Leveling her crossbow, Lilandra fires at one of the lumps, then dismounts, dropping the crossbow to ready her axe. Her free hand resting against the warhorse and Sunny's leg steadying the beast for the less experienced rider.
Khaod Initiative: But but...I like my Initiative Score...:P Yeah I'm ok with that :) It really speeds things up
Magnus will roar out a a challenge alerting everyone if they havent already spotted the foes and then will direct his horse up the dunes.
Standard action move to blocks N,O 11, 12
Khaod watches Magnus charge out ahead of the others, and, remembering how bad it is to be surrounded and out of range for others to help, he hefts his hammer and goads his horse forwards with a small but insistent kick, roaring out a similar but much deeper bellow of a challenge.
EDIT: Move to Squares H and I 6
Sunny rolls out of the saddle,
And adds her aim to Lilandra's own.
Sunny rolls out of the saddle,
And adds her aim to Lilandra's own.
The bolt slams into the top of the arachnid looking creature, badly wounding it.
You now see clearly what you are up against as the creature rises:
Solfugid:
"Solifugids are sometimes called “camel spiders,” “wind
scorpions,” or “sun spiders,” despite the fact that they are
neither spiders nor scorpions but rather their own unique
species. They have large pedipalps near their heads, used to
grab and hold prey while they feed with their twin sets of
vertically aligned mandibles. When hunting in groups, they
prefer to attack targets already grappled by other solifugids.
The various species of enormous solifugids generally have
eight legs, although the front two appendages are large
enough that they can easily be mistaken for an additional
pair of legs. Some species, like the albino cave solifugid,
have fewer legs, but all solifugids are aggressive vermin."
Gorchag tosses a bomb their way:
It misses
Landing directly in front of the burrowed creature, dealing 3 damage.
Alright Magnus,
You are up. These are bugs, not evil creatures, but aggressive and territorial nonetheless.
Magnus unsheathes his sword at the top of the dune and levels it at his first target. "Thou picked a foul day to ambush mine party of compatriots retched bug. Have at THEE!" With that he girds his horse over to the enemy and swings his sword mightily down at his small target.
Sword two handed attack mounted versus small
If hit
Your sword connects, slicing the creature open across its back as it leaps to attack.
Gorchag hucks another bomb at the Solifugids to the left of the road.
The bomb explodes, melting bits of the bugs carapace.
Right after,
The solifugid Magnus is attacking leaps up to try and hit him, flailing with its claws.
Confirmation:
Ok, NO confirmations. PHEW.
The creature manages an incredible leap, and in a moment of horror, latches onto Magnus's face, clawing and rending the flesh around the base of his helmet.
Rend
Total= 15
Stupid, stupid, stupid. *facedesk*.
Oh! I wrote that really late. I must have written the formula wrong. Thank you for the correction! I knew something must have happened!
Khoad, you are up.
Magnus. My mistake. Log no damage.
PHEW!!! Stupid spider cant touch me lol
Ok Khaod is up.
Khaod growls and snarls under his breath as the giant spider-thing comes within range of his hammer and he takes a mighty swing at the creature with all of his might but not employing the formidable power of his rage.
Attack: Power Attack:
Damage: Earthbreaker, Power Attack:
Yea it is well and truly crushed. Your hammer goes straight through it. There is goop EVERYwhere.
One of the solifugids now charges Khaod, leaping onto his back.
Khaod just flexes. That's it. The spider bounces to the ground, perplexed.
Sunny you are up.
"Hmmm...I wunder if'n they taste like lobster..." Sunny muses quietly...
A crossbow bolt slams into the spider threatening Magnus, killing it instantly.
Another spider charges Khaod.
It too bounces off his thick armor.
Lilandra you are up! (finally) :)
Lilandra explodes into action, axe tracing an elegant and deadly arc as she charges the bug attacking Khaod, planting the blade deep in the creature's body.
The blade lands in its back with a satisfying thud, cracking it open and killing it instantly.
And we're back to the top with Magnus. Lets see some shine buddy!
Sword
If hit
"Foul fiends have met my friends and battle compatriots! Take thee and go unto hell!" Magnus yells out as he maneuvers his horse down the slope to get at the last remaining spider.
Crushed. Your sword slices it in two as it makes a final swipe at you.
Alright party. Onto the Salt Fortress! I have to pick a new party member or two now!
Sunny stands up slowly, dusting the sand from her britches and limping slowly towards whose eve horse she was riding on.
"Owww...I never get used t' how hard it t'is..." Looking at the sand over which she's trudging with a frown. Though this is quickly replaced as she wanders over and inspects the big bugs. Poking at one experimentally she tries to gauge its make up.
"Sooo, I wun'er whut th' best ways t' cook one'a these up woould be..." She muses.
Aww yea! I love Rangers.
Your survival check tells you that these spiders aren't terribly delicious. They are not, contrary to popular belief, poisonous. Their claws are quite sharp, made out of the same chitinous material as the exoskeleton. These particular solifugids use different types of sand to sharpen them to a razor's edge, evidenced by the carefully collected piles of sand near by. Coarser sands are used first, then finer and finer sands to hone the point.
Your check also tells you this is all there is to this brood. Solifugids usually travel in groups of 4-6.
Perception tells you that this is a recent ambush and that nobody has passed by here for a number of days.
Any other business? Or shall we move on?
Wrinkling her nose a little Sunny sighs,
"Seems a pity somat so big dun't have much meat on its...um..." *poke, poke* "...self...." She shrugs and skips over to where ever the horses are waiting.
"Okeys! Lets ride!" She says enthusiastically. Though, for just a moment, there is a slight wince as her posterior again graces the saddle.
Haha I hear ya. These guys are mostly gristle. After ten minutes of work you can add 2lbs of Solifugid gristle to your sheet.
With the Solifugid 'gristle' carefully wrapped and packed in her traveling gear Sunny wriggles about on the saddle,
"So? Whut's folk be hopin' we's findin' up a head?" She asks..."An', maybe I c'n make that critter int'a soup...?" She muses quietly.
Gorchag perks up a little. "Soup? That sounds nice." He seems tired.
By the way,
The party is about to cross into a vast salt flat before they hit the fortress. Its pretty impressive, salt on the ground almost five or six feet deep. Thousands of years of accumulation.
Lilandra can't quite hide the grin at Sunny's enthisiasm, or the groan of someone not used to being on horseback, as she mounts in front of the achy elf.
"Trust me it'll all make the eventual soothing bath that much better.....whenever we actually come across water that is."she sighs somewhat humorously.
At Lilandra's words,
Sunny groans/sighs and leans boneless-ly against the other woman...
"Ooooh...t' be soakin' in'a water...or a tub...or a bucket.....even a cuup..." She moans with feeling, the rest of her comments drifting off into a mumbled sound as she shifts and rests her face against the other woman's back....Eventually shifting again to look ahead,lifting a hand to shade her eyes.
"Here, th' way ahead be lookin' even brighter'n me." She warns of the sun glaring off the white scenery before them, her voice dropping a little with possible feelings of trepidation about the route ahead. .
Khaod had tied a strip of cloth about his head to protect his eyes from the sun glaring off the snow-white salt, and he looks about, pacing his horse right in front of the two women and he chuckles deeply at Sunny's words before throwing back a mostly joking but slightly curious question. "How would one soak in a cup?"
Khaod keeps his hammer strapped to his saddlebags, the thing was very heavy and keeping it across his back forced him to always remain straight backed unless he wanted to be bowed like an old man. He also keeps his eyes on Gorchag, unable to figure out the man. He threw strange bottles that exploded like a mage's fireball but wore armor and carried a blade like a warrior. The half-orc trusted the man to not betray them but he had never met one like him before.
Magnus rises from his prayers and then cleans his sword swiftly before mounting his loaned horse whispering encouragement to it and praising it, he had grown quite fond of the noble steed.
"Mine friends thou should be prepared for this venture across this harsh place. Thou should take after mighty Khaod, tie strips of wet cloth upon thine brows. Shall keep thou cool at least for a while."
After a long ride, there it is. The Salt Fortress. A mighty brick citadel that glistens white in the late afternoon sun. Other more exotic colors are bricked into the walls to adorn it, gentle hues of red and orange form patterns and mosiacs on the walls. Runes line the archways to a mighty pair of doors. Here and there, platforms rise from the walls to house mighty siege engines and other defensive structures.
Relevant Images:
Guards stand atop the walls and patrols of Dragoons roam the landscape surrounding it. The fortress is buzzing with activity.
Behind the fortress, significant amounts of smoke rise, just out of view. Beyond that you can barely make out the glimmering Inner Sea.
To all that are interested, Khoad rattles off the tactical features of the fortress and will answer questions to any that ask.
To the northwest, you can see a storm gathering, but it is far off yet
As you enter the fortress, another cloaked member of the First Legion stares at you with glowing eyes, motioning the guards to let you pass.
Gorchag addresses the party,
"I need to see my superiors immediately about what has transpired on our journey. Feel free to spend some time recovering. One of the guards on the way in instructed me that no one is to leave the fort without explicit orders from the Marshal. However, you are warmly received I assure you and we should have any services you require, be they smithing, mercantile, victual, or otherwise. Take tomorrow to rest and conduct your business and I will meet you at the First's house the next morning. I am glad we made it."
Lilandra dismonts the mightly warhorse, reaching up to help Sunny down, the aquatic elf moving gingerly from a mixture of soreness and dehydration.
Handing the reigns of the stallion to one of the legion hands who appears reaching for them she looks around at the fortress, taking in the warm beauty of the salt bricks and saltstone walls.
"How likely do you think it is that they have a bath chamber in a place like this?" she asks with a grin,"It seems we have a day to recoover and recharge, and I plan to enjoy every second of it."
a distant alarm cry, comimg from the havens, quickly approaches
watch out! incomiiing
A nearby cart full of fruits and vegetables explodes in a mayhem of flying watermelon and tomato pieces.
When the air clears again a couple of skinny legs, wrapped in colorful garments are visible emerging from the once prime earth fruits. Moving like spider legs they clumsy start to draw a mumbling body behind them.
If you are injured as you touch the swinging dazed you get a healthy sensation running through you body and you find yourself restored
Cure light wounds
What seems you a colorful skinny buffoon, even more rainbowish after the fruit juice soak, stands in front of you, apparently unaware of the surroundings.
He starts to licks his lips, then, realizing there is juice on his right hand, he sucks his fingers.
-Hmmmmmm, Sweet!-
Then, pointing his attention at his other side, he rises the bouquet of colorful feathers in his left hand in front of his face.
Frowning in concentration he examines the plumage, following it down to where the original owner should have been... Few seconds go by before he seems to realize the missing part is actually... missing. Then he shrugs his shoulders -Almost...- and leaves the feather fall.
Finally, after an eternity of time for well paced brains, he seems to come back to reality and realize there is a speechless crowd around him.
-Oh... Hello!
Lilandra dismonts the mightly warhorse, reaching up to help Sunny down, the aquatic elf moving gingerly from a mixture of soreness and dehydration.
Handing the reigns of the stallion to one of the legion hands who appears reaching for them she looks around at the fortress, taking in the warm beauty of the salt bricks and saltstone walls.
"How likely do you think it is that they have a bath chamber in a place like this?" she asks with a grin,"It seems we have a day to recoover and recharge, and I plan to enjoy every second of it."
The fortress's garden quarter features an elegant bathing pool fed from an underground aquifer. :)
What else would be people like to do?
The fortress's garden quarter features an elegant bathing pool fed from an underground aquifer. :)
What else would be people like to do?
The fortress's garden quarter features an elegant bathing pool fed from an underground aquifer. :)
What else would be people like to do?
Big fort guys. A true citadel.
There are barracks, a stable, officers quarters, a merchant square, the gardens, siege works, dry dock for the launching canal, a library, training circles for casters and martial warriors, a quartermaster's armory, blacksmiths, a cemetery, archery range, civilian quarters, the keep, and a couple of different vaults.