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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Nebulous" data-source="post: 4732941" data-attributes="member: 31465">Adventure #2: Merple's MissionPART TWOThe caravan is soon rumbling down the road, and the heroes meet another boisterous traveler on this journey, a blue-skinned genasi with a penchant for loud conversation. “GREETINGS!” the big man booms, striding beside them.  “I am Ghale Stormbrow.  Well met!”  He turns his face in profile so they can get a good look at his features.  Yes, he’s a boastful man. Handsome though. He talks with them for a short bit, mostly about himself, and then returns to the front of the caravan to ensure that no hostiles approach on his watch. As if they would dare! Balthazar is riding in the foremost wagon with the driver, and although the rest of the group stays with the third and final wagon, Douvan notices later in the day that the little pseudodragon is staring intently at him. Merric makes sure no one is watching and ducks through the flaps of the middle wagon.  It smells of pungent spices, and a quick search reveals crates with dozens and dozens of various colored bottles and vials.  They’re all carefully labeled, but he doesn’t spend too much time in here. They do not pass any other travelers, and by that evening they reach the designated campground that is halfway between Silverymoon and Everlund.  The wagons are drawn in close, campfires are stoked, and the hunters scrounge for food to roast over the open flame.  Balthazar has spoken to no one all day and continues this trend, reading a book by the light of a candle flame on his finger. Merric the Halfling gets bored and starts rooting around in another wagon, finding it well stocked with barrels of fine ale, mead and wine from Silverymoon. He hops out and decides to entertain himself (and others) with a short acrobatic performance, doing backflips and somersaults around the campfire to the amusement of Ghale Stormbrow who heartily claps.“AH!  Our little friend is talented!  Here’s a copper!  Come everyone, share your coppers with this small man, he is wonderful!  Very fleet of foot. Aha!”Merric picks up the meager coins and feigns gratitude.  Nari-lana is appalled at the genasi’s stinginess and turns her head in disgust.The night is otherwise eventless and the caravan continues in the morning on the last leg of the journey.  This leg, however, is not as smooth as the previous one. Around midday they’re on a winding trail through hilly country.  A slope to the east rolls down a rocky hill.  To the west lies a tree-lined bluff of conifers and birch.  The wagons are skirting the narrow road between low ground and high ground.  Douvan Stahl is casually looking up at the clear sky, watching the cloud formations float by, when he sees a tree on the bluff above them sway in a breeze that does not exist. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission1.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />This, he thinks, would make an excellent spot for an ambush. He tells the others.  They all squint up but see nothing, so Douvan tells the blue-skinned genasi, Ghale Stormbrow.  “Ah, of course you need my help, friend.  Fear not.  Stand back. I shall take a closer look for you.”Gusting wind suddenly lifts the genasi off his feet and gently drops him on the bluff.Almost instantly a harsh, grating voice bellows out:“CRUUUUUUSH THEMMM!”A log flies toward the caravan and impacts two mercenaries, smashing them into a red mist and flinging their bodies down the hill.  Chaos ensues.  The horses begin bucking, shouts fill the air, terrified drivers try to control the beasts, and steel rings from scabbards as the heroes prepare to defend themselves from unknown assailants. “BATTLE IS UPON US!” Ghale shouts.Douvan and the cleric Jolan clamber atop a wagon roof to get clear line of sight over the bluff.  Three hulking ogres have appeared from a clump of birch trees, clubs in their hand and holding chains connected to three emaciated bugbears that don’t look happy to be here. But worse, the trees beyond them are swaying as something even bigger is pushing through.<img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission2.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /><img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission3.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The genasi swordmage Nari-lana clambers up the bluff and pulls out her broadsword, ready to engage the enemy. On the third wagon, Merric the thief deftly leaps to the roof and then jumps to the rise.  Three half-elf archers clamber to the top of the wagon after him and notch their arrows.Meanwhile, Balthazar of the Potion Emporium has risen from his seat on the wagon, apparently unpleased with this unscheduled stop.  His pseudo-dragon takes to the air, flapping and hissing.  Balthazar grabs his belt, reaches into a purple pouch, and with a vigorous motion, pulls forth a……rabbit.“Godsdammit!” he shouts.  “Always a rabbit! Always!”But the others hardly notice.  They have their own problems.Douvan notches arrows and starts firing at the ogres, but he feels the chill of fear when the largest trees are knocked over and a massive Hill Giant enters the fray, a tree trunk lifted over its head. “ME SMASH YOU!”  it bellows, and hurls the tree at Ghale Stormbrow who is hovering twenty feet off the ground.  The trunk misses and rolls down the slope, and smiling, the genasi retaliates with a crackling bolt of lightning from the tip of his longsword. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission4.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The ogres are screaming at their bugbear allies and tugging the chains.  “Get in der and fight!  What wrong wid you? Why not you fight?” A bugbear is pushed Nari’s direction, shambles toward her, arms outstretched, and then veers off the last moment, rushing past and leaps off the bluff to the road below, dragging the chain behind it.  The other bugbear likewise avoids combat and shambles awkwardly down the slope to where two cowering travelers launch a few frightened arrows at it.Merric is fast and deadly, delivering viscous cuts to the ogre closest to him before diving out of range.  The monster is knocked off balance, stumbling uncertainly at the edge of the bluff and trying to swat the little Halfling who has rolled between his legs.   “Stay still, you!”“Nope.”Jolan, cleric of Tempus, calls upon the might of his warrior god, and his prayers are answered.  Divine light sears an ogre, and Merric uses the opportunity to sink his dagger deep into its back.   Jolen instills uncontrollable fear in yet another ogre and it flees the battle scene, only to return shortly.“What me thinking?  Why me run like dat? Me stoopid.”Douvan Stahl continues firing arrow after arrow, hampering the enemy as best he can. Between him and the warriors standing atop the last wagon, the two closest ogres have been thoroughly perforated, although they’re still standing strong and fighting to the death.<img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission7.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />The giant is being distracted by Balthazar and Ghale Stormbrow.  Eldritch purple lightning strikes the giant, and from nowhere a spectral panther manifests, leaping to the back of another ogre and ripping into its shoulder with shadowy teeth that are all too dangerous. <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission6.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />An ogre is finally felled, drilled down by arrow, blade and spell, and it collapses in a bloody heap. Attacks concentrate on the other ogres, and Merric lands a devastating strike to the thing’s groin as he dives between its legs and stabs up.  Blood jets between the ogre’s fingers as it holds its crotch, and then Douvan finishes it off with a Twin Strike, planting an arrow in each beady eye. It is ultimately Balthazar who turns the tide of the battle with a flashy show of magic.  The hill giant would have been far too deadly an opponent to face on their own without the wizard’s assistance. Upon twirling his fingers in an arcane pattern, a burst of multi-colored prismatic energy springs toward the last ogre and the hill giant, lashing out at them in a miasma of scintillating power. [GM Note: I told everyone it was a 15th level Prismatic Spray, so yes, they know that Balthazar is at least a 15th level spellcaster].Several of the travelers have been cowering, firing their arrows intermittently, and the grizzled old soldier in Jolen rears his head.  He was a commander and leader of men in the past, and it burns in his soul even now.  Stomping toward the guards, he plants a hand on their shoulders and stares at them with piercing grey eyes.“You!  Are you cowards?  Do you want your families to remember you dying this day, as whimpering children hiding behind the mules!  Aim those bows at the ogres!  Fight like, men, dammit. FIGHT!”The two guys glance at each other, and then nod vigorously, invigorated by Jolen’s speech and encouraged to face their fear head on! “Yer right, sir!  Yer right!  What are we waiting for?” They follow Jolen up the slope, aiming for their enemies even though their feeble shots miss by a mile.  But Jolen’s mission is accomplished, for he instilled the vigor of battle lust in his allies, even the weakest of them.[GM Note:  That was great.  They might even follow you around as henchmen, Jolen!].The last ogre is finally dropped by a barrage of arrow fire from the guys who CAN hit, and that leaves only the injured hill giant whose logs have inflicted minimal damage to Ghale Stormbrow, who dodged nearly all of them like a leaf in the wind.  But the giant is staggering from another spell cast by Balthazar, and loops of flame ring its head, blinding the giant.  It decides to flee the battle while it can, and stumbles away, but Merric and the others won’t let the final enemy escape.  Merric slashes the hill giant across the kneecap, drawing a splash of blood, and then runs forward in another daring acrobatic somersault to land on a rock.  The monster stumbles, clumsily swinging a tree trunk at the halfling, and just barely manages to clip his foot!  But the blow is insufficient to severely harm Merric, and the blow just spins him into an extra rotation as he lands on the bounder beside the wounded and whimpering hill giant.“BOW BEFORE MERRIC!” the halfing demands, pointing at the giant with his dagger as if it were a king’s scepter. [GM Note: This was by far the funniest part of the adventure and had us all rolling, but it might not translate well here just by reading it; had to be there].A couple of dice rolls later, and fear fills the giant’s eyes, flitting from the halfing to the approaching wizard to the flying genasi, to the ranger and to the swordmage…and its fat lips begin to tremble. “MERCY!” it bellows.  “Not kill me! AGH!”Merric smiles ear-to-ear as the hill giant grovels at his feet, and Merric raises his arms in victory.  <img src="http://www.zikadik.com/silverymoon/mission9.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" />Balthazar walks up beside the halfing, an expression of utter bewilderment on his face.  “You must be ******* joking,” the wizard snarls.  It was Balthazar who crushed the giant, not the halfling, but Merric enjoys taking credit anyway.  Balthazar looks disgusted.</blockquote>

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