As Bart moves to go get away from the fight, his guard drops just enough, and it seems that is all the frog nearby needs, but it seems that the mystical efforts of his companions are just enough to prevent the attack from connecting.
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Ayreth closes her eyes and takes a moment to search within herself and her most primal urge. When she finally finds that for which she is looking, she uses the mental exercises that she has learned to summon forth that primal intent. Her eyes open, she looks at the frog engaged with the shadow lion, and she speaks a single word, "Mharú."
Commentary: I believe that if this works, it will mean taking a coup-de-grace attempt on the unconscious frog, provoking AoOs.
"Mharú."
Paul glances toward Ayreth; his eyes wide with surprise.
Then he discerns what she has done, the power she wielded and the command that she uttered and the force of her strength...
Then his cold eyes smile.
The frog succumbs to Ayreth's mystical command, and turns to its former ally, focusing only on finishing the creature. Its attack is stunningly brutal, and the other frog dies messily.
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** spoiler omitted **
Coup-de-Grace:As a full-round action, you can use a melee weapon to deliver a coup de grace (pronounced "coo day grahs") to a helpless opponent. You can also use a bow or crossbow, provided you are adjacent to the target.
You automatically hit and score a critical hit. If the defender survives the damage, he must make a Fortitude save (DC 10 + damage dealt) or die. A rogue also gets her extra sneak attack damage against a helpless opponent when delivering a coup de grace.
Delivering a coup de grace provokes attacks of opportunity from threatening opponents.
You can't deliver a coup de grace against a creature that is immune to critical hits. You can deliver a coup de grace against a creature with total concealment, but doing this requires two consecutive full-round actions (one to "find" the creature once you've determined what square it's in, and one to deliver the coup de grace).
** spoiler omitted **** spoiler omitted **
The giant bullfrog (4) on the other side of the battle turns its attention away from Gii, and to Paul, who previously struck it with his sword. The frog viciously bites at him, but miraculously its jaws fail to connect with Paul's body and he is unscathed.
Blue Heron steps past the carcass of the dead frog and unleashes her fury on the frog assaulting Paul.
It is a perfect step and a perfect blow.
Alar lashes out against the weakened Frog. He had let it turn against its own earlier without reprisal but now the Lion took its payment for the earlier wound in flesh. When he finishes with the creature, he lets out a violent and triumphant roar that shakes the water around him despite it's distant and eerily quiet sound.
Bart grins fiercely and turns his attention the the frog that remained on the other side of the field. "Hey ugly!" Bart grasps his amulet and stabs it forward, pulling it taut against his neck. Two more stars surrounded by black nothingness pool of out the Black Stone amulet and shoot forward with incredible speed, burning both in the air and in the eyes of those that watched their flight the trail of light they left behind. The stars seer into the flesh of the frog attacking Mr. Stuffy Pants.
Alar (Prayer)
Full attack vs Frogger in front of him
Bart (Prayer, Message)(0 spell slots used) (3/6 Blackstone Amulet)
Standard Shooting Star vs Frogger attacking Paul and Mr. Stuffy Pants
Under Alar's fierce attack with bite and claws, the adjacent giant frog (1) does not prevail and it succumbs to its multiple deep injuries, falling unconscious into the swamp and laying there, bleeding out and dying. (Though not dead, yet.)
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Taking a moment to watch the shadow lion savage the immense frog that just killed its fellow, Ayreth allows herself a smile of satisfaction until she remembers that there is still danger. Focus, Ayreth, we are not out of the woods yet. She giggles quietly. Out of the swamp, that is. Ayreth struggles her way out of the muck, briefly looking towards Diamond. Good girl, not running. Turning towards her companions, she starts making her way over, assessing who seems to have the greatest injuries. She summons the energy for a spell, but does not release the silvery light that encompasses her hand.
Yuki will be taking a 5 ft step and then going into total defense (standard action), vigilant and ready.
When the frog turns its attention from Gii, the Nethian thrusts his quarterstaff at the creature, his eyes filled with determination.
Spells Prepared:
1 - divine favor (1/1), obscuring mist (1/1), shield [D] (1/1), summon monster I (1/1)
2 - barkskin [D] (1/1, remove paralysis (1/1), summon monster II (1/1)
3 - dispel magic [D] (1/1), prayer (0/1)
Paul will use both weapons; full attack, power attack and with flanking pn the frog monster attacking his allies -
Paul turns his bloody face to gaze upon the next of this creatures to threaten his friends...
** spoiler omitted **
With Blue's furious fist attacks and the combined, strong, relentless teamwork between Gii and Paul, the assault on Frog 4 is merciless. It is pulverised; blood and gore flying everywhere as it falls dead into the swamp.
Gii sighs heavily as the final frog collapses, leaning heavily on his staff. He gestures for everyone to gather around him. Once they do, he lifts a free hand into the air, waves of pure white energy emanating from it.
"This swamp is not to be taken lightly," the Nethian states after he finishes healing the group, a dark look on his face.
"This swamp is not to be taken lightly," the Nethian states after he finishes healing himself, a dark look on his face.
Paul walks over to the frog and stabs his sword into, ripping it apart.
He turns to Gii.
"I'm near dying - you think you can do anything to lend a hand?" he asks the priest.
Paul glances at the others; his face as dark as Gii's.
"Ya'll doing alright?" he asks them, his breath coming raggedly.
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"Anyone in the mood for frog's legs?"
As Paul walks by to finish off the frog, Ayreth reaches out to him, releasing the spell's energy.
Blue Heron nods satisfied. It was good that her companions now had a better sense of themselves and each other.
"I wonder how the cook avoided such frogs?"
Gii shrugs slightly, looking less battered and frustrated than he had been just moments ago. "I do not know how she may have managed it, but this only worries me more about her safety," the Nethian says, frowning. "Let us keep moving, I would rather not have to tell sir Crenn that his cook was made into a frog treat."
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Gii shrugs slightly, looking less battered and frustrated than he had been just moments ago. "I do not know how she may have managed it, but this only worries me more about her safety," the Nethian says, frowning. "Let us keep moving, I would rather not have to tell sir Crenn that his cook was made into a frog treat."
Ayreth looks down at the muck clinging to her skirt and boots. "What I would give for a cleaning spell right now...ugh!," she mutters as she retrieves Diamond, her horse.
"An excellent idea, friend Gii. Haste is her ally, we can hope. Shall we?," Ayreth asks as she gestures to the road.
Yuki nods
"Very big and ugly frogs. Just glad we managed to deal with them!"
She looks around
"Hope they didnt eat her"
-Posted with Wayfinder
Bartholomew gestures for Alar to come near. Gii's healing did help, but it wasn't quite as effective as one of Bart's spells. The boy touches his hand to the Lion's injury, and it begins gathering stars and shadows, both from thin air and from the amulet around his neck.
Bart is surprised when his own healing turns out to be less effective then Gi's. His first assumption is not that Mr. Stuffy Pants cheated somehow, but that the wound must have been more grevious then Bart had thought. With a wince, the child wraps his arms around the Lion, and the shadows and dark stars that make up the creatures body twist and turn, forming into something akin to ethereal looking armor.
Bart, feeling the creature is safer now, looks to the others and nods, smiling despite the danger they had gone through. A normal child probably would have been quite shaken up but with one hug Bart felt a million times better, ready to go save an innocent life. "Ready when you guys are! Lets get going!
'I will stay close now.' Alar's voice rang through Bart's mind. The small child nodded mutely, and his smile grew a little broader. These people had saved him. They earned a little trust. And he felt better having Alar standing next to him anyway. Bart takes a moment to breathe, then rushes up to stand beside the others, especially Yuki. "Thanks for pulling me out of that things tongue, by the way! Was hoping to catch a frog, not the other way around."
Alar- 45 Health, Mage Armor (+4 AC)
Bart- Full health, 3/1st lvl spells left, 3/6 Black Stone Amulet abilities left.
Paul feels the rush of divine energy shiver through him as Gii channel’s the power of his god to heal his body. He turns a quick glance to Gii and nods to the man in thanks, then goes to the cursed frog creature and stabs his blade into, tearing it apart and ending the creature’s life.
The blood, ooze and filth that clings to him is foul; and even with Gii’s aid he still feels a profound ache in his body. However, as he moves, he suddenly feels the soft, delicate press of Ayreth's hand on his arm.
As Paul walks by to finish off the frog, Ayreth reaches out to him, releasing the spell's energy.
As her hand lays on his arm he can feel himself walking taller; his muscles and flesh tightening, firming and healing under her gentle touch.
He turns and pauses, looking into her eyes, his hand tipping his hat involuntarily.
”My thanks, ma’am, I'm obliged to you,” he says to her; his voice a bit quieter than normal, his eye lingering for a moment.
Then he shakes his head and looks around.
”How’s the horse? Is it alright?” he asks, than glances at the others to see what they'er doing.
He notices that Blue Heron is studying the bodies of the dead with an appraising eye.
"I wonder how the cook avoided such frogs?"
Gi glances at her thoughtfully, a frown on his face as he considers her words.
"I do not know how she may have managed it, but this only worries me more about her safety,"
”Aye…” Paul says slowly to them; his eyes glancing through the muck.
”What’s clear is that these things charged us fast… I don’t reckon they were hungry; I figure they were guarding turf… But if their turf is near, that it puts it square against this path… That means that they’d have been pushing out to guard things lately – they’d have been on this path before, I reckon…”
He quickly studies the terrain for signs of others –
He examines the frogs for a moment longer.
As he works, he notices Yuki looking at the frog corpses as well.
"Very big and ugly frogs. Just glad we managed to deal with them! Hope they didnt eat her"
Meanwhile, it’s clear that the others are ready to move on…
"Let us keep moving, I would rather not have to tell sir Crenn that his cook was made into a frog treat."
Ayreth notes Gii and nods.
"An excellent idea, friend Gii. Haste is her ally, we can hope. Shall we?," Ayreth asks as she gestures to the road.
Paul pauses in his study – thinking a moment.
”Hang on, ma’am…” he says to Ayreth; he glances back at Yuki, thinking about what the girl said – as well as Blue Heron.
He shakes his head, his eyes dark.
”We need to be sure she ain’t already eaten…” he says slowly.
”Now the girl was maybe what – roughly one-twenty to maybe one-thirty in weight? And I’d wager maybe about average size… If these gods cursed frogs swallowed her whole – which is how frogs eat their prey – that means that she’d be in their belly now and digesting…” he says with a grim voice.
”But it’d take about a week for something that large to be worked through a digestive track to a natural animal… But that’s just common knowledge,” he says, glancing up; stating what everyone should already know about how long it would take for a thing to work through the digestive track of such a creature.
He sighs.
”Point is – she hasn’t been gone that long… If we cut ‘em open now we’ll find some remains in their belly. Hell, it takes a Great White shark over a week to digest a normal human, and they chew the human up into pieces first…” he adds, again stating more common knowledge; just to put things in perspective.
However, Bart seems a bit eager to get going, hoping back and forth from foot to foot.
"Ready when you guys are! Lets get going!
Paul glances at him.
”Hey – settle down a bit, junior,” he says to the kid, holding up his hand.
”All I’m saying is if we don’t find any human remains in their belly – then I reckon that she’s maybe still alive and we head out… But if not?”
He shakes his head.
”Look, the whole thing won’t take but about five minutes to gut ‘em and check,” he says glancing around ”less time if anyone here might lend a hand… What’d you say, doc – you willing to do an autopsy on a frog?” he says, looking at Gii.
Bartholomew was quite against the idea of cutting open the frogs, but he didn't want to appear like a squeamish child when a woman's life could hang in the balance. Not to mention he knew he'd want to be cut out, dead or alive, if that thing had managed to eat him.
Still, as Paul set to work, and Bart turned away to avoid looking at a site that would make him throw up, something nagged at the child. Something didn't... feel right... But he couldn't grasp it, or at least he didn't think he could. "What are these creatures? Are they normally so violent and suicidal?" Bart looked at the contents in one of their stomachs and immediately regretted it, though it gave him an answer of sorts. He turns away, his face a little green, and he calls out, "Hey, Mr. Stuffy Pants, mind coming here for a moment?"
Gii walks over to Bart, a look both curious and frustrated on his face. "We're going to have a nice long discussion about how you refer to me at some point," the Nethian states, his eyes glinting behind the spectacle frames.
"Every time I think about finding out what your real name is, you go and say things like that!" Bart sticks out his tongue for a moment, enjoying the less the violent reaction from Gii after their battle, before he gets into what he was thinking about. "If these beasties were so rough, ya think Daviss would have warned us no? And look at what their eating. Not even people bones in there from a couple weeks back. Do you know what they are? If their naturally predicated toward trying to snack on groups of people? Or not running when something angry fills em with holes?"
Gii shrugs. "I don't know much about animals, but it's entirely possible that these were compelled by something else to attack us. No matter how you look at it, this whole attack was strange," he trails off, rubbing his jaw and looking deep in thought.
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Then he shakes his head and looks around.
”How’s the horse? Is it alright?” he asks, than glances at the others to see what they'er doing.
Ayreth pats Diamond affectionately. "She did well. She did not run at all."
She ponders Paul's suggestion. "There seems to be no harm in checking, though I am not sure if we will recognize what remains if that is the case. As to the rest, I do not know much about these creatures. Other than the fact that we do not have enough butter and garlic to go around."
** spoiler omitted **
** spoiler omitted **
Ayreth pats Diamond affectionately. "She did well. She did not run at all."
He nods.
"Good, good... She learns well," he says with a small smile on his face.
He plunges his blade into the belly of the frog and tears it open, letting the insides spill out and begins to push through them with the edge of his knife, studying the remains.
"There seems to be no harm in checking, though I am not sure if we will recognize what remains if that is the case. As to the rest, I do not know much about these creatures. Other than the fact that we do not have enough butter and garlic to go around."
He studies the remains thoughtfully.
"At the least we'd find a skull - frogs don't chew their prey - they swallow and digest it... The organs and soft tissue may be eroded after a few days; but the skull would be there nearly a week, I'd reckon..."
"That don't count the ribcage and probably the leg bones, possibly the upper arms... And they'd be clustered close enough together that'd be recognized as an individual humanoid creature..." he adds as he searches quickly.
"As for the rest?"
"These sons of whores are big, and they're predatory types... Now something like a lion needs about one two-hundred pound animal a week to feed on... They chomp it and eat on it..."
"But lions are pack animals - they hunt in a group... That means they'd gang up on one beast, bring it down, and share the kill..."
"These frog things aren't like lion types... They eat one creature - one at a time... They don't share kills, they ain't made that way..."
He turns and coughs a little, trying not to retch, and moves to the next frog.
"So that means that one of these things would have a hunting ground... They wouldn't all stick together like this - not unless there was lots of prey - prey that was roughly one-hundred to two-hundred pounds a frog - and easy enough to get at it; at least once a week..."
He pulls the half-digested corpse of a dead swamp rat from the body and dumps its in the muck.
"Point is - given their relative size; the relative size of the prey needed to feed these whores - coupled with the scarcity of prey in this place to feed these basterds... Hell, ya'll seen any big son of whores running around for all these basterds to feed on?"
He stands up and plunges his hands into the swamp water, cleansing the gore off of them.
"Yeah - I agree; the evidence don't suggest these frogs working as a crew on their own... They attacked as a crew - that means they were all sitting around grouped together like a crew... Why have a bunch of large frogs sit around on their ass waiting for a group of people to ride up and attack all at once?"
"That said, I reckon something outside themselves probably pushed them to do this, too..." he adds as he looks at the gutted corpses, watching the flies swarm on the frogs with a sardonic grin.
"Anyhow - good news is - the girl ain't in their bellies," he says with a nod.
"That said - ya'll ready to ride?" he asks the group.
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He plunges his blade into the belly of the frog and tears it open, letting the insides spill out and begins to push through them with the edge of his knife, studying the remains.
He studies the remains thoughtfully.
While Ayreth does not go out into the muck, she is not turning away squeamishly either. She makes a few gestures at the corpses and one might think that she is helping from a distance.
"There is something else to consider. Perhaps these are Amphibians of Unusual Size. They may not naturally occur in this state. With objects falling from the heavens, many things are possible."
"There is something else to consider. Perhaps these are Amphibians of Unusual Size...."
Paul glances at Ayreth.
"Wait - Amphibians of Unusual Sizes... In a swamp... Inconceivable..." he mutters thoughtfully, then glances at her, smiling a little.
Ayreth ignores his weak attempt at brevity and continues.
"They may not naturally occur in this state. With objects falling from the heavens, many things are possible."
He sighs.
"Well, I got to admit - I sure as hell never heard of those damn things... so who knows - you may be right..."