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Monty is panting now, the blood from his side soaking his fur as he dances around.
Won't you just go DOWN?
It's clear he's hurting, but he's still got plenty of fight left.
But that wound is hitching his punches and he's not throwing them as accurately as he would like.
Snake Style - AC vs first attack in round =
Monty and the amphiptere are both starting to lag... but in the mammal versus reptile conflict, this time, the mammal wins out. The first of his blows, sends the creature reeling, its wings finally falling back to its side. The followup shot might not have been necessary, but he takes no chances, as he stomps on it one last time, just be sure it stops moving entirely.
- Round 4 ------------
Brady and Tad to go... and kinda Dale, but he dreams of gravity defying monkeys.... so is a bit preoccupied.
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Faliana gives a hoot of triumph as she gets in a good punch on the serpent and it seems to take it's attention off of Dale for once. Her hoot gets even louder as she watches Monty take out one of the beasts. "These things are certainly hard to handle with out weapons! I say we make some the next chance we get!"
Even as it comes around, Brady makes sure to take advantage of its vulnerable state, and stomps the amphiptere into the ground. His first boot seems to knock it senseless once more, and the second quickly finishes it off.
That threat taken care of, Tad uses his glossal delivery system, to heal Dale again. This time, Dale manages to stay conscious, visions of flying monkeys quickly dissipating from his mind. He is disturbed to realize he is still wrapped up by the amphiptere, its fangs still sunk into his shoulder. But that state doesn't last for long. Dru has it so tied up, with such a tight grip on its head, that the creature finds itself unable to continue to squeeze its intended prey. Instead it turns its efforts on Drusilla. One second, she has it in a tight hold, the next, she suddenly realizes that its body has shifted, and started to wrap around her. Before she realizes its happening, it has completely reversed her hold, and she feels sharp pains radiating out from her chest, as she suddenly finds it constricting her instead!
- Round 4 ------------
- Round 5 ------------
Everyone is up!
With a tremendous effort, Dru manages to pull the tightening coils of the amphiptere off of her, lifting the entire writhing mass over her head, before hurling the entire creature away to the ground nearby. It immediately turns and rears up on its long sinewy body, wings unfurling, fangs bared! Despite her efforts, it clearly is not about to give up the fight, as its long spined tail lashes about ready to continue the fight!
Monty has other ideas though, as the vanaran races across and leaps from a nearby outcropping, bring the entire force of his body and gravity to bare on the tip of his fist!
Now free from its grapple, the amphitere's tail lashes around, trying to skewer Monty out of the air, before he can get close enough. But its reaction comes too slowly to catch up the swiftly moving vanaran. His fists comes down on the creatures head with a resounding thunk! Even the nearby grass seems to bend away from the point of contact.
Almost instantly, the amphitere's wings furl inwards, and it sinks down close to the ground, its head slowly gyrating in confusion.
The rest of the Pathfinders quickly finish it off, before it can recover.
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Monty pants deeply as the lizard goes down and after a few moments, drops to his knee holding his side where he was stabbed.
That... Definitely hurt. That tail is pointy. Hey Fali, I think I know where I could get you a new Spear Tip! Hoo How owie ouch ouch...
His normal hooting laughter gives way to a pained wince and his tail flicks in annoyance and irritation.
Okay, head count, everybody alive? Nobody thrown off a mountain? Dale, your noggin still in there?
You will quickly recognize the amphipteres, even in death, as a valuable resource. With a little luck, you can probably make a number of useful items from their remains.
You also will be able to see the ledge, about fifteen feet overhead, that they dropped down on you from. You are surprised to see a blood-covered hand poking out over the edge of it. Monty or Tad can easily climb up there to investigate, and will find the corpse of one of Song'o halflings!
Apparently, the Ebansi took the same route as you... and are ahead of you somewhere.
You're not sure which of the Ebansi it is, though he was clearly killed by the amphipteres, this one impaled entirely through the chest from behind. He still has a small makeshift bundle strapped to him, which contains a couple of small small leaf-wrapped packets, with some sort of paste inside.
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Dale hollers at Monty as he sees the flying monkey attacking the flying gravity creature "You learned to fly! Awesome!" He says groggily as he struggles to his feet, lifting his arms to the sky to double check gravity has returned to normal.
"Oh. Amphipteres. You killed them all? Pity! Amazing creatures." He lays his hand on his gouged neck and another on his punctured back. "Fiesty too." He winces as he bends over to inspect the corpses.
"Very nice. We could fashion some very nice things from these... weapons? Armor? Steaks! OOOoooo." He stays handy to the corpses while the others investigate their roost.
One of the halflings apparently has some skills in the area, and has managed to create a couple of extracts. Whether it was the dead halfling, or one of his companions, you can't tell... as whoever made them clearly was skilled at keeping the extracts from going inert when separated from the creator.
These two pastes, wrapped in the leaves, both appear to bestow a moderate healing effect ... though the mixture will likely only be potent for twenty four hours from when it was crafted. Given its only been four hours since the race started, sometime tomorrow.
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Dale's curiosity is sparked at the discovery of some goop in the Halflings pack. He sniffs, tastes and rubs it between his fingers. "Very nice! This stuff is an alchemical compound! It heals whoever eats it, for a decent amount! But it won't stay active past some time maybe tomorrow? Maybe I should just try it now and fix some of these bite marks..." He looks to Tad for his thoughts.
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Brady makes himself busy helping Dale to his feet, and he drags the amphipteres to a central area so they can all examine them and begin work.
He dusts himself off, grateful that he hadn't been hurt. He begins studying the amphipteres for useful bits, mostly listening to the suggestions of others and agreeing with them. "Oh yes, that could make great armor! And that tail, certainly an excellent spearhead."
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With his side hurting, and wanting to take some time to rest, Monty sits down and starts pulling teeth from the dragon... the dentistry jokes that come from him are simply awful.
Unfortunately, his side seems to be hurting him worse than he though, as he pretty well botches the job. Looking at the mess he's made, he sighs and looks at the others.
Sorry everyone... I could have sworn that method would have translated from boar to dragon...
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Dale quickly confiscates two of the razor sharp tail spikes. "Listen up here. These are some mean looking weapons, or at least they WILL be once I get done with them. Dru, describe what you're looking for and I'll see what I can get done!" He uses one to saw off the other, then vice versa. Afterwards he starts collecting some sinew for fasteners, and some well shaped stone for handles.
"Oh that's nice. Very nice! Dru, I hope you like your new awesome ____!" Dale beams with pride.
Afterwards he gets to work on a short spear. "Marvelous. We'll need this tail spike of course.. and more sinew... and hrm… how about this nice leg bone... it should be long enough right? This is just a short spear.. maybe the wing bone instead?" He starts doodling in the dirt a bit, drawing up some basic schematics.
Dale swings it around a bit, hacking and slashing and poking at some poor downtrodden heart of palms. "This works wonderfully!"
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Faliana takes a amphithere and looks the thing over, after a moment she decides to try something that might let them carry some supplies easier. "Anyone mind if I take a wing or two? I'm going to try something."
She tries to crack one of the wings off the body of the serpent and then tear a hole in the membrane of the crutch of the wing large enough to hold fit over the shoulders of one person.
"Okay if you stand here like this and push at the bones here, it should drag the wing and everything on it along behind you. Now how durable it's going to be, I have no idea. But anyways it should let us keep a corpse or two with us and any supplies we find."
After some thinking, she decides to try making another just in case, hoping that two will let them carry all off the corpses, just in case.
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Brady busies himself with another of the wing sections. He'd initially had in mind a copy of his own armor, the lamellar style that had migrated over from Tian Xia, but he quickly realizes that the interleaving panels is too challenging for this kind of quick and dirty work--especially as someone who isn't trained in that kind of thing.
Instead, he cuts out broad panels and tries to assemble a passable leather armor.
Feeling that he's mangled his first attempt... and sadly probably ruined some of the high-quality harvested from the amphipteres, he gives it another go.
He looks up at the others... "I don't think I have the skills for this...."
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You all set about trying to make use of the local resources, and the hard won remains of the amphipteres, to fashion some equipment to help going forward! Unfortunately, none of you are weaponsmiths by trade, so though you are able to figure out what you need to do, you do not manage to make any actual progress along your route during the afternoon hours.
Dale seems to relish the opportunity to show off, and immediately starts lashing one of the tail spikes to a short gnarled branch Monty finds while recovering the dead halfling. No one is really sure where the branch came from, or why its up here, but are not about to complain. A bit of sinew and hide later, and he has managed to fashion a primitive, though deadly looking weapon that will double as a heavy pick!
Dru spends the time trying to remember how to make armor from one of the available hides. It is a skill quite common in her homeland, but not something she paid too much attention too. Still, she finds a sharp piece of obsidian, and before long, has one of the amphiptere's skinned, and scrapped, and is working on sewing it into something that will provide rudimentary protection. In the end, though it is not pretty from a design standpoint, the hide she chose looks like it would do a pretty good job of fending off blades and claws, and stays on her muscular form quite well. With Dale's pick, she sets quite the image of a primitive warrior!
Tad, Monty and Brady do not seem to have the knack for crafting. The vanaran tries to make a simple weapon using the amphiptere fangs and teeth, but even with Tad offering helpful suggestions, in the end they end up playing a poor dentist, and none of the piece removed seem to want to stay where Monty places them. Brady tries to follow Drusilla's lead in crafting some armor from another amphiptere... but he quickly realizes that a life growing up around Taldan nobility may allow him to assess the value of a piece of armor, or sell it at a premium... but none of it prepared him for how difficult it is to make that armor to begin with. He comes away from it all with a new appreciation for the craftsmen who make such things... but nothing that would offer any sort of protection ... even if he was willing to try to wear it.
Faliana decides to go more practicle, and goes about constructing a means to carry the stuff you've already found, as well as things you manage to find going forward. Before long, she has managed to fashion a functional pack, using the smaller bones and thinner wing segments from the dragons.
Buoyed by your successes and failures, you spend the later part of the afternoon trying to make some more!
Dale again seems a natural at such things, as he uses another of the tail spikes, and some of the longer bones from the amphiptere wings, all lashed together, to create a functioning one handed spear. Though primitive, it seems quite sturdy, and deadly!
Looking at the size of the carcasses and bits still remaining, Faliana uses her newly confirmed skills to fashion another pack, much like the first... this one even sturdier as she masters the technique.
Brady again tries to make some armor from the last remaining amphiptere, but the remains are starting to attract insects, and large horse flies keep buzzing around as he tries to skin it... he ends up losing more of his own hide, than harvesting the amphipteres, and he ends up destroying the second one too.
Drusilla continues working with the same carcass, this time pulling the creatures skull out, before boiling away the remaining flesh. She then takes a number of smaller bones and more hide to create a strap and some supports, until finally she has constructed what you now realize is a a shield... but a shield made from the fanged skull of the amphiptere with its lower jaw removed... offering both protection and the ability to jam the fangs into anyone getting too close as well! It does wonders for her overall look.
Seeing what Dru is doing with the skull, Tad and Monty go back to the drawing board on their collaboration. They try to make another weapon, but this time using one of the other amphiptere skulls. While Tad collects bits of obsidian, Monty then punches holes in the skull, and jams the obsidian bits into it as Tad brings them in... once there are enough of them, they attack a suitably sized rock to a length of bone, and jam the rock inside the skull, to add extra heft and a brace for the obsidian jutting out of it. Once they are done, it appears they have managed to construct a serviceable morning star!
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Dale survey's the tools with a practiced eye as they gather them around at the end of the day "Oh quite nice, quite nice." He says as he pokes at the morningstar and klar, followed by the armor and backpacks.
"Very nice! Did you know that people would use ant hills to clean bone of flesh? If you want to get that little bit off just rest it on top of an ant hill for a bit and the little buggers will chew it up clean!" He makes a gnashing sound and mimics having multiple sets of mandibles.
"Its not perfect, chemicals work better, but considering our present resources at hand its a good option am I right?" He hefts up the remaining tail spike to be used at a later date, wrapping it up in a bit of spare hide and sinew and stowing it away in Faliana's backpack.
Dale hefts up his shortspear and tries to get used to defending himself with a piercing weapon for a change.
It is late afternoon by the time you are done your initial work. The sun is going down to the east, likely to be blocked by the mountains before it actually hits the horizon if you stay where you are. You think you might be able to press on. If you can reach the apex early, then the descent to the M'neri Plains should still be in daylight. Though if you don't make it, it will be quite treacherous descending the mountain with no light.
Still, everyone is feeling good, and spending the last few hours mostly in one place, you all feel rested enough to continue!
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Dale slowly picks his way through the hills and mountains as they continue along into the evening. He stops repeatedly to lift up rocks, peer heedlessly into cracks and crevices for the oddest things. On occasion he even picks up a strange rock or two and smashes them open on other nearby rocks, picking out strange crystals.
"Don't leave me in the dust, this is slow work you know! Slow slow!" His bushy eyebrows dance as he sees something and rushes over to step on it before it escapes. "Ooo a Fraus! A moth genera. For such a squirmy little thing it has some amazing properties that can be useful.."
"Ooo Tad, use that tongue of yours to get into that hole.. ooo that bug that just flew over.. grab it!"
This scene and ones most similar occur non stop for the next four hours...
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Brady seems to be moping a bit as they move towards the end of their day on the trail. It's wasn't so much that he needed the armor; he just wanted to do well by these friends, and all of his effort only resulted in the loss of valuable materials. In someone else's hand, they probably wouldn't have gone to waste.
To keep his attention off of his failure, he keeps his attention on the trail, searching out another shortcut if he can find one.
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Faliana berates herself for wasting the afternoon focusing on building things instead of moving the group along. With a huff of personal annoyance she spends a moment flitting around the base of the mountains, trying to find a good passage way up through the area. "Hmm we could go this way, but then there's this way as well... I actually don't know which way would be better, Monty what do you think? Dale? Dangit I hate not having a spirit to ask an opinion of!"
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Monty tries to lighten the mood by running ahead and bouncing back and forth all over the place.
Unfortunately, his monkey business causes him to miss the path more than a few times, and he tires himself out. Eventually, he slips on a particularly unstable rock and nearly careens off the edge, just catching with his tail.
Um... not this way!
What started as a bit of extra travel, while you all felt rested after an afternoon of crafting, soon turns into a bit of an exercise in frustration.
Everyone started the day working like a well oiled Pathfinder machine, but it seems that you were a lot more tired than you thought. As the day wears on, and you try to get out of the mountains before the sun disappears, it seems like one small mistake after another plagues your way, and you end up falling further and further behind your expected goal, as the errors start to compound.
Dale is mostly distracted, as you clamber over rocks and up cliffs, constantly stopping to collect some sample, or falling behind as he gathers another. And his constant talking eventually starts to wear on even the most patient. He is able to find most of what he is looking for at least, though not nearly as much as he would have hoped.
At different times during the next four hours, both Monty and Faliana try to take the lead, thinking they've found a good route through the mountains... but both eventually lead to areas that no one can easily traverse, and you are forced to either backtrack or spend extra time trying to work your way up particularly unpleasant terrain.
About an hour in, Brady thinks he spots a way to bypass a particularly difficult section, which looks promising at first, but ends up leading right into a dead end ravine that forces you to turn back and go another way. A couple of hours after that, just as you're coming over the peak, Drusilla suggests a small rise as a safer path, but no one realizes a recent rainfall has made the entire slope unstable, and you nearly lose half the party to a small rockslide!
Only Tad seems to be unaffected by the general party-wide ennui. The little grippli clambers up the rocky slopes, and across terrain so rugged, even he realizes he is close to falling. Still, he manages to keep his head on straight, and his fingers held on tight, and finds ways for the others to follow, getting everyone out of some of the worst missteps.
But all the work is not without cost... Although you do manage to get over the peak, you are still in the mountains by the time the sun starts to drop below the horizon, far across the M'neri plains to the south. Finally, despite not quite reaching your goal yet, you are forced to call a halt for the day. Tad is already laboring from all the extra effort, and Monty and Faliana are little better off.
You prepare a quick meal from the meat recovered from the amphipteres, though soon learn that there were a few holes in one of the packs, and insects have been at half of it all afternoon. You're not sure if its safe to eat anymore! The food in the other pack is fine though, and you're thankful you were able to divvy it up thanks to having two.
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"Well, I've got some stuff to work with, it isn't optimal, but not much is out here with a race going on and all..." He stretches a bit and stifles a yawn.
"Maybe we should find a good spot to camp yes? Something southeast facing for some early morning sun, yes?" He looks for such a situation as well as something with protection from the elements.
With Dale's guidance, you will easily find a good place to hole up for the night... or at least as comfortable a spot as you're likely to find while still in the mountains. No soft ground to sleep on among the rocks, but an overhang provides some cover from aerial enemies, and a bit of a ledge blocks line of sight from whatever might lurk below.
Nothing to use for fuel for a campfire however, so the night might get a little chilly... and the meat you have will be mostly raw.
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More than ever Monty is thankful for his fur, and the raw meat doesn't bother him as much... he is once again thankful that he didn't lose his larger canines like his poor human cousins have.
Still, one gets used to the finer things in life, one of them being cooked meat.
Hey Tad, I don't suppose you have some more of that fire magic? Just to put a nice roast on this meat?
He inquires hopefully as he cuddles up to Fali.
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Tad shakes his head at Monty. "I can make fire, but without fuel for the fire, I can't control it to cook meat properly."
Tad chooses to change his secondary domain to healing in the morning (this only changes the domain spells he has available, not the sun domain powers)
I will update the spells in his profile as soon as I post this.
edit: I actually posted a whole new profile for Tad without any gear, which includes spell changes. Tad did change his secondary domain spells to healing, and also memorized purify food and drink.