Werewolves
- againApproach
Arrival
Luc Scouts
Blondung and Milo's Scouting
The Attack!
Into the Cave
April Fool
Traps
Showdown
Pit of Doom
<Larz aka Mike L wrote>:
> "There won't be no surprisin' em fer sure me thinks."
Siellis nods. "I have to agree with you." She looks around
at the surrounding trees uneasily. "Best we get on with it before
it gets dark..." she mutters.
Blondung nods. He looks to Graldir expectantly. "So, how is it
going to be? How will you be able to find your way? Will you have
to transform into wolf form to do it?"
Graldir shakes his head. He points towards a tree that looks much
like any others, but has a piece of bark torn from it, shredded from
it by claws. "We've marked a trail if you know what to look for..."
<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "Hey you, how close are we to your camp?"
The miserable looking Graldir starts as the dwarf addresses him. "A little
less than a mile..." he says nervously.
<Merrell aka Mike B wrote>:
> Merrell turned to the captive, "How many on watch? Do
> they use magics or mundane means to warn of approaching danger?"
"Four would normally be on watch at any one point in time - two pairs on opposite sides of the compound. Usually hidden." He shrugs apologetically. "I've never heard of any magical means to detect enemies approaching" he adds.
<Merrell aka Mike B wrote>:
> Merrell smiled a wicked toothy grin, "You see, it aint betraying
your
> lads in there you need to worry about my friend. If they find
you with
> us, and any of them live to tell about it, they'll know you lead
us here."
> "Right now I'd be thinking to myself real hard,... how can
I keep my head
> and make sure the ones I betrayed all end up good and dead so
they
> don't come back looking for me?"
Graldir nods in fearful agreement.
<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> Turning to her prisoner, she says, "You need to lead us
this
> last mile, but once we find the camp, I'll allow you to remain
> outside of it so that no one sees you. Do this one last thing,
> and you will be one very big step closer to your salvation. But
> Graldir, if you shout out or betray us by leading us into a trap
> - I WILL personally slit your throat, of that, you can be sure."
Graldir swallows hard, but nods, appearing both fearful and grateful
at the same time.
<Cleo aka Dan wrote>:
> "Luc, do you still have a silence spell on a rock or something?
> Can that conceal all of our sounds as we travel or is it for
just
> one person?"
OOC: Currently has Inaudibility and Invisibility cast one in each.
One has been mounted in hilt of Luc's dagger, the other on a chain
around his neck.
<Dorn aka Doug wrote>:
> "Lass i think that you misunderstand, there were 15 in the
> group that came back last night, there be more in the camp.
> Those 15 are out there somewhere waiting for the right time
> to attack, there will be more.."
Graldir looks up at this. Having not heard Larz's interrogation of
the dead Malarite that morning, he looked confused.
Siellis looks around at the group. "Come on, let's get going." She
steps off the trail towards the marked tree, and disappears from sight within
a few paces. Her voice echoes back after a moment. "There are more marked
trees here" she calls.
Even as Siellis steps off the trail, seeking out the discretely marked trail
to the werewolves den, Larz kneels and casts a few prayers on himself,
boosting his strength for the next few hours and giving him the ability
to detect traps. The others argue for a few moments on whether or
not to take the werewolf traitor Graldir... (OOC: I'll back-post depending
on this decision, as at the moment, we have 2 votes on each side!
Milo? Ceely? Merrell? Which was do you vote?)
Leaving the two horses loosely tethered in the clearing, where they
casually start to munch on the grasses and other vegetation there,
the group start to follow Siellis, who has paused only a short way
in. Following the trail is quite hard, each person seeing the trail
slightly differently, and several times, one or another of them finds
himself turned around, and bumping into the person behind, moving
in the wrong direction. Taking it slowly however, it is possible to
follow the marks on the trees, now knowing what they should be looking
for.
After about half an hour of moving through the undergrowth, pushing past ferns
and brambles, splashing through tiny brooks, stumbling on gnarly roots whilst
concentrating hard on looking for the next mark, the group finally come down
a rough slope and out into a clearing of some sorts. The older and taller trees
fall back to reveal a vaguely open area, dotted with patches of wild bramble
and ferns and the occasional young sapling. About 60 feet off to the left, an
ten feet tall "hedge" can be seen, curving away. An outcropping of
grey rock can be seen poking up thirty feet above the hedge, some 80 feet beyond.
Arrival - and last minute planning
<Merrell aka Mike B wrote>:
> "Listen, I know we've discussed this before but here's
> my suggestion and what I can add to the mix. I'll cast
> a fly spell on 4 of the warriors, and invisibility on
> at least two more."
> "I was thinking perhaps Vaslin and Sellis should get the
> invisibility spells because of their stealthiness, and Luc,
> Ceely, Cleo and Dorn should be the fliers"
Blondung frowns. "Wouldn't it make more sense to have us spell casters," he gestures at himself, Yvandel, Milo, Larz and Vaslin, "up in the air - at least the fighters can defend themselves if the enemy get up close?" He shudders. "I don't fancy being gored by a wereboar again!"
Siellis nods at the suggestion of her being one of those made invisible. "Remember, these werewolves will probably need enchanted weapons to truly hurt them. I can enchant up to two additional weapons beyond this long sword (OOC: I'm got Siellis as having Those of you without, come here now - for I can enchant your weapon for a short time, but I need to touch it first..."
OOC: Of the fighters, Luc has an enchanted short sword, Dorn has an enchanted axe, Cleo has an enchanted broad sword, and Ceely has some oil that she has been rubbing on her short sword (as she is still missing her preferred harpoon at the moment!). Of the Priests, Larz has an enchanted hammer, Herod has Serena's old Goblin Bane mace, and Milo/Vaslin don't have anything. Blondung has the Staff of Withering, and of course the wand of lightning plus his spells, Merrell has the Mask, and Yvandel has just his spells....
Vaslin moves forward and holds out a stiletto dagger for Siellis to enchant. "Stay close, I'll enchant it at the last moment" says Siellis...
<Milo aka Phil wrote>:
> Milo steps forward. "Perhaps Ilmater has shown me
> a path today. Cast the spell on me Yv. I have no
> interest in combat and I may find the girl and comfort
> her while the fighting goes on. I'll only intervere
> if someone is dying, and that way the spell will not
> be wasted."
Having marked a very rough map in the dirt of the forest floor, Lucretia touches the black stone in the hilt of his dagger to a similar one dangling from a chain around his neck. There is a faint purple spark between them, and then he disappears from sight. The stick he had been holding suddenly re-appears, as he drops it, and a nearby bush swishes briefly as presumably he leaves. The rest of the group look at each other for a moment, and then continue their quiet discussions on their plans.
"I'll
get the scroll ready" mutters Blondung, pulling out the scroll
with the Fly spell on it. He glances at Merrell, the half-elven mage
already wearing the lion faced Mask of Nobanion. "You have one
left as well don't you..?" he murmurs.
As Dorn makes impatient noises, eager to head out and tackle the external guards, Herod restrains the battle eager dwarf. "Patience - wait for Luc to return..." he says.
Vaslin glances around the group, as if weighing something up, then approaches
Ceely. "Let me give you Tymora's Favour too" she says, smiling
at the ex-sailor woman come ranger. (OOC: basically means bonuses
on next four saving throws)
Siellis closes her eyes and leans against a tree, waiting with a patience only
elves have. Graldir sits at the base of a tree, miserably twisting his fingers,
wracked by doubt, guilt and fear.
About ten minutes pass, and all remains quiet. Peeking through the leaves towards the denser wall of growth that represents the Malarites camp, it seems hard to believe that there this was a den of evil Malar worshiping lycanthropes...
Suddenly, the stick that Lucretia had discarded suddenly rises in the air, and starts to scratch drawings silently in the earth. After a few moments, all that is really understandable is a rough oval shape with a gap on one side, presumably the compound wall. Frustrated by the difficulty that Lucretia is obviously having, Blondung pulls out a piece of parchment and a pencil. "Oh for the Gods sake, here, write on this!"
The paper and pencil is lifted from his hands and a moment later, a rough map starts to be drawn on the page. (OOC: See right)
Blondung grimaces. "We're standing on their doorstep, now is the time to start casting rather than discussing!" he mutters. He glances at Merrell. "You talked before about using the wand of enlarge to make one of the warriors big. Still want to do that?" he asks. He glances towards Luc. "I say we let Luc run off ahead of us all invisible and silent to find the entrance, maybe find the girl too, and generally scout around. In the meantime, maybe myself and Yvandel, and say Milo and Vaslin, in other words the less physical members of our group, have the fly spell to keep out of harms way. Those like Milo and Vaslin, would be best to be invisible, since they can cast spells that won't immediately disrupt the invisibility spell." (OOC: e.g. Bless/prayer etc)
He pauses, almost breathless after saying so much, and looks around, his sour looking face almost alight with an inner excitement - somewhere deep inside him, despite his usual reservations, he was just as keen as the others to strike back at these cursed werewolves.
Cleo feels a tap on her shoulder, and she looks back to see the piece of paper being waved around. After a few moments, the pencil writes on it again on the bottom margin :-"Most have missile weapons! Unlikely to cluster too much at entrance! Entrance only wide enough for one at a time - easy for only a few to defend."
<Lucretia aka Joe wrote>:
> Giving up he marks on the map "Luc" by the tent then
on
> the bottom writes, "leaving now...attacking shortly hope
> to see you there. Love Luc"
A nearby bush swishes silently for a moment, as Lucretia leaves again. The rest of the group pause itching to get going, but knowing that it would take Luc a few more minutes to get into position.
"The fly spell should last for a long time" says Blondung. "I suggest we read that scroll now. Likewise with those Armour spells" he adds, looking significantly towards Merrell.
OOC: I'll rule that Merrell concurs with Blondung and casts the spells.
Merrell reads his scroll of flying, enchanting himself, Blondung, Milo and Yvandel with the power of flight. He then casts a couple of Armour spells - one on Milo and the other on Ceely, since she would probably gain most use from it.
<Merrell aka Mike B wrote>:
> "How about someone else? Cleo, you make an amazingly good
> looking giant. How about it love, want to go in large and
> in charge?"
He looks again to Cleo, a raised eyebrow and twiddling the wand of enlarge between his fingers...
(OOC: An answer on this would be good from Cleo)
Blondung and Milo's Aerial Reconnaisance
In the meantime, Yvandel casts a spell of invisibility on Milo, who shimmers and disappears from sight.
"I'm casting my invisibility spell on myself I'm afraid..." mutters Blondung to nobody in particular. "And I'm going to fly over the compound and go have a look now..." He extends a hand and feels for the invisible Milo. "As we are both invisible, shall we fly together?" he asks. So saying, he murmurs further arcane phrases, and also fades from view. There is a faint waft of air as they fly off. (OOC: I assume Milo has no objecting to flying over the compound on an arial reconnoitre)
OOC: Merrell also has 2 invisibilities uncast - any suggestions on who to cast it on? Vaslin would be interested, as would Siellis I believe...
As Blondung and Milo fly up and over the enemy compound, holding hands to avoid losing or bumping into each other, they look down on the battle-field to come. Blondung whispers to Milo. "I wish I'd learnt a spell to detect magic this morning!" he grumbles. "We'd have had a better chance of spotting where Luc was then - not to mention pin-pointing possible enemy spell-casters."
Looking down, Milo and Blondung can see the compound is similar to Lucretia's map. Dotted around the compound are a number of men and women, mostly hunkered down behind bushes with short bows and crossbows aimed towards the entrance. On the central rocky mound, they can make out three additional men, the one on the very top peeking out with a spyglass towards the north-east. Every now and then, he glances down towards one of his companions standing at the bottom of the rocky outcrop, and shakes his head, frowning.
Around the southern side of the rocky mound, a dark cleft in the rock can be seen, close to where numerous small trickles of water join to form the small stream that flows slowly southwards. "The cave entrance might be there" Blondung mutters to Milo.
To the eastern side of the compound, there is a small area of cultivation where a crop of what could be potatoes appears to be growing, and the northern side is a small enclosure with goats. The rest of the compound is uncultivated, with mostly short cropped grass and the occasional bush.
To the western side, the two invisible fliers can see a large open sided tent. Underneath it are a couple of trestle tables that have been tipped over on their sides. A further two men and a woman are hunkered down with missile weapons, aimed towards the entrance.
Flying over the entrance itself, Milo and Blondung can see that it is a narrow gap between two strong looking stockade walls, the outer one which is over-grown with various climbing plants and bushes, to disguise it and make it look more natural. Between the inner and outer stockade wall appears to be a ditch - about 10' wide, but filled here and there with muddy water. (OOC: When you see the map, you'll see it looks closer to 3' wide - that's because I screwed up when I made the map, and I couldn't subsequently undo it.) The entrance itself is barely 2-3 feet wide - a single tree trunk spans the ditch from the narrow opening in the outer stockade wall to the matching one in the inner.
Grouped close to the entrance, wielding long spears, are three men, clearly positioning themselves ready to skewer the first person to come through, with a fourth also holding a long spear and talking quietly to one of the semi-hidden archers some thirty feet south.
"We should get back and tell the others" mutters Blondung, gently tugging Milo in that direction.
Touching down, Blondung's disembodied voice makes the others jump for a moment as he quickly describes what he and Milo saw.
“The stockade walls, be they made o’ stone or wood?” Larz asks quietly as he tugs on his beard.
"Strong wooden poles, raw tree trunks really, cut, trimmed and embedded into the ground and lashed to each other. Each one about 9 inches to a foot across" Blondung's voice answers Larz's question.
After waiting a minute or two longer, the main group start to make their way carefully towards the entrance, leaving Graldir gagged and tied to a tree behind them. (OOC: Assumption on my part) Blondung still invisible, flies upwards and over the enclosure, ready to hurl spells. Milo, knowing that the duration of his Aid and Bless spells wasn't huge, moves invisibly with the main group, intending to cast his spells as the attack starts, before heading off on his own mission to find the girl.
Merrell and Yvandel, both able to fly but not yet wishing to give their new ability away, also move with the main group towards the entrance. Yvandel also holds off casting his Alpha's Images of Ikonn spell, knowing that he'd only want to cast it at the last moment to get maximum benefit of its duration.
In the meantime, Lucretia has finally positioned himself, still inaudible and invisible. As he watches from inside the compound, he sees the man on the top of the mound finally hiss something, gesturing. Several people run about, waving and gesticulating to everyone else, who tense, cock crossbows and nock arrows to bow strings. The fourth of the spear wielding men resumes his position near the entrance. A single woman disappears behind the rocky outcrop - Lucretia guesses that she has perhaps entered the hidden cave entrance that Graldir had spoken about - presumably to warn any others of the imminent attack.
As he watches them, Lucretia becomes more convinced that his initial guess of the leader being on the top of the rocky outcrop was probably wrong. The way that the group interact leads him to believe that one of the ones under the tent - closest to him in fact - is their true leader. Watching him carefully, Lucretia sees the man pull out a dark metal medallion hanging on a chain around his neck, kiss it and clasp it in his hand. He doesn't glimpse what is on the medallion however.
ROUND ONE AND TWO (BUFF ROUNDS)
Back near the entrance, the Unknowns get themselves psyched up to attack. As Yvandel casts his mirror image spell (Rnd 1), Siellis enchants a weapon herself (Rnd 0) and then for Vaslin (Rnd 1) and Merrell then makes both of them invisible (Rnd 0 & 1). The invisible Milo touches Ceely, and with a whispered prayer, casts a spell to aid her (Rnd 1). He then casts his bless spell (Rnd 2), a tingling warm sensation settling over all close to him. (OOC: All bar Blondung and Lucretia affected).
Meanwhile, Merrell turns his wand of enlarge on Cleo, and she suddenly feels herself rapidly growing (Rnd 2). Within seconds, her head and shoulders rise up above the stockade walls, which, as Blondung had described are strong wooden walls, separated by a 10 foot wide ditch. From nearly 20 feet tall, she can easily see into the compound, and realises she will have to hop firstly over one, and then over a second to get into the main compound. (OOC: I'm assuming 15 charges to size Cleo to just over 20 feet tall - twice the height of the wall). There are several shouts from inside the compound as her expanding torso is spotted, and several bows aim in her direction instead of towards the gate - with a gulp, she suddenly realises that as she starts to clamber over, she'll probably be the only target for over a dozen archers to fire at...
They aren't the only ones to spot her however, as the invisible Blondung, hovering to the south uses Cleo as his cue to fire off his lightning bolt. With a thundering crash, a bolt of energy leaps into being forking across the front entrance. Half the archers pause and re-target the SIX swirling mages flying a little above the palisade wall near the pavilion.
Back at ground level, outside the compound, the two dwarves, step into the outer gap in the palisade wall, pushing apart the bushes as they see the flash of Blondung's spell. Yvandel, now with his own identical mirror copies swirling around him, hovers slightly behind and above them, calling out. "Wait for the fireball!" Aiming across the tree-trunk bridge and through the gap in the inner palisade wall, Yvandel lets fly with a spell - only the second time he'd ever cast it. The pea-sized ball of fire zips through, expanding into a 40' diameter ball of fire on the other side. Even as the ball of fire fades, leaving the inner palisade charred and smoking, the two dwarves, followed closely by Yvandel and Ceely, hurry their way across the wooden plank. Herod, follows behind, murmuring his own prayer (Rnd 2) to enhance their chances. The invisible Vaslin and Siellis pause, waiting for the main fighters to get out of the way before they too follow.
Overcoming their surprise, the enemy archers let fly, some at Cleo, some at Blondung and his images, and some at the smoking entrance and the dwarves busting through. Cleo, even as she swings her leg over the outer hedge and palisade wall, is struck by three arrows, a fourth flying wide (from AK28, AJ34, AJ37 & Y52). Because of her enlarged size however, the arrows feel more like pin pricks (OOC: 3 hp damage, now on 29/42).
Four arrows also fly towards Blondung, three going wide and not hitting anything, the last hitting one of the flying Blondungs. None of the images wink out however, and from the audible curse that Blondung cries, it's clear that the archer was lucky and managed to pick the right image (OOC: 3hp damage, now on 20/26)
Dorn, charging through the inner gap finds himself bursting through the narrow entrance to find four dead men, blasted and burned, their bodies still smoking, their clothes burning still. Some 25 feet further on, beyond four burning bushes in a rough square, a man (T39) and a woman (T42) had dropped smoking ruined crossbows, and were ripping off scraps of burnt clothing as they started to shuddered and started to transform into werewolves! A few paces further north, another man (U36) fires a crossbow towards Dorn, the bolt hissing past his ear to slam into the wooden palisade behind him. From the south, under the open-sided tent, another pair of crossbows streak at him (from P55 and T55), this time both striking. The first bolt cracks into his right hand side, piercing through a joint on his plate mail and scoring along his ribs. As he is turned slightly by the force of the blow, the second cracks into his lower back, punching a small hole and leaving the bolt sticking out of near his kidneys. (OOC: 6+8hp damage, now on 30/47)
Lucretia, still invisible and inaudible watches the two crossbow wielders fire
off their bolts, but his concentration is fixed instead on the other
man directly in front of him - who seems to be clasping the medallion
in his hand and starting to cast some sort of spell. Deciding that
it would not be a good idea to let the man finish, Lucretia hurriedly
slams his short sword into the man's back, attempting to grab him
with his other hand at the same time. The man, armoured in only a
leather jerkin, gasps silently as the blade cuts into him, and staggers
forward a couple of steps into the over-turned table, pulling out
of Lucretia's left hand before he could get a grip on him. His spell
is lost.
On the top of the rock pile, the other spell caster finishes his spell, and
Cleo, suddenly finds herself shrinking again, as the magic enlarging her is
dispelled. (OOC: I'm going to rule that you are literally clambering over the
inner wall at this moment in time, so you can choose between a) remaining straddling
the wall, b) staying in the ditch side, or c) finishing the movement and ending
up on the inside...)
START OF ROUND THREE
Outside the wall, Vaslin waits for the way to come clear. Herod dodges past Ceely and rushes into the compound, racing NE toward one of the archers, intending to close the distance fast so he wouldn't be able to use his bow.
“Take that one Ceely!” Larz commands as he turns and charges south
towards the archer behind the bush. Raising his hammer of Clangeddin
above his head, he hammers it at the man, who tries to fend it off
with his bow. The heavy hammer head cracks through the bow, snapping
it like a twig before crashing into the man and knocking him back
a few steps. Grunting, he starts to transform.
Meanwhile, Merrell rises up from behind the palisade walls. He quickly
scans the battlefield, even as his fingers flick through the fireball
spell. Spotting the spell caster at the top of the mound (AE46), he
lets fly with the spell. The small ball of fire zooms across the battlefield
and he sees the man's eyes widen in fear before he is engulfed in
a large fireball. The two archers lower down the hill are also enveloped,
though he sees one dive clear, rolling on the ground only partially
burnt.
To the east of the tent, still flying above the palisade wall, Blondung
curses at the arrow sticking in him, and goes through the motions
of casting again. There is another bright flash as a second lightning
bolt bursts into being, hammering through three of the enemy - one
crossbow wielder (Y52) and two werewolves who were just finishing
changing (AD50 & AF50). Immediately, Blondung drops out of sight
behind the palisade.
One of the archers (W29) draws and nocks an arrow, but as Blondung
ducks down, he pauses, holding his fire as he looks for another spell
caster to fire at instead. (OOC: I'll rule he can't see Merrell from
his angle). Some of the other archers CAN see Merrell however, and
start to target him. The thrum of bowstrings fills the air as one
(AA35) rapidly fires off two arrows towards Merrell (OOC: I previously
forgot archers get 2 arrows per round). Partially covered by the palisade,
Merrell is grateful when an arrow on route to strike him cracks into
the wood and the second hisses past his ear.
"Kill the bastard with the lion mask!!" the archer yells.
Three other archers (AJ37, AJ34 and AK28) all start to aim their arrows
at Merrell...
The shrinking Cleo manages to get her leg over the inner wall of the
palisade, and drops down to the ground. Drawing her sword and invoking
its magic, she starts to run towards the archer who had yelled (W29).
The sword seems to hum in her hand as an aura of good exudes from
it.
Another couple of the Malarites (AJ37 and AJ34)) manage to get off
a couple of arrows each, aiming at Merrell. The first smacks into
the wooded logs of the palisade that provided him some cover, but
the second slams into his shoulder (OOC: 3hp damage, now on 10/19).
A third flies wide and a fourth also hits the palisade.
Meanwhile, Milo rose up and flew slowly southwards outside the double
palisade walls, watching the battle from unfolding from the safety
of his invisibility. Thinking of his mission to find and rescue the
girl, his eye is drawn to the area where the cave entrance was supposed
to be. Two slightly twitching werewolves (AD50 and AF50) were picking
themselves up there, having just completed changing into werewolf
form. One of them disappears into the hidden cave entrance as the
other finishes its change. Between them and the tent, Milo can see
another creature (Y52) that he thinks had also been caught by Blondung's
spell. At first he thought it was a werewolf, but then he realises
its snout is shorter and it has white stripes down its fur. The strange
were-creature picks itself up and runs towards the tent snarling at
something, or someone (probably Luc he thinks) that is out of his
line of sight.
Lucretia can see exactly what is rushing towards him, a werebadger!
(was on Y52, now S57) It snaps at him with what looks like a powerful
jaw, but he manages to get dodge back at the last moment.
Back near the entrance gap, Dorn and Ceely run forward towards the
two werewolves in front of them, the creatures still in mid change.
Dorn swings his axe of Clangeddin in a sweeping arc, but is frustrated
as the nearly transformed werewolf (T39) manages to sway back and
avoid it. Ceely is more lucky, the thrust with her oiled short sword
penetrating deep into her werewolf's side (T42). It staggers back
a step, its expression half wolf, half human before crumpling, its
body misshapen and twisted.
Over their heads, Yvandel and his five images zoom through the battlefield,
coming through the entrance gap and flying forward (to U41), a spell
on his lips. A long javelin bolt of darkness forms in his hand, which
he hurls towards the spell caster on the top of the rocky outcrop
(AE46). The bolt flies true, slamming into the chest of the man, appearing
almost to penetrate him. He is knocked from his feet, landing awkwardly
on the rocks where he lies motionless.
There is a curse from Yvandel's right and he glances across seeing
one of the Malarites (P55) behind the upturned table, cursing his
crossbow as it jams. The other crossbow wielder (T55) seems to be
aiming in his direction.
The other two men on the outcrop leap down from the ground, still
smoking from Merrell's fireball. (AF43 -> AF40, AC47 -> Z47)
The spell caster (R56) Lucretia had stabbed turns, and starts to transform,
his skin rippling and bulging as his bones and muscles realign.
Desperate to finish the spell caster (R56), Lucretia thrusts again with the
magical short sword, but Tymora seems to be looking the other way
(OOC: rolled a 2!), and the injured man avoids the blow easily, now
starting starts to transform, his skin rippling and bulging as his
bones and muscles realign.
Close to Lucretia, one of the other crossbow wielders re-cocks his
crossbow and fires it towards the mass of flying Yvandel's, but the
missile simply passes between them all and he curses, picking up another
bolt to reload.
The second of the creatures that had changed (AF50), bounds up to
the top of the rocky outcrop and howls. There are answering howls
from a long way away.
Invisibly, Siellis moves into the compound after Vaslin. (to R34).
Back nearer the entrance, the transformed werewolf (T39) that Dorn
had failed to strike leaps at him, snarling and snapping, but Dorn
fends it off easily. A little north of him, the archer (U36) drops
his bow and pulls out a short sword, thrusting it at Herod.
Behind him some 100 feet away, one of the other archers lets loose
an arrow towards Merrell. Her first arrow ricochets off the palisade,
but she quickly nocks a second arrow and lets fly, and this time it
flies true, striking Merrell in the centre of his chest (OOC: Critical
hit! 8 points of damage, now on 2/19!)
START OF ROUND 4
Gritting his teeth against the pain of the hit, Herod hammers back
at the short sword wielding man (U36) but misses.
“No ye don’t!” Larz shouts as he pulls his hammer around to
his side and takes a couple of steps forward, hammering at the transforming
beast in front him. Just before it completed the change, his hammer connects
solidly with it, and it flies sideways to land on the floor, crumpled in a lifeless
heap, its body broken by the blow. Killed in mid-change, its body doesn't start
to revert to its human form, and remains mostly wolf-like.
Having taken a near fatal wound to the chest Merrell yells out in a near panic, "Milo, Vaslin, Siellis! One of you I need your help!" Even as he shouts, his fingers are going through the complex motions of another fireball spell, before finally flicking the pea sized ball of fire towards his desired target. Having fired it, he doesn't wait to see its effect however, dropping immediately down behind the cover of the palisade walls. Those inside the arena see the fireball blossom, engulfing two of the archers (AJ34 and AJ37) and the third man (AF40) who had leapt down from the rock. All three duck as the flames engulf them, but they are all burnt significantly by its fire.
Trying to catch his breath, the arrow still sticking out of his chest, Merrell floats closer to the entrance gap, hoping, praying that one of his companions would come and heal him. He somehow knew that if he were to transform into the lion form now, the lion would be as relatively injured as he was.
Some 75 feet south of him, Blondung suddenly reappears from behind the cover of the palisades, along with all of his mirror images. The archer (W29) who had been holding his shots, quickly lets fly. His first arrow flies wide, but the second punches through one of Blondung's images, and it winks out. "Bloody mages!" curses the man as he drops his bow, pulling a short sword in anticipation of Cleo's imminent attack. Blondung ignores the loss of one of his images, and zooms back to just above ground level, this time inside the palisade, and only 10 feet from the man trying to recock his jammed crossbow. A bone wand appears in the ex-Zhent's fingers. "Nagasz hratblar" he says through clenched teeth. There is another flash and an even louder crack of thunder as a massive lightning bolt leaps from the end of the wand, slamming through both crossbow wielders (P55 and T55) and the nearly fully transformed spell caster (R56) that Lucretia was battling. All three are blasted off their feet, the powerful bolt snuffing their lives out like candles in a gale.
On the north side of the clearing, the archer in the middle (AA35) blinks at the sudden flash of light, and no longer being able to target the lion faced mage, instead fires arrows towards the mage who had just released such a powerful spell - Blondung. The first arrow misses, tearing a hole in the canvas of the tent, but Blondung swears as he is nicked by the second arrow. (OOC: 1hp damage, now on 19/26)
Cleo, changing course slightly, bears down on the man who had just abandoned his bow (W29). She swings her broadsword at the man, cutting deep into his side as he is too slow to jump back.
Further back, one of the archers who had been engulfed in flames (AJ37), starts to change into his wereform.
The invisible Milo reverses direction in mid-air, and zooms back towards the
injured lion-masked Merrell. His breath rattling in his chest, Merrell
feels a sudden light touch to his head, along with whispered words
of prayer. A sudden warmth suffuses him, and he hears a slight gasp
from above as Milo takes on his pain. (OOC: 6 hp back, now on 8/19
- FYI a change to Lion Form now would put you on 101hp... )
Meanwhile, back inside the compound, another of the enemy archers
(AJ34) lets fly an arrow towards the bunch of Yvandel's swirling in
the middle of the compound. One of his images winks out. Cursing,
the man quickly draws again and releases, aiming at a different image,
and this time lets out a yell of delight as all five remaining images
reel in mid-air from the arrow strike. Yvandel, now sprouting a feathered
shaft, feels like someone has punched his left shoulder, and for a
moment doesn't register what has happened, till he feels the warm
dampness of his own blood blotting his clothes. (OOC: 5 hp damage,
now on 6/15).
Under the tent, Lucretia, still blinking from the lightning bolt that
blasted his target, catches a glimpse of movement from his right,
and leaps back a step, just avoiding being bitten by the werebadger
at his side. Fending off the beast's claw like hands with his short
sword, he turns to face the creature.
Nearer the entrance, Dorn hacks at the werewolf in front of him (T39),
gritting his teeth in determination to bring down his foe. It is with
great satisfaction that his blow connects, the heavy axe head cutting
deep into the beast's neck as it lunges forward. The werewolf crumples,
its spine severed, and collapses, dead before it hits the floor. (OOC
You have a move action left if you wish to move in this round). He
looks up to see Ceely, jumping over the falling body, heading to help
Herod. Reaching him, she jabs her short sword at the man (U36) in
mid transformation, but he manages to lean out of blade's path.
Close by and some 10 feet above her head, Yvandel flies past, zooming
to just above Cleo (OOC: Cleo is directly under Yvandel on the map
- NOT out to the side where I have temporarily put her marker!), "Cleo,
stay where you are ... I have a spell that will help you!" he
calls as he arrives, simultaneously releasing the spell he had been
busy casting. A spray of acid bursts from his fingertips, dousing
the short sword wielding man (W29) below him who squeals in pain,
shying away from the caustic liquid and protecting his eyes with his
crossed forearms.
Just to the north of the rocky outcrop, one of the men (AF40) who
had jumped off it to get away from Yvandel's fireball, only to get
caught in Merrell's fireball, starts to transform into his wereform.
Back under the tent, Lucretia recovers from the shock of losing his
target, and turns his attention to the werebadger that was attacking
him. He chops at the creature, wishing yet again he had his more familiar
bastard sword in hand, despite connecting solidly, the short but sharp
blade plunging deep into its chest. It splutters and gurgles, blood
bubbling into its throat as its growl dies. Jerking the blade out,
Lucretia watches at it crumples to the floor, already starting to
change back to human form. (OOC You have a move action left if you
wish to move in this round)
Just the the west of the rocky outcrop, the other man (Z47) to come
down from the stone also starts to transform.
Finishing his transformation, the werewolf (in front of Herod and
Ceely leaps at Herod, attempting to grapple and bite him, but the
Battleguard easily fends him off.
Failing to see the lion faced flying mage, the archer near the goat pen (AK28)
fires an arrow towards one of the other flying mages - Yvandel. Another image
winks out as an arrow hisses through it. Her eyes narrowing, the female archer
draws and fires again, but hurries too much, and the arrow misses entirely.
START OF ROUND FIVE
Herod calls upon Tempus, swinging Serena's old Goblin Bane mace at the snarling werewolf. The heavy metal head connects solidly, staggering the beast for a moment.
Failing to see the lion faced flying mage, the archer near the goat pen (AK28) fires an arrow towards one of the other flying mages - Yvandel. Another image winks out as an arrow hisses through it. Her eyes narrowing, the female archer draws and fires again, but hurries too much, and the arrow misses entirely.
Seeing that his target has already been disposed of by Blondung’s spell, Larz hears the call from Merrell for help. “I’ll help him!” he calls out as he turns and starts to run back to the entrance gap (double move). He reaches Merrell's side (M39) , but doesn't have time to cast his spell (OOC: because he's needed to do a double move to get there) as before his eyes, Merrell starts to enlarge and change into Lion form... (OOC: Full round action to change to Lion form).
The short sword wielding man (W29) in front of Cleo howls in rage, his arms and face still steaming from the burning acid Yvandel sprayed over him. He hacks wildly at Cleo, who leans back, avoiding the blow.
Meanwhile, to the south, Blondung and his images fly up and out of the compound, again dropping out of sight behind the palisade.
One of the archers (AA35), runs back several steps (to AF37), whereupon he again raises his bow, firing off a single arrow - again towards the only flying mage he can see. Yvandel is relieved when he hears it hiss through the air nowhere near him or any of his images.
"Oh, nicely done! Thanks!" Cleo shouts to Yvandel even as she rears back and brings her magical sword arcing down toward her reeling enemy in a vicious arc. Her blade cuts deep into the man's shoulder, slicing down through his shirt and front. As he staggers back, she lifts and hammers her blade at his again, this time creating a matching diagonal cut across from his other shoulder, slicing the flesh down to the bone. He collapses, his life-blood gushing from the fatal wounds. (OOC: This was a 2 attack round for Cleo).
Another of the archers (AJ37) takes bead on the various Yvandels. First one, and then another of the ex-puppeteer's images disappears as arrows fly through them.
Back nearer the entrance, the still invisible Milo decides to fly off towards his own target. Moving past Larz, he glances towards Luc inside the tented area, flying towards the southern side of the rocky outcrop. [Milo flies to S47]
Another of the archers (AJ34) takes bead on the fewer remaining Yvandels. First one, and then another of the ex-puppeteer's images disappears as arrows fly through them. Only 1 image remains. Both archers curse as they realise they have only managed to target images instead of the real mage.
Dorn leaps over the mangled body of the man in front of him, and runs towards the archer who had retreated somewhat, hurling his axe. The man tries to dodge, but the heavy blade catches him, cutting into his hip.
To his north, Ceely continues to help Herod, slashing her short sword across the side of the werewolf, who growls in pain at the blow.
Meanwhile, the man just to the north of the rocky outcrop, finishes transforming into a wereboar, and grunting, charges towards Dorn, intercepting the dwarf with lowered tusks.(AF40 -> X38). Dorn, seeing the beast coming, manages to fend the larger creature off, preventing himself from being gored by the heavy headed wereboar.
Some way south of the dwarf and the wereboar, Lucretia, having dispatced the werebadger, glances around, looking for someone to attack. Although he can hear the twang of bow strings from the northern side of the outcropping, he doesn't have direct line of sight of them, and so instead starts to run towards the nearest living enemy - the man still in mid transformation at the base of the crag (Z47). Breaking into a charge, Lucretia arrives just before the transformation ends, slamming his short sword into the beasts side. It lurches to one side, the transformation just finishing as it growls with pain. Its head whips around and it throws itself onto Lucretia, snarling and snapping, his jaws nipping at Lucretia's arms as he tries to fend the beast off. (OOC: 10hp damage, now on 42/52)
(OOC: Technically, you wouldn't normally have made it - but as I did say that you had a move left over from last round which you didn't tell me about, I'll rule that you moved part last round, then a double move and a charge this round)
Nearer the entrance, Ceely and Herod continue to struggle with their werewolf enemy. Growling it grapples with Herod, its jaws clamping down on Herod's shoulder. (OOC: 8 hp damage, now on 13/39)
Far to the right, the archer first burnt by Yvandel's flaming sphere spell, draws another arrow, aiming at one of the two flying Yvandels. Letting fly his first arrow shoots through the remaining image, which wavers, blurring around the real Yvandel before reforming. Cursing, the man fires again. For a second time, the arrow simply passes through the image, though this time, it winks out, leaving only the real Yvandel remaining. "Ha! Now I've got you!" he shouts.
START OF ROUND SIX
Herod tries to bring the Goblin's Bane mace to bear on the werewolf grappling with him, but finds he can't use the weapon at such close quarters, and instead tries to throw the werewolf off him. Larz, seeing Merrell has already started to transform to Lion form by the time he had got there, spins on his heel and runs back towards the battle. Seeing Ceely he rushes towards her, intending to cast a spell of healing...
The lion that was Merrell darts through the narrow gap in the palisades, squeezing
through the narrow gap as only a member of the feline family can do,
stepping across the ditch as if it were nothing but a muddy cart rut.
It starts to race across the compound, heading towards the archers.
Behind the palisade, Blondung remains out of sight doing who knows
what.
One of the archers (AF37), seeing one of his companions intercept
Cleo's charge, takes a step back (to AG37) and changes his target,
firing his arrows directly at the lion. The first arrow thuds into
the lion, but Merrell barely notices it, nor even when the second
arrow hits. (OOC: 10 hp damage total, now on 91/101 in Lion form).
Cleo, finding her path blocked by a werewolf (AB35), directs her attack
against this new target instead, hammering her broadsword into its
side, making it stagger heavily. It snarls back, a low growl deep
in its throat.. (OOC: Hopefully you don't mind this change of action
Dan. You could no longer do your original action of charging AF37,
mainly because it was no longer a clear straight line and the distance
would have been too far to do a normal standard move and attack.)
Meanwhile, another of the archers (AJ37) is too focused on his efforts
to eliminate the flying mage to notice the lion charging up, and fires
off first one, then another arrow towards Yvandel again. The first
arrow flies wide, but the second hits, scoring across Yvandel's ribs
and ripping his clothes in the process. (OOC: You are one lucky SOB.
Minimum damage - 1hp, now on 5/15)
On the far side of the rocky mound from Yvandel, the invisible Milo
flies to where he thinks the entrance to the cave is. As he gets closer,
a rough shaped three foot wide opening can be seen in the rock, just
to the right of where water seems to spring out of cracks in the rock
to form the stream (OOC: See the black blob on AF48). The entrance
is only about five feet tall, and Milo would need to duck if he were
to enter. It is dark within, and Milo can only see about 10 feet before
the shadows hide the steeply sloping passage beyond.
Intercepted by the wereboar (X38), Dorn is glad to have his axe magically
return to him, and swings it somewhat enthusiastically towards the
wereboar. But the wereboar jerks back just in time, and the blade
whistles through the air, narrowly missing the beast. Almost spinning
as he twists away from the creature's tusks, Dorn slams his axe into
its torso as it lunges after him. There is an audible cracking noise
as the sharp edge of the axe crunches through bone. Blood immediately
bubbles out of the wereboar's snout in a spray in what looks like
a massive, if not fatal wound. (OOC: Critical hit!)
Further back, Ceely continues to aid Herod in his battle against the werewolf
(U36) Thrusting her short sword forward, she plunges the blade into the beast's
side, and it staggers, falling to one side and releasing Herod as she withdraws
the blade.
<Yvandel aka Steve wrote>:
> Hoping to make the best of it he casts his flaming sphere and
> drops it on the archer that fired at him. He then flies around
> and behind him putting his body between him and the other
> two archers which he had flown in between.
OOC: Actually, your flaming sphere spell is already active... and marked on
the map (currently at AJ33). It can move at 30' per round, so can
easily reach the archer at AJ37...
The ball of fire continues to roll southward, making the archer shout
out in pain as the flames engulf him. As his already scorched clothes
ignite properly, he staggers backwards, tripping and crashing to the
ground as the blazing ball of fire rolls over him. Still in the air,
Yvandel turns and zooms towards Cleo, casting another spell. As he
completes it, his right hand turns a grey colour and he flexes it
with new found strength.
Meanwhile, the wereboar growls in an unnatural fury at Dorn, slamming
its head forward in a desperate attempt to gore the dwarf. But Dorn
jumps back a step, the beast's tusks merely scratching his armour.
Nearer the rocky outcrop, Lucretia continues his own battle, hacking
at the werewolf (Z47) with vicious ferocity, the enchanted short sword
seeming to work for him at last as he slices open a long cut in the
beast's belly. It staggers back, falling against the rocks as its
guts and life blood spill out onto the rough ground, staining the
dirt black. Not stopping to watch, Lucretia turns and starts to move
north, intending to help out against the archers.
The werewolf Cleo had attacked (AB35) snarls and snaps at her, using
its hands to try to grapple with her so it can bite her more easily.
The warrioress ducks and weaves, avoiding the werewolf's snapping
jaws and not allowing him to get a grip. Suddenly, the werewolf shudders,
emitting a low whine. A figure shimmers into being next to Cleo, and
she can see that Siellis has just thrust her sword through the guts
of the beast. The drow spits out a word of insult to the dying werewolf,
and though Cleo cannot understand it - she gets the meaning clear
enough.
Near the back, one of the few remaining archers (AK28) decides the lion is the
bigger threat, and fires his arrows towards the approaching beast, even as he
moves back a little (to AL27). The arrows zip across the clearing. The first
arrow is deflected by the thick fur of the lion, merely glancing off. In his
desperation, the man pulls back his bow string for a second shot with such force
that the string snaps! (OOC: Fumble!)
START OF ROUND SEVEN
Herod rushes forward (to X37) and attacks the berserk wereboar facing Dorn
(X38). Swinging the Goblin's Bane mace in a wide arc, the heavy head
crunches into the beast's side. In its berserk rage, it barely seems
to notice, merely staggering slightly to catch its balance.
On the other side of Dorn, the dwarf's cousin appears, moving up to
attempt to attack the wereboar. He is less lucky however, as the creatures
manages to deflect the axe blade before it connects.
Meanwhile, Merrell arrives at the somewhat terrified archer (AF37),
rending the beast limb from limb in a shower of blood.
Over the far side of the compound, Blondung finally appears, popping
up from behind the palisade wall and zooming across the compound towards
the central mound, his images still swirling around him, the wand
of lightning still held in one hand, his staff in the other.
Yelling her thanks to Siellis, Cleo glances around and sees Herod
and the two dwarves struggling to finish off the wereboar (X38). Leaping
over the small bush, she rushes up behind it, and chops her broadsword
at it in a heavy strike. The enchanted blade cuts deep into its back,
and it arches, howling, its fingers still trying to grasp towards
Dorn as its life blood gushes out from another mortal wound. Its knees
buckle, and the strength lent to it through its rage, literally bleeds
away as it dies.
Meanwhile, the invisible Milo peers into the cave. Beyond the first few feet,
all he could see was a steeply sloping passage heading down under the rocky
outcropping. From within, all was quiet however, and he couldn't hear or see
any sign of life. It suddenly occurred to him how much more sensible it would
have been for one of his non-human companions, who could readily see in the
dark, to have performed this particular mission. He takes a deep breath, steadies
himself, and starts to creep into the cave, keeping along the right hand wall
to gauge its shape.
As Cleo finally kills the wereboar (in front of him, Dorn glances around, realising
that there was only one surviving enemy still visible, an archer in
the far corner that looks like he is about to flee the scene. Thinking
of the cave entrance and seeing Cleo starting to look in that direction,
he starts to move to the south... (OOC: Double move to X46)
Ceely on the other hand launches herself into a sprint towards the
surviving archer. (OOC: Treble move to AH30)
(OOC: Although in your posts, it looks like Dorn is reacting to Cleo
moving, he actually goes before her, since Dan has posted for Cleo's
Round 8 action, and Dorn was still doing his Round 7...)
<Yvandel aka Steve wrote>:
> Yvandel flies towards the werewolf AJ37 ( but stays more
> than 5 feet away and 10 feet in the air ). He prepares his
> softly glowing hands to strike any werewolf that attacks him
> but spends his time focusing to control the flaming sphere
> and send it at the werewolf AJ37.
OOC: Actually, AJ37 was killed by your flaming sphere last round... hence marked
as dead on the map.
Yvandel flies back towards his flaming sphere, the ball coming back under his
control as he nears it. (Move to AI36)
Meanwhile, Lucretia, seeing only one remaining enemy, spins on his
heel and joins Dorn...(Move to Z46)
Siellis, seeing Ceely rush past, joins her, running at her side. (Move
to 29AG)
The surviving man drops his bow and with surprising agility, turns and leaps
up the palisade wall behind him, reaching its top in seconds and disappearing
over it, seeming to almost fall over it in his hurry... Ceely and Siellis hear
a wet thud as he crashes into the muddy ditch between the two palisade walls.
START OF ROUND EIGHT
Herod glances around, seeing the last of their enemies flee. "To the cave!" he growls, starting to move in that direction and quickly overtaking the slower Dorn.
Larz calls "To the cave" and follows after his cousin, moving towards
the southern side of the rocky outcrop.
Blondung, and Dorn, with Cleo not far behind, make it around the southern
edge of the Dorn continue towards the cave, making good progress.
"Damn it looks dark in there!" growls Blondung, the first
one to get a good view of the entrance. "Luc! We will need your
light!" he yells. "No need to shout!" retorts Lucretia,
as he too rounds the corner and arrives close to the cave entrance.
Meanwhile, Ceely scrambles up the wall, noting how it has some pegs
in it making easy foot holds. With her short sword in one hand, she
easily manages to scramble up, just ahead of Siellis behind her, and
peer over the top. The man she had been chasing is lying half in muddy
water struggling to rise. Choosing to attack, she drops down, on the
other side, just managing to catch her balance as the man manages
to stagger to his feet and start to move off down the length of the
ditch... The muddy terrain makes it slow going though.
Siellis also climbs to the top of the palisade, but doesn't jump down. Instead,
she murmurs a spell, and a moment later, releases her sword, which flies on
its own towards the fleeing man...
As Milo feels his way further into the darkness of the werewolf lair, very glad of his concealing invisibility so he isn't providing a silhouette against the outside light, he is also pleased to hear the rest of the party starting to gather outside. At Blondung's yell to Luc, he decides that maybe being able to see is a good advantage, and he starts back out again
Merrell, in his lion form, runs towards the inner palisade, leaping to its
top like a house-cat climbing a garden fence. He peers down, watching
as Ceely staggers through the mud, chasing after the sole remaining
Malarite. At the noise of Merrell's arrival, which sent a vibration
through the heavy wooden trunks of the palisade, the man glances up,
fear in his eyes, and starts to run harder. Realising the man's fate
was probably sealed, Ceely hangs back so as not to get in the way,
as the massive lion pounces down onto the hapless man, tearing him
to pieces in seconds. As she pauses there, some movement from further
around the curve catches her eye - something beyond Merrell. A tall
figure lurches into view, its head almost as high as the palisade
walls, its feet in the ditch below. It moans and stretches out twisted
limbs towards the lion. It is clear this is no healthy giant, but
an undead zombie of giant proportions! Siellis, still perched on the
edge of the palisade some 20 feet back from Ceely gasps as she catches
sight of it. She glances at her sword, then down at Ceely. "The
Lion can take care of it!" she calls to Ceely, sheathing her
sword. She leans down, offering her arm to Ceely to help her climb
back out of the palisade - there being no helpful pegs or footholds
on that side of the palisade.
Meanwhile, the others start to gather around the entrance to the cave, the invisible
Milo just inside. Cleo illuminates her sword and Lucretia pulls out his light
coin, both of them spotting an arrow scratched into the dirt outside, pointing
the the entrance. Yvandel, flying around the rocky outcrop leaves a scorched
trail as his ball of fire rolls behind him...
START OF ROUND NINE + TEN and ELEVEN
As most of the rest of the party make their way into the cave, the mighty lion leaps up and out of the trench between the two sets of palisades, making the wooden structure sway alarmingly for a moment, and giving both Siellis and Ceely fleeting cause for alarm. But they retain their balance and somewhat gratefully drop down a moment later into the body strewn compound, away from the monstrous zombie..
Merrell turns around, watching the palisade and expecting the undead giant to appear, either clambering over or breaking through.
It does neither, and being shorter than the height of the wooden trunks that formed the inner wall, remains out of sight.
Siellis and Ceely both hurry off towards the cave entrance.
As Merrell aka the big cat realises that the giant zombie isn't coming into the main compound, it runs back to the palisade wall, leaping to the top to look down into the muddy ditch below. The giant had continued to lumber its way around the inner walls, and is now not far past the spot where Ceely and Siellis had climbed the fence. Bunching his haunches, the lion launches itself at the giant, who starts to turn at the last moment. The big cat crashes into the giant, which is forced back a few steps, amazingly managing to keep its balance, even as the the claws of the lion's right rake across its flesh and its powerful jaws tear into its shoulder. Ignoring the damage as if it hadn't even happened, the giant strikes back at the lion, the heavy blow crashing against the lion's side and forcing it back for a second. Merrell feels the inhuman strength of the blow, though at the same time realises it hasn't actually harmed the lion.
Pouncing forward again, the lion snares the undead with both of its front paws, the sharp claws piercing the undead flesh even as its jaws seek the giant's neck. The rear legs come up to rake down the front of the giant, literally ripping the flesh loose from the bones, and there is a loud crack of the neck bones beneath the mighty jaws of the lion. The magic holding the undead giant suddenly dissipates, and the broken body collapses, leaving the lion panting on the shredded remains of its corpse.
Merrell is almost overwhelmed by the beast's power and animal nature as it revels in its victory over the giant. Without his direction, the lion roars its victory and defiance at the sky, and for a few moments, Merrell finds himself more of a passenger within the lion rather than its controller.
Asserting his mental control again, Merrell makes the lion leap back into the compound, where he can see Siellis disappearing around the far side of the rocky mound, with Ceely standing on top, as look-out.
Merrell comes to realise that the Mask truly is a powerful item - an artifact no less. Part of the letter they'd found on the body of Chermeta Chang suddenly comes back to him.
"I don’t know how the Mask is moved around, but everything I’ve read indicates that it would always return to it’s safe haven – El'lahana Raikeil – described as an elven island on a lake in the middle of the Moonwood!"
He suddenly has a mental picture of the lion simply taking control and making its own way back to its island sanctuary. What would happen to its wearer when that happened - he feared to find out.
Cleo, with Milo close behind her, steps carefully into the cave. Lucretia, with his light coin held up high, follows after Cleo, leaving a slight gap so that he won't bump into the invisible Painbearer. Behind him the two dwarves, Dorn and then Larz, follow into the rough hewn tunnel, with Herod, Yvandel and Blondung at the rear.
The tunnel kinks right, then seems to open up to the left. As Cleo rounds the corner, bring light to the dark cave, she can see a couple of large piles of boulders heaped up to form barricades. One directly ahead of her, and one to the right, leaving a narrow opening in the middle as the only route through. In the gap stands a well muscled wereboar, its arms spread and its tusks glinting in the light, waiting for Cleo to approach it seems - neither Cleo nor the wereboar seem surprised to see each other.
ROUND ONE AGAIN
At Cleo's words, Lucretia pushes forward, bumping slightly past the invisible
Milo (*) and dodging past Cleo as he rounds the corner. He sees the
wereboar and advances, slashing his short sword at the monster, in
a short vicious arc. The creature leans back however, and the blade
whistles through the air just short.
Further back, Herod also hears Cleo's words and sees Luc moving forward.
He too presses forward, slipping between the two dwarves, bumping
past the invisible Milo and stepping in front of Cleo. Seeing the
barricades of boulders, he hesitates, lifting his shield.
The wereboar lunges forward, trying to gore Lucretia on his tusks,
but Lucretia manages to jump back a step to avoid the points. Only
too well did he remember the last wereboar he'd encountered.
"Look out!" exclaims a female voice - Vaslin's, who shimmers
into view immediately behind the wereboar, her invisibility cancelled.
"There are three with crossbows!". She isn't attacking the
wereboar however, but another man (Y57) who was just rising into view
with a loaded crossbow aimed directly at Lucretia. She smashes her
staff into the crossbow, the bolt ricocheting off the rock ceiling
as the man's aim is spoiled. "Bitch!" he exclaims, surprised
at her sudden presence. "I told you I heard something!"
he says, seeming to address someone else.
Now that Herod, Lucretia, Cleo and Milo look, they spot another man (Y58) with
a crossbow starting to rise next to the first, and Lucretia and Herod can see
a third (AA54), rising to their right.
Right on Herod's heels, Larz slips past his cousin, bumps past the invisible Milo and moves past Cleo, entering the larger chamber and skidding to a halt. Spotting the two men near Vaslin, the dwarf wastes no time as he raises his hand, pointing at the nearest of the two to his companion and shouting, "FALL!!" The man's (Y57) eyes frown in consternation, as control of his limbs is magically ripped from him by the power of Clangeddin, and he disappears out of sight, falling down behind the barricade at Vaslin's feet.
To his side, the other Malarite (Y58) rises, firing his crossbow at Herod. The bolt slams into the priest's left shoulder, despite his raised shield, and he staggers back a step, the bolt piercing all the way through to the other side, punching two holes in the chainmail links (OOC: Critical hit). Herod's shield sags as his strength drains from his injured arm. (OOC: I forgot about it before, but as Herod had been knocked down to only 13 HP, I would have had him cast one or two healing spells on himself in the pause before entering the cave - so actually, he's now on 18/39).
To Herod and Lucretia''s right, the other Malarite (AA54) also rises above the barricade and lets rip with his heavy crossbow. There is another sharp thwack sound as the bolt leaves the weapon, humming past Larz's ear to splinter into fragments on the cave wall beyond. The man curses as he misses, and there is a clatter as he drops the heavy bow.
Near the rear, Blondung shakes his head at the sound of three crossbows discharging in quick succession, and glances behind him. "Get the lion in here!" he barks at Yvandel, gripping the bone wand tightly as he presses forward himself, moving up to stand behind Cleo. He bumps into Milo however, and falls back, realising the invisible Painbearer was there (OOC: Moved to AD59)
Cleo storms forwards, joining Luc in his attack on the wereboar (Z56). Despite
having to cut at him around the corner of the barricade, she manages
to strike a powerful blow, rocking the beast back on its feet and
opening up a large gash in its right side. It roars with pain, and
with some alarm, Cleo notes foam start to appear at its mouth, as
it goes beserk.
Dorn also surges forward behind Herod and his cousin, bumping past
the invisible Milo and moving up next to Cleo to the base of the rock
barricade.
Meanwhile, Milo also dodges forward, slipping past his more visible companions
more easily than they had past him. Realising that Herod had been badly wounded
by the bolt, he dodges forward and places a hand on the Battleguard's injured
left shoulder, murming a prayer of healing. A sharp pain shoots through his
own shoulder, as he experiences the pain that Herod had been suffering, even
as Herod's injury heals somewhat, though still leaving the bolt pertruding from
the half-healed flesh. (OOC: now on 24/39)
Outside the cave, Yvandel spots Ceely clambering up onto the top of the rocky outcropping.
ROUND TWO AGAIN
Seeing that the beastie had nearly over extended itself, Luc takes a mighty
swing at its neck while yelling, "Somebody check the guy to the
North!" (OOC: AA54)
Herod, taking his cue from Larz, also blurts out a spell, this time
at the man to the north. "FALL!" he commands. With a curse
on his lips, the man disappears from view as he falls down behind
the barricade.
The wereboar snorts in pain, and slams its head forward into a vicious
head butt to Lucretia's stomach. The wind is driven from him as chain
links ping, broken under the wereboars razor sharp tusks. (OOC: 10hp
damage, now on 32/52)
Meanwhile, Vaslin plunges her dagger into the back of the Malarite on the floor
in front of her. There is a shout of pain from the man, hidden from view behind
the stone barricade, but he pushes himself to his feet and starts to grapple
with her, taking another stab as he does.
“Coming around ye Herod!” Larz says as he turns and squeezes past the priest of Tempus and rushes forward to the rock barricade. Even with his shield in one hand and his hammer of Clangeddin in the other, the dwarf quickly scrambles his way up onto the top of the pile of boulders, almost scraping his head on the roof as he finds himself looking down on the prone Malarite (AA54).
Meanwhile, the other Malarite behind the other barricade also drops his crossbow, and plucks up a javelin instead, turning to hurl it at Vaslin. The sharpened shaft catches Vaslin in her torso before falling to the floor with a clatter, its tip bloodied. (OOC: 8hp damage, now on 20/28)
Further back, Blondung edges forward, gaining a look into the chaotic and packed cave. He fingers the bone wand in his right hand, gripping his staff firmly in his left hand.
Cleo slashes her heavy broadsword at the wereboar, attacking around the corner
of the stone barricade. Her first blow misses, the wereboar just managing
to duck back far enough for the wall to impede Cleo's action, but
Cleo thrusts forward again, this time the enchanted blade scoring
a long line across the wereboar's shoulder.
Meanwhile, Dorn scrambles up the pile of rocks, managing to pick his
way up with ease. Reaching the top, he gathers himself, then leaps
down towards the man below him. The man, turning with javline in hand,
crashes backwards, slamming into the rough stone cave wall, before
falling to the ground at Dorn's feet. (OOC: His icon is now covered
by Dorn's on the map).
Milo presses himself into the southern corner of the cave, keeping
out of the way of the swinging swords and axes.
Outside the cave, Yvandel is satisfied to simply keep watch.
ROUND THREE AGAIN
Ceely, hearing the sounds of battle coming from the cave entrance below her,
quickly clambers down the hillside, making it to Yvandel's side. She
then starts inside.
Meanwhile inside, Lucretia presses his attack against the wereboar,
this time, chopping his blade in a vicious arc that connects with
the beast's neck. The strength of the blow nearly severs the creature's
spine (OOC: Critical hit!), and it flies sideways, crashing into the
rocky barricade and crumpling to the rock floor.
Herod, seeing an opening, dodges past Lucretia and Cleo, jumping over
the fallen wereboar to attack the man he had just made fall over by
his command spell (AA54).
Vaslin, being grappled by the man (Y57), tries to escape, but he continues
to hold onto her, even as he starts to change to his wereform.
Larz jumps down off the barricade, flanking the Malarite with Herod
and also hammering his Hammer of Clangeddin into the prone man who
grunts from the heavy blow. The Malarite starts to scramble to his
feet, javelin in hand, but Herod and Larz both take advantage of his
movement, swinging their weapons at him again, connecting a second
time and taking him down permanently. (OOC: Starting to introduce
the concept of "Attacks of Opportunity" :-)
OOC: I got Dorn's attack slightly wrong last time - in terms of him
being able to simply knock the Malarite down and stand over him...
he shouldn't be able to do that in 3.5 edition - to actually occupy
the same square, they would need to be grappling... However, since
Vaslin and the other Malarite are grappling, I had them wrong on the
map too - as they should have been occupying a single square... So,
I've corrected the action now - Dorn leapt down into the square where
Vaslin's attacker WAS, and did a simple axe attack at the man instead...
The Malarite stabs at Dorn with the javelin he had been planning to
throw at over the barricade before Dorn managed to climb over it.
The sharp point of the weapon jabs through a gap in Dorn's armour,
drawing blood (OOC: 6 hp damage, now on 24/47)
Seeing that the risk of being struck by missile weapons was diminishing,
Blondung steps further into the room, almost bumping into Milo who
is forced to step aside as the ex-Zhent wizard comes further into
the chaotic cave.
Cleo, pleased that the wereboar is down, steps into the gap and hesitates,
not willing to risk chopping at the half-transformed were grappling
with Vaslin for fear of hitting the Luckpriestess. Instead, she tries
to help Vaslin get free from the beast.
Dorn chops again at the Malarite in front of him, cursing as he misses.
Behind him, he can hear the scuffling noises of the werewolf grappling
with Vaslin, even as it changes to were form.
Milo continues to stay at the back of the cave, and outside, Yvandel listens
to the sound of combat coming from inside and keeps a nervous eye out. He spots
Siellis coming around the west side of the rocky mound.
ROUND FOUR AGAIN
Luc steps forward raising his short sword. Realising he has as good a chance
of harming his friend as the enemy, he changes his mind and joins
in the grapple, trying to help Vaslin and Cleo as best he can to free
the former from the werewolf's grip. Herod also turns from the dead
Malarite, and steps forward to assist.
Vaslin, with Cleo, Lucretia and Herod helping, manages to break free
from the nearly fully transformed werewolf. As the beast completes
its transformation, it struggles, pinned fast by the four of them,
its jaws snapping with futility.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the grapple, the other surviving Malarite
continues to try to kill Dorn, jabbing again at the armoured dwarf,
but this time the javelin simply scratches a line across Dorn's breastplate.
Cleo, with the other three holding the werewolf steady, takes her
time as she plunges her enchanted broad sword into the body of the
pinned werewolf, killing it outright.
Dorn hacks again at the Malarite, and this time connects solidly with his axe.
The man crumples, the blade embedded in his guts.
END OF COMBAT
Outside the cave, Yvandel continues to keep watch as Siellis passes him, ducking
inside the cave. A few moments later, the giant lion that is Merrell
also appears. (Mike - you CAN enter the cave system in Lion form -
but being a large creature, you will be forced to move more slowly
through the narrow areas.)
Meanwhile, Larz casts his eye up and down the two passages... With the various
light sources being carried, he spots some tufts of dark fur caught on a jagged
piece of the wall of the left hand passage.
The big lion pushes through to the front, with almost everyone straining to
get out of its way, intimidated by its mere presence - even though
they knew it was Merrell beneath the mask. Ceely and Dorn pause to
allow the lion to go ahead, then follow, with Lucretia, Vaslin and
Blondung following slowly on behind. Luc's Light coin and Dorn's axe
both provide illumination for their journey. The passage opens up
somewhat, and then seems to split again...
Meanwhile, Larz and Cleo start to move down the other corridor, Larz moving
slowly as he searches for traps. At the first corner, they come to a low wooden
gate about four feet high. In the light of Cleo's sword, they can see a crudely
drawn sign on it that says "Ring the bell". A small bell is hanging
from a pole on the right hand side of the gate, and a small hammer is hanging
on a leather thong lashed to the pole.
Link to April Fools Joke - not as good as the last one!
Larz spends a moment looking at the gate with the bell and the cave surrounding it. Part of him is convinced that this is a trap, but he can't make out what or how. Warning Cleo and Herod to move back, just in case, he pushes on the gate. As he does so, the gate seems to literally fall over. It crashes into the ground, its momentum jerking loose a pin that seemed to be wedged into the north wall. Part of the wall springs free, proving to be a heavy wooden beam, and several feet above Larz's head, the planks and rocks that it was supporting, collapse in a torrent of wood and stone. Larz can barely raise his shield in time, leaping to the southern wall of the cave as he is struck by numerous pieces of stone and lumps of wood. (OOC: 23 hp damage, now on 8/31). Visibility in the tunnel is obscured for a moment as the air is filled with dust.
The others in the other cave pause, hearing the tremendous crashing noise from behind them.
"The passage was trapped!" yells Herod as the last rumbles of settling rubble go quiet. Herod rushes forward and starts to pull pieces of stone and wood off Larz. Almost as soon as he can see the Alaghor, he presses his hand onto the dwarf's shoulder, murmuring a prayer to Tempus. Healing warmth seeps into Larz, making him feel a little better. Herod continues to pray, casting another spell of healing into the dwarf. (OOC: now on 20/31).
***
As Lucretia, Dorn and Ceely start to head back to find out what was going on with the others, the lion continues to move down the passage to the right. He can smell werewolf ahead of him, although the commotion behind pretty much drowned out any noise from ahead. Reaching another junction Merrell looks to the right, seeing the passage narrow to a size too small for him to get through. A human on hands and knees could probably crawl their way through. To the left, he sees a larger passage, some ten or more feet wide, with a rough pitted ceiling. To his low light vision, he can just make out a figure - a man, crouching behind another low barricade of broken jumbled rock. With a yell, the man hurls a javelin at the lion, the weapon catching in Merrell's thick fur and barely scratching his skin...
Meanwhile, most of the others who had accompanied the lion had returned, to check out what had caused the sound of crashing rocks. Cleo, Herod and Dorn, blink and cough for a few moments as the dust starts to settle, and Cleo suggests they press on.
(OOC: Larz? Want to lead again? Or will someone else take over?)
"Perhaps I should lead" suggests Vaslin, holding a piece of cloth
to her nose. "I have an eye for traps..." she adds, mentally
cursing the fact that she'd used her Find Traps spells already in
the approach towards the Malarite compound.
"I'll check on Yvandel" mutters Blondung in between coughs.
He turns and starts to move towards the exit, feeling his way.
"Bastard weres!" curses Siellis, peering through the settling dust.
She utters a string of expletives in her native tongue. "We'll make them
pay!" she growls.
***
Larz, with Cleo and Vaslin right behind him, moves on past the rock fall and
the now broken gate that had triggered the trap. The cavern widens
slightly beyond, the floor sloping down and taking them deeper under
the rocky outcrop. Larz, even more paranoid, steps carefully forward,
still coughing slightly from the dust that is still in the air. In
the light from Cleo's sword, it looks like there is a faint air current,
the dust drifting through the air away from them. After some 15 feet
or so, the passage narrows again, forcing single file as it cuts a
sharp left. Like almost all the cave walls they have seen so far,
the stone here is mostly unworked - perhaps a natural fissure caused
by an earth tremor or some such that has been crudely expanded in
places to make passage easier.
Pausing at the corner, and wary of further crossbow wielding archers,
Larz peeks around. The passage continues barely 10 feet before appearing
to double back on itself to the right...
Meanwhile, even as Dorn starts to take a swig from his wineskin, Lucretia
passing him with Ceely just behind, Merrell, in his lion form, races
forward towards the man behind the low barricade. The man appears
to have been waiting for him however, as he cuts a tensioned rope
that flicks up towards the ceiling close to the right wall. Even as
he surges forward, Merrell suddenly realises that he has done exactly
what the man had hoped, as a large net falls upon him, tripping him
up as it tangles into his legs. Parts of the rope net snap and pop
as the powerful muscles of the lion rip at it, starting to tear it
to shreds, but it has done its job, slowing him enough. The man lunges
to the other wall, where he cuts another rope, releasing another net
pinned to the ceiling. This one however is under much more tension,
since the net holds large boulders and rocks, which crash down on
top of Merrell. (OOC: 31 hp damage, now on 60/240).
Everyone hears this second rock fall...
Hearing the sound of the rock-fall, Dorn puts his wineskin away and starts
to run after towards where Merrell had gone. Lucretia and Ceely also
run after, the three of them reaching the Lion and taking in the situation,
but unable to make quick progress past him due to the size of the
lion, the rubble and the nets, shifting as Merrell tries to break
through them.
Meanwhile, Vaslin, behind Herod, Cleo and Larz, freezes. "That
was another rock fall!" she exclaims, looking back in the direction
that the others had gone. "Should we go back and see?" she
asks, unsure.
Cleo hesitates (ooc: no action received), and Larz continues to move
slowly round the corner and into the next section. He doesn't get
far before he realises that despite his dwarven affinity for stone,
he just doesn't have the eye for traps, as his foot snags on a network
of dusty covered cords, hidden on the floor. There is a twanging noise,
almost as if a crossbow was releasing, and then a sharp crack as a
support is jerked free. Larz dives backwards, with an extreme sense
of deja vu as another rock fall trap is triggered around him. Cleo,
right behind him also tries to avoid being struck, but the two of
them are pounded with rubble falling from a concealed hole in the
ceiling. Both of them collapse to the ground, struck down by the weight
of stone. Coughing in the dust, Herod lunges forward and starts to
frantically pull at the rubble to free them. He can see that the dwarf
is in a bad way. (OOC: 30 hp damage, now on -10/31) Cleo is also unconscious,
but doesn't seem as bad. "Help me Vaslin!" he coughs, praying
to convert some of his spells to healing spells. Vaslin squeezes up
next to him, and administers a couple of healing spells of her own
onto Larz. (OOC: 16hp back, now on 6/31). As Herod finishes praying,
he lays a hand on Cleo, bringing her back to consciousness. (Cleo
now on 5/42).
Milo, becoming even more worried as he hears a third rock fall, frets
and ...
(OOC: Want to follow Siellis back toward Larz & co? or keep going
following the light of Lucretia and Dorn, which has hurried ahead
almost leaving you in pitch black?)
Siellis, hearing the second fall, skids to a halt, just in front of
Milo, and nearly knocks the invisible Painbearer over as she reverses
direction, returning to see what has befallen Larz's team.
Dorn, is the first past Merrell, somehow managing to scramble past the large
lion despite the thrashing of the net and the piles of rubble lying all around.
He reaches the stone barricade in time to see the Malarite disappearing out
of sight around a far corner some 60 feet further on. Lucretia and Cleo also
manage to make it past Merrell, as the lion finally manages to free itself from
the rope netting. With all the noise Merrell made freeing himself, none of them
heard the rock fall on Larz and Cleo.
For a few moments, coughing in the dust, Herod and Vaslin work to extract their two companions. Vaslin uses a further two healing spells, one on Cleo and one on Larz, though both remain far from fully healed, and Larz also calls upon Clangedding's power to heal some of his and Cleo's hurts. (OOC: Cleo now on 20/42, Larz on 21/31).
Vaslin, taking the lead, clambers over the pile of rubble, and carefully steps ahead, her half-elven tread more delicate than Larz's dwarven clomp. Within 10 feet she reaches the next corner, and looks back at the others, still extricating themselves from the rubble. "Cleo, bring your light!" she says, frowning. "I think this is a dead end!" When Cleo's light arrives, it is clear that Vaslin is correct.
"Tempus's Teeth!" exclaims Herod, cursing in his frustration. "We should have guessed! How easy would they have got past that gate without setting their own trap off? And how easily could they have passed these bloody ropes on the floor here without setting this last trap off? This whole tunnel is just a red herring!" Turning, he starts to stomp back towards the others, pulling up short with a gasp as he almost bumps into Siellis, the drow almost invisible in the near dark.
"Is everyone OK?" she asks, concerned.
Merrell finally tears his way free of the netting and the rocks, his fur now matted with blood in a few places. Ahead of him, his three friends pause, possibly waiting for their larger companion, or perhaps cautious of further traps... Ceely warns of possible traps and starts ahead carefully, searching as best she can, whilst the others follow. After some 40 feet, the passage narrows slightly, before coming to a junction of some sort. Noises can be heard from ahead - possibly from the right - there is some distant yelling as if in warning and then all goes quiet. There is a slight smell of torch smoke in the air as well as the musky smell of lots of people living in close proximity.
Dorn crawls forward, peeking around the corner. With his darkvision, he can see further into the caves, and can see that off to the left, and straight ahead as well, there are objects in the gloom - barrels, wagon wheels, crates - obviously some form of storage of some sort, though where the items might have come from, he can't tell. Of to the right, the cave seems to open up, the roof rising up to some thirty feet in height, even as the floor slopes down a little further. There is no sign of life however, and the sounds they had heard earlier had died. He realises that the enemy must know the party are here, and must be either quietly escaping through some other tunnel perhaps, hiding, or simply laying in wait around some corner ahead...
Ceely starts back towards the others but realises after only a short distance, that Luc and Dorn have the only lights... Slowing slightly, she allows her eyes to adjust to the low light reflecting off the walls behind her, and then is relieved to see faint light reflecting from ahead. Within moments, she can hear the other group approaching, the light from Cleo's sword leading the way.
Milo, feeling his way along the passage in the darkness, is also pleased to hear the others approach from behind him. As the light grows, he catches a glimpse of Ceely ahead of him, coming in his direction. Still invisible, he makes sure she doesn't bump into him.
Meanwhile, Merrell noses his way through the gap and towards what looks like it might be the main living area of the tribe of were's. Dorn and Luc follow with their lights. As they get closer, they can see that although the cavern floor slopes down, it rapidly levels off, leaving the main floor of this large cave pretty flat. There is also light - from a small smokeless cooking fire or the like near the back - not a lot, but enough in combination with their own light sources, to give them a reasonable picture of the cave layout - though there remain strong shadowy areas which could contain anything. The cave is dominated by a huge somewhat tatty and holey rug - stolen no doubt from some ancient castle ruin. It is over forty feet wide and probably eighty feet long! On the left side of it is what looks like a stone throne, on the right, a heavy looking wooden desk. Beyond, there is a group of hastily positioned crates and barrels, behind which three figures lurk. Two of them hold spears, the one in between a long sword and a dagger gleams in his off hand.
"Come on you bastards!" snarls the one in the middle. "We'll skin your overgrown cat and make ourselves another rug!"
Having met with Ceely, the group hurry after the fisherwoman-turned-ranger,
their moving shadows racing across the walls and ceiling of the cave.
As they pass the area with the cave in, they slow somewhat, their
speed hampered by the torn netting and jumbled broken rock. The invisible
Milo keeps up as best as he can, trying not to get in the way of his
more visible companions.
ROUND
ONE YET AGAIN
Meanwhile, seeing the layout of the large cave, the Merrell-Lion surges forward,
running and then leaping up and over the three men behind the barricade.
One of them lunges at him with a spear, and the man with the sword
and dagger also slashes his sword, both missing. (OOC: Note - when
we finally migrate to 3.5, this would have provoked at least two Attacks
of Opportunity - because we haven't migrated yet, I've deliberately
made them miss - though I'd already rolled and taken off 14hp damage
before I remembered I'd said I wasn't going to apply AoOs yet...)
Landing, he skids to a halt and turns, in time to face all three men
again, one of them running wide to try to flank him, his spear lying
discarded and a great axe now in his hands. Again, the man with the
sword and dagger lunges forward, but his blade merely cuts a tuft
of Merrell's fur. The axeman swings his axe in a vicious arc, the
heavy blade cutting deep into Merrell's rump (OOC: 15hp damage, now
on 45/240), and the remaining spearman thrusts forward with his own
spear, the point punching into the lion's barrel like chest. (OOC:
8hp more damage, now on 37/240).
Merrell and Luc break into a run, trying to catch the speedy cat,keeping to
the left side of the rug.
ROUND TWO YET AGAIN
The main group continue to chase after Ceely, moving as fast as they can through the tunnels. Larz, with his shorter legs is left a little behind, but not a long way.
Meanwhile Merrell takes a deep breath and roars his anger and frustration at the Malarites. As one of the Malarites is behind him, he is unable to catch all three in the blast of sound, but the two in front of him stagger, blood dripping from their ears as the sound literally blasts them. Whipping around, he lunges forward, biting at the man with the axe, who tries to fend the lion off with his left arm. The man squeals as the lion's mighty jaws crunch through his shoulder, ripping free the arm in a single bite. The man is thrown to one side by the power of the lion's jaws, and starts to rapidly die.
The other two, now behind the lion, recover somewhat from the blast of noise and take steps to the side to flank the lion, before slashing and stabbing respectively. The man with the spear misses, his weapon knocked aside by the movement of the lion, but the swordsman swings his sword twice, the first blow opening up another cut in the lion's side. (OOC: 7hp damage, now on 30/240).
Meanwhile, Lucretia and Dorn continue to run across the room. Lucretia, slightly ahead, is suddenly surprised as a werewolf bursts from a shadowy alcove to his left, and slams into him, pushing him sideways by about 10 feet. There is a tearing noise, and all that Dorn had suspected comes true, as the carpet rips under Lucretia's feet, plunging him into a dark pit below! Lucretia falls what seems like an eternity, before slamming into hard rock, driving the breath from him. (OOC: 22hp damage + 5hp subdual damage - now on 5(10)/47.
Dorn, coming up behind finds the werewolf now directly in his path, and hacks at it with his axe, effectively charging it. His axe strikes home, cutting deep into the werewolf side.
ROUND THREE YET AGAIN
Following the sounds of combat, Ceely hares through the cave, the light from Dorn's axe illuminating the passage ahead as it widens into the cave. Behind her, the others also run to catch up - all bar Larz getting a look at the large cavern that has opened up before them. Dorn is in close combat with a snarling werewolf at the edge of what looks suspiciously like a large ripped hole in a carpet. Beyond, the lion can be seen, hassled by two men, one armed with a spear, the other by longsword.
"May Malar hunt you down personally! You yellow-bellied...aaaaaarrrghh!" the long sword wielding man yells, though it is not clear who he is addressing as the lion whirls around, and lunges forward. The man tries to dodge, but can't avoid his fate, as the lion's jaws clamp shut, lifting him bodily into the air and breaking him in half. Half turning again, before the body has fallen to the floor, it snags out a huge paw, the claws ripping the guts out of the man and spinning him around. The other paw flashes out as well, stopping the man in mid spin and slamming him into the ground where he doesn't get up.
The werewolf fighting with Dorn lunges and snarls at the dwarf, but Dorn easily avoids its snapping jaws, and again hammers his axe at the beast. It ducks the first swing, its lips curled back exposing its sharp teeth, but Dorn catches it with the return swing, and it lets out a yip of pain as the enchanted blade gashes a wound open in its side.
ROUND FOUR YET AGAIN
Herod, running up to assist Dorn, isn't quite fast enough, as the Merrell-Lion
bounds over the corpses of his dismembered foes, moving in an arc
to around behind the throne. Almost knocking the throne over as he
squeezes through the gap, Merrell snaps at the werewolf, his powerful
jaws crushing its head with a loud cracking noise like a walnut in
a vice. The creature spasms once then drops to the ground, lifeless.
His fur matted in blood, with gore dripping from his jaws, Merrell
look around for something else to fight,
Meanwhile, Cleo runs up to the edge of the carpet, holding her sword up high
to help illuminate more of the cave, with Vaslin only a few paces behind her.
Glancing to their right, Cleo spots a figure, a wereboar, breaking cover from
the shadows to the south, where another passage also seems to head off. She
has barely time to turn and slash her heavy sword at it before it ducks under
the blow and barrels into her, pushing her back about 10 feet - towards the
hole! Had she been closer to the hole when she'd paused, she too may have suffered
Lucretia's fate! (OOC: not that Cleo actually saw what has happened to Lucretia!)
ROUND FIVE YET AGAIN
As Merrell leaps across the hole, to rip the werewolf apart, everyone becomes aware of Lucretia's voice calling up from the pit below. Looking down, they can just see him, backed up against the southern edge of the hole, looking northwards at something out of their sight.
Meanwhile, some eighty feet below the main combat, Lucretia struggles to rise. He appears to have landed on a pile of broken bones and, he is disgusted to realise, human faeces. The place stinks, as does he now. He also realises that literally falling 'in the crap' may well have saved his life. He aches from head to toe and can barely hear the sounds of combat from above over the ringing in his head from where he banged it on landing. Looking around, he can see that the pit is larger than just the roughly round shaft that leads up above. In the darkness ahead of him, he hears the sound of movement, and for a moment, there is a gleam of reflected light from something glistening... something that appears to be slithering/crawling closer... something large...
In the pit, Luc, barely able to stand from the battering he's had, looks in horror at the thing that is slowly making its way into his circle of light. Something large, surrounded by snakes, or perhaps large tentacles, shifts itself towards him, alternately slithering and lumping its way towards him, sometimes using its tentacles to drag its bulk forward, and sometimes seeming to rise momentarily on stumpy legs beneath its bulk...
ROUND SIX YET AGAIN
Ceely shrugs off her pack and pulls out her hemp rope, the heavy coils coming
out in a bundle and leaving her pack significantly lighter. Cleo starts
to delve into her own pack, but remembers she has no rope. Herod on
the other hand does, and he too dumps his pack and pulls out a coil
of rope.
Below, the thing slithers and lurches its way into the light, ignoring
the tossed stone as it moves ever closer towards Lucretia, who desperately
feels the wall behind him for hand-holds with his left hand. He realises
that he could certainly make an attempt to climb, but wearing his
heavy chainmail, his large pack with all the various weapons he has
tied to it, his chances would be pretty slim of climbing very far
fast without a significant risk of falling... and he doesn't think
he could probably stand another fall. The fact that his pack hasn't
burst into flame makes him think that despite the fall, the two flasks
of greek fire he still has probably remain unbroken.
Now it is more into the light, he can see that the creature has at
least three 15 foot long tentacles that sprout from its top, a large
maw with many sharp pointy teeth gleaming in the light, and two, no
three legs under it's shapeless lump of a body. One of the legs seems
to be trailing however, so its progress across the uneven cave floor
is slow. It is barely twenty feet away now, and any moment now, he
would be within range of its tentacles.
Above him, there is the noise of rope dropping down into the hole.
He risks a glance up, and realises with horror that the rope is a
good thirty five feet short - the hole being 80 feet deep and the
rope only fifty feet long with five foot being held by those above.
"Let me tie them together!" Herod says, striding to Ceely
and starting to tie his rope and Ceely's together.
Meanwhile, Vaslin stands on the edge of the hole, slipping her short
bow off her shoulder. "Cleo, Ceely, use your bows - let Dorn
hold the rope!" she urges.
She notches an arrow to her bow and lets fly. The arrow splinters
into the ground near to the creature and she grimaces.
Nearby, the lion raises its gore covered head from the dismembered
werewolf, and looks around, fire in its eyes. Seeing no more weres
or Malarites the fire seems to fade, the lion shimmers and shrinks
and suddenly a bloody and tattered Merrell is crawling on the floor
in its place. There is a clatter as the wooden mask falls to the floor.
(OOC: Merrell, you are on 2/19)
Still invisible, Milo moves across the floor, worried about getting
in the lion's way and taking a slightly round-about route. Near the
fire, he looks around, but can see no more enemies in this cave. There
are several passages leading off, but they are all dark and silent.
Meanwhile, Larz continues to explore the side passages and storage areas, originally
suspecting that the group might be ambushed from behind. He is relieved however
to find no werewolves or other hidden enemies in there, and instead merely a
number of crates, boxes and barrels.
ROUND SEVEN YET AGAIN
Hearing Dorn's yell for help, Larz starts to run out of store-rooms, unsure
as to what he would find in the large cave.
Merrell, still dripping blood, shakes his head as he regains his senses,
and staggers his way to the edge of the pit. Taking in the scene,
he starts to cast a spell, even as at his side, Ceely, Herod and Larz
all try to tie the knot to join the two ropes together. For a few
moments, there is all confusion, with people yelling different instructions
to each other and trying to pull ropes out of other people's hands,
but after a few more moments, the knot is tied, and Herod and Dorn
take hold of the one end, the rest dropping down into the pit.
By this time, Merrell's spell has taken effect, and a jet of fire
leaps out from his outstretched finger, illuminating the pit as it
jabs into the tentacled beast below. The surface of its rough skin
smokes and sizzles, and a low moan emits from it. (11 fire damage)
Lucretia, in the meantime has also managed to shrug off his pack,
dumping everything so he can rip open its neck and plunge his hand
inside, desperately searching for one of the flasks of greek fire.
His hand closes about it and he whirls around, hurling it at the creature.
The flask shatters as it hits the hard outer skin of the creature,
and as the liquid splashes over it, it bursts into flame. (4 fire
damage)
Its tentacles, which it had been mostly using to help it move, burst
into life, lashing out towards Lucretia. He ducks one, pain knifing
through him from his various bruises as he moves, but a second tentacle
slaps him soundly, nearly knocking him over as it tries to wrap around
him. (OOC: 2hp damage, now on 3(8)/47) However, the battered and bruised
warrior manages to shrug the tentacle off him before it can pull him
towards the waiting maw, which snaps open and shut a few times.
Up above, Vaslin nocks another arrow and draws, but there is a sudden
snapping noise, and her bow-string breaks as she over-pulls it in
her haste. (Fumble). Cursing, she drops the useless bow beside her,
and jerks out her stiletto dagger, before leaping into space, clear
of Merrell's flame, yelling "Tymora!". As she falls, it
is clear that she is not falling as fast as she would normally - the
ring of feather fall slowing her down.
The drow Siellis curses as she realises she has nothing that can work
at a distance, and has been too far away from the Underdark to retain
her ability to levitate.
Milo, aware of the activity next to the pit, continues to scout around the deeper
shadows of the cave, hoping to make sure that no more enemies emerge from the
shadows.
ROUND EIGHT YET AGAIN
Down in the pit, Lucretia lunges for the rope, managing to grab it, and yelling
to the others as he whips it around his waist and starts to tie a
knot.. As Merrell's spell continues to sizzle into the leathery skin
of the ugly creature - though not quite as effectively as before as
the skin becomes charred (only 5 fire damage) - it lashes out with
two of its tentacles again, trying to grab at the warrior that was
just starting to rise away from it, pulled by those above. Lucretia
is battered by both as the two rubbery tentacles slap into him, wrapping
around his torso. He tries to maintain a grip on the rope, but the
battering he has received is too much, and the world suddenly goes
dark as he lapses into unconsciousness (OOC: 12 points of damage and
grappled - unconscious on -9(-4)/47)
Those above, who had just started to take the strain on the rope,
lurch forward a step towards the pit, as Luc suddenly becomes a lot
heavier.
Meanwhile, Vaslin continues to float down towards the creature, landing
almost on its back to stab at it with her dagger. At the last moment
it seems to become aware of her though, and lurches aside, so that
her blade just glances off its thick skin.
At the top of the pit, Larz arrives, peering over. Turning away from
the pit, he grabs at the dismembered corpse of one of the Malarites,
and hurls it into the pit, aiming to miss Luc and Vaslin.
Siellis looks in horror down the pit. "Its got Lucretia!" she yells.
"Use your bows!" she exclaims, looking at Cleo and Ceely, both of
whom were now busy holding the rope.
ROUND NINE YET AGAIN
Cleo drops her hold on the rope, causing Herod, Ceely and Dorn to lurch forward
a step, and swiftly draws her bow, plucking an arrow from her quiver
and nocking it to the string. Stepping close to the torn edge of the
carpet, she leans over, and aim downward, letting fly. She curses
as the arrow cracks into the floor near the beast as it continues
to try to pull Lucretia's body, towards the rear of the cave. Its
progress with its prize is hampered however by the taut rope, those
at the top doing their best to slow its progress. Siellis, realising
she was being useless, rushes up and lends her help where Cleo had
dropped off. "Ceely! Use your bow too!" she exclaims.
Meanwhile, the voice of the invisible Milo sounds out of the air,
as he too approaches the pit and looks in. Murmuring a prayer, he
suddenly crashes over backwards, with an audible noise and gasp of
pain, as he suffers the full combination of all of Lucretia's injuries
(Milo now on -9/37). All goes black. Although the others at the top
of the pit hear his cry and collapse, they cannot see his body, as
he is still invisible...
Down in the pit, Lucretia suddenly comes to to find himself caught
in a tug of war. His pack lies discarded off to one side, he is being
crushed by a couple of large tentacles around his waist and chest.
His bastard sword is somewhere unknown, though as he looks around
himself frantically, unsure how most of his injuries had suddenly
disappeared, he does see that his enchanted short sword IS still in
its sheath at his side.
Cleo draws and nocks another arrow, but again the shot flies wide.
Merrell looks all around, and realises what Cleo has said is true.
Neither Yvandel nor Blondung are anywhere to be seen.
Down in the pit, the beast continues to try to lurch its way backwards, tugging
Lucretia with it as it tries to retreat to its cave. Vaslin dodges forward and
hacks at it with her dagger, managing to make a slight gash on one of its tentacles.
ROUND TEN YET AGAIN
Lucretia jerks out the short sword and begins hacking at the tentacles crushing
him. He opens up a deep cut in one (9 points of damage), which loosens
and slithers back. The other continues to crush him however (4 points
damage, Luc now on 33/52 *) , and the third tentacle, which it had
been mostly using to help drag the lumpy body backwards, slaps forward
somewhat ineffectually.
Up above, Ceely drops her hold the rope to take up her bow, leaving
Dorn, Herod and Siellis holding it. They stagger forward another couple
of steps towards the edge of the pit at the sudden extra strain. Cleo
throws aside her own bow, disgusted with her poor accuracy, and steps
to the edge of the rope, intending to climb down. As her weight too
goes on the rope, it is all the other three can do to stop themselves
falling into the pit. Larz hurries around to the other side of the
pit, searching on the ground for Milo, having heard the Painbearer
collapse and guessing what might have happened.
Ceely lets fly with a couple of arrows. The first scores a line down
the side of the large tentacled beast below (1 point of damage), the
second splinters on the floor.
***
With those on the top barely stopping the beast from moving backwards,
Lucretia finds himself dragged close enough to the beast to hack at
it's body directly, which he does, slashing his enchanted short sword
across it in a sweeping blow. The thing moans, foul smelling blood
spraying over Lucretia as a great gash opens, slicing through its
"face" - cutting a new vertical slit that crosses its own
toothy maw. (8 points of damage). "The final tentacle crushing
him suddenly relaxes, skittering back as it begins to twitch more
randomly in the creature's death throws."
Released of the pull of the tentacles, Lucretia is jerked into the
air as those above stagger back a few steps, no longer straining against
the monster's pull.
Larz finds Milo's body, and fumbling in his pack, pulls out a potion. Feeling
the body, he finally manages to locate the invisible head, and with eyes closed
he judges where the mouth is and pours a potion into Milo's mouth. The potion
does it's work quickly, and a few seconds later, Milo splutters and coughs,
returned from his near death experience (now on 8/37)
END OF COMBAT
After Lucretia and Cleo are free of the rope, Dorn and Siellis look around
for somewhere to secure the rope. There is nowhere immediately apparent,
so they simply loop it a few times around the heavy throne - just
to stop it slithering into the pit under its own weight.
Down in the pit, Vaslin looks embarrassed at Lucretia's comments.
"Well, you looked like you were going to be a gonna for a moment
then" she says, blushing. "If I'd been thinking better,
I'd have given the ring to someone like Dorn, or someone with a bigger
weapon at least!" she says, sheathing her own dagger again.
With Cleo and Lucretia's lights in the pit, they can quite well the
contents of the pit, and it is not that pretty a sight. Those above
appear to have used the place primarily as a place to throw their
rubbish. Certainly on second glance, there is more crap than the bones
of deceased victims in the pit.
Lucretia, with his usual disregard for gore, steps towards the beast
and starts to carve into it. It twitches slightly as he cuts into
the already mortally injured dying beast - dark blood and internal
organs spill out.
Gagging slightly, Vaslin turns away from Lucretia's gory task and
calls up the pit for someone to hold onto the rope so she can climb
back out.
In the meantime Cleo peers into the further reaches of the cave beyond
the base of the pit, walking around the dead monster to take a cautious
closer look. It becomes clear pretty quickly that there is little
of interest in the cave.
Herod doses Merrell with his sole remaining potion of healing, and
the half-elf mage shudders as the healing magic rushes through him.
The different pains from his various injuries fades as his flesh knits
back together and a healthy glow returns to his skin. Within moments
he is restored to full health, though it still takes him a while to
regain his breath and slow his beating heart.
When the invisible Milo suggests heading off to search the other tunnels,
Larz shakes his head, looking somewhat disconcertingly into Milo's
invisible navel as he couldn't see where the Painbearer was. "Let's
just pause for a few moments to gather our breath and regroup"
he suggests. "Hurry up down there Luc!" he calls over the
edge of the pit. "Merrell's right, we've had a tough fight, and
before we rush into another, we should be prepared."
Standing, he moves towards the dead bodies that Merrell had attacked,
crouching to examine and search them for anything that might help.