Legiald smirks back at the stare of the charmed bat. Hunching down to the ground, he picks up his bow. "You hang tight, buddy." The bat wouldn't understand, but perhaps in its confusion it would buy him enough time to direct his attention to the others still fighting. Drawing an arrow, he turns and raises the bow toward the melee. Taking a moment in a rigid stand, he first aims toward the bat behind Nera, but then adjusts to loose the shot toward the slower moving one (if its still alive).
Attack vs Dire Bat 2: 1d20+7-4
Damage: 1d8+4
Want to roll a perform (acting) to pantomime you wanting it to stay there?
Nera glances over at Dolelan which puts her at ease for a moment in combat. She refocuses her attention on the vicious creature that's pursued her before calling out to Charon. "Bet accepted" as her eyes narrow and she carefully casts a spell with one hand and in an instant she strikes out against the bat her sword glowing bright with power as the two wounds she inflicts begin to glow and form her and Walter's draconic rune upon the bats leathery flesh.
Bat 2 on Dolelan
Bat 2 on Dolelan
--PC Attacks--
--Saves--
--HP--
Bat 1 - Dead
Bat 2 - Dead
Bat 3 - 22/22
Bat 4 - Dead
Bat 5 - Dead
Bat 6 - Dead
Bat 7 - Dead
--Initiative--
3 - 16
Legiald - 23
Charon - 22
Dolelan - 16
Nera, you run your hand down the length of walter as you dance and twirl around, your scimitar a blur of silver and red as it lashes out and cuts down the large bat-like creature you slashed before. As your movement slows you whip your scimitar towards the ground, discarding the thin sheen of blood it acquired in your flurry and in a soft thud the beast hits the floor.
Legiald, you call out to the bat looking in your direction, it kind of just stares at you with large, glazed over eyes. You gather your bow into your hands and quickly notch an arrow drawn from your quiver. Aiming down the length of the shaft you let loose and see it fly, it hits the creature centermass and it staggers back a moment as it seems to blink away some sort of haze.
Dolelan, just as you're about to stab through the creature an arrow suddenly sprouts from it's chest. You turn around supprised and see Legiald standing with a bow in his hand, hearing a growling you turn to face the creature and it seems to tower above you as it rises high on both legs and emits a weak screech, softly echoing through the night air,. It quickly brings down it's massive jaws and clamps down on your shoulder. You cry out in pain, switching your rapier to the other hand and stab into it's midsection. You feel flesh give way to steel and suddenly you're left supporting the creature's whole weight as it simply collapses on top of you.
--Round 5--
-Cast Arcane Mark (Part of full-round action)
-5foot step to (C,8).
-Attacks:
Nera spins like a ballerina casting the same spell she did a few seconds ago with her left hand as she moves before unleashing a duo of strikes into the bat Dolelan just struck recently any wounds withering into her personal mark shortly after being inflicted upon it's leathery flesh.
Charon's Round 4 action:
Watching Nera's actions thinking the blows should deal enough damage to fell the creature. Charon rides to creature 3(L,10). She'll ride up to the charmed creature and (Either coup de grace or Melee or Melee with sneak attack if it is allowed).
Round 5:
If Charon has not gravely injured the creature she'll try to finish it off with a well placed blow with her rapier and dagger.
As all but the charmed creature goes down, Legiald moves toward it. "Leave this one, I can make it work for us."
With Charon approaching quickly on her horse, Legiald moves to intercept and throws a hand up in her way to take the reign, directing the horse to stop short of the bat.
"Leave it, Charon. Better it dies for us than dies to us. I have it charmed, and will see that it stays friendly when the spell wears off."
Dolelan offers Legaid a few pointers on dealing with megafauna chiroptera, from an treatise on their domestication by a tribe of gnomes that he read several decades ago. He also volunteers the use of a potion that will allow its drinker to speak with animals for a short time, should Legaid find it useful...
Indeed, I think it was because you wanted to wait to see what Dolelan was going to do. I shifted you down in the initiative to just below him so I believe everything still happens as written. You used your 3rd round to cut down the bat that came up behind you as I described and dolelan/legiald take down #2. You may redo your 4th round actions if you so wish and I believe with that everything is all caught up.
Charon's Round 4 action:
Watching Nera's actions thinking the blows should deal enough damage to fell the creature. Charon rides to creature 3(L,10). She'll ride up to the charmed creature and (Either coup de grace or Melee or Melee with sneak attack if it is allowed).
In fact neither is applied, when you attempt any hostile actions the charm animal breaks.
Charon, as you ride up with a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other you see the wide, glazed over eyes of the creature you're moving towards sort of harden and glare at you. As you close with it and you swipe at it with your rapier, drawing blood, it starts to let loose this screech which feels like nails on a chalkboard, just driving strait your your head.
Will save:
Whether from Arrow, Greatsword, Rapier, or Scimitar the final bat falls. As the final wheezing cry softly rolls from the throat of the last leathery creature you all find yourselves standing on the grassy plain as a warm breeze blows up against you, carrying some of the dead smell further downwind. Gazing warily towards the night skies you're fairly confident that you've felled the last of them. The clouds part and a wave of light washes towards you illuminating a world of white, black, and grey. Ankle-high grass covers the land for miles in every direction, dotted by small shrubbery and the occasional rock formation, one of them standing contrast against the stark landscape not several hundred yards to the southeast. After a minute or so the crickets begin their harmony, the chirping filling the dead silence.
After the bat last of the bats attacking their packhorse dies Nera ignores the last charmed remaining and drops to her knees to tend to the bleeding horse wiping devils blood on the poor creature and muttering a few words in draconic.
As she's doing so she looks up for a moment and shouts at Charon "The creatures been tamed! there's no need for...." her words cut off as Charon rides towards the beast rapier drawn as Legiald and her other compatriots join after her to dispatch the previously harmless charmed creature.
She wipes the blood off Walter with a rag and evaluates the status of their pack horse for a brief moment as the droning sound of crickets signaling the end of their fight.
Once the last bat goes down, Legiald silently glares to Charon. The moment passes quickly before she catches his gaze, though, and he leisurely pulls his longsword to check the corpses are dead. Legald calls to Nera, sounding labored. "More imp-healing, Nera, these bats are as lucky as the beasts from last night. Twice cast, if you could afford it. Then we can start tracking the horses." Once the last bat is verified dead, he sits and takes the following minutes to look to his injuries as Nera's magic slowly closes them (provided she lends aid).
She wipes the blood off Walter with a rag and evaluates the status of their pack horse for a brief moment as the droning sound of crickets signaling the end of their fight.
As you lean over it you see it's nostrils flare with labored breaths. You several bare areas where several small chunks of fur and flesh have been torn from it.
If you check the other horse you're pretty confident that it wasn't any more than roughed up.
With a flash of her rapier and dagger, moving in a smooth motion. Charon manages in a flinch to wipe the blades and put them back in her sheaths. Anger that was once on her face is now completely gone. To Nera, "Creatures aren't tamed. They are better dead then captive. Maybe after we slaughtered what was left of it's family,You could teach it coo and purr as you rubbed it's belly."
After waiting a few. To Legiald's comment, she bluntly states, "You better get a move on if you're gonna catch your horse. I'd hate to see you run in that condition." Charon sits on her horse idly for a moment. Charon then nudges the horse to move in the direction the other horse ran off, she says, "Let's get one thing straight, I've told you before. It's kill or be killed. I wont have a bat rip out my throat while I sleep. I'll find your horse. Hopefully before your other bat friends do. Also, If you need. I can kill the lame animals for you. Seems you don't have the stomach I thought you had."
After overlooking the horse Nera turns to Charon, "Oh no I don't expect you to care about...well...such creatures...even if they're harmless...and I hate to rain on your survivalist rantings, but Legiald enchanted the beast however the stress of combat allowed the creature to break it's mental bonds....anyways our horses have gone to ground....and well...every moment you spend wasting time on things like killing harmless threats is another moment our mounts wander farther from us or spend unnecessary time in these apparently dangerous plains."
She thinks for a moment, "Not that I mind walking mind you, me and Walter prefer it actually, but without each of us possessing mounts we're only as quick as our feet giving the other Walter far more time to well...prepare for us....or worse yet get bored and take flight delaying any answers you seek or vengeance you wish to take out on him."
When Legiald asks for healing she looks a little annoyed by his snappish demands. "What's the magic word?" her eyebrow arched.
Nera's request earns a small mischievous smile from Legiald. Better to play along. "The magic word? Le do thoil?"
He looks to her for understanding.
Legiald catches the last bit, taunting his stomach for slaughter. "No trouble with that. They've already been checked."
So you all go about tending to the animals and yourselves, it's not a hard thing to round up the stray horses, they didn't get too far but they did head off in almost opposite directions and it's gonna take half an hour to gather them up. While almost all of the mounts were roughed up only the pack animal is too injured to travel. It's about 3:00 AM when everything is said and done, it's still dark, do you set up camp or do you proceed ahead?
"You're more swift than I, it may be better to go without me. Would you rather I begun setting up camp? Dolelan, can I count on you two?"
Dolelan nods curtly at Legaid's words and begins preparations for setting up and warding the camp. After a hard night's travel and little rest over the past few days, it was probably for the best to make camp early.
Humans! How had they come so far with such a marked lack of empathy. The human woman was probably scared, but rather than admit it to anyone she tried to keep everyone and everything a sword's length away. The man was a died-in-the-wool hero like many others that had filled the town just yesterday, and too caught up in his anger over the deaths they had seen in the past few days to consider that anyone might be reacting to the slaughter differently... he hoped they would come to their sense soon and stop this squabbling.
After a brief bit of chanting he marks out a boundary a little over 60' on a side and warns everyone to say 'Bosh' as they cross it.
Charon returns after a half an hour with animals in tow. She leads them to where they can be tied in camp. She ties all the horse to (hopefully a tree or branch or rock).
"So I guess we are planning to rest then?" Charon says with a mild bit of sarcasm.
Having set out his bedroll, Legaild nods. "The swamp shouldn't be much further. Let's keep a little distance for camp."
"I think you're right," Legiald chimes after Charon finishes. Battling a yawn, he sighs through his nostrils and blinks slowly. "Lets make use of the alarm wards Dolelan set, though. I'll get to sleep, sooner than later." Legiald sets himself down on the bedroll, still wearing everything but his backpack. "No one will be able to track us here, if anything finds us it'll be out of sheer luck. The alarms will do well to protect us. Rest easy. You're all stronger companions than I could have hoped for." Though he covers himself with the bedroll, he doesn't fall to sleep quickly with eyes open a while, listening to what the others may say.
Over the course of the morning into the early afternoon there seems to be no more threats, one of the alarm spells went off near 8:00 AM but going to check on it you see a Jackrabbit bolting into the brush away from the loud sound.
"Hopefully we dont wake up to any bats." Charon leaves with a shrug. She moves to the outside of the group, but still within the alarms radius being careful not to set it off. She'll cover herself in her cloak and falls asleep. She'll make sure she's in earshot of horses hoping she'll hear anything they perceive, although sleeping maybe not.
Upon Legialds speaking of Sylvan, Nera looks intrigued and surprised.
"Dtuigeann tú Gaeilge? Is é sin suimiúil. Tá sé deas go mbeadh an deis ag labhairt le duine éigin."
You understand Sylvan? That is interesting. It is nice to have the opportunity speak it with someone.
Staring at the sky for a moment and gauging where the moon hangs in the sky Nera mentions "I could travel for longer and I'd prefer to not put my head to rest at night as our enemies seem to be emboldened by the darkness. However, If we're nearing Jackals Folly than approaching in day may be for the better, as it gives us an opportunity to flee to the confines of the folly to the light of day should what we encounter deem it necessary."
Before they settle in for the night Nera collects a few rocks to provide a small wall to obscure light and gathers a few twigs and dried wood before casting spark to light a small fire for warmth.
She smiles at Legialds compliment ".....Thank you......err...I believe you all to be....well... quite strong as well....and at least mostly trustworthy"
At Charon's mention of bats "Oh yes I had almost forgotten speaking of bats....I do believe you owe us 25 gold Miss Charon....personally I couldn't care less for the money, but Walter will be hard pressed to let me go to bed easy if I go without getting that settled."
After a short while she'll stab Walter into the ground by her bedroll and spend an inordinate amount of time staring at her weapon lost in thought before drifting off to sleep.
"A debit made, is a debit paid. Keep in mind if Legiald did not down that one you would be paying me." As Charon heads to her sleeping spot she tosses 25 gold on Nera's bed roll.
Nera nods and takes her money. She think about the words Charon said, "But Legiald did down that last one....".
Her mind wanders to thoughts of alternate dimensions the most frightening of which involves a dimension where all reality is determined by 5 giant strange behemoths who communicate with each other and bend all of reality using a spider web made of light. Eventually she brushes such thoughts away as impractical and crazy before drifting off to sleep.
In the morning she spends a small amount of time eating trail mix and obsessively scribbling notes while studying her leather bound spell book. She rushes over to Legiald filled with boundless energy even in the wee hours of the morning, "Say I think I may have well....found a solution to your problem....you know your frequent proclivity for being injured problem....I first noticed it the night we first met and it seems to be a reoccurring theme so I put my mind to the problem and I think I might have discovered a remedy for the issue" she says proudly.
She babbles on excessively her eyes bright and wide, "You see I took some of the research I've been doing with in the rhelm of conjuration and realized if I reduced the application of typical force and instead refocus the magics into elasticity I can create a thin layer of long lasting invisible skin. If I combine this effect by also conjuring a small amount of lighter than air gas and then put it under extreme pressure it within the skin I can create a sort of invisible suite of protection that can envelope a test subject....." she suddenly looks a little embarrassed.
She continues a her excitement toned down a little, "...anyways oh dear I seem to be babbling on and on.... you're probably not interested in the specifics...but to put it simply it won't offer much protection outside you're usual armor but it's properties function much like chain mail distributing the force of such attacks among it's entire layer. It won't offer much protection but most mortal wounds will be reduced comparable to that of blow done with a closed fist."
She turns and adds the catch, "I haven't tested it myself on anything living but I do need a good guinea pig, It should last a while so when we reach the folly would you be interested? I promise to only ask a few questions if we survive mostly just to evaluate it's effects for review."
Charon gathers up her gear and prepares her horse for the journey ahead. Listening to Nera and the others chatter.
After some time tinkering around with her spellbook and chattering with the rest of the party Nera will ready her horse and look to Legiald or someone with a better sense of direction to lead the way to Jackal's folly.
Legiald wanders within the alarm's radius immediately after waking, crouching down seemingly randomly, touching the earth. Before long, he calls to Dolelan and approaches. The grizzle on his face needs shaven, hair looking frazzled still from his recent sleep. "I'll pray for the alarm once today. It should be enough to ward us for a rest, if my gut feeling is on point. With your greater focus on such arts, I expect you've more decisive spells to weave."
After speaking with Dolelan, he returns to his bedroll and meditates.
Legiald sits on his bedroll as Nera approaches him, quickly swallowing grass maggots before she stops to talk. Listening to her babble, he tosses another edible insect down his throat. "Ah-huh." he manages between statements. Legiald begins rolling up the bedroll, still looking to Nera. Tying it up and putting it into his pack, he slings it onto his back, adjusting his cloak to comfort. Another maggot goes down his throat quickly. "I can't promise I'll be a good guinea pig, but I meant what I said earlier. So what's-it called? Blunting Barrier?"
So everyone mounts up the following evening and you continue the remainder of your journey towards Jackal's Folly. The coming evening is filled with life and sound, from the chirping of crickets to the rustling of the grass. The world just seems abuzz with energy, this abruptly ends as you come to the edge of Jackal's Folly. Twisted grey tree limbs reach almost desperately towards the sky, the ground itself seems to almost die and become barren a hundred feet from the nearest tree. Without even an eerie hooting or cawing, the entirety of the forest is dead silent.
Approaching the edge of Jackal's Folly, about 6 miles away, Legiald halts. "I'm calling one of those bats to us. It should be friendly. You might even be able to ride it, Charon. Don't attack it." Fishing out a thin holly, he mutters the spell and brings his free hand to his lips. With an exhale, a high pitched whistle sounds just a moment, and he puts the holly away. "That should do it, perhaps."
Dolelan knows exactly who to thank for the blessing of their sleep, it was nice to have someone looking out for you 'up there'. In response to Legaid's comment about the wards, Dolelan breaks out in honest laughter; "I thought as much. The Starsong touched me last night and showed me certain mysteries. She told me that another would guard my rest, and that my spells would be needed for a nobler purpose. I should able to offer some assistance if there are any more injuries when we delve into Jackal's Folly."
---
Coming to the edge of the blighted and dead area, Dolelan is somewhat less sure about the plan. It had seemed like a good idea to travel under the cover of night- both because they would attract less attention from anything in the area and because they would not have to worry about attacks by the shadow-things while they slept. Venturing into their home grounds in the middle of the night though... Dolelan tries to dismiss his worries as they venture toward their goal.
Charon gives a stern look in Legiald's direction. She says, "The only way I'll be riding a bat is if I'm trying to garrote it. I will not attack it dont worry. But be prepared to manage your horses, they may not be as fond of them as mine was."
With a quick reply to Dolelan's words, "Don't tell me you have a made up friend as well Dolelan. I had some faith at least 3 of us we're sane. At some point, when we near. We may want to let the horses loose or tied where they might be safe. I am not fond of the vibe I am picking up. It shouldn't be this quiet."
Okay, by the time you guys get to Jackal's Folly it's almost dawn it takes a few minutes but after a while you see a form detach itself from the horizon, the sun starting to break behind it. It lands about 5 feet from you with a small creature in it's jaws. Hunched over like the ones you met before it stands a few feet taller than you, it's wide eyes fixed on you with long drawn out breaths coming from it's huge nostrils.
when Legiald mentions a name for her spell "Oh dear, I'd never given thought to a name for the spell....blunting barrier it is! she then pauses for thought before rushing off to to gather her spellbook and a piece of parchment as she spends a excessively long portion of their journey by horse flipping through her spell book and scrawling ideas for names on an piece of parchment that soon becomes cluttered and filled to the brim with silly ideas for names. Every once in a while she can be overheard arguing presumably with Walter underneath her breath about names.
Nera perks up at Charon's mention of imaginary friends "Dolelan's got an imaginary friend? That's weird and ussually a sign of mental instability. Don't worry Dolelan as Charon already pointed out herself one of us already a violent sociopath, so if you're Schizophrenic it's not too much trouble, there's no need to be ashamed, plus it puts us on an even ratio for mental stability" obviously completely overlooking who Charon was really referring to when she made note of the sanity ratio of the party.
Nera whistles at the sight of the environment, which is approximately 1 hour after it becomes apparent to everyone else as she's been preoccupied scribbling notes and reading. "Walter doesn't fancy the look of this place, though I figure it does seem to fit the theme of the shadowy Sir Walter."
She looks a little irked and unwary at the concept "I shalt be riding such a thing.....I'm kind of a little scared of heights....Plus I'm not crazy or nearly daring enough."
Nera glances around nervously..."Legiald.....ummmmm......I sure hope you know what you're doing." she holds Walter in her palm expecting it to lunge in bloodlust at any moment.
Legaild waits until the creature has a chance to observe all of them this close. "Careful, she's not charmed. I'll try to ingratiate..." Sucking in air through slightly parted lips, a making a light hissing whistle, he squints toward it. Dolelan suggests letting it approach, and as the bat looks back to Legald, he averts his eyes, continuing the high pitch whistle a brief moment longer.
Legaild gains the bat's curiosity at least, and lets it approach. Using his hand, he cautiously offers it and whistles again. Over the course of a minute, he looks to the bat, uses indifferent body language, and averts his gaze with timed whistles. He smiles, but keeps his squinted eyes averted until the bat lets itself be touched. A simple light scratch behind the ear, and Legald eases. "Good girl." The befriending moment lasts a minute longer, winding up with both his hands scratching gently behind the ears. To the softer-hearts, even the large eyed beast with its dangling prey may seem charming. "Good. You like that, don't you?" He parts then, looking to the others. "Try not to startle her, we'll work on warming her to the rest of you as we go. Dolelan, we'll start with you. What do you think? Charming girl, isn't she?"
The large bat's ears twitch and it's posture relaxes a little. It tilts it's head back and the small creature you can clearly now see as a squirrel goes into it's mouth and after a series of loud chomps and swallows the bat ambles forward. It's eyes seem unfocused but it easily closes the few feet between you. It shivers as you scratch behind it's ears and then rocks it's back, unfurling it's wings to their full 15 feet his head searches and bumps against your hand and it's wonderful fingers.
The horses behind you seem skittish and afraid as the large predator looms in their midst and they even chortle and whinny a bit as the wings come out, they don't bolt but their eyes are wide with fear.
"Don't tell me you have a made up friend as well Dolelan."
Dolelan looks at his companion, dumbfounded. "Made up? What...how...do you truly believe that the gods take no interests in our lives? In desperation, have you never called to the gods for a boon?"
Dolelan, we'll start with you. What do you think? Charming girl, isn't she?"
"Yes, quite. Last night was the first time I'd ever seen a living specimen up close; I rather like your friend here more than the fellows we met before..." Dolelan creeps his way closer to the bat carefully keeping his body language non-threatening as he works his way to its side. Watching carefully for any sign of aggression, he slowly reaches forward to mimic the way Legaid is befriending the bat.
Nera audibly yips in suprise at the sight oh the creature chomping down on a poor little squirrel. ".....Aren't Bats nocturnal?...." she stammers keeping herself and her horse a good distance away from the creature as she clutches Walter in hand and raises her other hand to block the glare of the dawning sun.
Charon says to Legiald, "You can warm it up to the others. Keep it away from me. I'd end up falling and taking it's head off with my rapier, if it got too close. I'm very clumsy with my blades."
Charon hangs at the back of the group and their new found friend. Giving off a glare and an aura of discontent.
Charon spits on the ground at the mention of gods and boons. Charon says ,"Only thing worth believing in is your abilities. Gods spend too much time trying to kill each other and increase their own wealth, then to waste their time on us. If you trained as hard or as much as you prayed, you wouldn't need a god to save you."
Nera blinks in disbelief, "For once I find myself agreeing with the sociopath." as she lingers back she turns to Charon, "Boys, so interested in summoning a giant bat. It's like their overcompensating for something....." she says half-heartedly. "....Probably their inability to fly." she adds confirming the unintentional nature of the pun and her aloofness at the unintended joke.