hippiejedi2
First Post
aye +1 for dogtooth, and more helm of alignment changing shananigans
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NOW LIVE! Into the Woods--new character species, eerie monsters, and haunting villains to populate the woodlands of your D&D games.
Of Sound Mind the Halfling Way
- Thread starter the Jester
- Start date
the Jester
Legend
The Mining Operation
9 a.m.
A cold drizzle begins to spatter half-heartedly. Our heroes continue to travel along the island, looking for signs of anyone who might have the idol they are looking for for the ancestors that restored Naomi after the vampires energy drained her. Grulka, Chief Jawbreaker’s goblin wife, clutches his arm. Several members of the party have tried to make her take up arms, but she is frightened and Jawbreaker has told them to leave her alone. “She not have to fight,” he declares. “Jawbreaker fight for her.”
By elevensies the drizzle still can’t make up its mind. Then the party spots a pair of strange panther-like creatures with jagged, dangerous-looking tentacles protruding from their shoulders. The creatures start loping towards them, and the group readies for action, with Martini starting to fire his bow to whittle away at them from afar.
I am one with my bow, he thinks. Pull arrow, draw string, loose; a dance of finger and fletching and string. Pull, draw loose; pull, draw, loose.
He already has two arrows in the air when the first one passes harmlessly through the image of the creature.
The strange beasts reach the foremost of our heroes, Jawbreaker, with teeth-shattering force, knocking five of his teeth loose! “Aargh!” he shouts, staggering back with his face bloody. Then he pulls his axe out and attacks, swinging in wide arcs. He laughs through his throbbing mouth as he feels something to the left of where it appears to be. He chops at it again, but then the terrible beast bites him, its sharp teeth tearing open a nasty gut wound!*
Jawbreaker groans and staggers back, scrabbling for a potion.
Naomi, meanwhile, uses her psychic powers to harm the creatures as much as she can. She causes one to recall agony from the most painful experience it had ever had, and then blasts the target with a massive spray of jagged crystalline fragments. Even though it isn’t precisely where she sees it, her spray catches it and harms it. It shakes its head as blood starts to trickle from its ear and nose. With a snarl it springs away, towards Beau.
Timothy isn’t having much luck with the one he’s fighting. The monsters snarl and snap and lay about them with their muscular tentacles, but they don’t slow down when he tries to make them. Instead, one of them jumps at him and starts trying to slay him with those tentacles! The other one beats on Beau, and he stabs it; and when he tumbles away, Naomi blasts it with a mind thrust,leaving it barely standing. With no enemy directly before it, the tentacle-panther turns-
To Grulka.
“NO!!” cries Timothy. Martini zings an arrow towards it, hoping to distract it.
SMACK! The tentacle comes down across her head with alarming force, and Grulka’s neck snaps back at a dubious angle. Then, ironically, the black tentacled cat-beast staggers and collapses with a shudder.**
Jawbreaker quaffs the sweet-tasting potion and feels his insides begin to knit back together. The blood pouring from his mouth slows to a trickle; he spits a great bloody blob of phlegm out. He grips his axe in both hands, growls and bounds forward, intent on the kill.
Naomi’s mental powers are dealing terrific damage to the other panther-like beast. Beau, meantime, has managed to stab one of the monsters and tumble back away several times. It keeps advancing on him, but that’s okay. As long as he can stay a step ahead of it he should be okay. Thrust and tumble back again. Don’t stick around. But he does not expect its viciously swift counterattack. The monster’s tentacle tears across his side, and Beau stumbles. The creature jerks and yowls as another arrow from Martini sticks into it, this one landing deep in its neck. Then Beau thrusts forward, stabbing to the side of the cat thing’s visible image, and feels his small sword sink into something. With a grunt, he throws all his halfling weight into it, and the cat monster gives one last loud screeching yowl and collapses.
“Ow,” says Jawbreaker, spitting another bloody gob.
“Yeah,” Timothy answers, his voice full of sorrow. “Your wife...”
***
5/8/369 O.L.G., 1 p.m.
After holing up for most of two days while it storms, our heroes leave the cave they have rested in and head into the hills. They are saddened by the joint recent losses of Grulka and Dogtooth- alas! As they travel, Ethel, Federico’s dog, finds something interesting. Investigating, our heroes find a trail of droplets of some sort of amber colored liquid.
“What could it be?” wonders Sandy. Federico shrugs.
“Let’s find out,” says Naomi, and the group follows the trail of liquid. After about a mile, the party starts to hear a distant loud noise, a weird whirling, grinding sound. Puzzled and nervous, our heroes move carefully from cover to cover until their vantage reveals the source of the noise: a pair of large metal things, drilling and punching into the side of the hill. Pulverized rock is all around them. A veritable cloud of rubble and chips of stone and dirt is flying all around them. A weird, unnatural burning smell is in the air.
Ethel starts barking wildly. This, unfortunately, gets the monsters’ attention.
The whirling drill appendages on the first construct spin down and stop. It withdraws from the cave mouth and turns towards the barking, snarling dog. As the cloud of dust and debris quickly settles in the drizzle, it starts to advance. The second construct begins advancing, too, but instead of whirling drill appendages, it has a massive hammer and a great big pincer claw at its forebody.
Our heroes decide right away that these things are potentially dangerous. Arrows and crossbow bolts start zinging into the constructs, which prove unreliable; at several points they pause and don’t move for a few crucial seconds. Nonetheless, they reach and engage the halfling band, drilling and hammering at them. One of them proves able to let out an ear-shatteringly loud noise, but our heroes rapidly overcome the automatons. When Timothy slows them, Jawbreaker charges, shaking and frothing and screaming, and proceeds to hammer into the driller. “FOR DOGTOOTH!” he howls, and he hacks its central motor to pieces. Laughing harshly, the barbarian whirls and begins battering the hammerer. He dodges its slowed attempt at a counterattack, and then Timothy finishes it with a volley of magic missiles.
Once the constructs are dealt with, the band of halflings examines the dig site. It appears the constructs were following a vein of copper.
“Someone must have been controlling them,” Federico points out. “We should get out of here before they come to see what happened to their machines.” His little kobold tail is tucked between his legs.
“Dog’s right.” Sandy nods. “We should move off under cover somewhere.”
“Yeah, I think it’s time to eat,” says Beau.
***
5/9/369 O.L.G., 5 a.m., under cover on the lee side of a hill
Our heroes are awoken just before dawn by a strange beast that sprays them with acid. It’s not a very nice way to wake up, and after registering a lethal complaint with it our heroes get up. It’s nearly breakfast time anyway.
“Too bad we don’t have any coffee,” comments Naomi.
The party elects to spend the day resting and eating. They are somewhat wounded from the combination of digging automatons and acid-spewing monster, so they enjoy a still day, with a light rain in the afternoon. That seems to happen here most days, unless it’s raining heavily at the time.
***
5/10/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m.
After breaking camp, our heroes set out. They haven’t moved far when the sound of wolves baying reaches them- coming gradually closer.
“Uh-oh,” says Beau.
“Stupid wolves,” Jawbreaker snorts.
The group creeps to the top of a hill, from which they can see the mining site. They can see several groups of goblins, some of which look to include bugbears and hobgoblins, and most of which seem to include wolves. Worse, there is a huge hulking two-headed giant down there.
“Oh crap,” Sandy utters. “An ettin.”
Next Time: Hot pursuit!
*Two crits on the poor bastard in two rounds.
**Before it struck, the monster was at 0 hp. It attacked and killed Grulka, took 1 hp, and collapsed at -1.
9 a.m.
A cold drizzle begins to spatter half-heartedly. Our heroes continue to travel along the island, looking for signs of anyone who might have the idol they are looking for for the ancestors that restored Naomi after the vampires energy drained her. Grulka, Chief Jawbreaker’s goblin wife, clutches his arm. Several members of the party have tried to make her take up arms, but she is frightened and Jawbreaker has told them to leave her alone. “She not have to fight,” he declares. “Jawbreaker fight for her.”
By elevensies the drizzle still can’t make up its mind. Then the party spots a pair of strange panther-like creatures with jagged, dangerous-looking tentacles protruding from their shoulders. The creatures start loping towards them, and the group readies for action, with Martini starting to fire his bow to whittle away at them from afar.
I am one with my bow, he thinks. Pull arrow, draw string, loose; a dance of finger and fletching and string. Pull, draw loose; pull, draw, loose.
He already has two arrows in the air when the first one passes harmlessly through the image of the creature.
The strange beasts reach the foremost of our heroes, Jawbreaker, with teeth-shattering force, knocking five of his teeth loose! “Aargh!” he shouts, staggering back with his face bloody. Then he pulls his axe out and attacks, swinging in wide arcs. He laughs through his throbbing mouth as he feels something to the left of where it appears to be. He chops at it again, but then the terrible beast bites him, its sharp teeth tearing open a nasty gut wound!*
Jawbreaker groans and staggers back, scrabbling for a potion.
Naomi, meanwhile, uses her psychic powers to harm the creatures as much as she can. She causes one to recall agony from the most painful experience it had ever had, and then blasts the target with a massive spray of jagged crystalline fragments. Even though it isn’t precisely where she sees it, her spray catches it and harms it. It shakes its head as blood starts to trickle from its ear and nose. With a snarl it springs away, towards Beau.
Timothy isn’t having much luck with the one he’s fighting. The monsters snarl and snap and lay about them with their muscular tentacles, but they don’t slow down when he tries to make them. Instead, one of them jumps at him and starts trying to slay him with those tentacles! The other one beats on Beau, and he stabs it; and when he tumbles away, Naomi blasts it with a mind thrust,leaving it barely standing. With no enemy directly before it, the tentacle-panther turns-
To Grulka.
“NO!!” cries Timothy. Martini zings an arrow towards it, hoping to distract it.
SMACK! The tentacle comes down across her head with alarming force, and Grulka’s neck snaps back at a dubious angle. Then, ironically, the black tentacled cat-beast staggers and collapses with a shudder.**
Jawbreaker quaffs the sweet-tasting potion and feels his insides begin to knit back together. The blood pouring from his mouth slows to a trickle; he spits a great bloody blob of phlegm out. He grips his axe in both hands, growls and bounds forward, intent on the kill.
Naomi’s mental powers are dealing terrific damage to the other panther-like beast. Beau, meantime, has managed to stab one of the monsters and tumble back away several times. It keeps advancing on him, but that’s okay. As long as he can stay a step ahead of it he should be okay. Thrust and tumble back again. Don’t stick around. But he does not expect its viciously swift counterattack. The monster’s tentacle tears across his side, and Beau stumbles. The creature jerks and yowls as another arrow from Martini sticks into it, this one landing deep in its neck. Then Beau thrusts forward, stabbing to the side of the cat thing’s visible image, and feels his small sword sink into something. With a grunt, he throws all his halfling weight into it, and the cat monster gives one last loud screeching yowl and collapses.
“Ow,” says Jawbreaker, spitting another bloody gob.
“Yeah,” Timothy answers, his voice full of sorrow. “Your wife...”
***
5/8/369 O.L.G., 1 p.m.
After holing up for most of two days while it storms, our heroes leave the cave they have rested in and head into the hills. They are saddened by the joint recent losses of Grulka and Dogtooth- alas! As they travel, Ethel, Federico’s dog, finds something interesting. Investigating, our heroes find a trail of droplets of some sort of amber colored liquid.
“What could it be?” wonders Sandy. Federico shrugs.
“Let’s find out,” says Naomi, and the group follows the trail of liquid. After about a mile, the party starts to hear a distant loud noise, a weird whirling, grinding sound. Puzzled and nervous, our heroes move carefully from cover to cover until their vantage reveals the source of the noise: a pair of large metal things, drilling and punching into the side of the hill. Pulverized rock is all around them. A veritable cloud of rubble and chips of stone and dirt is flying all around them. A weird, unnatural burning smell is in the air.
Ethel starts barking wildly. This, unfortunately, gets the monsters’ attention.
The whirling drill appendages on the first construct spin down and stop. It withdraws from the cave mouth and turns towards the barking, snarling dog. As the cloud of dust and debris quickly settles in the drizzle, it starts to advance. The second construct begins advancing, too, but instead of whirling drill appendages, it has a massive hammer and a great big pincer claw at its forebody.
Our heroes decide right away that these things are potentially dangerous. Arrows and crossbow bolts start zinging into the constructs, which prove unreliable; at several points they pause and don’t move for a few crucial seconds. Nonetheless, they reach and engage the halfling band, drilling and hammering at them. One of them proves able to let out an ear-shatteringly loud noise, but our heroes rapidly overcome the automatons. When Timothy slows them, Jawbreaker charges, shaking and frothing and screaming, and proceeds to hammer into the driller. “FOR DOGTOOTH!” he howls, and he hacks its central motor to pieces. Laughing harshly, the barbarian whirls and begins battering the hammerer. He dodges its slowed attempt at a counterattack, and then Timothy finishes it with a volley of magic missiles.
Once the constructs are dealt with, the band of halflings examines the dig site. It appears the constructs were following a vein of copper.
“Someone must have been controlling them,” Federico points out. “We should get out of here before they come to see what happened to their machines.” His little kobold tail is tucked between his legs.
“Dog’s right.” Sandy nods. “We should move off under cover somewhere.”
“Yeah, I think it’s time to eat,” says Beau.
***
5/9/369 O.L.G., 5 a.m., under cover on the lee side of a hill
Our heroes are awoken just before dawn by a strange beast that sprays them with acid. It’s not a very nice way to wake up, and after registering a lethal complaint with it our heroes get up. It’s nearly breakfast time anyway.
“Too bad we don’t have any coffee,” comments Naomi.
The party elects to spend the day resting and eating. They are somewhat wounded from the combination of digging automatons and acid-spewing monster, so they enjoy a still day, with a light rain in the afternoon. That seems to happen here most days, unless it’s raining heavily at the time.
***
5/10/369 O.L.G., 9 a.m.
After breaking camp, our heroes set out. They haven’t moved far when the sound of wolves baying reaches them- coming gradually closer.
“Uh-oh,” says Beau.
“Stupid wolves,” Jawbreaker snorts.
The group creeps to the top of a hill, from which they can see the mining site. They can see several groups of goblins, some of which look to include bugbears and hobgoblins, and most of which seem to include wolves. Worse, there is a huge hulking two-headed giant down there.
“Oh crap,” Sandy utters. “An ettin.”
Next Time: Hot pursuit!
*Two crits on the poor bastard in two rounds.
**Before it struck, the monster was at 0 hp. It attacked and killed Grulka, took 1 hp, and collapsed at -1.
the Jester
Legend
I should mention at this point that I allowed Federico to pour 1000 xp into giving Ethel a single fighter level around this time. 
Ethel- dog, fighter 1!
Ethel- dog, fighter 1!
the Jester
Legend
Hot Pursuit
The ettin has two immense black-furred dire wolves leashed to ragged lengths of rope gathered in one of its hands. As the baying, howling noise increases the two-headed giant lets the ropes go. Its other head growls, “Too soon, stoopid!” in Giant.
”You da stoopid one,” the first head grunts.
“Shut up.”
”You shut up!”
Despite the argument between its heads, the ettin’s body keeps moving. The goblinoid patrols roaming about give it a little distance; a few goblins follow discretely, but all stay well out of the ettin’s reach. He crashes through the undergrowth, his heads shouting at each other, leaving a trampled path that the more cowardly goblins can follow with ease.
The wolves dart upslope.
***
“Let’s get out of here!” whispers Naomi urgently. The party of halflings starts retreating towards shelter. The sounds of barking pursuit are closing in on the top of the hill; our heroes hurry towards the shelter of the trees below, but they are too slow! The first black-furred form tops the hill and speeds down towards them, and in seconds the other dire wolf appears in hot pursuit.
“Here they come!” cries Beau, and he fires an arrow, sticking the first dire wolf in the neck. It coughs and yelps, but keeps coming. Sandy shoots the other one, but the creatures are huge. More arrows zing past the wolves, missing, and then a brown-furred form rushes forward, barking madly! Ethel makes her move, grabbing one of the wolves and tripping it. The sounds of barking dogs savage the air.
The wolf struggles to its feet and starts to advance, but Sandy has drawn forth his longspear, and he thrusts heavily into its face, and though its tough skull saves its life, it is momentarily stunned. Its brother wolf tears at Naomi, rending her thigh. She gasps in pain and drags herself back, bleeding heavily, and fires off a swarm of crystal to discourage the monstrous wolf.
Then, at the top, two voices exclaim in unison.
“Aw, crap,” cries Sandy, “it’s the ettin!”
Jawbreaker glares and sends an arrow at the two-headed giant, as does Beau; and the lumbering giant hurls javelins back at them while it advances. None of them hit. The ettin is closing fast, hurling another javelin at Jawbreaker and then pulling out a wicked spiked club. Jawbreaker casts aside his bow and draws his axe.
Sandy attempts to finish off the stunned wolf, but his sweaty hands slip and his spear turns in his hand, barely damaging the monster.*
Ethel, meanwhile, has turned to the defense of the retreating Naomi. She and the other wolf tear at paw and wrestle, barking and snarling and whining as fighting dogs do- but a whole lot moreso. Timothy steps up to it and rolls out a flaming sphere, and the wolf catches fire. It yelps and screams, and Naomi fires another swarm of crystals but misses. Then the flaming sphere rolls onto it again and it gives one last agonized howl.
The remaining wolf turns on Timothy and springs, but the pudgy, formerly-insane sorcerer is ready for it. He reaches out and touches it before it can quite reach him; and a loud ZZZOT! fills the air. The smell of ozone mixes with that of burning wolf. The canine gives a single yelp and collapses at Timothy’s feet.
“Don’t worry!” cries Timothy to the others. “I’ll protect you!”
“Jawbreaker not need protection!” shouts Chief Jawbreaker as he strikes the ettin a telling blow right between the necks. It staggers back, then jerks as Federico’s crossbow bolt sticks in it. It gives a roar and swings its two huge clubs at Jawbreaker, but he nimbly leaps over the first one and dodges past the second! Then the Chief is hacking at it again, its defenses barely allowing it to fend off his attack.
But while the ettin is focused on one threat, another moves in from behind it. One head cries out a warning, but it is too late. Ethel leaps in, grabbing the ettin by the throat in her toothy maw, savagely shaking the giant’s right neck until it flops loosely. The other head gives a great cry of dismay, and Ethel drags the giant down, not stopping until it is dead.
Panting, Sandy says, “Listen!”
The sound of baying is in the distance.
“Oh no,” moans Federico. “They’re gonna eat us! That’s what giants do to halflings, right? Oh, man!” He shakes and tucks his tail between his legs.
“We need to find somewhere to hide,” Sandy says.
“Or kill them all,” suggests Jawbreaker.
“There’s too many of them, and I think I saw a couple more of those ettins. And tons of goblins.” Naomi is ripping ragged strips from her blanket to bandage her bleeding thigh.
“Let’s get out of here,” Beau says, and the group continues their descent.
”There were caves all over the hills,” Naomi observes. She’s limping slightly as she hauls her bulk along. The sounds of pursuit are definitely getting closer as our heroes get under relative cover, with a thicker concentration of brush and grasses. This island, alas, is not a jungle.
“Most of them had guards out front,” Sandy says. “That may not be our best option.”
But our heroes find a cave without any guards fairly quickly; and they move just inside it. Watching carefully, they can see a group of goblins and wolves, and another ettin, coming towards them.
“The cave goes back a ways,” reports Federico from deeper within the cave system. “Hey, it smells funny back here.”
The party falls back a little bit, into the full darkness of the cave, and soon they see the first of the enemy arrive at the cave and stop. The number of the enemy keeps increasing over the course of a few minutes. Sandy gets increasingly uneasy as the opposition grows. I hope there’s a back way out of here, he thinks.
As if reading his mind, Federico whispers, “Let’s get the hell out of here. Come on.”
The party heads deeper into the cave.
Next Time: What lurks within the cave?
*Stunned dire wolf = +2d6 sneak attack for Sandy. Sadly, Sandy rolled absolutely terrible and dealt 4 hp of damage.
The ettin has two immense black-furred dire wolves leashed to ragged lengths of rope gathered in one of its hands. As the baying, howling noise increases the two-headed giant lets the ropes go. Its other head growls, “Too soon, stoopid!” in Giant.
”You da stoopid one,” the first head grunts.
“Shut up.”
”You shut up!”
Despite the argument between its heads, the ettin’s body keeps moving. The goblinoid patrols roaming about give it a little distance; a few goblins follow discretely, but all stay well out of the ettin’s reach. He crashes through the undergrowth, his heads shouting at each other, leaving a trampled path that the more cowardly goblins can follow with ease.
The wolves dart upslope.
***
“Let’s get out of here!” whispers Naomi urgently. The party of halflings starts retreating towards shelter. The sounds of barking pursuit are closing in on the top of the hill; our heroes hurry towards the shelter of the trees below, but they are too slow! The first black-furred form tops the hill and speeds down towards them, and in seconds the other dire wolf appears in hot pursuit.
“Here they come!” cries Beau, and he fires an arrow, sticking the first dire wolf in the neck. It coughs and yelps, but keeps coming. Sandy shoots the other one, but the creatures are huge. More arrows zing past the wolves, missing, and then a brown-furred form rushes forward, barking madly! Ethel makes her move, grabbing one of the wolves and tripping it. The sounds of barking dogs savage the air.
The wolf struggles to its feet and starts to advance, but Sandy has drawn forth his longspear, and he thrusts heavily into its face, and though its tough skull saves its life, it is momentarily stunned. Its brother wolf tears at Naomi, rending her thigh. She gasps in pain and drags herself back, bleeding heavily, and fires off a swarm of crystal to discourage the monstrous wolf.
Then, at the top, two voices exclaim in unison.
“Aw, crap,” cries Sandy, “it’s the ettin!”
Jawbreaker glares and sends an arrow at the two-headed giant, as does Beau; and the lumbering giant hurls javelins back at them while it advances. None of them hit. The ettin is closing fast, hurling another javelin at Jawbreaker and then pulling out a wicked spiked club. Jawbreaker casts aside his bow and draws his axe.
Sandy attempts to finish off the stunned wolf, but his sweaty hands slip and his spear turns in his hand, barely damaging the monster.*
Ethel, meanwhile, has turned to the defense of the retreating Naomi. She and the other wolf tear at paw and wrestle, barking and snarling and whining as fighting dogs do- but a whole lot moreso. Timothy steps up to it and rolls out a flaming sphere, and the wolf catches fire. It yelps and screams, and Naomi fires another swarm of crystals but misses. Then the flaming sphere rolls onto it again and it gives one last agonized howl.
The remaining wolf turns on Timothy and springs, but the pudgy, formerly-insane sorcerer is ready for it. He reaches out and touches it before it can quite reach him; and a loud ZZZOT! fills the air. The smell of ozone mixes with that of burning wolf. The canine gives a single yelp and collapses at Timothy’s feet.
“Don’t worry!” cries Timothy to the others. “I’ll protect you!”
“Jawbreaker not need protection!” shouts Chief Jawbreaker as he strikes the ettin a telling blow right between the necks. It staggers back, then jerks as Federico’s crossbow bolt sticks in it. It gives a roar and swings its two huge clubs at Jawbreaker, but he nimbly leaps over the first one and dodges past the second! Then the Chief is hacking at it again, its defenses barely allowing it to fend off his attack.
But while the ettin is focused on one threat, another moves in from behind it. One head cries out a warning, but it is too late. Ethel leaps in, grabbing the ettin by the throat in her toothy maw, savagely shaking the giant’s right neck until it flops loosely. The other head gives a great cry of dismay, and Ethel drags the giant down, not stopping until it is dead.
Panting, Sandy says, “Listen!”
The sound of baying is in the distance.
“Oh no,” moans Federico. “They’re gonna eat us! That’s what giants do to halflings, right? Oh, man!” He shakes and tucks his tail between his legs.
“We need to find somewhere to hide,” Sandy says.
“Or kill them all,” suggests Jawbreaker.
“There’s too many of them, and I think I saw a couple more of those ettins. And tons of goblins.” Naomi is ripping ragged strips from her blanket to bandage her bleeding thigh.
“Let’s get out of here,” Beau says, and the group continues their descent.
”There were caves all over the hills,” Naomi observes. She’s limping slightly as she hauls her bulk along. The sounds of pursuit are definitely getting closer as our heroes get under relative cover, with a thicker concentration of brush and grasses. This island, alas, is not a jungle.
“Most of them had guards out front,” Sandy says. “That may not be our best option.”
But our heroes find a cave without any guards fairly quickly; and they move just inside it. Watching carefully, they can see a group of goblins and wolves, and another ettin, coming towards them.
“The cave goes back a ways,” reports Federico from deeper within the cave system. “Hey, it smells funny back here.”
The party falls back a little bit, into the full darkness of the cave, and soon they see the first of the enemy arrive at the cave and stop. The number of the enemy keeps increasing over the course of a few minutes. Sandy gets increasingly uneasy as the opposition grows. I hope there’s a back way out of here, he thinks.
As if reading his mind, Federico whispers, “Let’s get the hell out of here. Come on.”
The party heads deeper into the cave.
Next Time: What lurks within the cave?
*Stunned dire wolf = +2d6 sneak attack for Sandy. Sadly, Sandy rolled absolutely terrible and dealt 4 hp of damage.
hippiejedi2
First Post
hey how bout updatiing us on the cast of characters and their respective levels.
thanks
thanks
the Jester
Legend
Sure! Our heroes, presently, are:
Timothy- sorcerer 6 (CG)
Federico- bard 3/sorcerer 2 (CG)
Naomi- psion 5 (LE)
Chief Jawbreaker- barbarian 5 (CG)
Sandy- fighter 2/rogue 4 (LE)
Beau- rogue 4/sorcerer 1 (CE)
Whisperclick- gnome rogue 2/monk 1 (LG)
Thelonious- human ranger 2/fighter 1 (NG)
Timothy- sorcerer 6 (CG)
Federico- bard 3/sorcerer 2 (CG)
Naomi- psion 5 (LE)
Chief Jawbreaker- barbarian 5 (CG)
Sandy- fighter 2/rogue 4 (LE)
Beau- rogue 4/sorcerer 1 (CE)
Whisperclick- gnome rogue 2/monk 1 (LG)
Thelonious- human ranger 2/fighter 1 (NG)
Last edited:
the Jester
Legend
Hot Pursuit, pt. II
“I don’t think they’re following,” Beau reports in hushed tones as our heroes stumble deeper into the darkness. The little light that trickles in from the entrance quickly fades into the background, and our heroes have no choice but to strike lights after they have rounded a few corners. Otherwise they risk too many injuries and extremely slow progress.
Our heroes clump together for a moment as torches catch and begin to burn. “We have to find another way out of here,” Sandy says urgently. “I don’t think we can expect to last long if those ettins catch us with our backs to a wall.”
Well, it’s obvious to them all that Sandy is dead right; so they hurry deeper into the blackness of the cave. A strange, animal scent fills the air. Suddenly Jawbreaker gives a cry of dismay and flails his arms wildly as something pulls him to the ceiling!
***
Outside the cave
“We will not go in there,” insists one of the hobgoblins. “Not unless you kill the cave monster first.”
The ettin that the hobgoblin is addressing exchanges glances with itself. “Told you,” says the head on the left, which is missing and eye.
“Stoopid,” the right head grunts.
“They right,” argues the left head. “Monster kill them in cave. Monster kills everything that goes into cave.”
“We watch and see,” commands the right head.
The hobgoblin nods. “Yes,” he answers immediately. “The Master would not like it if they got away.” He looks around and points at a cowering goblin. “You!” he barks. Reluctantly the goblin shuffles over, trying not to look at anything but his feet. “We will listen for a while, and then you will go quietly and see what has happened!”
The goblin groans, but can only obey.
When, after a moment, the sounds of battle begin to come from deep within the cave, both heads of the ettin cheer, as do the goblinoids. They start shouting encouragement to the monster within, not even caring whether it understands their tongue.
***
In the cave
Sandy feels a strange disorientation, and suddenly he’s spinning head over heels, falling. He shouts out in pain as he slams down into a collection of rocks. Shaking his head, he groans, “What happened?” He struggles to his feet and glances at the opening ahead of him-
Except for him and Jawbreaker, the party is walking upside down on the ceiling. “Hey!” shouts Sandy. “How are you-“
Ethel, Federico’s faithful dog, darts forward, suddenly barking. From behind them, towards the entrance, comes a sudden burst of cheers and shouts. Though they are relatively far off, they are loud and boisterous; clearly the party’s pursuers anticipate some blood here.
Why are they on the ceiling? wonders Sandy, then it slowly dawns on him. They aren’t- Jawbreaker and I are. Something... reversed gravity for us!
Meanwhile, below the befuddled Sandy, Timothy moves into the open area, his torch held high, and goggles at what he sees: a really big, happy-looking... raccoon thing. “Oh, an animal,” he sighs. I thought it might be a monster. But it and Ethel are snapping at each other, and Timothy knows that an animal disturbed in its lair is dangerous, so he casts slow upon it!
“Don’t worry, Ethel!” the sorcerer cries. “I’ll protect you!” He begins casting a flaming sphere.
Then the others are there, too, rushing in with spears, bows, and axe.
Suddenly Jawbreaker and Beau give out cries of dismay as they drop back to the floor. The impact shakes both of them a little, and they both shakily rise. Then it’s Timothy’s turn; the sorcerer yelps as he suddenly falls up and smashes into the ceiling, then immediately falls back to the ground, leaving him nearly senseless. Then Ethel receives similar treatment.
Meanwhile, the big raccoon thing is shrugging off magic missiles and, to some degree, blows. It bites at Ethel again, but the dog strikes back with furious power.* Jawbreaker rushes in and chops at it several times, cutting deep into the monster and splashing blood everywhere. Finally, as Sandy distracts it by stabbing it deeply in the side, Jawbreaker swings a mighty swing and cleanly decapitates it.
***
Outside the cave
“It’s over,” announces the hobgoblin confidently. “They must be dead.”
“We check,” the ettin’s right head insists stubbornly.
“But master, we heard what happened,” the goblin says timidly.
The left head frowns mightily, but the right head roars. The ettin’s right arm lifts up, and the goblin tries to run, but it’s too late. The club smashes his head like a zit. “WE CHECK!” the ettin roars.
“You!” the hobgoblin barks, gesturing to another goblin. “And you, you, you and you... and you!” He grins. The bugbear he just picked out has been a troublemaker for quite a while. It’s about time he had a lesson in who’s the boss around here.
“You go too,” the ettin snarls at the goblin shaman, whose face falls.
***
Inside the cave
“Maybe we can rest if they think it ate us,” murmurs Federico.
“Maybe they’ll come in after us,” counters Thelonious. He takes up position near the area where the cave begins opening up, an arrow to the string of his bow.
The party assesses their situation. It could be worse, as none of them are down yet; but almost all of them are wounded. Federico expends what limited healing ability he has; much of it goes to Ethel, who took the worst of it during the fight.
Perhaps the worst piece of news is the fact that the cave is a dead end.
It is just as they are laying down to rest, with Thelonious on watch, that the search party arrives. The human ranger yells a warning and fires his bow at the hulking bugbear in the rear, but he misses.
The bugbear turns to flee. Must report, he thinks, but then staggers as arrows and spears slam into him from behind, preventing his retreat.
But this group is about a half-dozen strong, and our heroes are wounded and tired, pushed near the edge of exhaustion. Whisperclick moves up to try to block the assault, but they tear into him with spears, and when he tries to tumble away he ends up nearly tripping and taking a heavy blow from the bugbear’s spear, which crashes entirely through his thigh and knocks him unconscious!
Even as the party strikes back, one of the goblins proves able to heal its fellows. Then it charges its hand with some sort of black energy and begins groping for a viable target. Our heroes try to back away from him.
“Someone help Whisperclick!” shouts Timothy, casting a flaming sphere into the fray. He directs it at the shaman. Then he creates a second one and sends it after the bugbear. Thelonious has fallen back but is landing shot after shot, dropping two of the goblins. Then they’re too close to him for archery, and he switches to his battle axe, hewing about him. He yelps as a javelin from the bugbear whizzes past him, narrowly missing, and he leaps towards the big goblinoid. With a grin, the bugbear strikes for him with a spear, but ironically enough its foot catches on the bleeding Whisperclick and throws its blow off.
Thelonious steps past the bugbear. “Die, witch!” he cries, and strikes the shaman, cutting a red ribbon across his arm. As the bugbear tries to turn on him, Beau darts in and stabs it.
Timothy, meanwhile, charges up a shocking grasp and soon he and the shaman are trying to touch each other while keeping the other from touching him- an interesting dance, to say the least. But it’s a dance that ends abruptly as Timothy pulls a flaming sphere onto the shaman again, catching him unawares are lighting him on fire. The shaman screams and runs about for a moment before collapsing unmoving to the ground.
Thelonious’ axe finishes the bugbear, and somewhere in there the other two goblins fell; and our heroes quickly tend to the bleeding Whisperclick. His life is saved, at least for the moment.
“We need to get out of here,” Federico whines.
“But they have to be guarding the entrance. Especially in the shape we’re in, we can’t take on two ettins!” Naomi sets her jaw. “We should rest.”
“They’ll just send in more goblins,” Sandy groans.
“What do we do?” moans Federico.
Next Time: What do our heroes do? Find out!
*Using her 1st-level fighter feat, Power Attack. Ah, yes: Ethel- dog fighter 1.
“I don’t think they’re following,” Beau reports in hushed tones as our heroes stumble deeper into the darkness. The little light that trickles in from the entrance quickly fades into the background, and our heroes have no choice but to strike lights after they have rounded a few corners. Otherwise they risk too many injuries and extremely slow progress.
Our heroes clump together for a moment as torches catch and begin to burn. “We have to find another way out of here,” Sandy says urgently. “I don’t think we can expect to last long if those ettins catch us with our backs to a wall.”
Well, it’s obvious to them all that Sandy is dead right; so they hurry deeper into the blackness of the cave. A strange, animal scent fills the air. Suddenly Jawbreaker gives a cry of dismay and flails his arms wildly as something pulls him to the ceiling!
***
Outside the cave
“We will not go in there,” insists one of the hobgoblins. “Not unless you kill the cave monster first.”
The ettin that the hobgoblin is addressing exchanges glances with itself. “Told you,” says the head on the left, which is missing and eye.
“Stoopid,” the right head grunts.
“They right,” argues the left head. “Monster kill them in cave. Monster kills everything that goes into cave.”
“We watch and see,” commands the right head.
The hobgoblin nods. “Yes,” he answers immediately. “The Master would not like it if they got away.” He looks around and points at a cowering goblin. “You!” he barks. Reluctantly the goblin shuffles over, trying not to look at anything but his feet. “We will listen for a while, and then you will go quietly and see what has happened!”
The goblin groans, but can only obey.
When, after a moment, the sounds of battle begin to come from deep within the cave, both heads of the ettin cheer, as do the goblinoids. They start shouting encouragement to the monster within, not even caring whether it understands their tongue.
***
In the cave
Sandy feels a strange disorientation, and suddenly he’s spinning head over heels, falling. He shouts out in pain as he slams down into a collection of rocks. Shaking his head, he groans, “What happened?” He struggles to his feet and glances at the opening ahead of him-
Except for him and Jawbreaker, the party is walking upside down on the ceiling. “Hey!” shouts Sandy. “How are you-“
Ethel, Federico’s faithful dog, darts forward, suddenly barking. From behind them, towards the entrance, comes a sudden burst of cheers and shouts. Though they are relatively far off, they are loud and boisterous; clearly the party’s pursuers anticipate some blood here.
Why are they on the ceiling? wonders Sandy, then it slowly dawns on him. They aren’t- Jawbreaker and I are. Something... reversed gravity for us!
Meanwhile, below the befuddled Sandy, Timothy moves into the open area, his torch held high, and goggles at what he sees: a really big, happy-looking... raccoon thing. “Oh, an animal,” he sighs. I thought it might be a monster. But it and Ethel are snapping at each other, and Timothy knows that an animal disturbed in its lair is dangerous, so he casts slow upon it!
“Don’t worry, Ethel!” the sorcerer cries. “I’ll protect you!” He begins casting a flaming sphere.
Then the others are there, too, rushing in with spears, bows, and axe.
Suddenly Jawbreaker and Beau give out cries of dismay as they drop back to the floor. The impact shakes both of them a little, and they both shakily rise. Then it’s Timothy’s turn; the sorcerer yelps as he suddenly falls up and smashes into the ceiling, then immediately falls back to the ground, leaving him nearly senseless. Then Ethel receives similar treatment.
Meanwhile, the big raccoon thing is shrugging off magic missiles and, to some degree, blows. It bites at Ethel again, but the dog strikes back with furious power.* Jawbreaker rushes in and chops at it several times, cutting deep into the monster and splashing blood everywhere. Finally, as Sandy distracts it by stabbing it deeply in the side, Jawbreaker swings a mighty swing and cleanly decapitates it.
***
Outside the cave
“It’s over,” announces the hobgoblin confidently. “They must be dead.”
“We check,” the ettin’s right head insists stubbornly.
“But master, we heard what happened,” the goblin says timidly.
The left head frowns mightily, but the right head roars. The ettin’s right arm lifts up, and the goblin tries to run, but it’s too late. The club smashes his head like a zit. “WE CHECK!” the ettin roars.
“You!” the hobgoblin barks, gesturing to another goblin. “And you, you, you and you... and you!” He grins. The bugbear he just picked out has been a troublemaker for quite a while. It’s about time he had a lesson in who’s the boss around here.
“You go too,” the ettin snarls at the goblin shaman, whose face falls.
***
Inside the cave
“Maybe we can rest if they think it ate us,” murmurs Federico.
“Maybe they’ll come in after us,” counters Thelonious. He takes up position near the area where the cave begins opening up, an arrow to the string of his bow.
The party assesses their situation. It could be worse, as none of them are down yet; but almost all of them are wounded. Federico expends what limited healing ability he has; much of it goes to Ethel, who took the worst of it during the fight.
Perhaps the worst piece of news is the fact that the cave is a dead end.
It is just as they are laying down to rest, with Thelonious on watch, that the search party arrives. The human ranger yells a warning and fires his bow at the hulking bugbear in the rear, but he misses.
The bugbear turns to flee. Must report, he thinks, but then staggers as arrows and spears slam into him from behind, preventing his retreat.
But this group is about a half-dozen strong, and our heroes are wounded and tired, pushed near the edge of exhaustion. Whisperclick moves up to try to block the assault, but they tear into him with spears, and when he tries to tumble away he ends up nearly tripping and taking a heavy blow from the bugbear’s spear, which crashes entirely through his thigh and knocks him unconscious!
Even as the party strikes back, one of the goblins proves able to heal its fellows. Then it charges its hand with some sort of black energy and begins groping for a viable target. Our heroes try to back away from him.
“Someone help Whisperclick!” shouts Timothy, casting a flaming sphere into the fray. He directs it at the shaman. Then he creates a second one and sends it after the bugbear. Thelonious has fallen back but is landing shot after shot, dropping two of the goblins. Then they’re too close to him for archery, and he switches to his battle axe, hewing about him. He yelps as a javelin from the bugbear whizzes past him, narrowly missing, and he leaps towards the big goblinoid. With a grin, the bugbear strikes for him with a spear, but ironically enough its foot catches on the bleeding Whisperclick and throws its blow off.
Thelonious steps past the bugbear. “Die, witch!” he cries, and strikes the shaman, cutting a red ribbon across his arm. As the bugbear tries to turn on him, Beau darts in and stabs it.
Timothy, meanwhile, charges up a shocking grasp and soon he and the shaman are trying to touch each other while keeping the other from touching him- an interesting dance, to say the least. But it’s a dance that ends abruptly as Timothy pulls a flaming sphere onto the shaman again, catching him unawares are lighting him on fire. The shaman screams and runs about for a moment before collapsing unmoving to the ground.
Thelonious’ axe finishes the bugbear, and somewhere in there the other two goblins fell; and our heroes quickly tend to the bleeding Whisperclick. His life is saved, at least for the moment.
“We need to get out of here,” Federico whines.
“But they have to be guarding the entrance. Especially in the shape we’re in, we can’t take on two ettins!” Naomi sets her jaw. “We should rest.”
“They’ll just send in more goblins,” Sandy groans.
“What do we do?” moans Federico.
Next Time: What do our heroes do? Find out!
*Using her 1st-level fighter feat, Power Attack. Ah, yes: Ethel- dog fighter 1.
the Jester
Legend
Hot Pursuit pt III
It’s dangerous, but it seems to be the least dangerous of a bunch of dangerous courses. It’s the only thing they can think of trying.
They wait a while, hoping that the other goblins, ettins and so forth will assume that the terrible gravity raccoon killed their fellows. Surely no band of halflings could be so deadly! Surely not! They must be dead!
They give it a couple of hours, then- made up to resemble goblins as best they can- our heroes creep to the edge of the cave, then out. It is being watched, but not very strictly. They manage to slink past the guards unnoticed.
Then, once they are under the cover of trees, our heroes move as quickly as they can, Whisperclick’s unconscious form thrown over Jawbreaker’s shoulders. They put some distance between themselves and the mass of goblinoids and worse searching for them; then Jawbreaker looks around until he finds a good hidden place, and our heroes settle in to rest.
Fortunately for them, the next day offers a thick fog that lays over the island, and none of the searchers even come close to them. They spend the day in frightened near-silence, resting and changing bandages and eating. They are not in good shape.
***
5/12/369 O.L.G., 1 p.m.
Two days of rest have done our heroes well. They move rapidly through the undergrowth. They have become somewhat lost during the pursuit, and really wouldn’t mind getting out of here at this point. The island’s inhabitants don’t seem to have given up the search for our heroes, but it has slacked off. Naomi is increasingly sure that the idol she must retrieve is in the hands of the island’s mysterious ‘master.’
If only she knew- the master doesn’t even have hands! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.
A pair of big, dark red lizards burst from the brush as our heroes travel. Immediately Thelonious fires a shot at one of them, hurting it. It hisses- and breathes out a great gout of flames on our heroes! The halflings shout in dismay, and one of the lizards darts in and bites Jawbreaker savagesly.
Thelonious, falling back, lands another arrow in the monster. “Watch out!” he shouts. “They’re regenerating!”
“Don’t worry, Jawbreaker, I’ll protect you!” cries Timothy, casting a slow spell that affects one of the creatures. Naomi blasts it with a swarm of crytals, and Jawbreaker swings. Both lizards snap at him, but the Chief parries one. The other tears a great chunk from his arm.
“Oh no, Chief Jawbreaker!” cries Timothy.
Jawbreaker shoves his axe into the face of the beast on him, knocking it back and dazing it senseless. Then he reverses it in a double-handed blow across the face. The lizard crumples- but Jawbreaker grunts in displeasure when he notes that it is still regenerating. He crushes its head beneath his axe, hoping that will be a lasting enough effect to stop the creature from returning. Sure enough, it no longer seems to be regenerating.
The other one lays about it with its razor-sharp teeth. Whisperclick stabs it in the neck and it turns on him, seizing him by the cranium with its mouth. The gnome gives out a startled cry and drops his weapon. His hands scrabble desperately at the massive jaw closing on his dome-
CRUNCH!
“Oh no, Whisperclick!” cries Timothy is horror. The rest of the gnomes body, pretty much everything from the earlobes down, collapses to the ground. The top of his body is a crimson mess.
The lizard croons in triumph as our horrified heroes stare for a moment. Then their paralysis breaks. With a yell, Timothy tries to touch the monster with a shocking grasp, but it jerks quickly away from his crackling hand. Ethel and Federico both hit it, the dog tearing at its ankles while the kobold launches a bolt into its chest. Beau tumbles in, shouting, “For Whisperclick! Dogtooth and Whisperclick!!” The monster is too quick for him, however, and bites his side viciously. The rogue almost passes out from the pain, but instead he sticks his blade up under the pit of its forearm. The monster squeals and jerks, then takes a huge bite out of Naomi.
ZZOT! Timothy’s shocking grasp lands at last, electrifying the beast. It howls, but it still stands.
“Die!” curses Jawbreaker, his axe rebounding from the monster’s hide. “DIE!! DIE!!!! RRRAAAGGHHH!!!!!!” He pounds at it ferociously, but he’s getting sloppy with anger. He misses.
Then, finally, Ethel gets it where it counts. Seizing its little lizard genital region, she drags it to the ground and tears out its throat. Its twitching stops.
The group looks over at the body of their friend, Whisperclick.
“It had to happen,” says Naomi soberly. “Grulka, Dogtooth, and Whisperclick. You know why, don’t you?” She looks at her friends.
“They weren’t haflings.”
Next Time: The infinite steak plot is hatched! More hot pursuit! The fight my players called ‘the Alamo!’
It’s dangerous, but it seems to be the least dangerous of a bunch of dangerous courses. It’s the only thing they can think of trying.
They wait a while, hoping that the other goblins, ettins and so forth will assume that the terrible gravity raccoon killed their fellows. Surely no band of halflings could be so deadly! Surely not! They must be dead!
They give it a couple of hours, then- made up to resemble goblins as best they can- our heroes creep to the edge of the cave, then out. It is being watched, but not very strictly. They manage to slink past the guards unnoticed.
Then, once they are under the cover of trees, our heroes move as quickly as they can, Whisperclick’s unconscious form thrown over Jawbreaker’s shoulders. They put some distance between themselves and the mass of goblinoids and worse searching for them; then Jawbreaker looks around until he finds a good hidden place, and our heroes settle in to rest.
Fortunately for them, the next day offers a thick fog that lays over the island, and none of the searchers even come close to them. They spend the day in frightened near-silence, resting and changing bandages and eating. They are not in good shape.
***
5/12/369 O.L.G., 1 p.m.
Two days of rest have done our heroes well. They move rapidly through the undergrowth. They have become somewhat lost during the pursuit, and really wouldn’t mind getting out of here at this point. The island’s inhabitants don’t seem to have given up the search for our heroes, but it has slacked off. Naomi is increasingly sure that the idol she must retrieve is in the hands of the island’s mysterious ‘master.’
If only she knew- the master doesn’t even have hands! But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here.
A pair of big, dark red lizards burst from the brush as our heroes travel. Immediately Thelonious fires a shot at one of them, hurting it. It hisses- and breathes out a great gout of flames on our heroes! The halflings shout in dismay, and one of the lizards darts in and bites Jawbreaker savagesly.
Thelonious, falling back, lands another arrow in the monster. “Watch out!” he shouts. “They’re regenerating!”
“Don’t worry, Jawbreaker, I’ll protect you!” cries Timothy, casting a slow spell that affects one of the creatures. Naomi blasts it with a swarm of crytals, and Jawbreaker swings. Both lizards snap at him, but the Chief parries one. The other tears a great chunk from his arm.
“Oh no, Chief Jawbreaker!” cries Timothy.
Jawbreaker shoves his axe into the face of the beast on him, knocking it back and dazing it senseless. Then he reverses it in a double-handed blow across the face. The lizard crumples- but Jawbreaker grunts in displeasure when he notes that it is still regenerating. He crushes its head beneath his axe, hoping that will be a lasting enough effect to stop the creature from returning. Sure enough, it no longer seems to be regenerating.
The other one lays about it with its razor-sharp teeth. Whisperclick stabs it in the neck and it turns on him, seizing him by the cranium with its mouth. The gnome gives out a startled cry and drops his weapon. His hands scrabble desperately at the massive jaw closing on his dome-
CRUNCH!
“Oh no, Whisperclick!” cries Timothy is horror. The rest of the gnomes body, pretty much everything from the earlobes down, collapses to the ground. The top of his body is a crimson mess.
The lizard croons in triumph as our horrified heroes stare for a moment. Then their paralysis breaks. With a yell, Timothy tries to touch the monster with a shocking grasp, but it jerks quickly away from his crackling hand. Ethel and Federico both hit it, the dog tearing at its ankles while the kobold launches a bolt into its chest. Beau tumbles in, shouting, “For Whisperclick! Dogtooth and Whisperclick!!” The monster is too quick for him, however, and bites his side viciously. The rogue almost passes out from the pain, but instead he sticks his blade up under the pit of its forearm. The monster squeals and jerks, then takes a huge bite out of Naomi.
ZZOT! Timothy’s shocking grasp lands at last, electrifying the beast. It howls, but it still stands.
“Die!” curses Jawbreaker, his axe rebounding from the monster’s hide. “DIE!! DIE!!!! RRRAAAGGHHH!!!!!!” He pounds at it ferociously, but he’s getting sloppy with anger. He misses.
Then, finally, Ethel gets it where it counts. Seizing its little lizard genital region, she drags it to the ground and tears out its throat. Its twitching stops.
The group looks over at the body of their friend, Whisperclick.
“It had to happen,” says Naomi soberly. “Grulka, Dogtooth, and Whisperclick. You know why, don’t you?” She looks at her friends.
“They weren’t haflings.”
Next Time: The infinite steak plot is hatched! More hot pursuit! The fight my players called ‘the Alamo!’
hippiejedi2
First Post
can anyone say regenerating candy golem
Last edited:
hippiejedi2
First Post
the fight in the cave was a desperate situation. the party was beaten down and low on spells, but so were the badguys. the last 2 bad guys, the bugbear & clerical goblin, were attempting to retreat, obviously, to get reinforcements. beau, seeing the gnome fall in addition to the former decided that the best opportunity to survive was to cut off the badguys retreat, hence limiting the likely number of badguys they would have to fight. beau accomplished this by taking a 2x move w/ tumble too stifle their retreat by getting in front of them. then the only option left to the badguys was to go through him, which turned out to be their downfall as beau's fellow party members caught up, though beau was not the one to deliver the final blow he prevented disaster.
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