The dwarf feels the deep cut of the arrow as it strikes him in the side. It hurts, but he knows the pain. However what follows terrifies him. A burning feeling spreads from the wound to cover his entire body in seconds. It feels like ants are eating through his vains from inside. Then comes the taste of rust and sour vine. POISON!
Stybar readies another arrow.
GET ONE OF THEM ALIVE!
Stybar's arrow strikes for maximum damage, causing the armored dwarf to fall to one knee, clutching at his side and screaming in pain. His weapons fall to the dirt as the dwarf desperately tries to get hold of the arrow to pull it out.
Meanwhile, the human rogue is barreling straight at Shattertooth. The Immolator tries to create an explosion in the human's face, but is taken off-balance by the suddenness of the rogue's rush straight at him.
In seconds, the immolator has knocked the minotaur onto his back and is pummeling him in the face. You feel sharp pain as the blades in the thief's grip cut lacerations on your cheeks and forehead! Take 1d6 damage, Shattertooth, and give me a Defy Danger roll to escape the grapple!
The rest of you see that the gnome mercenary leader is rallying the others to defensive formations around the portal. You can't tell what she's shouting in Sunlover Common, but she seems set and determined to keep all of you away from the rift at her back. What do you do?
Stybar ignores the wounded dwarf and focuses his attention at the portal. Minotaur tradition does not foster many magic users, but Stybar did spent a few moths sharing a room with one at maze design school. His name was Moscon and he was always going on and on about portals, dimension doors, reality rifts and what not.
Stybar wished he had listened.
Shattertooth's ceremonial mask protects him from much of the damage and the flames of his heart rise as he is struck. They burn from his eyes behind his mask!
He slowly stands, trusting his own hide, the flames of his heart, and his foe's ignorance of where to strike.
He then takes one of his daggers and tries to put it in the man's face. Where once was only one fiery weapon, the minotaur now held five!
Wek, in snake form, bites into the gnome twin.
The initial wound is not severe, but the venom of water moccasins is deadly if untreated, rapidly breaking down blood cells and tissue. The gnome will be paralyzed and die without some aid.
Wek then slithers forward, toward the other gnome, hoping to startle him and disappear into the reeds just behind the gnome casting the defensive spell.
Snakes do hide well! You can choose to either spend a Hold and succeed automatically or roll Defy Danger with dexterity to elude the wizard's defensive spell, Wek.
Across the battlefield, Shattertooth manages to wrestle the rogue off of him with difficulty and climbs to his feet. He channels his pain into greater flames, and more fiery daggers manifest in his palms. With a roar, the immolator charges at the human, but not before the rogue strikes! Reaching into his tunic, the rogue flings a small metal pellet to the ground, causing a thick, obscuring mist to blind you! You can't see until you move at least ten feet from your current spot, Shattertooth, but you manage to inflict a serious cut across the rogue's chest!
The rest of you (but not Shattertooth) can see the rogue, clutching at the bleeding gash on his chest, backing away from the smoke cloud and running toward a nearby crossbow leaning up against a tent. What do you do, those of you not currently occupied?
Stybar, you remember one interesting analogy that stuck with you about dimensional portals because it was so odd. If you "skip" a rock at a portal such as this, just like skipping a rock over a pond, you can actually get a glimpse of the environment on the other side! Fun fact, huh?
Stybar waits until the rouge is standing still while picking up the crossbow and then lets go of his arrow, aiming for a spot between the shoulders.
Smoking is a dangerous habit human
* You have to move to get the shot placing you in danger as described by the GM
* You have to take what you can get: -1d6 damage
* You have to take several shots, reducing your ammo by one
For the first time in a long time Stybar feels like a real badass, which means that he is not paying any attention to the danger he is putting himself in by taking the shot AND making sure that someone hears his mediocre one liner.
Wek will spend a hold to sneak into the grass. As this hold will then cause him to revert to lizardfolk shape, he will rise out of the verge unexpectedly and bite at the gnome, at full size.
Wek sinks his teeth into the gnome's shoulder, head crest flying high, the shapes of fish frantically swirling under his scarlet skin.
As the battle begins in earnest, the bodyguards' leader is camped in front of the portal with her heavy crossbow and is finishing loading a bolt into it, one of the wizards is digging around in his pack for antivenom, the other is being grappled by Wek. The dwarf is struggling to rise to his feet after Stybar's critical shot, he's hefting his axe and he looks angry.
And the rogue...
The rogue spins around in a running leap as he hears the shot you take, Stybar. He is clearly attempting to catch the arrow in his hand, as a monk would. He almost makes it, but...your arrow catches him right in the hand, piercing it clean through. He collapses instead of landing cleanly, his teeth gritted, and grasps the arrow weakly with his other hand. However, between what injuries Shattertooth inflicted and this latest hit, the rogue is weak and near death.
Wek's surprise shapeshift gambit works, allowing him past the gnome mage's defenses and into a close quarters combat situation. "Whaatch ah eye?" he shouts in unintelligible Gnomish, attempting to launch an ember of flame from his fingertips at the druid's face, but he jerks back in time.
Wek, you see him glance over your shoulder and chance a brief look back to see that the third gnome, the bodyguard leader, has designated you as her target! She's not quite done rolling back the mechanisms on her heavy crossbow yet, but it looks quite mean!
Stybar, you sidestepped a few steps too close to the merchant encampment when you fired your shot at the rogue. The dwarf you shot before has spotted you and is charging you down! If you don't react, his linebacker-like frame will knock your ass flat in 2 seconds! What do you do?
The gnome twin mage that Wek bit uses this round of actions to rummage through his gear bag. The merchants have all fled to their tents and are watching fearfully; raids like this aren't unheard of while following dangerous adventuring parties as they are.
Arathoth, Willam, what do you do?
Shattertooth stumbles forward through the fog until he clears it. He spots the rogue laying on the ground and decides that a wounded enemy is best left dead. He slings one of his burning flame-daggers at the downed rogue as he goes to help his allies.
Wek blinks his third eyelids rapidly and all of the fish patterns seem to dive to an unknown depth. His body follows suit, collapsing as if swallowed by a sphere of annihilation. In his place is suddenly a tiny marsh wasp, which buzzes behind the gnome and alights, hidden yet again, in the reeds several paces behind the crossbow wielder.
Watch the gnome with the bag--he probably has an antidote for my bite. And this arbalest wielder will hurt us, sends Wek in odd telepathic pulses that reverberate against your skull.
Some of the lingering fog ruins your shot, Shattertooth, so your actual dagger throw misses. However, the burning flames still burn the rogue, enough to break his will to fight. "Ach! I'm na wanten digur a reth rotheran!" he shouts in unintelligible Common, trying to scramble away from the fight as quickly as possible.
Uek, you feel the magical energies causing some amount of air turbulence as you fly near to it. Be careful!
For a split second Stybar wants to turn and run, but the adrenaline of battle has sharpened his body and mind. The poison is still in the dwarfs body, a nice cut should do it He pulls out the spider knife and gets ready to jump to the side or take the hit. Whatever it takes to draw blood from the dwarf before he can use his weapon.
Stybar manages to avoid getting trampled underfoot by the armored dwarf's mad charge, but he doesn't fully escape! Instead, he's briefly grappled in a bear hug that locks his arms to his sides as he is carried into a market wagon due to the dwarf's momentum!
Stybar, you are inside a merchant wagon. All around you are esoteric little leavings that weren't good enough to be claimed as loot by the adventuring party...trinkets, novice spell scrolls, and small potion vials of every description are all around you.
As the thief gets barreled into the merchant caravan, he's stabbing away violently with his knife, trying to work it into the weak points in the dwarf's armor. The thief's savage strikes are enough to drive the dwarf away from him momentarily, and the two combatants stare at each other for a moment across the interior of the merchant caravan wagon. You can see that he's bleeding heavily, and a telltale slackness in his eyes indicates that your venomed arrow is doing its job. He still holds aloft his weapons in a defensive posture, but it seems like making that pose is taking every ounce of his strength. He's about to give out for certain. What do you do?
Outside the wagon, the gnome merc leader swings her fully-loaded heavy crossbow around, looking for a new target now that Stybar is out of her line of sight. She settles on Shattertooth, aiming down her iron sights at the Immolator! She's about to shoot you with a very large crossbow, Shattertooth, what do you do?
Shattertooth stares down his attacker, refusing to even blink as he meets the gnomes gaze eye to burning eye. Without blinking the girls one of his knives at the gnome and tries once again to get to to explode in her face. If it took the bowstring or a bit of the bow with it, then all the better!
Stybar puts away his dagger and picks up a vial from with a yellow fluid inside. He looks at it for a few seconds and says in low voice. The poison in you body, will kill you, dwarf. You know it as well as I. However this must be you lucky day, cause we just stumbled into an antidote He holds up the yellow vial. What do you say, we make a deal. You put down that weapon of yours and tell me where the Matador and his companions were going and I'll leave you here with the antidote and perhaps a few friends alive
While talking to the dwarf, and showing him the vial (which is properly some sort of spice) with his right hand, Stybar sneaks out the dagger again with the left.
Wek buzzes between the gnome magic user's legs and promptly changes back into a lizardfolk, biting at its leg and upending the gnome into the air.
Shattertooth, by giving the gnome merc the ol' laazy eye, you succeed in throwing off the surety of her shot! Her bolt goes wide, clipping you in the shoulder! Take 1d4-1 damage.
This does nothing to interfere with your flaming knife throw. Confidently, you fling the fire at her face, and blinds her entirely! With a scream of pain and rage, the gnome drops her heavy crossbow and clutches at her eyes with both hands!
Inside the carriage, Stybar, you are attempting to Parlay with the dwarf. Roll a Charisma check, please!
When you have leverage on a GM Character and manipulate them, roll+Cha. Leverage is something they need or want. ✴On a 10+, they do what you ask if you first promise what they ask of you. ✴On a 7–9, they will do what you ask, but need some concrete assurance of your promise, right now.
Wek, your sudden transformations take the gnome mage by surprise, especially because your lizard form is so much bigger! You send him flying, and to your surprise, he vanishes! Where once was the gnome twin, there is now just a faint shimmer in the air, where an illusion was dispelled.
The only gnome mage remaining has found the antidote to your venom in his bag, and as you turn to face him, he has just finished downing it. Dark energies swirl around his eyes as he makes eye contact with you, lowering his vial...defy danger with Wisdom!
As the bolt nears Shattertooth's inner flame consumes it! The ash that's left impacts harmlessly against his fur!
With the crossbow gnome at least temporarily dealt with, Shattertooth turns and flings another of his flame daggers at the mage!
but fails badly.
Wek unfurls his crest angrily and clutches at the necklace of his rank. "You won't beguile me, sunloving dung-eater," he hisses in his native tongue.
Wek then pounces at the gnome, seeking to bring him to ground and out of the fight.
However, he fails to grapple with the illusionist(?) and exposes himself to worse danger!
The dwarf rejects your offer, Stybar! "I'll take...off you!" the dwarf growls in broken Minotaur, before he lurches over to the side of the wagon and throws open a cupboard! He's trying to reach inside for a dangerous-looking vial, what do you do?
Outside, the gnome merc leader is on the move, not giving Shattertooth an easy target. The immolator flings more molten daggers at her that explode on the ground where she was, seconds ago.
The gnome merc leader runs surprisingly fast on her small legs, taking her to nearby cover that blocks you off from view of her entirely, Shattertooth! Due to her rolling dive behind cover, she's got an advantage on the reload speed of her crossbow, giving you seconds before she launches another bolt at you again! What do you do?
"Bakah...ZOR!" the gnome shouts angrily as you leap at him, sounding frustrated that his beguiling spell failed to effect you properly. When you pounce at him, he holds up two fingers in front of his face, like someone in a movie theater making a shushing sound, and vanishes! You land on all fours and glance around quickly, but there's no sign of him at all. What do you do?
Wek, confused, tries changing into a water snake again, seeking to sense out the gnome using its sense of taste and heat sensors.
Shattertooth laughs and bests the gnome by setting his cover on fire! He gestures and flame leaps from his eyes over to the wagon and the entire wagon bursts into flames for a few moments!
Stybar throws the spider dagger at the dwarf. Hands off little man!
Wek, you sense via the heat signature left behind by the gnome, clear as day, the little rascal is heading for the leader of his gang, who is currently hiding behind cover that is going up in flames. If you rely on sensing heat over your other senses, you can strike at the invisible foe as normal.
Meanwhile, Shattertooth is surrounded by carriages made of wood, which are as good as religious pyres to a maniac like him. Laughing, the minotaur gestures widely, spreading flames across the gnome's cover. HOWEVER, since he rolled a 9, there's an additional complication! The fire has spread to another nearby wagon - the wagon that Stybar is currently trapped inside with the dwarf!
Stybar, your knife throw strikes the dwarf, but not where you intended at all. It lodges sideways in his breastplate without harming the dwarf inside, and you can't use it again until you retrieve it from him! That won't be easy, as he's successfully grabbed a potion from inside the cabinet!
He doesn't appear to check carefully for what he's grabbing, but he scatters the contents of a vial from the cabinet all over you anyway, Stybar!
For the next round of action, you need to Defy Danger to prevent being paralyzed by the extremely weird sensations of being Balefully Polymorphed!
You notice right after that other carriage got set on fire, Shattertooth, that the gnome leader is on the move again, ducking beneath the burning cover to shoot at you from a prone position! One of the advantages of crossbows over regular bows. Defy danger or be plugged!
Shattertooth, unlike 99% of other living things that know they're about to be shot, doesn't flinch. He stares down the leader like a man with nothing to fear and lets his flame burn bright!
Wek slithers after the unseen gnome, letting his heat pits guide in, in the way of all pit vipers...
...and connects, but exposes himself to a gnome boot-stomp. Horrors!
These merchants are no weaklings! Fighting an unseen gnome, he broadcasts.
Stybar feels wierd. What was in that vial?!
Shattertooth advances on the burning stagecoach and makes the knives in his hands flare up near to his face for dramatic effect. The merc boss is a stone-cold gnome, but even she is shaken by his countenance - the shot, which might have struck his heart, goes wide and grazes his ribs. Take 1d8-1d4 damage, Shattertooth! The gnome curses as her shot goes wide, and you see her trying to scramble backwards away from the burning wagon. Screaming merchants and traveling urchins are fleeing the battle in all directions as the fires you started continue to spread.
Wek, the gnome mage you had bitten thought he was completely safe within his invisibility field. Your bite startles him so much that the spell he was preparing backfires!
As everyone knows, teleportation spells require immense focus, or the caster risks "splinching", or transporting only part of themselves. This is exactly what happens to the mage you have a mouth full of, Wek. His torso whisks away to some unknown safe place, probably predetermined by the mage in case of emergencies, but the legs stay behind, and through your heat-sense, you can tell when they slump lifelessly to the ground.
Downside is, you were partially caught in the spell as well. Your snout is completely gone. Until you shapeshift again, you have no mouth!
Stybar, in the flaming wagon, manages to regain control as three tentacles sprout from his back and start wiggling. The dwarf knight looks on, aghast and astonished, as they grow larger and larger. Since you succeeded at your roll, you can actually control them, mostly! What do you do?
Wek thrashes around, his truncated face nothing but eyes, heat pits, and a raw wound where mouth, fangs, forked tongue, and nostril slits were. Shocked, he shifts back into a lizardfolk, his crest low.
After a split second, he hisses and clicks his tongue and teeth as if to make sure they are there, and then explodes again into another form--a large saltwater crocodile.
Wek-as-crocodile rushes at the boss mercenary, seeking to grab her arm and pin her down in his powerful jaws. Marsh plants adorn this crocodile as if on the surface of a shallow creek, and the shadows of fish race towards his snout as he races towards the mercenary...
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The bolt barely scratches Shattertooth, but his flames still roar in responce and several more daggers of flame form out of thin air in Shattertooth's hands.
As Wek attacks and seeks to pin, Shattertooth shouts, "Hold her still!" and charges to melee range! With the flames of her camp all around and the screams of those in her care drifting on the wind, Shattertooth reaches out and tries to force her to look at him in the eye!
Stybar does not know what to think anymore, so he acts. He channels his confusion and frustration in a savage jump charge on the dwarf. He does not exactly know what to do with tentacles, but he imagine them trying to hold down the arms of the dwarf, as he goes for the throat with his short sword.
The crocodile-druid, with Wek's distinctive druidic "tell" still showing, charges at the boss merc gnome with a predatory hunger. In the recklessness of his lunge, he opens his jaws too widely! Though he scratches her with the squeezing of his teeth, the gnome merc is a wily foe.
Dropping her crossbow as Wek lunges, she leaps - not out of the way, but directly into his mouth! Using her small size to her advantage, the gnome whirls around and allows the jaws to snap shut on her arm.
Batting away Shattertooth with a flashing knife she withdraws from her jacket pocket, she holds the knife's edge to Wek's eye!
"HOLD IT!" she shouts, in Minotaur! "BACK OFF OR YOUR SHIFTER HERE LOSES HIS EYE!"
You have the gnome's arm in your mouth, Wek, but at the same time, if you were to move an inch, you know the knife would be plunged into your socket. Even shapeshifting can't fix wounds that dire.
Shattertooth, Wek, what do you do?
A moment of relative silence passes as the three combatants assess each other before they act.
Then, Stybar bursts out of the flaming wagon not fifteen feet from you! The dwarf warrior in plate armor, with Stybar's knife still sticking out of his side, is pummeling the poor thief mercilessly with the shield mounted on his gauntlet. Stybar, take 1d8 damage and you're knocked prone on the ground just outside the wagon. Your tentacles start to push you back up on your feet, acting on their own...
What do you do?
Shattertooth grins behind his mask. In meeting his eyes he had done what Shattertooth wanted all along. The flames of his eyes flare and bore into hers.
The merc knows that the jig is up. The wizard has fled, the merchants and the camp followers have largely abandoned the battlefield as well. The dwarf is doing okay, but the adventure is over - as far as the merc is concerned, she's ready to leave. Right now, the only flame of desire she feels is to escape with her skin. Despite her calm exterior, she's terrified.
Shattertooth sees her fear, her desperate desire to live. He shows her his flame daggers... and tosses them into the ground where they leave little glowing craters before disappearing. His deep voice, completely at odds with his size as a minotaur, softens.
You can speak. That's good.
You don't have to die for them, the adventurers who opened that gate. Your camp is gone. Your payday has fled. Your allies are dead or dying. If you surrender I will allow you to go free, and will only require that you carry a message for us to your employers.
Wek freezes, one scale lidded eye filled with the blurred, all too close vision of a steel blade ready to end all sight. He breathes slowly and attempts to assess the situation.
Wek, in the tension of the situation you notice that one of the gnome's rings have slipped off her finger while her arm is in your mouth. Craftily, you curl your tongue around it, keeping your locked jaw on her arm, securing the small ring from rolling down into your gullet.
"I know your kind, Minotaur. Mostly, you keep your promises. I'll carry your message."
Slowly, without breaking eye contact with the Immolator's burning gaze, the gnome merc leader withdraws the knife from Wek's eye. She calls out a stop-code to the dwarf warrior, who looks up from smacking Stybar around with a look of disbelief and anger. What do you both do?
Stybar crawls to his knees and looks up. Dazed and confused, he wonders to himself. Will I ever get a hang of this fighting thing.
If the fighting really is over. Stybar will go skip a small stone across the surface of portal when he gets a chance.
Shattertooth shouts for everyone to stand down. He focuses his eyes of flame on the little messenger and states his message. Tell your employers to rest easy. Enjoy their spoils. We are not coming for them today, or tomorrow. He leans closer and his voice drops into threatening tones. But eventually, when they close their eyes, when they finally sit down to rest, when their world is ripe and full and perfect, the Fire. Shall. Come.
Wek transforms, carefully, into a pelican, making sure that the ring slides subtly into his beak pouch.
He then just as carefully removes his beak from the arm of the gnome, and regards her with one beady bird eye.
I hope you can hear me, says 'Uek through his telepathic waves to the gnome. We seek only the ones who destroyed our tribes. Our quarrel is not with you. Would you not seek revenge on one who killed your kin, your children?
The gnome merc leader stares you down as you issue your edict, Shattertooth. Despite your adversarial relationship, you find yourself feeling some grudging respect for her ability to hide her fears. From everyone except you, of course.
She nods her understanding, then whistles to the dwarven warrior who had just gotten up off of Stybar. He grumbles and grunts a quick sentence in Dwarven, gesturing at the wagons nearby. The merc leader shakes her head in the negative, then points to their mounts, tied up near the portal.
The merc leader glances down at the bird thinking at her, but her expression shows no empathy for your plea. Without another backward glance, she turns toward the mounts and makes off at a trot away from the marshes, toward the south, along with her sole remaining merc buddy, the dwarf.
"I will bear your message!" she shouts back at you as she rides away. You feel certain that she is telling you the truth.
All three of you mark an XP for defeating the mercenary band defending the Adventurers' camp followers and opportunistic merchants. Their wagons lay scattered all around you, abandoned...their owners fled for their lives. No living beasts of burden remain, but there are some trinkets remaining.
When you search the battlefield of a fallen enemy, roll +your strongest stat. On a 10+, choose 4. On a 7-9, choose 3. On a 6-, mark an XP and choose 2:
Nothing you find is cursed.
You do not find anything that puts you in mortal peril.
You find gold and valuables such as jewelry and gems worth 2d10+5 gold.
You find a new weapon that you're interested in trying out; describe it.
You find an interesting piece of armor equipment; describe it.
You find a magic item that you can identify. (This choice counts as 2 choices.)
You find a magic item that you would need help to identify.