As clay golems, these earthen soldiers do not have a spirit per se, but they do possess what is known as an animus force that motivates their limbs, that is analogous. Either way, the power - though slightly unfamiliar in "flavor" - empowers your Spirit Catcher with the force of the power of the earth.
"Boran, light our way!" Jarad chants again in pray calling his divine power to show him the best course of action.
Your spell goes off, but you sense displeasure from Boran. You know that the God of Restoration is a reactive sort of "personality," if such mortal terms could be used on deities. You sense that He feels this situation could be best resolved with mortal actions, not divine guidance.
Un-asked for, you nonetheless receive an additional message - that this outsider, this Xha who considers death so valuable - he has some important role to play in the challenges to come. Therefore, your Guidance spell instructs you to stand with the barbarian and meet the charge head-on - facing your deaths, if such is your fate.
Are we going in the cellar or what? Galadin yells. He prepares his defenses against the oncoming horde.
Disturbed by the trick of the light that seemed to give Galadin fangs, Qadir remains silent as they run the last few feet to the door. He takes up position near his companion, eyeing him warily before replying, "I do not like to rush blind into danger. These clay horsemen do not seem so imposing, we should fight them." Dancing on the balls of his feet a moment, Qadir gauges the moment when the horsement come into range and then dances forward a few steps to hurl his spear with a grunt of effort. As the first spear flies through the air, Qadir retrieves his second and prepares for the horsemen to close.
Qadir's spear flies true, embedding itself in the neck of one of the lead horsemen and staying stuck there. Horribly, the clay golem rides on, despite the fact that most of its neck and part of its neck were punched clean off.
The horsemen lower their weapons - strange looking polearms with spiked balls on the other end - and charge at Hakonyr and Xha! Hakonyr, you count five horsemen running you down specifically, and Xha, you have 6 coming at you, including the one Qadir has damaged with his spear. They are upon you! The horses leap in the air, their hooves flashing in the light as they descend towards your heads! What do you do?
Three horsemen remain farther back, and draw heavy-looking arrows from quivers on their back. Pulling back their shortbows they let loose a quick volley that rains down near Father Jarad and Cappy, filling them with arrows if they don't do something!
The disturbances in the dirt kicked up by the horses is generating a dust cloud. As the battle continues it will become more and more difficult to see clearly.
Hakonyr has little time to contemplate the image floating over his head with arrows plummeting and horsemen charging towards him.
Eyes flashing with lightning, he creates a cage out of his hands. A blue-white spark glows within. When he takes his hands away from it, the spark rapidly expands into a translucent disk in front of him.
"Fight my comrades! Back up Xha and Hakonyr, Cappy open that cellar and see if it's safe" The Father shouts and points to the clay horsemen,
"Let's fight and give the people a show, hoping they will give us something in return."
Father Jarad will charge at a horseman close to Xha, hopefully reducing the threath of the archers.
One of the few who aren't being actively attacked, Xim'wa still has the ability to assist. Leveling his staff to point at one of the archers, he speaks the name of one of the spirits bound to his totems: "Amotekun."
To him, the tiger-like spirit that springs forth looks no different in kind than the others he sees every day: a semi-transparent, silvery being with splashes of color sort of mixed in denoting the nature of it. Of course, it looked the same to everyone else as well... but most people could not see the spirits normally.
The spirit is still for only a moment before it begins bounding towards the indicated archer, covering distance incredibly quickly and leaping towards the clay man... to bat away the bow a few times before leaping back a short distance, crouching in a ready-to-pounce stance, looking more like a energetic kitten than anything deadly.
Cappy makes quick work of the roots and flings the door open to see...
The Exile moves fluidly through the charging clay warriors. His dust colored clothes blend with the earth kicked up by the mock horses until all that can be seen is the occasional flash of his heavy blade
The spirit is still for only a moment before it begins bounding towards the indicated archer, covering distance incredibly quickly and leaping towards the clay man... to bat away the bow a few times before leaping back a short distance, crouching in a ready-to-pounce stance, looking more like a energetic kitten than anything deadly.
The spirits come to your aid even in this strange Tower, Zim'wa, and Amotekun knocks aside bows, startles the clay horses, and even knocks an arrow directly out of the air. Two of the horse archers fall back, looking to circle around you and fire at you from the side. They scream and shake their bows in the air as they urge their horses on. Nocking an arrow they each take aim at the shaman who denied them!
Meanwhile, Father Jarad leaps to Xha's aid. The horsemen, with staggering strength, grasps at the portly cleric's shirt and yanks him off the ground! Knocking the cleric's weapon aside so that it clatters to the dirt, the horseman loops a rope around the cleric's wrists! Screaming in warrior lust, the horseman is dragging the cleric behind his horse! Take 1d6 damage, you're disarmed, and roll Defy Danger to try to remedy this awful situation.
Cappy makes quick work of the roots and flings the door open to see...
The halfling chops away the roots and opens the door quickly. Below are dusty steps that look old and smooth. It's dank and smells bad, but your eyes catch the glimmer of gold at the bottom of the stairs, some 20 feet down. It's difficult to see all the way to the bottom without more light.
Meanwhile, Hakonyr and Xha are fighting nearly back-to-back. The horsemen form a circle around the barbarian and the channeler. Xha the Barbarian is in his element, his blade flickering with unnatural-seeming speed as he dances among the horse's hooves. Slash and off goes two forelegs of a horse...an uppercut knocks another horseman completely off his mount to land senseless in the dirt.
Meanwhile, Hakonyr has all the time he needs to smirk at the horsemen's feeble attempts to harm him. Every time one of their weapons comes close, it reverberates off, with the sound like a clap of thunder. However, despite the successes of both the barbarian and the channeler so far, the horsemen are rallying. One raises his sword and shouts in a foreign language that you have heard before but do not recognize, Xha the foreign barbarian. They fall back from direct combat, disengaging on horseback (for those that still ride). What do you do?
"They flee! Come lightning brother, CHARGE!"
"Ouch ouch! This wasn't the show I expected to give" Jarad cries while spitting dirt.
Galadin attempts to free the captured priest as well, charging after the clay horseman. When he gets close enough, he attempts to sever the rope.
On my way Father!
Xha, you're able to jump onto the clay horse, and as you urge it on, its rage is fueled by your own fury! However, despite your excellent control of the horse, the other horsemen don't want to let you aid your friend. They form a phalanx of spears on horseback and lower them at you, using their reach to their advantage! Your horse shies and whinnies in its strange clay voice, its reaction preventing you from getting skewered by the spears! What do you do?
Meanwhile, the Father feels the strength of Boran coursing through him as the excitement of the situation takes hold. He grasps hold of a protruding boulder and wraps both stocky arms around it, clutching it to his chest! The heavy boulder is yanked against the earth by the rider, but the rider gives out first and is only just barely able to stay in the saddle. He roars in fury as he turns to punish the cleric...
which gives Galadin the opening that he needed! The paladin successfully severs the rope and (because you rolled over a 12) continues upward in a follow-through uppercut slash that severely injures the rider as well!
Jarad, you're free! As you climb to your feet you see that Xha, with Hakonyr beside him, is facing down an organized front of spears ready to gut him in concert. Meanwhile Cappy has yanked open the door to the cellar and is peering excitedly inside. What do you do?
"Thanks Galadin!" Jarad removes the rope form his body and goes to retrieve his weapon.
Gnnnnaaaaaa!
Composing himself...Think nothing of it Father. Let's get moving!
Galadin, you've injured the horseman severely, but his clay body grants him uncanny consitution. Though his body is damaged to the point that a flesh-and-blood warrior would have fallen, he climbs off of his horse and engages you with dogged determination!
However, the clay soldier has a trick up his sleeve that surprises you. As he advances on you with his broken torso and limbs, looking weak and nearly defeated, he sinks suddenly into the ground! Earthen fists rise out of the ground and smash you in the chest, knocking you flying back ten feet! The earth soldier re-forms into humanoid form, still showing signs of damage from before, but partially repaired from merging with the earth.
He advances on Father Jarad as Galadin is catching his breath from the surprise blow, which has dented his breastplate. The warrior wields a longsword made of jagged black stone and whirls it back and forth quickly to limber up as he prepares to chop the old cleric to bits.
Galadin tries his best to recover and stand in defense of the old man. His ribs ache, but he gets to his feet without too much strain.
He will use his hold to halve any damage that Jarad would receive if it comes to that.
Father! Look out!
Seeing the stone riders block his way Xha smiles and lifts his feet from the carved stirrups to squat on the horses broad stone back. With a heavy hand on the reigns Xha forces the horse to run directly at the line of leveled spears. Just as the terra cotta animal is about to shy Xha slashes his sword across the stone beasts flank.
Maddened by an apparent attack from the rear Stone horse surges forward into the spear line. The heavy spiked spears seek the stone horse's rider amid the crash and panic but Xha is not there!
With a strange battle cry the barbarian leaps gracefully over the line of stone warriors.
Cappy grumbles "Always free cheese in a mouse trap, bah!" and turns his back on what he believes to be an obvious trap. Turning in time to see the clay soldier advancing on the old bald guy from earlier he lets fly with a throwing knife.
Cappy shouts "Father look out!" as he flicks a dagger through the air, the clay soldiers noticing the halfling for the first time.
Zim'wa watches carefully as the two bowmen split to either side of him, eyes darting to either side. Another spirit could disable another of the bowmen, but they would have to get a good deal closer for the Serpent to be effective. Until then, he had no way to fight back - but on the other hand, it meant his comrades didn't have to deal with arrows focused on them.
Instead, he waits till the last possible moment... then drops low to the ground, presenting as little a target as possible as he moves to the closest available cover, hopefully not taking an arrow on the way.
"Prepare to tossed aside like leaves in the wind!" Hakonyr exalts as he winds up his fist as if to throw punch.
Galadin: You see the clay warrior's pupilless eyes narrow as he swings his obsidian blade at you. You can tell, from the faint green overlay in your vision that the Agent cast on you, that the eyes of the crowd are looking through your eyes right now.
The clay soldier strikes with a two-handed overhead chop! You're barely able to get your own sword in the way in time and your foe follows up by grasping your wrist and grappling you. Suddenly, you hear, "Father, look out!" coming from the halfling over by the cellar door. A knife sticks out of the terracotta warrior's neck suddenly and the soldier roars in rage!
The other soldiers that Xha is evading successfully roar in answer! Still seeking the barbarian's blood, they wheel their horses around and adjust their spears, before charging right at the paladin and cleric! Galadin, Xha and Jarad are between the charging group of soldiers that Xha has taunted, and the one remaining soldier wrestling with Galadin!
Galadin, your opponent has you by the forearms, his sword in the dirt, trying to bull rush you into the phalanx of spears coming in from behind.
Cappy, you watch as the strange, tattooed man dodges several arrows with ease. However, your shout draws more attention to the both of you - but not from the direction you expect!
Off in the distance, where you saw the group of dwarven and human adventurers run, you see an explosion of fire! A wingless drake climbs up onto the ruined walls, an armored dwarven leg dangling from the side of one jaw. It tosses its head back and swallows the rest of the leg, then spits fire in the air and stares...right at the halfling, despite the decent distance between them.
You're about to have a whole new element of danger join this fight. Very soon.
Galadin reluctantly asks the wolf for assistance in reversing the hold and trying to use him as a barrier.
Not yet, Paladin. But soon. Irf replies.
Galadin, Xha and Jarad are between the charging group of soldiers that Xha has taunted, and the one remaining soldier wrestling with Galadin!
The archers who unsuccessfully shot at you have given up firing their bows and are just attempting to run you over, Zim'wa. There are three of them, and two of them are dragging a net between them to catch you - what do you do?
Jarad retrieves his weapon and tries to hit the clay warrior fighting with Galadin,
plus
"Thanks for the help!"
Scornfully shattering the skull of a passing dirt-rider Xha calls out. "Deal with these cook-pots quickly my friends. The landlord has brought out the meat!"
Cappy mumbles "there's always one, there's always one..." as he scans the battlefield and spots Xha, shouting something about "meat" and "dealing with things".
"I've got a big one incoming, friend!" He shouts as the burly man smashes on of the clay warriors. The agile halfing is quickly across the open field, running towards Xha hoping the fool will get the drakes attention off of him. He cackles madly as he sees the clay warriors turning to charge right where he is bringing the drake.
"Oh! This is going to be a glorious mess!" his hand clamped down on his cap, the oversized coat flapping behind him.
Zim'wa: You could try, if you're a good jumper. My general rule if you want to do something is to say "try it," and see what happens. I'll try not to play any "gotcha" games with you for trying to fix a problem your way.
When Xha and Galadin fight the clay soldiers together, smashing them to bits with their weapons and finding them hollow inside, their fighting styles look dramatically different - at least at first. Galadin fights with ordered strikes and quick footwork while standing in defense of Father Jarad, who holds his own with his brilliantly shining mace.
But Galadin and Jarad dispatch their single warrior quickly and move to join Xha. They are both struck with the skill and power of the barbarian's huge but agile weapon. His fighting style inspires Irf to drive Galadin on, and Galadin, you feel Xha's chaotic battle-presence influencing your own strikes.
Whatever the source of your successes though, you succeed little by little in thinning the numbers of the horsemen, using the terrain to your advantage. The horsemen may be able to run through the rubble easier than mortal riders could, but they cannot do the hit and run strikes that the horses normally allow them to do on open fields. This is working in the favor of the adventurers, though you do take some injuries - Jarad and Galadin, in the melee you are either punched or nicked by a sword and take 1d6 damage each.
Cappy, you've definitely got the drake's attention! With steam emanating from its jaws, it's climbing down over the ruined battlements and rushing toward you. "A NEW CHALLENGER APPROACHES!!" Hector la Pree's voice booms out over the battlefield, with dramatic music accompanying his announcement. "PLACE YOUR BETS, GOOD CITIZENS, PLACE YOUR BETS!"
Stowing his staff in a 'sheath' on his back for a bit more mobility, Zim'wa climbs on top of the masonry he was using for cover, keeping his eyes on the quickly-closing clay soldiers. Waiting for them to close, the shaman gathers himself then springs forward - not exactly over the net, but rather at one of the carriers, attempting to take advantage of the fact that one of its hands is occupied to bull-rush it off the horse.
"That hurts" Jarad complains after he recieves some damage and he realizes the drake after Cappy whos running at them,
"C'mon! it wasn't enough with these guys?" The heavily breathing Father complains again while parrying and waving his warhammer around.
Cool, I'm lovin Dungeon World
Contemptuous of the clay soldiers Xha finds more and more of his attention drawn the the great lizard fast approaching.
Perhaps he should have been paying a bit more attention.
Galadin and Jarad were obviously hit from the same attack, and they look at each other knowingly that their armor is already proving to be a great protection.
He finally finds a moment to give the halfling a nod of "Thanks."
Shall we be moving, Father? One way or another, I feel that staying here will not end well... To the Barbarian or the cellar?