Barek nods in thanks at the healing. "You think this is the last of them or do you think we'll have more of this particular 'family' to contend with before long? The sisters were annoying enough, I don't feel like a chat with their mommy."
When the demon is slain by Kenan's arrows, Liette is dropped to the ground like so much dead weight. She crumples to her knees, letting out a whine of pain, the spear the demon had impaled her with still wedged in her shoulder. Setting down one of her revolvers, she wedges the spear out of her shoulder with a strained scream through clenched jaws, then casts it aside near Viorel's feet in a clatter.
At first reaching for her wand, it is the pulse of positive energy from Abigail that begins to wash away the injury on her shoulder. The pain fades first, then the open wound with the second burst. Breathing a sigh of relief, Liette shakily grabs her revolver out of the dirt and holsters it.
"Are we there yet?" Liette whispers to the ground.
09/06/4712 10:22
The group basks in Abigail's healing energy. The morning has already been an extremely long one. It started with the ambush by the Eye of the Prophet and his men. Nathaniel putting the eye in his head set off a chain reaction that ended in three more encounters with demons in the last three hours, and Nathaniel himself dead. Liette is cracking under the pressure, her upbeat mood has been replaced with implacable rage since the death of Nathaniel.
Kenan, Liette, Viorel and Abigail can see the sinuous yellow forms of the drakes still circling high above them. It's unlikely that the situation is going to change as long as the demonic dragons have their eyes on the crusaders. Wanting to make the best time possible away from the giant's territory and back to Kenabres, the group doesn't delay any more than necessary in setting out.
They cut southeast across the dunes, following the river bed until it veers off sharply to the east and off their path. They move back onto the baked sandy soil, weaving around the weird and varied rock formations of the fiendish desert. They continue this way for a couple of hours, catching occasional glimpses of the drakes overhead.
09/06/4712 12:15
It is around this time that everyone begins to feel dizzy. Sweat pops out in thick drops down their faces despite their protection from the heat. Before long, it's clear that whatever those fleshy horsemen sprayed them with yesterday has made them sick. Their skin all takes on a pallid tone under the droplets of sweat as shivers spread through their frames.
Kenan is the first to spot them. Exploding out of the ground and flying in on their position fast are seven of the demonic desert drakes. Kenan sounds the alarm and the group sprints into the only nearby cover --a boulder strewn depression in the sand. They have mere seconds before the evil dragons fall upon them.
_____________________________________________________________
Crissor:
Sigmund:
Kenan:
Barek
Liette
Viorel
Abigail
Sacha
Crissor:
Sigmund:
Kenan:
Barek
Liette
Viorel
Abigail
Sacha
Round 1
Aura of Heroism 0/8
Aura of Menace 4/8
Channel Energy 0/8
Touch of Glory 8/8
Touch of Good 6/8
Spells. CL 9. DC 15/16/17/18. Conc +13. * = cast.
0th: create water, detect magic, light, stabilize.
1st: (6+1) D-divine favor, ****endure elements x4, **weapons against evil x2
2nd: (4+1) D-bless weapon, *consecrate, *shield other, spear of purity, weapon of awe.
3rd: (4+1) D-*prayer, daylight, *dispel magic, *stone shape, *summon monster III
4th: (3+1) D-*holy smite, *dimensional anchor, *divine power, *restoration
"Iomedae shelter us. Help us drive off our demonic pursuers."
Sigmund bring his holy symbol up, but there is a worrisome lack of conviction in his request. His voice catches in his throat, and he coughs wetly.
He wipes his stinging eyes and peers at the distant drakes.
"The .." <coughing spasm> ".. the drakes have demonic resistances. They cannot be hurt by cold, acid, or electricity. They do not sleep, and cannot be paralyzed or poisoned." <deep breath> "Fire can hurt them, but not as much as you would hope. They are also fast, and move in unexpected ways. Keep... keep your guard up. I will help as I can. We should also spread out. If anyone can protect us from the lightning they breathe, please do so."
Out of breath from his speech, Sigmund casts a spell on Kenan's bow, and grimly states, "Destroy them."
Viorel starts imidietly casting haste to make everyone faster." Concentrate fire and make your arrows counts we can't take all 7 if they get into striking distance!" The mage shouts conitnuing by adding to Sigmund. How many can we kill before they are on us 2 or 3, four at the most and then we would need to get lucky, even two of them is not guaranteed, but we can't really retreat either. Well let's make a stand here and hope that it will be their bodies laying on the ground once this is over.
Kenan looks for some cover and runs to the great cactus
Then he sends one arrow towards the foremost drake.
Red arrow is the direction the drakes are coming from. They are flying in a V like geese/ducks with 20 feet between their wing tips. They are 10 feet off the ground and 290 feet away.
Round 1
Barek stands his ground and fires off three arrows at the approaching drakes.
Round 2
Barek fires off another arrow, now that the drakes are closer and then moves off into cover.
HP: 116/140
AC: 23 (T: 16) vs. outsiders/abberations---26 (T: 19) to confirm critical hit
20 (T: 13) vs. others
DR: 4/-
Fort +15, Ref +10, Will +6 vs. outsiders/abberations (+12/+6/+3 otherwise)
Movement: 70 ft/x4
Cannot be knocked prone
Hero Points: 0/3
Rage: active (7 of 23 used)
Attacks considered good/chaotic/lawful/evil for DR purposes
Haste
Kenan now stands firm protected by the cactus and fires 5 arrows against the wounded drake, hitting him 3 times.
Viorel calls deep within his reserves an unleashes two balls of fire between two of the drakes engulfing them into inferno for a brief moment. The mage breathes heavy feeling his arcane power dwindling. He lifts his gaze to see if he managed do make a difference.
It's more than just fatigue that has Liette sweating and she knows it, she can feel something is dreadfully wrong with her. Extremities ache, her chest is tight, breathing is difficult and she is hallucinating a flock of incoming dr--
Oh god, the others see them too.
As the group begins to split up and run for cover, something in Liette completely snaps. Perhaps its a delirium brought on by the fever, perhaps its Nathaniel's death still weighing incredibly heavily on her conscience, perhaps she's just had enough. Whatever the cause and whatever the case, she doesn't run. She doesn't turn away or even so much as move for cover.
A strong, hot wind blows across the desert and sweat rolls down in sticky beads across the gunslinger's brow. The wind catches the long tail of her jacket as she pushes it aside to reveal her holsters. Boots scuff across the dry lakebed surface as Liette's stance widens, and she stares down the growing silhouettes of the drakes with adrenaline pounding through her veins.
Both of the gunslinger's hands move to the holsters at her hips. "Inheritor," Liette whispers, "I've seen a lot, done a lot, fought a lot in yer name. I've watched friends die, I've spilled my blood an' the blood'f others here'n this Gods-forsaken hell hole because it's the right thing t'do..."
Liette can now clearly see the dust cloud kicked up by the drakes as they close in, swooping just ten feet off the ground, arcs of electricity sparking from ground to their bodies as their wings kick up more sand. "I ain't askin' for favors," her focus trains in on the lead drake in their wedge formation, fingers twitching as they hover over her holstered revolvers.
"All'm gonna' say is," Liette breathes in deeply, her brow furrows, "I hope yer watchin'."
In an instant the drakes cross Liette's visible threshold of distance and the gunslinger moves with a lightning-quick speed, drawing both of her guns in the same moment. Sunlight shines off of Justice and Valor's polished chassis. As Justice is brought level with her shoulder, Liette squeezes the trigger and there's a loud report of gunfire. She can't see if it hit, but her intuition tells her it was off. The drake looks over its shoulder briefly, then back to its approaching meal.
Liette raises Valor in what feels like slow motion, the second squeeze of the trigger elicits another blaring flash of muzzle-fire. This time she can see the drake jerk back, wings falter and it dips down closer to the ground. The corner of her mouth starts to come up. Justice is fired again, a loud bang echoing in her ear, chamber cycling to load another round and the drake bobs again.
The second shot from Valor whips just under a wing, but it leads it into Justice's next round, punching through scales, flesh and bone with an audible roar of pain.
The drakes are nearly on top of her now.
Liette lets out a scream again, one of defiance and one of rage. Valor's next round blasts square into the drake's jaw, sending shards of blood and bone fragmenting off. When she pulls the trigger on Justice, the gun ruptures in a misfire, creating a cloud of black smoke around the cylinder and a shower of sparks out the gas vent. Liette flinches, but keeps firing. Valor again strikes true, and the dragon nearly nose-dives straight into the ground as a bullet blasts off one of its horns.
At this, Liette is inching forward, a small step with each gunshot that she doesn't even realize she's taking. Two more gunshots are fired off, bone, flesh and muscle are rendered into a fine mist by the high-caliber rounds. She shoots faster and with more precision than she ever has in her whole life, the entire time recalling what these things did to Nathaniel.
Are you watching?
___________
Justice: 1/6
Valor: 0/6
Sigmund moves to Kenan and uses Touch of Good.
Round 1
Crissor catches up with the group after the demon fight but is to embarrassed to really say anything about his 'flight' when he sees the drakes incoming he huffs because he is feels he can no longer draw the power to smite his foes and has exhausted his divine bond with his weapon. He quietly calls up on a spell "Erastil see to it my friends and allies are well protected by your graces."
Round 2
Seeing the cleric wheezing and coughing he moves to him and lays his hand on Sigmund. "Be at ease friend, should of told me you were under the weather." He grins with one nervous eye on the drakes incoming and the other on Sigmund, focusing his healing energies to take some of the cleric's burdens away.
"Iomedae shelter us. Help us drive off our demonic pursuers," Sigmund says bringing his holy symbol up, but there is a worrisome lack of conviction in his request. His voice catches in his throat, and he coughs wetly. He wipes his stinging eyes and peers at the distant drakes. "The .." <coughing spasm> ".. the drakes have demonic resistances. They cannot be hurt by cold, acid, or electricity. They do not sleep, and cannot be paralyzed or poisoned." <deep breath> "Fire can hurt them, but not as much as you would hope. They are also fast, and move in unexpected ways. Keep... keep your guard up. I will help as I can. We should also spread out. If anyone can protect us from the lightning they breathe, please do so." Out of breath from his speech, Sigmund casts a spell on Kenan's bow, and grimly states, "Destroy them."
Viorel starts immediately casting haste to make everyone faster. "Concentrate your fire and make your arrows count, we can't take all seven if they get into striking distance!" The mage shouts. How many can we kill before they are on us? Two or three? Four at the most and then we need to get lucky, even two of them is not guaranteed, but we can't really retreat either. Well let's make a stand here and hope that it will be their bodies laying on the ground once this is over.
When Crissor sees the drakes incoming he huffs because he is feels he can no longer draw the power to smite his foes and has exhausted his divine bond with his weapon. He quietly calls up on a spell "Erastil see to it my friends and allies are well protected by your graces." He touches each of his companions before they can scatter.
Erastil save us! Seven!? So much madness... thinks Abigail before she snaps back to the here and now. "We need to split them then, and cut their maneuverability!! Seek shelter among the rocks. That might force them to land. We also can make sure they don't see us too well. If needed, I can conjure a cloud of smoke!" cries Abigail as she spurs Sacha to move towards the rock. In the defile, Abigail asks for Erastil for his blessing, enlarging Sacha.
Kenan looks for some cover and runs to the great cactus. Sigmund trails him, trying to keep up. Then Kenan sends one arrow towards the foremost drake. It pierces into the dragon, eliciting a shriek.
Barek stands his ground and fires off three arrows at the approaching drakes. One of them join's Kenan's missile in the chest of the lead drake.
It's more than just fatigue that has Liette sweating and she knows it, she can feel something is dreadfully wrong with her. Extremities ache, her chest is tight, breathing is difficult and she is hallucinating a flock of incoming dr-- Oh god, the others see them too.
As the group begins to split up and run for cover, something in Liette completely snaps. Perhaps its a delirium brought on by the fever, perhaps its Nathaniel's death still weighing incredibly heavily on her conscience, perhaps she's just had enough. Whatever the cause and whatever the case, she doesn't run. She doesn't turn away or even so much as move for cover. A strong, hot wind blows across the desert and sweat rolls down in sticky beads across the gunslinger's brow. The wind catches the long tail of her jacket as she pushes it aside to reveal her holsters. Boots scuff across the dry lakebed surface as Liette's stance widens, and she stares down the growing silhouettes of the drakes with adrenaline pounding through her veins. Both of the gunslinger's hands move to the holsters at her hips.
The drakes are growing larger in the crusaders' vision now, rapidly closing the distance. The sizzling of their statically charged bodies sparking off the sand sounds like the buzzing of a million angry bees.
"Inheritor," Liette whispers, "I've seen a lot, done a lot, fought a lot in yer name. I've watched friends die, I've spilled my blood an' the blood'f others here'n this Gods-forsaken hell hole because it's the right thing t'do..." Liette can now clearly see the dust cloud kicked up by the drakes as they close in, swooping just ten feet off the ground, arcs of electricity sparking from ground to their bodies as their wings kick up more sand. "I ain't askin' for favors," her focus trains in on the lead drake in their wedge formation, fingers twitching as they hover over her holstered revolvers. "All'm gonna' say is," Liette breathes in deeply, her brow furrows, "I hope yer watchin'."
In an instant the drakes cross Liette's visible threshold of distance and the gunslinger moves with a lightning-quick speed, drawing both of her guns in the same moment. Sunlight shines off of Justice and Valor's polished chassis. As Justice is brought level with her shoulder, Liette squeezes the trigger and there's a loud report of gunfire. She can't see if it hit, but her intuition tells her it was off. The drake looks over its shoulder briefly, then back to its approaching meal. Liette raises Valor in what feels like slow motion, the second squeeze of the trigger elicits another blaring flash of muzzle-fire. The corner of her mouth starts to come up. Justice is fired again, a loud bang echoing in her ear, chamber cycling to load another round. The second shot from Valor whips just under a wing, but it leads it into Justice's next round, also a miss.
Barek fires off another arrow, now that the drakes are closer, and then moves off into cover. It lands in the heavily wounded front drake.
Kenan now stands firm protected by the cactus and fires five more arrows against the wounded drake, hitting him three times.
Viorel calls deep within his reserves and unleashes two balls of fire between two of the drakes engulfing them into inferno for a brief moment. The mage breathes heavy feeling his arcane power dwindling. He lifts his gaze to see if he managed do make a difference. The drakes emerge from the fireballs streaming smoke and dripping blood and scales onto the sand. They are badly burned, but still functional.
Abigail frowns as she sees the seven drakes approaching, intent on destroying them. It's ok, I feel the same about them! she thinks as she recollects herself. Watching some of the others disperse to avoid the terrible breath of the drakes, she evaluates the situation.
Raising her mace and striking her breastplate with a mailed fist, she asks Erastil to grant Sacha more of his blessings, "See your work get done on this bloody day!!!" Abigail's size grows to match that of her mount, and her mace stands high while she keeps a hand on her cougar's mane, connecting to him. Sacha growls in readiness.
Sigmund moves behind Kenan and touches him, filling him with the power of good.
Seeing the cleric wheezing and coughing he moves to him and lays his hand on Sigmund. "Be at ease friend, should of told me you were under the weather." He grins with one nervous eye on the drakes incoming and the other on Sigmund, focusing his healing energies to take some of the cleric's burdens away.
The drakes continue to rocket forward, nearly closing on the group now. The Crusaders can clearly see their needle lined maws snapping open and shut. The dragons' shrieks are deafening at this close range. Combined with the crackling buzz of their electrically charge bodies, the shouts of the Crusaders and the loud reports of gunfire it seems the world is made of noise.
The drakes are nearly on top of her now. Liette lets out a scream again, one of defiance and one of rage. Valor's next round blasts square into the drake's jaw, sending shards of blood and bone fragmenting off. When she pulls the trigger on Justice, the gun ruptures in a misfire, creating a cloud of black smoke around the cylinder and a shower of sparks out the gas vent. Liette flinches, but keeps firing. Valor again strikes true, and the dragon nearly nose-dives straight into the ground as a bullet blasts off one of its horns.
At this, Liette is inching forward, a small step with each gunshot that she doesn't even realize she's taking. Two more gunshots are fired off, bone, flesh and muscle are rendered into a fine mist by the high-caliber rounds. She shoots faster and with more precision than she ever has in her whole life, the entire time recalling what these things did to Nathaniel. Are you watching? The drake crashes into the sand, dead, flipping tail over head before skidding to a halt a hundred feet from the depression.
_________________________________
Sigmund nods wearily in thanks at Crissor. He tucks his holy symbol away on his wrist, and draws out Beacon. He focuses through the stinging pain of the cough, and touches Keenan on the shoulder with the pommel. Once again, the blessings of Iomedae bolster his aim.
Crissor growls "It's just like shooting ducks for supper back home."
He then starts into his firing routine launching arrows skyward at the most wounded drake in the formation. And only one finds a soft spot on the drake's body.
Kenan fires another volley of arrows at the most wounded drake an hits him with 4 arrows.
Viorel takes off heading for cover, he wants at least something against his back so the Drakes can't at least gang up on him easily. Death is a real possibility, better make them pay dearly for my life. The thought passes trough his mind as he cast a protective illusion forming figments of himself around him so it would be harder to attack him.