Grauk finally manages to make it up on deck... and begins pondering if it was so wise to rush as much as he has. Are those real dragons!?!
[dice=Knowledge Arcane]1d20+7
Flyby Attack - Round 3 - continued
Flyby Attack - Round 3
21 Green Drake (12hp dmg)
21 Nakoma
21 The Crew
20 Grauk
20 Acacius
18 Red Drake (6hp dmg)
14 Raag Bloodtusk
13 Alpha Drake (out of range and line of sight)
9 Coxswain Halrex
7 Azen
4 Zeke
Both Grauk and Acacius make it to the deck and spy the threats with their own eyes. Grauk takes a quick mental inventory, while Acacius waits for the monsters to get within range.
Dazzled and damaged by Nakoma's spell the Red Drake beats a retreat away from the ship, shaking its head trying to clear the spots before its eyes.
Raag Bloodtusk rushes across the deck and bounds up the steps to the stern deck in one giant stride. He shouts out the drake a challenge, trying to direct its attention towards himself rather than any more of his crew.
Coxswain Halrex makes it to the maindeck, but is stuck behind crew members and Grauk, curses flying from her lips for them to move or hurry.
The Red Drake having unfortunately flown out of the range of her bow, Azen moves to the edge of the boat and shoots at the Green Drake.
Flyby Attack - Round 3 - continued
Azen moves to the port side rail and fires, but her fatigue from rowing affects her enough that the shot is short of the target and falls harmlessly into the sea.
Zeke stows his shield in a flash , pulls out a javelin as he hurries towards the drake, and tosses it at the green drake.
Flyby Attack - Round 3 - concluded
Zeke's toss of his javelin, after stowing his shield, hits the flying drake as it careens back towards the keelboat with murderous intent.
End of Round 3
Flyby Attack - Round 4
21 Green Drake (17hp dmg)
21 Nakoma
21 The Crew
20 Grauk
20 Acacius
18 Red Drake (20hp dmg, dazzled 1 round)
14 Raag Bloodtusk
9 Coxswain Halrex
7 Azen
4 Zeke
Despite being hit by Zeke's javelin, Green Drake cruises towards the boat, just above the waterline. As it approaches it spits a ball of acidic mucous at the deckhands crowding the port side rail. The sizzling spittle hits right at the railing in front of Acacius and spreads to an area within 5'.
Krothu fails to avoid the acidic mucous, and takes all the damage is entangled.
Red (Barka) 2 hp dmg
Orange (Thin Mike) -2hp, unconscious, bleeding
Purple (Ghorza) 10hp dmg
Green (Krothu)
Black (Salty Pete)
Yellow (Oorug)
Cyan (Sharg)
Blue (Taug)
Acacius deftly dodges, but there is too much acid to avoid it all. His flesh burns.
Zeke pivots, nimbly sidestepping most of the acid.
Nakoma strides over to the mast and begins to ascend to the crow's nest.
Flyby Attack - Round 4 - continued
Zeke and Acacius both see the spitball coming and are able to shield or avoid most of the acid and any entanglement in the goo. They each take minor damage, but are better off then they could be.
Nakoma meanwhile begins shimmying up the mast, headed towards the crow's next where the wounded man lies, oblivious to the flying enemies.
Barka continues steering the ship, so far without incident. Thin Mike stabilizes in the crow's next. Ghorza stays out of the fight for now, having taken enough damage. Splashed by acid and entangled, Krothu struggles to get free (check on drake's turn). Salty Pete gets the ballista ready and spins at the nearest drake, readying to fire next round. Oorug sprints to the aft deck and helps Salty Pete with the ballista, which really takes two men to operate effectively. Sharg readies an action if the spitting drake gets close. Taug moves closer to Red, nearing the aft deck.
Acacius moves over to Oorug and Salty Pete, unburdened by armour, and wielding his warhammer. His goal is to provide a better target should flying foes strike.
Pending action from Grauk, whom I will run if not post at next check in.
Flyby Attack - Round 4
Grauk runs along the starboard side gunwale, hurrying to get to the aft secton along with Acacius.
The Red Drake dives at the sailors trying to crew the ballista, biting at Oorug as it swoops down. Fortunately, the sharp teeth snap down on only air.
With a foe finally near him, Captain Bloodtusk leaps into the fray, slashing and slicing at the Red Drake, hitting it in his battle-fury.
Coxswain Halrex moves to the rail and readies to attack if Green gets close enough.
Azen shoots again at the Green Drake.
Flyby Attack - Round 4 - concluded
Azen's shot at Green Drake flies just past the speeding dragon-kin, missing by a mere fraction.
Zeke replaces his shield and gets ready for melee, readying an attack if the Green Drake comes within reach.
End of Round 4
Flyby Attack - Round 5
21 Green Drake (17hp dmg)
21 Nakoma (clmbing, 10' up)
21 The Crew
20 Grauk
20 Acacius (5hp dmg)
18 Red Drake (26hp dmg)
14 Raag Bloodtusk
9 Coxswain Halrex (readied action)
7 Azen
4 Zeke (5hp dmg, readied action)
Swift as a bolt, Green Drake turns and charges toward the bridge of the boat, heading right for Coxswain Halrex, just over the top of the churning river water. The bite nearly snaps the neck of the cross coxswain in half, and she is barely standing by the time its done. Fortunately, the tail slap misses.
Red (Barka) 2 hp dmg
Orange (Thin Mike) -2hp, unconscious, stable
Purple (Ghorza) 10hp dmg
Green (Krothu) 10hp dmg, entangled
Black (Salty Pete)
Yellow (Oorug)
Cyan (Sharg)
Blue (Taug)
Flyby Attack - Round 5 - continued
Continuing to climb the mast, Nakoma makes it into the crow's nest where the wounded man lies, still unconscious but stable. She calls on the healing power of Desna, and a small butterfly lands on her shoulder as the healing energy surrounds her and those within 30'.
Barka keeps steering the boat, despite the presence of a man-eating drake right next to him. In the crow's next, Thin Mike is restored to consciousness. He slowly stands, thanking Nakoma for the healing magic. Ghorza leaps into action with one of the drakes right above him, but can't get close enough to attack.
Salty Pete and Oorug get the heavy ballista loaded and ready, but now the Red Drake is too close to shoot. They pivot the weapon at Green Drake, right on the port side rail, and fire. The big spear-like projectile flies right along the deck, just missing Zeke, but also missing the drake. Krothu is able to get out of the acidic mucous this round, and rushes over to hack at the Green Drake. Both Krothu and Shaug manage powerful hits against the drake, which staggers violently, but fails to go all the way down.
Grauk moves over to Acacius "Let's give them a little surprise!" Grauk lets energy flow into Acacius who begins to rapidly grow in size.
Acacius grins, and prepares both to find steady ground and to strike at any approaching drake with the warhammer.
Acacius strikes at the red drake, aiming to smite it down!
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Zeke lets out a gasp of surprise as a massive ballista bolt narrowly misses his head. "Watch where you're shooting that!"
Flyby Attack - Round 5 - continued
As Grauk chants and motions, casting a growth spell on Acacius the self-same warrior strides up to Red Drake. He doesn't need to be over-sized to strike a telling blow, and his smash with the magical hammer crushes the skull of Red Drake, killing it instantly. The dead lizard slumps to the deck, and slowly slides off into the river with great splash.
The death-blow is welcomed with a hearty hurrah by Captain Bloodtusk who nods in admiration of Acacius martial prowess. The captain wastes no more time however, and soon leaps down the stairs from the aft deck, approaching the last remaining drake.
Coxswain Halrex steps back from the rail and snaps her whip at Green Drake but while it snaps with a loud crack, it doesn't strike the invading drake.
Azen shoots at the green drake.
(point blank)
Zeke pulls out another javelin and throws it at the drake.
Flyby Attack - Round 5 - concluded
Azen's shot from the fore deck misses the Green Drake.
Zeke hurls another javelin at the same target, but the roiling action of combat causes the drake to shift at the last moment, and a promising throw is wasted as the javelin flies into the water.
End of Round 5
Flyby Attack - Round 6
21 Green Drake (33hp dmg)
21 Nakoma (clmbing, 10' up)
21 The Crew
20 Grauk
20 Acacius (5hp dmg)
18 Red Drake (26hp dmg)
14 Raag Bloodtusk
9 Coxswain Halrex (19hp dmg)
7 Azen
4 Zeke (5hp dmg)
Having had enough damage from the pesky ship, Green Drake disenages, withdrawing back 60' from the port rail, and preparing fly away.
Acacius stands ready, in case the drake attempts to swoop back in.
Grauk casts glitterdust on the fleeing drake hoping it might cause the creature to crash into something.
FlyBy Attack - Round 6 - continued
As Nakoma and Acacius watch, Grauk stops his casting of enlargement and intones a spell that sends a rain of sparkling glitter down on the departing drake. Sunlight glinting off the glitter only dazzles the drake, not blinding it.
Azen shoots at the green drake.
Flyby Attack - Round 6 - concluded
Azen fires one more shot as the drake flies off and just before its speed burst carries it out of range. This time, when it really matters, her shot is true, and the speeding arrow is the last straw for the half-dragon which careens into the river surface with a crash and splash that is impressive in size and scope.
With that fleeing drake dead, the crew can begin to recover from the battle.
End of Combat
Cursing and shouting, Captain Bloodtusk is very animated after the attack on the keelboat. He looks after his crew, especially the badly hurt Coxswain Halrex who took a serious bite from one of the invaders.
"I am sick of those bloody thieves taking from us along the river! No better than vultures, just harder to kill!" He is hopping mad and it is quite apparent. "Somebody needs to take those things out root and stem. Taking a horse right from my stables! Outrageous!"
Azen will use all of her spell energy for the day healing people up, as directed by the captain.
Then she will politely suggest that she should stay on watch or at least above deck all day watching for and shooting drakes rather than rowing. It would be a much better protection to have an archer up on deck all day. She isn't unwilling to work, but work on deck would allow her to be close in case of an attack.
Zeke says a quick prayer to Arqueros as the last drake crashes into the water. He turns, gathering the wounded close together. When everyone is close he holds his holy symbol aloft and leads the group in prayer. Healing energy flows from his sigil of Arqueros and out into the crew.
Acacius states:
"I will leave my javelins in a spot on the deck, so I am able to better fight these flying beasts should they strike again. Please point out a spot which will not interfere with deck operations."
"It'll take them a few days to heal up... depends how petty they're feeling if we see them again this trip."
Between the channeled healing of Arqueros via Zeke's connection, and the magical spells of Azen, all the heroes and all the crew are returned to full health. Coxswain Halrex seems to take a new attitude towards the heroes after her near death experience and the brazen way they took on the pesky river drakes. She lets you skip rowing duty for the afternoon, and take some leisure time, a rare commodity indeed for a ship's crew.
The crew shares the new-found respect for the newcomers, most calling out heartily or giving a firm handshake as you pass by on the deck. While he thanks you for your service, Captain Bloodtusk seems tight-lipped and troubled.
"What is the matter, Captain?", Acacius flat out asks once he realises that something is amiss.
Grauk wiles away his evening but has no luck with the tight lipped Captain.
Azen takes the Captain aside and asks him what is up, hoping that their almost-familial connection will allow him to open up.
Captain, can you tell me what is bothering you?
Azen learns that the captain wants to stop and hunt the last drake... both to get revenge, and to get treasure.
It requires a rest stop for the night... which might upset our timetable at Ghostlight March.
Zeke returns to his duties sounding, watching the skies for more drakes, as well.
If Azen tells him what the captain wants Zeke ponders for a moment. "We should continue with our original plan. Time is of the essence. We don't know when Trunau will get attacked again."