[Eberron] Beneath the Ice!

Floe Glitterice - Uldra Druid 4 (48/55hp, AC 19)

Floe hurls the ball of flame in her hand at one of the gargoyles directly surrounding her, then withdraws in the most avoidable fashion.

OOC: She only needed to take a single move to not provoke a full attack, which is probably what she would have done, getting close the others is secondary considering her resilience to the cold, tossing another bit of flame at them once she had finished her movement. Also, do these gargoyles emit an aura of cold? If not, then Like Snow Falling will move to keep all of them from surrounding her.
 

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Meanwhile, in a underwater grotto hundreds of miles away...

...Miyris ir'Vol stared into her mirror and screamed in frustration. "What is that thing?", she screeched, jabbing her finger at the mirror's surface.

"It's an Uldra, mistress," the ghost at her shoulder calmly responded. "Probably the one that was with the Dwarven scouts." By the dim greenish glow her companion gave off, Miyris could just make out the damned explorers, beset on all sides by large winged creatures. Near them, a tiny blue humanoid nimbly danced around the monsters, enthusiastically tossing handfuls of fire around.

Miyris hissed. "Wasn't the whole point of this attack to make sure they didn't contact any of the natives? You brainless gasbag! Couldn't you have gotten the gargoyles there faster?"

"I'm sorry, mistress. I informed our allies of what we needed--it seems they did not perform quite as well as expected."

Miyris snorted and turned back to the scrying mirror. The explorers--a band of rejects assembled by a blithering madman--had stolen everything from her. They'd destroyed her ship, taken her soldiers prisoner, unknowingly hijacked the portal that was suppsed to be for her, and left her for dead. But for a servant of Vol, sometimes death is only the beginning...

"So now they have the Codex, they have a guide...do you understand what this means, ghost? It means we've completely failed, and Lady Vol is going to be damn upset. We were supposed to either make sure they didn't get to the Frostfell or that they didn't have the Codex with them when they did. We've managed to do neither!"

"But..."

"But nothing! Your gargoyles were supposed to make sure they didn't meet up with any of the natives. Without a guide, those fools wouldn't have lasted two days out there, and all our problems would have been solved."

The ghost flickered in the air, an unearthy equivalent of a shrug. "One guide might not be that much help..."

"Hrrmm. Perhaps you're right." Miyris stared at the mirror. She knew that the gargoyles didn't have much of a chance to defeat the well-armed explorers. But then again, the ice beasts were just supposed to be a distraction. If only that Uldra had stayed put!

"Mistress...I do have a suggestion that may be of help. If we can contact our allies in the Frostfell, we may be able to..." The ghost's spectal voice trailed off as it began to whisper into the cleric's ear.

Miyris' eyes widened as she listened to the ghost's plan. "Of course!" She smiled, twisting her withered face into a horrible grin. "Heh. Why didn't I think of that? Those bumbling explorers will be dead long before they reach Etvelkairn!"

{OOC} Just a little cutscene to add a bit of flavour and thicken the plot. I will continue the combat in my next post. {/OOC}

[Krug] -
You can easily tell that these creatures are completely unnatural--they have no place in the cycle of life. They were probably created by some sort of Wizard, although judging by their sheer numbers, such a Wizard must have been working for years and years to assemble this army.

[Floe] -
The gargoyles do not emit an aura of cold, but their attacks are infused with cold energy, causing them to deal extra damage (unless their target is resistant, as you are). Like Snow Falling, when she hears your command, instantly leaps into action so as to defend you.
 

"Damnation! They seem to be made completely out... of.... ice!!" He slows his ineffective assault to step to the left tword the sled. "A bit of assistance would be appreciated! I have ahd a brilliant idea!", he shouts to his party members on top of the sled, hoping they can occupy the gargoyle long enough to retrieve the ice-melt powder from the sled.

nonamazing:
Duh! Thankfully Norderil has a higher Wisdom than I do. :D
 


The melee turns fierce and chaotic as the gargoyles swarm all over you, clawing and biting. Floe whistles sharply, causing her companion to leap into action. The snow leopard rushes to her mistress' side, avoiding the gargoyle's claws as she does so. Satisfied that the gargoyles' attentions have been diverted, Floe casually steps back, laughing, and tosses a small orb of flame at one of the ice beasts.

Meanwhile, Norderil spots the melt powder vials in a small box near the front of the sled. He ducks under the claws of one gargoyle, but a second one catches the gnome across the shoulder, its chilly nails tearing through several layers of cold weather clothing to pierce the soft flesh beneath. Norderil stumbles, shudders, then catches himself on the edge of the sled. As the gargoyles closes behind him, he quickly snatches up a vial and tosses it over his shoulder. There is a brief sound of rushing water, and when the scholar turns around, he sees that the monster has been melted in half--its upper body gone entirely. The gargoyle's legs remain upright for a few seconds before crashing to the ground in opposite directions. Before Noderil can grab a second vial, however, another gargoyle rushes at him. Mong, her first shot having finished off one of the other creatures, takes the gargoyle in the chest with her second arrow, slowing it down just enough for Norderil to adopt a defensive position. Although he manages to dodge out of the way of the creature's claws and bite, he's taken off guard when the gargoyle lowers its head and juts one of its curved horns into his side. Norderil grimaces as the unnatural cold ravages his body.

Karthak, standing atop the sled, spots Noderil's clever use of the melt power. Karthak kneels down and fumbles for one of the vials, tossing it at the nearest gargoyle. The powder works like a quick-acting acid--when it strikes one of the creatures it almost instantly melts away. On the other side of the sled, Barandurr and Toshanharath both managed to take down one of the gargoyles, leaving just one creature to face their combined wrath. Unafraid, it attacks Toshanharath savagely, but causes only minor wounds.

Two of the remaining gargoyles attack Floe's animal companion, while the last one goes after Floe herself. The leopard yelps as she is bitten, and Floe takes a glancing blow across her side, but neither is badly hurt.

Far to the north, you can just make out the rest of the gargoyles. They seem to be landing--what could they be doing out there?

Okay, here's the breakdown of round four:

Floe uses Handle Animal as a free action to call her companion, which makes a pounce attack on one of the gargoyles threatening Floe, dealing 8 total damage to Gargoyle H. (bite: 12 +7=19 hit; 1d6+3=6) (claw1: 3 +2=5 miss) (claw2: 13 +2=15 miss) (rake1: 5 +7=12 miss) (rake2: 17 +7=24 hit; 1d3+1=2)

Floe tosses a bit of flame at Gargoyle H, dealing 16 points of damage. (roll: 15 +5=20 hit; 1d6+5x2=16).

Karthak holds his action until he gets a chance to see what Norderil's idea is.

Norderil moves over to the sled, provoking two attacks of opportunity as he does so, one of which hits and deals 5 points of damage (1 of which is cold) (aoo1: 3 +5=8 miss) (aoo2: 11 +5=16 hit; 1d4+2+1d6=5). Norderil grabs the melt power and hits gargoyle K with it, causing its instant destruction (saving throw failed).

Toshanharath hits gargoyle P (roll: 15 +6=21 hit) and Barandurr hits gargoyle N (roll: 12 +5=17 hit), both destroying their targets (I didn't bother rolling damage because each of those gargoyles were very, very low on hit points). Then both warriors take five-foot steps to position themselves on either side of gargoyle O (each gains a +2 flanking bonus to hit on their next attack).

Gargoyle O attacks Toshanharath dealing 8 points of damage (4 of which is cold) (claw1: 17 +5=22 hit; 1d4+2+1d6=8) (claw2: 2 +5=7 miss) (bite: 4 +3=7 miss) (gore: 13 +3=16 miss).

Gargoyle L takes a 5-foot step forward and attacks Norderil, dealing 10 points of damage (6 of which is cold) (claw1: 2 +5=7 miss) (claw2: 6 +5=11 miss) (bite: 12 +3=15 miss) (gore: 19 +3=22 hit; 1d6+1+1d6=10).

Gargoyles H and I make attacks on Like Snow Falling (claw1: 15 +5=20 hit; 1d4+2+1d6=9) (claw2: 18 +5=23 hit; 1d4+2+1d6=7) (bite: 14 +3=17 miss) (gore: 5 +3=8 miss) (claw1: 4 +5=9 miss) (claw2: 10 +5=15 miss) (bite: 5 +3=8 miss) (gore: 4 +3=7 miss), dealing a total of 16 points of damage to the leopard (9 of which is cold damage).

Gargoyle J moves and attacks Floe dealing 4 damage (claw: 17 +5=22 hit; 1d4+2=4).

Mong attacks gargoyle M and kills it, then takes her second shot on gargoyle L dealing 9 dmaage to it (shot1: 16 +9=25 hit; kill) (shot2: 18 +9=27 hit; 1d8+5=9).

Finally, Karthak grabs a melt powder and tosses it at gargoyle L, which is destroyed (saving throw failed).

The situation: no gargoyles left on the west side of the sled. Barandurr and Toshanharath are facing gargoyle O (undamaged) on the east side of the sled. A few feet away, Floe and Like Snow Falling are facing the last three gargoyles: H (somewhat damaged), I (undamaged), and J (undamaged). H and I are threatening Like Snow Falling; J is threatening Floe. Your party should be easily able to finish off these creatures in the next round of combat.

{OOC}Note: I'm working on figuring out how to attach images. I have a scanner; future combats will include a scanned-in map (drawn on graph paper) to make visualizing each round a little easier. Also, I'm experimenting with different ways/formats of relaying the cmbat rolls and information--let me know if you have any feedback.{/OOC}
 

Floe calls Like Snow Falling away from the creatures, afraid for her companions safety, she steps up to take it's place and hurls another ball of fire at the damaged creature.

OOC: Note that the Leopard reduces the effectivel level of the animal companion, meaning it gets no bonus HD at the moment. It has only 19 hps as a 3HD animal. I should have just gone with the wolf, *sigh*.
 

{ooc}Oops--I was treating her as a 5 HD creature! My bad--I should have realized that. To make up for my mistake, let's say that Like Snow Falling is quite tough for a leopard--she has 24 hit points instead of 19. That means that she still has 8 hit points left.{/ooc}
 

Mong gets the hint and grabs some of the meltpowder to throw at the nearest Gargoyle, preferably those threatening Like Snow Falling. "Lets see how you like some of this!" she shouts.
 

Norderil's clever idea helps you all to make short work of the remaining monsters. Norderil, Karthak, and Mong fling vials of melt powder from atop the sled while Barandurr and Toshanharath bash the last remaining gargoyle into tiny fragments of ice.

Once the creatures are cleared away, Mong takes a moment to calm the animals. The rest of the gargoyles seem to have vanished. You find yourselves once again alone with the strange little blue-skinned girl.​

I just thought I'd speed things up a bit, since the conclusion of that combat was foregone. Now your group JUST needs to decide what it's going to do next.

[Floe] -
Here's what you know about the immediate area (this information will probably come in handy quite soon):
To the north, through a deep valley, lies the home of the Dwarves, a quiet place seldomly visted by your people. These days, the valley approach is protected by fierce frost giants who do the bidding of the Three (the powerful overlords who have taken over the Dwarve's home).
If you head east, along the coastline, you would eventually reach the small semi-permanant village shared by the refugee Dwarves and your people. The land between there and here, however, is the territory of the Greattusk clan. When you travelled here, you were in the company of three great dwarven scouts (and you, of course, leave no tracks in the snow). Your group was easily able to slip past the Greattusk warriors, but these strangers, so clumsy and uncomfortable on the ice, will not likely be so lucky.
To the west once lay vast fields of rough tunda, relatively fertile in your people's eyes. Since the coming of the Three, those lands have been constantly battered by evil storms-- nearly impossible to travel through. Legends say that if one travels far enough to the west, one may eventually reach the home of the seldom-seen frost elves.
Finally, the great sea lies to the south. Your people are not sailors, so you have little experience of the vast deep. You know that the strangers came from there, but you don't think they'd be leaving just as soon as they'd arrived, now would they?

[Krug] -
{OOC} Not sure if you had noticed this--when Floe first arrived and was speaking Sylvan, your character was able to understand her. Of course, it may well be that Mong purposely chose to ignore the little blue sprite. {/OOC}

[Norderil] -
(Listen check): Your sharp gnomish senses pick up the sound of scream coming from some distance ahead. Due to the lay of the land (a few lage snowdrifts between here and there), you can't quite see where the noise is coming from. None of the others seems to have noticed it.
 

Norderil climbs a bit up the sled and attempts to peer out over the surrounding drifts, a mildly concerened look on his face. "Do my senses decieve me? A scream upon the wind. By the Sage, do the trials of this blasted land never cease?" The recent excitement seems to have distracted norderil from his interpretive challenge, namely Floe.
 

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