Gnome!... Posh! Posh! what do you know of such creatures? Are they intelligent and can they be reasoned with? My only experience is from rumors and tales told. If it is a dragon then it is very intelligent and perhaps could outwit us all. But if it the lesser cousin of the drake family it likely is very evil and is little more than an animal with a cruel disposition.
"Well...they tend to be evil and they are immune to paralysis and sleep. This is a river drake and not a true dragon for the record." he whispers back.
"I don't think we have much choice, honestly...but we could try. Tessa, you think it'd be willing to change it's ways?"
The serpent leans down from its perch to bite at a particularly long talon, where part of it has split off. It chews on it, then spits out the offending piece of its death-dealing natural weapon. A great yawn then raises its head to the sky.
Perhaps it would respond to a little intimidation. If it backs off then it may be willing to negotiate. If it attacks then perhaps not. I could move closer to be an intimidating threat. Be at my back so if things go poorly we will be ready
Jader moves closer and brandishes his scorpion whip and shield. Hoping to keep the creature at bay with the reach if the whip
"Ah, hold up!" Tess joins Jader to back him up. She doesn't have much faith in convincing the drake, but isn't gonna let Jader jump into a risk like this alone.
Kar looks quickly between Tessa and Jader, and then back to Posh. This will go poorly. He then readies himself to rush out of cover should the drake attack.
"I'm sure it'll be fine." whispers Posh as he slowly starts to back away.
'Jut gotta outrun someone...' he considers, his eyes scanning his companions. 'Well...sheet...'
Jader rushes forward from hiding, brandishing weapons and trying to run the beast off. Honestly, it's frightening to behold, even to a river drake. The draconic figure is not much larger than Jader, and it had just been happily going about its day.
The beast is shaken, certainly, but it moves to react!
In the interest of keeping things moving: if both of those answers is yes, I'll do the following:
She dashes forward, trident in hand, and lunges at the beast, her weapon glowing a soft blue light. "Evil beast, face the sea's judgment!"
Tess charges in with a swing, but misses the serpent, as the uneven ground on the stream bank is soft and affects her footing. The river drake responds by leaping into the air and away from Tess, flapping its wings to take to the air.
Once in the air, the drake launches a ball of spittle at Tessamine. The little ball of mucus bursts upon the ground near Tessamine, splattering at her.
Jader gets a running start and leaps into the air then swirls and attacks with his scorpion whip at the drake
If that doesn’t work then Jader will attempt to scare the drake from behind by creating the noise of a larger dragon coming towards the drake with his ghost sound spell
The drake quickly turns to look behind it, sure it's heard the sound of something that would prey on it, as it has been preying on the local fauna. It seems convinced of imminent danger, and looks prepared to run!
Hobbling towards the drake, Posh prepares to fight. "Come on guys. We've got this!"
'Hopefully it runs away...we can handle it later.' he considers 'Gotta find a way to keep it from flying...'
Retcon:
Tessamine swipes out as the drake flies away, and scores a wicked hit on the creature, spooking it initially and adding a bit more weight to the spookiness of Jader's action.
Kar leaves his crouched stance at a run, rushing to the other end of the field (double move) and thinks to himself, Maybe it wouldn't have been hostile if we hadn't threatened it first.
Kalathiel rushes forward as well, following the others into danger.
With the party fast approaching and the drake now dripping blood from a wicked gash from Tessamine as well as fearing a new predator behind it, the creature looks ready to fly away.
Seeing the creature flee, Tess assumes a defensive stance and stares it down. Either it attacks again, or it leaves.
The drake doesn't look back as it streaks away into the skies, soaring about the wide stream. It's no longer looking for prey, but fleeing as the same.
Tess lowers her weapon and sighs. "Well, now I feel bad. Seems like every time we make a judgment call, we make exactly the wrong one." She awkwardly tries to laugh it off.
Jader watches the drake fly off. Well that went fairly well I think.. He looks at Tessamine Don’t be too hard on yourself. We defeated the creature and it didn’t have to die. In all honesty I’m a little scared that we may face it again. Perhaps a pack of them to overwhelm us, if that one has any friends. However that was a pretty nasty blow so perhaps we won’t see it again or in the least it will be a long while before we do. He turns away then replies back to Tessamine again Who knows you may have saved that drakes life by scaring it away. And we have protected the colony from raids the the drake likely would have made on the settlement Jader gives Tessamine a rare smile before collecting his things to continue their journey
Kar moves up to Tessamine and puts his hand on her shoulder. His eyes are full of meaning, but understanding of her moral dilemma is obvious. Though he is next to her, his words are for all. I am afraid it might attack again, because of fear. We've show ourselves to be unfriendly towards it, and aggressive. Not a good combination. And it may seek retaliation for our actions. We should be cautious, and warn the others when we return that we have made a new enemy.
For HP, feel free to roll, or take half+1
Frowning, he turns to Kar. "You really think it'll be back? Lets hope not."
"All the chronicles I've read list those things as troublesome...I suppose we shall see."
Tess smiles at the rest of the group. "Thanks. We've made our choice, and we'll stand behind it when the need arises." She pulls herself together and gets ready to push forward.
You move on along the stream, headed north, and then eventually break from it, continuing on along Alba's map. After an hour or so more, you come to where you think you should be. A small hill rises in the center of a copse of trees, their numbers thinning along the incline. A number of trees adorn the hill like the tines of a crown, and in the shadows grow odd-looking ferns, mushrooms, and bushes resplendent with berries of an unusual color.
Jader tries to identify the plants mentioned but never really had much skill in plant related knowledge
Listening intently to the plant description, Posh rubs his right leg a moment. Scanning the horizon, he smiles and moves purposefully forward.
"I think I've found some." he calls out to the others, slowly bending over to inspect the shrubbery closer.
After having grown up in a city his whole life, Kar is unskilled at foraging. As such, he'd like to climb a tree (preferably the tallest one he can find), and keep a look out for anything incoming.
Kar ventures up to the top of the hill and keeps a look out as his companions move about seeking reagents. Posh seems to be having the most luck by far, as he points out various plants to the others and swiftly seems to take control of the foraging.
After about a minute of holding sentry in the tree, a vine seems so slither up slowly, creeping, then faster, to try and wrap up Kar!
Seeing Kar struggling against the tree, Posh smiles. "Hey, you ok up there? We'll get you down shortly. Just gotta pick a few more of these plants."
Seeing Kar struggling against the tree, Posh smiles. "Hey, you ok up there? We'll get you down shortly. Just gotta pick a few more of these plants."
Hey Posh Kar seems to be struggling in that tree do you have any knowledge of what he is wrestling with? After all you seem to know a lot about nature and that looks like a vine he is trapped in. Can you take a closer look?
Jader will attempt to climb the tree and attack the vines hoping that will release Kar
"Kar? Kar, are you okay?" Tess sees the monk struggle and starts hustling over to him.
Stuck in a tree, probably 20 feet up, he's in a touch spot even if he does get out. So Kar will try to hit this thing
and and
and
And he will call out to his companions. The local plant life seems to resent our intrusion! Be wary! This one is trying to strangle me!
Kar assaults the tree with incredible force, pummeling it with his fists. The vine itself disintegrates under his blows and falls away, so he attacks the others about him that are threatening to encircle him. Unfortunately, he cracks the branch on which he crouches with his blows as he does.
Kar assaults the tree with incredible force, pummeling it with his fists. The vine itself disintegrates under his blows and falls away, so he attacks the others about him that are threatening to encircle him. Unfortunately, he cracks the branch on which he crouches with his blows as he does.
Kar quickly hugs the trunk of the tree as the branch and offending vines fall away.
As Kar nearly falls, he looks down to see the branch get immediately snatched up by another vine. This one leads up to a gnarled wooden vine, thick and long, which slithers to directly underneath Kar, seemingly waiting for him to fall!
[ooc]You were right - Assassin vine:) That was their entangle ability. You lucked out though, as I don't think it can quite reach you. Everyone's up, and Kar's stuck in a tree![ooc]
Kar will drop to the ground, trying to land softly, but hitting an unexpected branch on the way down and landing hard. He will then stand up and assume snake stance.
As Kar falls to the ground, Tess clambers up the hill and puts a healing hand on his shoulder.
After hustling up the hill Jader scans for other enemies
If within range of a move action he will attack
If no enemies are near Jader will attempt to heal Kar
Finally realizing Kar seems to be in trouble, Posh hobbles a bit closer and reaches deep within himself to tug out the last bit of magical reserves he still holds.
Summoning an all too familiar dragon, he sends it sailing forward towards the tree.
Posh's dragon flies out and impacts the deadly plant, but the fire itself does not seem to damage it at all. It does, however, seem confused by the attack.