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<blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 2820184" data-attributes="member: 11"><p><strong>Session #81 (part ii)</strong></p><p></p><p><span style="font-size: 22px">Tholem, the 25th of Keent – 565 H.E.</span></p><p></p><p>Soon after Martin and Kazrack came up with a plan for getting out of the caverns and through the temple, Martin received a <em>sending</em> from Roland of Bast.</p><p></p><p><em>”It’s early morning. We should attack within the hour using two directions and surprise. Detail any other plan. We must move along either way. Now.</em></p><p></p><p><em>”We’re ready. Will try and carve out opening in rear of temple using magical silence. We’ll move first; You watch. Engage when they’re stirred up.”</em></p><p></p><p>Roland, Ratchis and Logan made their way to the stony grade just above the temple of Bast and north of it. They squatted among the thorny bushes there, remaining hidden.</p><p></p><p>“Once the others emerge and if they are spotted, we will have to distract the mercenaries to allow them to get away,” Ratchis whispered, though he mostly reiterated the plan for Logan’s benefit. “If their defenses are too well-organized, however, we may have to run as well as soon as the others are clear.”</p><p></p><p>“Heh. I am not too worried,” Logan replied.</p><p></p><p>“There are a lot of them,” Ratchis said.</p><p></p><p>“We fought a lot of those fire newts,” Logan said.</p><p></p><p>“There’ll fight better than that, and the fire newts didn’t have powerful clerics and mages in their number.”</p><p></p><p>“Well, I’ve seen more of this company than anyone and I am not impressed by their men-at-arms,” Logan said.</p><p></p><p>“We take out the mage first, if at all possible,” Ratchis said.</p><p></p><p>Logan nodded. “If we take out the leaders, the others are almost certain to break and scatter.”</p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------</p><p></p><p>Just outside the door from the catacombs, Martin quietly made himself, Dorn and Kazrack <em>invisible</em>. Dorn was in the front of the line, with Kazrack holding on to his belt, and Martin keeping his hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. Kazrack then cast <em>silence</em> on a coin and fumbled it over to Dorn.</p><p></p><p>Dorn pushed the door open slowly, and was glad that the swollen wood and rusted hinges aided in making it an easy task. Kazrack’s spell dampened what was normally a very creaky egress. The cohort froze instinctually as he saw one of the mercenaries frown and turn to look at the door, which he noticed move out of the corner of his eye. The guard put a hand to the hilt of the sword at his side and walked towards the door. He wore a tabard of red and gold over his chainmail and a heavy helm with a nose-guard. The man-at-arms looked beyond the door, and then shrugged and turned around.</p><p></p><p>“I think Sergeant Sewell is right,” the man said to his companions. “We should board those doors up, they keep opening up.”</p><p></p><p>The three adventurers heard nothing of what was said, but breathed easy, seeing the guard go back into the kitchen and take up a more relaxed stance at the end of the narrow hall. They continued to move forward slowly. There was another guard just at the end of the narrow hall and two more at the entrance to the hall that led to the other set of catacombs. Two more guards stood at the exit of the room. It was a broader hallway that turned right and led up the stairs to the vestry.</p><p></p><p>Dorn, Kazrack and Martin had made it to the corridor when the guards began a confused pantomime. The radius of the silence spell moved past them and one of them noted that something was not right. He tried to cry out, but nothing came, and then suddenly his voice returned, even though the fleeing dwarf and two humans could not hear him.</p><p></p><p>“Intruders! Invisible intruders! They came out of the catacombs! They’re invisible!”</p><p></p><p>With a confidence that only came from practice, the mercenaries formed a curved line, their arms outstretched as they felt around for their invisible foes. Other guards took their long spears from where they leaned on the wall and took up positions between their searching companions, thrusting their spears forward. However, Dorn, Kazrack and Martin had already made it into the hall, and the <em>silence</em> blocked the guards on the far end from hearing the commotion. However, as the three came around the corner, the hallway was wide enough to allow sound to get by and the mercenary at the top of the steps, hearing the others came down with his sword drawn.</p><p></p><p>“Where are they? Where are they?” the guard cried, but suddenly his voice was gone as well as the Dorn, Martin and Kazrack hurried past him up through the trapdoor into the vestry. Luckily, there were no guards there. Dorn allowed Kazrack to take the lead, the dwarf hurrying out of the vestry by means of the left hand door and around to the narrow rear hall of the temple’s main chamber. Now outside of the area of effect of the <em>silence</em> spell, Kazrack could here more men-at-arms in the large main chamber, and he tried his best to make no sound.</p><p></p><p>The man-at-arms who had been on the steps came hurrying back up, trying to call out to his companions, but his voice was gone once again as he bumped into Dorn and fell back down the stairs slamming into his allies as they came around the corner with arms still outstretched looking for the invisible foes. Martin and Dorn left the vestry coming around the corner to join Kazrack who has just used the power of his gods to sculpt a narrow passage (1) through the temple’s outer wall. Dorn threw the <em>silenced</em> coin away, (2) and they could hear the mercenaries coming up into the vestry, yelling and the other guards in the main chamber hearing the raised alarm and coming to investigate.</p><p></p><p>“Split up!” Kazrack told his friends, and he hustled off towards the sparser trees on the right. Martin the Green, however, kept his grip on Dorn, who took off to the left.</p><p></p><p>“Movement in the woods!” cried the guard atop the roof, as the mercenaries poured out the temple, both from the front and out the hole Kazrack had created.</p><p></p><p>From their vantage point, Ratchis and Logan saw the commotion.</p><p></p><p>“Do you suppose they found them?” Ratchis asked.</p><p></p><p>“Well, they are chasing someone, and it would be too much of a coincidence if it just happened to be someone else,” Logan replied.</p><p></p><p>”It could be one of Richard the Red’s companions, but I doubt it,” Ratchis replied. “Let’s go down into the woods and move parallel with them, ready to strike.”</p><p></p><p>Roland growled his agreement. They split up as well. Ratchis made straight for the temple, but Roland and Logan made around by way of the thicker western woods.</p><p></p><p>“There is one! Quadrant alpha,” the mercenary on the temple roof shouted pointing to the north. There was a flurry of arrow fire, and Kazrack quietly swore as one whizzed by him quite by accident.</p><p></p><p>Ratchis cried out in pain, as an arrow clipped his arm.</p><p></p><p>“Anhur! Grant me sight beyond sight so that all might see these cowards who do not fight like men and flee like thieves, so that I might skewer them on my divine spear,” a voice bellowed from the edge of the woods. “There is the stonefolk and the half-breed!”</p><p></p><p>Ratchis brought his great sword before him and looked around wildly for Kazrack. Not seeing the dwarf even though he was now visible, he started to run back towards the rise, leading the guards away from the temple. </p><p></p><p>“D’nar! He can see me! I do not think we can outrun them all! We must take a stand!” Kazrack called, catching sight of his companion..</p><p></p><p>Four of the mercenaries broke through the treeline from Ratchis’ right, cutting off Kazrack and setting up a line of long spears. The half-orc could hear more coming through the trees on his left. The militant of Anhur came into the long narrow clearing. He had a full blond beard and was nearly as tall as Ratchis. His half-plate armor was dented and scratched, but over it he wore a maroon tabard set with a silver spear emblazoned on an ankh. The same symbol was created in actual silver on a chain about his neck. In his hands he a wickedly sharp spear with broad slightly serrated edges.</p><p></p><p>“Anhur! Anhur! Anhur! Fill me with your divine wrath! Your endless diligence! I shall forget fear and strike straight with my spear for justice and law!” The militant’s voice grew deeper as he spoke, and his words grew more difficult to understand, as he began to huff and puff as if having a fit. He charged at Kazrack, crying his god’s name aloud one more time.</p><p></p><p>---------------------------------</p><p></p><p>“Martin! Follow me! I saw Ratchis,” Dorn hissed to the watch-mage, but Martin had lost his grip on the cohort amid the thick trees, and had to stumble towards the voice the best he could, as two spear-wielding mercenaries came bumbling towards them from the right.</p><p></p><p>Martin the Green saw Roland’s lithe panther-form, moving silently and smoothly as a shadow, his deep blue-black fur lending something to the illusion of it. The Bastite leapt into a nearby tree to get a view of the approaching guards at the edge of the treeline. </p><p></p><p>“Roland! It’s me! And Dorn is around, too. Kazrack is somewhere ahead, near where I think Ratchis is,” the watch-mage called up as loudly as he dared.</p><p></p><p>The Bastite looked around and took a whiff. He growled, as he saw a couple of the guards approaching, with crossbows ready just outside of the woods and looking in the direction of Ratchis. He could also see the crimson-robed battle-mage floating above the temple to get a better view. </p><p></p><p>Dorn took off back into the clearing about the temple making for the more open area north of it where Ratchis was hurrying to cut off the Ancellus of Anhur. He unwittingly got into the range of the militant’s <em>invisibility purge</em>. Roland leapt down out of the tree and ran right at the bow-wielding men-at-arms to keep them from targeting Ratchis. The guards re-aimed their shots at the last minute, but it was to no avail. They were unable to get a good bead on the great cat pounding towards them.</p><p></p><p>The militant wizard swooped down with great speed, lining herself up perfectly as she rubbed bit of fur on a metal rod and cried, <em>Fwam! Fwam! Fwam!</em> A bolt of lighting burst out in front of her. The sudden blast of light shocked Roland and Dorn as both were able to roll away from the brunt of it, but the bolt sliced through a tree setting it ablaze and just before dissipating got just far enough to fry Ratchis as well. He shook violently and was thrown to the ground. (3)</p><p></p><p>On his hands and knees, Ratchis called to Nephthys and healed his wounds, but then shuddered again as a bolt struck him from one of the men-at-arms.</p><p></p><p>“Nice shot, dead man,” Logan quipped as he stepped from behind a tree and viciously cut down the mercenary with one hard blow to the neck. The Herman-lander smiled and moved on to the next soldier, but keeping an eye on the wizard.</p><p></p><p>“Great queen, Bast! Thou who art as powerful as thou art graceful,” Roland chanted in his head, growling the equivalent in the speech of cats (4). “Grant me the benison of one of thy children.” He turned in a wide circle and roared and in a flash there appeared a golden lion, its full mane swaying in the cold wind. Its roar echoed Roland’s, but it did not attack, holding back at the Bastite’s command.</p><p></p><p>Four of the six mercenaries that had been near Ratchis moved to engage Kazrack.</p><p></p><p>Two more men were coming around from the other side of the temple. They bore long swords and mediums shields, but also had heavy maces at their sides. There appeared behind them another man. He bore a silver medallion shaped like an open tome about his neck, an ankh emblazoned upon it. He bore a shield with a similar device with an arcane runes on each side of it and a dull gray heavy mace, not the long spears of the rank and file soldiers. The other man was also armed with sword and shield. He was clean shaven, and his helmet was carved with the symbol, of an ibis bird. (5)</p><p></p><p>Logan cut down another one another of the soldiers, and was about to move to attack the militant wizard, when the new arrivals hurried to cut him off at the command of the third man They moved to flank with the aid of one of the remaining soldiers in this area.</p><p></p><p>“Left flank, Sergeant Sewell,” the man with the shield commanded his companion.</p><p></p><p>“Yes, Inquisitor Clerebold, “ the other replied. (6)</p><p></p><p>“<em>Hamanasemo</em>,” the wizard intoned, and Sergeant Sewell began to grow. Soon, he was over twelve feet tall, and his weapons had grown with him.</p><p></p><p>“No one can defeat the Impervious Ward,” the sergeant said, forcing Logan to frantically parry to avoid being cut open and crushed by the now gigantic sword. </p><p></p><p>“Give yourselves up and you will not be harmed. This I swear,” the Inquisitor called to Logan</p><p></p><p>“I’ll cut your balls off,” Logan replied.</p><p></p><p>Roland prayed again and this time both he and his summoned feline ally grew to twice their size as well. (7) </p><p></p><p>The battle-mage pulled a scroll from her satchel and unrolling it chanted arcane words. <em>Snaseanda ammana thionscain Agon a abhaile leag</em>.” (8)</p><p></p><p>A mighty invisible force slammed into the enlarged lion and it let out a whimper and a snarl, but did it did not fall, or even slow down as it obeyed Roland’s next command.</p><p></p><p>The Bastite and his summoned ally headed for the battle-mage who had foolishly failed to take off high enough into the air again to not be reached by the great leaping cats. She cried out in agony as their claws and teeth ripped into her flesh and grabbing on, Roland forced her back down to the ground, smashing her into a puddle of her own blood.</p><p></p><p>Again and again the frenzied thrusts of the Militant’s spear scraped across Kazrack’s breast plate to no effect, while Kazrack managed to get in a few thrusts with the pointed end of his pole-arm, even if he was unable to get his full strength behind the blows. However, the four solders on their way over were being joined by a fifth, and penning in Kazrack by a clump of trees. </p><p></p><p>Martin and Dorn had made it around the edge of the temple clearing, and were at the edge of the area where Ratchis and Kazrack fought the mercenaries. An area that had smaller scrubbier trees and a great deal of twisting manzanita under foot.</p><p></p><p>“I hope you have something up your sleeve,” Dorn said, seeing Ratchis finally getting to his feet.</p><p></p><p>“I’m trying my best,” Martin replied defensively. “<em>Lentus!</em></p><p></p><p>All five of the mercenaries jerked awkwardly as they moved with exaggerated slowness. Kazrack easily knocked aside and otherwise avoided all five of their spear points as they arrived in his vicinity. </p><p> </p><p>“My faith is stronger than yours militant! You will fall!” Kazrack turned, ignoring the soldiers, to thrust his pole-axe into an opening in the warrior-priest’s defense. The militant seemed more concerned with skewering Kazrack than defending himself and gave no notice to the gouts of blood now running down his left leg.</p><p></p><p>Ratchis crawled away from the two soldiers near him and called to his goddess to grant him <em>Bull’s Strength</em>, and with a roar, side-stepped two spear thrusts as he got into close quarters and cleaved the top of one of the mercenary’s head off, helmet and all. He also dealt a heavy blow against the shield of one of the sergeants who came running over. </p><p></p><p>“Yield!” He cried at the half-orc, but there was little authority in his voice.</p><p></p><p>“<em>Somnus!</em> Martin said as he threw sand in the general direction of the soldiers near Ratchis and the two spearmen fell right to sleep. </p><p></p><p>“Why don’t you guys run away before we have to kill you?” Dorn asked one of the mercenaries as he moved in to support Kazrack.</p><p></p><p>Ratchis grunted his approval and ran over to join Kazrack.</p><p></p><p>The militant of Anhur thrust his spear again when he saw an opening, but again Kazrack’s armor turned the blow aside, and this time the shaft of the weapon slipped from his grasp and the butt-end slammed back into the priest’s eye with the force of punch. (9)</p><p></p><p><strong>End of Session #81</strong></p><p>--------------------------------------</p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>(1) Kazrack used <em>stone shape</em> to make the hole.</p><p> </p><p>(2) They decided to get rid of the coin once they were outside because they wanted to be able to give each other instructions and hear if they were called to by the rest of the party.</p><p></p><p>(3) <strong>DM’s Note: </strong> Originally, the evoker was only going to fry Dorn and Roland, but Ratchis just happened to move into direct line of it on his action, and I was describing the tree cracking and catching fire, I realized there was enough area of effect left to catch him at the very end. Dorn and Roland made their saves, Ratchis didn’t. Like weapons, we play with knockdown for certain spells.</p><p></p><p>(4) <strong>DM’s Note:</strong> Roland has the Natural Spell feat.</p><p></p><p>(5) The ibis bird is the holy animal of Thoth.</p><p></p><p>(6) Paladins dedicated to Thoth are called “Inquisitors” and are most common in Neergaard and the Black Islands. They follow and enforce a very strict interpretation of the responsible use of arcane (and to a lesser extent, divine) magic, based on the writings in the Thothian “Book of Truth”. <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Paladins+of+Ras+Pantheon#thoth" target="_blank">Click here</a> to read more about them.</p><p></p><p>(7) <strong>DM’s Note:</strong> Roland cast <em>Cat Growth</em> a limited variation of <em>Animal Growth</em> that also works on him when he is in cat form.</p><p></p><p>(8) This spell is <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Agons+Hammer" target="_blank">Agon’s Hammer</a></p><p></p><p>(7) <strong>DM’s Note:</strong> Ancellus suffered a critical fumble: <em>Reflex save (DC 18) or hit self, half damage.</em> – for the rest of Aquerra’s critical hits/fumble rules, <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Combat#crits" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="el-remmen, post: 2820184, member: 11"] [b]Session #81 (part ii)[/b] [size=6]Tholem, the 25th of Keent – 565 H.E.[/size] Soon after Martin and Kazrack came up with a plan for getting out of the caverns and through the temple, Martin received a [I]sending[/I] from Roland of Bast. [I]”It’s early morning. We should attack within the hour using two directions and surprise. Detail any other plan. We must move along either way. Now.[/I] [I]”We’re ready. Will try and carve out opening in rear of temple using magical silence. We’ll move first; You watch. Engage when they’re stirred up.”[/I] Roland, Ratchis and Logan made their way to the stony grade just above the temple of Bast and north of it. They squatted among the thorny bushes there, remaining hidden. “Once the others emerge and if they are spotted, we will have to distract the mercenaries to allow them to get away,” Ratchis whispered, though he mostly reiterated the plan for Logan’s benefit. “If their defenses are too well-organized, however, we may have to run as well as soon as the others are clear.” “Heh. I am not too worried,” Logan replied. “There are a lot of them,” Ratchis said. “We fought a lot of those fire newts,” Logan said. “There’ll fight better than that, and the fire newts didn’t have powerful clerics and mages in their number.” “Well, I’ve seen more of this company than anyone and I am not impressed by their men-at-arms,” Logan said. “We take out the mage first, if at all possible,” Ratchis said. Logan nodded. “If we take out the leaders, the others are almost certain to break and scatter.” ---------------------------------------- Just outside the door from the catacombs, Martin quietly made himself, Dorn and Kazrack [I]invisible[/I]. Dorn was in the front of the line, with Kazrack holding on to his belt, and Martin keeping his hand on the dwarf’s shoulder. Kazrack then cast [I]silence[/I] on a coin and fumbled it over to Dorn. Dorn pushed the door open slowly, and was glad that the swollen wood and rusted hinges aided in making it an easy task. Kazrack’s spell dampened what was normally a very creaky egress. The cohort froze instinctually as he saw one of the mercenaries frown and turn to look at the door, which he noticed move out of the corner of his eye. The guard put a hand to the hilt of the sword at his side and walked towards the door. He wore a tabard of red and gold over his chainmail and a heavy helm with a nose-guard. The man-at-arms looked beyond the door, and then shrugged and turned around. “I think Sergeant Sewell is right,” the man said to his companions. “We should board those doors up, they keep opening up.” The three adventurers heard nothing of what was said, but breathed easy, seeing the guard go back into the kitchen and take up a more relaxed stance at the end of the narrow hall. They continued to move forward slowly. There was another guard just at the end of the narrow hall and two more at the entrance to the hall that led to the other set of catacombs. Two more guards stood at the exit of the room. It was a broader hallway that turned right and led up the stairs to the vestry. Dorn, Kazrack and Martin had made it to the corridor when the guards began a confused pantomime. The radius of the silence spell moved past them and one of them noted that something was not right. He tried to cry out, but nothing came, and then suddenly his voice returned, even though the fleeing dwarf and two humans could not hear him. “Intruders! Invisible intruders! They came out of the catacombs! They’re invisible!” With a confidence that only came from practice, the mercenaries formed a curved line, their arms outstretched as they felt around for their invisible foes. Other guards took their long spears from where they leaned on the wall and took up positions between their searching companions, thrusting their spears forward. However, Dorn, Kazrack and Martin had already made it into the hall, and the [I]silence[/I] blocked the guards on the far end from hearing the commotion. However, as the three came around the corner, the hallway was wide enough to allow sound to get by and the mercenary at the top of the steps, hearing the others came down with his sword drawn. “Where are they? Where are they?” the guard cried, but suddenly his voice was gone as well as the Dorn, Martin and Kazrack hurried past him up through the trapdoor into the vestry. Luckily, there were no guards there. Dorn allowed Kazrack to take the lead, the dwarf hurrying out of the vestry by means of the left hand door and around to the narrow rear hall of the temple’s main chamber. Now outside of the area of effect of the [I]silence[/I] spell, Kazrack could here more men-at-arms in the large main chamber, and he tried his best to make no sound. The man-at-arms who had been on the steps came hurrying back up, trying to call out to his companions, but his voice was gone once again as he bumped into Dorn and fell back down the stairs slamming into his allies as they came around the corner with arms still outstretched looking for the invisible foes. Martin and Dorn left the vestry coming around the corner to join Kazrack who has just used the power of his gods to sculpt a narrow passage (1) through the temple’s outer wall. Dorn threw the [I]silenced[/I] coin away, (2) and they could hear the mercenaries coming up into the vestry, yelling and the other guards in the main chamber hearing the raised alarm and coming to investigate. “Split up!” Kazrack told his friends, and he hustled off towards the sparser trees on the right. Martin the Green, however, kept his grip on Dorn, who took off to the left. “Movement in the woods!” cried the guard atop the roof, as the mercenaries poured out the temple, both from the front and out the hole Kazrack had created. From their vantage point, Ratchis and Logan saw the commotion. “Do you suppose they found them?” Ratchis asked. “Well, they are chasing someone, and it would be too much of a coincidence if it just happened to be someone else,” Logan replied. ”It could be one of Richard the Red’s companions, but I doubt it,” Ratchis replied. “Let’s go down into the woods and move parallel with them, ready to strike.” Roland growled his agreement. They split up as well. Ratchis made straight for the temple, but Roland and Logan made around by way of the thicker western woods. “There is one! Quadrant alpha,” the mercenary on the temple roof shouted pointing to the north. There was a flurry of arrow fire, and Kazrack quietly swore as one whizzed by him quite by accident. Ratchis cried out in pain, as an arrow clipped his arm. “Anhur! Grant me sight beyond sight so that all might see these cowards who do not fight like men and flee like thieves, so that I might skewer them on my divine spear,” a voice bellowed from the edge of the woods. “There is the stonefolk and the half-breed!” Ratchis brought his great sword before him and looked around wildly for Kazrack. Not seeing the dwarf even though he was now visible, he started to run back towards the rise, leading the guards away from the temple. “D’nar! He can see me! I do not think we can outrun them all! We must take a stand!” Kazrack called, catching sight of his companion.. Four of the mercenaries broke through the treeline from Ratchis’ right, cutting off Kazrack and setting up a line of long spears. The half-orc could hear more coming through the trees on his left. The militant of Anhur came into the long narrow clearing. He had a full blond beard and was nearly as tall as Ratchis. His half-plate armor was dented and scratched, but over it he wore a maroon tabard set with a silver spear emblazoned on an ankh. The same symbol was created in actual silver on a chain about his neck. In his hands he a wickedly sharp spear with broad slightly serrated edges. “Anhur! Anhur! Anhur! Fill me with your divine wrath! Your endless diligence! I shall forget fear and strike straight with my spear for justice and law!” The militant’s voice grew deeper as he spoke, and his words grew more difficult to understand, as he began to huff and puff as if having a fit. He charged at Kazrack, crying his god’s name aloud one more time. --------------------------------- “Martin! Follow me! I saw Ratchis,” Dorn hissed to the watch-mage, but Martin had lost his grip on the cohort amid the thick trees, and had to stumble towards the voice the best he could, as two spear-wielding mercenaries came bumbling towards them from the right. Martin the Green saw Roland’s lithe panther-form, moving silently and smoothly as a shadow, his deep blue-black fur lending something to the illusion of it. The Bastite leapt into a nearby tree to get a view of the approaching guards at the edge of the treeline. “Roland! It’s me! And Dorn is around, too. Kazrack is somewhere ahead, near where I think Ratchis is,” the watch-mage called up as loudly as he dared. The Bastite looked around and took a whiff. He growled, as he saw a couple of the guards approaching, with crossbows ready just outside of the woods and looking in the direction of Ratchis. He could also see the crimson-robed battle-mage floating above the temple to get a better view. Dorn took off back into the clearing about the temple making for the more open area north of it where Ratchis was hurrying to cut off the Ancellus of Anhur. He unwittingly got into the range of the militant’s [I]invisibility purge[/I]. Roland leapt down out of the tree and ran right at the bow-wielding men-at-arms to keep them from targeting Ratchis. The guards re-aimed their shots at the last minute, but it was to no avail. They were unable to get a good bead on the great cat pounding towards them. The militant wizard swooped down with great speed, lining herself up perfectly as she rubbed bit of fur on a metal rod and cried, [I]Fwam! Fwam! Fwam![/I] A bolt of lighting burst out in front of her. The sudden blast of light shocked Roland and Dorn as both were able to roll away from the brunt of it, but the bolt sliced through a tree setting it ablaze and just before dissipating got just far enough to fry Ratchis as well. He shook violently and was thrown to the ground. (3) On his hands and knees, Ratchis called to Nephthys and healed his wounds, but then shuddered again as a bolt struck him from one of the men-at-arms. “Nice shot, dead man,” Logan quipped as he stepped from behind a tree and viciously cut down the mercenary with one hard blow to the neck. The Herman-lander smiled and moved on to the next soldier, but keeping an eye on the wizard. “Great queen, Bast! Thou who art as powerful as thou art graceful,” Roland chanted in his head, growling the equivalent in the speech of cats (4). “Grant me the benison of one of thy children.” He turned in a wide circle and roared and in a flash there appeared a golden lion, its full mane swaying in the cold wind. Its roar echoed Roland’s, but it did not attack, holding back at the Bastite’s command. Four of the six mercenaries that had been near Ratchis moved to engage Kazrack. Two more men were coming around from the other side of the temple. They bore long swords and mediums shields, but also had heavy maces at their sides. There appeared behind them another man. He bore a silver medallion shaped like an open tome about his neck, an ankh emblazoned upon it. He bore a shield with a similar device with an arcane runes on each side of it and a dull gray heavy mace, not the long spears of the rank and file soldiers. The other man was also armed with sword and shield. He was clean shaven, and his helmet was carved with the symbol, of an ibis bird. (5) Logan cut down another one another of the soldiers, and was about to move to attack the militant wizard, when the new arrivals hurried to cut him off at the command of the third man They moved to flank with the aid of one of the remaining soldiers in this area. “Left flank, Sergeant Sewell,” the man with the shield commanded his companion. “Yes, Inquisitor Clerebold, “ the other replied. (6) “[I]Hamanasemo[/I],” the wizard intoned, and Sergeant Sewell began to grow. Soon, he was over twelve feet tall, and his weapons had grown with him. “No one can defeat the Impervious Ward,” the sergeant said, forcing Logan to frantically parry to avoid being cut open and crushed by the now gigantic sword. “Give yourselves up and you will not be harmed. This I swear,” the Inquisitor called to Logan “I’ll cut your balls off,” Logan replied. Roland prayed again and this time both he and his summoned feline ally grew to twice their size as well. (7) The battle-mage pulled a scroll from her satchel and unrolling it chanted arcane words. [I]Snaseanda ammana thionscain Agon a abhaile leag[/I].” (8) A mighty invisible force slammed into the enlarged lion and it let out a whimper and a snarl, but did it did not fall, or even slow down as it obeyed Roland’s next command. The Bastite and his summoned ally headed for the battle-mage who had foolishly failed to take off high enough into the air again to not be reached by the great leaping cats. She cried out in agony as their claws and teeth ripped into her flesh and grabbing on, Roland forced her back down to the ground, smashing her into a puddle of her own blood. Again and again the frenzied thrusts of the Militant’s spear scraped across Kazrack’s breast plate to no effect, while Kazrack managed to get in a few thrusts with the pointed end of his pole-arm, even if he was unable to get his full strength behind the blows. However, the four solders on their way over were being joined by a fifth, and penning in Kazrack by a clump of trees. Martin and Dorn had made it around the edge of the temple clearing, and were at the edge of the area where Ratchis and Kazrack fought the mercenaries. An area that had smaller scrubbier trees and a great deal of twisting manzanita under foot. “I hope you have something up your sleeve,” Dorn said, seeing Ratchis finally getting to his feet. “I’m trying my best,” Martin replied defensively. “[I]Lentus![/I] All five of the mercenaries jerked awkwardly as they moved with exaggerated slowness. Kazrack easily knocked aside and otherwise avoided all five of their spear points as they arrived in his vicinity. “My faith is stronger than yours militant! You will fall!” Kazrack turned, ignoring the soldiers, to thrust his pole-axe into an opening in the warrior-priest’s defense. The militant seemed more concerned with skewering Kazrack than defending himself and gave no notice to the gouts of blood now running down his left leg. Ratchis crawled away from the two soldiers near him and called to his goddess to grant him [I]Bull’s Strength[/I], and with a roar, side-stepped two spear thrusts as he got into close quarters and cleaved the top of one of the mercenary’s head off, helmet and all. He also dealt a heavy blow against the shield of one of the sergeants who came running over. “Yield!” He cried at the half-orc, but there was little authority in his voice. “[I]Somnus![/I] Martin said as he threw sand in the general direction of the soldiers near Ratchis and the two spearmen fell right to sleep. “Why don’t you guys run away before we have to kill you?” Dorn asked one of the mercenaries as he moved in to support Kazrack. Ratchis grunted his approval and ran over to join Kazrack. The militant of Anhur thrust his spear again when he saw an opening, but again Kazrack’s armor turned the blow aside, and this time the shaft of the weapon slipped from his grasp and the butt-end slammed back into the priest’s eye with the force of punch. (9) [b]End of Session #81[/b] -------------------------------------- [b]Notes:[/b] (1) Kazrack used [I]stone shape[/I] to make the hole. (2) They decided to get rid of the coin once they were outside because they wanted to be able to give each other instructions and hear if they were called to by the rest of the party. (3) [b]DM’s Note: [/b] Originally, the evoker was only going to fry Dorn and Roland, but Ratchis just happened to move into direct line of it on his action, and I was describing the tree cracking and catching fire, I realized there was enough area of effect left to catch him at the very end. Dorn and Roland made their saves, Ratchis didn’t. Like weapons, we play with knockdown for certain spells. (4) [b]DM’s Note:[/b] Roland has the Natural Spell feat. (5) The ibis bird is the holy animal of Thoth. (6) Paladins dedicated to Thoth are called “Inquisitors” and are most common in Neergaard and the Black Islands. They follow and enforce a very strict interpretation of the responsible use of arcane (and to a lesser extent, divine) magic, based on the writings in the Thothian “Book of Truth”. [url= http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Paladins+of+Ras+Pantheon#thoth]Click here[/url] to read more about them. (7) [b]DM’s Note:[/b] Roland cast [I]Cat Growth[/I] a limited variation of [I]Animal Growth[/I] that also works on him when he is in cat form. (8) This spell is [url=http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Spell+-+Agons+Hammer]Agon’s Hammer[/url] (7) [b]DM’s Note:[/b] Ancellus suffered a critical fumble: [I]Reflex save (DC 18) or hit self, half damage.[/I] – for the rest of Aquerra’s critical hits/fumble rules, [url=http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Combat#crits]click here[/url]. [/QUOTE]
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"Out of the Frying Pan"- Book IV - Into the Fire [STORY HOUR COMPLETED - 12/25/06]
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