Storms of Change [IC]

[silentspace]

OOC Since Etherial is an NPC now, I'm thinking maybe we should treat him like a hireling. He'll follow any commands given to him by people who have higher initiative, otherwise he'll just do what seems to make sense at the time. Does that sound OK?

 

[Greatfrito]

"YAH! Die Pig!" Alan yells at the animal. His movement on the horse seems to stir something in it, and it looks for a moment as if it might attack.

[OOC: I still think Alan has not a clue as to this whole mounted combat thing, but let's try the mount attacking as more of an accident on Alan's behalf than anything. If that's possible, of course]

 

[Seonaid]

Rowyn continues singing and urges her dog to run to Bert's side. If it reaches there in time, she will dismount in preparation of giving Bert her Cure Light potion.

 

[silentspace]

Round 3

Sabala reacts instantly to Rowyn’s command, and covers the 30 feet to Bert easily. As she rides, Rowyn reaches into her pouch and pulls out the potion of cure light that Darien had given her. Reaching Bert, the gnome dismounts, potion in hand, ready to aid Bert.

The boar had been spinning around in a rage, as the attacks against it missed or glanced off its thick hide, until Alan’s bastard sword gashed it. Ignoring Alan’s horse, the boar rages as it attacks Alan, and just barely manages to get by his shield to gore his leg. The gore is not as damaging as the one it gave Bert, but it took more than half of Alan’s health. Despite his wound, Alan maintains his balance on the horse.

Zanock continues his attack, swinging his falchion again. He roars, annoyed that he missed last round. Surely with Rowyn’s inspiring song, and mounted on a horse, and with his great strength, he should be able to hit this creature! He swings. You can almost feel the wind from the force of his blow. He just barely misses. If it wasn’t for the accursed daylight, he would’ve hit! Zanock swears loudly. That’s the second time he missed!

Etherial, seeing Bert fall, also rides up to the fallen halfling, dismounting next to Rowyn. He sees Rowyn hovering over Bert carrying a vial of some sort. “Save your potion, Rowyn. We of the Ivory Brotherhood have our own healing ways.” He pulls up his sleeves, preparing to heal Bert next round. OOC I’m ruling Etherial needs to dismount to use his spell, because Bert is lying down on the ground J

Alan shifts in his saddle, preparing to take another swing at the boar from above. Suddenly his warhorse rears up and does a full attack on the boar! This is a well trained animal, he realizes. It will attack at his will! Both its hooves hit, but its bite misses wide. The boar looks almost dead. The rearing horse makes it much harder for Alan to make his own attack, but he manages to keep his balance and swing his sword down hard, giving the boar what should have been its killing blow. His bastard sword slices deeply into the boar’s flesh, driven even further by Rowyn's inspiring song. That animal should be dead! The boar, clearly staggered, is only angered by its wounds. It fights on with ferocity. OOC Alan had a flanking bonus from Dunathar (it was closer to Dunathar then Zanock’s flanking spot)

Bert’s dog growls angrily at the beast that attacked its master. Seeing an opening, it snaps its jaws again at the dying boar, this time sinking its teeth deeply into its neck. It tears at the boar’s jugular, finally killing it.

Bert murmurs incoherently as more blood flows out of his gored belly.

Dunathar was ready to flank attack the beast, but finds that thankfully, this was not necessary, as the others managed to kill it off on their own. He smiles with satisfaction as he performs a coup de grace, to make sure it is dead.

Combat Over

Current status:
Bert has 12 points of damage, and is unconscious at –2 hp
Alan has 8 points of damage.
Darien has 1 point of damage (from yesterday)
Boar 36 pts of damage (it had 22 hp, and ex: ferocity)

Etherial uses Positive Energy Reserve to bring Bert to 2 hp.

 

[silentspace]

You hear Rekar, Mirik and Darien discussing the battle.

“That boar wouldn’t have lasted more than a few seconds against our squad.”
“You never know, there’s a lot of luck involved in battle!”
“They got gored badly.”
“Yep, the boar got in some lucky hits.”
“Alan and the boar seemed to have had all the luck on their side.”
“Alan’s horse did pretty well too!”
“That’s what happens when you leave yourself exposed to a dangerous animal like that.”
“True, take em out with arrows, I say.”
“Or lances.”
“Or just let the horses pummel it to death.”
“That’s right, form a line and keep the horses between it and you!”
“Yep, why expose yourself like that?”
“But did you see Zanock’s swings?”
“And Etherial can heal almost as well as Bert!”
“And Dunathar looked like he was about to do some major damage.”
“All in all, I’m glad they’re on our side.”
“Yep, me too.”

 

[Seonaid]

Rowyn nods to Etherial, and puts away her potion. She reconsiders when she sees how badly off Bert still is, and remains by his side. Sabala stays put, ready to defend if necessary.

 

[Thels]

Zanock gets his own legs on the ground and kicks the boar. Seeing as nothing interesting is happening anymore, he'll walk back to the caravan.

 

[silentspace]

Zanock starts heading back towards the caravan on foot, Piece of Meat following a few steps behind. The rest of the group is still clustered around Bert, who has regained consciousness and is resting on the ground peacefully for a moment. Then Darien holds up his hand and everyone goes suddenly quiet.

Darien is peering into the sky, towards the northeast, in the direction of the Severin Forest. When you search the sky you can’t see anything, except for the clouds rolling slowly across the clear blue expanse. Then a speck appears in the distance, and grows. Its some sort of winged creature, but it is still too far for you to see clearly. It approaches closer, making a wide circle around the caravan, well out of missile or spell range. Then it starts an approach descent, heading straight towards the front of the caravan, where everyone is gathered around. It is coming from the direction of the sun, and you have to squint to even see it.

The way the object is hidden in the sun, it gets within a few hundred feet before you can even make out what kind of flying creature it is. It is a giant eagle! And it has practically landed before you see that it has a rider.

It is a stunningly beautiful animal, standing ten feet tall, its golden wings spanning twenty feet from tip to tip. Its powerful claws touch gently on the ground just a few feet in front of Darien. It’s saddlebags are surrounded by weapons holsters. There is a bow, a couple swords, a lance, and many arrows and javelins.

A male elf, wearing green robes over green chainmail, jumps nimbly from his saddle. Darien dismounts also. They grip each other’s forearms.

“Valindon, my friend, it has been a while,” says Darien. “How are the elves of Vizelan?”

“Aye, Darien, five years it’s been. Vizelan does well. I saw the stopped caravan, and came to see if there was trouble, but I see it was only a boar. And I see you are guarding caravans again.” His eyes survey the party. “And hiring some unusual help.”

“Yes, well times are tough, as you well know. You might be interested in my new hires. Let me introduce you.”

Valindon greets each of you, looking you plainly in the eye as he does so. He radiates a sense of strength and power, and for a moment you feel you would follow him anywhere. It doesn’t seem like the right moment to say anything beyond simple introductions though. Afterwards, he turns back to Darien.

“Darien, I must warn you, there has been a lot of movement lately. Large bands of goblinoids and orcs.” He gives Zanock a brief smile. “And ogres in unusually large groups too. Something is happening.”

“The Red Claw Clan?”

“Yes, they are the largest group. Larger, even, then our last estimates. We believe they are growing, and splitting up, many of them carrying false war banners to hide their true numbers. Be careful, my friend.”

“Thank you for the information, Valindon.” They grip each other’s forearms again. Then Valindon turns and nods at the assembled caravan guards, and at you. He climbs nimbly back up into his saddle, and is soon rising into the sky.

As he fades away in the distance, Darien says “That was Valindon, one of the greatest war leaders of the Vizelan elves. It’s strange to see him out here alone, dressed as one of his Eagle Patrol. There must be something he wanted to see with his own eyes.” He pauses for a moment, deep in thought. “This is how it happened the last few times too. Just before the Gorukan invasions, there were strange movements amongst the evil humanoids.”

 

[Greatfrito]

[OOC: Okay, just backtracking a bit for the sake of character development. I'll try to note whenever I do this, as others have done, for sake of simplicity.]

At the end of the battle, Alan looks very please with his own actions in combat, but even moreso, he seems to have gained a deep respect for both his own mount, and Bert's dog, both of which fought with the power and zest of many a trained warrior, even though they lack the "skills" taught to humanoids. They seem to be kindred spirits, relying on some instinctive combat skill.

"I think it's time I gave you a name," Alan says aloud quietly.

He ponders an appropriate name for his friend and mount as he heads back to the rest of the caravan, supplying any aid he can to those caring for Bert (not medical aid, but aid like carrying him on his horse). He nurses his own leg as best he can, the wound deep but not life-threatening. He has seen worse on others, but hasn't really had such experiences personally.

Later, he seeks out Darien and says, "Sir, if you have any of the nightly patrol groups that need a man still, I'm more than willing to take any of the positions."

[OOC: And now for something completely different... what should be happening now!]

Alan looks at Darien, and calmly asks, "Does this mean more danger for our caravan, sir? More risk?" He then mutters quietly, "... perhaps more money... "

He doesn't exacly look eager for more fighting at the moment, but a glimmer of bloodlust flashes accross his face when he hears of the engorged hordes. He doesn't seem to show fear at all, except that he has a small shake in his hands at the mention of large armies out in the region about the group.

 

[Someone]

"Oh well" says Dunathar before the elf arrives. "Here´s your pig!" Then the eagle rider arrives.

"More orcs and goblins on the road? I hope they have enough sense to hurry. 20 gold doesn´t seem now so shiny and cool. Err, ok, 25." comments.