Fayne follows, pulling the hood of his cloak up over his head to keep the sun out of his eyes. He carries his well-crafted glaive in hand, resting over his shoulder as he walks.
__________________ -Rhun
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
You take leave of the town for now, following Tarven and Merrick along the faint trail left by Rickard. After an hour of this, with Tarven checking the ground every so often to make sure he's got the trail, it becomes a little easier to follow, as it appears Rickard ran through this area before exhaustion kicked in; his footprints are pounded deeper into the soil and there are more broken twigs as you enter the Velarswood.
It's a fairly big forest, at least from your perspective on the ground, too far away to see the woods of Cormanthor proper in the distance, just a faint green haze along the horizon for you. It's obvious that Rickard didn't take a trail through the woods when he ran; you see the nearest cleared trail a few hundred yards away to the east, marked by a small sign over there; it's most obvious though because of the log toppled over near it, and the signs of lumberjacks being active in that area before (though no signs of anyone there at the moment; most of you are aware that the locals only cut into the Velarswood sparingly).
Tarven and Merrick lead you along Rickard's path through the woods, and you can hear the occasional unrecognizeable animal call sometimes, coming from deeper into the Velarswood. Some calls resembling a hoot, others a chirping, others a low canine baying. You travel just over an hour into the woods when you hear the sound of a few birds fluttering away suddenly, flying off and over the trees to leave. Tarven and Merrick look around warily, each carrying their crossbows. Something's close.
OOC: I need a Spot check and a Listen check from everyone. Also roll Initiative. Marching order would be appreciated. You're walking through light underbrush right now.
Last edited by Arkhandus; 15th April 2009 at 09:25 AM..
Mri'Thas: "Useless primates... " Sheng Zim: "Your existence brings the world out of balance. The chaos I bring shall revert it; unfortunately, your soul will be destroyed in the process."
-------------------------------------- Tuk Heavy Hands Apeldan: "Trolls are afraid to cats. Good to know" (Yttermayn's "Saga of the Dragon Cult") Cnosos: "I bet there's plenty of wonderful devices in that ship. Let's scavenge them at once!" (Blackrat's "After Earth") Metliz: Sounds like fun! (Arkandus's "The First") Thok: "Thok eats a lot, Thok big. Thok not good at first impressions." (MnL's "Valley of the Dead")
Fayne walks along, following the guardsmen, paying more attention to the surroundings of the unfamiliar forest than actually looking and listening for signs of danger.
Somewhere up front, probably behind the "main" warriors.
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
OOC: Alright, I'm assuming Storn and Evanar walk behind the guards, Fayne and Abde'ragman behind them, Selua and Abrielle following last, with Selua's mule behind her.
A quintet of pinkish, housecat-sized, mosquito-like insects buzz along close to the forest canopy, flying south from perhaps dozen yards or so to your right, and they seem to notice your group, as they twitch and bank in flight, diving towards you....
No one but Storn sees them coming until the insects are banking and diving, though Abrielle, Abde'ragman, and Fayne also hear them buzzing closer before the sign of aggression. Only those four notice in time to react as the insects enter their dive.
However, the two guardsmen notice them just in time, as well, though only barely. Still, their experience lends them swift reactions, and both guardsmen instinctively raise their crossbows.
Before they can fire, one giant insect dives at Abrielle, latching onto the top of her head! As its six lightly-barbed legs grip the sides of her head, the little beast stabs her behind the shoulders with its long, needle-like 'nose', and she can feel it try to suck out some of her blood! Abrielle can't help but shriek for a moment in surprise and horror!
Another dives at Merrick, grabbing hold of his left arm and jabbing its bloodsucking proboscis into his shoulder!
The startled guardsman tries to pry the thing off, and manages to pull it off quickly, forcing it back a few feet, furiously beating its wings to stay aloft and close to its prey. Merrick stumbles backwards a moment at the same time.
Tarven steps to the side as he raises the weapon, for a better shot, firing at the stirge that has just begun diving towards Evanar. His bolt just grazes it, splashing a bit of ichor onto the forest floor below. "Squish that sucker, Merrick!" he says, glancing at his comrade.
Stirge 1 dives toward Abrielle. Natural 20 to hit! 20 total on confirmation roll. Luckily, it's too weak to deal damage like that... Attaches to Abrielle.
Stirge 2 dives toward Merrick. 18 to hit. Attaches to Merrick.
Merrick pries it off. Grapple check of 13, opposed by stirge's check of 6. He takes a 5-foot step away.
Tarven will 5-foot step around, then shoot at the stirge aiming for Evanar, stirge 3. Natural 20 to hit, but only an 11 to confirm. 1 damage rolled. Stirge 3 is lightly wounded.
Post your actions for the surprise round, those on the list. Only a standard or move action this round, no full-round or standard+move. Please remember to keep OOC stuff, like combat rolls and combat-action rules-details, in spoiler blocks.
Evanar and Selua don't notice where the creatures are coming from in time to act this round. They'll get actions starting in the 1st normal round.
The map, such as it is......
M T X X * X X * X
X 2 X X X X X X X
s E X * X X * X 3
F A X X X X X X 4
S a1 X X * X * X X
m X X X X X X X 5
X X * X X X * X X
A = Abde'ragman, a = Abrielle, E = Evanar, F = Fayne, M = Merrick, m = mule, S = Selua, s = Storn, T = Tarven, 1-5 = stirges, X = empty 5-foot space of light undergrowth, * = tree (half cover, effectively heavy undergrowth for moving through the space)
Fayne's glaive comes down off of his shoulder and sweeps through the air, slashing at the winged beastie that had just attached itself to Abrielle's head...
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
Storn, the dwarf, steps around Evanar to get a better look at the giant bug, and says "Ey, swat da bugs! They's slip'ry!" as he takes a swipe at the stirge, his axe narrowly swishing past as the bug flies just a bit higher to go over it.
Combat
Storn takes a 5-foot step closer to Merrick, and attacks stirge 2, which Merrick just pried off. 12 misses, would have been 5 damage, oh well.
OOC: Alright, I've waited long enough for Voda Vosa to take his turn. No sense holding everyone else up.
Abde'ragman is startled and confused for a moment, cringing as the oversized mosquito-like creatures dive down at Merrick and Abrielle. He panics and lifts his staff, swinging it frantically around before him, trying to ward off any giant bugs! ...It doesn't help much.
The remaining stirges dive at Abde'ragman, Evanar, and Selua's mule, latching into the Calishite's shoulder, Evanar's belly, and the mule's back! They drive their needle-like 'noses' into their victims, starting to try sucking out their precious, precious blood!
Abrielle panics and flails about for a moment, trying to swat or pry the creature off of her head, screaming! The creature ignores her frantic resistance, and tries to start sucking the blood from her veins......
But then Fayne swings his glaive around when Abrielle's hands aren't in the way, and he hacks off the little beastie's hindquarters! It convulses and nearly falls off of the sun elf's head, but somehow maintains its deathgrip on her, needle-like 'nose' still draining blood from the veins in her back....
Abde'ragman wastes his turn on total defense, +4 AC until his turn in round 1.
Stirge 3 dives at Abde'ragman. Rolled 21 to hit, attaches to him.
Stirge 4 dives at Evanar. Rolled 22 to hit, attaches to him.
Stirge 5 dives at the mule. Rolled 16 to hit, attaches to the mule.
Abrielle attempts to remove the stirge. Rolled an 8 for her grapple check, but an 18 for the stirge's.
Fayne hits and drops the creature to 0 HP, though it's still barely conscious.
The stirge on Abrielle sucks out a good two or three pints of her blood! It remains clinging to her head, twitching and spurting ichor from the severed part of its abdomen, despite the grievous injury inflicted by Fayne.
Abrielle staggers and cries out, as much of the color drains out of her golden-hued skin, leaving her almost as pale as Evanar, Merrick, or Tarven. She feels somewhat weak and dizzy from the blood loss....
Selua's mule brays and bucks to and fro, frantically trying to shake off the nasty thing clinging to its back and stabbing its shoulders...! Despite the commotion, the mule cannot seem to dislodge its attacker.
The stirge by Merrick continues trying to drain him, but even as it grabs hold again, Merrick yanks it off of his shoulder with more force than last time, hurling it away as he stumbles away to the side, snarling at it.
Then, as its recovering its balance from being thrown off, the stirge is nearly cloven in twain by Storn's axe! It falls to the forest floor in a spray of ichor, twitching and unconscious, nearly dead.
Stirge 1 drains some of Abrielle's blood! She takes 3 points of temporary Constitution damage, bringing her Con temporarily down to 5. She loses 2 hit points as a result of her Con modifier going down from -1 to -3. The stirge remains attached, though it doesn't move any more besides twitching.
The mule tries bucking off the stirge, but cannot. Essentially wasting its turn.
Stirge 2 will close in on Merrick again and try to reattach itself. 16 to hit, succeeds.
Merrick snarls and tries to pry the thing off once more.... Natural 20 on his grapple check, and a total of 7 for the stirge, so he throws it off again and moves a bit.
Storn will take another swing at stirge #2. 23 to hit, for 10 damage to the stirge. It falls unconscious.
Post your actions for regular round 1. Please remember to keep OOC stuff, like combat rolls and combat-action rules-details, in spoiler blocks. I will post the remaining NPC/enemy actions for the round after Selua, Evanar, and Abde'ragman have posted their actions.
The map, such as it is......
2 T X X * X X * X
s M X X X X X X X
X E4 X * X X * X X
F A3 X X X X X X X
S a1 X X * X * X X
m5 X X X X X X X X
X X * X X X * X X
A = Abde'ragman, a = Abrielle, E = Evanar, F = Fayne, M = Merrick, m = mule, S = Selua, s = Storn, T = Tarven, 1-5 = stirges, X = empty 5-foot space of light undergrowth, * = tree (half cover, effectively heavy undergrowth for moving through the space)
Last edited by Arkhandus; 20th April 2009 at 02:09 AM..
"EEEK! GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF, GET IT OFF!" Abrielle shrieked with horror as she felt the nasty thing's "nose" pierce her skin and start draining her blood. The Elf was horrified of nasty critters, especially bloodsucking ones that were attached to her body!
"NASTY NASTY NASTY NASTY EWWWWWWWWWW" the girl had little experience with animals, as Evermeet's wildlands were populated by sentient horses, not bloodsucking birds or whatever these things were!
Troughout her panick Abrielle remembered a play she had seen when she was younger, that had inspired her to seek out a life of adventure. The main hero in "Dancing with Dragons" did not lose her composure when attacked by a Red Dragon, Abby surely could not become useless because of some bug thing!
Despite feeling dizzy because of the blood loss, the Elven girl tried to gather her wits about her and do the best thing in this situation - she unsheathed her longsword and attempted to cut trough the thing's snout so that it could fall off and stop draining her blood.
Spoiler:
Abby tries to swing her longsword at the thing. I mean, how hard could it be to sever the trunk, if it has already attached itself to her body?
"Stand still, girl!" shouts Fayne at Abrielle, as he pulls his glaive back. He watches the girl's movements carefully, and then thrusts his weapon forward, skewering the blood-sucking beastie!
"I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge - myth is more potent than history - dreams are more powerful than facts - hope always triumphs over experience - laughter is the cure for grief - love is stronger than death." -Robert Fulghum
Last edited by Rhun; 20th April 2009 at 05:23 PM..
OOC: Sorry, I lost track of this one. I) was wondering how to use a sleep spell here. Does it affects everyone? or the closest to the burst? Can I pick the 4 creatures? my assumption that the mosquitoes are of 1 HD is correct? Many questions.
__________________ English is NOT my native language!
Mri'Thas: "Useless primates... " Sheng Zim: "Your existence brings the world out of balance. The chaos I bring shall revert it; unfortunately, your soul will be destroyed in the process."
-------------------------------------- Tuk Heavy Hands Apeldan: "Trolls are afraid to cats. Good to know" (Yttermayn's "Saga of the Dragon Cult") Cnosos: "I bet there's plenty of wonderful devices in that ship. Let's scavenge them at once!" (Blackrat's "After Earth") Metliz: Sounds like fun! (Arkandus's "The First") Thok: "Thok eats a lot, Thok big. Thok not good at first impressions." (MnL's "Valley of the Dead")
Please remember to put OOC comments in spoiler blocks.....
Or at least post them in the OOC thread.
No need for separate blocks for different OOC notes, though, Myth.
Don't worry about turn order. I asked for Evanar, Abde'ragman, and Selua to post actions, and am still waiting on them. I can't resolve the last 3 stirges' actions until after them, nor Tarven's action.
Sleep affects creatures of lowest HD first, then closest to the center of its area for those who are tied in HD. You can't be sure how many HD the stirges have, in-character. If you make a Knowledge (Arcana) check against DC 15, Abde'ragman will recgonize them as being very weak magical beasts, like average cats or dogs. You still won't be sure if the spell will only affect the stirges, or if they're strong enough for you and your allies to be affected by the Sleep spell if within its area.
Location: columbia, missouri, u.s. of north america, terra, sol III, Milky way, third demension
Posts: 4,832
the young warrior is not so scared of an over sized misquito, so he keeps his cool by dropping his bow and arrow, draws his dagger (move action) and takes a stab at the creature stuck in his belly (standard action)
OOC: It has been more than a week. I'm moving things along. Please don't make me NPC Abde'ragman further this month.
Selua takes a few seconds to try calming down her mule, but the distressed beast just keeps bucking and braying in helpless frustration at the pest digging into its back....
Evanar unsheathes his dagger and drives it into the stirge on his chest! The little creature spasms and squirms, then goes limp as Evanar uses the dagger like a lever to pry the dying beastie off and toss it to the ground. It lies there and twitches a few times before dying.
Abde'ragman continues to panic, flailing about with his staff and grabbing at the stirge, but doesn't manage to pry it off. The overgrown mosquito-thing slaps his hand away with its leathery little wings.
Tarven comes to the Calishite's rescue, however, dashing around Merrick and Evanar to reach him, dropping the crossbow and drawing his longsword swiftly to hack a long gash through its head and torso! The guardsman pries the bug off of Abde'ragman as it falls to the ground in a bloody, twitching heap.
Abrielle tries to cut off the bloodsucking beastie on her head, but her sword is a bit unwieldy in such close quarters and she barely grazes the bug's proboscis, not wanting to cut clean through into her own neck.
Fayne, however, comes to her aid again, spearing the little beast with his polearm and prying it off. The stirge falls to the ground in a mangled heap, quickly bleeding out.
Victory!
Everyone works quickly to bandage the thin, bleeding pinpricks where the stirges pierced their flesh, and further blood loss is averted. Tarven and Merrick clean their weapons, sheathing swords and retrieving their crossbows, reloading them as needed.
Selua fails to calm down the mule, but cuts the stirge off its back.
Evanar draws his dagger and stabs the stirge on his chest, forcing it off and rendering it unconscious.
Abde'ragman tries to remove the stirge. He rolls an 8 for his grapple check, versus the stirge's 15. He fails, still panicking.
Tarven drops his crossbow and moves towards Abde'ragman, drawing his longsword. He gets a 17 to hit, for 5 damage to the stirge. It drops; Abde'ragman is narrowly saved from any Constitution loss at the last second.
Abrielle misses the stirge, trying to avoid cutting the back of her neck while slashing at the stirge; she just grazes its 'nose' harmlessly.
Fayne finishes off the stirge on Abrielle.
Abrielle, Evandar, Fayne, and Selua each earn 150 XP. Abde'ragman earns 10 XP, and the guardsmen take 70 XP each. Non-combat XP will be awarded after each day or so in-character.
Last edited by Arkhandus; 23rd April 2009 at 04:14 AM..
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