Peering into the darkness , Kevaras identifies some telltale shapes and points them out to his companions.
Sensing that this is not a healthy place to be, the donkey flees.
Nayce crouches by a tent, hoping to ambush the attackers.
Preparations made, the companions ready themselves as they get their first good look at sand giants adolescents. Surprisingly graceful, they have none of the characteristic brutish look of their hill and mountain kin. Unless, that is, one looks at their faces and sees their eyes. You sense that their notion of fun will not be yours.
Don quietly motions to the one guy he doesn't remember the name of, , pulls out a knife and gestures to the spot between him and Dram.
The young giants advance, working their way through the small community and gazing curiously around. Two of them come within range of the mostly concealed party, while a third approaches the central square. Seeing Kevaras, he gestures and sends a small ball of light at the drow. A fourth appears behind Zeric and Guldarin and kicks sand over the pair of them.
"Shield your eyes, everyone." Guldarin obeys his own command. "My word, I'd read about this but I never thought it would happen to me."
Thanks to Guldarin's warning, Zeric shuts his eyes in time. The giant looks a little disgruntled.
Dram sends a steam of water out of his waterskin at the rushing giant, that wraps itself around the creatures legs and makes a goey mess on the ground around it.
Zeric hops backwards and holds his orb out in front of him, He tries to root around his enemies mind and pluck his existence from it.
Liquid mud erupts beneath P1 feet, causing the giant to pause before moving again, while P4 looks even more disgruntled as the gnome follows the blinding thought back to its origin and vanishes from sight.
Drawing his sword, Kevaras vows to demonstrate that youth and enthusiasm is no match for experience and treachery.
103 of 103 HP; 13 of 13 Surges
Initiative +8:
Passive Perception 19, Passive Insight 19;
AP: 1
Conditions:
Dailies:
Encounters:
The ex-abbott introduces himself to P2 but is distracted by the sheer size of his opponent.
Advancing from the shadows, more giants appear, and a barrage of javelins and blades thud out of the darkness. The giants seem to be in a party mood, despite most of their attacks missing.
"Well, lets slow you down a bit, keep you apart from your friends. See how you like this." Guldarin moves a little further away from the nearest giant and points at a spot on the ground. With the smell of brimstone, chains erupt between two of the giants.
Greeg grunted at the blow but smiled none the less. "So you want to dance big man eh? Well I can oblige you, but you might not like the steps." He speaks in giant, letting the thing know he was willing to communicate, but not liking his chances of it changing tactics any time soon.
To follow up his statement he swung his hammer, hoping to strike the thing with enough force to reduce its ability to attack be fore sliding further in front to prevent it moving in and engaging Cronin.
Edit -
Guldarin's chains prove less effective than he had hoped as the giants simply walk over them almost without seeing them. Greeg's partner smiles broadly and responds in giant.
"I like you! We will have some fun now!"
Cronin raises his halberd above his (rather high) head and winds funnel down and around him, deflecting blows. He then races to Kevaras's side and swings the halberd against his friend's foe, lightning arcing around the head.
Cronin hurtles out of the night and clobbers P2 with his halberd. The young giant looks enchanted.
"This is going to be more fun than I thought! Could be a proper fight now."
"This is going to be more fun than I thought! Could be a proper fight now."
Cronin calls back, with an answering grin, "Kord willing, it will be!"
All the giants look extremely cheerful at the prospect of a decent fight.
Nayce shifts into an ethereal form and drifts directly through one of the tents to assault one of the giants with his sword.
Floating through a cottage, Nayce appears under P3's nose but makes no impact with his blade. P3 is laughing too hard to see the prospect of future danger in the shrouds draped over him.
Dram rushes up to support Nayce and Dirt follows suit both attacking the giant and Dirt swatting at the giant when it tries to make any move towards Nayce.
Don peers across at the young giant with his one good eye, over the side of the tent. He deftly flips his blade over to the edge, slides out of the tent space, flipping the knife at the giant, before seeking cover against the next tent.
Deft Strike R-23 vs S4 Damage + Sneak Attack since I was hidden + Total damage 36
Move to V26, restealth with -5 penalty
Rev:
If I get an OA on P2:
If P2 ends next to me, these are the descending preferences for the slide:
- Flank
- Not adjacent to any PC
- Not adjacent to me
Dram and Dirt converge on P3. The druid makes a telling blow, but Dirt swats nothing but air as the giant becomes aware of the threat.
Don's attack is also successful, but he is over-confident in his ability to hide.
"More warriors!" shouts P3 joyfully as he shifts backwards and kicks sand towards Dram, Dirt and Nayce, followed up by a dagger thrust at the druid.
P2 shifts away from Kevaras and Cronin and tries to blind the pair before stabbing at the drow with a glass knife.
P1 and P4 advance cheerfully on Don - P4 completely unaware of Zeric's whereabouts and nearly crushing the gnome in his passage to the rogue.
Don curses loudly, as he gets caught in the worst of a situation, battered about and bloodied within a few seconds, a scowl shown as blood trickles down his face.
OA vs P4 (who didn't seem to be next to anyone else when I could get my OA, so I get SA damage)
damage
That's 37 dmg + +6 from Giant's Ring Total 67 dmg to P4
damage
Don unleashes his frustrations on the giant flanking him.
At SOMNT P4 will take 24 more damage from the bloodiron dagger
If I bloody him, there's more to come.
edit: corrected crit damage.
"So they're playing dirty!" Cronin laughs, even as he tries to wipe some of the sand from his face.
Don's brutality must simply shock the giant, as a litany of curses spew forth. stealing opportunity away from the young giant, as well as possibly his life.
Press the Advantage, another free action!
18+19 = 38 to hit, damage is 23 + 17+6 = 46 more.
I don't know if I get another two weapon opening attack, but that was a 2nd crit, so I would have the opportunity since it's a free action.
Those closest to Don, if they were to pay attention, only catch the last of his curses, which ends with, "and they'll have to pry that chair out of you with a team of MULES!"
Don's annoyance expresses itself forcibly and P4 collapses before his attack can hit the rogue.
P2 looks thoughtfully in Cronin's direction (not that the goliath is in any position to appreciate it).
"You are good warriors. You deserve that we cheat."
Don spits on the corpse, then gestures to the other one, "Yer next."
"What would they need a team of mules... Oh my. That sounds as if it would be rather painful. And not terribly practial, really, in the middle of a battle, though of course if you can do it I'm sure it would affect the way msot people fight quite profoundly." Guldarin pauses. "Should we lay in a supply of chairs? And mules or perhaps donkeys, of course."
The gnome moves toward some of his friends in need. His eyes go black as he delves into the mindset of his foe to hinder his offensive capabilities.
I've fractured a finger. Posting will be slow until I can get the thing properly splinted. Apologies.
I've fractured a finger. Posting will be slow until I can get the thing properly splinted. Apologies.
I've fractured a finger. Posting will be slow until I can get the thing properly splinted. Apologies.
Rev asked me to alert that her finger is healing but that it will likely be mid-week before she can type easily enough to participate.
The gnome attempts to probe one of the giant minds with a view to wiping it clean of aggressive thoughts. He narrowly fails to overcome the giant's feeble will.
Kevaras feels pity towards those who would waste their lives for mere sport and honour.
"What passing-bells for these who die as cattle?"
103 of 103 HP; 13 of 13 Surges
Initiative +8:
Passive Perception 19, Passive Insight 19;
AP: 1
Conditions:
Dailies:
Encounters: Valorous Smite
"We don't die as cattle. We die as giants of a warrior race. A much better thing. Do not let yourself be blinded by weakness," advises the Sneak as Kevaras's blow just misses.
The giant sneaks advance living up to their name as after their attacks they simply break apart into grains of sand, lost in the desert.
"I wonder where those fellows went? Seem rather large to just disappear." Guldarin moves round the corner of a building so he can see the two nearest foes. "Ah well, they'll turn up. Somewhere." He lifts his rod, and lightning flashes from the end. "Now what is it these fellows don't like?" Guldarin tries to remember some of his reading.
Apart from being large and having a tendency to blind their opponents with sand, Guldarin recalls that these giants are resistant to fire - possibly part of their claimed elemental heritage. They use weapons of glass or onyx for preference and hunt in small warbands. Although older sand giants display a good knowledge of tactics, youngsters often head into impossible odds simply to say they have done so.
P1 proves deft enough to dodge the lightning, but P3 is less fortunate.
Greeg shouted to the winds as his opponent slips into its sandy form. "If you didn't like teh dance, you could've just said so. Now I'm gonna have to go mess with your friend."
He shifts his focus to Cronin and the Dark elf, wondering if they need help more than the others. Most of the other group were clutching thier eyes and trying to rub grit from them, but with only two others to hold the rear of the line, things could become messy in a hurry.
He dashed forwards to assist his friends, calling on his power of the earth to traverse the final distance and strike the sand giant threatening them both.
As he finsished his attack, he called over his shoulder, "we really need to close back with our friends Cronin, we've left too much space here for the sneaky buggers to slip in between us. Get back and support them while I hold them up a bit."
Only slightly disconcerted by the disappearance of his dancing partner, Greeg shrugs and gives his wholesale attention to P2. What might have been a gentle tap in less vigorous hands turns into a bloodying blow from the goliath. The giant looks startled and his eyes roll with the force of the attack.