Bree wasn't sure about this as a plan, but she wanted Lily to be able to move away. As long as she was captive, they could use her as leverage. Racing down the canyon, her blade bared, she cast a spell, not at the hobs, but at Lily.
Seeing Lily captured, Boudra's mouth compresses into a thin, hard line. Stepping up to the lip of the ravine, she raises her hands and her eyes go black. Dark shadows swirl around her, and the already dark area seems to grow even dimmer as she gathers power about her like a cloak.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Lily's feint fools the bugbear sergeant, but her dagger fails to pierce his thick armor. Bree's spell takes hold, leaving the mesmerist's armor slick, the grease catching glints of the starlight. Boudra's shadowy spell falls upon the bugbear and two of his subordinates, cursing their sword arms and their resolve.
The company's worgs come barreling through the brush, one from either end of the ravine. One of them bounds up a ledge and approaches Cyrioul from behind. The other makes a mad, slavering charge for Bree!
Just as the foul, wolf-like creature is about to lunge for the archeologist, another beast leaps down from the southern lip of the ravine. Moving like a ghost in the darkness, the lynx, Pila, slashes the worg's throat with her claws and sinks her teeth into its leg. The sudden, surprise assault throws off the worg's own attack, sparing Bree from its snapping jaws.
"That's a good girl!" Thorek cries as Pila savages the worg. "We'll take them together!" Lunging forward with a battle prayer on his lips, he sends his dorn-dergar hurtling towards the nearest hobgoblin's head.
The swing of Thorek's dorn-dergar smashes the Ironfang scout's ribcage, nearly crushing his heart within. The hobgoblin drops like a stone.
A cruel grin forms upon the bugbear sergeant's face, impressed with the dwarf's strength.
"I am Scarvinious, son of Scabvistin," he declares, roughly tossing Lily aside. "And I look forward to flaying the dwarf hide from your bones."
Scarvinious strides forward, deflecting an opportunistic swing of the dorn-dergar with the broad blade in his right hand. As he moves, he draws a companion blade in his other hand. He raises his broad, furry fist and brings the sword down, breaking through Thorek's defense.
Thorek's sturdy, armor-encased frame shrugs off the bugbear's initial onslaught.
Cedric grows to his towering stature, brushing aside the cracking branches of the tree beside him. He delivers a strong thrust of his spear at Scarvinious in front of Thorek, but the bugbear just manages to parry to attack.
Cyrioul steps away from the worg at his back and unleases a burst of Glitterdust. The worg is blinded as his fur is coated in glittering motes, while a nearby hobgoblin is dusted but not blinded.
One of the Ironfang scouts pincers Bree, with the other worg before her, and delivers a grazing chop with his battleaxe. The other two scouts, still clutching their bows, snap off shots at the suddenly bigger cleric, but only one pierces his armor.
With Pila to help, Bree doesn't let the axe graze slow her down. She stabs at the worg with her rapier.
Lily silently throws a dagger with her panic starting to lessen.
Lily silently throws a dagger with her panic starting to lessen.
Lily's dagger skids off Scarvinious' thick armor without piercing his own hide, so she draws her bow in hopes of delivering a stronger shot. Meanwhile, Bree's rapier cleanly skewers the worg before her, and Boudra raises her crossbow and looses a bolt that finishes off the beast.
Pila weaves between Bree and a nearby boulder and charges forward, pouncing with tooth and claw upon the axe-wielding hobgoblin - even seizing the scout with her jaws. The other worg, blinded by Cyrioul's spell, snaps its jaws at the wizard but narrowly misses.
Trusting in his armor and magic to protect him Thorek darts past the bugbear, trying to hem the Ironfang officer in between himself and Cedrik. His steps are rushed and he leaves the bugbear officer an opening.
"You've failed, Scarvinius, outwitted and outfought. We'll lump you all in a common hole and your Legion will never know your fate."
Scarvinious takes an opportunistic swing at the passing dwarf, but his stout blade only elicits sparks from Thorek's armor. However, the bugbear's own armor seems to protect him from the latest swing of the dwarf's dorn-dergar.
However, as Scarvinious bears down to slay the dwarf, the sturdy Kraggodan-forged armor protects Thorek from all three of the bugbear's brutal swings.
The enlarged Erastilian lumbers forward, and with a twisting thrust he pierces Scarvinious armor with his spear. Cyrioul tries to confound the blinded worg that continues to hound him with a patch of magic Grease, but the beast remains upright.
Watching Cedric wound their sergeant, two of the hobgoblins continue to loose arrows at the cleric. However, thanks to the Bane of Boudra's magic, their shots do not harm him. The other scout, though, wounds Pila with an off-hand swing of her handaxe, eliciting and angry yelp from the fierce cat.
Curse your machinations! Cyrioul cries. Whatever you think you'll accomplish in this land, it ends here tonight!
With no one directly threatening her, Bree gets off a grease spell to help protect their flank from more hobs. (DC14 reflex) Then she steps up to threaten the nearest one.
Lily shoots an arrow into Scarvinious but looks upset as only mildly embeds itself into him.
"Ooooo come on....," she yells out loud.
One of the bow-wielding Ironfang scouts manages to keep his footing upon the magic Grease, while Lily deceives Scarvinious into lowering his guard, allowing her arrow to land true.
Sidestepping to keep Scarvinious hemmed in between Cedric and himself, Thorek yanks the chain to pop the dorn-dergar towards himself. Catching the steel ball he throws a vicious strike at the bugbear commander's kneecap.
Thorek nearly shatters the bugbear's kneecap with his swing.
Growling in pain, Scarvinious takes a moment to size up his foe before striking - but his strong swing is easily blocked.
Cedric misses Scarvinious with his latest spear thrust, Cyrioul unleashes a bolt of force from his wand to strike Scarvinious, and Boudra grazes the worg threatening Cyrioul with a crossbow bolt. The worg itself struggles to gain traction upon the magic Grease; while it remains on its paws, it can move no further.
Two of the Ironfang scouts eschew their bows for battleaxes, and they make futile swings at Thorek and Bree.
However, the third scout delivers a terrible upward chop with his off-hand, and his hatchet sinks into Pila's neck. The lynx makes a gurgling growl that fades into a whimper, and she collapses upon the ground in a limp heap of fur.
Bree is horrified at the cut to the friendly lynx, but can't spare her attention from her current opponent. She shifts her balance and tries to stick her thin blade into her foe's torso.
Boudra, trying to prevent Bree from being too hard-pressed, stretches out a hand and, focusing hard, tries to grasp at the shadow of the hobgoblin that just injured Pila.
Bree delivers a sharp stab to one scout with her rapier, and Boudra's magic secures another to the ground.
With a fierce war cry Thorek draws back the dorn-dergar in his fist and punches Scarvinious right in the throat. [/b]"
After driving the blow home, Thorek moves to interpose himself between Lily and the Ironfang soldier closing in.
The latest blow from Thorek's dorn-dergar lands just below Scarvinious' sternum with such force that there is little his armor can do to absorb the impact. Much of the wind is knocked from his lungs, and you suspect you can see bloody spittle staining the fur around his lips. Nevertheless, the indomitable bugbear sergeant remains standing - at least for now.
Lily let's out another shot which goes horrendously wide.
Cyrioul unleashes one more bolt from his wand, but the pain it inflicts is still not enough to spell the end of Scarvinious. The bugbear steps forward, ready to fight to the death, and unleashes another tirade of steel upon Thorek - although only one of his blows breaks through the dwarf's defense.
The blinded worg delivers a bite that could snap through a young tree, but without the aid of his eyes, only the empty air feels the toothy embrace.
The Ironfang scouts deliver swirling storms of axe blades against Thorek and Bree, but only one strike manages to land home - a grazing hit against the scholar.
"You're a tough sonnova b*&++, I'll give you that," Thorek growls out as Scarvinous' blade rakes across the dwarf's arm. "It's not too late to surrender and spare the lives of your sol--" Suddenly spinning toward the Ironfang scout to his left Thorek brings the steel ball in his hand into the hobgoblin's chin with a savage uppercut, the turns his attention back to the bugbear. "Sorry, what was I saying?"
The grazing wound barely slows Bree down as she parries and thrusts, trying to find another chink in her foe's armor.
"Boudra... can you... help Pila?" she asks in between attacks.
Not seeing another way to get to Pila - who's clearly hurt - Boudra raises her crossbow and takes aim at the shadow-pinned hobgoblin.
for
Seeing her bolt fly wide, Boudra grits her teeth and, with a little yelp, attempts to leap from the side of the promontory she's on.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
As Bree delivers another quick stab upon her foe, Boudra leaps down from the shallow ledge, landing on the ravine floor about eight feet below. It is not a graceful landing, but she maintains her footing.
Thorek's quick dorn-dergar smash crushes the jaw and fractures the skull of the unsuspecting Ironfang scout, leaving him a gurgling mess upon the ground. As the dwarf turns back, he finds Scarvinious raising his stout swords for another barrage. However, those swords never come crashing down upon Thorek. Instead, the bugbear himself drops - felled by one last spear thrust into his back from Cedric.
Cyrioul quickly takes a step back, whips out his crossbow, and snaps a shot at the worg, burying a bolt in its mangy hide. Lily turns to affix her Painful State upon the Ironfang scout standing over Pila. With some quick trickery, she deceives him and lands an arrow in his chest, laying him low beside the lynx. Bree narrowly manages to dodge and parry a pair of axe strikes from the remaining scout, while the worg continues to flail its paws in the magic grease without making forward progress.
Hopping partway downslope Thorek feeds a bit more chain to the dorn-dergar and swings at the remaining hobgoblin. "Finish off that worg!" he bellows at no one specifically.
Not able to see the worg, Boudra darts up to Pila and kneels beside the lynx, attempting to stabilize her.
" I've got the worg," Lily calls out firing an arrow in their direction.
Thorek's powerful strike lays low the last of the Ironfangs, and Lily's arrow sinks deeply into the worg's mangy hide. Meanwhile, Boudra's quick ministrations are not yet able to staunch the wounded lynx's bleeding.
Bree pulls out her bow again and takes a shot at the worg.
One last spear thrust and one last spell from Cyrioul finally spell the end for the worg, thus eliminating the Ironfang warband. The Erastilian priest then hustles over to the lynx's side and calls upon his god's mercy to heal the brave cat.
"Let's search them for their gear and get the hell out of here," Bree says, wiping a bit of blood from her blade. That should have gone better. WE need to be better. She runs her hand through her hair, slicking back the sweat. With her rapier sheathed, she casts detect magic over the corpses to make sure they don't miss anything important.
Thorek rushes over to Pila to make sure the lynx is okay. If necessary he adds a bit of healing magic of his own and scritches her behind the ears.
"Aye, let's strip them of anything valuable and then check on the camp. Last thing we need is for whoever's left to hightail it to Phaendar and get reinforcements." Thorek's jaw sets in a hard line. "They can surrender or die fighting, and I don't care much which it is."
The Ironfang Scouts themselves carry little more than the armor upon their backs and the axes in their death-tightened knuckles. Mobilized in a hurry to pursue you, the remainder of their supplies likely await back at the largely emptied camp. The same can be said of Scarvinious, who wears a spiked set of studded leather armor, wielded a pair of broad-bladed shortswords, and also carried a very sturdy shortbow.
+1 Spiked Light Fortification Studded Leather
+1 Shortsword (x2)
MWK Composite Shortbow (+4 Str)
MWK Battleaxe (x4)
Handaxes (x4)
Composite Longbow (+2 Str) (x4)
80 Arrows
"Thank you all for helping me. I didn't think I was going to make it. . Im sorry I put you in such a precarious position," she says while sobbing wildly.
Once the wounded Ironfangs are either dragged into a heap or simply put down, Cedric draws forth his iron holy symbol one last time and channels a pulse of divine energy to rejuvenate his allies.
It's ok, Boudra signs, enfolding Lily in a hug (if permitted). We've got you.
Any fight you walk away from, I suppose. Any fight you all walk away from...
As the group starts to head away from the canyon, there's a moment when Boudra thinks that she sees something stirring in the shadows, deep in the forest. But when she looks again - her keen eyes cutting through the darkness in a way that no normal human's do - she sees nothing there. Frowning, she turns to follow the rest of the group back to Hidden Hope.
Lily just stands there sobbing for a while while Boudra hugs her. "Thank you", she says.
Thorek awkwardly pats Lily on the arm. "Oh Miss Lily, nothing to be apologizing for! Something was bound to go wrong, no doubt about it, and you acquitted yourself quite well. I'm sorry if the bastard scared you..."
"I just hope you aren't mad that I greased you!" Bree adds with a quick smile.
A guant man with stick straight black hair dismounts his horse, a chandelier of four lights gently swirling around his head. His well-fitted clothes are that of a woodsmen, but his build suggests a more learned lifestyle. They left rather quickly, that was quite the ruckous. Hopefully they won't be back too soon!
Moving quickly, he raises a hand to sweep the area for anything magical while using his nose and the other hand to find food. Not quite how Gran made it, but it's free and not getting into a Hobgoblin's belly! He quickly restocks his supplies and plucks any obviously valuable items he can find, saving identification for morning. Curiously, the bag strapped to his back seems to consume anything put into it.
At the first sign of people returning to camp, he cuts his lights, slaps the rump of his horse in a bid for it to run in the direction of the noise, and dives for a bush on the edge of camp. Damn! I've dallied too long. Once I get the measure of them, I'll creep for the hills and put some distance between us.
________