"It's still following us." Friday says as he points to the crow.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
I noticed it earlier though i didnt think to say anything about it...
He began a little sheepishly. After all It didnt seem to him at least that he noticed much of anything, . . . except where miss Kelda was located at. He kept trying to work up the courage to ask her is she would.... give lessons on the finer ways to stay warm in the winter as they neared the northern lands... but hadnt quite worked up the courage just yet.
It seemed bigger than other ravens... not that I am all too familiar with them. He added
Frowning slightly as she glances up into the sky, Kasha falls back to the womens' wagon, getting Koya's attention. "Mama, ever you ever seen a raven with a blood red wing?"
Kasha's arrival in Koya's personal wagon interrupts her as she's shuffling a deck of Harrow cards. Her question stops her shuffling cold.
"Ravens with blood red wings? Kasha, darling, those things have quite a notorious place in our folklore: harbingers of ill omens and evil, they are." She fingers the holy symbol of Desna around her neck. "May Desna bless us..."
----------------------
----------------------
"It's getting colder. I'm glad I can wear my fur around these days -- makes it that much easier to deal. How are you holding up?"
"As well as could be reasonably expected, I suppose." Shalelu replies as she starts testing the string of her bow. "Though, I'm concerned that not all of us have warm enough clothing for the remainder of the trip. We really should have gotten ourselves some furs at that last stop..."
"If you're getting cold at night, that offer I made during the last trip still stands."
Shalelu arches an eyebrow at you.
"I might need to take you up on that offer before too long." She replies, her face entirely serious.
----------------------
Wealday, 24th of Desnus, 4715 AR
The flapping of wings heralds the departure of the raven Friday saw.
...it sounds like oars. And they're rapidly approaching!
"Well they're a bad sign, 'harbingers of ill omens and evil', as my mother puts it." Kasha says as the bird flies off. Becoming very still for a moment, the shamaness' head whips around toward the water by the bridge. "Smething's coming! Sounds like oars, moving fast." she says with a note of alarm, loudly enough for the others to hear.
What she remembered of such creatures was not reassuring - if anything, it reinforced her initial hunch that the creature could have been someone's familiar. Stories about creatures serving some fell power could often be traced back to a particularly nasty mage using one as a familiar - the potential a good familiar had was half the reason she'd found a way to augment Xel into one. Even if such creatures didn't get their reputation from such incidents, it wasn't beyond possible to imagine that such a reputation would be useful to a mage seeking a familiar.
She was, however, hoping that she was wrong. If it was a familiar, then a mage of not inconsiderable strength had their eyes on the caravan.
Haru's head is on a swivel as the freezing night fog rolls in from the river.
The sound of a boat running ashore suddenly echoes through the night.
Then a second. A third. A fourth and a fifth.
The sounds of the boats give way to the loud blood-oaths of what can only be Ulfen raiders, laughing madly and charging the camp. An entire warband swarms from the shore of the river and sets upon the camped caravan as the others brace themselves!
A group of twelve warriors breaks away from the main combat force to attack the party!
Clutching his holy Symbol for just a moment he said a quick prayer before he thrust his glave torwards the raider that approached them from the front.
The warrior staggers backwards as Kavell's glaive tears into his armour, caught off-guard by the ferocity of his strike.
"Take the ones facing us, I have the others!" Kasha shouts ash she begins a mystic chant, grasses and vines reaching up to envelop the six attempting to flank them.
The snow-frosted grass beneath the flanking warriors' feet suddenly lurches forth like whips and starts entangling the raiders with contemptuous ease. Almost all of them start thrashing about, trying to escape the grasping reeds. Two of them manage to stay clear of the worst of the animate foliage.
On top of that, all but one of the warriors start coughing and retching as the foul-smelling grass assaults them.
Friday lunges at the one that gets closest to him.
Attack: +11
+4 BaB
+5 STR
+1 Enhancement
+1 Weapon Bond
+2 Favored Enemy
-2 Power Attack
Damage: +17
+7 STR
+1 Enhancement
+1 Weapon Bond
+2 Favored Enemy
+6 Power Attack
Friday's spear almost takes a warrior's head off with the force of his blow, dropping the fool to the grass in a bloody heap.
Two of the warriors from the flanking side manage to rip themselves free of the grass as the other two start trudging through the enchanted greenery.
The raiders facing the party descend upon them, with two running to attack Kasha, two on Kavell, and one advancing on Friday to stop him!
Friday's opponent howls in fury and buries his battleaxe in the man's shoulder!
Kavell's opponents, on the other hand, are unable to strike him, with Kavell parrying one axe swing and easily sidestepping the other's wild swing.
The din of battle begins in earnest as the two sides clash!
Seeing them all swarm from the side Friday takes a step over and attacks the one inbetween Kavell and Kasha.
Friday's spear fells another raider with contemptuous ease.
Like Friday Kavell was more concerned with those attacking his friends so he spun about stabbing at the raider next to little Kasha stepping closer to her and keeping the two foes at a little range from him.
I know a girl who fights better than you men, lay down your arms and you will live.
He chastened the raiders while shaking his head.
Any concerns Valeria had about the raven disappeared as the attack started. She quickly put some distance between herself and the raiders, creating a magical barrier around herself in the process.
Kavell's opportunistic strike finds nothing but air, but when he has a chance to swing properly at an opponent, his glaive finds its mark.
The other warriors glower at the holy man before roaring in rage and keeping up their fight. It doesn't appear that Kavell got through to them.
Kasha narrows her eyes at the raider attacking her and twirls her sickle, aiming to strike something important of his!
While she doesn't manage to harm the raider too much, she does manage to slash a gouge in his cheek.
The entangled raiders attempt to push forward and free themselves of the tangling grasses!
Their progress is hampered greatly by the foul vines, and two of the warriors are still struggling to escape.
The remaining Ulfen warriors press the attack, with one still striking at Friday...
...and savagely rips into the man with his axe once more!
Another two keep attacking Kavell...
...but the paladin manages to turn both of their overenthusiastic assaults aside.
The last raider roars at Kasha and leaps at her with his battleaxe singing through the night air...
...and returning the favour, slicing open a wound on her own cheek.
The rest of the caravan seems to be holding fast against their opponents. The sounds of arrows flying through the air to find their targets, the clash of steel on steel, Ameiko's beautiful Tien voice calling out either a spell or a battle cry...
...and overshadowed by the bloodcurdling furious screams of a certain Ulfen berserker.
With one hand still on his glaive he pulled the mace from his belt and swung it hard at the one attacking Kasha.
Kavell's swing skewers the man through his chest, dropping him to the dirt with a dying wheeze.
Stepping to his side he lunged at the man attacking Kavell.
Friday's spear impales one of Kavell's attackers through the eye, and with a wrenching of his wrists, tears the man's head clean off his shoulders.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
At 4th level, instead of forming a hunter's bond, a yojimbo forms a bond with either his weapon or his mount.
If the yojimbo chooses to form a bond with his weapon, he chooses a specific individual weapon (not a weapon type) with which to bond. When using this weapon he gains a competence bonus to attacks and damage with the chosen weapon equal to 1/4 his yojimbo class level. When using this weapon against a favored enemy, its critical threat range is increased by one step. If the yojimbo decided to bond with a new weapon, he must forgo the bonus for one month before transferring the bond. Likewise, if the chosen weapon is lost or destroyed, the yojimbo may not form a new bond for a period of 1 month.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Haru continues her song and steps to one side, targeting the warrior attacking Friday.
She couldn't resist taking a verbal jab at the guy, even though it would probably make her more of a target.
In any event, she took a shot with her crossbow at the nearest raider still in the area of Kasha's vines.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
Haru's arrow nicks the warrior attacking Friday, but Valeria's bolt flies straight into her target's guts. The man doubles over and wheezes as the wind is knocked out of him.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
As Friday fluidly moves to intercept a strike meant for her and Kavell cuts down her opponent Kasha flashes both me a grin of appreciation as she taps Kavell on the shoulder, a wild primal fury building deep within the paladin, his fighting taking on an almost atavistic fury.
The entangled raiding party tries to push through the bewitched grasses...
The only healthy one promptly gets grabbed by the reeds as he tries to pull free, and three of the retching ones manage to get loose.
"Döda ett med spjutet!" One of them cries as he sees Friday, the head of one of his fallen comrades still stuck on the end of the spear. He races forward, unfortunately heedless of his own safety...
...and another follows behind, racing to strike him with his axe!
He raises his sword-arm, coughs, and drops to one knee as a coughing fit overtakes him.
A different warrior pulls free of the grass and lunges at Haru...
...and his axe finds nothing but air, his eyes still watering from the pungent odour of the grass.
The lucky one that Haru shot ignores the arrow sticking out of his chest and swings at Friday again!
This swing only nicks Friday's shoulder.
And finally, Kavell's remaining opponent tries to cut the paladin down!
This time, his axe finds its way past Kavell's guard and nails him in the chest.
The battle raging around them is starting to turn in the caravan's favour. Now bolts of divine energy are flying about the battlefield every which way along with more arrows. The sound of flapping wings taking to the air can be heard over the clashing of steel on steel.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Friday fights like a man possessed, his spear felling one raider after another with an unnerving tranquility. The remaining raiders are starting to lose their courage.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
He was well aware that Friday was decimating the raiders. It was . . .impressive. He swung hard at the raider to his northeast wanting to secure their flank before looking to aid the young painter.
Kavell scores a good hit on his opponent's leg.
Haru lets another arrow fly at the wounded foe in front of her.
After reloading her crossbow, she turned and unleashed a beam of flames at the raider attacking Kavell.
The raider attacking Kavell screams in terror and practically throws himself to the ground, barely managing to escape the worst of Valeria's flaming magic.
Haru's target isn't so lucky. Her arrow pierces him through the lung, and he falls to the dirt coughing blood and gasping for air before expiring.
Turning, Kasha touches Friday on the shoulder, filling him with the same burning fury.
The sheer power the party has shown off has well and truly shattered the remaining warriors' morale.
"SPRING FÖR LIVET! SPRING FÖR LIVET!" One of them screams as he turns to flee across the bridge.
Two of the raiders struggle to escape from the entangling grass as one of them flees as fast as he can across the bridge. The one Kavell wounded & Valeria burned turns and flees for the icy river's edge, clearly intent on swimming across in his sheer desperation to escape.
The remaining raiders attacking the caravan have broken ranks and are now running for the water themselves.
Whatever agitation Kasha has bestowed upon him made him want to chase after those fleeing, but he settled on keeping an eye on the one still entangled by the veins. "Is everyone okay?" he calls out before speaking to the remaining raider.
He certainly didnt not give chase his first action was to turn to his friends and allies, and his hand aglow he reached for the stalwart Friday the holy energy in his hand immeadiately healing some of his wounds.
Is anyone hurt?
He called out towards the caravan, pausing only to glance to his allies before quikly making his way there to see if he could help any there.