Flavia trots to the stable and tries to find a horse suitable for her stature among the group selected for them. Rubbing the horse's nose, she feeds it one of the fruits saved from breakfast. "What's her name?" she asks the groom. "Does she have any bad habits I should know about?"
One dagger goes in a belt scabbard and the other in her boot, while the rest are stashed in the backpack. Checking that her sling is looped in her belt with the shot and one potion safe in a belt pouch, she tucks her sap in her belt, hangs a bag of caltrops from the pommel, secures her rapier so it is easily drawn on horseback if need be, lashes the pack behind the saddle and mounts up, patting the horse's neck.
"Ready when you are," she chirps to the group. "Ah, this feels good. I've been sitting around the house for far too long. Excitement is welcome."
"I'm just glad to be out of the city," Savendir says to Flavia. "When that many people live in close quarters, no good can come of it." He breathes deeply as if imagining another place.
Settling in for the journey ahead, he adjusts his weathered bow and simple scimitar, suddenly self-conscious of his unremarkable (and seldom used) weapons.
Flavia chooses a beautiful Palomino horse that seems full of spark. "Blazing Doom is his name," the groom answers. "But don't you worry young lady, the only doom he'll bring is to any horse that tries to beat'em. He is a proud one, and he'll take good care of ya." As if in agreement, Blazing Doom gives his head a shake and nuzzles Flavia's backpack as she prepares to pack looking for another treat.
Once everyone has loaded up their horses, the party heads out of town over the North Bridge. They turn north traveling along the road heading to Harse. Traffic along the road thins out quickly the farther the group travels away from Korvosa. After several miles, the party realizes it has been an hour since they have seen anybody. The Varisian wilderness creeps closer to the road with every mile.
Enard saddles up his own horse, taking along the beast that Pieresiff provided as a spare. “Who knows?” he asks rhetorically. “We may even find the young lordling alive and have to ride back with him.”
As the band ride out the city gates and through the Varisian shanty towns on the east bank of the Jeggare River, making for the road north, the dark haired mercenary pulls his horse close to the others’.
“If we’re going to be working together we should know what each of us is capable of,” he suggests. “Where everyone’s specialties lie. Myself, I can swing a sword and I know a few spells. Don’t ask me to open locked doors, confuse folk’s minds or pull flowers out of my arse though – I mostly just hurt people.”
“If we’re going to be working together we should know what each of us is capable of,” he suggests. “Where everyone’s specialties lie. Myself, I can swing a sword and I know a few spells. Don’t ask me to open locked doors, confuse folk’s minds or pull flowers out of my arse though – I mostly just hurt people.”
"Me, I mostly try to stay out of trouble. I can do lots of little things, things handy for survival in Korvosa - move quietly, get into places people don't want me to be, tell a convincing story. Not much for fighting, personally, but if somebody else is keeping an enemy busy, I can certainly help take 'em down. Urzur and I made a pretty good team for that in the past, didn't we?" She looks around nervously as traffic on the road thins. "I forgot how empty things feel outside the city. The city is dangerous, yes, but at least it's familiar. It's so... quiet without all the people around. Feels like we should be whispering."
"Pretty good? When it came to fighting, we kicked some tail." Urzur comments shortly, nodding. "I get angry. Things die. Then I calm down a bit. That's about it."
To be safe while traveling, he is carrying a potion of Enlarge Person in-hand and steering the mount with his other hand.
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“If we’re going to be working together we should know what each of us is capable of,” he suggests. “Where everyone’s specialties lie. Myself, I can swing a sword and I know a few spells. Don’t ask me to open locked doors, confuse folk’s minds or pull flowers out of my arse though – I mostly just hurt people.”
Rokuro perks up when he hears Enard's description of his abilities. "I too have the favour of wielding both sword and spell together. I think that I will very much be looking forward to working along you and seeing our skills line up." He smiles at Enard and nods in a show of camaraderie.
As the party discusses what they can offer, Savendir offers this description of his abilities: "My weapons are the winds, the storms, the grass beneath your feet, the warmth of the sun. I was trained in ancient ways of magic by my people, and use it to protect the land from unnatural forces that would despoil it. Tapping into the power of life itself, I can bolster the living with healing power or disrupt the unliving who taint the land."
I'll take the front of the back of the line, to best appreciate the journey.
The quiet that Flavia is commenting on is suddenly shattered by the sounds of weeds rustling and snarls from the east. A pack of wolves has been stealthily stalking the group for a while. The wolves emerge from the weeds and attack. Two wolves take bites at Matsumoto's horse. A third wolf attacks Enard's horse, while a fourth wolf bites at the spare horse. Finally two more wolves attack Flavia's horse.
The first two wolves sink their fangs into Matsumoto's horse, doing 8 points of damage. Enard's horse and the spare horse deftly avoid the gaping jaws of the two wolves attacking them. Flavia's horse dodges one of the two wolves but moves right into the incisors of the 5th wolf suffering 3 points of damage.
"Doom! Easy!" Flavia yells, sawing on the reins to control her mount and blessing the time she spent bonding with the beast before they departed.
Initiative Order
Flavia
Savendir
Mason
Matsumoto (unable to act this round, controlling horse)
Wolves
Urzur
Enard
End of Round 1
Go ahead and post your actions.
Unwilling to trust the goodwill of her mount in the face of two wolves, Flavia rolls nimbly out of the saddle to harry the attackers.
"Move, Doom! Urzur! Give us a hand, huh?"
Flavia's rapier finds its mark opening up a small wound on the wolf's shoulder. The wolf yelps in pain but, driven by hunger, renews its attack.
Savendir
Mason
Matsumoto (posted)
Wolves
Urzur
Enard
End round 1
Flavia
Savendir dismounts and creates a flash of light in front of one of the nearby wolves.
Savendir casts his flare spell on the 1st wolf attacking Matsumoto but the wolf easily resists the spell and continues its attack.
Mason
Matsumoto (posted)
Wolves
Urzur
Enard
End round 1
Flavia
Savendir
The monotonous ride through the countryside had set Enard to doze in his saddle – so he is caught completely be surprise when the wolf pack charges out of the long grass to attack the horses.
Enard shakes himself awake as his horse steps away from the wolf’s hungry jaws – luckily his own horse, Swift is combat trained and does not buck or dash.
He drops the reigns and the rope attached to the spare horse’s halter, and grips Swift’s flanks with his knees. Wheeling the horse around, he urges it to attack the wolf, and the horse brings its hooves down at the wolf’s head. Meanwhile, Enard reaches across his shoulder and draws his bastard sword from its sheath. The jet black blade slides forth with a metallic ~shing~.
The warrior mage twirls the sword in his hand, changes his grip, then thrusts the blade down, aiming to drive the point through the wolf’s neck.
Behind Enard, the other horse rears and whinnies, its eyes wide, flecks of foam spraying from its mouth as it tries to escape its attacker.
Mason
Matsumoto (posted)
Wolves
Urzur
Enard (posted)
End round 1
Flavia
Savendir
Urzur will be dismounting his horse, dropping the potion he was carrying to the ground, and moving over towards W3. "I'm coming. Hold on a sec, will ya? Stay, Horse."
<Shoots crossbow bolt at W5>
"Strange that wolves would be attacking a group like this."
Mason's bolt misses the attacking wolf. Matsumoto manages to gain control of his horse as the wolves continue to bite at it.
Wolf 1 bites again at Matsumoto's horse and opens another wound on the poor animal (2 points of damage, 5 total), while Wolf 2 misses the frightened horse with another lunge.
Wolf 3 tries another bite at Enard's horse, but the battle trained horse easily avoids the gaping jaws of the wolf. Unfortunately, the spare horse still led by Enard is not so lucky. Wolf 4 leaps up and manages to bite viciously into the horses neck leaving a large tear that just misses the horse's major arteries (10 points of damage, 10 total)
As Blazing Doom bolts away, the two wolves close in on Flavia but she is able to avoid both of their bites.
Urzur moves in behind Wolf 6 trying come to Flavia's aid.
Finally, Enard's horse attacks Wolf 3 with its hooves landing a solid blow on the wolf with its first kick while Enard smoothly pulls out his bastard sword and brings it down onto the back the attacking wolf stopping it in its tracks. Free from Enard's grasp, the spare horse bolts free from the attacking wolves still bleeding from the large wound in its neck.
Flavia
Savendir
Mason
Matsumoto
Wolves
Urzur
Enard
End of Round 2
"I knew you'd come in handy, Urzur," Flavia pants, dodging snapping jaws and trying to skewer the flanked wolf.
"Is that strange?" she responds to Maxon. "It's what people do."
"From what I've seen, wolves have a little more self-preservation."
“Seems odd,” agrees Enard from the other end of the battlefield, pulling the tip of his black blade from the dead wolf’s neck and spinning the large sword around in his hand into a forward facing grip, sending flecks of wolf's blood flying through the air. “Must be hungry.”
Flavia thrusts with her rapier but the wolf just narrowly avoids the sharp point. Mason's second bolt finds its mark this time, impaling itself into the side of Wolf 5.
Savendir
Mason (posted)
Matsumoto
Wolves
Urzur
Enard
End of Round 2
Flavia
Savendir focuses on the primal energy of the land, summoning into his hand a flickering flame before hurling it at one of the wolves.
Savendir's flame bursts upon wolf 5 and the poor beast yelps in pain before falling into a smoldering lump. Savendir can tell that the wolves look severely malnourished. This may explain why they are so bold in their attack.
Matsumoto
Wolves
Urzur
Enard
End of Round 2
Flavia
Savendir
Mason
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His horse moderately under control for the moment, Rokuro grips the reins in his left hand and slides his Hanbo from its holder in the small of his back. Bringing it around, he swings it down towards the closest wolf, trying to discourage it from taking chunks out of his horse. Unfortunately, his unfamiliarity with fighting from horseback works against him and the strike is too high to connect.
Driven by hunger, the wolves continue their attack. Wolves 1 and 2 continue to snap at Matsumoto's horse. Meanwhile, wolf 4 takes off in chase of the now free spare horse, sensing it is near death. Finally, surrounded by Flavia and Urzur, Wolf 6 snaps back after Flavia's attack with her rapier.
The two wolves attacking Matsumoto's horse successfully disable it and it falls . Meanwhile, the wolf attacking Flavia, once again misses barely.
Urzur
Enard
End of Round 2
Flavia
Savendir
Mason
Matsumoto
Wolves
Enard’s blade seems to sing as he leans low and sideways in the saddle to slash at the wolf as it races past.
After swinging at the attacking wolf, Enard calls “Hah!” and urges Swift forward in a short charge at one of the wolves harrying Rokuro. As he does so, he waves his free hand lazily in the direction of the wolf that just ran past, and two black darts of force streak unerringly towards it.
Urzur clears his throat from his position behind it. "As if. I never don't come in handy."
Clenching his hands tighter around his sword, he lifts it and proceeds to try to cleave the wolf between him and Flavia in two, letting loose a roar as he does. Defense be cursed, he would feast on wolf tonight.
Enard's sword cuts open a gash in the side of the wolf as it runs past.
Urzur's face darkens as his blood begins to boil. He takes a mighty swing at the wolf attacking Flavia and nearly severs the wolf's head from its torso. The wolf falls and stops moving, still panting, as its life begins to drain away. Without heed, Urzur moves down the path and deftly slips into the weeds to attack the other wolf menacing Matsumoto.
The two magic missiles land squarely on the streaking wolf chasing after the spare horse. It cries out in pain but continues on toward its intended dinner. Swift moves quickly toward one of the wolves attacking Matsumoto's horse and lands a devastating blow on the wolf's back.
Flavia
Savendir
Mason
Matsumoto
Wolves (1, 2, and 4 are still up)
Urzur
Enard
End of Round 3
"Shouldn'ta made him mad," Flavia remarks to the wolf's corpse, then leaps over it and dashes after Blazing Doom, pausing only to mumble a few words and weave the fingers of her off hand in a complex pattern. A blazing blue-white light arcs toward the wolf chasing the runaway horses.
"Ugh, I'd forgotten about the spatter."
"Poor horse doesn't deserve to be hurt like this."
Mason leaps off his horse and moves next to Matsumoto's horse. He reaches the horse in time to get a quick cure light wounds off, healing the horse for points.
Flavia's ray of frost finds its mark and disables the wolf preparing to sink its jaws into Enard's spare horse. Mason's spell does the trick as the horse is revived.
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Thinking his horse about to collapse, Rokuro prepares to jump off, but is relieved when Mason's healing touch manages to stabilise the beast. He swings down once more with his Hanbo, concentrating on trying to take out the wolves, thankful that the others have moved in to help after dispatching their own foes.