If I'm puking you're wearing it!" Calder growls to the Wikkawaks and advances besides Vashta. Swinging his axe at red.
Aiko races past the big cat and lashes out with her blade at one of the wikkiwaks.
Calder and Aiko move forward into melee combat - their weapons gouge slices out of their opponents, although Calder's slice is much larger. The wikkawak facing Calder and Vashta slows considerably from its wounds.
With a whole crowd of enemies in the way between her and her targets, Shalelu decides to save some of her arrows for the time being. Squeezing between Nightfang and the cavern wall, she arrives behind Hattori in order to support her. "If you flip over, we can take this guy down together," she says, before firing a single arrow around the ninja at her opponent.
Her arrow sinks into the wikkawak's shoulder.
Without space to enter melee combat without taking attacks, Sandru moves up behind Vashta. "I'm ready to back you up," he says.
Two of the wikkawak warriors move up into melee, bellowing with rage and swinging gore-covered bone battleaxes at Nightfang and at Hattori. One of them steps away from his enormous leader and uses his natural spellcasting to put out the fire that Clara had done, while the other casts down his battleaxe and finds, on the ground, a longspear.
Aiko is too fast to be caught by the clumsy efforts of the blue-furred yeti creatures, and Nightfang's armor and skin are too tough for the creature to penetrate.
Koya steps backwards, calling upon the Song of Spheres to heal her friends and allies. The burst of channeled energy reaches Clara, Tallak, Nightfang, Sandru, Vashta, Calder, and the Blue Wikkawak.
The wikkawak leader, freed from its fire, casts another spell, laughing at the group. Its laugh is guttural, and its breath can be smelled from where you are. Rotting meat pervades the air. As it casts, you can feel the odds of combat shift ever so towards the wikkawaks' side.
The elites, those wikkawaks at the forefront of battle, roar and rage and attack Tallak and Calder.
They can't seem to muster even a minimum level of strength, and their blows clatter uselessly off of the armor of the heroes.
Calder will use the Blessing of fervor to gain an extra attack.
Aiko nods to Shalelu and suddenly crouches, but never finds an opening to move.
Tallak and the tiger lash out at the wikkawakks with claw, fang, and spear, trying to fell them as quickly as possible to open up an avenue of attack on the leader.
__________
”Aww” Clara pouts as one of the Wikkawaks puts out the fire she started.
Undetered, she lobs another fizzy drink at the big guy. Then she lobs her custom alchemist's fire/shard gel at one of the others.
”Take that you evil dwarf-eaters!”
HP: 55/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 0/5; 2nd 0/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects: Blessing of fervor, bless (+1), prayer (-1)
"Thanks, darling, but this is hardly the time to be looking at my backside," Vashta says, pausing for a second as she slashes again with her sword. "But I think I actually have this in hand. Your lessons are paying off!"
Together, Tallak, Vashta and Calder easily kill the front two wikkawaks, crushing them into the ground with sword-stabs, hammering axe-blows and rending claws. Aiko is unable to maneuver properly into position, but Clara hurls a pair of her alchemical weapons into the fray.
Shalelu tries twice to maneuver around the wikkawak threatening Aiko, but is unable to both times. Even as she fails, Sandru dashes into the breach, appearing on the other side from the wikkawak Aiko faces. He swings his scimitar at the bugbear.
The damage from the wikkawak leader's first spell slows him down just enough, and the bugbear is able to bash Sandru's scimitar aside with the flat of its stone battleaxe.
The savage wikkawaks leap into combat, spurred on by the commands of their leader. One of them uses its magic to put their leader out again, and shifts over. Another brings the longspear that it had picked up to bear on Sandru, while the third circles around to flank the rogue.
While Sandru is barely able to twist just enough out of the way to avoid his heart being impaled, the wikkawaks' savage assault leaves him in a critical condition, near death and surrounded by enemies.
Koya moves up behind the group and lays a comforting hand on Calder's shoulder. He feels the luck of the Song of Spheres surround him.
The wikkawak leader casts another spell. This time, a burst of midnight-black profane energy washes over the party, searing their skin and threatening to steal the light from their very eyes. After his spell, the leader growls with satisfaction and tromps forward to meet the group in melee combat. However, Tallak and Nightfang are unaffected.
The one remaining wikkawak is blind, but focuses for a moment on a new fighting technique... and then he lashes out at Aiko with a fist! Even with his new training, he completely misjudges the ninja's position, who is easily able to dodge him.
Calders shakes off the darkness that tries to steal his vision and moves up beside Sandru. "Fall back!" He orders the man.
He swings at Yellow;
He then switches to Purple.
And again uses Blessing of fervor for an extra attack.
HP: 46/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 0/5; 2nd 0/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects: Blessing of fervor, bless (+1), prayer (-1), blinded 1/2
"Sandru!" Vashta cries as she sees him fall right before the spell steals her eyesight. "No! Someone help him!"
She backs away, blinking furiously as her eyes fill with tears that do little to wash away the darkness, even as she brings her stare to bear on the remaining wikkawak she could see a moment earlier .
A moment later, she vanishes from sight!
"Damn these bugbears!" Tallak says as his vision fades. He elects to hold back to not risk harming his allies, and instead just focuses on hanging on tightly to his saddle.
Nightfang, however, never ceases to attack. He continues trying to tear wikkawakks to shreds, advancing as best he can towards the largest of the beasts.
__________
The relentless assault of Calder and Nightfang brings three of the wikkawaks to the ground, piling their corpses on top of the corpses of the bugbears who had fallen before them. Only two bugbears remain, now...
Aiko suddenly leaps over the cave outcropping and rolls behind the wikkiwak before her, then comes up on the far side of the large wikkiwak and lashes out with her wakizashi from behind.
The tiny, soot-covered gnome ducks nimbly under Nightfang's rear legs, and avoids the worst of the profane light.
She then says, "Do you ever get the feeling all your hard crafted fizzypops are getting quenched? Oh well, here's to trying again!"
And with that she lobs another at the big guy, and draws a vial of acid from her belt.
_____________________
Aiko manages to traverse the caltrops without piercing her feet, and slashes through the wikkawak leader's thick hide with her wakizashi. Then, Clara's bomb sets the wikkawak on fire. The wikkawak roars with rage, not attempting to put itself out and hammers down on Calder and Aiko with his greataxe, not caring for his own life as much as destroying everyone around him. The other wikkawak steps out of the caltropped area and engages Tallak with his own bone axe.
The last remaining wikkawak mook slashes through Tallak's barkskin, splattering the already-blood-splattered cave floor with even more blood. Koya steps up behind Calder and channels positive energy into the Ulfen warrior to keep him going.
Unfortunately, her blindness causes her to misjudge Calder's location... Her hands glow with un-spent healing energy.
The wikkawak leader hammers Calder into the ground with devastating axe blows, leaving the Ulfen warrior a shredded mess on the ground, barely clinging to life. The wikkawak leader turns to attack Aiko, who dodges an axe blow that would have cleaved her in twain by a hair's breadth.
- - -
Retaliating against the wikkawak who moved up against Tallak, Shalelu tries to clear the way for the tiger to advance and take down the wikkawak leader.
The three arrows hit the wikkawak in the back, piercing all the way through to its front. The goblinoid crumples to the ground, dead. It falls dead on top of Sandru's unconscious body.
Hearing the sickening sounds of combat followed by the sounds of armor hitting the floor, Tallak can only assume things aren’t going well for some of the others. As such, he sends out a wave of healing energy to try and keep his traveling companions alive.
Meanwhile, Nightfang lunges forward at the wikkawakk leader!
HP: 54/55
AC 17 (moderate fortification), touch 12, flat-footed 15, CMD 17
Fort +4, Ref +7, Will +5/+8 (+1 vs. charm/compulsion)
Tricks: 2/6 (Vashta, mesmeric mirror; Aiko, false flanker)
Touch treatment 0/6
Spells: 1st 0/5; 2nd 0/4; 3rd 0/2
Effects: Blessing of fervor, bless (+1), prayer (-1), blinded 2/2
Vashta, unable to see what's going on, feels her wounds heal at least as she tries to blink the vision back into her eyes.
Tallak's healing power brings Aiko back up to speed.
Clara decides the only reasonable action is to keep setting the big guy on fire--and is happy to see it smash right into the wikkawak's face.
"Woot!! Take that, ugly-mugly!"
Aiko leaps into a dive roll and somehow comes up on the far side of the wikkiwak, then slashes at his legs with her wakizashi as she comes up.
Aiko and Nightfang surge forwards to engage the last remaining wikkawak, the huge paragon of goblinkind. Though Aiko is shrouded in darkness and has trouble finding the wikkawak's true location, Nightfang tears into the furry creature with both claws, gouging out flesh.
Clara hurls another bomb. This bomb strikes the wikkawak directly in the face, burning the creature's eyes, mouth and nose. It screams with rage, but wobbles on its feet. Just one more poke might see it gone,
The wikkawak leader raises his axe up high and brings it down on Tallak and Nightfang, trying to slice and dice as many of these invading humans as it possibly can. Knowing that Tallak can heal, it targets the shaman first.
The creature's two axe-blows hammer through Tallak's magical enchantments, his rhino hide and his attempts to block with his shield, slicing deep into the shaman's body. It's too much, and Tallak falls from Nightfang's saddle as the wikkawak withdraws his bloody blade, grinning despite the wounds.
Shalelu steps around the corner and fires at the wikkawak leader, shouting with fury as she sees the goblinoid kill her ally.
Her two arrows go into the wikkawak leader's already-devastated eyes, sinking to the fletching. The wikkawak leader twitches before falling over dead.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Vashta's eyes clear, tears forming as she tries to blink out the darkness -- and then flowing even more as she sees the horror in front of her.
"No!" she cries, rushing forward and pulling off the wig she'd donned at the start of the day.
Seeing Sandru moving slightly, she rushes to Tallak's side. Looking him over, she turns to the others with tears streaming from her eyes.
"He's dead!" she chokes out.
Nightfang snarls at Vashta as she approaches, taking a protective stance directly over Tallak’s body and growling at any who approach.
Vashta backs up.
"Good kitty..." she says soothingly. "We need to see if we can help him..."
She turns her mesmerizing stare on it ... just in case.
As Shalelu coldly coup de graces the wikkawaks with her shortsword, Koya tries her best to heal the members of the group, channeling energy over and over. She doesn't cry, but she does rest her knees on the stone ground of the cave system, gazing mournfully at Tallak's body.
Calder struggles to his feet. Groaning in more than pain when he sees that Tallak is not rising. He moves closer, eyeing Nightfang carefully.
"Easy, easy." He says softly. "Your friend is gone. Let us ready him for sending to the gods as he has earned."
Shalelu works with Calder to try and calm Nightfang...
but she's a little too weird and standoffish for the tiger to understand. Still, Calder is relaxing enough for Nightfang to quit snarling.
Clara just stands there and mutters, "Poor, poor Tallak. Think of all the sights he'll never get to see. The fizzy drinks he'll never get to taste."
Wiping a tear from her eye, she reaches into her belt and pulls out a fizzypop. She tilts it sideways and lets it run out onto the cavern floor. "As Great Grand-Pappy Umbilicus used to say, 'ya gotta pour one out for your homies.'"
Then she opens one and holds it out toward Nightfang, saying, "Good kittie?"
Aiko carefully sheathes her wakizashi. Her mask hides any emotion on her face, though her cold eyes seem to be a wall keeping any feeling from showing through.
"That was a foul encounter," she quietly says at last. "Tallak... a heavy loss."
Sandru coughs. He's having a few too many of these close calls as the adventure goes on. "So," he moans, "What do we do next?"
Shalelu says, "We still need to trap and kill that dragon."
"But..." protests Koya, "What about Tallak? We might be able to get him reincarnated back at the village..."
"He is brave and loyal. We owe it to him to show the same loyalty," says Aiko. She hesitates, then says, "But I do not know what to do. This scope of magic is beyond me."
Calder shakes his head. "No, Tallak would not thank you for trying to bring him back. He has died in battle saving others and now goes to his gods fulfilled."
"Come loyal one." He croons soothingly to Nightfang. "I grieve too. Let us send to his proper end with those he slew at his feet."
"I hate to suggest this, but before we light that pyre, should we think about how it might attract the dragon?" Vashta suggests. "I think Tallak wouldn't want us to find ourselves in greater danger because we were hasty bidding him farewell. Let's not have his death be in vain."
"Plus, shouldn't we make sure there's nothing else in here with us?"
Clara nods. "I suppose we do need to look around and see if there's anything else in here. Hard to get too excited about it now, though."
She starts looking at what the wikkawaks carried, starting with their leader. "Any of this magical?"