When Saerie requests that I go check on Three Bird and our prospects for provisions for the poor folk of this cave, I pull my hood back on and close my cloak around me, leaving my weapon arm out so the light of my sword can guide me in the mid-day, wintry gloom.
Per Manbearcat
Your blade's light is sufficient to get you to the cave safely and in relatively short order. The robust crunch beneath your boots betrays the reality that even in this small period of time, the snow has gathered a fair amount.
When you enter the cave, you find that there are several women and children milling about. However, they don't seem to be preparing for a mass exodus. The setup is there is a main, winding avenue with "pod caves" for each family every so often off this primary cave. They are covered by goat/other animal skin curtains hung from ceiling anchors. Some of them have beautifully intricate dye jobs or paintings adorning them. A trail of fresh blood leads to the first one where the soon-to-be-dead hunter is being attended to by his family.
The women and children shrink to the sides of the hall as you enter/move through, quickly ferrying their awe-stricken children along.
The sound of heated argument from deeper in echoes through the chamber.
I'll leave the family to their quiet grieving.
Not preparing for exodus, eh? That is disconcerting.
I pull my hood back to reveal my face and do my best to soften it for these people. But I won't address them. I'll let them be and continue straight for the sounds of the argument.
Per Manbearcat
The raised voices are easy to follow and this thoroughfare forks only once. One fork, moving off to your right in the direction of the buried cave entrance, is all quiet, while the other route is a tempest of noise.
The first clear voice you can hear is a collected, venom-spitting, serpent-like thing. Surely produced by the lungs of a calculating man. "You bring outlanders to our door, fight with them against our people, threaten us with vague omens, and demand that we take flight from our home? You confuse us with cowards and fools, druid. The spirits do not pay heed to your pleas and neither do we!"
As you enter the room, a raucous rumble of support is like a wave washing over the room, its point of origin being from behind the large man who is towering over Three Bird. The man is a bare-chested leopard, tall, lithe, and muscled, wearing only breeches. A leather strap crossing his chest holds a serrated, well-worn greatsword. His bare feet grip the stone like a predator waiting to launch upon prey. His head is not-quite clean shaven and his beard is wild and woolly. It is very cold in these tunnels. The fire in the hearth across this large common room does little to staunch that. He doesn't seem to mind.
There is a group of 15-20 barbarian men behind him, all grim-faced and committed to obstinance. The few surviving, recruited hunters, Exel and Xanob, and the boy behind Three Bird look small and insignificant by comparison.
When you enter the room, the raucousness dims immediately and there are a few intakes of breath heard. The huge man takes his right hand and, not-so-softly moves Three Bird from his sight-line to fully take you in.
Let us pick this up later.
Picking this back up...
I look from the man briefly and then to the men beyond him. I look at my drawn blade with the enchantment of light upon it. "A glorified torch to repel the winter gloom" I say aloud and then sheathe the weapon.
I nod at any of the men who have foght alongside me who might be looking at me. I then say to the room in general:
"I was hoping to gain some provisions for the kin and refugees you have kept like dogs in the far cave. I was hoping to see a community, no longer under the thrall of a madman and his cult, express its newly found freedom in the most sensible way possible. By leaving this place before the terror of the black tower can be unleashed upon it."
I look down and slide the toes of a boot against the cold stone floor, feeling out the footing. "I guess I'm to be disappointed, yes?"
Per Manbearcat
The stalking-leopard-man steps forward beyond Three Bird. The huntsmen you fought with reflexively step back even though he hasn't neared them yet.
"You have murdered many men today, 'small one.' Do you deny that?" Steadily but slowly stalking toward you. You can see the whites of his eyes.
I'm relaxed here, hands free from the pommel of my sword. "My people reserve your word 'murder' for unjustified killing and always off the field of battle. No murder has taken place today."
Per Manbearcat
Slowly stalking in. Your allies all give a wide breadth, even Exel and Xanob...though not because they are fearful for themselves. You can see the gleam in their eyes. They are expecting a beautiful offering to Kord.
"Word games are for cowards who cannot use their hands to defend themselves. That avalanche that buried one of our caves will take a week to dig out. Where does that labor come from? Not from weakling hands." He nods to your hands as he continues to stalk in. "Nothing is free in the highlands."
Still stalking. The air is thick with the anxiety and excitement of 20+ quickening heartbeats.
I think to myself
we don't have time for this. I then say it out loud, slowly shaking my head, but quietly.
"We don't have time for this."
Looking beyond the stalking man to the fools behind him, I address them. "This is not what I want but you seem to have an insatiable bloodthirst you need to slake. If I slay this man, will you step in line behind Three Bird and leave this mountain or do I have to slay some of you as well?"
[sblock]I'm setting up leverage for a Parley move. I'll roll it after I've accrued the leverage of gaining their respect, hopefully, from the outcome of this duel.[/sblock]
Per Manbearcat
Got it.
Unsurprisingly they don't respond and they just look on, excitedly anticipating what is to come.
Also unsurprisingly, the man unleashes like a coiled snake, weapon flying free from his back as he flies through the air. He looks to finish this with a killing stroke right off the bat as the blade comes from the sheathed position in an arc meant to split you in two.
Reach range so you're going to have to Defy Danger.
I roll underneath his arc greatsword, closing the distance between us, and drawing my blade.
[sblock]Defy Danger (Dex)
6, 1 + 2 = 9
Success but a worse outcome, hard bargain, or ugly choice.[/sblock]
Per Manbearcat
You masterfully somersault under the huge sword and your blade is in your hand, lighting up the battlefield convieniently for the onlookers. But your foe lands with authority and speed. His long arms grant him extraordinary reach. He grabs for your cloak to draw you in close and pummel you to death.
If he gets his hands on you, "you're gonna have a bad time." You can allow the man to close it to Hand range and start a grapple or you can avoid it, but if you do you take -1 armor to any immediate damage (from a melee exchange or a defy danger) resulting from your next move.
I'll briefly make myself vulnerable to any counterattack to avoid a grapple and maintain Close range.
Ducking under the man's reach, I'll spin toward his flank and weave sword and spell together.
[sblock]Master's Bladework (Int)
2, 3 + 3 = 8
d8 damage, 2 techniques, and counterattack on me. 8 damage - 2 armor = 6 damage to him.
Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 3 damage to him.
Torrential: Your attack ends with a flurry of strikes that your opponent must dedicate effort to blocking or avoiding. If they instead attack you in response to your attack, deal your damage again (this does not apply techniques).
Counterattack on me: (b[2d10]+2 damage) and 1 piercing. 1, 7 + 2 = 9 - 1 armor. 8 damage to me and Forceful tag.
Torrential Counterattack: d8 damage. 4 - 2 armor = 2 damage to him.[/sblock]
I'd like to use my Forceful to throw this guy back off of me. Out to Near range if possible. Also, now that I've crossed swords with this guy...
[sblock]The Riddle of Steel + 1 to Discern Realities (Wis)
4, 3 + 1 = 8
* What is this person about to do? + 1 forward when acting on it.[/sblock]
Per Manbearcat
The two Forceful tags combined will achieve that Near range.
The speed, precision, technique, grace, and brutality of the exchange would be something spectacular to behold you are sure of it. An uncountable number of flurries and parries in a short span leaves you now separated from each other by some 30 feet. But while he is nearer the center of the room, you are literally a pace away from the stone wall. The stone wall adorned with musk deer stag heads and a tangle of deadly antlers (1d8 damage).
He sets his feet, grabs his blade in both hands, hefts it over his head and chucks it end over end at you with amazing ferocity and precision. Worse still, his posture tells you that he is (recklessly) coming full throttle behind it, looking to smash you into that wall (and those antlers) you're next to.
Can I intercept the blade with Wind Slash, hopefully destroying it and sending the shrapnell upon him as he darts behind it?
Per Manbearcat
Sure. That sounds pretty aweseome. Roll your dice and let's see what happens. If you destroy it, roll 1d4 environmental damage to him, armor applies. If you end up dealing damage to him as a result, and you decide to avoid his rush completely with a DD, you can take +1 to it as the shrapnel field blinds him momentarily.
[sblock]Wind Slash (Int) on the greatsword
5, 2 + 3 (+1 forward from TRoS) = 11
d8 damage and 1 technique. 4 damage.
Burst: Your attack deals an additional 1d4 damage and gains the ‘forceful’ tag. 2 damage. Sword destroyed.
d4 environmental damage, no armor. 3 damage - 2 armor = 1 damage to him.
Bladesong (Int)
2, 2 + 3 = 7
1 Bladesong for:
* Void Note - Teleport somewhere nearby within your line of sight.
* Guarded Flourish - When you have no weapon or shield in your offhand and you take damage, take + 2 armor.
* Blade Crescendo - When you deal damage to an enemy within your melee weapon's range, gain 2 piercing.[/sblock]
When my blades of cutting air rend the steel of the man's weapon, it makes a terrible sound that echoes off the walls of the chamber. The melody of my kin's ancient battlesong envelops me, body and soul.
[sblock]I want to spend my 1 Bladesong on Void Note.[/sblock]
At the very last second I teleport a few feet to the left as the man bears down on me through the blinding shrapnel field of what once was his trusted blade!
Per Manbearcat
His hands are up guarding his face from the shrapnel of his ruined sword. Nonetheless, you can still see his eyes go wide as you momentarily remove yourself from this world and reappear a few feet away.
The moment is too late and his momentum is too great.
[sblock]Roll 1d8 environmental damage for the antlers[/sblock]
[sblock]d8 damage on the barbarian. 5 - 2 = 3 damage. Dead.[/sblock]
Per Manbearcat
Exel and Xanobs' near squeels of delight are the only thing to break the collective groan of the crowd at the grotesque sight of the man impaling himself on a dozen (or more) antlers. His broken body just hangs there awkwardly as blood pools heavily at the base of the wall.
I turn slowly and look blankly at the men who were behind him. "Can we now be done with this? Get your people together and make extra preprations for your travel. A nasty storm is building out there."
[sblock]Parley (Cha)
Leverage: The terror or respect I just instilled in them after I slew their champion.
4, 2 + 1 = 7
They will do what you ask, but need some concrete assurance of your promise, right now.[/sblock]
Per Manbearcat
Looks like we aren't done yet!
While everyone else turns timid and is utterly cowed by your display, two stout objectors abruptly break from the crowd and rush you with a unified roar of outrage. They have no weapons, but they've got brawn and rage to burn. Your battle-honed perception easily unravels the tale embedded in their movements. They bear nothing of the might and athleticism of the titan you just took down. Nonetheless, if the two of them get on top of you, it won't be easy getting them off.
Let us pick this up later.
