The Treasure of the Tierra Padre... [Knight Otu Judging]

[Pbartender]

The party beds down to oirhandir's sweet lullabies. Within moments, even the dour Norman can be heard softly snoring in his bed roll way over by the tethered horses. The sun sets, dusk falls, and the fire dies down to a small flame amongst glowing embers.

Beneath the soft strains of his flowing music, Oirhandir catches a faint whisper of a sound like the rustling of the leaves in the trees. Suddenly, he realizes that it can't possibly be the wind in the trees; the air is calm tonight, and noise is originating from the ground somewhere nearby. Unable to pinpoint the source, Oirhandir glances about in confusion, but cannot see anything that would account for the mysterious noise.

Listen: 11+8=19.
Spot: 17+8=25.

Before he can warn the others, a horde of tiny snakes boil up out of the deadfall leaves and deterius on which they had made their camp. Hundreds of tiny swamp vipers swarm over his sleeping friends, and rude awakenings fill the night with startled screams and shouts.

Katherine, Rogier and Calamar are wakened with a multitude of pinches and bites. A burning itch inflames the wounds, but it is difficult yet to say whether enough poison has been injected to cause any impairment.

Eruin is luckier, mere moments before the snakes strike him, their wriggling wakes him with a start, and none of the reptiles get the chance to make a solid bite.

SURPRISE ROUND!

Snakes Attack:
vs. Katherine: 16, hit, 4 damage. Fort vs. Poison (DC 12): 17 +3 = 20.
vs. Rogier: 21, hit, 1 damage. Fort vs. Poison (DC 12): 16 +7 = 23.
vs, Calamar: 15, hit, 6 damage. Fort vs. Poison (DC 12): 20 +3 = 23.
vs. Eruin: 7, miss.

Initiative Order:
16 Oirhandir
12 Calamar
11 Rogier
10 Snakes
7 Katherine
4 Eruin

Combat Summary: Katherine, Rogier, Calamar and Eruin are all prone in the middle of a swarm of snakes. Oirhandir stands nearby and is within a 30 foot move action away.

 

[El Jefe]

"Torches and oil! Burn the vermin!", cries Oirhandir as he sizes up the situation. Chimes in hand, he begins playing "Geordel and the Serpent" in an attempt to inspire his mates. The serpent in the song is a sea serpent, but there is a verse about Geordel luring the monster to its doom in a volcano. It may not be perfect, but it's the first thing that came to the elf's mind.

As soon as he finishes the first verse, he quickly drops his chimes onto some soft leaves, retrieves all three of his torches from his pack, and races to aid his friends.

OoC: I think that's a standard action to Inspire Courage, a free action to drop the chimes, and a move action to retrieve the torches. If you'll allow, he'll also take the 30' move to the campfire, but I doubt he can make it. I'm assuming that Oirhandir's weapons and pack are on the ground next to where he was sitting, which is a good thing since he can only move 20' with everything on.

 

[Gurdjieff]

"Gah, I'm not too fond of these creatures!" Rogier lets out as he jumps up from the bunch of vipers and grabs his axe, doing his best to smash the tiny animals to pieces.

 

[Pbartender]

OOC: I'm going to give another day or two for the others to chime in, before I post the next round. I know Kahuna's out of the game, but I haven't heard anything from DM-Rocco or MSD for a month and a half.

 

[Pbartender]

OoC: I think that's a standard action to Inspire Courage, a free action to drop the chimes, and a move action to retrieve the torches.

OOC: That is correct. Next round, I'll let you move to the fire, light the torch(es) as a free action, and still have a standard action (to attack?) left over.

Oirhandir's music is an inspiration to his fellow adventurers. He rummages through his pack to find a pair of torches, and readies himself to dash over and light them from the campfire.

Rogier jumps up with his axe in hand, and begins slashing away at the vermin beneath his feet. He chops many of them into small bits, but his axe seems less than fully effective against the tiny, darting reptiles.

Awake and aware of the venomous menace, Katherine, Calamar and Eruin are still too dazed to make any worthwhile counterattack. Katherine and Eriun are able to keep the vipers at bay, but Calamar fares less well...

The snakes break through his defenses, slithering up beneath his robes, biting him dozens of times. The pain alone is nearly enough to knock him out, but the numerous small injections of poison are enough to put him oper the edge. With a gasp, he falls back and lies motionless beneath the swarm of snakes. Calamar is at -2 hp and is unconcious and dying.

ROUND 1.

1. Oirhandir Inspires Courage! +1 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +1 morale bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls for the next 5 rounds.
2. Calamar is nauseated.
3. Rogier Attacks: 14 +5 = 19, hit, 6 damage.
4. Snakes Attack:
   vs. Katherine: 4, miss.
   vs. Rogier: 14, miss.
   vs, Calamar: 20, hit, 4 damage. Fort vs. Poison (DC 12): 2 +3 = 5, 4 temporary Con damage.
   vs. Eruin: 9, miss.
5. Katherine is nauseated.
6. Eruin is nauseated.

Combat Summary: Katherine, Calamar and Eruin still are all prone in the middle of a swarm of snakes, Katherine and Eriun are nauseated and can only take a move action. Calamar is unconscious and dying. Rogier has stood and is hacking with his axe. Oirhandir is preparing to light some torches.

 

[El Jefe]

Oirhandir sees Calamar stir, then collapse beneath a horde of vipers. The situation is dire.

"Save Calamar!", cries the elf as he races to the fire to light the torches. He kicks a couple of the tiny snakes out of the way as he squats by the fire, lighting all three torches. Thinking that Rogier will have more free hands than he will, he calls, "Here! Use these!" as he hands two of the burning brands to Rogier.

As soon as Rogier arms himself with fire instead of steel, Oirhandir will try to use his remaining torch to free Calamar from the venomous doom that engulfs him. If he can just clear a handhold without setting the mage on fire, perhaps he can drag him to safety...

 

[Gurdjieff]

"Get them out of the vipers!" Rogier commands Oirhandir while arming himself with the torches. "I'll take care of him when we're done here."
He then quickly returns to attacking the vipers, this time with the flames instead of the axe, hoping to have a bit more success.

 

[Pbartender]

Oirhandir thrusts the torches into the campfire to set them alight, and hands them over to Rogier. Dropping his axe in favor of the burning brands, Rogier swings them wildly at the swarm of snakes to drive them off.

The snakes shy away from the whooshing fire and smoke, and soon scatter into the woods and the night. Oirhandir can see the rippling in the river, where the snakes flee back across into the swamp.

Calamar is in a bad way. Without immediate attention, he could easily die... Dozens of bite marks cover his body beneath his robes, and an odd coloration is beginning to spread from the swelling wounds.

Rogier and Katherine aren't out of the woods yet either. The poison from their earlier wounds still flows through their veins.

ROUND 2.

1. Oirhandir lights the torches, and hands two to Rogier.
2. Calamar is unconcious and dying (-3 hp).
3. Rogier Attacks: 16 +5 -4 = 17, hit, 5 fire damage; 20 +5 -8 = 17, critical threat, 13 +5 -8 = 10, no critical, 4 fire damage.
4. Snakes disperse.
5. Katherine recovers.
6. Eruin recovers.

Combat Ends.

 

[Gurdjieff]

Rushing to the aid of Calamar, Rogier gives the torches back to Oirhandir and starts channeling his energy. Taking a short moment of concentration, his hands start to glow above the wounds of Calamir, hoping he's not too late.

[OoC: Lay On Hands for 4hp]

 

[El Jefe]

Oirhandir extinguishes the torches in the dirt, then tends to whomever is hurt. He fetches healing supplies from the pack train as needed, but defers to Rogier's and Katherine's directions as to how best deal with the poison, since he has no special skill in healing.

In the process, he checks to see that Norman is all right, and eventually recovers and stows his own gear once things have settled down.