments.
(OOC: I discussed this with Steve, and we thought it would be a good way to prevent Herod having to bash his head against the ground, but Steve was too tied up to post it himself.)
Meanwhile, all those able to move start to regroup, assessing those injured and checking to see what can be recovered. After a short while longer, those frozen finally find themselves able to move again.
The unconscious Blondung is in a bad way, having been partially caught by the stroke of lightning. Larz spends some time attending to him, and after a few minutes, the ex-Zhent mage comes to, still looking scorched and somewhat shaky, but feeling a lot less closer to death than he had been. Rostcal himself also spends a moment with the mage, bidding him to quaff a potion that the mage extracts from his belongings. A few moments later, and Blondung looks better again and almost completely recovered. (OOC: now on 17/20)
Rostcall also provides a similar potion to the guard who had been caught by the same lightning strike, and then the group, including Rostcal, his drivers and the surviving guards, gather in the lee of one of the still whole covered wagons, where they can talk more easily without the wind whipping their words away. Merrell, still huge, crouches down, forming a large wind-break himself as he cranes forward to hear the group talk.
Looking back at the lead Moonwood Masts wagon, Rostcal grimaces. "We should search these wagons, just to see if there are any survivors..." he starts, shaking his head sadly as he glances towards the corpses still lying several yards away.. He shakes his head in disbelief for a moment. "Who the hell was that person with his giant ally?" he asks, not expecting an answer. "And why the hell did he decide to pick on us?!"
Pausing to wipe the rain out of his eyes, he continues. "It was almost as if he was waiting for us to arrive!" he complains bitterly. He glances back down the trail in the direction of Quaervarr, thinking hard. "I guess he must have attacked this caravan only shortly after the Knights of Silver passed it."
Shifting his gaze to the lightning blasted lead wagon, he changes topic. "That wagon will take an hour or two to repair" he says loudly, his hair plastered to his head by the torrential rain. He looks around at the group of adventures. "Before my men and I start work on the repairs, I wanted to thank you for your help, I'm not sure we would have survived with such little losses against the priest and his pet giant if you lot hadn't been around." He looks gratefully at the group, his expression still a little incredulous when his gaze rises to Merrell.
Glancing back to the corpses again, his face turns sad. "I'll be taking the corpse of the guard that died on to Silverymoon" he says. "I think he'd prefer to be buried in a consecrated grave yard rather than out in the wilderness. As for these poor souls, maybe we should do likewise - they may have relatives or friends in Silverymoon who knew them and would want their bodies back."
"In case anyone still needs it, I do have another two vials of healing, purchased from a temple of Lathander in Waterdeep." He glances at Milo, Herod and Larz, "though of course, it looks like you may be able to achieve your own healing." As he looks at Larz, he throws a nod of thanks to the dwarven priest for Larz's particular help after the lightening strike.
Finally, he looks again up to Merrell. "Perhaps, in your enlarged state," he says, "you could help us with the repair of our wagons. I'm sure one of your size would be able to help with speed the process significantly!"
<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> Staggering more than walking, Cleo returned to the woman laying
in the
> mud, the woman who bore a small writhing bundle. Unsheathing
her
> sword, she reached down with her left hand to pull the cloak away...
As she pulls away the cloak that had fallen across the baby, the baby, somewhat
caught up in the material, rolls out onto the grass.
Cleo gasps as she sees the baby's front for the first time, and can see the
gaping hole in it's chest. A stench arises from the exposed wound, detectable
despite the fierce wind and raid blowing around her. The source of the baby's
movement that Cleo had seen previously is also exposed, as large agile maggots
the size of sausages wriggle and shift inside the wound, consuming the flesh
of the baby from the inside.
<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "We may have not faired so well without the bravery of you
and your
> men. Some of whom gave their lives. I also thank you for your
> bravery." Dorn extends his hand to Rostcall with a look
of new found
> respect for the mastmaker.
Rostcal takes the dwarf's hand and shakes it solemnly as if meeting Dorn for
the first time.
<Merrell aka Mike wrote>:
> "Tell me what you want me to do, mast maker. And let's hurry,
I'm
> not sure how much longer my spells will work."
Nodding his thanks, Rostcal hurries off towards his lead wagon, issuing instructions to his men and guiding Merrell. Within a short while, the wagon that had been hit by lightning is a hive of activity, as repairs get under way.
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> <Lucretia moves off to the guard that died in the battle with
the
> undead and helps the other guards collect up the man's
remains.> "He
> was very brave ...what was his name?"
"Sohan" replies the guard Lucretia is helping, as they gather the unlucky man's corpse up and sling it over the saddle of a spare horse. "He came from Waterdeep" the guard adds.
<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> <Lucretia will whistle for Thunderbolt if he returns he will
>collect him up and check him for wounds...
Thunderbolt, although skittish, has not gone far, and is readily caught again. He seems unharmed.
<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> "We seem to have enough bodies to man the wagons back to
Silverymoon,
> if there be kin of these poor bastards then we do well to find them."
The guard who had spoken to him before nods. "Aye, we should take them back if only to prevent them being used again by evil priests." He looks down towards some of the barbarian corpses, these ones pretty badly decayed. "I wonder what tribe these came from originally?" he asks, his lip curled in disgust. "All these different Uthgardt tribes look the same to me" he says.
Lucretia also looks down at the corpses, something about them triggering recognition. After a moment, he realises that he can actually just about recognise one of them - Jerek, the leader of the Sky Pony war party that had been massacred by the orcs outside the entrance to Kheizar Dalan!.
<Lucretia aka Joe continued>:
> He will then assist with the checking of the wagons...
Lucretia, with assistance from some of the others, move towards the wagons. The third wagon, from which the giant had climbed, was fairly empty, it's contents strewn on the trail behind it - clothing, pots and pans and other personal effects.
<Yvandel aka Steve wrote>:
> After some time he gets up out of his muddy seat and beats the
larger
> chunks off before going around the wagons. Not that he needs to be >
doing anything but the motion helps him clear his mind and organize > his
thoughts.
Joining the group searching the wagons Yvandel and Lucretia meet together to look into the last of the covered wagons. This wagon has obviously been looted, with the original owner's belongings strewn everywhere, and nothing of any real value is in obvious view. It also contains a further 7 bodies, all recently killed and dumped unceremoniously into the back of the wagon. Several were adult men and women, but one is of a young boy, no more than 10 years old.
Working with the guards, the group help put the other dead travellers that
Von Fedel had animated against them into another wagon, along with
the dead guard. The barbarian corpses are left in the scrub to be
carrion for the crows.