, fail
, pass
Jetta grits her teeth as she is suddenly gored by the boar's wicked tusks. She kicks her heels on Ruel's sides, guiding the horse back a few steps to put herself squarely between the pig and Anthuria, and to have some room for a swing. As her steed struggles with the boar, the Hellknight grabs her halberd and stabs down at the beast's neck.
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Unlike his seasoned comrades, Perry fell gracelessly to the ground as a crumpled heap.
Cloak over his face and confused, he shouted, "What? What is it?"
Percival Arizian | hp 40/44; AC 17/10T/16FF; +8F/+4R/+12W
Percival stood up, threw his cloak back to see clearly, and noticed the boars. He groaned.
Percival reached to grant to Amund.
Percival fixed his hair.
Anthuria screams as her horse bucks and thrashes below her. Clutching the reins tightly, she tries to remember Jetta's instructions to reign it in. The horse will have none of it, however, and kicks back on its hind legs, whinnying in terror at the site of the enormous boars. As it does, Anthuria is thrown back off of the saddle. Fortunately, she lands solidly on her side, the force of the fall is distributed evenly along her body. Her breath is knocked out of her, however, and she curls herself protectively for fear of the horse's hooves.
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Straightening out his Guisarme while urging Pretty Girl forward Amund races around the others to slam his weapon in to the boar.
Balthus attempts to alight from his mount and take on the boar, but at the last moment the horse begins to buck and kick anew, and while he manages to end up with his feet beneath him on the hard-packed trail, it's a hard-won fight. Perry and Anthuria has an even worse time of it; their horses buck them free, and both land hard on the ground. At seeing Anthuria and Balthus fall, Slasher goes into full protective mode; rushing up to Balthus, he bites for the boar's massive leg and tears savagely.
It's all Mairen can do to keep her thrashing horse under control, and she elects to stay mounted rather than attempting a controlled fall. Jetta and Amund leap into action, spurring their well-trained horses on. Ruel has a difficult time getting his hooves to connect with the boar, and Jetta's halberd swings wide. But Pretty Girl eats up the ground between Amund and the boar running up the trail behind the party with powerful strides, and as they run past it, Amund's guisarme hits the boar with remarkable force, sending up a gout of blood from a wound on its shoulder.
Surprised by Amund's headlong charge, the boar in the rear elects not to check its run, and continues on to where Mairen struggles with her mount. It tries to swing its powerful head low and attack the panicking horse, but the horse manages, more by luck than skill, to kick at the right moment, and the tusks meet only empty air. Slasher and Jetta aren't so lucky, however - Jetta is gored in the leg again, and Slasher is tossed by powerful tusks.
Jetta grunts as more blood pours out from between the plates of her rent armour. She struggles to guide Ruel towards the enemy, but still manages to stab at the boar's neck.
Twisting Pretty Girl back around and racing back up to the boar Amund levels his Guisarme at the boar. As they move he spurns his mount to snap.
Now on his feet and with the shaft of the battleaxe in his palms, the ranger swings for the big hits and potential kills.
Slasher continues to tear into the big boar next to his master.
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CONFIRMING CRITICALS..., if one boar is dead, please attack another if possible. I tried flanking but I'm not sure if it was possible...
The horse's hooves slam solidly into the ground mere feet from Anthuria's head. She reflexively rolls to her right, further away from the animal. At first she underestimates the threat of their assailants. They're only pigs, after all. But once she gets a look at their sheer size, she stifles a scream. Worse still, Jetta's horse is now sticky with blood--the animal's, or the rider's?
She catches sight of Perry's well-groomed locks. "Lord Arizian, can you help them!?" Doing the only thing she can think of, she squints her eyes tight, searching for that now-familar space between moments. A tiny thing, just a crack in time, but enough to give her a moment to think.
Her heart beats once, twice, and then silence. Confused, she opens her eyes, but is immediately relieved to find that her newfound ability has worked. Dirt and debris fly through the air before her. A cloud of dust envelops her, swirling slowly like a miniature hurricane. Within it, a perfect, blue wildflower spins lazily through the air. She reaches out to grasp it, her hand easily plucking it from the air.
Strange, she thinks, to be a sapling amidst a squall.
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Cursing under her breath as she attempts to wrest control back from her panicked mount, Mairen realizes just how close she and the horse are being being tusked to pieces. With her reins tangled and her stirrups caught high up her sabatons, she knows there's no chance for a regular dismount, so gritting her teeth she simply keels over to the side, preparing as best she can for the crashing fall.
Once down, she props herself up on one arm, and swings her blade at the boar, hoping to slice out one of its legs.
Grey boar - start 18/42, -7, -9: 2/42
White boar - start 42/42, -21: 21/42
Black boar - start 42/42, -blender starting up: dead
Perry tries valiantly to shoot for the boar, but the pain and distraction of his fall take his concentration, and his quarrel skitters off a tree to the side of the beast. Amund's guisarme goes wide as he charges, but Pretty Girl's bite connects solidly with the creature, tearing at its skin. Mairen lands heavily, not even trying to correct herself on the fall , but the move buys her half a second longer, enough to whip her axe around and connect with the boar's leg.
Up front, Jetta's halberd slashes across the boar's hide in a powerful stroke. Balthus, angered at the fall and the ambush, summons up a deep reserve of strength, and at a powerful stroke, the beast goes down, its final squeal dying on its lips. Seeing the boar near Balthus fall, Slasher wheels around and bites at the one harrying Jetta; it seems he's shared in his master's burst of strength, as he brings the creature to the ground with a snap of his strong jaws.
Now, the only boar left is in the rear. Seeing its cohorts fall, it tries to run, ducking away from Mairen's axe as it goes. But it can't keep up its defensive posture as it breaks into a run, and Amund has a chance to swing as it tries to dash back off down the game trail.
At a stroke, the boar falls, and the creatures lie motionless on the forest floor. The keep's spare horses still panic and buck, but they're at least trained well enough not to bolt.
Perry sighed, regaining his lost bolt, and then returned to his steed.
Yes, Balthus lost 15 hp.
___________________________IC:
Balthus grunted as he struggled to remove the axe from the large beast. The blade had sunk deep into bone. It was gory work but he was glad he could do it; he would wash up later... or tomorrow.
He called Slasher over and patted the dog's head while he inspected his wounds. It was about the only time that both really connected and it seemed that both liked it that way. "Good job, mutt. You're a tough, old dog, eh?. just like me."
The ranger looked about and grinned, [b]"Pork chops and sausages. We should get these pigs back to the fort later today. Everyone OK?"
Jetta nods gruffly at Perry as the priest bathes the group in healing energy. After making sure Anthuria is safely on her horse, she signals for Balthus to keep going.
"I'm fine," she says, ignoring the blood still trickling out of the rent in her armor. "Good work with the boars."
Mairen gets to her feet slowly, shaking her numbed arm as she tries to bring some sensation back to it and sheathes her blade.
"Agreed," she says. "Good work, everyone. This much pork is worth sending some guards out to retrieve. It should feed the entire fort for at least a couple of days."
That said she moves back to her steed and sighs as she sets to untangling its rigging. Or reins. Whatever they're called.
The Hellknight grumbles something to the effect of 'stop calling me that,' but accepts the healing.
Sliding of his mount and walking over to Anthuria, who has not gone back to her mount like Perry or Mairen. Slowly reaching out and rubbing the horses nose. And feeling the beast settle.
Looking over at Mairen and calling out, Do you want some help?
Anthuria blinks as the boars are brought down quickly by her companions. She watches, amazed, as Amund strides over and expertly calms her horse. "Th-thank you.." she stammers, walking over and accepting the reins from him. Her hand brushes his. She can't help but smile.
"Yes, Mairen, of course!" She busies herself opening and closing her backpack, paying particular attention to the buckle so as to avoid further eye contact with Amund.
The ferocity of the sudden attack managed to surprise everyone, but the wash of healing energy from Perry's entreaties to Abadar quickly knits together the worst of the damage, and before long, especially with Amund's help, the horses are calmed and everyone manages to re-mount. The rest of the ride is fairly quiet, though everyone is on edge after the dire boars.
After a couple hours' more riding, as the sun begins to climb the final peak towards its apex, the trail looks to be drawing to a close at the base of a small hill. In the side of the hill, you can see a yawning cave entrance. A few scattered rose bushes lie outside the cavern's mouth, and caught on the roses' thorns, hung in low treetops, and scattered on the ground outside the cave are a multitude of large brown feathers, similar to those Balthus had seen in the clearing.
There is no sign of movement outside the cave, but the feathers pretty clearly suggest that you've found the owlbear lair you seek, and you hear faint shuffling noises inside.
Mairen leans back in her saddle and eyes the cave entrance.
"Be wise to know how many of those owlbears are within. It'd be a very different fight if we were up against two as opposed to seven." She looks around the group. "Anybody feel confident enough to sneak up to the cave and peer inside?"
"I could cast a, a...diversion of sorts. A small trick I picked up years ago. It might lure them out. Alas, I fear I'm not well suited to sneaking up on anyone."
In anticipation of another fight, Anthuria snaps her fingers and a shimmering shield of force begins to surround her.
"They may not follow a light. But they'll follow a meal."
Balthus straightens his pants and once more picks up his battleaxe.
"I'll go in. Rouse them and come running out. That should do it, right?"
With Slasher's low whine of complaint, the ranger ruffled the dog's head, "Ah shut up and just be ready."
He turned to all of them, "You should all be ready for when they come out."
Before he goes in, "Perry, send me along with Abadar's blessing. I don't want to mess up."
________________
That sounds remarkable dangerous Balthus but thank you. We should try to surround them once the fight starts.
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Anthuria looks on with fear in her eyes. "I agree with Lord Arizian. Balthus, the danger is too great! We've no idea what lurks within that cave. A fire or lights, yes, but don't risk your life!"
Setting aside the protests of his comrades, Balthus makes his careful way into the cave, using the outcrops of the walls and the dim lighting to cover his entry. The mouth of the cave descends downward in a series of rough-hewn steps, turning into a tunnel that bends to the west and opens out into a larger chamber.
The broad cave is lit from above by sunlight filtering through a natural chimney. Off to one side stands a filthy pool of stagnant water. The scent of wet fur and bird droppings hangs heavily in the air, and small bones, bits of fur, feathers, and rotting meat are strewn about the stone floor.
Five large owlbears are scattered around the large space, two resting quietly leaned against the cavern wall while the other three are awake grooming themselves.
One owlbear, head under its wing, misses Balthus's approach, but the other two jerk around suddenly, their eerily large eyes meeting his; those outside can tell by the noise that he's likely managed to get their attention. A split second before they rise up, he's running like mad out of the cave, drawing his axe and ready to turn around and meet then outside.
Arms pumping as he gulped in air, the old man was surprisingly quick,
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"Old man is as lightning," thought the priest--not seeing him the first second, and observing him then escaping from the cave's mouth.
As the roar/hoot of the owlbears rose, Percival stood firm with his feet apart, and stood centered between his allies to provide maximum coverage.
Touch of Law on...
Who wants Touch of Law?
"Oh dear," Anthuria says as she cups her hand over her mouth. Five Owlbears...Five!
She looks around in a panic, desperately thinking of a way to make herself useful in a fight. She reaches for her crossbow, then hesitates. I've barely practiced with the thing. I'll probably shoot Balthus by mistake. No, there's got to be something else.
Remembering the grove from yesterday, she hastens to the back, behind Lord Arizian, but on the way places her hand gently on Amund's shoulder, whispering in his ear. "Show them who's boss!"
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Taking a deep breath because of course it is five of them. Hopefully with bottlenecking the cave entrance we can keep control of how many are out here.
Jetta takes her place in the formation, preparing to stab at the first beast that emerges from the cave.