"Well it should be an easy enough target to hit. They really are going all out aren't they..."
Nodding in acknowledgement of the message's receipt Thorek turns on his heel and marches along the wall towards the gate. "Archers--focus on the infantry and keep an eye out for incoming fire! Leave the giant to us!"
Upon reaching the gate, he pauses to survey the situation and assess the threat with his own eyes.
"Just like the troll in the dragon's lair," Esperanza muses to Thorek
You arrive upon the ramparts along the south gate to see the huge brute emerging from beneath something that looks like a barn on wheels. The large wooden contraption has thus far shielded the foe from the defender's arrows and stones, but now that he is only about fifty yards from the gate, he steps out to assault the entrance.
Now you can see the brute's bizarre form for yourself.
"Well that's strange"
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"Probably best to not charge in and let him come to us..."
Lily draws the first blood against the would-be gatecrasher. Although her first arrow embeds in the brute's thick hide without inflicting appreciable damage, her second arrow sinks deeper and cuts through bits of his knotted muscles.
As the giant lumbers towards the wall, Thorek invokes a battle-prayer and raises his bow to test the brute's mettle.
Esperanza takes the opportunity to apply one of Daria's ironskin poultices, then readies herself to jump into the fray (literally, if necessary).
As the giant lumbers towards the wall, Thorek invokes a battle-prayer and raises his bow to test the brute's mettle.
[dice=Attack 1]1d20+10+4+1 [dice=Damage]1d8+3+4
[dice=Attack 2]1d20+5+4+1 [dice=Damage]1d8+3+4
Thorek traces Lily's aim and looses two arrows. His first arrow lands true, and the draw strength of his bow ensures that the missile sinks even deeper into the brute's thick hide.
The three-armed brute shuffles forward, dragging a bulging sack filled with large rocks. He reaches in with his full-sized arms, hefts up one of the rocks, and hurls it towards your parapet.
The rock falls short and slams into the wall below Esperanza's position upon the parapet.
When it looks like the brute is not charging at the gate but instead throwing rocks, Daria decides to try and throw off his aim. She casts Burst of Radiance on him, trying to blind (or at least dazzle) him.
Daria's spell burns the wicked giant. Although the foe's sight remains, his aim is temporarily thrown off by the dazzling light.
"We're just going to keep on lobbing things at one another aren't we...
Lily sinks another arrow into the brute's beefy, rock-throwing arm.
"Lily's right, I'm a mediocre shot--Esperanza and I should be closing with it! Daria, can you wind-walk us?"
”I can do that for you both, just once this night, though. Who else would like the benefit of the spell?” Daria asks.
"I mean its probably just prudent if I continue attacking back here but you go ahead."
"Let's be quick about it," Esperanza says, ready to charge the monster.
The overly armed brute continues to pull rocks from his sack and hurl them towards your position on the parapet. One of them careens towards Thorek.
As Daria finishes her spell Thorek beats his gauntleted fist against his breastplate and lets out a fierce bellow before leaping towards the giant, heavy boots buoyed by the air as he rushes towards his quarry.
Lily continues firing out arrows at the giant. "This is like hitting the broad side of a barn," she chuckles to herself a bit.
Lily sinks more arrows into the brute, turning his hide into quite the pincushion.
Esperanza and Thorek, expedited by Daria's magic, rush out to meet the enemy.
The giant lumbers forward, drawing a large mace as he approaches. He swings the heavy weapon at Thorek, while his clawed third arm quickly lashes out at Esperanza.
Daria remains behind cover and conjures a flaming sphere behind the strange creature. He then slams the flame into the back of the giant as her Allie’s approach from the front.
Ratcheting up his assessment of a three-armed giant a notch or two as it smacks him with its club, Thorek invokes a prayer of defense and closes in to pincer the brute between himself and Esperanza.
Esperanza jukes left, making to follow Thorek, but reverses and moves around to help the dwarf flank their enormous foe.
The giant lifts up one of his thick legs and steps over Daria's flaming sphere as it rolls towards him.
He swings his heavy mace for Esperanza as she moves into position to distract him with her feinting glaive, even if briefly. This provides an opening for Thorek to deliver his own opening swing with his dorn-dergar.
Lily continues sending out a barrage of of arrows towards the giant.
As one of Lily's arrows sinks into his shoulder, the three-armed brute howls something in Giant into the war-torn night. Even without being fluent in the language, you're fairly certain he's promising to rip off and eat various body parts.
He aims his heavy mace at Esperanza, but she manages to parry both of his powerful swings, inflicting a cutting riposte between them.
However, he recklessly lunges and bites at her with his foul, dripping tusks. Meanwhile, his third arm snaps quickly backwards to swipe at Thorek.
Daria uses a move action to slam the Flaming Sphere into the giant once more, then asks another Burst of Radiance at its head, hoping to burn and or blind it!
rounds
Grunting in pain and surprise and the giant rakes him with its claw, the dwarf sets his jaw and starts in on the grim work of death.
The giant moves too slowly this time, and he is caught by both of Daria's spells, and he is burned by both fire and radiance.
Thorek's first swing impacts mightily against the giant's thick shin, although his second swing misses as the brute rears back in pain.
Driven into a near frenzy by the pain and Thorek's spell both, Esperanza tears into the giant with her glaive, slashing at him repeatedly.
Esperanza's onslaught leaves the giant tottering, his profusely bleeding injuries leaving him on the Boneyard's doorstep.
Lily looses one last arrow that sinks into one of his eyes, and this is the final wound that brings him crashing down upon the battlefield.
Lily tries to calm down the ensuing panic by providing calming words but before she can say anything she feels her chest tighten and her breathing become shallow.
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As the giant falls Thorek lets out a victorious shout before sprinting back to the safety of the town walls. What he finds concerns but does not surprise him--he has seen firsthand the viciousness and terror sown by the Ironfang Legion, and these people were not people soldiers but volunteer militia with a handful of days' training. They had shown great courage, but the horrors of war were corrosive even to the well-trained. Thorek leaps to the top of the gatehouse where he can be clearly seen.
"People of Longshadow! The enemy is at your gates, and they are a fearsome foe full of malice and cruelty. But you are equal to the task! If you would save your kith and kin, and youselves: HOLD YOUR GROUND! You have drilled, you have trained, let discipline be your shield and courage your sword! LONGSHADOW STANDS!"
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Daria rolls the flaming sphere around on the remains of the giant creature. Awed by Thorek’s stirring speech, she chants in response, ”Longshadow, Longshadow, Longshadow!”
Thorek suddenly seems the tallest, most formidable dwarf to ever emerge from Kraggodan. His commanding rhetoric quickly rallies the defenders of Longshadow, who remember their training - however brief it may have been - and return to their positions.
Lily's own leadership, although perhaps overshadowed by Thorek's dramatic appeal, bears fruit nonetheless.
A few minutes layer, some of the civilian volunteers that Lily inspires quickly return to her, panting and out of breath. Once they can get the words out, they report that they've spotted a company of Legion troops launching boats from the far banks of the Marideth River. From the looks of things, they're staging an assault to claim a proverbial beachhead upon the docks.
"No rest for the wicked nor the righteous alike," Thorek murmurs as he overhears the report. "You lot hold here, catch your breath and keep an eye on things. We'll see to this riverbound force ourselves. You there, girl," he points to one of the youths of Longshadow appointed as messengers and lookouts. "Get word to Gaius, that new staff of his may come in handy--if they're crossing in boats they'll be vulnerable to spellcraft and archers."
You arrive in time to watch the first Ironfang landing boats lowering their gangplanks, disgorging a phalanx of heavy infantry upon the main stone pier.
"Well I'll continue firing at them. There's so many..."
The Ironfang phalanx begins marching down the stone pier, then raise their shields in a tortoise formation as they draw closer to the dockside street.
Fighting a war in her own mind against the Undari-who-was and the Daria-who-is, the druidess casts a spell from cover, sending divine fire down in a 20 foot wide column into the midst of the closely-formed legion ranks.