"Ah son of a -- That's a Will o' Wisp. They're colossal pains in the ass. They like to lure people to their doom by attracting you to dangerous places."
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They can harmed normally with bullets or physical attacks but are immune to magic and very hard to hit.
Agent Carson draws his guns and asks "so what's the plan, attack or avoid?"
"I've heard that magic don't do squat to them. Although admittedly I haven't personally tested the theory. Good old-fashioned violence works fine, but they're bastards to hit."
"Normally, I'd say we avoid these things, but given the circumstances, they might just lead us straight to the fane. We need to be careful though because there's a more than good chance they'll try to screw us up along the way."
"Let's get a little closer and see what they do."
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"In that case, lead the way"
Joey provided one of his walkie-talkies to Jim and tuned in to the right channel, then pulled his shotgun and revolver out of his truck. He turns out to be pretty well equipped for a guy living in his truck.
A tactical vest that says POLICE in big white letters on the back goes on over his shirt, with a chest holster for his revolver, ammo loops for shotgun shells, and other velcro-secured pockets. His revolver is a police-issue Ruger .38 S, loaded with silver rounds. His automatic, in a tactical hip holster, is a 10mm Glock with a tiny flashlight under the barrel. And his shotgun is a 12 gauge Beretta with a carry strap, a magazine, a collapsible stock, and another tiny flashlight under the barrel. Balancing out the Glock on his other hip- strapped to his thigh, in fact- is a black handled knife with a 7-inch blade in a tactical sheath.
He also puts on a big backpack and a pair of amber-tinted shooting glasses before heading out. When they hit waist-deep water he unstraps his Glock and holds it over his head with the shotgun.
The big man nods at Domingo's explanation. "Good thing we're looking for a dangerous place." Following Dom's suggestion, Joey moves closer to the flickering light, moving slowly and watching his footing carefully.
Roy makes sure to keep the rifle above his head, and does the same with his revolver, as the group moves through deeper waters. Frowning at the will-o'-wisps, he keeps pace with the group, keeping the rear watch.
Jim tucks his pant bottoms into his sturdy leather hiking boots and ties them to the top. He removes a mag-light from his daypack and pockets it. Then, he shoulders his daypack and reslings his rifle. He hooks the walkie-talkie to his rifle sling. He walks the flank opposite Joey letting Roy take rearguard.
The swamp proves colder than ranger training in Florida but just as wet.
The wisp continues to blink in and out of existence always moving a short distance away each time.
You follow it and it does lead you to what appears to be a temple in the swamp and it winks out and doesn't reappear.
You pause to examine the structure when a growing bubbling sound gets your attention. It looks like something is rising out of the mud and water. You see horns....Then wings and a black form rises out gushing out toxic looking green smoke. The water and mud drips away to reveal a creature than can only be a dragon! It's a lot smaller than you would expect which indicates that it's still young but even as you hesitate it takes a deep breath and unleashes a torrent of acid in your direction.
Line of acid aiming at the center of the group with the formation I have in mind hits Dom, Jon, Alisha and Roy. Reflex for half.
Reflex dc 15 for half.
Post reaction saves and init. If the dragon goes first he dives back into the water submerging himself.
Dom curses as the spray of acid burns into his flesh. He manages to avoid the brunt of it, but it still hurt like a mother.
"Open fire and take Barney down!"
Joey brings up his shotgun to track the rising monster's head but doesn't shoot it on sight, which turns out to be a mistake. "What the hell is that!? Jim, flank left!" Joey starts moving to the right to split the monster's attention and keep from getting caught in one of those acid blasts along with a bunch of other people.
As quickly as he reacts, though, he isn't fast enough to catch the creature before it dives back into the water. He points his shotgun at the place where it went in but doesn't shoot without a target. "Call out if you see it!"
Jim flanks left and readies to shoot the dragon when it reappears. He tries not to digest what he just saw and treats it like an amorphous bad guy. At least we found the swamp fane, he thinks to himself.
30 feet away from the front of the group when it emerges at first.
Roy looks up as the dragon emerges from the water and reaches for his pistol. As he does so, however, he fails to avoid the acidic breath, and the blast washes over him. He wavers for a moment, looking horrible as the caustic substance eats at his flesh, and then falls into the water, unconscious.
John quickly whips his pistols up to fire and carefully lines up a shot, but the fall of his new comrad distracts him and the dragon resubmerges itself before he was satisfied with the shot [b]"Man down! I repeat, Man Down!"
Oh great, first there are vampires and Magic; now dragons are real too? This trip just keeps getting better guys. Xannder says while trying to move closer to Roy.
[ooc]Woah a lot of new posts over the day[/dice]
Alisha mentions to the group "I believe I can help find the fane in the swamp. It has a powerful magical aura and using a magical detection spell I can find a trail to follow that will lead us safely to the location."
Alisha follows the group into the swamp but once again leaves her sensitive electronics and gear behind as she does not want her gear to get waterlogged. She sticks with just weapons, reagents and spellbook in a waterproof pouch.
When the Wisp is encountered she looks at it and checks her Arcane Lore knowledge,
Looking at the wisp she says to the others, "The Will-O-Wisp is normally not aggressive but it is a being of evil and generally uses its light to attract people to follow it, leading them on a merry chase until they are overcome with exhaustion and despair and die in the process. If we move on it will likely ignore us. Unless of course it is working for the vampire or other enemies. It would be best not to provoke it either way."
Alisha's Reflex Save with Action Point
Alisha on her turn incants some arcane words and a shimmering armor of force appears on her body for a moment before going invisible. Casting Mage Armor.
Afraid not Alisha. You do take half however so you take 7.
The dragon was too quick for you to attack him before he submerge again...You have some time for the moment.
You get a round so post any action you take in the meantime.
and because your positions really matter for this one.
Indicate were you move.
Having hoisted Roy over his shoulder, Xannder moves to a nearby island and quickly sets him down behind some cover. He starts fumbling with his belt slapping it and tapping it, eventually he is able to get the magic to work and casts a spell on Roy.
Jim moves to O8 and readies
Joey scans the swamp with his shotgun up and ready to fire.
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Roy comes to slowly, the magic fixing his wounds. He blinks several times and pushes himself to a sitting position, already grabbing his Python. "Thanks," he offers to Xannder, then brings a hand to his mouth. "Dammit."
His bandana's been eaten through by the acid.
Alisha avoids a good deal of the acid to her vital parts by using the others in front of her as cover but still gets mildly burned on her arms as some splashback still hits her.
On her action she spreads out from the party but stays behind them to avoid a second spray of the acid. She looks at the dragon and attempts to exploit any weaknesses she can get.
The water is difficult the land is not.
The dragon resurfaces at K4 a spray of lead is sent at the dragon.
The dragon is hit several times (by Dom and Jim..Joey misses but his shot is really close)...It hesitates and unleashes another line of acid targeting Jim and Dom.
dc 15 reflex for half.
It doesn't have time to dive again so it's still on the surface until it's next turn.
Carson breathed in an out calming himself as time seemed to slow down and his aim became stedier he fires his gun at the dragon grin on his face.
Roy drops his revolver into his lap, seeing the dragon is too far away, and brings up the rifle, putting a shot at the creature.
The bubbles on the water's surface grew to a plume. Before he could register what the head means, he shoots the watermelon. The dragon screamed in pain. It shook its head and hunted for the source of pain. It roared and coughed up a spray of acid toward Jim. He saw the wave of acid just in time to turn and take it on back and left leg. He saw white as the pain flushed through his system.
Jim grits his teeth through the pain and lines up the shot. He blurs his vision so the large scaly head returns to an ugly ripe watermelon. Pop!
Dom has a split second to decide to take his shot or fling himself to safety. He's a hunter. He takes the shot and then dives for safety.
He dodges most of it, but the acidic spray still burns him pretty bad. He falls into the water.
He's dying.
Xannder moves to S12 and will try to pick Dom up next round. When he gets there he takes a shot at the Dragon.
Hang in there bud, I'll get yah to safety.
Alisha on turn number 3 takes aim with the rifle and fires off a shot
The bullet flies into the darkness.
Out of position and with a close-in weapon, Joey's shot goes wide. He grits his teeth and charges at the... monster. In spite of having seen lots of weird things, admitting that this was a dragon was just a step too far.
After a few seconds struggling through the water, Joey aims and fires again.
The dragon is badly injured but still alive. It submerges once more.
You lie in wait but after a while it becomes obvious it isn't coming back.
"Well, dead dragon, gone dragon, short term, same thing, let's move on ne?"
Roy heaves a few ragged breaths and begins reloading his weapons. "No, we've got to help Dom first. Xannder, that belt still work?"
"right, sorry about that, thought I saw him get up, probably should do a quick head count"
He exhales "so this is what field work is like, it's intense!" he says, trademark grin on his face.
Dom violently coughs up some swamp water, as the magic of the belt brings him back from the precipice of death.
"Oh, man. That sucked," he said weakly. "Ev-everyone okay?"
This day just keeps getting worse, Dragons can be added to the list of things that exist now? How do all of these things manage to stay hidden so well all these years?
Xannder says while dragging Roy over to Dom.
I got one more use of this thing, I'll try to get you working again Roy.
He activates the belt, using the last remaining charge for the day on Roy.
Then he begins looking at Dom's Wounds and attempts to stop the bleeding.
Jim walks over to the group with his rifle on his shoulder pointed at the ground and his head on a swivel. "Was that a dragon? I popped it good a couple times, but we shouldn't have a tea party. Is that the Swamp Fane up there? Can someone go get it, while the medic dresses our wounds? We should get out of here ASAP."
"We should all move in."
Dom stood up. Shakily at first, but he held steady.
"Let's go."
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Joey nods at Jim. "Thing wasn't dead, whatever it was. Let's get moving before it decides to come back." He looks at Jim to coordinate the two of them flanking the others again, then moves toward the spooky looking temple.
Seeing as the medic was not forthcoming, Jim takes the other flank opposite Joey. His rifle looking for any dragon-shaped watermelons.
Roy also moves up to the fane, his rifle in hand, keeping an eye out for the dragon. "Alright, mage. Do your thing."
"by mage are you referring to me or her?
Roy gives Jon a look. Great, two magicians? "Whichever."