Seeing the others rapidly approach he adds aloud: "Douena is inside! Hurry!"
Lorenz spies Sasha lying motionless on the ground. "Oh no!" he gasps and rushes over to her.
Kneeling beside Sasha, Lorenz checks to see if she's still breathing.
"Oh please be alive, please be alive, please!" He whispers.
1d20 + 2
Lorenz notices that Sasha, while out cold, is still breathing and clearly still alive.
Makoa reaches the north end of the village .
Ishirou rushes past Lorenz and Sasha, up to #19 and attacks.
Unfortunately, he swings too early and the blade passes just in front of the cannibal.
Outside the village, Gelik huffs and puffs as he gets closer...
Next Up: Urza, Sasha (unconscious), Jask, Mahjik, Cannibals, Lorenz, Makoa, Ishirou, Gelik.
Douena reaches behind her for the door handle and opens it. "Sorry; I have to be going," she tells the cannibal with a bright smile. "My friends are here now." Maintaining a defensive stance, she carefully steps into the front room, avoiding Pezock's prone form.
Move to T27 and cast Acid Splash on 19.
Acid Splash
to hit R Touch
damage
Mahjik beckons the cannibals to attack him again, muttering to himself "Wise man would be foolish to ignore the unarmed man." He attacks .
As Douena carefully slips out the bedroom door, Urza hurries up outside and fires a glob of acid that grazes #19's arm.
Jask continues moving towards the battle and Mahjik's fist pounds into the side of #21's jaw. She spits out some teeth and swings her sword at him. #17 steps up towards Douena.
Next Up: Makoa, Ishirou, Gelik, Douena, Urza, Sasha (unconscious), Jask, Mahjik, Cannibals.
Whispering a brief prayer of thanks to Cayden that she's still alive, Lorenz reaches into his pack and removes a potion and uses it on Sasha.
Actually able to see the fighting now, Makoa keeps his speed the same as he runs to join in the fray.
Lorenz pours the potion down Sasha's throat. Almost instantly, she begins to cough and sputter. She opens her eyes.
Actually able to see the fighting now, Makoa keeps his speed the same as he runs to join in the fray.
Ishirou shifts his position slightly , and continues his attack on #19.
Gelik finally makes it to the north end of town.
Next Up: Urza, Sasha, Jask, Mahjik, Cannibals, Lorenz, Makoa, Ishirou, Gelik.
This post assumes Douena will come out of the hut with a cannibal hot on her heels.
Urza will move to X26 and wait for the cannibal to come out so I can crush him.
Otherwise I will run into the cabin (W25) and wait for the cannibal to come into melee and crush him.
Lt Mace
to hit
damage
In case I get an AoO
Lt Mace
to hit
damage
The curse is not just for NPCs
Douena carefully backs out of the old lady's hut, registers the knot of people fighting to the east, and goes the other way, in the hopes the cannibal giving chase will head toward the more obvious target.
Douena carefully backs out of the hut while Urza moves up beside the door to wait for the cannibal inside to come out.
Sasha groans, picks up her weapons and stands up. She smiles at Lorenz. "Payback time," she says and turns towards the fight.
Jask continues towards the fight .
Next Up: Cannibals, Lorenz, Makoa, Ishirou, Gelik, Douena, Urza (subject to readied action), Sasha, Jask.
Relieved and distracted by Sasha's return to vigor Mahjik's attacks are a bit lack-luster. "Sasha! You look great! Your beauty sleep do you good?"
Although distracted, Mahjik does manage to land one blow on #21, which takes her down.
Despite their diminishing numbers, the last two cannibals refuse to give up and keep fighting. #17 makes his way out of the hut, only to walk face first into Urza's mace. Looking winded and staggered, he swings at Urza.
#17 sways a bit after his swing, and then topples over.
Next Up: Makoa, Ishirou, Gelik, Douena, Sasha, Jask, Mahjik, Urza, Cannibals.
Lorenz smiles back with relief and glances around for any still standing cannibals. Seeing only one remaining, he moves forward, raising the scimitar and swinging it around in a sideswipe at the cannibal.
Seeing only one cannibal still standing, Makoa tosses his axe, hoping for a killing blow.
"Sorry I'm late."
Seeing Urza take down the cannibal that had been chasing her, Douena dashes back toward the hut. "Where's Jask?" she calls frantically. "Pezock needs help!" She rushes in and tries to roll his feathery body into the bedroom where she can shut the door for a channel without healing the cannibals in the workshop.
Lorenz moves up and attacks the cannibal, only just missing him. A split second later, Makoa's axe shoots over Lorenz's shoulder and also just misses the cannibal.
Ishirou shifts his position slightly so that he's flanking with Mahjik, and attacks.
The katana cuts into the cannibal's side and across his stomach. #19 goes down.
Douena rushes into the hut, followed quickly by Jask. The two of them move Pezock's body into the bedroom, shut the door, and then Jask calls out to Nethys.
A quick check after that reveals that Pezock is still alive -- just.
Urza lets out a roar.
He goes about insuring that each cannibal is indeed dead. With every swing of his mace he repeats, "For Aerys."
Mahjik lets out a relieved sigh as everything winds down. Then he notes Urza's actions and his face sinks as he realizes not everybody is here. "Didn't she make it? What happened?"
Lorenz shakes his head with tears in his eyes. "She...we had to leave her behind to help you." He clears his throat and walks over to Sasha.
"Are you okay? I was afraid...afraid we were too late."
Sasha looks at Lorenz. "Aerys? She's...de--?" She can't quite get out the last word. She hugs Lorenz and holds him tight to her.
As Urza makes sure all the cannibals are completely dead, Gelik comes running up to the others. A few seconds later, Aakif arrives. As soon as he realizes that the battle is over, he leans back against a tree, clearly exhausted.
Douena smiles up at Jask in satisfaction. "I knew I'd bring him luck. Desna was watching out for him today." She fingers her holy symbol. "I have just a little of Desna's grace left to me before starrise. Should we get everyone else in here that's hurt before I spend it?" She rushes back outside, completely missing the somber mood that has spread over the victors. "Sasha! Are you all right? I didn't want to leave you out here alone; I told Pezock to bring you in...." She finally registers the teary eyes and sad faces. "What's wrong?" she looks around in bewilderment.
Jask follows Douena outside and comes over to her. "We lost Aerys," he tells her. "The cannibals' leader murdered her before the others were able to take him down. There was nothing I could do for her."
She blinks up at Jask uncomprehendingly as her eyes fill with tears, unable to juxtapose their glorious victory with the death of one of their members. "But ... we won...." She blinks a few tears down her cheeks in the silence; then her face grows resolute and a bit grim. "Right. Let's get Pezock back on his feet so we don't have to carry him; anyone else who's wounded, come in the hut. There's some potions or something in here, I think; someone who knows something about that might take a look at them. Someone else go see what the old hag had on her; she's over there where Mahjik killed her. We'll take Aerys back to Aycenia; maybe there's something she can do."
Ishirou, Sasha, and Aakif gratefully take part in the healing as well.
Pezock's eyes open slightly. "Did we win?" he croaks. He pulls himself to his feet. He's still clearly badly hurt and looks ready to fall over again at any moment. Seeing his state, Jask provides some additional healing.
Ishirou, Sasha, and Aakif are all now looking back to their normal selves, and Pezock, while still considerably hurt, doesn't look like he'll collapse at any second.
Pezock's eyes open slightly. "Did we win?" he croaks.
Douena smiles at him. "We did," she tells him. "What will you ever do with yourself on this island without cannibals to plot revenge on?"
When the healing is done and Pezock is back on his feet, Douena wanders over to the vials in the workshop area to see if any are labelled while her comprehend languages is still active.
Mahjik looks deflated at the news of Aerys death. He comforts Douena in her restless activity, as much to help her as to come to terms with it himself. Words don't want to come to him. In unchecked moments a tear and two roll down his cheek - distinct and different from the globules of sweat on him.
Urza finishes his grisly work and joins the healing pool covered in blood. He takes the time to find blankets with which to wrap Aerys so that she can be carried to the cannibal village (then to the grove if that is what is decided).
Lorenz hugs Sasha back and then pats her awkwardly on the shoulder as he accompanies her into the hut, even though he doesn't need any healing.
After Douena had finished channelling he asks, "What about the old woman? Did you get her? Did she cause much trouble?"
Makoa stays quiet as he goes with Urza to make sure he is not caught off guard by any straggling cannibals.
They may have won, but they still lost.
"The old woman is dead," Pezock announces. "She caused very little trouble." He points to Mahjik. "The coward there took her down and then ran away. We were doing great until that point. Then we nearly lost her." He points to Sasha. "And me! The coward is a liability. He should be expelled from the group so that he does not get us killed."
"No one is leaving the group because one person thinks they should. I'd pause to throw anyone out even if everyone agreed to it. We have won, Pezock, you alone have reason to be happy. Rejoice and stop ruffling our non-existant feathers."
"Oh, I'm sure the cow-- er, Mahjik was just coming to tell us to hurry to help you. He also brought us some of the cannibals that were fighting you so that we could kill them. That was not just considerate but helpful for everyone."
He holds up his new scimitar. "You should have seen the leader, Pezock. He was a fearsome man with bright orange hair and this sword. The sword is very sharp." But thinking about the leader made Lorenz sad again.
"I wish we could have gotten to Aerys faster," he says unhappily.
"Bah!" Pezock says. "Your opinions mean nothing." He walks over to Sasha. "Dimorphodon mother's opinion is all that matters to me right now. The coward nearly got you killed. What would you have me do with him?"
Sasha looks shocked by Pezock's question. "Uh, nothing," she says. "Or how about you just be nice with him? And I have a name, you know!"
"Hey!" Douena looks up from the workbench indignantly. "You're the one who left Sasha outside, Pezock. I told you to bring her in so I could heal us all. Just think if we'd had someone else in that hut with us fighting; you might not have almost been killed."
"And, Mahjik," she goes on more quietly, "you did the right thing to go for the others. Not only did you take some of the cannibals with you that might have followed us into the hut, but you stayed on your feet until you got to Jask and were one more person in the fight on our side rather than out of it at the end."
"You shouldn't call him a coward, Pezock," she scolds. "It was very brave to run away into the jungle with cannibals after him. If they'd taken him down in there, neither we nor the Not-Sneakies would have even known to look for him in there until it was too late. At least I knew where you were and could run to heal you."
Mahjik grins, "I don't mind to admit it - I was scared. For myself, and everybody else. But it's not Pezock's fault for being upset with me: he was so hungry for revenge and in the end only got one or two, while I was having my hands full with a whole host."
Mahjik adds to Urza: "I have to thank you, everybody else too of course, but I believe your magic made a big difference out there. There were around eight of them around or on me - I'm sure that I'm not good enough to dodge all of them without help. And today, I think your magical armor was that help! Thank you."
This is a small workshop. There are several shelves full of bottles and vials, as well as a few sacks, sticks, leaves, and bits of vine. There's a chemical scent in the air.
This is a small workshop. There are several shelves full of bottles and vials, as well as a few sacks, sticks, leaves, and bits of vine. There's a chemical scent in the air.
The vials have various marks on them, the marks apparently made with blood. While there is definitely some repetition, they don't actually appear to be a language, perhaps just some notational code the old woman used. Although you can't tell what any individual mark means, you can group the vials by similar marks. Three vials have just a single vertical line; two have a pair of dots; and six have a single horizontal line.
"Maybe we should have left him unconscious a while longer," Douena murmurs to Jask as she watches Pezock being unpleasant.
"These are ... something," she goes on, grouping the vials by code, "but I don't know if they're things you drink or things you throw or things you make other people drink. Maybe Urza can figure it out when he gets ... back...." She trails off, as thinking about Aerys again makes her sad. "I suppose we should find a nice place to ... put her until we're ready to head back. I'd say in the witch's bedroom, but it's pretty nasty in there. Maybe just under the trees somewhere where there's a breeze."
A thought seems to strike her as she looks around the village. "No one ever saw the Captain or Ieana, did they? Aren't they supposed to be here somewhere?" The fight suddenly feels unfinished.
While gathering Aerys' remaains, I'll take the time to see if the cannibals have anything of worth on them.
While gathering Aerys' remaains, I'll take the time to see if the cannibals have anything of worth on them.
Most of the cannibals have very little beyond their broken scimitars and shields, although they do have red pearl amulets. Their leader, however, has a pearl amulet made with several large red pearls. It's clearly more valuable than the other amulets. He also has a heavy wooden shield that is in pretty good condition. Lorenz has already absconded with the nice scimitar. :)
If anyone examines the old woman's body, all they will find is a staff and a thin wand-like piece of bone.
A thought seems to strike her as she looks around the village. "No one ever saw the Captain or Ieana, did they? Aren't they supposed to be here somewhere?" The fight suddenly feels unfinished.
"We should search search all the buildings," Jask says. "There could be stragglers hiding in some of them, particularly children. We haven't seen any children yet. Ieana and the Captain could be hidden somewhere too, although they might have moved on somewhere else."