|
Not sure what manner of mindless creatures they are I feel the job nails of my leather boots bites into the turf while time itself slows down as I see a opening there....a place to bury three to nine inches of master worked pattern forged steel to then twist and pull back as I throw my hip into the recovery.
Some men use there fear and blood to propel them in a mad frenzy in combat. For me it was cold extended moments in time where it "just was" was for me. My body always acting out before my mind seemed to even think the action.
Zykon sinks a bolt into one of the savages.
Aldur takes a swing, but his attacks is parried by the savage savage's savagely savage club.
Boom also fires an arrow at another savage, and manages to expertly hit a leaf above him.
Round 2 order:
Zykon
Aldur (-8hp)
Boomahg
Titus
-------------------------
Ray-Man (-6hp)
Strange savages (-4)(-6)(-6)(-0)(-0)(-0)
Titus cuts into another savage with his longsword.
Round 2 order:
Zykon
Aldur
Boomahg
Titus
-------------------------
Ray-Man (-6hp)
Strange savages (-8)(-6)(-6)(-0)(-0)(-0)
Raman smashes the wounded savage in the face, knocking him unconscious.
The savage at the back rushes up to attack Raman, whilst another swipes at Aldur. The remaining savages press their attack against Titus!
Against Raman:
Against Aldur:
Against Titus (sorry, you're in a bad position):
Raman dodges the club aimed at him. Aldur is less nimble and is struck by a club. though he avoids getting bitten.
Titus however is left in a bad position and faced by three hungry hungry savages who wail on him with bites and clubs, and he takes several hits. However, the stalwart warrior stands his ground, albeit with quite some difficulty!
Round 3 order:
Zykon
Aldur (-5)
Boomahg
Titus (-20)
Raman (-6hp)
Strange savages (x)(-6)(-6)(-0)(-0)(-0)
|
The club hits Aldur's upper arm with a dull thud, and the half-elf stumbles back a step. It's not broken, but he can feel a tingling in his fingers that means a damaged nerve. He flexes his fingers around the hilt of his rapier, preparing to strike, then notices the stumbling Titus. A wand appears, seemingly out of nowhere, in his off-hand, and he taps it against Titus' shoulder.
"Don't say I never get you anything nice, Titus!"
|
|
By Dis and the hells this hurts! How about one of you ladies step up and help hold the line...and yeah some healing would be great too, cause I swear by Iomedae, I'll haunt all your asses if I die here.
Thanks for healing energy Aldur...even if I die, I won't haunt ya!!
Feeling the blade bite I let it sontinue its deadly arc.
Zykon expertly lines up a shot and fires, narrowly missing Aldur whom he was not aiming at. Or so everyone hopes.
Aldur gives Titus a tap with his wand and makes him feel better.
Boom sees an opening and chucks a bomb right into the midst of the savages. Unfortunately for Titus, Boom apparently regards Titus as a savage, for he catches Titus in the splash as well!
Unfortunately for the savages (including Titus), none of them are particularly nimble, and they take the full force of the bomb's splash.
Titus channels his fury at being bombed at the savages before him, and cuts through two of them with a single swipe! Four half-savages fall to the ground.
Raman tries to punch the savage in front of him, but is so distracted by Titus' display of power that he doesn't look at his target. He feels his fists connect, but when he looks again, he sees that he had punched a tree branch.
The remaining starving savages continue their noble quest for sustenance.
Against Raman
Against Titus
Unfortunately for Titus, he takes yet another club to the face, and this time, combined with the damage from Boom's bomb, it is enough to knock him unconscious!
Round 4 order:
Zykon
Aldur (-5)
Boomahg Traitor
Titus (-24)
Raman (-6hp)
Strange savages (x)(x)(x)(-5)(-0)(-5)
Zykon puts the bolt right through the singed savage's chest. He falls to the ground bleeding profusely and does not get up.
Round 4 order:
Zykon
-------------------
Aldur (-5)
Boomahg Traitor
Titus (-24)
Raman (-6hp)
Strange savages (x)(x)(x)(x)(-0)(-5)
Titus manages to cling on to life. Meanwhile, Aldur tries to get him back on his feet, but fails to activate his wand.
Boom fires an arrow at a savage, but narrowly misses. Raman on the other hand gives the savage with the bleeding eyes a good ol' one-two, and he crumples to the ground.
As soon as Raman takes down his target, the last savage's eyes clear a little, and he suddenly seems a little less ferocious and aggressive.
Nonetheless, he takes a step closer towards Boom, taking a couple of swipes at him.
Neither attack hits.
Round 5 order:
Zykon
Aldur (-5)
Boomahg
Titus (-24) (stable)
Raman (-6hp)
Strange savages (x)(x)(x)(x)(-0)(x)
Zykon tries to convince the last savage to stand down, but all the savage sees is Kentucky fried chicken.
Aldur and Boom score a couple of hits on the savage, and in his weakened state they do just enough to knock him unconscious.
The 4 of you stand victorious over the bodies of the 7 savages, of whom only one is not emaciated like the others, and mutters something in his sleep about ponies and friendly fire.
Combat outcome:
Zykon
Aldur (-5)
Boomahg
Titus (-24) (stable)
Raman (-6hp)
Strange savages (x)(x)(x)(x)(x)(x)
|
|
Aldur - 5 hp down
Raman - 6 hp down
Titus - 24 hp down
7 charges used, plus 1 during the combat. My wand has 25 charges left.
As an aside, it was pointed out to me by my venture-captain that everyone's first use of prestige, regardless of whether you can activate it or not, should be a wand of cure light wounds, for several reasons. First, don't rely on others having the healing you'll need. Second, we're a team, and everyone being alive gives as all a better chance of surviving. Third, don't be selfish, don't be stingy. Karma is a b$#$+. I'm fine providing the healing, just make sure to pay it forward!
Aldur generously spots the party for healing, bringing everyone up to peak condition.
The party is able to loot the savages for clubs and hide armor if they are truly destitute for equipment, but failing that, there is little more of interest in the clearing.
You stumble about the strange foliage for several more minutes, coming across several grisly sights in the process. A gruesome scarecrow constructed of tree branches, jungle vines, and bloodstained human bones skewered by a crudely carved post; an obelisk of dark stone about five feet in diameter and twelve feet tall carved with dozens of leering one-eyed humanoid faces with mouths hungrily agape (the sight of which leaves some of you momentarily shaken); and finally a crack in the earth that splits the ground, providing a way into the spire. Most of the creak is covered by thick weeds and the roots of a huge strangler fig tree (though there is enough space between the roots to squeeze through). Below the tangled roots is a deep shaft that descends into the gloom.
The thirty-foot-long, root-covered crack extends deep into the Gloomspire. Numerous gnarled tree roots creep down the sides of the shaft, a few of them hanging almost to the muddy floor. Dozens of shallow niches are set at irregular intervals down each of the four walls of the shaft. Though some are empty, most of the recesses hold squat, four-foot-tall stone idols of leering, horned fiends.
|
|
My eyes jut open and as I am bathed in the healing energies of Aldur's wand, I nod in appreciation for the divine healing it brings, making my own mental note, that I really need to get one of those things myself, and learn how to use one.
Reaching into a bag of fresh crushed spearmint leaves, I pack a wad in my mouth to gnaw on and to help cover the stench of dead bodies freshly slaughtered.
Standing up and looking at the burnt carnage and the scorch marks on my shield, I look over at BoomAhg squinting a bit before leaning over to eject a stream of spearmint juice just past a roasted savage before looking at him dead in the eye. Best you work on that pitching arm of your's, you might get somebody hurt one of these days if you don't
Turning my back, I don't even wait for a response till we get to the crack in the spire.
Not sure what the grand plan for illumination is, I activate my wayfinder while producing the coil of silken rope obtained from the ship's quarter master.
I'am not too bad at knots, but I got a hunch somebody here is a lot better.
Smiling at the party, I wait to se if anyone volunteers.
You are able to secure the rope to a nearby tree. In the light of Titus' wayfinder, you see that the shaft extends 30ft through the spire's strange stone before reaching a 10ft high chamber below (total drop of 40ft). The floor below is covered in soggy mud and broken statuary. There are 36 niches along the shaft walls, each measuring 4-1/2 feet tall, 2-1/2 feet wide, and 6 inches deep. One-third of these are empty; the rest contain the aforementioned squat, four-foot-tall stone idols of leering, horned fiends.
The niches provide good footholds for climbers, and with the rope help of the rope, even Titus in his chainamil armor can climb down relatively safely if he takes his time and is careful about it .
Aldur pulls his flint and steel from a pouch on his belt and lights Raman's torch. "Tindertwigs are also useful, but best saved for emergencies." The light shines bright to Aldur's elven eyes.
"Warlock," Aldur calls to his dog. "Stay." The dog sits at the edge of the drop-off as his master follows Raman down the rope, carefully sliding down in two-foot increments, using the footholds.
|
|
As BoomAhg walks by and makes the comment, I gaze back at him with murderous intent. As BoomAhg lowers himself down, smiling I respond to him. Don't slip...buddy..course buddy is only half the word ain't it?
After Aldur and Raman go down the rope, I follow.
Once on the ground, I readjust my kit insuring that all items are firmly secured and intact on my person.
As you make the descent, you suddenly hear a click, and watch in surprise and horror as the stone idols shift and move! Fortunately, they are not animated, but they do fall right on top of some of you!
2 of the idols fall on Aldur, whilst a third hurtles towards Raman.
Raman takes only a light bruise on the shoulder, but Aldur takes 2 idols to the head!
You realise that this would be the reason why some of the niches above are empty, and why there are broken pieces of statuary in the chamber you now occupy.
The chamber itself is a square room of the same strange stone material that the spire itself is made of. There is a single door on one of the walls. Titus' wayfinder indicates that the door leads Southwards... or at least it does half the time - the other half the time the wayfinder's needle swings erratically in every direction.
|
|
The idols crash into Aldur as he's about 10 feet from the bottom. The first glances off the side of his head, and he looks up just in time for the second to strike the middle of his face. It hits his mask with a clang, and he falls the last ten feet, landing on the ground with a grunt. Above, Warlock hears his master and lets out a single, worried bark.
Aldur's mask is partially caved-in, with one of the eye holes mashed shut. He mutters a curse as he sits up, and pulls the mask off, tossing it across the chamber. Beneath the mask, his skin is a dark, dusky grey.
|
Zykon tracks the arc of the mask and steps over to retrieve it, bringing it back to Aldur.
"Makes sense. Shouldn't cost much to either get it hammered out or someone to touch it up. Suggest you hang onto it?"
Given Zykon's normal lack of conversation, this near encyclopedia in comparison is rather telling.
If he needs legal help, I'll see what I can do pro bono for him.
|
This mission seems a lot more dangerous then implied in the briefing... Either way now that we are down here I am not sure where in this line up I need to be! What sort of healing do we have left? My only means is an extract.
BoomAhg looks more anxious then you have every seen him. There's a small fear that is starting to take over his look, and concern is definetly becoming evident.
|
|
Aldur looks at Gibbs with some surprise, then gives a nearly imperceptible nod. "I have others, I just try to pack light when possible." With his face revealed, and no subterfuge possible anymore, Aldur pulls his hood back. His hair is jet black, kinky, and tied into a tight ponytail. His features are half-elven, and his eyes are a dark brown. He shoves the mask into his backpack and draws his rapier.
BoomAhg takes a closer look at the door... and sees a door. Satisfied that it is a door, he begins to turn, but as he does, in the corner of his eye, the form of the door seems to wobble and shift just a little bit. He quickly turns his attention back to the door...and sees a door.
The rest of the party sees Boom just randomly staring intently at a door for some reason.