NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 2838732" data-attributes="member: 1210">Our heroes move quietly into position near the archway that the Tydonians are using to move their troops into Kamenda.  There are only a few guards, notes Dahlia.  Why?  Why don’t they have hundreds of troops guarding it now?  That cook we found said there were thousands on the other side- why not move more of them here?  There must be a reason... but what?From beneath the great willow tree’s drooping branches, sounds drift out.  The Tydonians are joking amongst themselves, laughing and talking like all soldiers do when not expecting trouble.  They aren’t too concerned about their friends, thinks the hermit.  They must be confident in themselves.Me begins creeping forward quietly, a feral grin on his face.  The few sounds he does make are masked by the combination of swamp insects buzzing, the burbling and dripping of water and the laughter of the Tydonians themselves.  The rest of the party slinks after him, staying low to the ground, attempting to be as stealthy as possible.  At first all is well, and our heroes close the distance.  They are almost at the outer perimeter of the camp when there is a cry from the willow.  And then, almost instantly, the battle is joined!  Arrows whiz out from beneath the concealment of the leaves, and a strange chanting fills the air.“They have a wizard!” screams Kyle, naked fear in his voice.  Then he gives an incoherent cry as he feels magic stealing over his body, slowing him.  He looks at Goer, who is suddenly moving as if he was walking through water and not air, and groans.  The apprentice wizard begins falling (slowly) back.  “Master, help!” he wails.At the front, though, Me puts on a burst of speed, attempting to tumble past a pair of the Tydonians.  They are skilled enough to land darting blows on him, however!*  He growls like a bear, but he’s focused on the wizard.  He ignores the Tydonians that slice and stab at him, viewing them only as obstacles attempting to prevent him from taking out his chosen target, and suddenly he has managed to get right in front of the spellcaster.  A single mighty blow from the barbarian scout cleaves the head off the shoulders of the wizard!  The decapitated corpse collapses to the ground, but Me is already frantically defending himself as the Tydonian warriors leap to the attack, jabbering angrily in their tongue.  He no longer views the wizards’ guards as mere obstacles, for he is suddenly fighting for his life!A crack of lightning descends from the sky, however, damaging one of Me’s assailants.  From a short distance away, Dahlia watches and smiles grimly.  She will do her part; the elements are at her command!  Meanwhile, the Tydonian archers, cleverly stationed on perches in the tree, launch a volley of arrows.  One pierces Sir Cedric’s epaulet, wounding him.  He yells, “By the power of my pinky finger!!” and blunders forward, swiftly cutting one of the archers down with a few blows of his sword.  Colder fires his crossbow over and over to support his friends.  Most of his shots miss, and he growls in frustration as he winds the crank back and slips another quarrel home.  Finally, one of his shots lands true, sticking a Tydonian champion in the leg.  In the front of the action, Me aims a tremendous backhand slash at one of his attackers.  There is a spray of crimson and the man’s body spins back and to the ground.  Then Me tumbles away, with more success than he had when he initially tumbled into the fray.  Goer, slowed by the wizard, ponderously moves to do battle with one of the enemy.  Even though his blows move less swiftly than they should, the man finds himself pressed back, then wounded, and then finally cut to the bone and bleeding to death.  He collapses and Goer turns to charge the next closest enemy.From their perches, the archers have identified Dahlia as the source of the lightning.  They start firing at her.  She begins moving towards them, presenting the most difficult target she can by dashing back and forth, and draws her scimitar.  One of the Tydonian swordsmen charges at her, and they begin dueling.  She squawks at the strength in her foe’s arm, and Sir Cedric, having overcome his opponent, moves to aid her.That is when the hidden halfling strikes, flanking Cedric and stabbing him in the back.  “Aargh!” the knight cries in pain.  “Mithcreant!  I thall thtrike you down!!”  He swings around to face the halfling who, until now, no-one had seen.  But then the Tydonian champion facing Dahlia aims a grim blow at the wounded Cedric, hoping to take him out of the fight, and deals him another wound.  Sir Cedric grunts angrily and turns back to him, blood covering his torso.  With a mighty blow he finishes the Tydonian.  Then Me tumbles up and, in another of his spectacular displays of puissance, hews open the halfling’s chest in but a single blow!  A great gout of crimson washes over him and stains the marsh grasses around.Dahlia blasts one of the archers in the tree with one of her called lightning blasts, and he screams, falls out of the tree and breaks his neck.**  Then there is only one archer left.  He drops from the tree, hoping to flee, but both Sir Cedric and Me are close enough to swing on him.  Only the greatest luck in the world could save him from these two mighty (albeit badly wounded) warriors.  He does not have it. For a few moments our heroes remain on guard, looking for other threats.  None of the enemy survived; none fled successfully.  They have done it!  They have secured the archway!  As the night insects of the swamp begin to congregate to feast on spilled blood and hewn flesh, the party slowly relaxes.And so they turn their attention to it.  The archway itself is big enough for three men to march through abreast.  It appears to be very old, shaped of stone.  It is worn smooth, with no signs of decoration or ornamentation.  “We mutht dethtroy it,” declares Sir Cedric.Me smiles and flexes. ***Flee!It’s very late by the time Me is done.  The party’s attack took place deep in the night, of course.  The party has no doubt that, at some point, someone will notice that the portal has been destroyed and its guards dealt with.  They have no intention of sticking around to see what happens then.  The Tydonians are- should be- cut off.  Now the party’s goal is to report the news.  Then, with luck, the invading army will either withdraw or be lured into a costly siege.We’ve done it! Goer thinks with a thrill.  We’ve as good as beaten them!The party moves about an hour away from the Tydonian site after destroying the altar.  Dahlia turns into a mangrove tree, and the others camp beneath her roots.  The swamp buzzes with mosquitoes and the strange sounds of frogs and night-birds haunt our heroes’ exhausted sleep. They set watches, of course, and hear distant shouts in the dark- but far enough behind them that they can rest, never coming close enough for them to feel in imminent danger.  After several hours of fitful sleep, the party moves on.  Soon, as the morning brightens, they break out of the dipper and onto the plains, and then it’s just a matter of moving as quickly as they can to get back to Kamenda City.  The Tydonian forces, across the river, appear to be beginning to fall back.Our heroes grin.  Word must have reached the main Tydonian force.  They really did do it!  They have broken the back of the invasion!Colder offers to run ahead with news of their victory, but wiser heads prevail and he agrees to simply ride with the others.  Were he to run into a Tydonian patrol, he could be captured.  “They may not know they don’t have any reinforcements coming,” Otis says, “but if they torture you they could find out.”But our heroes return to Kamenda City unmolested.  They report in to Sir Martin, Sir Gygax and the baron, who grin at them upon hearing their report.  “Well done!” declares Sir Martin.  “Now, you all look exhausted.  You should get something to eat and some rest.”  Grimly, he adds, “And we’ll be harassing the Tydonians while you do it.”Our heroes are exhausted.  They can’t help but agree to his suggestion.  A meal, some heavy drinking (especially for Sir Cedric) and some rest are in order.Sweet sweet sleep.Next Time: Rewards!  A baby!  And don’t we have a New Year’s Eve appointment with a black magic cult?  *We use the countertumbling option from Sword & Fist- if you have ranks in Tumble, you may make an opposed roll against someone’s tumble check to get past (or through) your square without taking an AoO.  If you succeed, you get your attack of opportunity after all.**The call lightning bolt knocked him below 0 (knocking him out).  The falling damage finished him off.</blockquote>

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