Round 6-
Ordered Initiative-
Jakob- 21a
N'bellocq- 21b
Dinosaur- 21c
Kieran- 17
Qhude- 17
Cruthoniax- 10
Ansha- 4
Tebati- Delay
Active Effects-
Longstrider on Tebati
Shield of Faith (+2) on Kieran
Bless on the party
The anklyosaurus has the Entangled condition.
Map-
Link
Notes-
The jungle is thick and dense enough that this entire combat is considered to be in difficult terrain. In addition, attacks with reach weapons and ranged attacks will be subject to cover.
The beast is large sized.
Normal light extends from a 20 foot radius around N'bellocq from the arrow he is holding and Jakob from the berry. Dim light extends 20 feet beyond that (20% miss chance). For those with low light vision, this is doubled.
Action-
Round 6
"Qhude! Kieran is down! Fall back!"
Drawing the, hopefully stabilized, half-elf across his shoulders the noble turns his gaze on the dinosaur. For a moment Jakob's eyes appear large and black. In fact, just for a flickering moment, he appears to have too many eyes. His mouth moves but the soft chittering sound that issues from his throat seems unrelated to these movements.
"Cousin!" Tebati advises N'bellocq. "Take your shot and then fall back. If Qhude is felled, you must draw the beast away so he can be retrieved." She moves to take up a position between Jakob and his burden and the dinosaur, her trident ready, and calls again on her goddess's healing powers, excluding the anklosaurus from their effects.
Round 6 Init. 21b
"Hey!..Hey, you dumb beast! Come get me...over here! I'm full of chocolate cake!" N'bellocq makes a racket trying to get the beast's attention. His bowshot has as much influence. He falls back waving his arms. Trying to draw it away from Qhude and perhaps allow him a chance for a better strike.
Both Jakob's spell and N'bellocq's arrow were utterly ignored by the entangled dinosaur. The ankylosaurus continued to vent its rage upon Qhude, apparently having decided it could tolerate the heavy net for now.
Another mighty blow struck Qhude and the powerful dinosaur roared in triumph as another of its attackers fell before its wrath... Although it bled profusely from many wounds, it seemed that the animal might still prevail...
Perhaps a little surprisingly, the little Gnome upon his pony stood his ground, reloading his crossbow as he urged-
Finish it off from afar, swiftly, the net can hold it at bay!
Holding her scroll before her with two hands, Ansha's voice is tinged with urgency as she begins to read aloud from it.
Qhude's body bent around the dinosaur's wrecking ball of a tail as it impacted before flying like a ragdoll to strike a nearby tree. All tension instantly fled from his form and the bloodied and misshapen body slumped to the ground and lay unmoving.
Jakob drops the inert half-elf into the undergrowth. "Qhude!" The noble cries out as he tries to force his way through the vines. Above the stricken Bas'o Jacobs cries find echo is the groaning trees. Unseen by all fine rootlets pierce the Mwangi's skin, wrapping around broken bones and drinking the blood from swelling edemas.
"Qhude is alive, for now at least."
"Brother!
[i]Another down, there is no time but to finish this...no where to run but to see what waits at the end of the River..."
Staring down the beast, N'bellocq sends perhaps his last two arrows, knowing he is next to share Qhude and Kieran's fate.
Tebati flinches as Qhude, inevitably, is the next to fall. "Jakob!" she asks. "You have him?"
She moves nimbly through the jungle and touches her cousin on the arm. "May Shimye-Magalla's breeze speed your arrows," she blesses him.
Its ability to present the stronger sections of its armour to N'bellocq's arrows hindered by the net, the ex-slave sent two final arrows whizzing through the thick undergrowth as Ansha chanted. The first speared one of the dinosaur's already wounded legs, causing it to stagger and slump as its massive weight weighed down heavily upon the injured limb. Adjusting his already nocked second arrow for its temporarily slumped head, N'bellocq finally managed a killing shot; his arrow suddenly ended the animal's primal roars and thrashing movement as it pierced its eye, the arrow embedding itself at least three inches into the animal's head.
With a final groan of defeat, the Anklyosaurus collapsed; much to the whooping delight and cries of victory from the enthusiastic Gnome nearby. As soon as the group were certain the beast was truly dead, the odd little humanoid wasted no time in producing a small metal box and scrutinising the animal up and down, as though selecting a souvenir. the threat of pursuit was entirely forgotten for the curious Cruthoniax, although his initial concern for both Kieran and Qhude did appear genuine.
Tebati spares the time for a proud smile at her cousin for his deed before rushing through the jungle to Qhude's side. Carefully prodding over the broken warrior, she confirms that he yet lives despite the two powerful blows, then gently lays a hand on his bare skin and directs healing energy directly into his crushed chest cavity.
Despite her best efforts, the appearance of his injuries barely improve; still, that they improve at all proves that he will eventually recover. Nodding reassurance to the rest of the group, she returns to Kieran's side and kneels in the undergrowth next to his prone form. Wrapping her fingers around her holy driftwood, she channels positive energy to reach both fallen warriors, holding her goddess's blessings back from the hulking armored beast the gnome is examining.
As the half-elf stirs and opens his eyes, she smiles with relief and leans down to gingerly kiss his forehead to welcome him back to consciousness.
As broken bones knit themselves whole owing to Tebati's divine magic, Kieran stirs and then slowly opens his eyes, the priestess' face being the first thing he sees. "Oh, hello there," he quips a little groggily before reaching to touch her hair and offering a smile of his own in response to hers.
"I think that beast broke bones I did not even know I possessed," he mutters in his usual flippant manner as he tries to sit up and more or less fails. There is pain evident in his voice, however, no matter how much he tries to hide it. Looking around, he sees the dinosaur's inert body and, a few feet away from it, Qhude. Breathing a sigh of relief as he notices the Bas'o's chest move up and down, he tries once again to sit up, this time succeeding.
"So, we won," he states with a wide smile, before adding, "My name better be in the title... or in the first verse, at the very least."
Seeing both Qhude and Kieran return to the living. Jakob turn his attention to the beast. The oracle walks around it, climbs onto it, and even forces open its mouth and surviving eye. Jakob is searching for any indication that the animal might be anything other than a normal resident of this jungle. Brands, old harness or lashing scars, "K+T" in a little heart carved in the shell.. anything unusual really.
"Just as at the Trials," she teases, offering Kieran a hand up and then a shoulder to lean on, "you missed seeing my cousin take the prize. It was N'bellocq's arrows that felled the beast." She helps him over to the fallen dinosaur to retrieve his sword and dagger. Her expression grows more sober as she looks down at the large reptilian form. "This battle was a near thing," she admits. "The lizard is incredibly strong. Cursed or not, Tabansi is a lucky man to have walked away from his encounter."
As the beast falls, Ansha continues her chant, scroll raised in front of her. Only after a few more heartbeats, when she is fairly certain that the beast will not rise again, does she cease. Rolling up the scroll again and transferring it to one hand, she moves quickly to Qhude's side, kneeling over the fallen Mwangi. She then thrusts the scroll back into its case at her hip, her emerald eyes sweeping over his form, gauging the extent of his injuries. "You're going to have quite the honor-scar after today, I think," she says, shaking her head.
Ansha looks expectantly to Tebati as she heals some of the worst of Qhude's injuries. I suppose this means that she thinks he'll live, she thinks when the shamaness gets up and departs to attend to Kieran. She lingers at Qhude's side for a few moments, then joins Cruthoniax and Jakob at the fallen beast's side.
She speaks softly as she approaches, saying in Sylvan, even as she kneels to inspect the fallen ankylosaurus for herself, "Sa sissth nwest nila. Nar fors porfose polos sa--Oo, look at the size of its claws!"
Seeing both Qhude and Kieran return to the living. Jakob turn his attention to the beast. The oracle walks around it, climbs onto it, and even forces open its mouth and surviving eye. Jakob is searching for any indication that the animal might be anything other than a normal resident of this jungle. Brands, old harness or lashing scars, "K+T" in a little heart carved in the shell.. anything unusual really.
Jakob finds nothing out of the ordinary on the hulking corpse. He is able to ascertain that the beast had not yet reached an age where it would seek a mate, but the fact that it was actively hunting prey is consistent with its age.
N'bellocq walks up and places a hand upon the neck of the great beast..."Such a brute....it might have killed us all so easily. I see now why the town was so concerned.".
From his perch, he watches Tebati minister to the wounds and follows as Jakob conducts his search, and when he pries open the mouth, the lack of canine teeth is obvious. "This beast would rather feast on leaves than farmers...or us for that matter. So you think there is a thorn in its paw...or a pit in its teeth...to drive it to such a rage? If you think that someone rather than something drives this beast, might it need to be close? I will scout about." Fitting another arrow, N'bellocq slips into the surrounding jungle looking for tracks.
"For shame, woman! Bad form teasing a man when he is wounded so," Kieran retorts in a somewhat exaggerated manner. Not being one to let an opportunity slip by him, however, he adds with a wink, "Besides, there are prizes and then there are prizes. I am hardly a loser of those Trials, would you not say so as well?"
The rogue proceeds to pick up his sword and dagger, thoroughly cleaning both weapons before returning them to their respective sheaths. He then moves closer to Qhude, looking at the injured man with a half-smile. "Quite the fight, friend, yes?" The words are spoken softly, not sure whether the warrior can hear him or not.
He then turns to the rest of them. "So... now what?"
Qhude returns to the conscious world with a start as Tebati channels her Goddess' grace... though the sudden movement sends wracking pain and fatigue flooding through his limbs and it is all he can do to roll on one side and cough up blood with a wet and racking tone. Breath comes labored and with effort and his gaze is dimmed. Nostrils flaring as air is brought to wounded lungs Qhude looks with concern to the ankylosaurus, but seeing it dead on the forest floor assuages his concern and the Bas'o allows his battered form to return to the relative comfort of the earthen bedding beneath him.
Surprised to find Ansha kneel over him, he manages a grimace before replying "I will bear no scar from today... the victory was my brother's - for his arrow stole the beast's life.". With effort wrought of pure stubbornness, he then wrestles his way to a seated position - intake of breath becoming shallow as the changed position places new pressure upon his injuries. Picking out N'Bellocq with bloodshot eyes Qhude chuckles "Though maybe he will need help to skin our prize."
When Kieran comes near Qhude nods at the half-elf's words before countering "I would not know... I did not see how it ended." in mock seriousness before a half-smile below weary eyes showing he meant it in jest.
The elf offers Qhude a gentle smile at his remark, standing and saying, "There is more to a victory than a killing blow." Her smile widens as he chuckles, and she adds, "He had help felling it, so perhaps he will. It is a larger beast than I've seen in...well, ever."
Ignoring her own words just a moment before, Ansha engrosses herself in the up-close study of the fallen lizard. On a whim, she murmurs a few short arcane words, and her emerald eyes are limned in pale blue light. She studies the great lizard anew, looking for any telltale traces of magic on its still form.
As she does so, she says to herself, loudly enough for Kieran to overhear, "I like the sound of Ansha and her companions fell the great lizard for a ballad. Perhaps I could even mention them after a few stanzas...."
"Sa sissth nwest nila. Nar fors porfose polos sa--Oo, look at the size of its claws!"
** spoiler omitted **
To Ansha.
To the gnome.
"I fear this will be little more than a dramatic episode in the Annals of great Cruthoniax. Thank you for your nets friend. I doubt we would have managed without them."
To N'bellocq.
"This this poor beast was behaving strangely. Perhaps it ate some maddening plant or perhaps someone forced it. I don't know. Scavengers are likely on on the way if nothing else, so maybe a scout round would be a good idea."
To Qhude.
"Just try relax. That tail packs a wallop. Let's see if I can help you find your feet" Jakob touches his hand to one of the blood smears that cover Qhude's torso. For a moment the dried blood gleams wet and red again as the smell of blackberries rides an unexpected cool breeze through the sweltering jungle.
As the stray breeze passes Qhude feels a little more alive, or at least a touch farther from death.
"For shame, woman! Bad form teasing a man when he is wounded so," Kieran retorts in a somewhat exaggerated manner. Not being one to let an opportunity slip by him, however, he adds with a wink, "Besides, there are prizes and then there are prizes. I am hardly a loser of those Trials, would you not say so as well?"
"Are you suggesting I was the consolation prize?" she raises an eyebrow smilingly.
She studies the great lizard anew, looking for any telltale traces of magic on its still form.
As she does so, she says to herself, loudly enough for Kieran to overhear, "I like the sound of Ansha and her companions fell the great lizard for a ballad. Perhaps I could even mention them after a few stanzas...."
"A verse apiece perhaps for the beastslayer and he who drew first blood before returning to singing your own praises?" Tebati asks dryly, walking over to pick up Qhude's discarded guisarme and return it to him. "Hopefully nothing more than a walking-stick to help support you tonight," she offers, "but if we meet another such lizard, you might be well served to stay farther away from it." She views his battered body with sympathy. "I can offer you more healing in the morning ... unless you want to give Unwe and her needle the first chance to fuss over you," she suggests with a smile.
He then turns to the rest of them. "So... now what?"
"I don't know what ankylosaurus meat tastes like, but this is a great amount of it if we had a way to carry it back to Freehold. Perhaps a delicacy for the Archerfeast celebration. Unless we find some sign, however," she looks questioningly to Ansha and Jakob after their examination of the animal, "we are no nearer to solving Tabansi's problem."
Jakob's grace having restored a little more colour to his cheeks, Qhude accepts his guisarme with nodded thanks and forces himself back to his feet. Eyes focused on the now dead beast, Qhude moves to it's head with polearm put to use as a walking stick as Tebati suggests. When he staggers to the ankylosaurus' head, he puts a hand upon it and closes his eyes a few moments.
To his umkhaya he shares "I would see us drag the beast's corpse back to Freehold. Gutted and with the aid of the horses it should be possible." opening his eyes and turning to face the others "It should draw eyes towards us and away from Tabansi... and a promise was made."
Jakob looks at the corpse. He looks at the dense, wet, flexible jungle foliage. The turns to the gnome on the pony.
"Tell me Cruthoniax, if we rolled the body onto its back and rigged some ropes to the neck and front legs, could we drag it back? The shell looks like it could ride over most of the plant life....Pity we don't have a barrel or two of grease to ease it along."
Ansha looks up from her examination of the ankylosaurus long enough to grin crookedly at Tebati. "One has to have one's priorities straight, after all."
Tebati-
Kieran-
Qhude-
Ansha-
N'bellocq-
Jakob-
Ansha is unable to detect any hint of magic although she is not particularly surprised by this. Even the most powerful of mortal magic tends to leave a lingering aura for only an hour or so and were any spell controlling the dinosaur, it would have faded in mere seconds or minutes, depending on its potency.
N'bellocq slipped away into the undergrowth in order to look for signs.
You were caught entirely by surprise as a flicker of movement attracted your attention a little past the edge of the group's light sources. You moved to investigate when you felt a vice-like grip upon your arm as someone grabbed you- he must have been hidden in the undergrowth.
The man who had your arm held with one of his own is a Mwangi man- likely a Zenj from his skin tone; and into his middle age. He is dressed in loose-fitting hide armour and his hair is shaggy and unkempt; looking every inch the archetypical forest hermit. The man was quite short of stature but seemed fit and strong; he wore little else but a sickle upon his belt and a large backpack upon his shoulders. The arm he was not using to hold your own is held up as though to gesture for quiet as he whispered to you-
I mean you no harm, great hunter, but I may not be able to trust your allies... The spirits of the land have told me things and revealed to me that the presence of this animal you have felled has a far deeper cause than you might suspect... Will you indulge me to speak further to you, alone?
Cruthoniax looked upon the hulking animal and appeared to be performing some mental calculations. Eventually, he shook his head.
Not even if you had several more men of such brawn as Qhude could you hope to drag this animal's carcass clear; and that would assume level ground, not dense undergrowth. This beast must weigh at least three thousand pounds... closer to four by my estimate. The horses you say? I suppose with their help you might just about manage it but it would not be clean, quick or pretty. Especially as night is already falling. And if someone truly is stalking us, we'd be especially vulnerable with our focus on this animal. Perhaps just take its head? Are you committed to this course, Qhude? What does Tabansi have to do with anything? The head rancher, if i'm not mistaken? the Gnome mused and then asked, his curiosity piqued.
Sighing as Cru-tho-ni-ax's words have some truth, Qhude instead refocuses "The beasts's head and tail will then need to suffice. Have you chosen a trophy of your own Cru-tho-ni-ax?" moving forward and drawing a knife to get into the bloody work.
Yes. I think one of the spines upon its tail would suit me well, please the Gnome stated happily, obviously expecting Qhude to do the bloody work.
Having forgotten that the gnome was not trusted by the Council, Tebati tries to cover her slip. "The ranch has been attacked by a beast like this one. It has killed cattle and one unfortunate man. Simply seeing this beast dead does not mean that there are not more like it in the jungle who will continue to cause problems for the head rancher," she replies, speaking mostly truth but not the whole truth, giving Ansha a gaze that asks the elf's more dexterous tongue to step in and aid her.
Stop peeking, I rolled off-screen anyway ;).
Ah, that seems plausible enough. Send him my sympathies if you see him before I do Cruthoniax replied. I should really focus my attentions upon a better fencing mechanism for his herd at some point... he muttered, becoming distracted again.
N'bellocq pauses as he takes in the man beside him...a shamen of the forest.. Other than clamping his arm, he seemed to offer no further harm, although it occurs to him, a man such as this might have control over beasts such as this...or concern over someone else causing such imbalance. He whispers, "I will hear you out, but not within your grasp. I do not like to be...restrained." N'bellocq forces himself to relax and points his eyes toward the man's fingers around his bicep.
Ansha frowns, blinking once as the glow limning her eyes fades away, her concentration on the spell ceased. She looks around the 'battlefield' for a moment. "Nothing. No enchantment, certainly...though many other spells' auras would have already faded. No," she stands and shakes her head at Tebati, smiling reassuringly when it seems clear that Cruthoniax believes her without the enchantress' input. "We'll need to do it the old-fashioned way."
She glances around again. Her brows furrow in a quizzical look as she asks, "Where'd N'bellocq go? We're going to need his tracking skills."
Qhude nods, and begins hacking away at the beast's neck where the flesh joins the armored back.
She glances around again. Her brows furrow in a quizzical look as she asks, "Where'd N'bellocq go? We're going to need his tracking skills."
Tebati looks into the darkness of the undergrowth in the direction her cousin had departed. "Surely if he'd met any danger, we would have heard something," she says, a touch of worry on her brow as she wraps her arm through Kieran's
"I could always go and look for him," Kieran offers with a shrug. "Although I do admit the jungle is not exactly the kind of place I am used to, I am rather good at skulking about, if I do say so myself."
The Mwangi man is very quick to release you. You get the impression he was more likely to bolt than take offensive action if you had done anything other than agree to listen to him. He speaks, quietly-
This beast you slew- it will be one of many driven towards civilisation. The Pale Ones- the descendants of the colonials; they have stirred a great evil in southern Sargava, and nature itself rebels, for it knows what may yet come of it. You cannot trust them, for they know little of what they do, of what they shall ask you to do for them. It is not too late to prevent them, to stop the Custodian's plans. I know that your "mission" on behalf of Sargava will endanger the lives of many. I am learning more each day and I can tell you more, once you arrive where they have asked you to go. All I need from you is the location, and we can meet again there, and I can provide proof of what I say...
He pauses for your reply, before raising a hand; apparently anxious that he might be discovered by your fellows.
Would you permit me to mark you, great hunter, so that I can find you once again? It will involve a painless spell...
After the spell has been cast, if there are no obvious effects, "You called them the Pale Ones, is that what you call all Sarganvans not born of the Jungle, or do you identify an organized group that plots against the Land."
The shaman reached out his hand and chanted for a moment and for a moment, all went dark before N'bellocq's eyes.
N'bellocq returned to the group quite promptly, having been gone for only a few minutes. Qhude's grisly work is by this point complete.
"Nothing but the echoes of this beast out there." He nods toward Qhude and Kieran, glad to see them both up an about.
"Ah! There you are," Ansha exclaims as she sees N'bellocq return from the jungle. "No sign of our stalker, hm? Can you follow this great beast's tracks to their source, do you think?"
She makes a disgusted face at Qhude as the Bas'o cuts through the great lizard's neck at last with a particularly audible thwack. Stepping farther away from the bloody mess of ankylosaurus, she continues, "Do you think you can stomach carrying your trophies further into the jungle, Qhude? I'm reluctant to let this trail grow colder before pursuing it."
"We are in no condition to meet anything else in this jungle, Ansha," Tebati says sharply. "Qhude and Kieran are still injured, and my goddess's grace for the day is spent. What if we should discover another of these beasts?"
Ansha gives Tebati an almost sheepish look, having not thought of how worse off others had come out of the exchange than she. "Point well taken. I suppose we'll have to content ourselves with Qhude's trophy for the time being, then. Still, we should probably not stay here for the night."
She gestures idly toward the ankylosaurus' hulking corpse. "That great corpse is likely to attract scavengers soon enough."
Arms still slick with the ankylosaurus' blood, Qhude wipes his palms and dagger off on his shorts before sheathing the blade. Gauging the weight of the twin trophies, he kens whether he could bear the tail over one shoulder while dragging the head behind him.
To the talk of continuing or not Qhude states "When the lizard's head is brought back... it may cause the one who marked Tabansi to act also."