S3: The Scythe of Seto (Bront Judging)[Completed]

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit cautiously moves forward to engage this new enemy. He keeps his shield up, unsure of exactly how strong the scorpion's sting will be. He stops short and puts his right leg back in a battle stance. His waraxe is held behind him, poised like the scorpion's tail, ready to strike at whatever comes near.

30' move forward, ready a standard attack with the waraxe. AC: 23

Readied waraxe attack, -3 power attack: +9 melee (1d10+8)

 

[Manzanita]

The scorpion scampers towards the dwarf, mindlessly heading right into the axe. Razh cuts off one of its claws with his axe, but the other clamps painfully around him.

Razh can feel the heat radiate from the beast, and it burns him through his armor. He knows he must break free of the claw if he's going to defeat this thing. He can see the stinger poised to strike over his head.

HP summary
Razh 63/72
Scorpion -17


OOC: The scorpion is size large, and thus has reach. I allowed Razh to get an attack in anyway, as I figure an attack on the claw itself is legitimate. Razh takes 2 pts of heat damage from the claw, and must beat a 29 grapple check to avoid being grappled and taking 7 points of constriction damage. On the plus side, Razh can see that he's seriously injured the beast. Here's a picture.

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit grunts as the scorpion's remaining claw lifts him into the air. His right arm pinned to his side, his waves his shield arm around trying to get his bearings.

Rather than struggle to break free, Rasereit accepts his fate and proceeds to bash the massive claw with his spiked shield. With the first blow, Bite's many spikes puncture the scorpion's hard carapace easily. Writhing in pain, the scorpion throws off Rasereit's balance for the second blow. (10 damage)

[sblock=Rules Notes: ]Grappling rules allow a grappled character to make a full attack with a light weapon.

Also, just because a creature is large doesn't necessarily mean it has reach. Take, for instance, the heavy warhorse. It's a large animal, and it has space/reach: 10'/5'. I'm not sure how it is for monstrous scorpions (I guess it would probably make sense) but just for future reference.

Also, scorpions are arachnids; they have eight legs, not six. [/sblock]

 

[Manzanita]

Round 2

Razh smashes the scorpion's remaining claw with his shield, and his rewarded by a gush of hot black blood. The scorpion's claw squeezes and burns him. He does block the stinger with his sheild.

My notes to this creature, which I believe I got off the WOTC website, don't list reach or space. I think it should have reach, though. I believe Razh has lost his shield and dex for defense, giving him an AC of 17. Correct me if I'm wrong. He now needs to make a Fort save vs poison DC 14 to avoid 1d4 CON dmg. And he's still grappled, of course.

HP summary:
Razh 54/72
Scorpion -27

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

[sblock=OOC: ]The grapple rules confuse the daylights out of me, but as I understand it, grappling only affects your AC to opponents outside of the grapple:

Grappling Consequences
...
No Dexterity Bonus

You lose your Dexterity bonus to AC (if you have one) against opponents you aren’t grappling. (You can still use it against opponents you are grappling.)

Seems to me that his AC versus the scorpion would be unchanged.

Even if you rule that shield AC shouldn't apply, Rasereit should still be able to avoid the scorpion sting, since his AC would be 20.[/sblock]

Rasereit winces as the scorpion's grip tightens, his armor cutting into his flesh. Ignoring the pain, he smashes repeatedly at the claw. The claw is taking its toll on the dwarf, but he still manages to poke more holes in the scorpion's armor. (Hits AC 19, 6 damage to scorpion, and a critical failure...)

 

[Manzanita]

rules note [sblock] You're totally right, as usual. I'd misread the grapple dex rule, and had forgotten about your improved shield bash feat. I'll edit my last post & Razh took no hit...[/sblock]

Round 3:
The foolish scorpion draws the dwarf closer as it tries repeatedly to stab him with it's poison tail. Razh is close enough to bash the monster itself with his shield. One of its eyes it knocked off. Perhaps it is no surprise Razh is able to continue to deflect the point with his sheild.

HP summary:
Razh 40/72
Scorpion -33

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit slams his shield into the scorpion again and again, screaming with each bash, "Let... Me... Go!!" With the last bash, there's a crunch as the scorpion's claw finally loosens its grip on the angry dwarf. Wavering unsteadily on its eight legs, its one eye roaming aimlessly, Rasereit gives it a final kick in the head to finish it off. (Hits AC 28, 11 damage to scorpion)

OOC: No problem, with the rules. The grapple rules are needlessly complicated, in my opinion.

I hope I'm not overstepping my bounds by assuming that 44 total damage is a kill.

 

[Manzanita]

Razh kills the scorption, splatters it, really, and collects 6th small chess piece.

White is up again.

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit grabs the chess piece and walks back to his square, holding his side. "What, no applause? Ah jus' killed somethin' five times me size! Ah'd like t'see even one o' you squirts last more'n six seconds in this thing's claw." He waves the rook at the vikings, taunting them.

To the white bishop cleric, he says, "Alrigh', Ah'm hurt. What d'ye got left?"

 

[Rae ArdGaoth]

Rasereit accepts the healing services of the bishop (14 damage healed, 12 damage healed) and tops himself off with one of his own lesser healing potions (CLW, 4 damage healed).

Rasereit's HP: 40+14+12+4=70/72

[sblock=Bishop: ]Spells: 5/3+1+1/2+1+1: 0:CMW(x5) 1:Magic Weapon, Protection from Evil, Cure light wounds(x2),Protection from chaos(D) 2: Cure Moderate wounds(x2), align weapon, Death Knell(D) Can spontaneously cast heal spells[/sblock]

"That wasn't s'bad! But by the looks o' things, Ah'll have to do it again real soon, so Ah'm not goin' anywhere." Razh points to the black rook, which is in position to move into the same place the other rook was and again threaten Beamer. "Ah can't hang around babysittin' royalty all day, Ah've got a tea party t'go to." Razh salutes the black king cordially. "Let's get some more power pieces out. Banion looks awfully bored back there. Banion's pawn, forward two, eh? Let that li'l powerhouse behind ye come out t'play."