Copperheads: Betrayal and Strange Runes and Burning Dead, oh my (short update 02/12)

[arwink]

Friday, August 25th, 508 AF, continued

Geoffrey, Halgo and Blarth rush into the room, Yip's screams echoing through their ears. The swift-footed kobold is in trouble, his small frame bending unnaturally between the tangled mass of bones of the undead creature that grasps him. Geoffrey stands forward, the holy symbol of St Cuthbert held high before him.

"Release him," he commands. He can feel the power of St Cuthbert flowing through him, the holy energy reaching out to repell the undead creature. It doesn't succeed. The creature seems to scuttle from side to side, drawing short Yip's of pain from the entangled kobold, but doesn't flee.

Blarth takes a much more direct approach to the problem of freeing Yip. He raises his sword high and chargers, an incomprehensible roar of anger echoing throughout the chamber. It connects with a blow that would drop any ordinary human, but seems to do little beyond shearing away a small section of bone on the creature.

Halgo alone chooses to ignore the undead beast, focusing his attention on the lizard creature and the strange holy symbold he's waving in the air. The dwarf lets loose with a daze cantrip, refined and empowered with all the strength and skill his training has provided him. The lizard creature's eyes glaze slightly, its lips slacken for but a second, but it seems to fight off the worst of the effects.

In retaliation, the Tamalruk mutters a series of words in his sillibant tongue and points at Geoffrey's holy symbol. Dark energy pulses from the symbol, hairline cracks starting to form along its surface, but Geoffrey offers a silent prayer to St Cuthbert and throws off the effect by sheer force of will. Tanaruk hisses angrily.

THe bonetangle lurches closer to Blarth, trying to envelope the half-orc in its skeletal embrace. Blarth's snarl of rage turns into one of surprise as the squat, wide creature shoots out a third arm to join the two weaving around him. Sharp claws rake at his arms, but Blarth is simply two heavy and aggressive to be easily embraced. He lashes out with his sword again, watching the small chips of bone and gristle fly where his sword strikes the body. Throughout it all he can hear the small yips of pain from Yip as his limbs twist and break inside the bonetangles body. There's a faintly electric tingle in the air as Geoffrey attempts to turn the bonetangle again, but once again this fails to stop the creature.

"Help Yip," Yip whimpers, a soft cry that barely seems to rise above the din of Tanaruk and Halgo's spellcasting. Blarth and Geoffrey both lash out, chipping away with sword and mace, but the bonetangle is still standing after their assult. The creature lurches sideways, and a sharp snap echoes accross the chamber.

"Yip's dead," Geoffrey yells to the others. "I think that was his neck."

 

[Durhon]

Quick... someone cast "Raise new Yip"!!!

 

[Lela]

You truely evoked pity arwink. The muffled "Help Yip" sqeak was wonderful.

I hope the new Yip will be just as fun as the last. Perhaps you could recomend one that's more of a rebel. You know, he doesn't like to take guff from others and he was sent to you guys to avoid poisening the other Kobalds.

With a survival instinct, he could live quite a bit longer than the last ones.

 

[Durhon]

Senior Blarths character sheet is now online.

Blath Link

 

[Capellan]

Senior Blarths character sheet is now online.

Note that the sheet is for 4th level, and at the time of the fight above, Blarth was 1st. This should give you an idea of how far behind on this story hour young arwink really is . Not that CotRE's any better, mind you.

Here are Geoffrey and Halgo

 

[incognito]

Awwww...I liked Yip (my 2nd fav character!)

Hope another yip is forthcoming...from the yip factory.

Q for the players - Did you guys, roll or use a point buy for the ability score genetation?

 

[Capellan]

Q for the players - Did you guys, roll or use a point buy for the ability score genetation?

Roll. The standard 4d6, drop the lowest, arrange to taste.

 

[Durhon]

Geez I seem to have scored all the nifty magic items of late. You guys will have to even up.. you have the pick of the choice!!!

BTW Disregard the gold on my character sheet. Forgot to put down the real figure thanks to a PC Gen fault.

Q for the players - Did you guys, roll or use a point buy for the ability score genetation?

Yar, the method mentioned above. Blarth got an 18 but lucked out in other departments. (sounds a bit suss doesn't it!! LOL)

 

[arwink]

Awwww...I liked Yip (my 2nd fav character!)

Hope another yip is forthcoming...from the yip factory.

Q for the players - Did you guys, roll or use a point buy for the ability score genetation?

Yep, there's another Yip around the bend, but first we get a visit from Thrash, punk-ranger and the first real use I found for stuff from the Book of Vile Darkness.

As a general rule, I prefer rolling. A lot of the arguements for point buy don't really wash with me. Warwind (from the Mega-module SH) has a phenomenal set of stats, but doesn't really do well because of them. I've also seen low stat characters overcome or overshadow PC's of much greater power through clever play.

 

[arwink]

Friday, August 25th, 508 AF, continued

The Cleric of St Cuthbert charges forward, bludgeoning the bonetangle with his mace. There's a another sharp crack, and this time bone shards fly through the air. THe bonetangle's limbs flail at Geoffrey, but he batters them aside with shield and weapon. He hammers the creature again, reducing the creature to rubble.

"Get the lizard," he mutters to Blarth. There's a hiss as Halgo fires a crossbow bolt through the air, then Blarth bounds accross the room with his sword raised high. Tanaruk blanches as the snarling half-orc approaches, quickly muttering a quick prayer to his god. Black energy crackles accross his claws and he reaches out to touch Blarth as he comes within reach. The lizard creatures touch wracks the half-orc with pain, the black energy seeming to draw his very life-force from his body. Blarth grunts in pain, then lashes out with his sword. He catches Tanaruk in the chest, and the creature hisses softly as it slides off the blade and hits the ground.

"It dead?" Halgo asks. Blarth removes his sword and stabs the corpse a few times to be sure.

Geoffrey pulls the remains of Yip from the tangled bones of the undead creature. The kobold is mangled, his limbs jutting at strange angles and his head lolling to one side. With a grave look, Geoffrey lays the corpse flat on the ground and says a solemn prayer to St Cuthbert to ward the kobolds soul. There's the faint traces of sadness on the clerics features.

"He did his duty," Halgo reminds him.
Geoffrey sighs. "You know, when they first told me about the Yips, it all sounded foolish. I was getting used to having him around though. He did his duty well"

Blarth hobbles over, his slime-ravaged leg and the scared imprint of Tanaruk's claw suddenly painful now the adrenaline has worn off.
"Found this on corpse," he says. He holds out a copper club bearing the symbol of Erythnul on its surface, as well as a copper pendant of a lizards head.

"A beast god," Halgo spits as he sees the symbol. "Not a good sign."
Geoffrey just nods, more focused on examining the blackened scar on Blarth's chest.

"This doesn't look good," he explains. "I don't have the power to heal you, and you're already slowed down with your leg."
"Blarth fine. Blarth not puny."
"No, you're not. But you are hurt, and we've already lost Yip. I think it's time we sent you back to town. The Clerics at the temple can heal you, and you can rejoin us in less than a day."
Blarth snarls unhappily.
"What you do while Blarth gone?"
Geoffrey looks at Halgo, eyebrows raised in questioning.
"We'll stay here," Halgo says with a nod. "Find us some muscle in town, someone not-puny, and get the church to send them down after us. We'll explore this room and camp, then try and find out what's going on above tomorrow."
Geoffrey notices Blarths scowl as he listens to the plan.
"We promise not to fight anything but puny creatures until the Brothers have you healed," he promises.

Blarth grumbles, but eventually he's convinced of the legitimacy of the plan. It takes some doing to get the wounded half-orc and Yip's corpse back up the rope, but eventually they send him on his way.

"Think he'll remember to send us help?" Geoffrey asks as they watch him leave.
"Blarth, remember to send us help," Halgo says. In the distance, they hear a half-orc screaming "Okay."
"Magic earing," Halgo reminds Geoffrey. "He remembers, or we make his life a missery for the next few hours."
Geoffrey grins.
"Right," he says. "Let's go explore that chamber and get some sleep."

He pauses for a few minutes, looking thoughtful.

"And if we say his name every couple of minutes, then shut up for five seconds, I think we could pass the time until help comes."