[Ravenloft] Grand Conjunction I: Night of the Walking Dead

[Andrew D. Gable]

Action Order: Daman Don, Lamar, Soulsong, Gorgamesh, Benara, Crocodile

Wound Levels
Lightly Wounded (75% HP+)
Moderately Wounded (50%-75% HP)
Severely Wounded (25%-50% HP)
Critically Wounded (25% HP or below)

Benara: unhurt
Daman Don: unhurt
Gorgamesh: unhurt
Lamar: unhurt
Soulsong: unhurt

Crocodile: dead

As the crocodile swims towards you, Daman, seeing everyone else's intentions, launches into song (inspire courage). Lamar nimbly (or as nimbly as is possible in this muck) dances around the crocodile, his blades jabbing out and connecting! At the same time that Benara begins backing away from the combat, the caliban runs from the back/front of the party and smashes his flail into the head of the beast. The crocodile sinks back into the water and a crimson cloud billows out from its body as it sinks, staining the waters a pinkish hue.

[sblock]
Holy crikey. That was a quick "fight". If you guys fight like this all the time, you'll be in good shape. Dang crocodile never stood a chance.
I've just gone ahead and taken an action for Daman as I'm not sure if Isida's back yet.
DrZombie, I assume Lamar was attacking? If not, I'll edit my post.
Argent: I was gonna ask for an action for Soulsong but that's kind of a moot point now, lol.
180 XP to each of you.[/sblock]

 

[Argent Silvermage]

Soulsong

Soulsong looks over the body of the Croc. I wonder if this thing has any useful organs. I have to keep up a good supply of components for my magics.

He shrugs his shoulders and says, Well I'm not about to go looking in the dark. Lets press on shall we?

OOC: His action would have been to run like hell.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Gorgamesh

Let this creature sink into the darkness of the swamp..Agh Says Gorgamesh to soulsong.
We don't know what evil grows inside their bodies.
Gorgamesh wipes his flail with some big leaves from a nearby rotting tree.
Let's proceed to the village.

 

[Hawken]

"Excuse me. What the Hell was that about?" I ask them as the croc's remains sink into the watery depths. "Why'd you all kill it? Why not just keep moving? It wasn't some goblin or zombie that needed to be destroyed."

As Gorgamesh speak, my eyes widen and my head snaps in his direction. We don't know what evil grows inside their bodies! The thought echoes his words in my mind. "Are you serious?" I look at him skeptically, wondering if I've overestimated his intelligence. "That was a crocodile. Not some undead spawned from a vile grave! It swims, it eats things. Nothing more, nothing less. The rest of you may have been on foot, but could have easily left it alone and outran it."

Grimacing in disgust at their bloodthirsty behavior, I hope nothing more comes out so these people can test their might against the local fauna. Turning back around to dry land, I urge my horse along and whistle for my dog to keep closer to me than them. "Let's go! Who knows what kinds of predators that spilled blood is going to attract," I say with another shake of my head. I hope this isn't the way they treat everything they encounter. If so, we're going to be in trouble when we get to that town.

I open my pack as I move along and take out one of the books. Removing the bookmark, I open to the first page and start practicing softly to myself the words within, hoping for the right inflection and accent. Hating how out of practice I am with my languages, I speak through the Souragnien text as quickly as I can for a refresher and hope it will be enough for my first time here.

 

[DrZombie]

Nimbly Lamar leaps out of the water, whiping his shortswords on the grass. "Nice work, big feller", he nods to the barbarian.
At the remarks of the priestess, he smiles.
"Well, good lady, I don't know if you realise that one of those crocs can outrun a man anytime it likes. In case you're wondering, no, my idea of having a good time doesn't include leaping in some godforsaken swamp killing poor innocent cute little baby crocodiles. But when it needs to be done, it needs to be done. And I don't run away when someone is attacked, either." The sarcasm lays thick on his voice.
Just what we need, another threehugging flowery elf. Boohoohoo, we hurt the poor little crocodile. Gods, what have I done to anger you so.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

Soulsong seeing that the situation is getting a bit out of control says, Had there been any other recourse we surely would have taken it but we were attacked and you my lady are the only one on horseback.
Now lets get to town before anything else attacks us and get some food and strong drink. I'll buy the first round, and priestess? We will have a private cerimoney to thank the Crocodile and send it's spirit on to the Otherrealm.


*Otherrealm is Soulsongs people's version of the land of the dead.

 

[Strahd_Von_Zarovich]

Gorgamesh

I'm sorry lady if i hurt your feelings, I was raised by a good wizard, he tried to teach me the art of magic but failed so I learned to read and write and I helped to manage the house and craft wood. He told me that there is not just good in the world but also evil ..agh
That even the plants and animals can be evil and those who come upon you to kill .. Kill them first. But I would not hurt a mouse … agh.
I like you A big tooth less smile spreads on his face and he looks on Lamar
You can learn somethings from me ... Doh

 

[Hawken]

I respond to Lamar as soon as he finishes speaking, disliking his sarcasm, but keeping that feeling out of my eyes and my tone. "They can outrun us anytime? You didn't even try to run, how do you know? I'm sorry, but I thought you were as lost as the rest of us, that you had not been here before. I know you're from another realm and they may have animals like that," pointing where the crocodile was last seen, "but that doesn't give you reason to go slaughtering something moving in your direction! You don't know where we are or who owns this land. For all we know, by killing that animal, you've made us poachers or hunters on someone's property. That kind of recklessness won't help you or us wherever we go. We were closer to the shore, it was still in the water, even on foot you could've ran and would have been far enough away by the time it got its feet in the sand that it wouldn't have been a threat." I keep my tone measured and even, no different than if explaining my answer to a question when I was in class in Il Aluk.

"Leave your sarcasm where you came from," I suggest to Lamar. "It's not helping. You're rude to strangers, you're rude to someone you've been traveling with only an hour or so, and you kill the first thing we encounter that moves and without hesitation or thought of consequences. That kind of thoughtlessness is going to get you killed, or maybe one of them," referring to the rest of our companions, excluding myself from that prediction and inwardly vowing not to put myself into a situation risking my life for someone so callous and short-sighted.

"Just because you have a weapon doesn't mean you have the right to decide when something or someone lives and dies. And if you never run away when someone is attacked, you're going to have a very short career," 'life' could easily substitute 'career' here. "You've been lucky up to now, but there are things in these lands that can shrug off those blades as indifferently as if you were spitting in their face. This isn't your home, foreigner. Your violence can get the rest of us, as well as you, into trouble. You need to consider that before you start stabbing and hacking things."

When Soulsong comments, I point out, "We were not attacked. It was swimming in our direction. It didn't even have the chance to attack and considering our numbers, it might not have. Darius is the one that started singing the song of battle, while Lamar and Gorgamesh attacked it. No one else even thought of getting out of the water and continuing on our way. And while I agree with you that getting to town before we attack anything else is important," I say this as I am leading my horse in the direction of the town, "I just want to clarify that I am upset, not about the crocodile itself, but over the fact that several of you are prone to unnecessary violence and murder rather than logical, rational thought and action." I do not even remark about his offer of a 'private ceremony', unsure if he is being as sarcastic as Lamar or patronizing me thinking that I'm some tree-hugging, flowery elf-wanna-be.

As Gorgamesh speaks, I nod politely at his apology, neither confirming nor denying whether he might have hurt my feelings, which he didn't. As he goes on to explain himself, my eyes widen at the thought of a wizard teaching his students a 'kill first, think about it later' philosophy. Praying fervently to the Morninglord that I never encounter such a wizard, I find myself feeling a renewed sense of pity and sadness for this creature. "Gorgamesh," I say his name kindly, finding myself wanting to like him. I smile at him as we continue on our way to the town. "Plants and animals that kill for survival are not evil. That crocodile might not have even attacked us, but we never gave it the chance to decide, nor was it given the chance to flee and seek weaker prey so that it may yet live out the day. Killing first is dangerous. If you must kill, you need to know what it is you are facing first. Should you face the undead, what you think may be no more than a skeleton could very well be a lich. A zombie, vulnerable to the divine power of a healing touch, could instead be one of the ancient dead, not weakened but strengthened by such power. What if other crocodiles were under the water and that was the only one on the surface? By staying and fighting, you and the others put yourself at needless risk. The fight would not have gone so well if other crocodiles had been underwater, your feet or your legs could have been bitten off. How well could you fight then, while trying to keep yourself from drowning and bleeding to death?" This last part I say to him with sincere concern, wanting him to start thinking things through.

"I am not chastizing you, my friend. But I don't want to see you hurt either," as I say this last, I place my hand on his shoulder to reaffirm my kindness toward him and assure him that my words and feelings are genuine.

 

[DrZombie]

Lamar just shrugs at the tirade, and checks that his blades are within easy reach and loose in their scabbards. With the tip of a dagger he scrapes a leech from his boot and flicks it into the swamp. He turns to the priestess, about to make another remark, then visibly restrains himself. Instead, he just chuckles softly at a private joke, then continues towards the village.
"I'll take you up on that offer of the first round. You reckon the beer is any good here?"
Oh boy, I hope I don't get a lecture about drinking and gambling either. I'll just take it easy and let life teach her a lesson or two. She's got the survivability of a chocolate teaspoon if you ask me.

 

[Argent Silvermage]

The Priestess' remarks seem pointless and far ruder than anything the others have done. [I]She honestly thinks a crocodile swimming our way is not cause for measures to be taken? What a fool. I see she has a love of animals but this is beyond any reason. [/I] He thinks to himself.

Priestess I feel it best to just get ourselves to the village. Once there we can alert the authorities of the attack, and despite what my lady thinks it WAS an attack, and suffer whatever we must at that time. [in Elven]Prehaps my lady needs to come down from her high horse. The tirad was uncalled for.[/language]