A Keep On The Borderlands: Arrival

Kaodi · Aug 30, 2012

My Lady, please bring Hexo swiftly unto your home in the afterlife.

Though one of the skurgs still stands close at hand, Brother Comoray trusts Greggory and the swell of Dulat troops will be able to handle it. So he turns his attention to the fallen. Trooper Hexo is clearly gone, but others may yet be saved from bleeding out. So he says another prayer to Velshionne for the most injured of them to stabilize.

[sblock=OOC]@jkason Should you not have rolled 2d6 instead of 1d6 for damage?[/sblock]

jkason · Aug 30, 2012

[sblock=OOC]

Kaodi said:
@jkason Should you not have rolled 2d6 instead of 1d6 for damage?

D'oh! Not that it made a big impact, but the other damage die:

Missing damage dice (d'oh!) (1d6=3)

So, 13 total damage instead of 10.[/sblock]

Axel · Sep 1, 2012

Sh'aah

Sh'aah's breath exploded from his mouth as the beastman's club connected with his ribcage. Despite the protective layering of his armour, it felt like at least one rib was broken.

Roaring in anger and pain, and spraying bloody spittle all over the two beastmen opposing him, Sh'aah launched into a series of reckless chops, trying to win the fight before his broken ribs began causing more problems.

Sh'aah's injuries restricted his mobility and power, and his lack of focus affected his aim as the tangible effect of his flailing being a glancing blow on the forearm of one creature landing

[sblock=actions]
Full attack, vs B13 first off. Depending on outcomes, he'll also have a crack at B15.

Guess the dice had to fail at some point, he was having a good run to this round.

[/sblock]

Shayuri · Sep 3, 2012

Arcata curses as crossbow bolts shower around her, some glancing off the invisible shield she created...but its protection was far from perfect. It wouldn't take more than a lucky shot. Then again, if they were concentrating on her, they weren't helping their beleaguered friends on the ground. Almost all the normal beastmen were down now, leaving only the giant ones...which were horribly fearsome.

Gods send that they don't have enough like that to make an army, or this will be a short rule...

Her magic had limits, but she risked sending another magical blast of force up on high to attack one of the crossbowmen. She could manage maybe one more blast like that...then she'd be down to her much less 'costly' magical lightning. Or her crossbow.

She then guided her horse to some kind of cover...any kind of cover. She didn't want to completely disappear though. She wanted the archers to keep shooting at her, hoping to get lucky...but to have a little extra protection in case one of them did. A corner she could half-hide behind, perhaps...or an old cart or a low wall...

(OOC - Magic missile on any crossbowman who seems injured, or if none are then a random one, move to find partial cover from crossbows)

Dr Simon · Sep 7, 2012

Aarach reels back from Bastian's attack and with a vicious roar swings his barbed weapon in a wild arc. At one with his mount, Bastian evades it easily, whilst Comoray moves up to help trooper Trey, now stable thanks to the blessings of Velshionne.

Under Gregg's command, Dack leads a veritable horde of Dulat troops to surround the last other skurg, and together they hack the monster down, but it goes down fighting and takes out trooper Dewey with a blow of its axe.

Arcata's magic sends one of the beastmen with crossbows plummeting from the ramparts, and a volley of arrows from the three Dulat archers on the wall take wound one and take out another. At Arcata's side, Janson returns fire on the crossbowmen but hits the parapet. Meanwhile, below the keep hiding in his pigsty Tye turns his crossbow on the approaching whos steps over the prone form of brave trooper Setto, to recieve a bolt in its left eye, killing it instantly.

Sh'aah and Zeebenson have little success in their part of the battle although Sh'aah manages to wound one of the beastmen and when Cassie rides up beside them the beastmen warily begin to retreat.

On the far side of the castle, two beastmen make a break for it, and the unusually skilled beastman appears at the door of the keep behind Aarach.

"Come on you fool," it says to Aarach. "We'll concede this one. There'll be other victories for the Maggot God."

Aarach merely spits a gobbet of blood-flecked phlegm in response and the slender rapier-armed beastmen shakes its goat-like head in annoyance.

[sblock=OOC]
Arcata kills B31
Bastian causes 13 damage to Aarach but the monster is still standing.
Comoray stabilises D3
Shaah causes 3 damage to B13 but doesn't kill it.

Between them, P2 (Dack), D2, D5, D10, D12, D13, D14 and D15 take down Skurg 2, although D2 is hit and knocked out by an AoO as he approaches under the reach of the creature.

D18, D19 and D20 kill B36 and injure B35

P4 (Tye) kills B18 with a critical hit.

Aarach attacks Bastian - miss.

All other beastman attacks miss as well, and pretty much all but Aarach (and the crossbowmen in the keep) are in retreat.

Dead Dulat troops: 6
Injured Dulat troops: 1 (stable), 2, 3 (stable), 4, 6, 7, 8, 11, 16
Injured Penal Legion: 1, 3

Injured Beastmen: 13, 35, 37 (odd one), Aarach
[/sblock]

Kaodi · Sep 7, 2012

Comoray says another pray for a fallen Dulat soldier while plumbing the depths of his mind for what he knows about this so called "Maggot God" .

[sblock=OOC]Uses stabilize again, and knowledge (religion) with a +4 bonus.[/sblock]

jkason · Sep 7, 2012

Bastian Sangue, human cavalier

Bastian barely seems to register that the others are in a rout. Instead, he smiles as his opponent chooses to continue their engagement.

"You're not the only one with the blood of the wilds, you malformed aberration," Bastian says, voice filled with an odd mix of rage and glee. "You face a Lion today, skurg! And I will crush you in my maw!"

His roaring threat comes with another mighty swing, the blade of The Last Lion crunching bone and sinking deep into Aarach's side, met with a bloody smile from Bastian as he wrenches the blade loose.

[sblock=ooc]Bless High Ground Power Attack Challenge Greatsword attack; damage (1d20+8=24, 2d6+8=15)[/sblock]

Axel · Sep 10, 2012

Sh'aah

Sh'aah grinned as the beastman in front of him withdrew, showing bloody teeth in the process. He seemed not to notice, or care much, about the horse next to him. "I said run far. And fast," he stated with a growl.

Hefting his axe again before they could reply or force him to run with a broken rib, Sh'aah stepped forward and swung his weapon in broad arcs - encouraging the creatures to continue their retreat.

[sblock=actions]
5' step forward, full attackvs B13.

Looks like my luck is tapped out...this is how I remember ye olde die roller behaving!!!
[/sblock]

Dr Simon · Sep 11, 2012

It is pretty much over for Aarach and his beastmen. Some beastmen have fled out the far gate, their numbers too small to be any further threat. Sh'aah drives the last two beastmen left in the bailey before him; Cassie on one side rides up and beheads one, the other is cut down by Dulat trooper Zeebenson.

Greggory orders the Dulat men in to surround the keep, fencing in the strange beastman. He responds by casting a spell of vibrant clashing colours in the direction of troopers Deuce, Karant and Kans but when the colours fade the troopers remain unaffected, blinking away the after effects. In frustration the beastman leaps onto the roof of the outbuilding at the foot of the keep, whilst the beastmen atop the keep fire their crossbows down, winging Karant.

The Dulat archers on the rampart fire a volley of arrows that arc over the keep, and Tye keeps up his sniping from the pigpen, but the cover of the battlements protects the beastmen.

Bastian slices off Aarach's left hand at the wrist. Roaring with pain and anger the huge skurg lashes out wildy with its mangler and Bastian easily turns the blow on his shield where it slides off with a shriek and a shower of sparks.

Comoray stabilises another Dulat trooper; the badly wounded Kwarto. He recalls that the Maggot God is an epiphet given to the dark deity Crom Cruach, also known as the Worm of Night, a vengeful demon worshipped by evil fey and savage races.

[sblock=OOC]
Again I won't spell out every last attack.

P3 (Cassie), critical hit in B13
D17 hits B13, and then again on an AoO as B13 retreats.

The only remaining beastmen are numbers 32 through 35, firing crossbows from the top of the keep. B35 is wounded. B23 and B24 have run off through the southern exit.

D1, D3 and D4 are now stable. D7, D8, D9 and D16 are down and bleeding. D2 is incapacitated, D14 is injured, D6 is dead.

Aarach is badly wounded, and misses Bastian this round.

B37, the odd one, cast colour spray at D12, D14 and D15 who all make their Will save.

Arcata still to act this round.
[/sblock]

Shayuri · Sep 11, 2012

Arcata blinks, startled by the beastman's action. A spell! A sword at his side, and a spell...very interesting! He had been hurt by her previous spell, but she doubted another would be enough to kill him. It was her last shot, and she wanted it to count.

There was Aarach of course...he wasn't the 'true' threat, she was increasingly sure, but as the figurehead of this whole affair she wanted him dead. The intelligent beastman was using him, she thought, to rally the loyalty of the rank and file. A big strong dominating figure they could understand, while the mage pulled his strings from the shadows.

She sent her last gasp of real power winging up to the top of the keep to strike the wounded crossbow-beast, while shouting to the Dulat archers, "Archers! That one there! On the roof!" while pointing at the intelligent beastman who had extricated himself from the swords of those surrounding him, only to put himself squarely in the line of fire.

(Magic Missile on B35, directing archer fire against the 'strange' one trying to escape.)