Bardos' sling bullet strikes home with an audible thunk, and a burly woodsman drops to the ground.
After calling out to the enemy, Thorthal approaches the shack and strikes a martial pose.
Drawing the massive sword on his back, Morgrom shouts, "Welcome to church! Gorum accepts your challenge!"
Prahd mutters "...chaos..." as he drops the mule's lead and advances to I4. As he strides forward purposefully, he unslings, spans, and loads his crossbow smoothly.
Unfortunately, just as Prahd steps up for a tactical advantage, Morgrom steps away to maximize the effect of his spell.
However, it appears these farmers are not so easily cowed, as two of the targets of Morgrom's spell close on him, swinging already bloodied sickles. They are joined by a third, who was still in the shack.
One attack strikes home, adding a new wound across the half-orc's scarred chest.
"By Abadar's beard, have you never heard of teamwork? And now you've gotten yourself cut."
Petronicus screams maniacally above the sounds of the fray "Rise from the deep, oh master and consume the souls of any fools who resist!"
With a crackle of magic and a few gestures, a horrific creature made of dripping dark weeds and muck rises a full fifteen feet above the surface of the river and begins to slowly and silently advance toward the villagers. It's eyes burn with dark fire as it lumbers forward to within 10 feet of the end of the dock.
"Flee you fools!!!"
As a creature from the worst pickled egg nightmare arises from the river, the two remaining visible lumberjacks continue with their previous course. One runs up next to Thorthal, and there is a sickening crack as the dwarf's shin-kick snaps the villager's leg. With a moan, he passes out from the shock. Another makes the fatal error of trying to further encircle Morgrom, and as he moves past, the half-orc's greatsword cleaves him in twain.
Haer Kul stands calmly stroking his moustaches, seemingly unconcerned with the melee.
Another farmer exits the shed and charges down the pier, shouting "Another one! Bigger than the others!"
Yet another madman approaches Thorthal, and swings his sickle wildly.
The pack mule bucks and jigs, retreating away from the fight.
Bardos steps forward loading his sling. He fires point-blank at the farmer attacking Thorthal.
The bullet goes wide, as Bardos was clearly trying not to hit Thorthal.
"Had better luck the first time!"
Prahd steps to the right get a clear line of sight on one of the wild-eyed maniacs, and pulls the trigger.
Somewhat disappointed by the effectiveness of his shot, Prahd turns to the Gnome at his back. "If you aren't going to fight, control the mule!" He says through gritted teeth, while again spanning and loading his crossbow.
"Taste my blade!" Morgrom bellows as he follows up his previous attack with a back-handed slash at the combatant directly in front of him.
The Hellblade hews down another foe. The farmers to either side move forward, flanking him.
Both howl wordlessly, but their savage strikes miss.
The horrifying muck creature continues to rise from the deep, hunching with menace.
Morgrom sees a movement from the corner of his eye, and a farmer swings as Scuttles the centipede zooms in to attack.
Both attacks are futile.
"Is everythin' alright back thare?"
Haer Kul removes his homburg, examines the interior, and replaces it more securely on his head.
A bright light explodes in the face of the healthiest farmer attacking Morgrom, but he seems unfazed.
A farmer chanting "killkillkillkillkill..." tries unsuccessfully to reap Thorthal.
The farmer at the end of the pier prepares to attack the bogbeast if it comes within reach.
The pack-mule continues its solo return trip to Silverhall.
Bardos draws his dagger, stepping to the left of Thorthal in the stance of a street fighter.
"Let's settle this, Daggermark-style," he says menacingly as he slashes at the crazed villager fighting Thorthal (D).
The farmer crumples to the ground.
I love the way you're describing Illusion of Calm, by the way.
Next round Haer Kul will Run toward the mule as a full-round action, up to 80 feet.
If he can catch up, he'll give the rear hooves a wide berth (10 feet), and try to run around in front of it (but also trying to avoid being run over).
Further, if he can do it while he's running or when he gets their, he'll grab the mule's reins. If not, then maybe next round.
I am not trained in Handle Animal, so I can't roll a check.
After checking his hat, Haer Kul begins sauntering towards the pack mule.
After checking his hat, Haer Kul begins sauntering towards the pack mule.
Here's how I see the cane:
The cane has a small, recessed button that he presses to separate the sections. It can be done with one hand, if he's willing to let the bottom section fall to the ground. That should be equivalent to drawing a weapon.
His belt contains a loop that kind of looks like the top portion of a scabbard, so it's always open, and relatively easy to slide the bottom tip of the cane through. The long section of the cane is tapered slightly, so that it fits tightly when stowed. There's a small ridge at the top of the section to make sure that it cannot be pushed all the way through the loop.
Putting away the bottom section of the cane should be equivalent to stowing a weapon.
Prahd fires his crossbow once more at the farmer he had already wounded, and the madman staggers backwards, barely conscious.
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Scuttles attacks his victim furiously, seeking for the soft flesh in the gaps between his clothes:
The nightmare creature begins expanding like a puffer fish, it's seaweed extremities becoming rigid and sharp. It appears it will explode at any moment.
Petronicus ceases concentrating and moves forward to touch the enemy next to Molgrom. "Be careful of all those fire ants!" As Petronicus tries to brush off the ants that no one else can see, the farmer twists away from his touch.
Morgrom drops yet another foe. His last assailant steps up to take a swing at him, but the exertion is too much for him and he collapses from blood loss.
"This got a bit mair interestin'. Whit is 'at thing anyways?"
Scuttles undulates his way back to Petronicus, as the wizard loads his crossbow.
Thorthal comes around the corner of the shack, and pauses briefly, muttering, before continuing before the pier.
Haer Kul begins running down the road in the direction of the mule.
The last peasant backs away from the spiked monster, then turns and moves to engage Thorthal
The mule stops to crop at the verge of the road, casting a baleful glance at the approaching gnome.
Bardos sheaths his dagger and loads his sling, and steps 5' to the north (of the map).
"Looks like everything is well in hand. Pity, was hoping to get another shot in."
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Prahd fires a bolt at the last farmer.
The bolt thuds into the shed wall proving that he can, in fact, hit the broad side of a barn.
Prahd shakes his head as he reloads one more time.
The bolt caroms of the corner of the shed, and catches the farmer in the neck. He falls to his back in the road.
Haer Kul will tentatively try to take the reins(?) of the mule and lead it back to the party.
Petronicus says "oh right, the nightmare beast" and dismisses it with a few short gestures.
The muck monster fades away to nothing.
"My apologies gentlemen- I was so positively quivering with the excitement of the battle that I forgot all about that illusory creature I conjured straight from the pages of the Annals of old Azlant. Perhaps we should investigate and see what has caused these provincials to lose their minds?"
"'at was quite th' convincin' trick, A haevnae seen anythin' like 'at afore."
"This madness soonds like whatever oor employers previoos agent was afflicted by. It seems tae be spreadin', has anyone 'ere heard o a disease like this, an' whit dee we dee about th' afflicted?"
"Perhaps we might restrain any of these men who survive and then conduct a thorough search of the town"
Petronicus starts going through the farmers pockets searching for anything of value while humming to himself.
The mule continues to be skittish, and trots away as Haer Kul approaches, dragging its lead rope through the dust of the road.
The three peasants Morgrom hit have all passed on to Pharasma. Most of the others are near death, but stable. The one exception is the opponent who had his leg broken by Thorthal. They all only wear simple clothing, little more than rags in a couple of cases. Three were armed with handaxes, while the remaining five only carried sickles. They have no valuables.
Morgrom turns his back on the corpses, and heads toward the peasant with the broken leg. Staring down at the peasant, Morgrom is trying to determine if there is any chance of interrogation or if he is too far gone.
Morgrom believes that the farmer may recover consciousness in a few hours without use of any healing magic. It also appears that he is suffering from a disease, but Morgrom cannot identify it.
Morgrom believes that the farmer may recover consciousness in a few hours without use of any healing magic. It also appears that he is suffering from a disease, but Morgrom cannot identify it.
Morgrom moves to inspect the others to see if they are also inflicted with the disease.
Haer Kul returns to the scene of the battle.
"Gentlemen? Perhaps that beast may find one of you more persuasive?", tilting his head towards the mule in the distance.
to see whether the farmers are affected by a magical effect.
Bardos jumped when he turned the corner to see the illusionary beast, but relaxed once Petronicus dismissed his magicks. He watches Morgrom examining the downed villagers.
"Find anything Morgrom?" He then turns to Haer Kul. "I am not so skilled with animals, but it sounds like something I might like to learn, preferably on an animal that isn't so prone to kicking." He walks over to the villager with the broken leg. "When he comes to, I could have a chat with him, but his madness might make him a touch uncooperative. What say you all?"
Petronicus orders Scuttles to menace the unconscious farmer.
"If he does wake up, Scuttles will alert us right away. May I suggest we use our time productively by searching the village? I have no skill with animals, alas. My mother always worried I might witness some bestial behaviour and be forever corrupted by it!"
Petronicus begins poking around the village looking for clues.
Morgrom is unsure about all of them, but is sure at least one of the others is diseased.
Petronicus must be addled from lack of sleep and civilized food, as he suddenly realizes he would have to take the ferry to get to the rest of the village. And that looks like a labourious process. There are the shed, the dead mule, and the ferry on this side of the river which may prove interesting.
Petronicus thought this shed was the village! I guess it was slightly less tiny and rustic than he expected.
Petronicus will search the shed, hoping to find a decent meal.
Nudging to corpse with the toe of his boot and says, "Unsure sure of em all, but some are diseased. Maybe why they are berserk."
Leaving the corpse he heads for the sged.
"If only we had some sort of skilled investigator to examine this dead mule for clues." Petronicus mutters to himself.