game on
Alright, then.
You arrive in the bustling town of Lopul in Qadira. The sun beats down on your bodies, and even with the hot-weather outfits, you still sweat heavy and it drips from your foreheads and pores. You see plenty of activity in the town square, but not in the market sense, but panicked frenzy.
You see a well dressed man, standing on top of a makeshift stage, speaking to a large crowed in front of him.
, his eyes scan the anxious crowd, and lands on the four of you as you make you way though the crowd to get a better idea of what is going on.
He speak a few Kelish words, and 5 heavily armed guards surround you, and ask you to come with them...peacefully. You do as your told. You, the well dressed man, and a total of 6 well armed guards enter a very large room.
Sorry for being so...unwelcoming, but there is a minor crisis in the town and I cannot be to careful. My adviser will cast a spell of truth on you, you will willingly submit, or else things will happen. After doing so, he asks you all the same question, Do you have any knowledge or involvement in the disappearances of 3 missing children from the village?
While under the effect of the truth spell, there is fortunately no chance that Severn's shame, the hot flush that blooms quickly on his cheek, will be misinterpreted.
"No," he responds emphatically and this answer is true but it is also true that he is responsible for the disappearance of other children. His ravaged leg throbs as the questioning continues.
" Not on yuir life Boyo! We just got here. Hmmp. The nerv' askin' if we have taken their children."
Elric replies, accepting the insult, but bristling just the same.
I understand the accusation is rude, but...one of the children was my daughter, Jade. There are two others, young men who while capable in the sand, have never, and I mean never been out this long. My daughter doesn't know how to survive in the harsh conditions for this long, he pauses a moment before continuing. I understand why you may be upset at my reaction, but she is everything to me. My men have scoured the desert, and even the oasis nearby. We leave in 30 minutes time to go on another search until we either find them, or our worst fears are realized. I do not expect you to aid us in this search, but if you could find it in your hearts to forgive my rudeness and help, if even for a short time, the town and myself would be in your debt. Since you are not from here, I understand should you decline, but if you help and provide any answers, I am more than happy to compensate you for your time and efforts. I can offer each of you my entire wealth of savings, 5000gp to divide amongst you equally.
Looking slightly abashed at his reaction Elric flushes and ducks his head.
" Ahh. Don' mind me crankiness. Got up on a wrong side o the bed this morning. Of course I'd be 'appy to help. Canno' speak for my friends tho." His accent wavers some as he tries to suppress it.
"I do not know of this. For money, though, I will help."
"Of course I will lend my sword to your cause. I pray we find your little lambs before they come to any harm. How shall we begin the search?"
You see a single tear start to form in the mans blue eyes, Thank you, for helping my town and myself in our time of need. Please take a few moments to prepare for the search, then meet at the front gate.
Once you report to the front gate, you and a handful of guards start to search the desert. You see other groups of guards and townsfolk doing their own methodical searches of the desert. Your group along with the guards, easily take care of a couple larger scorpions roaming the desert, but there are no signs of the missing children.
You come up to the oasis, and you see the guards start to spread out and search the oasis, We have searched here before, but we will continue to search until we find something.
Bubo peers around the area from behind Yūrei, wiping off the fog and sweat sticking to his goggles. The ratfolk finds the hot climate unsuitable, and even replacing his usual heavy attire with a lighter one is not enough to waive off the heat entirely.
The six guards, each wearing basic leather armor and wielding a kukri; fan out to cover more ground. Your group fans out as well in hopes that with more area being covered, the better chance at turning up some sign or evidence of the missing children. One guard, however, this was the guards fatal mistake. Out of nowhere, the sand below him starts to churn and move, and he is sucked down and he is barely able to get out a scream before he is sliced by a powerful maw.
You see a mammoth starfish like creature emerge from the sand, tentacles searching around for its next meal. A giant toothy maw, with razor sharp teeth, waiting for its next meal.
Init:
bubo
severn
yurei
erlic
enemy
guards
Init tracker: round 1
Yurei: to act
Bubo: to act
enemy:
erlic:
severn:
guards:
"Walk without rhythm to confuse the worm!" Bubo pauses then glances at the beast again. "Never mind! Just kill it!"
Bubo, looks at the strange tentacled creature. HE ponders for a moment and realizes what it is; a dust digger.
Dust diggers, live in desert, and set up sinkhole traps, like the one unleashed on the unsuspecting guard. Their tentacles are barbed, which help them grasp their prey. Their razor sharp maw, is able to swallow things whole, to let the digestive juices break up.
"It's a dust digger!" Bubo yells, recognizing the creature. "Don't get too close! It has five tentacles, each able to grab and swallow! They're known for setting up sinkhole traps, so watch out!"
Bubo is already in motion, moving closer to the creature and drawing a dagger. He stops next to Severn to take a vial and some ingredients from his pouch with one hand, mixing together them together and shaking the extract expertly before downing the entire thing and placing the vial back.
"Thanks for the warning, Bubo!" Severn reconsiders his sword, glad he brought a crossbow along as well.
Yūrei moves up, keeping cover between himself and the creature, just in case. Once in position, he draws his shortbow.
Init tracker: round 1-2
Yurei: to act
Bubo: to act
enemy: moved
erlic: to act
severn: sheathe sword and draw crossbow
guards: moved
The party moves up to surround the creature. Bubo, drink an extract to provide him better aim, while Yurei moves forward to engage the enemy. The creature moves through the sand, to get a better angle on its next meal, while Severn sheathes his sword and draws his crossbow. He realizes that if he gets to close it may be his last endeavor.
The guards advance forward, not caring (or realizing) the creature's tentacles are quite long and cover quite a distance. The creature's tentacles misses wildly, and thuds against the sand.
Elric moves 20 feet to the east, and fires a bolt at the creature.
Bubo moves closer yet again, grabbing more vials from his pouches and mixing them together in a rush. He yells for the guards to keep distance from the tentacles before throwing his finished vial at the worm to explode.
Erlic moves closer and takes a s*~* at the beast. He easily hits but manages just a glancing blow. Bubo, mixes a volatile mixture and heaves it at the enemy. It spirals and wobbles, but thanks to his extract lands and explodes directly on its target. Luckily, the guards suffer no damage from the mixture as it seems to splash around them.
Yurei moves up and takes a shot if his own. The arrow thuds in the sand, next to one of tha guards. He glares back in the direction the arrow came from, Not me!
Init tracker: round 2
yurei: miss arrow
bubo: bombed
enemy: (13 damage) pathetic missed lol
erlic: to act
severn: to act
guards: to act
The tentacled beast, unleashes its anger upon the guards surrounding it. The first tentacles slams into the guards ribs, knocking the wind out of him, but he still stands.
Yūrei approaches, trying to line up a good shot with his bow.
Bubo mutters about this not being mentioned when they took the job and already favors a retreat, but wouldn't leave the guards behind to die at least. "You guards are either brave or crazy!"
Rather than jostle for position with Bubo and the guard, Severn decides to circle around the stand of jagged rocks to the southeast. As he slips past he finds that he has a straight shot at the creature amidst the guards.
Severn, takes aim and fires...a shot that goes high overhead almost clipping a bird that flies by.
Init tracker: round 2
yurei: miss arrow
bubo: bombed
enemy: (13 damage) pathetic missed lol
erlic: to act
severn: shot miss
guards: to act
Init tracker: round 3
yurei: go
bubo: go
enemy: (13 damage) waiting
erlic: waiting
severn: waiting
guards: waiting
The dwarf, erlic stands there, unsure what to do next. The 3 guards, surrounding the beast, all attack, with the others hang back out of sheer fear of the beast (and the questioning off if their brave or dumb).
All three guards, slightly petrified of the creature before them and the wriggling tentacles trying to make them their next meal, they all whiff, coming nowhere close to connecting with the beast.
Yūrei sprints forward to get a better angle on his shot...
...and misses horribly.
Severn continues on towards the tentacled beast, arriving near the fleet half-elf, and proceeds to reload his crossbow.
Seeing how little damage his bolt did, Elric spends the next few seconds contemplating his axe. Shrugging, he reloads , and fires at the critter again.
Severn continues on towards the tentacled beast, arriving near the fleet half-elf, and proceeds to reload his crossbow.
I will take that as your actions for round 3 if you like?
Init tracker: round 3
yurei: go
bubo: go
enemy: (13 damage)
erlic:
severn:
guards:
Init tracker: round 3
yurei: shot miss
bubo: go
enemy: (13 damage)
erlic:
severn:
guards:
Init tracker: round 3
yurei: shot miss
bubo: DMPC bomb
enemy: (24 damage) whooped NPC butt
erlic: shot hit
severn: to act
guards: to act
Bubo, grabs another volatile alchemical cocktail, shakes it up and lobs it at the creature. It wobbles as it nears the creature, but lands right on top of its large body, scorching it.
The creature, infuriated it cannot reach the annoying meals fighting back, lashes out again at the guards in its way from the other prey.
The overgrown starfish, quite angry at its predicament, lashes out with everything it has. All three guards surrounding it take a pretty good beating, lucky for the flanking buddies the punishment isn't too severe. The odd man out, isn't as lucky, the tentacle softens him up, and the bite lands square on the guards leg. He drops, blood spurting from the the gash.
Erlic, seeing the guards take some hits, he reloads his crossbow, and fires another bolt. Despite the cover from the guards in the way, the bolt lands true and embeds itself in maw. It cried out in pain, but keeps fighting back.
Init tracker: round 4
yurei: to act
bubo: to act
enemy: (33 damage)
erlic:
severn:
guards:
The remain guards, both taken some hits, stand their ground and attack their foe.
Both guards, with the help from their timing and distraction, both land sold blows on the enemy.
"Get him out of there!" Bubo says, mixing another bomb. He moves towards the water and takes place behind a palm tree before throwing another concoction upwards at the beast.
Calmly , Erlic again reloads an fires.
"You fellows might wan' get away from that thing."
Bubo, lobs another bomb at the creature, causing flames to erupt all around the beats, but somehow managing to avoid all the squishy targets as of the guards.
(41 damage done)
Init tracker: round 4
yurei: to act
bubo: bomb hit
enemy: (33 damage)
erlic: pre post (post 37ish)
severn:
guards:
Feeling slightly frustrated that he guards do not heed Bubo's warning and have foolishly engaged the toothy maw emerging from the ground directly, Severn is not surprised when one of them succumbs to its attacks.
"Step back from it and beware its tentacles. Use a ranged weapon if you have one!" he bellows at the pair remaining on their feet as he moves into a position where Lythertida's blessing will affect the most men. He presents his holy symbol and mutters a short prayer. Healing energy issues forth in a 20' radius around him. For the briefest moment, there is respite from the oppressive desert heat as a cool breeze washes over his allies, stitching their wounds.
Yūrei takes aim with another arrow, and lets it fly...
...and should apparently stick to using a sword.
Init tracker: round 5
yurei: to act
bubo: to act
enemy: (43 damage)
erlic:
severn:
guards:
The tentacled creature continues its assault on the guards harassing it.
The dust digger retaliates against its attackers and both succumb to the onslaught. The guard in its left nearly gets decapitated, it is unclear if he is still breathing or not. With the final bite attempt, it goes underground, burrowing into the sand.
Bubo attempts to climb the tree next to him in order to get some distance between him and the sand and mask his position from the dust digger.
Using as little movement as possible, Erlic will sling his crossbow and draw his axe.
Listening for movement, he will attempt to determine if or when it comes for him.
Well aware that he may be revealing his position to the burrowing creature, Severn elects to risk it and check on the guards to see if they can be saved from death. Stowing his crossbow and drawing his dagger, the most suitable he has for close combat, he kneels and checks the man adjacent to him for signs of life. Then moves to the south to check the next closest fallen man.
"Those children wouldn't have stood a chance against this abomination."
or
or
BOOOOOO
Init tracker: round 5
yurei: to act
bubo: drank plague vial
enemy: (43 damage)
erlic:
severn:
guards: holding positions indefinitely
Severn, against his better judgement goes over to the fallen guards. The southern most guard us unfortunately deceased, slashes across his body. The other two guards are still breathing, but just barely. He channels the divine if his god, and manages to at leart staunch the bleeding, but doesn't heal any major wounds. While Erlic does sense where the creature may be.
Bubo, grabs a vial and chugs it. He body, sweat, blood change to a noxious vile consistency.
Yūrei stands still, and trades his shortbow for his curveblade.
Severn also trades his crossbow for a melee weapon but instead of his greatsword, he draws a dagger. It would be very difficult to use his sword if one of the beast's tentacles were wrapped around him so he opts for the smaller weapon and prepares to strike if one of them should burst out of the ground within his range.
The group, seeing the creature burrow below the sand are taken aback. Severn, moves over near the guards, and heals them, even if only closing a scratch or two. He then grabs his dagger. Others of the party do the same, realizing that if or when it emerges, should the beast swallow then that is the only chance they have.
No sooner does everyone ready themselves, does it reappear, directly under Bubo, and attempts to take a bite out of him. But the alchemist is more agile than what the beast expects, and dodges out of the way if the razor sharp maw of the creature.