Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Greppa of Tartwater" data-source="post: 851986" data-attributes="member: 10191">What happens to vengeance deferred? "I can't believe those bastards didn't come back!" Greppa of Tartwarter ranted, punctuating each syllable with a kick to an inoffensive piece of furniture. Merideth of Southbottom shook her head at the little Ellini's violent temper. He'd been in a foul mood ever since fall arrived. They, indeed all of Theralis had been waiting and preparing for the return of orc clan Breaking Cat, and the savages did not even show up for their own party. She was philosophic about the development. War, while having plenty of opportunities for building heroic clout, is not a desirable state. Despite the drive to swell the ranks of the military, she felt that the additional time to train new soldiers, healers, espers and arcanists would be valuable.Greppa took it more personally.  He wanted to lay waste to swaths of orcs and had been developing unheard of ways to get his nastiest spells in as close as possible without bring him into the range of the spells and flying boulders the orcs had at their disposal.  That the clan had not come at anytime during the summer left him seething with pent up aggression. The tiny man began kicking another piece of furniture when the front door opened and Bellos trundled into the main room of Hurath's Tower. "Well," he said jauntily, "Are we ready?"Merideth smiled, "Anything to keep shorty away from the furniture."Greppa looked at her and then kicked the table leg out of out of spite.She rolled her eyes, "Ooo, you really showed that table what for.""Let's go," said the Aglionian slinger. Bellos wasn’t thinking abut the trip, he was thinking about beer. Theralis being the wine cask of the region, Bellos was homesick for some nice home brewed hops. Greppa and Merideth were more concerned with the profit-centered nature of this trip. With the merchant Uridates and the help of Greppa's teleporting Lantern Archons, they were going to establish a beer and wine distribution chain between Aglionis and Theralis. The goal was to move enough product to be profitable and not arouse interest or curiosity.  If they became excessive, other arcanists would start to horn in on their schtick and squeeze them out. The trip itself was very uneventful, save for the red throated hydra they spotted on the road. They avoided conflict by the simple expedient of several flight spells. The wine-laden wagons were of no interest to the lumbering behemoth. The monster moaned and roared at its prey, periodically spitting a gout of flame at them on the off chance they were more like moths than humans and would come close to the light. "Make it go away Greppa!" Merideth said plaintively. "We're wasting time."The little arcanist shrugged and let loose painful salvos of Sunstreaks and Greater Thrust.  Sore, famished and frustrated, the creature ambled off. The tiny caravan reassembled and continued into Aglionis. Their arrival was timely. Although the orc tribes had not returned to Theralis, one of the smaller tribes had arrived in Aglionis. The decision-makers quickly engaged Greppa to help out again with the war effort, paying him and the merchant and setting up the caravan members for the duration of the fight.Not that there was much of one. The little arcanist flew into the sky and casually rained fiery death to upon the orcs until they would retreat for the day. He targeted their warriors and whatever camps that were closest to the city. He'd trained himself to the degree where he could cast a fireball at a target from 1,400 feet away.The conflict also presented a chance for Greppa to use his newest spell.  On what would be the last day of the war, he swooped down to the main group of orcs and released a wailing wave of cold into the rear ranks of the orc phalanx. Those who could not get out of the way watched their skin blacken and  stiffen as cold seared into their flesh. The frozen flesh then shattered under the shrieking force accompanying the chill. The results were dramatic and horrific. Frostbitten orc troops stared at the blackened, broken bodies of the comrades who did not survive the strike.Greppa was impressed with himself.  It was the first time he used the spell he dubbed, "Coldscream" in combat. He took inspiration from the Breaking Cat Shamans, who summoned freezing forces into the ranks of Theralis' fighters.  What impressed him more was the area, larger than a fireball, he could blanket. Unfortunately, he also had to be relatively close to the target. Against Braking Cat that could be a deadly weakness. Against this nameless tribe, the range was an ego driven risk he could probably survive. The nameless orcs gathered themselves up, and Greppa, slightly winded from the last casting, hit them with another wave of keening cold. The orcs, watching the child-sized monster tracing the air, pivoted and ran leaving behind many more of their number frozen in place with arms and legs shattered.Bellos watched the battle and Greppa's handy work. Fireballs were nasty, but this was...just...wrong. Not that he'd tell anyone. Aglionis was his town, getting the orcs away from it was the first order of business. He did know that Greppa had saved that spell of his for this summer.  Despite the stories he heard, he did not understand what Clan Breaking Cat meant to Merideth and Greppa and how that contact could inspire Greppa to create such a nasty spell.</blockquote>

Verification