Hittin te Bugbear
maybe?
Tyrus considers joining the fight, but his fear of the bugbears is too great. Gathering his courage in his hands he creeps down the ramp to where the pirate fell.
He may not be able to fight, but if he could get a real weapon into Logan or Dante's hands...
Blades and arrows fly. The goblins are in a blood frenzy, madly hacking and slashing to bring down the bigger folk. Their murderous shrieks fill the air amidst the growing dust cloud kicked up by the melee.
Another pair of jagged cuts are dealt to Lara. She falls back in a quick retreat, and in one deft movement takes a leather-wrapped flask from her belt and downs the contents. Her wounds seal up and though she is still covered in her own blood, no more of it flows. She grins at the goblins with a feral anger to match their own. "Let's go for another, you bastards!" she shouts at them through a gory grin. Perhaps distracted by her taunting, two of them are cut down a moment later by Logan's swinging pick, its wrought iron tip smashing through their skulls like they were rotten fruit.
Though surrounded, the bugbear avoids taking any more hits - but is too occupied with staying alive to deal any blows of its own.
The necromantic magic of the Chill Touch still alive within his hand and seeking release, Tyrus creeps down the path and sees the nearer bugbears ganging up on a pair of pirates, one of which falls as he watches.
Init Order and Condition
Goblins (Group 1: 2 dead; Group 2: 2 dead)
Dante (5 damage, 2 dex damage) -1 to Dex-based skills and saves
Lara (3 dex damage) -1 to Dex-based skills and saves
Bugbears (B1: 12 damage, B2: 4 damage)
Vincent
Luca (V#1 5 damage; V#2 3 damage)
Tyrus (Mage Armor (cast in round 2))
Logan (7 damage)
Yllaine (4 damage)
Pirates (4 fallen)
Prisoners (3 fallen)
Yet another of Luca's summoned minions pops into existence, adding yet more bodies to the swirling battle.
The chaos. The blood. The cries of pain and terror and hate. This is battle. Swirling memories echo through the spirit within you, memories of so many other battlefields, so many other foes fought. Your swings become more certain as the shared experience strengthens the spirit's connection to you.
Round 5
Keeping his defensive stance. He tries to cleave through two of the goblins, first the last of Gob 2 then to the next patch. He puts as much strength as he can behind his horizontal attack. Though his hurt leg makes him stumble and the pick hits the ground opening him up to the goblins around him. Then he takes a five foot step over to (O,12).
with Power attack, combat expertise, rage
with PA and rage
with Power attack, combat expertise, rage
with PA and rage
As the imposing Bugbear continues to move forward, wading into combat with reckless abandon, Dante can begin to feel its intimidating presence. The creature appears to be getting bigger and bigger though it actual size stays the same. Unconsciously he backs away a step. Then it takes another swing at Vincent who stands firm under the blow. Can't let the pressure get to me. Too many lives at stake. I can do this. With his resolve renewed so is the bond strengthened. The armor continues up his arm to his shoulders, larger and longer then before. He can tell that his reach has extended as well.
By this point, Luca was practically a continuous portal to whatever unfathomable void sent out her guardians. She had never summoned so many at once before - but there were so many goblins, as well. and her minions just kept coming. A bit of blood began to flow out of one of her nostrils, though she seemed entirely unaware of this.
Vilstrak 1: 3/20 rounds, 2/7 HP
The stone warrior slammed its arms towards Bugbear 1, attempting to mash the monster into so much paste.
for
for
for
Vilstrak 2: 2/20 rounds, 4/7 HP
Luca's second minion, meanwhile, simply raised its arms to smash at the archer goblins (Bow 1), attempting to continue its disruption of their activities.
for
for
Vilstrak 3: 1/20 rounds, 7/7 HP
The latest of Luca's minions - though probably not going to be the last - took a careful five-foot step , then lashed out with both of its arms in an attempt to crush the last remaining member of that group of goblins (Gob 1).
for
for
I made a promise...
Screaming (in fear), arms waving wildly in front of him he runs towards the pirate, colliding with the nearest bugbear.
Torble slurps disturbingly along the cliff wall near his master, his eyestalks waving excitedly as Tyrus' fear swamps the emotional link they share.
Finally the surrounded bugbear falls, bludgeoned to death by one of the summoned creatures. It's companion up in the rubble field is felled by a deft blow, and the magic keeping it on this plane unravels as its lifeforce flees - it disappears entirely. The third manages to fell another goblin.
Just as the final pirate falls, the elderly, portly wizard dives into the melee and manages to place a finger against the bugbears back. A lash of negative energy leaps into it and drains some of its lifeforce away. The bugbear roars in both rage and fear, deeply wounded. It roars something in a strange, ugly language.
"The Witch-man!"
Init Order and Condition
Goblins (Group 1: 2 dead; Group 2: 2 dead)
Dante (5 damage, 2 dex damage) -1 to Dex-based skills and saves
Lara (3 dex damage) -1 to Dex-based skills and saves
Bugbears (B1: 12 damage, B2: 4 damage, B3: 8 damage, 1 str damage)
Vincent
Luca (V#1 5 damage; V#2 dead)
Tyrus (Mage Armor (cast in round 2))
Logan (8 damage)
Yllaine (4 damage)
Pirates
Prisoners
The goblins notice the shifting tides of the battle - and the bugbear's cry seems to push them over some sort of line. A ripple of dismayed yells moves between them.
The little creatures begin to turn and flee rather than press the attack...
Round 6
Logan moves a five foot square to finish using his rage on the goblins, (P,11).
Still keeping his defensive stance. He tries to cleave through two of the goblins. He brings the heavy weapon about and slashes horizontally cutting the goblins at their necks. The goblins likely duck under his attack.
with Power attack, combat expertise, rage
with PA and rage
with Power attack, combat expertise, rage
with PA and rage
Finally, the powers that channeled themselves through Luca let her go, and she collapsed with a gasp as three stone servants continued their attempt to mash the goblins into paste. They each trundled forward as best they could to strike the closest foe - though, since the little goblins were fleeing, it was unlikely they could get more than one attack in each.
for
for
for
Wait - they're running from me? wonders Tyrus, then looks over at the hole in reality personified by Luca Oh, they're running from that
Tyrus realizes that he has somehow volunteered to fight two bugbears, alone. Desperately he tries to push towards his companions and the fallen pirates, placing his back against the wall and waving his hand in the direction of the bugbear.
The pick was not one of the many weapons his family had tried to train him with but that morningstar the Bugbear just dropped was. Dropping the pick and snatching the new weapon, Dante moved to join Logan and his currant target.
+6 if I can use it two-handed. Says it is one-handed.
Torble skitters forward onto the bugbear's foot
When the goblins turn to flee, both Luca's summoned minion and Logan cut down a figure each in the confusion. Even Tyrus lands another debilitating touch on the bugbear as it turns. As a route begins, the further-back bugbear roars at its fleeing fellows.
"Fools and cowards! That is not the witch-man! Just some fat old cantrip-caster! His flesh will be sweet!"
Their eyes turn as Dante, Logan, Lara and several others begin to dash closer.
"They are too many now," says another. "We have new meat and their work is slowed. We go!"
Init Order and Condition
Dante (5 damage, 2 dex damage) -1 to Dex-based skills and saves
Lara (3 dex damage) -1 to Dex-based skills and saves
Bugbears (B1: 12 damage, B2: 4 damage, B3: 14 damage, 1 str damage)
Vincent
Luca (V#1 5 damage; V#2 3 damage)
Tyrus (Mage Armor (cast in round 2))
Logan (7 damage)
Yllaine (4 damage)
Pirates (4 fallen)
Prisoners (3 fallen)
Not wanting to let the leaders get away, Dante instinctively taps into the new found power coursing through him. He predicts their path and creates a layer slick grease beneath their feet. "Take down the leaders or they'll attack again," he says with a surprising bit of malice.
As Luca sat on the ground, clutching her head, her unwanted minions bellowed... and charged straight towards their foes.
Vilstrak 3
Luca's third minion - finished turning one foe into paste - turned its sights to the east and shot forward, churning up the ground beneath it as it slammed forward one massive fist in an attempt to pulverize the second Bugbear.
for
Vilstrak 4
Taking a cue from its companion, the fourth minion - and the last Luca had summoned - headed for the first group of bow-shooting Gobling, charging forward to smash into them with all of its considerable bulk.
for
Vilstrak 1
The first minion Luca had called plodded back towards her, rather than charging an enemy - there simply hadn't been room, and instead it simply crouched down in front of the girl, clearly guarding her from anything else that might be sent her way while the enemies fled.
The warriors were seeking to make one thing very clear - the goblins might bring numbers, but even high numbers were of limited use against guardians who would simply keep rising from the ground...
Although, the Void considered, it would certainly need to work on increasing her stamina. Her power was great enough that she could have summoned twice as many stone warriors and still had energy left to burn, but her mind was a little more fragile. Well, she'd recover soon enough... it was more shock than true trauma, and already she was beginning to stir.
As the goblins flee and the Adrenaline leaves his system, Tyrus feels as weak as the bugbear. But through the exhaustion he feels something else.
...Triumph?
Literally he has driven off the boogeyman of his childhood. The necromancy he spent his life denying has now saved that life twice.
Looking over he sees the injured and dying, and realises his job is not done. However unexpectedly he is now a physician and a warrior. Dealer of life and death.
Plumping his bulk down next to the downed pirates he starts trying to save a life - after first discharging his spell into the ground.
Round 7
Logan comes out of his rage and clarity of fighting. Though he knows the fight is not over yet. He moves forward one move action and is close enough to swing at one of the bugbears.
He swings with all his might not worry about being defensive at all, seeing the goblins run and this might be his last attack.
with Power attack
with PA
One of the bugbears slips and falls in Dante's conjured puddle of grease, while the other manages to keep its footing and pulls away. One of the Vilstrak's and Logan fall upon the prostrate goblinoid and beat it into unconsciousness. The rest of the attackers slip through the rocks and rubble, some of them carrying more of the prisoners and pirates. they reach the treeline and disappear and moments later have disapeared into the underbrush.
The dust begins to settle upon the scene of battle. Only two pirates remain up and alive, with two more down and being tended by Tyrus. The rest - along with the majority of the prisoners - have been dragged off by the goblins, some certainly still alive.
Most of the survivors are bloodied and stand for a moment in silence. The conscious pirates stare after the goblins, where their fellows were taken into the forest. "Bastards, bastards, bastards.." one mutters, seemingly in shock at the suddenness and violence of the attack.
"Yllaine!" Lara calls out, turning away from the goblin corpses to her charge. "Are you okay?"
Yllaine give a pained nod. "One of the big ones hit me as I went by, but it's not too bad." Then the blue-skinned woman turns to Luca, who stands still guarded by the summoned creature.
"I think you may have saved us all. Are you... quite all right, dear?"
Tyrus falls upon the most wounded pirate.
The Vilstrak closest to the bugbear lumbered over and slammed one stony fist onto its skull, checking to make sure it was dead, before sinking into the earth and disappearing.
Luca flinched as attention was directed towards her. She hadn't even seen most of the battle, but whatever had happened... it was clear that it had been vicious... and after one glance at the bodies, she vomited up what little she'd eaten before slowly pushing upright and looking like she wanted nothing more than to hide.
...But she couldn't hide, could she? Even if she wanted to go home, her home wouldn't accept her. Even if she hated her power, it would force her to use it. Neither her magic nor the world cared the slightest bit about what she felt... so all she could do was try to take control of a situation and salvage whatever tatters of hope were left. "I'm fine. They... they protected me..." she said quietly, not looking at Yllaine's face.
Tyrus manages to get the bleeding under control for the heavily wounded pirate. The man is going to need skilled continual care if he is to make anything resembling a real recovery, but for the moment he is stable. The other pirate, Tyrus can tell, needs far less attention.
Luca's Vilstrak crushes the bugbear's skull without trouble, splattering its brains upon the stones where the mingle with the residue from Dante's spell.
Yllaine gives the distraught young girl a nod and places a comforting hand upon her shoulder. "And in so doing, they protected us all." She glances around at the bodies. "I wish I had been nearly so useful."
"No!" Dante cries out trying to stop the summoned creature from killing the Bugbear. But it was too late. The deed done he rounded on Luca but she didn't seem to be aware of what was going on around her. When the creatures finally melded back into the ground, the light of understanding finally returned. When she comes back he is staring at her angrily. "Its fine that they protected you but you need to learn to control them. We could have gotten information out of that bugbear. We could have found where they live and rescued the ones they dragged off. We could have done something besides barely survive!" he yells at the sky.
He then walks back to the pirate guards. " Tell the good captain we need men and supplies. And my damn sword. We are going after them. The pirates and the prisoners. No one is getting eaten."
"Bring all the wounded here. Quickly!"
After Dante's outburst
"Dante. That's a brave thought... but isn't that what they want? For us to march into their forest where they can pick us off one by one?"
The piratess eyes narrow when Dante walk up to them demanding his weapons back, but slowly his words win them over. The elder of the two begins to nod.
"Aye, aye. The captain will agree with ye, I bet. 'e doesn't leave his own behind. If'n you'll join us in getting 'em back, he'd welcome it. All you lot!" the man says to the rest. "Yer coming back to town with us. Who knows what the little buggers have still watching us. Gotta stick together."
The pirate waves you all forward towards the gates as Tyrus replies to Dante. He chews his lip for a moment in uncertainty. Then he shrugs. "The captain will know what to do, and it's his call anyway. Come on."
You have run across the spell Create Treasure Map (), but alas never bothered to learn it.
You also know from your researches that such a thing as Speaking With the Dead should be possible. In normal situations it would likely require some manner of divine assistance to help return a dead spirit - along with its knowledge - to some interaction with the Material Plane. You wonder if there might be a way around this...
Luca shrunk back as Dante yelled at her... then darted to the ground, clutching her head as the Vilstrak beside her began moving forward. "No, don't!" she shrieked, voice cracking as the creature began to move forward. Its movements towards Dante continued for a moment, but an odd force seemed to quickly hold it back... and the creature stopped a step later. "I can't control them. They do whatever they want... please, please don't make them mad..." she whispered, hiding behind the stone warrior as it walked towards the gates and finally sunk back into the ground just before passing through them.
"It may be what they want but it won't be for much longer," Dante says with a confident grin. He is decidedly happy the pirates were going to give them a chance. "Lead on."
Logan was more interested in the goblins and bugbears than the rest. He began searching for discern able marks, tattoos, symbols or such that would show a tribes marking. He hoped to only find one similar among all the bodies but needed to know. He also would collect any weapons that looked serviceable.
"I know it is distasteful, but the captain may have something at his disposal that might let us track them back to their lair... but it would mean carrying one of these corpses back with us."
The pirate gives a surprised, gap-toothed smile at Dante's predatory statement. "I like how you think, youngin'."
You do not detect any tribal marks on the bodies.
At Tyrus' recommendation, the pirates grimace in distaste, but shrug. "Ye know what your about, that's obvious enough," says the elder. "How about 'em? he gestures to his downed fellows. "We gotta bring 'em with us. Safe to carry 'em on a stretcher?"
It should be safe to carry even the heavily injured pirate on a stretcher, so long as it remains mostly level and isn't bounced around too much.
"If we're careful, yes, it should be fine."
As the others talked, Luca stood still for a few moments... and soon, her Eidolon reappeared, glancing about the area before padding forward. At the very least, it would likely be strong enough to drag at least one person behind it if some kind of rope could be made for it to bite down on. Better the beast than asking a potentially injured person to do the heavy lifting, right?
Luca herself seemed even more withdrawn than usual, quietly following along with the group and trying to avoid attracting anyone's attention.
Logan collects the maces but hides one under one of the bugbear bodies. He also goes around looking helpful collecting any of the pirates weapons left unclaim and has them in his arms with his pickaxe. As he goes around and collects them he checks in with some of those he knows.
"Dante how are you doing? Next time if I am not armored a mage armor would be very appreciated, of course we need to be close and I understand you not hearing or being able to get to me... this time." He says with a bit of mirth and even more the last few words with a wink.
He recognizes that she does not want to be the center of attention especially with her magic but he wanted to thank her none the less and whispers to her, "Luca you did great, those beasts were exactly what we needed to help protect us from the goblin horde. Perhaps even to deal with our pirate captors." He makes sure to say the last sentence even quieter and if a pirate is within 20 feet he would not say it. 'Something to remember for next time, as well to have her use one of those stone beasts as a scout the next time they went exploring.'
"Lara how did you fair? Excellent fighting back there. Are you both alright?" He asks concerned for Lara and her charge.
"Tyrus how did we fair as a group, since you are the healer you know better than most." He knows that the wizard healer might need some more encouragement and uses the man's best skill that has been shown recently.
"I... I don't know. There were not as many of us taken as I feared there would be."
"Unfortunately magic wasn't my focus at home. My family wanted a warrior but my physic didn't really allow for it. I had to learn it on my own essentially. I am not sure I could do it on someone else. And I was hoping everyone would have seen the sense of retreating in that situation to a more defendable location. Hopefully the good," he says sarcastically, "captain will allow us to right this wrong and defeat this menace once and for all." In a whisper he says, "Might want to hide the weapons here. The captain might take them and we may need them later against the goblins or the pirates."
"Yes I was hoping we would have retreated at least slowly but that did not happen and no one listened to me. Well we can move forward perhaps with more help from the village or even our own weapons." He says to Dante hoping the pirates will get the thoughts stuck in their heads to bring better weapons for everyone.
"I listened, Logan, but I was seperated from the rest of you. I should be able to give you some armour in combat if I prepare... although I question its utility to you. Actually I have a few spells that might be useful. There's one I used to get the leaves out of the gutter that results in roughly a doubling of size by volume. Would that be helpful?"
"...Distract foes and get their attention." Luca's voice said quietly. "Magical barriers against harm, and additional servants to destroy the <hlirgh uh'e>." Luca's magical talents were limited... but would continue to grow over time, even as her capacity for summoning greater minions continued to grow.
"I am glad we all agree we need practice. These goblins should provide ample," Dante says confidently.
-Posted with Wayfinder
"Practice? Well, perhaps we do need experience. I can only integrate so many thaumaturgical formulae within an aura matrix though! So, I need to know what we need in advance; as well as when and how to use it."