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Vojtek shakes the chain shirt appreciatively and admires the soft tinkling of the chainmail as its silvery expanse ripples in the mid day sun. He carefully sets it down on a bare rock and with a suspicious look around as though Zombies or Orcs might be behind any tree in the vicinity he removes his Studded Leather.
He has cared for the armor meticulously, but it still shows signs of wear and of war. Deep gouges and a few missing rivets mark this armor as something worn and not displayed. The supple leather folds easily along the seams where Vojtek has folded it countless times before sleep or while relaxing. As he folds it and places it in his pack he can not help but wax nostalgic about his adventures and the friends he made and later lost wearing just this set of armor. Not to mention the circumstances of his "finding" it so many years ago.
But Vojtek is not a sentimental man, so the memories, both sweet and bittersweet are folded up and put away just like the armor that stirred them. With a practicality born of the northlands and necessary for survival on the tundra by the edge of the ice Vojtek dons the single most expensive and best made piece of equipment he has ever owned with a grin.
He unlimbers his greatsword and takes a few practice swings on a couple wrist-thick saplings and is delighted to find the mobility he experienced with the studded leather is about the same as with this chain shirt. After a few moments of practice, Vojtek huddles closely with Edward for some advice on care and maintenance of chainmail, having never owned any before.
After Edward shares a bit of oil and a rag, Vojtek applies the lubricant to protect the mail from rust and then puts it on again. After draping his prized polar bear cloak over his shoulders, he is nearly ready. He sheaths his greatsword, belts on his flail and heaves his pack over his shoulder. The barbarian settles his equipment in a practiced manner and within a few moments is ready for the road.
He glances around at the battle site, makes sure the treasure is reburied properly and that nothing is left behind and sets off in the proper direction, assuming the others who had seemed ready to go, would follow.
Follow me, Vojtek calls back over his shoulder.
Follow me, Vojtek calls back over his shoulder.
The young rogue hefts his brace of spears and follows the mighty northman.
Correct Kappi took nothing.
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Kappi and Vojtek heave together and pull the chest out of the hole. The cache revealed beneath is likely the spoils garnered from the attack on the caravan, as it contains five sets of leather armor, three sets of studded leather armor, a masterwork chain shirt, two light wooden shields, seven longswords, two spears, a masterwork dagger, and three light crossbows with a total of 25 bolts. Each item bears a mark of House Argentea upon it somewhere.
As the five of you move on along the trail left by the abductors, the snow becomes increasingly deep in this part of the Border Wood, where a windswept gully carves a path through a tree-covered ridge. A soft cascade of snow falls from an overhead branch, hissing softly as it strikes the ground.
Kappi vs DC 26
Suddenly the snow to your left explodes in a fury of scale and ice as a serpentine creature bearing the head of a ferocious dragon bursts out and chomps at Davosh, its two relatively small forearms that end in tiny claws flailing alongside it.
MAP
Initiatives!
Kappi and Vojtek heave together and pull the chest out of the hole. The cache revealed beneath is likely the spoils garnered from the attack on the caravan, as it contains five sets of leather armor, three sets of studded leather armor, a masterwork chain shirt, two light wooden shields, seven longswords, two spears, a masterwork dagger, and three light crossbows with a total of 25 bolts. Each item bears a mark of House Argentea upon it somewhere.
"ARGGHHHHHH!!!!!
Davosh is bleeding, profusely, and will not survive even a second round of that.
DANG IT
GM & All: in order to speed up play I have a spoiler in my post heading called group initiative. Feel free to use it!
Initiative Repost:
Ali = 24
Edward:⇒ 17
Baddie = 12
Davosh = 7
Kappi = 6
Vojtek = 4
Ali reacts quickly to the threat--but not quickly enough to save Davosh the nasty bite. She steps forward to flank the creature with Kappi, draws her blade, and utters a quick word while squeezing the hilt, causing a pulse of arcane light to course up the blade. She then slashes at the creature's face with a primal scream.
GM & All: in order to speed up play I have a spoiler in my post heading called group initiative. Feel free to use it!
KNow: arcana is there (but failed--9)
I'd rather attack, than move (since I don't have +1 bab I can't combine a move with a draw weapon action). So please skip the move; and that makes the attack result 14 rather than 16 due to the lack of a flank.
I'd assumed her sling was out--or actually, her new crossbow! So, she'd have dropped that to draw the blade.
Ali strikes at the beast with skill and vigor, but at the last moment the creature's head dips slightly and her curve blade whistles over its head.
Edward fires his crossbow, but is unable to get a clear shot past Ali and Davosh's bleeding flesh.
The beast grabs at Davosh, hoping to take a meal below the snow.
It then attempts to make a drag combat maneuver .
Ali takes a quick swing, hoping for a tag GORUMS GONADS!
Realizing that he is likely to die in the next 6 seconds if things don't change, Davosh tries to cast his last spell defensively: FINALLY something good.
Davosh manages to aim a finger at the beast and then a ray of inky blackness shoots forth:
I'm hoping that -3 helps. Also... considering how bad the situation is, "Liska! Help!
So 1 damage. Hey it could matter
Davosh= 5/11 HP
Round the First
As the snow beside him erupts, Vojtek is taken aback, completely surprised. He stares slack-jawed at the violence visited upon his new friend Davosh before he has even processed what caused it. In a flash, the barbarian sees the white, scaly head of a draconic form and his eyes widen.
Adrenaline pours into his bloodstream. The shock and rage of encountering a spawn of The White in these circumstances cause his wiry arms and shoulders to bunch up, his fingers to grip the hilt of his Greatsword like solid ice around the stones at the water’s edge in the dead of winter. Veins bulge, muscles tense, tendons strain and his flushed face radiates hatred.
Vojtek’s eyes glaze with unbridled rage, his jaw clenches down, lips pull back in a feral snarl and a strangled cry breaks free of the strictures of his fast-closing throat. The bloodcurdling scream is filled with fury and devoid of anything so civilized as words or even thought.
His mind has reached a state of whiteout. The blizzard of his numbing rage whipping ice and snow against the bulwarks of his sanity. Vojtek is lost to reason.
While his mind and soul are buried in the fearsome snows of mounting rage, his companions are able to strike out at the beast before he can. Almost simultaneously Ali and Edward attack and miss the creature. Within a few furious pounding heartbeats, the beast grabs the bleeding Davosh and dives for the cold refuge of the snow.
Vojtek lashes out, snapping his slavering jaws at the dragon and trying to bite it as he maneuvers around the struggling pair seeking an angle to attack. Seeing no opening he leaps over the deadly life or death wrestling match, twisting in the air to land facing the battle.
When he spies his opening, Vojtek slashes without conscious thought. The icy steel arcs towards the serpentine creature even as it wraps around Davosh, constricting him. As a disturbing black ray emits from Davosh’s finger and Ali swings wide, Vojtek slashes at the Dragon-spawned beast with all the power and blind fury he can muster!
for damage.
for .
Ali's almond eyes widen at how quickly the situation is deteriorating. Her lips peel back in a feral snarl as she tries to take advantage of the creature's attention on it's hopeful meal...
<---...
ROUND 2
Only slightly taken aback by Vojtek's furious rage, Ali quickly recovers from her failed swings, takes a calming breath, and locks eyes with the hungry monster. She attempts to stab it right through one of those eyes...
<---ARE YOU PHLUKCING KIDDING ME?!?!
...and overbalances yet again as the thing's speed proves too much for her.
Round 1
Kappi is caught flat footed by the strange snow serpent's stealth. The snowy ground further hampers his response. Though normally preferring to strike quietly from a distance, the crazed barbarian's wild cry spurs something in the young lad. Instead of trying to leap back and raise his spear for throwing. He steps in lowering the sharp point for a quick thrust at the creature. Seeing Davosh's day about to have a bad ending he cries out Davosh! as he attacks.
spear thrust
damage
"EDWARD! Things are going REALLY BADWARD. FEZZIK! I NEED YOU!"
"EDWARD! Things are going REALLY BADWARD. FEZZIK! I NEED YOU!"
Liska scurries up the side of the beast and angrily sinks her tiny fangs into its ear.
Realizing that he is likely to die in the next 6 seconds if things don't change, Davosh tries to cast his last spell defensively:
More than sufficient; Davosh's attempt succeeds.
Davosh manages to aim a finger at the beast and then a ray of inky blackness shoots forth:
Vojtek sees white instead of blue as he perceives the draconic features of the beast. He launches into the fray in full fury, attempting an Acrobatics roll but without any grace. However, the foe is preoccupied with its first meal in days and thus pays the Northman no mind.
Its mistake.
The barbarian's sword lands a fearsome blow, slicing a deep gash into the side of the creature's head — its presence bearing the full brunt of Vojtek's pent-up anger at its distant kin. It remains alive but badly wounded.
Kappi stabs desperately at the thing, but to no avail. Ali braces for another swing, but the beast's recoil from Vojtek's wound catches her by surprise, and her curve blade does not strike its flesh.
"EDWARD! Things are going REALLY BADWARD. FEZZIK! I NEED YOU!"
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Round 2
Hearing Davosh's scream, and cry for help Edward knows that Apsu's direct help will not work until he prays some more. No Wayfinder is leaving it up to him, he must get stronger and not rely on her aid as much.
He takes a few steps off to the side while cocking his crossbow. Not forgetting Davosh, Edward also concentrates on him. It takes enough concentration that Edward can't get a clean shot on the beast.
The beast drops Davosh (free action), then turns on Vojtek.
The creature sinks its teeth into Vojtek and takes a chunk out of him, but doesn't get enough to grapple him.
Davosh can offer little aid beyond the Ray of Enfeeblement. He withdraws.
Round 2
With Davosh being badly bitten and almost dragged off to his death and now the mighty Vojtek suffers a great bite, young Kappi almost starts to panic. Yet he tries to turn that fear into resolve. Raising his spear in a strong overhand grip he plunges it down again trying to stab the snow serpent.
Attack w/flank
spear
The Varisian lad curses Lady Luck for being a treacherous beotch.
Round the Second
When the dragonkin bites down on Vojtek's shoulder, the crushing strength causes a sickening crunch and alarming popping noises in the barbarian's shoulder and ribcage. The man is too enraged to know what damage was caused or to react to the pain. The beast's needle-like teeth penetrate the small gaps in the masterwork chain shirt, but the links hold. Otherwise the man's arm would have been severed, with his life-blood washing into the packed snow of the combatant's arena.
With the scaled head still latched onto his shoulder, Vojtek reacts with an animalistic ferocity and bites down on the jagged edge of the wound he carved into its skull moments ago.
Dark red blood oozes from the awful trauma of the dragonkin's bite, and crimson stains cover Vojtek's face from his terrifyingly savage albeit ineffectual counter-bite.
But Vojtek battles on, insensate to the pain.
With a primal scream he stabs his Greatsword up into the serpentine body, between two scales of the off-white underbelly. His rage and his bloodlust fueling the raw power coursing through his wiry body like a deep, black icy river roiling beneath a rime of frosted ice.
Power Attack with Greatsword: for damage.
ROUND 3
Ali follows the scrum through the now-bloody snow, watching in sick fascination as man and beast appear to eat each other in a gruesome display of savagery and hate. The warrior counters their animalistic rage with the cool head of a trained Magus, lines up her shot, and strikes...
...but once again, the writing combatants prove too elusive
Davosh moves away from the creature.
Kappi again strikes at it with his spear vainly.
Vojtek manages to drive his blade into the heart of the beast, and it cries out in anguish as its live force leaves its body.
"Ugh. Than kyou gentlemen, and Liska. That would have been an ignominious death."
You suspect this draconic creature, whatever it was, was a native to cold weather based on its coloring and ease of moving through the snow. In a temperate clime such as this, that is decidedly unusual.
When the beast shuddered in death and curled up in shreiking pain around the impaled Greatsword, Vojtek collapsed on top of it, hatred still streaming out of him palpably. The effort and maniacal rage had drained the man though, and he found himself physically and mentally exhausted.
With sweat turning to vapor all over his exposed skin, and the hot blood of warrior and beast steaming as it mixed in the melting snow beneath them, the whole scene was wreathed in an ethereal mist.
The wrenching exhaustion from so profound an expression of rage would soon pass. Pain wracked Vojtek's consciousness as he began to realize the damage done to his shoulder. Feeble and drained, the barbarian set to work sawing through the breast of the White Dragonkin seeking the strange heart hidden in the alien anatomy.
It occured to Vojtek to wonder at the warmth of the creature's interior, but like a wolf yipping out of sight across the tundra, he had trouble pinning down what bothered him about it.
Once he liberated the meaty muscle from the moist red cavity he had carved, Vojtek tore into it heartily with his teeth. His grisly visage twisted in an unsettling expression that could only be described as a cross between of worship, hatred and post-coital exhausted satisfaction.
The elf warrior watches Vojtek's grizzly display with complete understanding. Once he'd cut the heart out and began eating it, she closed onto the ritual to perform a similar ritual. She bent down, touched two fingers to the fresh blood, and, bringing it to her lips, chants The blood of my enemies makes me stronger. She sucks the blood off her fingers with a slight grimace of distaste, then steps away so Vojtek can complete his slightly more graphic ritual.
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The beast dies as Davosh's wounds magically close, he stops bleeding, but the pain and soreness remain. If anyone looks they can see Edward sharing some of Davosh's pain.
Keeping my own blood inside my body keeps me strong, I would hope you all would start keeping your blood to yourselves and stay strong. I cannot heal anymore today. I'm not sure about you all, but I don't think I can stand another fight. So we have a choice. We can push on, camp here, or head back to town with what we have, and come back when we are refreshed.
"Camp here" says Vojtek with his mouth full of chewed up raw dragonkin heart.
"ugh. I agree, and thank you. I was.... ill prepared for that."
-Posted with Wayfinder
Vojtek creates a nice meal out of the foe they slew. A nice stew with a juicy steak for each member of the party. Before breaking camp Vojtek harvests any teeth or claws he can from the dragonkin.
The hollow makes a fair spot for a makeshift camp. The magus and the rogue work together to hollow out some of the snow to make a frigid cave for some protection.
A light snow begins to fall as the barbarian finishes preparing the midday meal, and the party sits to enjoy the repast.
Our magic folk need 8 hours of rest right?
It will be dark by the time they are rested. Might as well stay put till morning light and continue.
Kappi enjoys the strange repast and gets some satisfaction out of eating the very beast that tried to make a meal out of the party.
The young lad is also a little dissapointed in his melee combat skills. He asks Vojtek and the others for some melee combat practice. He spends an equal amount of time with both his short spear and a tomahawk.