"You're right Galadin, but if we go to the cellar we are going to be easy targets for the drake's breath weapon..." Jarad wipes the sweat from his forehead and answers the paladin,
"I'll try something, if it doesn't work let's backup the barbarian and try to avoid the drake, or we'll meet the same fate as the dwarf in the tower." The Father goes to one knee and does a small pray,
All Mighty Boran, give me strength and help us in our fight
Jarad stand and start running towards Cappy and the drake,
"Begone beast! Or you will face the rage of our weapons and feel divine punishment" He shouts at the drake as he points his shinning mace to it and calls once more time his divine power...
Zim'wa, you land atop the horse as he rider shouts in surprise! He drops the net, leaving his companion to gather it up before can join in. He tries to draw his sword, but you shove it back into its sheath before he can draw it! His viselike grip hurts your hand, take 1d6 damage, but you prevent him from drawing his sword. Your horse, carrying two passengers now, rears up and gallops toward the closest thing to a herd it has left - the other horse that Xha is riding. What do you do?
Maybe I should have said Xha was riding the horse. Jarad and Galadin are easily able to shrug off the feeble attacks of the clay warriors - because they were feinting. As Xha grows tired of his "puny" opponents, his attention wanders - and the soldiers strike.
With Jarad's attention on his god's magic and Galadin backing him up there is nobody to save Xha when the soldiers drag the tall barbarian to the ground. An obsidian blade from one of the remaining armed soldiers pierces your arm, leaving a bloody hole when it's drawn out, and the rest of the soldiers pummel and kick you around on the ground a bit, to the shocked gasps of the crowd. You're confused -1 Wis mod from the multiple blows to the head...and take 1d10+4 damage.
Meanwhile, Jarad is having far greater success. The drake, which had been rearing back its head to breathe fire at Cappy, turns to stare inquisitively at your mace. It ceases its charge! Through the mace's power, Jarad reveals to the beast the intimidating glare of a Deity, and it hisses and shrinks back slightly in response. It's no longer charging at you.
It's a big creature, though, and you know that even this fear will only delay its battle lust. Cappy is a pretty desirable little morsel of a meal, after all - drakes are known far and wide for their appetite for halflings.
+2 ongoing dam vs. taunted riders. Confused & Concussed -1 Wisdom
Xha struggles to fight off the stabbing blades and kicking feet.
He fails, but he tries.
Hakonyr, I never saw a damage roll from you, but with the help of Xha and briefly Galadin your lightning magic was the final straw.
Xha was too busy being pummeled to notice, but it is your lightning that blasts the soldiers off of him, giving him a chance to stand unsteadily to his feet again. Blackened with round holes blown in their armor from where your lightning made contact, they back off from the barbarian, clutching their weapons warily. Their numbers are greatly reduced, and only one of them (the one that was holding the other end of the net) remains on horseback. Their grand attack did not go as planned and you see their resolve weakening. What do you do?
Hakonyr looks smugly at the faltering warriors.
"You've been -" he blows at the thin wisps of smoke trailing from his fingertips. "Thunder struck."
Eyes flashing, he draws on a trickle of his power to amplify his voice and give a thunderous echo: "If any of you feel like dying, by all means stay. Otherwise, I'd advise you to FLEE!"
Hakonyr looks smugly at the faltering warriors.
"You've been -" he blows at the thin wisps of smoke trailing from his fingertips. "Thunder struck."
Hector la Pree has an abiding appreciation for AC/DC references, and the crowd goes wild when victory music starts playing inside the Tower of Light. As the soldiers falter and flee, falling into the earth as they run, you see the drake hissing and spitting steam. It's furious with rage at the impudence of its prey, but it's unable to approach any further due to Jarad's forbiddence magic.
Instead, it begins thrashing its feet on the ground, hissing loudly, and flinging its head back and forth, issuing some sort of call from its throat. What do you do?
Xha struggles to fight off the stabbing blades and kicking feet.
[dice=hack and slash]1d6+1d6+2He fails, but he tries.
Luckily, your impotent flailing was covered up by Hakonyr's flashy theatrics, but the punishment for your failure roll is that you're fully aware that he saved your ass. How embarrassing!
.....Hector la Pree has an abiding appreciation for AC/DC references,...
Instead, it begins thrashing its feet on the ground, hissing loudly, and flinging its head back and forth, issuing some sort of call from its throat. What do you do?
To Hakonyr: "Thank you friend. My playmates were getting a bit rough."
Xha takes a drink of a heavy black liquid from his battered wine-skin.
"Now, where is my horse?"
Your horse is looking askance at Jarad, shying away from Hakonyr. You think you could probably get a few more minutes' riding out of it, with the more difficult riding maneuvers requiring Defy Danger checks. Also, armor did apply, yes.
Indeed, many of the horses still remain, enough for the whole party should you take the time to round them up. However, the drake is making them anxious and several of them look ready to bolt, military training or no.
{note -1 Wisdom (concussion)}
"Grab your horses, Friends. Let the lizard taste the wind."
"We ride!"
The tired Father keeps concentrated in the divine power he's calling to keep the drake at bay waiting for the others to grab their horses,
"I can't hold it too much longer, be fast" He would love a place to rest and eat something.
"Pfft. Let the lizard taste the Storm!"
Hakonyr begins making complicated gestures with his arms, lightning crackling off his limbs.
Taking the moment of (relative) calm to return his staff to hand, Xim'wa looks over at the drake, which is currently calling out to something, and points his staff at it. "Enough of that, thank you. Chu'a!"
Zim'wa called the spirit with the intention of having it bind the drake's mouth while he and the others got some distance. Unfortunately...
Zim'wa, you can see from the direction of the cellar that there's a growing light coming up from below. The drake that Jarad has at bay is starting to grow bolder, pacing back and forth at a certain distance away from the cleric and glaring at him with animal hunger, glancing now and then back to Cappy. Does everyone mount up a horse and flee?
Galadin will ensure that everyone is mounted before he hoists himself onto a steed.
Make haste gentlemen! There'll be no use for burnt offerings at this point of the adventure!
"Scoop me up!" He shouts, then mutters under his breath at his insufferably large companions.
Looking back to keep an eye on the drake he keeps another dagger at the ready...
For some reason, the drake reacts very poorly to Zim'wa's attempt at spiritual magic. "UH OH!" Hector la Pree's voice booms. "Someone's getting angry!"
The magic is swirling around the drake's open mouth like a blue mist, but the drake burns the mist away with a blast of its mouth.
When it lowers its huge head again, its eyes are aflame with rage, and it exhales a cone of fire at Jarad! Jarad, you're too close to move away in time - choose one as a result of Zim'wa's failed roll: your spell fizzles as you use its divine energy to repel the damage of the fire, thus allowing the drake complete freedom of movement or maintain the spell, keeping the drake at a distance but take 1d8 damage that ignores armor.
"Ruuuuuuuuuuuuun!!" Jarad screams and breaking his concentration on the spell he manages to repel the cone of fire with some divine energy, still some of his beard catches fire and he turns black from the heat and smoke.
Feeling the heat of the drake's breath, he turns around and starts running, hoping not to be the drake's next meal.
Agent Kerrigan's adventuring party mounts up on the terracotta horses and follows Xha off across the badlands-like terrain. Far off in the distance, you see the tall castle-like structure that contains the level's Boss. Lying between you and the castle is a labyrinth of tall stone pillars and cliff walls - you should be able to lose your pursuers in there.
More drakes are emerging from the cellar door that Cappy opened, called by the first Drake's cries! The drakes begin to lope after the horses on all fours, but it looks like you're going to outrun them - until the drakes unfurl their wings.
There are three of them now, and they all take to the skies, breathing huge swaths of fire from their mouths that scorch the earth beneath you. There's no sign of the other adventuring parties as you flee.
Nearly the entire landscape behind your horses is aflame! The drakes chase you from above, seeking to cook their meal before they eat it! Roll Defy Danger to escape the burning flames inside the labyrinth!
Note: -1 Wis concussion
Spattered with mud and gore the Barbarian drives his fading horse over, under, around and in one memorable case through the obsticle filled labyrinth.
... A wingless drake climbs up onto the ruined walls ...
...until the drakes unfurl their wings.
But for now RUN AWAY!
Zim'wa winces slightly as the spirit is forced to dissipate itself to avoid the blast, the carved totem it came from audibly cracking as its ties to the spirit were withdrawn. He has little time to dwell on the matter, however, and is soon hanging on for all he's worth, trusting the horse to follow the 'herd' and escape the drakes rather than steering himself. The horse had all the motivation it needed, he just needed to hang on.
Father Jarad tries to not fall form the horse while trying to put out the fire in his beard.
Galadin grits his teeth and focuses through the flames in order to get to safety.
Smoky, but safe, he drives through.
Galadin also moves into position to defend any allies that may not be as durable.
Stay strong!
Cappy tries to dodge the flames and seems to almost run between them,
Galadin and Cappy's horses pull away from the others, reaching the relative safety of the rock columns first. Galadin immediately rides out again, putting himself in danger but allowing Xha's horse to escape to safety where it previously would have been badly burned. Galadin, your horse takes the brunt of the drake's flame, and the terracotta skin hardens under the extreme heat. You guide it back to safety but you see cracks forming in your mount. Take 1d6+3 damage that ignores armor.
Jarad barely manages to make it in, hot on Galadin's heels - but the cleric slips from the saddle as he slaps at his beard! With a shout, the rotund human's heel gets caught in the clay stirrup, and the horse begins to flee in an unchecked panic deeper into the labyrinth! Jarad, you get one more defy danger to try to improve your situation - but no using your wisdom stat to cling to things, no matter how good of an idea it is, you stinker.
Lagging behind everyone else is Zim'wa. The spirits urge him on, but the flames of the drake soon drown out all of their voices, and all you can hear is the air burning on either side of you. Your horse makes it into the labyrinth, but take 1d10+3 damage that ignores armor as you're very badly burned.
Hi! Xha spins his horse and dashes after the wayward cleric. For the second time that day Xha leaps from the back of his stony steed... and lands safely astride the Cleric's panicking horse.
"You city folk have an interesting way of riding. You must teach it to me someday" Xha says with a smile.
He successfully landed on your horse and aided you, so take a +1 to your roll, but yes, I'd still like a DD roll. :)
"When I was your age I could have done that" Jarad complains to the barbarian with a sense of jealously trying to keep his grip on the horse.
Having been the closest to the drakes to start with, and having attributed to a decent part of at least one of their ires, Xim'wa had little hope of completely outrunning them, let alone staying out of the flames. He can do little but brace himself as the fires wash over him, trying not to scream in agony lest his insides get roasted as well.
The drakes are too large to fit in the psuedo-caves from above or the side, so after a moment's hissing they fly off in easier prey. You're able to catch your breath, for the moment.
The familiar empty robe and hood from before manifests itself in the air above you. "WELL DONE!" Hector la Pree's voice booms out, before the hooded robe vanishes once more.
Agent Kerrigan appears in his place, looking ghostly and insubstantial. He looks down at his clipboard with a bored expression. "Yes, you did well," he murmurs, with a hint of a smile on his lips. He nods at each of you before holding out a small jewelry box. As he holds it out, the ghost box solidifies before your very eyes into a real box, which opens to reveal a ring for each of you.
"These rings are positional locators, attuned to the rest of your adventuring party," the vision of Kerrigan states flatly. "Depress the center gem, and it will make you aware which direction to go to rejoin them. These should be useful in helping you survive."
Cappy bites the ring to see if it gold and then pockets it, unsure of how he feels about all this location finding and people watching him. "How's a sneak thief supposed to, ya know, SNEAK!" he grumbles.
He turn's his attention to the maze with a smile, finding it more to his liking. He scoots a bit ahead of the rest, careful to stay in the shadows, he surveys the area for anything that might be amiss.
You creep forward into the darkness, Cappy. You discover a trap - by nearly activating it.
You're watching where you step, looking down at the floor, when a surprise trip-wire at chest level (so still pretty low to the ground) snaps around you!
With your quick thief reflexes, you're able to grab hold of the nearly-invisible tripwire and keep it taut, but you can't let go of the wire without the trap getting triggered. You look up, and realize that the trap is connected to a contraption in the ceiling that is holding back several huge boulders that would crush you to paste if they fell. What do you do?
Kerrigan's apparition glances over at Cappy's predicament, then shakes his head and sighs. "The dangers of the Tower have just begun...try not to die too quickly, would you? I'd like a decent return on my investment." With that, the vision of Agent Kerrigan disappears once more, taking the box with him and leaving you the rings.
Father Jarad puts the ring on his finger,
"This will be useful"
He saw what Cappy has done and sighs "C'mon Cappy, give us a moment to rest" still he's glad Cappy found the trap...
From somewhere off in the distance, coming from deeper within the labyrinth, you hear a long, wailing scream.
Cappy, you can tell as you look around from the faint green overlay in your vision that the "camera" spell is watching through your eyes currently.
Trying the ring on for a moment and frowning. To tell the truth Xha finds it a tad gaudy but loot is loot.
Picking a handy rock or lying down horse Xha settles in to rest.