Walking in the forest with his two fellow Seekers, Baster clears his throat and continues speaking.
"Yes, I'll admit it to the two of you: I love the sound of my own voice. Hmm, perhaps I will ask for singing lessons, Leylin, once I'm done mastering the flute" he jokes.
"So, our enemy: well-informed, well organised, and has an army at his disposal."
Baster spreads his arms wide, as if to intimate the astounding resources of the adversary.
"And it commands beasts of legend: a dragon, no less ! And, according to our Tim: magic !"
"Also, it does not cringe from defying our king and queen: it came after us, Seekers, who are the vanguard of our rightful suzerains."
Baster rips off a bush of ferns blocking his path.
"I don't want to sound paranoid myself, but one could legitimely wonder if our mysterious adversary does not threaten the twin kingdoms themselves !"
The brow of Baster furrows as he considers the implications of his reflexion.
Then he lightens a bit, in a disquieting way, his eyes glinting with dire intent.
"But, however mighty the enemy may seem, he still made a grave error. One which will haunt him in the days to come."
"He underestimated us. The nine of us."
The Peacock Knight chuckles.
"We'll just have to hurt it the most to repay its inconsiderate slight to our pride."
As for everyone to be accounted for:
- The helmsman is fine, as are a grand total of 8 soldiers. Miss Koyr also stumbles out of the wreckage mostly unharmed. As for Keddemas, unless I've missed something, is still lying face down in the dirt.
Yes, you may have missed something, Keddemas, is either in the wreck with the rest of the wounded or in the process of being buried, unless you need us to specifically call him out anyway.
Several of us searched for all wounded and Leon had some soldiers bury the dead, while I have finally made it to makeing an extended search around the site for anyone who may have been thrown well clear of the wreck, of course it would be nice to know exactly how many are missing and if Tiny is the only one Tim will keep an eye out for tracks as well just in case it was Tiny.
"Ithriel, perhaps you and I should see to it that the dead are properly buried," Endrian says with a somber look upon his face.
Endrian begins searching the wreckage for the bodies of the dead and making a line. As he comes across Keddemas, he turns the man over before hoisting him onto his shoulders and placing him in the line.
He searches around for some cloths to cover the bodies of the deceased to grant them some respect in death.
He then begins to assist in digging graves for the deceased.
"Alright, Tim. We need to pull as much salvage and supplies out of the hull as we can anyway. Might as well move the wounded inside once there's space. You handle that. Set aside any intact doors you come across, we'll need them as litters. And make sure you test for danger of collapse. It's hard to tell what will hold and what wont in there. Might be broken beams we can't see. Maybe Koldier can help you. Dwarves are supposed to be natural engineers."
"Endrian and I will work out here. When we have enough good planks to build a shelter away from the crash site we'll need one or two of those spells that make people bigger. Then we'll drag the lumber to the lake and see what we can get done before nightfall. I'd really like not to have to spend the night in the hull of a crashed ship."
Seeing Endrian beginning to dig graves, Leon puts a hand on his friend's shoulder.
"I hate to say this, but I think our priority should be to make sure the living are taken care of first. The dead will be patient with us. Gathering them and covering them will be enough for now. Later, we can all bury the fallen together, properly."
"I hate to say this, but I think our priority should be to make sure the living are taken care of first. The dead will be patient with us. Gathering them and covering them will be enough for now. Later, we can all bury the fallen together, properly."
Endrian leans on the shovel that he had been using, sighing.
"You are right friend, the dead can wait."
He then moves closer to Leon whispering "Thank you friend. I am more than a little unsettled by these events and have been unable to ground myself."
The helmsman is fine, as are a grand total of 8 soldiers. Miss Koyr also stumbles out of the wreckage mostly unharmed. As for Keddemas, unless I've missed something, is still lying face down in the dirt.
I silently offer each of the surviving crew members healing. Looking over and seeing Endrian wounded Aldus frowns. Taking his muddy hand he walks over and draws a sad face on Endrian's shoulder.
After jumping quite high, Endrian turns to see Aldus. "Oh... Sorry, I didn't see you there." He notices that his body feels less sore.
"Why.. why thank you... I don't think I caught your name earlier... I am Endrian, and you are?"
"You're welcome, Endrian. I had that problem myself for a long time. Some skills are not worth what it takes to learn them."
Wiping the rain off of his face he shakes his thoughts free of his head and nods to the wreckage.
"Give me a hand with this. The sooner we're out of this rain, the..."
...then he bursts out laughing at Endrian's reaction to Aldus.
Ithriel nods to Endrian and begins to gather the dead for burial. Once they are gathered, the Elf mutters a prayer over each one. Then out of nowhere, he hears laughter. Ithriel opens his eyes and sees that it's Leon, afterwards he notices Aldus.....and that he isn't wearing pants. The Elven Oracle cocks his head to one side with a puzzled look on in his face. Such a strange individual. Then continues with the prayers.
"Well, this could be the shelter we have been searching for" Baster says, while pointing to the gaping entrance of a large cavern beside the lake, whose shore they just attained after a lengthy trek through the dark forest.
"I think we should explore it superficially, around the entrance, just to make sure it isn't some animal's lair" the nobleman says to Jevon and Leylin.
"Why.. why thank you... I don't think I caught your name earlier... I am Endrian, and you are?"
Aldus nods with a smile and keeps moving among the survivors, helping where he can.
"I think I overheard him called Aldus earlier. Don't know who originally got his name." Lean said with a shrug.
"Well we all just survived an epic crash, note to self, make awesome song about it later, and emotions are high for everyone. I bet the next few days will test everyone in many different ways. And don't dismiss what Tim is saying. There is the chance that he might have miss saw something, but why would he lie about seeing creatures in the hurricane? That dragon seemed to be made out of fire and brimstone itself, and now a very non-typical hurricane... Someone with huge magic power is trying to mess with us. someone with an army, or at least connected to that army that attacked us. I think we would be fools to dismiss what Tim is...What? What are you smiling at me for Baster? Did I unintentionally make a pun or something?!"
--
"Oh a cave? I love caves? Even though I've never really seen a cave before... Aaanyway, you never know what you can find in a cave. I bet there's a grizzly bear inside! Lets check it out! We might be able to use it for more shelter or something. Or maybe it is an entrace to some sore of forgotten dungeon full of forgotten treasure! "
"Aye, lets give it a quick exploration. In, out and out the door in five minutes flat." Says Jevon, sticking out his tongue at his companions and chuckling. "If it's not obviously dangerous we should head back to the others and tell them what we've found."
He begins to walk into the mouth of the cave, his musket draw.
Baster takes the scorpion whip tucked at his side, keeping it coiled for now, and follows Jevon into the cave.
As Aldus looks back at Endrian with a smile, Endrian smiles back somewhat awkwardly.
"I think I overheard him called Aldus earlier. Don't know who originally got his name."
"Oh Aldus is it? Well he seems nice enough. He just mustn't fancy talking... Thanks for that Leon."
Leon nods. "Guess he doesn't fancy pants either.
Endrian can't help himself and tries to stifle his laughter.
Finishing his prayers, Ithriel goes to help Leon and Endrian.
Night slowly catches up to you.
The sounds of the forest slowly come to surround you.
Above, the rains keep on falling.
Initiative
Perception
Tim wandering around slightly away from the wreck looking for anything or anybody that may have flown away from the main portion of the wreck, and track, just in case.
Ouch.
[dice=Init]1d20+1
[dice=perception]1d20-1
So we've got everyone except Aldus and Koldir. If you kind people don't mind, I'd like to make sure everyone posts as a little check to see if everyone is still here. Just had to drop 2 campaigns due to lack of posts and am also currently replacing them by a new one (Beneath the Southseas).
This will give me time to wrap the recruitment up and make sure everyone's still on board for this one as this is one I REFUSE to even consider dropping.
Initiative
Perception (Alertness From Familiar)
In front of both groups, a hulking bear rises up, dead eyes staring at you, mouth dripping with slobber.
The creatures roar and lunge forward!
===
I'd need to know which characters are the closest (and bravest).
These characters will possibly be getting mauled at the presented initiatives.
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Baster, as soon as he heard the feral noises, has resolutely moved toward them, uncoiling his whip and unsheathing his sword.
He freezes for a fraction of a second when he sees the monstrous hulking bear.
"Holy Mother of Hurt !" he whispers.
Hearing the beasts roar coming from Leon's direction, Ithriel stops his prayers, grabs his staff and heads for his comrades side.
Leon's eyes go wide and he stumbles, fumbling for his sword and shield as the massive beast comes out of the darkness near him. He kept his footing but his brain locked up. He'd been trained to fight men, and the dragon had evoked something in him that he didn't really understand. This was neither of those things.
"I'll bring you down !" Baster screams as he slashes at the monstrous bear with his sword and barbed whip.
1/day [Swift Action], you can challenge a foe to combat. Choose one target within sight to challenge. Your melee attacks deal extra damage whenever the attacks are made against the target of the challenge.
Baster's extra damage is 2.
Challenging a foe requires much of the cavalier's concentration. The cavalier takes a -2 penalty to his Armor Class, except against attacks made by the target of his challenge. The challenge remains in effect until the target is dead or unconscious or until the combat ends.