OOC: Dorn is using a ranged attack, so that'd provoke an OA if he shifted there instead. If he's still marked by Henry, I'd do it, but polearms don't threaten at range.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
Move Action: Shift 1 square to G18. Standard Action: Sly Lunge against Orc Berserker: 1d20+9=27 vs. AC. On hit, 2d6+10=16 damage and Gloomblade has Combat Advantage against the Orc Berserker until the end of his next turn.
Powers, Item: At-Will: Acrobat Boots (Stand up from prone as a minor action).
__________________ He knows the score... he gets the women... and he kills the bad guy. If you hire him to kill the bad guy... better make damn sure the bad guy isn't you! EN World Community Supporter
Currently running "In the Shadow of Giants" [OOC] | [IC] | [RG]
Last edited by Insight; 19th August 2009 at 05:20 PM..
Apologies for the delay in getting this up. Work's a bit crazy due to covering vacations.
ROUND 3
The strike from the orc jolts Henry and reminds him of the folly of getting too close. He nimbly jinks backwards (Shift to H15) and, from a short distance away, brings his halberd crashing down on the enraged greenskin before him. (Brash Strike vs Berserker AC 15: [18] *hit* / [16] damage / Henry grants Berserker combat advantage until end of next turn)
Tregar sees Gala about to be overwhelmed by their enemies and he levels his staff at the pair of orogs. Two bolts of lightning fly out, shaped like hammers, and slam into the foes. (Divine Bolts vs N17 Ref 13: [21] *hit* / [11] damage) (Divine Bolts vs P18 Ref 15 cover: [26] *hit* / [11] damage *dead*)
A smug look on his face, Dorn takes two steps back (Shift to G15) and taunts the berserker with words that fall flat. (Cutting Words vs Berserker Will 12: [8] *miss*) Cursing his luck, he does note the jackal's luck with the militants and congratulates her, giving her some strength. (Virtue of Valor: Gala gains 4 THP)
Wendigo sees the elf/jackal cornered. His legs pump as he sprints over to her. (Dance Of Swords Move to M16) With a mental thought his plain-colored clothes harden his skin (Minor to activate Stoneskin Robes: +5 THP) giving him resilience. Inside the guard of the orog, the shifter elbows him in the throat and follows it up with a knee to the gut. (Dance Of Swords w/CA vs N17 Ref 13: [15] *hit* / [21] + 5 flurry = 26 damage *dead* / activate fleshseeker unarmed strike: +1 to next attack roll)
Gloomblade slides around the berserker in its fury (Shift to G18) and from behind is easily able to lunge forward to catch the greenskin in the kidneys with his blade. (Sly Lunge vs Berserker AC 15: [27] *hit* / [16] damage / Berserker grants CA to Gloomblade until edn of Gloomblade’s next turn)
Finally, Gala’s jackal eyes see that both her orog prey have fallen to other men. So she quickly spins on her hind paws and sprints at full speed around the large statue, sneaking right past Henry and Dorn to launch herself into the face of the berserker. (Move to H18) Her paws fly up and rake at the berserker’s face in a furious flurry, and they draw the last remaining blood from the orc. With a weakened gurgle, the berserker drops to a knee, and then falls face-first to the ground. (Grasping Claws vs Berserker Ref 13: [13] + 8 = 21 *hit* / [7] + 6 = 13 damage *dead*)
The group circles back together following the quick battle, and are able to take a few moments to catch their breath, and then really, truly see the carnage that is before them. It is not a pleasant sight, by any stretch of the imagination.
23 Henry 33/45
16 Tregar
13 Dorn
14 Wendigo 25/34 +5 THP / +1 to next attack roll
11 Gloomblade
22 Gala +4 THP
9 Orc Berserker -67 dead
9 Orog Militant G20 -51 dead
9 Orog Militant N17 -70 dead
9 Orog Militant P18 -49 dead
Someone keep an ear and eye out, in case these louts have reinforcements. He signals the dwarven and orcish corpses to the others. Meanwhile, we should determine if there are any signs or clues about what happened and how it happened here. Seeing the dwarf form Moradin's sign, the half-elf cuts in, Tregar, pray for them if you wish, but they will all rest better when they are avenged. The dead have infinite patience..
OOC: Dorn will start a search.
__________________ stonegod -- LEB judge and spawn of Khyber since 2005 (Blog)
The shifter looks around while taking deep breaths. The battle was a quick and bloody one. The orcs didn't stand a chance. Neither did the dwarves. Wendigo kneels and examines the bodies. Was there any orc bodies about or was it a one-sided slaughter? Wendigo joins Tregar in any rites he wishes performed.
Gala looks at the Orc Berserker bleeding out beneath her paws. His armor lies about him now with plates hanging at odd angles, and it is an easy thing to get her muzzle between the gaps, and tear a large part of the creature's though away, a nice quick snack.
From where she stands she makes a quick scan of the large hallway. Her comrades are fine. While the others begin a search, she moves herself to the base of the large central stair case.
The two statues in the corner look somewhat suspicious, and Gala leaps over an imagined line drawn between them, on a whim.
At the stair base, she listens for any movement from above, feeling to see if there is any breeze on her whiskers (or, more precisely, if there is any change of breeze that would indicate a door being opened at the top, or bodies descending the stair); securing this end of the hall while her friends catch their breath.
Post combat
Gala heads to I 30, taking a look at the things at C 29 and P 29, and leaping (running start!) over I 29. After a perception check (+13), she nestles into H31, ready shift into H30 if anyone should appear.
She catches her breath.
In taking sentry duty, she is preventing those searching from getting the Group Awareness bonus of +1 perception.
Henry fropped to one knee and made a quick prayer to Moradin for the souls of the dead dwarves. Then, nodding in agreement with Dorn, he started to look for any clue as to what happened, or how.
"True enough, folks. We cannot spend to much time here. So let's be about it."
Tregar will listen to Dorn's words and shoot a look of contempt to the bard. "I am no cleric of the Dwarffather, one of them could read these poor dwarves their rites. I will punish those who committed this cowardly act against them. These" he says gesturing to the orcs "will make a great feast for the carrion creatures. I am ready whenever you are done recovering your strength"
Dorn begins a quick search of the orc bodies and discovers several purses filled with coin. There is a mix of gold and silver pieces in each purse... most of them branded with obvious orcish mark, while a few others bear the symbols of Elsir Vale stamping. A quick deduction tells the bard that while these bastards all had some of their own coin brought from the far side of the Stonehome... they probably have ransacked the area here of what they could find. Although a quick count tells Dorn that it was not much. (Collect 50 gp and 400 sp)
Wendigo and Henry both give quick prayers to the souls of the dead here, and the monk feels the weight of his loss begin to press upon him. These were his brothers and sisters... struck down like so much cattle at a slaughterhouse. As the two begin taking stock of the situation, Wendigo comes to the conclusion that most of the monks here were in their bunks asleep, based upon bedclothes and how far many of them didn't really get out of their cells. (Wendigo INT check TN 10: [17] + 0 = 17 *success*) And based upon the smell... Henry suspects the attacks were at least a week ago most likely. (Henry Heal check TN 15: [17] + 3 = 20 *success*)
Gala trots southward to the base of the huge wrought-iron circular staircase and puts her two forepaws up upon the first step. Her gaze goes upwards... staring through the metal slats of the steps. It is a long way up, and with a quick sniff she can tell that orcs have gone this way. (Gala Perception check TN 12: [10] + 13 = 23 *success*) There most likely are many more above them all, more than a dozen at least, in what Wendigo identifies as the temple proper 200 feet above them.
Tregar heads to the north end of the Hall of Heroes, passing between the two statues. As he continues forward, the sounds of various echoes come to his ears. His dwarven mind's eye can tell that the path ahead must open up into a much larger cavern. (Tregar Perception TN 15: [13] + 5 = 18 *success*) However, with but faint light reflecting on its way towards him, he would need to move further north to get a better sense of what is ahead and the shape of the cavern to the north. (Tregar Dungeoneering TN 15: [5] + 7 = 12 *failure*)
As they all relay the information of their findings, Wendigo speaks to their next plan of action. "Let us head upstairs. More enemies lurk up there, and it would be wise to take them before they discover our actions down here."
Gala trots behind a pillar and emerges as a small elf. She is blushing when she sees she has not been discreet, and adjusts the leather of her armour awkwardly. Her fingers pull through her short hair as she shivers unconsciously. She licks her teeth. "Um, hi." she begins, her arm waving at the elbow somewhat awkwardly -- she is not used ot this body she wears. "Excuse me. I agree with Wendigo. We want to remove the danger upstairs. I'm wondering if it make sense to try to lure some of them down here though. That way it would be them emerging from the bottleneck of the staircase, and not us. If they thought there were only one, or perhaps two opponents, or even some undfferentiated noise, um, like me, I mean..." Her voice trails off, as she hopes she has made her idea clear.
__________________ DIASPORA: hard science fiction role-playing with fate
"I think that is a good idea, Gala but I am worried about how little we know. We arrived through a secret entrance, what if there are more of them? We could be here at the base of the stairs and orcs could come from somewhere else to get behind us."
He considered his words carefully "Perhaps someone could sneak upstairs to get a better idea of what's up there? I hesitate to ask this because there's no point me trying to do that" he gestured to his armour "but I don't like to put someone else in danger."
Wendigo, you know that at the top of the circular stair it ends in a trap door that flips open, and which is almost exactly in the center of the large octagonal monastery (directly next to the altar). If anyone is inside the temple, there is pretty much no chance of being able to take the room by surprise (and even just opening the trap a hair to see what little they can has a good chance of being noticed by anyone in the room paying half-attention.)
You also know that the north end of the Hall of Heroes leads to a long series of stairs down into the mountain and all of the workshops and forges for the monastery.
"There's some sort of large cavern to the north. I agree we gotta kill the enemies behind us before the ones before us." Tregar agrees looking expectantly at one of the others to head up first.
Wendigo speaks up again at Gala's and Henry's idea. The shifter shakes his head, his bald head shining in the firelight. "No chance of sneaking up. The stairs lead to a trapdoor that opens to a large room. If the trapdoor so much as squeaked open, we'd be given away. I am no good fighting in tight quarters, so I would prefer to fight above."
Wendigo gives a quick description of the monastery itself that is above them at the head of the circular stairs. The main walkway is a large cross shape with an altar dead center at the top of a dais. The pews all sit about five feet below the giant cross walkway in four seperate pits, and there is a higher catwalk that circles the entire octagonal building. This means that there is virtually not a single place someone could stand where they would not see the trap door rise.
If/when one or more of the group ascends the circular stair, it finally opens onto a platform about 10 feet across, with a small flight of normal steps going up from it to the trap door above. The trap is wooden and about 3 foot by 5 foot in size, hinged to swing upwards and to the east, away from the altar and the two braziers that flank it. Gold and red designs have been painted on this underside of the door, with vines and leaves being the primary theme.
"Very well." Henry shook himself to loosen up his muscles.
" I presume fast and furious is what we need here. If I scramble up through the hatch and then charge the nearest target I should draw all eyes onto me. Hopefully that will give the rest of you time to get up and check out what's happening. Are we agreed?"
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