Session #26 (part II)
The party ran as fast as they could, their boots crunching loudly on the frost-covered snow that sparkled up at them in the mid-day sun. Soon, Beorth and Kazrack began to fall behind, so Ratchis adjusted his speed to match them. Kwa leapt about them barking happily, not realizing the great danger they were all fleeing from.
“Let’s try to get to the house!” Kazrack called to the others. “Keep running! Don’t look back!”
The ruin bobbed up and down in their field of vision, getting ever closer, but spying over his shoulder Ratchis saw the winged form was approaching with greater speed.
“If it gets too close be ready with missile weapons,” Ratchis cried out, he fumbled for his heavy crossbow on his back while he ran.
And on they ran. Jana made it to the embankment first and pumped her legs with all her might to get up to the shelter of the ruined walls. Martin was right behind her, but Jeremy’s wind gave out and he began to slow, allowing Beorth, Kazrack and Ratchis to catch up.
Ratchis stole another look, as he was not working as hard to keep up his speed as the others were. He could see the huge form more clearly now. It had a huge leonine body covered in a bronze and black fur, long bat-like black leathery wings. It had a large human face with a black beard streaked with rust, but a mouth full of jagged teeth. Above its body, its tail was full of long spines.
“It’s not a dragon,” Ratchis cried. “I think it’s a manticore!”
“A what?” cried Kazrack.
Jana made her way to what looked like it had once been an outer building and turned, and watched as the monster flew in lower, now only eighty feet behind her companions. She pulled out her crossbow and began to load it.
“Try and find a spot with some roof left,” Kazrack suggested, as he finally got to the embankment, running even with Jeremy who scrambled up. Martin also began to load his crossbow. He stood separated from Jana by sharp rubble on the ground, his back to a crumbling wall. Kazrack stopped at the top of the embankment, while Beorth ran past and stood beside Martin. Ratchis climbed to the right, and placed his back to the wall of the outer building Jana took some cover by. Jeremy hustled to the corner of the outer building and turned. Kwa stood beside Ratchis, barking nervously at the manticore.
Ratchis leaned over to Kazrack and laying a hand on the dwarf’s shoulder said, “Nephthys, please lend your divine strength to this dwarf so that he may aid me in the fight for freedom.” Meanwhile, Kazrack was petitioning Rivkinal (107) to lend him her protection against evil, but casting spells with his broken arm was difficult and the pain broke his concentration (108).
Beorth called to Anubis to infuse his sword with divine energy to better defend himself against the approaching monstrousity.
Martin stepped back in a space between two crumbling walls, the area behind him littered with wooden beams and shingles, and fired his crossbow at the thing, but the bolt went wide of it.
“Are manticores evil?” Kazrack asked.
“From what I’ve heard, I think so,” replied Ratchis.
“They eat people,” Martin called out.
”So do bears,” replied Kazrack.
Martin groaned, as Jeremy prepared his own crossbow.
The manticore slowed its progress and gained some height, its tail whipping around wildly. The cold air swirled around him and his wings buffeted a strange sulfur smell from its hide. It’s eyes were bright red circled with black.
“Watch-mage!” It cried in a deep and inhuman voice that seemed to reverberate in their heads. “Give yourself up and the others may live.”
In reply, Jana let a crossbow bolt fly, but as it struck the creature it seemed to disintegrate into a puff of acrid smoke with no effect.
“But, I don’t want to give myself up,” Martin said softly.
“Martin, get cover!” Kazrack said, and moved back to shield his wizard companion while successfully calling his gods’ blessing on his light flail (which he was force to use in his off-hand).
“Nephthys, Bless my weapon that I may affect this foul beast that has been sent from the deepest pits of hell!” Ratchis called out, channeling his goddess’ power into his hammer.
“You have three seconds to comply,” the manticore intoned. It snapped its wings and gained a bit more height and came forward some more.
“Help!” cried Martin and dashed behind the partially roofed ruin of the small outer building for cover.
Jeremy fired his cross bow at the thing, but the shot was too low to strike the thing.
Jana made ready to run if it got closer, but instead it turned slightly to the right and its tail whipped in their direction.
“My patience is done with,” it said, and as it whipped it tail six long spikes like thick metallic insect hairs came down in a flurry.
One of the spikes went flying at Kwa, but the dog leapt towards Ratchis and the thing embedded itself in the wall behind the dog instead. Ratchis ducked, and hear the crack of stone as one of the spikes struck behind him. Kazrack was not as lucky, moving out of the reach of one, just to have another puncture his chain shirt at the shoulder painfully, sending blood to pour down his left arm. Beorth leapt awkwardly to avoid the things, but only managed to insure that he was hit by two, one in the hip and one in the thigh. The paladin could feel his leg going numb, but was immediately moving feeling it begin to throb again as he join Martin under the cover the partially collapsed roof.
“Get cover! It is going to pepper us from a distance!” Kazrack cried, with a curse. “Foul creature!”
Beorth lay his hands upon his injured leg and said solemnly, “Father Anubis, lend me you aid,” and he felt the healing warmth move through him.
Ratchis ran around the corner of the crumbling wall and lay a hand on Kazrack calling for Nephthys to cure him, while Kwa ran leaping over the rubble deeper into the ruin of what they could now see was once a fine and large house at one time. Kazrack slammed into Ratchis trying to push him by force under cover, but the hulking half-orc did not budge.
Jeremy stepped away from the wall he was near and fired his crossbow again. This time there was the slightest spurt of ichor from the thing as the bolt disappeared into a puff of smoke.
The thing began to fly past them from above and to the right.
“Your life and death mean nothing to me, but your suffering, that will bring me pleasure,” it said in its inhuman voice.
As it swooped over them, its tail moving to fling spikes down and into the sheltered area, Martin stepped forward and cast a spray of swirling colors at it, but it had not effect. Jana followed suit with her word of blindness, but she found her spell blocked before it even touched the thing. (109)
“Nephthys, hide us!” Ratchis cried out and brought down an obscuring mist that blocked their view of the entire area, including the monster.
They heard the distinct snap of the manticore’s leathery wings as it pulled away. The party all waited in breathless silence for a moment, listening, and keeping their weapons at the ready.
After a minute, they relaxed a bit. Jeremy began to make his way towards the others by following the wall and the sound of their whispering voices.
“I don’t have a ranged weapon, so the only way I can fight this thing is if is comes down,” said Kazrack, frustrated.
“Martin,” Beorth whispered into the mist. “Why does this thing want with you?”
“Don’t ask me!” Martin said, his voice filled with fear. “I’ve never seen it before.”
Kwa began to whine as he sniffed and made his way to Ratchis, who patted his head and cooed to calm the dog.
“Martin, perhaps if you summon strong winds you can knock it to the ground where we can all attack it,” suggested Kazrack.
“I cannot do that,” said Martin, annoyed.
“Oh,” replied the dwarf and went back to thinking.
“Hey, what’s going on?” Jeremy asked, coming around the wall and feeling ahead of him for which what to go.
“Get under here!” called Kazrack.
“Under where?” Jeremy said.
“Come towards my voice,” Kazrack said. “We have a roof over our head.”
“Did you do this?” Jeremy asked the dwarf, motioning to the mist that obscured the very motioning he made.
“Make what?” asked Kazrack.
“All this,” Jeremy repeated his gesture.
“I made it,” Ratchis said, flatly.
Jana passed her loaded crossbow to Beorth.
Again, they listened. The mist swirled in patterns of gray dispersing slowly in the occasional whispers of wind.
And they waited and waited, and finally a few minutes that seemed like an eternity later the mist dissipated.
They all looked around frantically for signs of the monster.
“Martin,” Kazrack hissed. “See if Thomas can smell it coming.”
“Thomas, can you smell it?” Martin asked his familiar.
“No,” Thomas chittered. “The wind isn’t right.”
Suddenly, there was the snap of leathery wings as the thing came swooping down towards them from the left, between the crumbling outer wall of the house, and the partially collapsed outer building most of the party was trying to hide in. It was coming in about twelve feet off the ground, and Ratchis roared and charged it, leaping up to strike it heavily with his hammer. He felt the impact vibrate down his arm, and knew such a blow would have crush the skull of any man or beast, but the manticore did not even grunt, even though black blood seeped from the wound.
Jana stepped clear of the wall and cast her blindness spell again, but again it could not penetrate the thing’s resistance to magic.
Kazrack stepped forward, readying himself if the manticore came close enough to strike at, but instead it gained altitude as it passed them. Martin and Beorth both fired at it, but their bolts went wide.
Ratchis dropped his hammer, and ran towards the fleeing monstrous form while pulling out his already loaded heavy crossbow. He let a bolt go, which embedded itself deeply into the thing’s rear haunch before it vaporized. This time the manticore actually roared in pain.
Again, Jana frantically tried to blind the creature, but she just was not able to make her spells affect it. Martin hurriedly reloaded his crossbow, but was so anxious to lift it and fire he ended it up tossing it away from himself. The bolt ricocheted off some rubble. Beorth also reloaded and fired, but his lack of hand-eye coordination made him miss once again.
They could tell now that the manticore was not that deft a flier. It flew away and banked in a wide turn to come back around.
Ratchis continued to run, mimicking its wide circle around the right side of the ruin, while Martin carefully stepped through the sharp rubble to retrieve his crossbow. Jeremy hustled into the ruin itself, past a partially collapsed stair that stood beneath the open sky and towards a pair of double doors that seem to lead to the still covered entry hall.
“Ratchis!” Kazrack called running to the left of the ruin, figuring the manticore would come back around from that side. “I have an idea, and I need your help!”
“What is it?” Ratchis called, pausing in his pursuit to reload his heavy crossbow.
“”It’s circling around!” Jeremy warned from his new vantage point, through the broken double doors and at what had once been the front of this house.
“We can use my grappling hook,” Kazrack said.
“Well, get it out!” Ratchis said, continuing his run, which took him away from the rest of the group.
Kazrack scrambled to get his grappling hook and rope from his nearby pack, while Jeremy reloaded his crossbow as well.
“I think there is shelter over near Jeremy,” Kazrack called to Jana, Martin and Beorth.
“Should we follow?” Martin called.
“Yes!” and with that he began to make his way past the crumbling wall. “It is pretty close. I don’t know if we’ll make it.”
Martin and Jana began to hustle around the crumbling wall and through the ruin the direction of the doorway into the entry hall where Jeremy stood.
The manticore swooped back to the left of the ruin, and looked down at Jeremy, who felt a sudden elation, as if the boundaries of human possibility had fallen away. He nearly swooned, but shook his head clear of the euphoric feeling.
Ratchis finally made his way around the far side of the ruin, bringing the low-flying manticore directly into his sight. He brought the weapon up to his eye and fired, but the bolt plummeted into the snow way short of its flying target. He dropped his crossbow in disgust.
Meanwhile, Kazrack moved to intercept the manticore’s course, and readied his flail in case it passed low enough for him to strike.
Martin’s progress toward the shelter of the entry hall, however, was delayed by his stepping on a huge rusty nail that impaled itself in his foot. Jana followed close behind, but managed to avoid the sharp shards of the former house all over the place.
Jeremy took his shot and cried out in joy as he saw his bolt actually do some damage before it burst into smoke. Kazrack was also in range now and he swung his flail down on its side with his weaker off-hand. The blow did not have the weight needed to slow the thing down in the slightest.
The manticore flew past them and retaliated with a barrage of spikes. One struck Jeremy soundly in the side, while three impaled Kazrack. He swayed, but kept his feet, his clothes and armor awash in dwarven blood.
Beorth came around the wall and fired Jana’s crossbow again, and again he missed.
Ratchis continued his run after the monster, while Martin finally made it under the cover of the entry hall. Jana passed by the watch-mage and fired a ray of sickly green light at the manticore through the open doorway. The ray struck the thing squarely, but her spells did not seem powerful enough to affect it. Kazrack caught up to the slow flying manticore and swung again, but the blow missed completely as it picked up speed again.
The monster looked back at the dwarf and suddenly he felt a great elation, as if he were ten feet tall and as strong as an ogre, but he shook off the drug-like feeling.
Beorth, however, finally was able to make a bolt find its target, and cause some black steaming ichor to come hissing from the manticore.
Pulling a bit of wool from his cloak, Martin spoke an arcane word as he looked out the door. In the air before him hovered an illusory Richard the Red.
“Halt your attacks creature! I am Richard the Red, Watch-Mage!” the false Richard called to the monster. “I am the one you seek!”
“Let’s regroup under the roof!” Kazrack called, as he dropped his flail and turned to chuck a dagger at the manticore. It missed its mark.
Again, Jana tried and failed to blind it, as Jeremy came running out to the front of the house as Ratchis passed.
The manticore turned widely again, and flicked its tail sending painful spikes at Ratchis, Beorth and Kazrack. The half-orc cried out as one pierced his forearm clear through. Kazrack grunted as two bit him as well. Beorth grimaced through his own pain and fired the crossbow once again, but his aim was not true.
Roaring with frustration, Jana pointed her finger at the thing again, sending another ray of green light at it, but it had turned and gained height. She missed. Jeremy adjusted his crossbow’s aim upward and saw the bolt hit the mark, but fizzle away before doing any damage.
“Curses!” he cried.
Kazrack picked up his flail, and moved towards the doorway. The manticore turned some more moving parallel with the open doorway, but over the open roof. It looked down at Jeremy, and once again he felt a great elation, and this time he realized that it was okay to feel.
“I am a hero, and an adventurer,” he thought. “I can’t lose. I am the best at everything I try!”
“That’s right creature,” the illusory Richard continued to taunt the monster. “Fly back to your masters lest I banish you to the pits from whence you came!”
“It matters not,” the manticore replied not even looking at the new watch-mage. His voice chilled their bones, except for Jeremy who decided it was a perfect time to climb to the roof of the entry hall to get a better shot as the monster fled from him in terror of his mythic heroism.
End of Session #26
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Notes
(107) Rivkanal is the dwarven goddess of motherhood and the home. She is Natan-Ahb’s wife.
(108) In Aquerra spell-casters are required to use both hands to perform somatic components. Since he has a broken arm that is still healing, every time Kazrack attempts to cast a spell with a somatic component he must make a concentration check.
(109) DM’s Note: It had spell resistance (18).
) and Jeremy's unexpected "encounter" with Richard the Red at the trading post.
