The Center of Time

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Wisco tries to sight on another hound, but the process of ducking from that unexpected attack compromises his aim and his dart goes off into the foliage. There's an odd clanging noise in the general vicinity of where he fired.

Seregal aims carefully, but with the beasts weaving in and out of the pack, he fires at one and another slips it aside, his arrow skimming over its skull and doing no damage.

Antor flicks his sword down, the lightning following and slices deep into the neck of one of the hounds before moving to pack up with his traveling companions. The broken hound spasms and its mouth slams shut on its own tongue, making blood and yellowing slime gush from its mouth.

Duncan's sword slams down too fast, kicking up clods of dirt but not hitting flesh. However, his sword does actually scrape something metallic under the soil...

Echo focuses her power, shutting out distractions and setting her mind to cut down the center of the pack. A fletchette flies from the silver gleam across her skin, and a healthy-looking specimen in the middle suddenly shrieks as it opens up a cut across its eyes, making it thrashes in pain.

The hounds hurl themselves at you with high-pitched shrieks of rage, making most of you dodge, duck, weave, slide, and put trees between you and them to avoid their savage beaks. With you all back-to-back, there's no blind spots, and though the hounds come close, too close for comfort, no ones' flesh is rent. Yet.

Xaion reaches out with an unbelievably swift but almost delicate-seeming touch to one of the closest hound's throats, and suddenly that one curls up in a stiffened ball, thudding to the forest floor.

Undeterred and now furious, the hounds circle you, eyes focused purely on you, seemingly not seeing the unarmored drivers and aneen behind you.


OOC: Reminding everyone that because the hounds are packing up, your target number is now a 9. Please declare Effort before you roll, if at all possible. (Or at least before I post again)

Init:
Wisco 15
Seregal 11
Antor 10
Duncan 7
Echo 6
Hounds 6
Xaion 4

Wisco - 1d20=3, 1d20=13, 1st roll offense, 2nd roll defense.
Echo - You didn't quite say, but I guessed you were using the physical version of Onslaught? Because I gave that hound 4 dmg.

 

[Shayuri]

(OOC - Echo's Onslaught is physical, yes. In my headcanon, it's flavored as fletchettes she 'fires' out of the sheathe of nanomaterial she secretes for a Ward. Is that all right? It's not super-important to the concept, if not. )

This close to everyone else there isn't much room to manuever, so Echo focuses on defense...which means her offense suffers the consequences.

(Atk roll: 1, Defense roll: 11)
http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/4280962/

 

[iamrpgdm]

Antor places himself between Father Seren and Echo giving them both some cover to prepare their ranged attacks on the hounds. One of the hounds sniffs at the beast lying in its own gore from Antor's last attack. It howls in anger and leaps at Antor just as he raises his blade and slices into its chest (1d20=13 4 dmg + 1 Elec.). The force of the blow knocks it out of range of snapping its beak into Antor's flesh.(1d20=15 *trn Spd. Def.)

 

[Gamgee]

Xaion again moves swiftly as he can through the pack. Leaping, twirling, and twisting his way hoping to avoid any attacks. It is getting more difficult now with them swarming like this. (Attack roll and Defense Roll).

 

[Tashtego]

Seregal steps back and aims an arrow at the broken hound attacking Antor. He releases the bowstring, sending the arrow speeding on its way.

OOC: Will spend 3 points of speed to lower the difficulty of the attack by one step. First roll attack, second is defence (if required).

1d20=7, 1d20=5

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Wisco sees the hounds packing, and knows they need an edge, and need it now. He squeezes a smooth place on a synth bracelets he's wearing, and a bead of light shoots out and enters the middle of the pack, exploding in a flash of blinding light. The hounds scream and some paw at their eyes. Others start to stagger or even collide with each other. The flash has blinded them!

Seregal aims carefully, his arrow slamming into one of the pack, breaking off in the broken hound's shoulder. It makes a breathy shriek before collapsing, biting at the shaft frantically.

Antor takes advantage of the downed hound, his sword sparking off the trees as it ends the beast's misery in a shower of electricity.

Duncan's sword sweeps out in a murderous arc, separating a broken hound top from bottom and scattering the pieces to and fro.

Echo has her eyes on the hounds, and so doesn't watch her footing. Her ankle twists in some tree roots, making a hound clash its jaws where she was, rather than where she is, which is down on the forest floor. As she goes to push herself up, her fingers slide through the soil, and she feels something under there that is decidedly not rock or a tree root. Something under the dirt feels like smooth metal.

The hounds try to close, anger giving them motivation, but their blindness means they keep getting tangled up with each other and have no luck connecting with your tender flesh. Emboldened, some of the drivers from Sevarr's caravan begin to fire at the broken hounds, scoring a few hits and bringing a couple of them down.

Xaion, with an eye on the arrows, moves out into the pack with grace, hoping for an easy kill by taking advantage of their blindness. Though he is graceful, the broken hounds are not, and one actually blunders and crashes into the back of his knees. In a wild instant, Xaion is now atop a broken hound, inadvertently riding it!

OOC:

Init:
Wisco 15
Seregal 11
Antor 10
Duncan 7
Echo 6
Hounds 6
Xaion 4

Wisco - 1d20=11, 1d20=16, detonation aiming and dodging. (Used your flash detonation, 'cause it seemed logical.)

 

[iamrpgdm]

Seeing Xiaon appearing to be getting carried off on one of the hounds, Antor rushes towards the hound making a low slash at its legs(1d20=12, 4dmg +1 elec). Antor quickly spins around to defend against any other hounds coming his way.(1d20=8, training spd. def.)

 

[Tashtego]

Seregal sees Xaion's plight and gives Antor some back-up by firing an arrow towards the escaping broken hound. He takes a few steps back after he fires the shot, not wanting to get caught in the main fray.

(1st roll: Attack, 2nd roll: defence)

1d20=18, 1d20=10

 

[Isida Kep'Tukari]

Wisco glares at the nearest hound, and there's a bright flash of lightning that leaps from him to the nearest broken hound. It stands, stunned for a moment, before toppling over dead. The hound next to the dead one suddenly stops its frenzied movement and pawing at its eyes, and drops down to the ground, pointing in Wisco's direction and whimpering.

Seregal's arrow flies straight and true, bringing down the broken hound with Xaion on its back by landing the arrow through one earhole and almost out the other. It topples and Xaion springs free.

Antor was running to Xaion's rescue, but quickly shifts his target and slashes down on another hound, his sword flashing and the stench of burning flesh offending his nostrils as the blinded hound flops down on the ground.

Duncan's next slash looks like it would have been a bit too wild, but with the broken hounds blinded, he connects with one of the last foes, sweeping it aside and thudding its body into a tree. Echo and Xaion quickly recover from their spills and turn their efforts on the last of the hounds, easily bringing the remaining hostiles down with eldritch power and fighting talent.

All is now silent and still, the sole remaining broken hound lying quietly, its clouded eyes seeming to stare at Wisco.

OOC:

Wisco - 1d20=20 (attack), 1d20=19 (defense)

And the hounds were at a severe enough disadvantage that you guys could easily take down the rest of them.

 

[Shayuri]

Breathing hard, Echo takes a quick look around to survey the field and make sure there's nothing else demanding her attention. No second wave, or people lying in wait to take advantage of the distraction.

Then slivers of silver extend out of the liquid metal encasing her, and with soft coughing noises launch out too fast to see. The effect is something like a shotgun, pulverizing aberrant flesh and bone with the shock of their impacts. The flechettes then stick out of the terrible wound...still pristine and silver amidst the carnage.

In the aftermath, Echo went to reclaim the projectiles. Each melted into silver and rejoined with her at her touch.

"There's metal under the topsoil," she reported as she did her grisly work. "We're standing on top of something."