"You guys have way too much of that stuff."
Durgan takes a step and casts Create Water. Eight gallons of water pour down and drench the sparking coil of rope.
Zokon steps back down the stairs and launches an arrow at the bear with deadly aim
Serena slashes again at the bear.
The bear drops dead as scarlet clouts it again on it's head with her longsword.
Durgan similarly extinguishes the fire. The little gnome-sized mud man looks confused.
Serena is holding her action.
Against her better judgement Illthir moves closer to the dirty man. Though she still has Alia as a buffer between her and him luckily! That's what she liked about her long-hafted polearm; less up close and personal. She did her best to introduce the deranged man to the business end of it - let's see how he likes it!
Alia 's blade flashes again in the firelight.
Posh uses the opportunity to dash out of the old man's sight for a moment. There in the magical light he undergoes a strange metamorphosis. To those in the vicinity who can see his form morphs into a much shorter version of the slain brigand chief above his hat even changing into a slighter version of the great stag helm. "It's all I have left." he whispers with urgency to the witnesses.
Vitoria turns to Durgan finally recognizing the sputtering fuse, and connecting it to the 'candle' she was holding to see by in her prison two-floors above, and what it was that subsequently blew her off the bridge from half-a-fort away. "WE HAVE TO GET OUT OF HERE! THOSE CASKS ARE FULL OF EXPLOSIVES!" she explains.
♪♫Giant's Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down.
Giant's Bridge is falling down,
My fair lady.
Who has stole my land and home,
Land and home, land and home;
Who has stole my land and home,
My fair lady?
Up in fire you must go,
You must go, you must go;
Up in fire you must go,
My fair lady.♪♫
Sing the three unseen girls.
"Fools! I am one of the monsters in a land full of them! Gozreh curse you all! You will not escape us! MONSTERS ALL! MONSTERS ALL!" the man screams. The little pile of dirt's other hand begins to glow with an ugly green every bit as bright as the fire in his other hand. It reaches out to Illthir and....
The glow disappears into the pale skald.
Round 3! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Little Dirt Man -18 hp
__ Illthir (Will save DC 18)
__ Posh
__ Zokon
__ Alia
__ Durgan
__ Victoria
__ Serena -4 hp
__ Scarlet -17 hp
Map updated
"Explosives?" Scarlet arches an eyebrow. "Not again. Everyone, we're out of here. This guy wants to blow himself up, let 'im!" Scarlet keeps her bloodrage up and points up the stiars.
"Everybody out!" Serena shouts, moving towards the animated pile of dirt. Her goal is to hold off the old man until everyone can get out. She readies an attack, should he make an aggressive move.
Victoria was well aware how powerful black powder can be, even before the earlier explosion. Given how insane the man seems, she has no problem with "the better part of valor," and makes her way back to the stairs.
"Out!.. Everybody Out! Up the stairs!" he shouts and runs up the stairs
Durgan readies to use Create Water again as soon as the little dirt-man touches a fuse.
"He can't use his fire if he's dead," suggests the dwarf.
"Kill him or drag him away from the barrels!"
"I don't want to kill you," Serena warns the man, "But I will if I must. Extinguish your flame and let's talk like civilized humans."
Zokon noticing that the situation is not as dire as the words he heard first suggested stops and takes aim at the old man
"Ummm.. ok maybe not.. possibly better to stop him." Zokon lines up a shot but does not fire.. "Stop or I will shoot."
"Oh, just kill 'im already before he blows us up." Scarlet snorts... then realizes she declared her action already.
"Grab him!" Illthir suggests. She looks at the burning hand with worry - but better her then the powder kegs! Ow oww! with a bit of quick mental preparation the skald tossed her hammer aside and dove for the unstable druid's burning hand.
Serene's blow misses. Victoria makes for the exit. Illthir make a grab for the elemental man who burns her with his flaming hand, and causing her to recoil.
**cough, cough**
Alia uses the opportunity to stab the lump of dirt.
Posh or perhaps a tiny Stag Lord rushes from the shadows and shouts "DADDY!
Round 4! (Theme ♬)
The Bold May Act!
_________________
__ Little Dirt Man -34 hp
__ Illthir -9 hp
__ Posh disguised
__ Zokon
__ Alia
__ Durgan
__ Victoria
__ Serena -4 hp
__ Scarlet -17 hp
Map updated
"Fine, we'll do this the hard way." Scarlet approaches. "Out of the way, Illthir."
"OW-OW-OWWW!" Illthir complains out loud. She had no problem with taking a swipe at the man with her sidearm and then stepping back and against the wall, hopefully letting Scarlet say hi to the nasty man.
Zokon uses studied target on the man and then fires a deadly shot
Durgan moves and once again readies to cast Create Water if the crazy old man touches a fuse.
Zokon doesn't quite thread the needle but almost threads Durgan.
Victoria hands over her ears and her mouth open rushes up the stairs and warns everyone away from the area. "IT'S GOING TO BLOW!"
Alia 's blade flashes once more, but the confines are too cramped for such a long blade.
Scarlet likewise swings longsword but succeeds only and taking a chunk out of a wooden crate.
Serena fights her way around and under her fellow warriors blades and stabs deep into the earthen man who gives a small grown and then subsides like snowman on hot summer day. The fire in his outstretched hand slowly burns itself out.
"Dad! Can borrow the horse? Auchs and Ayles were heading over to Kressle's house and we were planning on doing some raiding later tonight." says a pint-sized Stag Lord with too large a helm.
The singing stops, and is replaced by a disappointed sigh, as if Serena had broken the children's toy.
"Oi, that man was slippery. Grandpa knows how to wiggle." Scarlet exhales a stream of smoke and calms down. "So are we gonna finish him off, or bring him to Restov?" She shrugs.
"With the Stag Lord dead, I need to bring his helmet to that ghost by the river." She shudders. "I'm tired of him haunting ma nightmares.
Erevenywg has been really kind in helping me, but I can't rely on her forever."
"Oi, that man was slippery. Grandpa knows how to wiggle." Scarlet exhales a stream of smoke and calms down. "So are we gonna finish him off, or bring him to Restov?" She shrugs.
"With the Stag Lord dead, I need to bring his helmet to that ghost by the river."
At that point Mini-Stag Lord, comes by to examine the pile of dirt that was his faux-dad.
"What sort of being was this old man? Turned into earth by some curse or some Fey trickery? Or some sort of druidic magic?"
Durgan goes over to the pile of kegs, Create Water at the ready if he sees the slightest spark.
"We should move these to a secure location that is not right under the keep. Or sell them, I suppose. I don't have much use for black powder, and it sells for a decent price."
Hearing no earth-shattering kaboom, Victoria cautiously edges her way back down the stairs to see the outcome of the battle.
Illthir cautiously glares at the man while not lowering her hammer just yet. "He threw bears at us and the bandits sought him for healing. I'd say it's safe to say he is either a druid or some very evil fairy... Let's uh find some rope and staunch his bleeding and we can ask him later. Somewhere where he can't make anything explode!"
"He's dead. Or at least what passes for dead for a being such as he. He was made of dirt and then he crumbled into a pile of dirt."
Durgan does not sound particularly bothered by this, but instead curious.
Serena pokes whatever remains with her scimitar, looking for any signs of life. If he yet lives, she will bind his wounds and tie him up. If not she signs sadly and says, "A shame. It's always a shame when life is needlessly lost."
Zokon looks around for any other threats, looking throughout this area to see if there is anything else dangerous around.. or hidden.
Scarlet exhales carefully. "I'm gonna check upstairs and make sure things are still clear."
Eventually, the body returns to that of a frail-looking old man.
Now that the immediate threat of the explosive barrels is past, Victoria is intrigued by them. "What was this Stag Lord planning to do with all of this? You all saw the size explosion the other barrels made. This could blow up a town." She shudders momentarily remembering how the creepy dark elf threatened to do gods-know-what to her. "We may want to finish searching this place to make sure there aren't any more surprises."
Now that the immediate threat of the explosive barrels is past, Victoria is intrigued by them. "What was this Stag Lord planning to do with all of this? You all saw the size explosion the other barrels made. This could blow up a town." She shudders momentarily remembering how the creepy dark elf threatened to do gods-know-what to her. "We may want to finish searching this place to make sure there aren't any more surprises."
Posh remains silent for a moment, shaking his head as he looks at the explosives and remembered what he heard about Oleg.
"Similar to what happened to Oleg I'm guessing..." Posh trailed off, letting the words sink into the group for everyone to understand his own pain at the situation and regret. Part of him wanted to just dump these barrels, however, they had a use. "We could save these for trade. What do you all think? I wouldn't blame you if you just wanted to dump this into the river, but we could still use it to build or rebuild this place."| 3 people marked this as a favorite. |
At first, it gets a bit tedious going from a while going from little camp to camp to spread the message that the Stag Lord is dead, and that there are no professional mercenaries coming to train them up into a personal guard for Hotspur Seline. There are a few who suspect a trick. "How do we know old Staggy's dead?" They ask. Showing them the filthy antlered great helm is enough proof to convince them. By mid-morning there is enough of a stir that more and more men arrive at the camp you are currently at--cutting your expected travel time immensely.