Round 1:
20 Lena
18 Catila
18 Songan
17 Gellius
17 Bulette
7 Leralt
4 Mevakh
Lena steps forward and proclaims her warning. The creature belches loudly, not indicating whether it understands or not, but definitely lending credence to the drunken rampage theory.
Catila studies the thing, then calls upon her First World roots to cast a spell designed to blunt and simultaneously relocate the smell of the stew. The thing pauses, sniffs the air and licks its lips hungrily.
As Songan begins to chant his hypnotic syllables, the creature pauses and its small eyes fix on him. Will Save: However its hunger seems to overwhelm its sense of curiosity and instead it seems to recognize the inherent fleshiness of the creatures speaking to it. It lets out a howl and charges toward Songan! Lena's quick action sends a bolt arcing toward the creature, but it hits the hard armor of the beast and shatters, doing no apparent damage. Gellius, already doubtful that the calming approach would work, moves away from the two and downs his extract of Fire breath, spewing forth a cone of flame at the beast. Reflex
Fire breath damage:
The huge creature manages to slide under the cone, avoiding most of the flame, but getting slightly scorched in the attempt. It barrels into Songan, attempting to swallow the bard!
Attack:
Fortunately Songan is more nimble than the beast and he manages to slip to the side enough to avoid the crashing jaws! The beast shudders to a stop and lets loose a bellowing roar, shaking the ground with its call!
Leralt figuring now was not the time to hold back cast a spell he thinks could not only harm the creature, but chase it away.
Leralt's spell causes a large ball of flaming fire to appear and roll toward the bulette. The bulette barely glances at the thing. Reflex Instead it simply grunts and stumbles to the side, avoiding the attack.
"The more beasts we kill, the less beasts there are to plague the settlement until we can discover a way to destroy their birthing place," Krupt announces, to no one in particular, as he pulls another extract from a pocket and swallows it.
Charge at Bulette to flank with Songan if possible while drawing my Falcata (keep hold of my crossbow in off hand)
Move further around flank then crossbow to the face!
clip:3/5
Swearing very un-ladylike at their failure to find a non-violent solution to the conflict and knowing full well how much trouble they were in, Catila attempts once more to trick the creature and lure it away, this time using her knowledge of the creature and it's young age and intoxicated state to try and entice it.
Again calling on her racial abilities, this time Catila does her best to imitate the sound of a female bulette in heat, and makes the sound come, loudly, from outside the gate, moving it further away and 'unseen' into the forest if the creature falls for it.
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Songan takes a five-foot step backward from the creature, offering a silent prayer of thanks for not being horribly scarred by a bulette bite, then casts Grease at the thing's feet, making sure that the 10-foot area of the spell is centered at the front of the animal as opposed to centered on it, so as not to catch Lena in it's area.
Songan takes a five-foot step away from the bulette, casting Mage Hand and using the spell to rustle some foliage near to where the noise comes from, hopefully lending further credence to the illusion.
If that confirms then its 14 damage, if not then its 11
Mevakh calls upon Abadar to bless his axe and protect this colony, then charges the bulette!
Attack: for damage!
Mevakh's attack strikes the hard shell of the beast, doing no damage, but sending a painful shudder down the blade into Mevakh's arm.
Round 2:
20 Lena
18 Catila
18 Songan
17 Gellius
17 Bulette
7 Leralt
4 Mevakh
Lena takes a deep breath and also charges the creature, hitting a soft spot between plates, but failing to penetrate as deeply as she'd like! The creature roars in pain as the falcata slices deeply into its side, drawing a splash of deep black blood from it.
Catila concentrates and creates a sound that can only be described as a cow being slowly flayed alive by demons. The creature sniffs the air, (Will Save: ) but smelling nothing, seems to disregard the noise as a distraction to a meal.
Songan slips back as Catila's ploy seems to fail, then casts a spell of slipperiness on the ground beneath the bulette's feet. It lets out a huffing noise (Reflex save: ), but its wide stance (hee hee) and stout legs give it ample stability and it does not fall.
Gellius downs an extract and immediately begins to notice weak spots in the creature's defenses as he moves to take advantage of them.
The bulette lets out another ground shaking roar, stomping his feet angrily. It starts to lunge toward Songan, but feeling the bite of the falcata, whips its head around to snap at Lena, while lashing out with two claws at her. Attack (bite):, attack (claw 1) and attack (claw 2). The bite connects and one claw slashes hard at her, while one claw misses. Lena takes damage as the vicious teeth crash together around her thigh and damage as the claw scrapes across her ankle.
Leralt directs the moving ball of fire to the beast while casting another spell. A pair of glowing darts strike the monster with force.
Mevakh strikes again, trying to harm the creature's hard outer plate! Attack: , but his attack is spurned as the creature shifts and his axe catches a bony plat.
Leralt's ball of flame again tries to goad the creature into action, , but it again sidesteps the worst of the fire, letting out a howl of anger. However, Leralt's unerring missiles of arcane force strike without mercy, causing the thing to snap at the air in anger. Its eyes are clouded with pain and it leaks blackish blood from several burns and cuts, but it still stands its ground, its drunkeness getting the best of its reason.
Krupt plucks a poisoned dart from his belt, stuffing it into the end of his blowgun and raising it to his mouth. He lets the spell guide him as he shoots for a weak point in the monster's armor plating, hoping for the venom to do its work.
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Songan takes another quick step back from the bulette, knowing that whatever physical weapons he has have little chance of actually affecting the drunken creature. His mind whirls, trying to think of something he can do to affect the fight.
As if on cue, a flickering fire beneath a nearby stew pot catches his eye and one of the few options that are left to him jumps to the front of his thoughts. He turns to the fire and shouts, as loudly as he can, "Shut your eyes!"
His spell woven quickly, the fire beneath the stew pot seems to flicker, briefly dimming, when it suddenly explodes upward, the fire turning into multiple, blindingly bright bursts of light that explode in brief flashes of color.
Surprised by the vicious assault from the Bulette, Lena's first instinct is to run. Seeing her companions standing firm and Mevakh's axe swinging steadies her morale. Sensing that the beast is starting to get injured, Lena grits through the pain and continues the attack.
Switch judgement to fast healing (2) then attack the Bulette
for damage with sneak attack
Being much more of a thinker than a fighter, Catila again resorts to her supersonic magic to try and damage the beast. With a whistle, she fires a ray of sonic energy at their foe.
Ranged Touch attack:
Sonic Damage:
Round 3:
20 Lena
18 Catila
18 Songan
17 Gellius
17 Bulette
7 Leralt
4 Mevakh
Lena raises her sword and again tries to penetrate the thing's armor, but the toughness of the plate, combined with the sudden flash of the cooking fire erupting into bright light and blinding her, ruins her attack and her sword skitters along the side of the beast.
Catila launches a bolt of pure sound at the thing, but hearing seems not to be its weak point and it has no effect on the creature. Still, she is able to tightly close her eyes when the cooking fire erupts, preventing her from being blinded!
Songan beckons toward the fire and barks a word in fluid syllables that causes the flames to erupt in multi-colored bursts of light, sending ooos and ahhhs from the colonists and blinding the beast as well as Lena!
Gellius' magically enhanced sight leads him to notice a certain vulnerability whenever the bulette flexes its shoulders, where two plates slide away to reveal a patch of unarmored muscle. A sudden exhalation and his dart hits home, transferring its poison into the beast's bloodstream. The bulette shudders slightly, but other than a small wound, it doesn't seem to have suffered any debilitating effects...
The bulette lets out a sudden, frightened bleat as it goes blind, panicking with the surprise. It suddenly dashes forward and slightly to Songan's left, barreling forward in an effort to escape the situation.
Unfortunately the bulette's trajectory carries it straight toward a mass of colonists and unless it's stopped, there's likely be injuries from its mad trample.
Leralt directs the flaming ball at the beast yet again and recast his last spell. Grinding his teeth slightly after the spell at the sight of some of the others actions.
"Would you stop acting like this is a stray dog or something. Its dangerous and fully capable of killing people, even by accident. Stop holding back and knock it out."
Mevakh rushes to catch up with the creature, his eyes barely shut long enough to avoid being blinded by the sudden flash. His armor clangs loudly as he runs to ensure that it will not run headlong into the colonists. He interjects his body between them to protect his charges, then channels all of his holy might into his shield. He erupts in a flash of light that emanates from the shield, which he holds up defiantly to the charging, blinded beast.
Leralt again directs his flaming sphere to attack the blinded bulette while sending darts of force at it. The bulette is unable to dodge so the fiery sphere strikes it solidly. It squeals in pain, scorched and beaten from the force strikes.
Mevakh valiantly steps in front of the colonists, his shield raised high to protect his wards. The beast blunders blindly forward, ; , its thick claws digging troughs into the ground. It seems destined to run down the paladin and his wards, but the sudden flash of holy light seems to have startled the creature, causing it to pull up suddenly, stopping just shy of the paladin and snorting worriedly as it tries to pinpoint an escape route.
Not being able to see anything, Lena crouches down into a defensive stance, eyes desperately trying to recover from the massive over-stimulation.
Stowing her crossbow, she calls on Abadar to soothe her injuries that she might continue to fight the beast.
Maintain healing judgement.
Knowing the dosage of the poison may not overcome the beast's natural fortitude, but wishing to take advantage of its sudden blindess, Krupt pulls a bubbling vial from his apron, anxious to have a chance to field test what he believes to be a successful experiment. He waits for the opportune moment, not wanting to waste it if the monster succumbs to the full effects of the blue whinnis.
Knowing the beast is not much longer for this world, Catila again tries her sonic attack
Ranged Touch attack:
Sonic Damage:
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Songan, having no weapon drawn, is unfortunately unable to capitalize on the opportunity presented by the blinded beast. Knowing that it will not last much longer, he moves toward Mevakh, pulling a scroll from his backpack as he does.
When he reaches the half-orc, he quickly reads the incantation off of the scroll, then taps him on the shoulder as the magic courses through his fingertips and into Mevakh, causing him to instantly grow in height and weight by multitudes, leaving him much closer to the size of the foe that they are no tangling with.
Lena calls upon the blessings of her god to heal her wounds, while Catila once more launches her sonic attack at the creature. This time her aim is true and the beast lets out a surprised yelp as the sonic energy pummels it. Songan casts a spell of enlargement upon Mevakh, while Gellius hangs back, clearly curious as to what happens next.
The bulette seems momentarily confused. Suddenly it shudders, violent spasms wracking its body. The shudders pass, however and the creature remains conscious, blind and terrified. It lashes out at Mevakh, blindly biting and clawing at the paladin. and and . Only 1 claw seems to land, , striking the paladin for damage.
Leralt directs the flaming ball towards the monster. Casting a simple spell this time, he tosses a handful acid at the beast.
Enlarged by Songan's magic, Mevakh towers over the others and stands eye-to-eye with the crazed creature. He holds his shield out in front of him while delivering a powerful upward strike with his battleaxe. It scrapes up the beast's stony hide, but the powerful blow gashes a deep wound in the bulette. He stays silent as he attacks, keeping his full attention on the creature.
Between Leralt's flaming sphere and the masterful swing by the gigantic Mevakh, the creature finally falls, its blood leaking onto the ground as it gives up its final breath. The colonists collectively breathe a sigh of relief as the creature falls.
Now that the beast was no longer a threat he slowly gets closer to examine it along with the substance that caused its actions.
Knowledge (Arcana)
Knowledge (Nature)
"Given our limited resources, if we've a highly skilled smith here I'd recommend skinning the beast. Those plates could serve as armor for one of our warriors. Just be sure the person is truly competent. There's not enough to waste on mistakes."
With that, he tucks his bottle away and likewise goes to examine any remains of the fruit that intoxicated the creature.
Recovering her wits and her vision, Lena slowly stands and takes in the scene around her. By the lack of sounds of combat she assumes the fight is over and thus sheaths her sword.
The beast was dead and with no casualties from the group or the colony as far as she could see.
"Well done everyone" Lena comments before turning to Songan "Although I'd appreciate a bit more discrimination when throwing about magic like that! If it wasn't for Mevakh providing a larger target, that thing could have flattened me while I lay there helpless"
In response to Dr. Krupt's observation;
"Lets see to gutting this thing then"
If no-one else in the colony has any skill with skinning creatures, Lena will have a go herself though she will defer to anyone with the appropriate training.
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"Apologies, Lena. It was my intent to keep anyone from being affected by the spell when I shouted, but it seems not enough warning was given. I will try to be more mindful in the future. Though thankfully, the beast was just as affected by the spell as you were."
"What does bulette taste like, anyway? I can't say I've ever experienced that particular delicacy...though the armor plating would certainly be a helpful scavenge. I've skinned some animals before back on the mainland, but never anything this large or with skin so tough. I'm willing to give it a go with you, though." he answers.
Breathing a sigh of relief along with the others, but also feeling more than a tinge of sadness for the creature as she felt that it's actions had not been malicious, merely addled, Catila approaches closer as well. As she peeks over the shoulders of those examining the bulettle she asks "Can either of you tell if the beast intoxicated itself by accident, or if it was done on purpose?"
Her question asked, she leaves the two to their work and spends some time consoling the colonists, soothing their frayed nerves, making sure none are injured, and even making up a funny, ribald song about drunk bulette's in heat and how tasty she's heard their meat is.
Perform sing:
Once satisfied that everyone is relaxed and assured that this most recent crisis is past, she begins tracking the creature back where it came from. She does not move out of site of the walls however.
Perception(tracking):
Lena and Dr Krupt begin to dissect the creature. Lena works slowly but carefully to remove the heavy plating from the carcass. The internal organs are quite compact, with the stomach having several compartments and taking up most of the internal space. The stomach contains remains of some sort of fruit paste, as well as the bones of several animals and one noteworthy thing: a fist sized pearl that seems to have survived digestion. Songan is able to help with the skinning as well, though he quickly discovers that the edible portion of a bulette is a small thing indeed, as most of the flesh is muscle too tough to eat.
Catila's song soon has the colonists humming and laughing and the mood in the colony improves quickly. Once work has begun on repairing the breach in the walls, Catila heads off to see if she can track the creature. She finds its trail easily, backtracking to a curious discovery. A large wooden bowl of fermented mango paste sits on the ground, displaying large bite marks where the beast ate from it only a mere 100 yards from the walls of the colony. Judging from the wide crushed plants, the beast was dragged here on a sledge of some sort, probably unconscious and left here, along with the bowl and paste. As you head back toward the fort, you see evidence that someone has put paste on trees and bushes leading to the fort, a scent trail of sorts.
Clearly this was no accident. The only clues Catila finds to indicate who did this are some footprints near the sledge: small humanoid sized footprints, and what appears to be a bone utensil used to spread the paste on the trees...
Leralt rubs some of the paste between his fingers.
"Fermented mango paste was fed to the beast. If I had to venture a guess I would say that the Bone Takers did this or their is another party on this island we are unaware of. The People don't do this kind of thing, nor would they need to. As for the Guardians they would not need the beast or send it alone, does not seem their style. The Bone Takers have already tried to fool us before and tend not to act directly if they can help it. Seems reasonable it's their doing. I am starting to think we should give a response."
It seemed like one thing after another. Their was no time to do anything, they had a deadline after all with the Guardians. Not as if they could ask for an extension, at this rate the disease would kill them all before they could even rebuild defenses with all the interruptions. Which he thought was just what the Bone Takers and their masters wanted, drag things out to let the disease do its work.
Coming back just in time to hear the end of Leralt's speech, Cailta plops down a big bowl she was carrying, along with some bone tools. Both the bowl and the tools contain remains of fermented mango paste on them.
Feeling a rare anger at the continued actions of the Bone Takers which threaten the lives of the colonists she has sworn to protect, Catila expresses herself. The fact that those she speaks against are distant kinsman likely only adds fuel to the fire of her anger. "Lealt has the right of it. There is no question in my mind that the Bone Takers did this. The poor Bulette was dragged out, almost certainly unconscious, and dumped close to our fort. This bowl of fermented mango paste would've been sitting right there when it awoke and these tools were used to paint mango paste on trees leading right up to our 'front door', so to speak. I agree completely that the time is well past for us to take the fight to them. If we don't, their assaults will just keep getting bigger and deadlier. We need to take out the threat they represent now, or at the very least make it clear to them we are not to be trifled with. I found some traces of their trail in the woods. Perhaps one of you more skilled at tracking could follow their trail back to where they come from."
"Not very clever at covering up their activities, are they?" Catila mumbles to herself as she shakes her head.
To confirm her suspicions, Catila removes her shoes and places her feet next to the footprints she sees.
Lena does her best to help Songan and Gellius relieve the Bulette of it's flesh and armour plating. While they work, Lena makes small talk to try and ease any tension which might remain from the fight.
When Catila returns, Lena's ears prick up at the mention of the Bone Takers. She looks up from her work, wiping blood from her forearms and stepping over to Catila.
"It is about time we started to make ourselves known to these savages as something more than simply scared intruders. I am in favour of tracking these Bone Takers down and taking the fight to them"