Hawke, the salamander's some distance from you, so in the fiction I'm going to resolve your attack after Sinathel's and Olivius'. It'll arrive at the village it's charging toward right about the time you intercept it successfully.
As the beast is finishing its follow-through on the swing that took out Garn, Olivius and Sinathel strike together, as one.
Mercilessly, Olivius leaps out of the bushes and stabs the salamander in the knee, causing him to stagger and roar in pain. Hot salamander blood spatters over your hands - roll Defy Danger to escape taking 1d4 damage. The salamander's roar is answered by a screeching cry as aerial support arrives in the form of the elven druid, now in Harpy Eagle form. Thanks to Olivius' distraction, Sinathel (after briefly flapping, struggling, and screaming in the salamander's face) is actually able to pluck an eye from the beast's eye socket! A scream of pain follows as two of the beast's 4 arms clutch its face.
Sinathel, he's now focused on you! Roll Defy Danger to avoid being grabbed in retaliation! Or spend Hold to Fly to Safety.
The three-armed salamander that Hawke injured earlier is galloping toward the village. When you turn at the source of the sound, you see the salamander tearing down some simple straw-thatched huts in its mad dash for the battle. With a challenging cry, Hawke catches up to his foe and attacks, landing a messy slash across the beast's legs that causes it to stumble in its charge and crash into a cooking cauldron. Hot stew spills over the salamander's body, not seeming to bother it one bit, but still smoking as it pours across the ground and your boots.
Dambreth, you hear a warning yowl from Scram! Looking over in the direction of the treeline, you see that the swarm-people from earlier have grabbed Temellen in the confusion! He's struggling, but two of them have him by either arm! What do you do?
Hawke grimaces as the heated liquid soaks into his boot. None the less he persues the fallen beast and lashes out at it in hopes of finally felling the beast once and for all.
Hawke takes a few cautious steps forward the salamander lying on the ground, his feet making splashes in the stew on the ground. As you raise your axe up high for the finishing blow (and judging from the damage roll, it WOULD have been the finishing blow, damn) the salamander surprises you by turning its head toward you and blasting fire in your face. Take 1d10 damage, 1 piercing - your armor offers you some measure of protection from the heat but not entirely.
When you blink away the flames, you realize you've staggered backward and the salamander has risen to its feet. The salamander drools spit that bursts into flame when it touches the ground as it begins to approach you, covered in stew and looking furious.
It opens its mouth for more fire breath action! What do you do?
All of the rest of you can see this happening - the two remaining salamander-beasts are fairly close to one another.
Kano utters a tribal curse word too difficult for most outsiders to comprehend and moves to drag the unconscious Garn away from the fight. He calls upon Ku's power to heal.
Hawke was stunned for the briefest of moments. He had not expected the beast to have such an ability and now there it stood towering over him getting ready to show off it's hidden ability to him once more. So Hawke did the only thing he knew how to do. He yelled back at the beast and lashed out with his axe in hopes of killing it before it could bath him in flame once more.
Olivius has seen the boiling blood of the salamanders and is ready. He pulls his rapier out and away as soon as it hits, avoiding the burning spray. He dodges the beast's thrashing as Sinathel attacks and waits. Soon enough the monster's arms come up and Olivius stabs up into its armpit, hoping to open its defence up for a killing blow.
- +1 Forward to next ally
Ku is with you, Kano Brahl. Invigorating energy from your spell flows from your touch into Garn's body, closing the worst of his wounds. He regains consciousness, and immediately hisses in pain, his arm rising feebly up to touch his partially-closed lacerations.
Hawke, your gambit is a dangerous one, but it surprises the salamander-beast. It's able to get out the first part of its fiery breath, but not before your greataxe thuds into its neck, snuffing its life out as it has so many others. Take 1d10-1d6 damage, piercing 1, reduced thanks to the surprising recklessness of your attack.
These salamanders may be bestial and wrathful, but they possess some cunning in the ways of combat. The salamander's arms coming up was a feint, and as Olivius stabs it, the beast strikes. With the speed of a striking snake, the beast closes its arm over Olivius, crushing his body to him. Deal an additional 1d8 damage to the salamander, from the beast's arms pushing your rapier deeper inside it! However, it has you in its grasp and deals 1d10 damage to you in the process! What do you do!?
The beast nearly crushes the life from the more lean body of Olivius. His vision narrows and a scream is squeezed from his lungs. Momentarily, his body adjusts and a surge of adrenaline pounds through his veins as his body's baser instincts take over. His right hand is trapped to his side along with his rapier, but his left arm is free. He flicks his wrist and a gleaming throwing knife appears.
Olivius flips the blade into throwing position in his hand and waits. If the pain from his rapier attracts any attention (as he desperately hopes it will), the beast will have to look at what poked it. Then Olivius will blind it with the knife, if luck and Gaia are kind.
Hawke would grit his teeth through the pain as the fire sears his skin once more. He did not fear death, but it was not yet his turn to die.
As his enemy crumples before him, he stands their huffing and puffing from the exertion and wounds he has sustained up till this point.
With his armor still hot against his skin from the fire bath, his eyes seek out his next target. As they fall upon the remaining beast, Hawke lets out a feral roar to challenge the beast
It is just not a good day to be an eyeball in this salamander's head. One socket is already a bleeding, ragged hole from Sinathel's attack, and now Olivius rolls max damage (or hell, above minimum damage) for once in his life.
The knife flies true and sticks cleanly in the center of the salamander's eye, which immediately widens, then shuts in incredible pain. With a howl, all four arms begin to convulse in random directions, the beast maddened by pain. You're dropped from its grasp, Olivius, but you must make a choice - make a Defy Danger roll to retrieve your rapier as you fall, or let it be stuck in the creature's hide and fall away from it cleanly.
Hawke, your face is blackened by soot and ash and your skin feels like you were lying out in the sun for far far far too long. It hurts to move, it hurts to breathe, but you roar regardless, the pain reminding you you're alive, and standing over your vanquished foe. However, one foe yet remains. Blinded and enraged, the final surviving salamander beast is flailing about itself, trying to regain its grasp on the nimble thief so it can kill him for good.
Despite his aching muscles and the exhaustion starting to set in, Hawke would starts pawing at the ground with his feet while breathing heavily. Then, without any further warning, he charges the blind beast and lashes out at it with his axe.
Kano nods, satisfied that Ku's power has wretched another from the claws of the great darkness. Seeing this, he whirls his toothed club and charges the last salamander.
Olivius falls and, as he does so, wrenches his rapier free. He hits the ground and rolls backward to remove himself from the salamander's reach. The rapier goes into its scabbard, and shining knives appear in his hands.
Time to put you down. he says to himself.
As the big savage charges, Olivius lets fly his knives, one after the other.
The fire salamander creature reached for her and her prize, but he was too slow as Sinathel quickly flew away. Escaping to the air. Flying high above she observed the land below her. The others seemed to have things under control with the blinded salamander. Best to make sure something isn't sneaking up on them.
Dambreth shouts a warning to the others, "THE BUG PEOPLE ARE BACK!" even as he rushes to the side of his badly wounded colleague Olivius. Seeing with his new second sight, the life force draining away from Olivius, Dambreth attempts to call on the power of the earth to heal the man.
Kano is first into the fray, spinning his toothed club in a quick arc that impacts into the creature's armor. However, Kano was watching his upper two arms, not the lower two, so the sideways slash across his gut catches him off-guard. Take 1d8 damage and mark an XP.
Immediately after he falls back from the cut in his belly, a knife buries itself to the hilt inside the salamander-beast's chest, eliciting a roar of fury. Hawke charges in with a brutal slash that sprays blood everywhere (missing him,) and leaves the brute wavering on its two feet. Olivius' final dagger finds the beast's throat an easy target, and puts the creature down.
Sinathel, in the skies, you are able to see Temellen struggling with the bug-people from earlier! You can see your cousin Dambreth is aware of the danger as well.
A smile would form on Hawke's face as he watches yet another beast fall, however it would not last for long as Dambreth's shout reaches his ears.
Turning slowly on his heels, Hawke comes about to face the bug people while letting out a growl.
"I suggest you let him go before decide to repay you for earlier!"
The wave of healing produces a great easing in Olivius much like the potion had.
Thanks Dambreth.
Olivius then quickly moves to retrieve his knives before this second battle can erupt.
Sinathel divebombs one of the two swarm-people, aiming for him as she would the monkey prey her form eats, talons ready to grab and hold. That elf was entertaining and fun to mess with, even if he was clueless to the gentle majestic that is elephants.
While Hawke turns to confront the new threat, Dambreth takes advantage of the brief pause to try to bring the healing touch of Gaia to Hawke who is sorely wounded.
The harpy eagle's claws disturb the swarm-bodies to little effect, causing a screech in frustration. Despite this, Temellen is able to use the distraction to squirm free. The bug-people, seeing their quarry escape their grasp and Hawke and Olivius approaching rapidly across the field, flee into the jungle! What do you do?
As his enemies flee before him, and Temellen safely makes it back to them, Hawke will come to a stop. The battle had taken it's toll upon his body. Not only was he breathing heavily, but he was covered in wounds of varying sizes. None the less, he kept his eyes on the jungle's edge for any further signs of the bug people.
Pleased that she had achieved the intended result with her actions, Sinathel landed in a tree to watch for the bug-people. As she did, she pondered what the Bug-People could want with Temellen. He seemed to be their target.
Kano grabs his gut and surveys his situation before making a move. His injuries are starting to get to him, but there are still many others worse off than him. It was just one thing after another in Demon's Maw.
He asks for Ku to help him once more by enchanting his weapon.
Temellen staggers forward when he escapes the bug-men's grasp, gasping. He turns and draws back hard on Dambreth's bow, before realizing he forgot to nock an arrow and quickly releases it with a blush.
"LEAVE ME ALONE, AND DON'T COME BACK!" the elf screams. Being manhandled in that way appears to have frayed his patience.
He turns back to the rest of you, his hair mussed and askew. "Is it over?" he asks, still breathless. His eyes widen when he sees the scorch marks on Hawke's armor and the bloodied eyeball still stuck to one of Sinathel's talons.
Ulani is leading a few of the tribe's womenfolk out to see to Garn's injuries. What do you do?
"For the moment," Hawke would reply. "However, I get the feeling that they're not done trying to get you yet."
As he speaks, Hawke moves towards the elf. Upon reaching him, he will finish with, "And why might that be?" Hawke was suspicious of the elf and he made this clear by staring him square in the eyes and pronoucning each word very slowly.
Olivius is also intensely curious as to why the bug men are after this particular elf. While Hawk has his attention, Olivius quietly walks up behind him, blocking any retreat. If the elf backs up, he will run into Olivius, as Olivius intends in order to magnify Hawke's intimidation efforts. Both his throwing knives are still drawn and dripping in hot salamander blood.
Temellen is still catching his breath when he suddenly gulps as Hawke approaches him. "I...I don't know!" he squeaks, backing up until his back is against a tree. "They want to kill me! They didn't say why!"
Well, he thought it was a tree. Then that tree, which was really Olivius and his steaming, bloody knives , hisses We didn't ask if they said anything. We just asked why.
A wicked grin comes across Hawke's face as he close to the elf.
"[b]Perhaps you have wronged them and deserve to meet your fate![b]"
Temellen gets defensive now, backing up several steps. "Stay away from me! I didn't do anything to them, and I don't know why they seem so keen on me in particular! None of this makes any sense to me!"
Back toward the pit, the salamanders' corpses smoulder with heat.
Dambreth will take the time to try to heal Scram as the bickering continues.
Ok then. Olivius whispers. Here's a deal. You stay within knife's throw of me and nothing happens to you as long as what you say proves true. If you're lying, I'll put one of these... he brings a smouldering knife into Temellen's view, ... in your back. If you run, I'll let Hawke here do what he does best.
Hawke would offer a wicked grin to Temellen upon hearing Olivius' words. He would let the fresh blood, much of it his enemies, and wounds upon his body speak for him.
Dambreth, your connection to the wilds stitches Scram's wounds and he licks your face once.
Temellen nods. "I don't want any trouble," he mutters, his lips white.
Back at the village, you can hear the sounds of applause. The tribespeople who were hiding from the rampaging salamanders have come out now, and are cheering your victory wildly! The crowd of people, at least 70 of them, gather round you and slap your backs, while some of them move to where Kano is, seeking his guidance.
End of Session
When you reach the end of a session, choose one of your bonds that you feel is resolved (completely explored, no longer relevant, or otherwise). Ask the player of the character you have the bond with if they agree. If they do, mark XP and write a new bond with whomever you wish.
Once bonds have been updated look at your alignment. If you fulfilled that alignment at least once this session, mark XP. Then answer these three questions as a group:
Did we learn something new and important about the world?
Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy?
Did we loot a memorable treasure?
For each “yes” answer everyone marks XP.
For Kano Brahl's Bond: This actually came up this week in my RL DW campaign, as we added a new player. For Bonds with characters that are new to the party, use your First Impression of the character as your Bond.
As for the questions:
Did we learn something new and important about the world? - Yes. This island exists. So does this completely new culture and menacing hole in the ground.
Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy? - Yes. In spades.
Did we loot a memorable treasure? - No. This makes the thief sad inside. Unless we count Tamellen as treasure. ;)
As far as I can tell, I have no resolved bonds. I still stole something from Dambreth, Sinathel still knows I did it, and Si-Yi still has my back.
One bond added. "Hawke and I are keeping tabs on Tamellen until he proves he's not a threat"
Did I rush into combat without a plan? Maybe? I'm not sure here.
But I'm too far away from a level for it to really matter. :(
Yeah, I've been considering that very topic, Olivius. I'm trying to ensure that I'm giving your characters "room to breathe" and roleplay with one another, for character growth purposes, but that sort of thing can't be forced. I'll continue trying to present you guys with opportunities to rest and expand on your characters a bit (for example, now, at Kano's tribal lands, which are usually safer than the surrounding jungle and filled with people.)
Did we learn something new and important about the world? - Yes. Ku believes these foreigners have a great but tragic destiny behind them
Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy? - Yes, the great lizards have been slain and the village saved...for now.
Did we loot a memorable treasure? - None whatsoever. But the Prince of Demon's Maw cares not for such things.
I'm going to add some bonds to the sheet based on what little interaction there has been so far.
- Did we learn something new and important about the world? - Yes. The elements hate us. First it's a mighty morph'in rock elemental. Then it was giant four armed lava salamanders. None the less, Hawke's axe works on them just as well as it does on other monsters.
- Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy? - Yes. Hawke might consider a four armed lizard that spews fiery blood from it's wounds a notable monster.
- Did we loot a memorable treasure? - The treasure of friend...I mean no.
The only bond that I could possibly be seeing resolved for Hawke is the following:
- Dambreth is soft, but I will make them hard like me.
While he may prefer the bow, he has shown that he is more than willing to enter into the fray when necessary.
What do you think Dambreth?
Also, will we be gaining XP for our Alignments again?
I might consider one of those multi-armed monstrosities to be a worthy opponent to defeat.
Yes, Alignment XP is totally in.
Now that battle has quieted down and the issue of the newcomers' trustworthiness has been settled, many of the common tribesfolk go back to their daily routines - milling jungle seeds, tending to the stretched animal skins and storytelling. Many of the younger tribesfolk are gathering around the salamander-beasts, nudging each other as they stare wide-eyed at the beast you've slain, and its terrible wounds.
Dambreth's healing from earlier had helped ease some of the pain, but Hawke was still injured pretty severely. None the less, he would not allow anyone else to see the pain he was in. Instead, he would move to the damned beasts and check them for anything of use or value.
Alignment:
Unless me sending the Tribe into a panic earlier counts, I don't think I destroyed anything related to civilization this time. :(
The Questions:
Did we learn something new? Yes, between lava salamanders rising from the earth,and that those Bug people have something on Temellen. Oh, and that Temellen attracts trouble.
Did we overcome a notable monster or enemy? Yes, and I have the eye to prove it :)
Did we loot a memorable treasure? Um, does Temellen count as treasure? We have saved him more than once... and he is pretty memorable.
Bonds:
I want to make a new bond with Hawke. "Hawke does not see the beauty that exists in Nature. I will educate him."
Olivius still smells like prey, though he is moving away from that after this session.
Hawke still has a danger following him.
And of course there is still the matter of the secret rite of the land I showed Dambreth.
Welcome back Si-Yi!
Hawke, you don't find anything strictly valuable on the salamanders, but you do notice old scars that look like they were once clean cuts. They might be wounds from battling each other, like some animals do, or they might mean that these salamanders have tangled with manufactured weapons before.
Hawke would turn to Kano as he seemed to be the one in charge. "Have your people seen these creatures before?" he would ask with suspicion in his eyes.
Your people have heard of these creatures only in tales, Kano.
"There are...some old legends of the lizards that bleed fire. My father, Haku, He Who Speaks with the Flame would have known more I'm sure." He said with a glance at the bonfire.
Kano: Your gaze turns to the open fire as your thoughts run back to your childhood. You recall your father, Haku, a barrel-chested man like you are now, telling your generation of children stories of creatures that came from the depths of the earth, that drank the blood of the sacred volcano at the center of the island. Their hot meals fired their blood, making them angry and aggressive, but they don't like sunlight. It's odd that they would attack your village, but especially during the day.