"Hey, I'm practically an NPC. Why am being attacked?"
"I don't have any class levels either! 2 damage is a big deal for me!"
Chloe toddles forward and invokes protection on Tekkis.
Sarusa and Gellig double move to the edge of the bushes for soft cover and Entangle prep, being sure to make a lot of noise to attract the drakes.
Karo moves up next to Plod and readies to throw the skull at mama when she moves closer.
While Morin continues to hide, Karozekas rushes forward and lobs the monkey-like, goblinoid skull at Qarxoosla. It breaks against her toothy maw, and immediately engulfs the beast in flames.
Enraged, the she-drake screams as the roiling flames blacken her wings and silvery-green scales, small patches of which fall away like the skin of a well-cooked trout.
While Chloe further bolsters Tekkis from harm, the two newly arrived drakelings speed forward on their delicate bat-like wings before unleashing more of their acidic phlegm on their mother's newest tormentor.
Cat-quick, Tekkis drops his mattock and pulls out his crossbow and fires it at the nearest drakeling.
The bolt lodges in the meaty portion of the winged lizard's gut while the stalwart half-orc calmly retrieves his mattock.
Sarusa and Gellig make for the shrubbery, croaking and gesticulating lustily to capture the drakes attention, which unfortunately seems solely focused on the momentary inferno which has engulfed their mother.
Morin manages to slip behind an area of particularly dense foliage in the bush where he is hiding, avoiding all of the disgusting, burning goo that the drakelings have spat at him and his friends.
He then takes a couple of quiet steps closer to the large drake, keeping well hidden within the bushes. He sets his blades on the ground and draws his bow off his shoulder, then nocks and shoots an arrow at the mother drake.
Plod makes a break for the trees, coming dangerously close to actually running!
Menawhile, Corbyn's arrow sails harmlessly past Qarxoosla.
Spit Timers:
hp:
d1: 26(26)
d2: 26(26)
d4: 18(26)
d5: 26(26)
d6: 26(26)
Q: 35(58)
As Plod trots away, one of the drakelings screams, unwilling to allow its dinner to escape. In a looping route, it flies into the trees to harry the faithful beast of burden, weaving in and out of the thick branches with relative ease.
Another of Qarxoosla's brood charges in at Corbyn.
The drakeling that had been attempting to flank the party spits contemptuously at the fleeing Plod, before winging forward to corral Sarusa and Gelig.
As for the mother of drakes herself, she swoops in low to land before Corbyn, Karozekas and Tekkis, snapping at the offending elfin arcanist and lashing at Corbyn with her tail.
Shortly thereafter, Morin emerges from his hiding place and sinks a feathered shaft deep into Qarxoosla's breast, who screams in rage at the diminutive sailor's effrontery.
"Run, Run
as fast as you can
you can't catch me
I'm the gingerbread horse!
"Oh NO! Having trouble moving."
Plod readies an attack for any enemy who comes within range.
Karo takes a step backward, while drawing a gooey, tar-smelling bag from his from his pack and tosses it at the mother drake.
"Then please, t-tell me what to do." Chloe murmurs, stepping forward. She casts a quick blessing on Corbyn, not smelling enough humanoid blood to validate much else.
Karozekas lands the tanglefoot bag on Qarxoosla and while the sticky resin coats her powerful hind legs well, she does not appear to be tied to the earth.
The two newly arrived drakes fly down, charging Tekkis.
Despite their combined efforts, only one penetrates the half-orc's thick armor, and even that results in nothing more than a glancing blow.
The mother is the main concern," growls Sarusa. She casts CL4 Entangle at Qarxoosla.
She moves next to Morin to get some partial cover from the drake behind them.
Gellig moves near Drake 5 and attacks.
Corbyn's arrows sail harmlessly past Qarxoosla.
Tekkis hefts his mattock and grunts, swinging at the drakelings that harry him.
His attack bursts through the first drakeling and towards the second but is unable to pierce the creature's scaly hide.
DC 17
Sarusa then imparts purpose to the teeming life of the nearby plants and grasses, causing them to reach and twine about those who trod upon them while Gellig tries without success to strike the young drake above him.
The drakeling that pursued the noble steed known as Plod swooped in, intent on sampling the flesh it planned to eat. Plod's hooves did little to persuade it otherwise, although he did strike a mighty blow.
Between the foul beast's slavering maw and lashing tail, poor Plod does not stand a chance, and drops to the earth.
Meanwhile, the drakeling between Corbyn and Tekkis easily evades the grasping plants about it and joins its brethren in the assault on Tekkis, flanking the stalwart half-orc with its monstrous mother.
Despite its tactical advantage, it is unable to penetrate the half-orc's thick armor.
Another drakeling strikes at Gellig, annoyed by the frog's impertinent attack...
...but only manages a glancing blow with its tail.
Finally, Qarxoosla herself, seeing the horrendous damage to her progeny caused by the armored hulk known as Smalltooth, unleashes her full fury upon the warrior.
Where her children's smaller teeth failed, she succeeds, biting through the metal plate to wound and gash the thick muscles of Tekkis' shoulder.
As he becomes ensnared in the lively vegetation, Karo attempts to cast a spell on the defensive.
And he loses the spell as he arms are trussed up by dandelions.
Morin is taken by surprise as the vegetation around him takes on a life of its own, and it grabs hold of him firmly. He's able to apply his years of experience wriggling out of trouble, however, and he slips free of the plants' grasp, then drops his bow and draws his swords. As he does so, he calls out to Tekkis, "Let's get on either side of her and improve our chances of surviving this!"
|
Is the only word that manages to escape Corbyn's mouth as he watches Drake 2 drop Plod to the ground. Suddenly corbyn does not feel well. It's almost as if time has slowed down. All corbyn hears is his heart beat and the sound of his panting breath. He simultaneously spins to face drake 2 while nocking an arrow, lines up his sight and releases.
Sarusa utters a low and steady stream of curse words in Elven. She casts Flare Burst to catch Qarsoola and Drake #4 in the 10' radius burst.
"Shoot flaming arrows! Light them up!" she calls to Corbyn, or anyone else.
Gellig takes another less than efficacious bite at the drake.
"Wh-where is Plod?!" Chloe sputters, unable to see the animal in question, though her life link with Tekkis proves to be working.
Chloe: O 65
Karozekas: Q 67
Morin: R 68
D1: R 64
D4: Dead (I forgot to add in the crossbow damage from a prior round)
D6: S 64 (this one is correct)
Qarxoosla: S,T 66,67
Plod: J 75
D2: I 74
D5: H 68
Gellig: G 67
Sarusa is in the correct spot
Karozekas spell fizzles as the writhing plants disrupt the normally smooth motions of his spellcasting.
Morin is temporarily held up by the bush he was hiding in previously, but manages to extricate himself and prepare for melee.
Chloe sends a wash of healing energy, but is unable to reach Plod or Gellig with it.
One of the remaining drakes tries Tekkis' armor again
but its feeble strikes do nothing while its sibling lies twitching its death throes while it's viscous blood seeps into the muddy ground.
Corbyn avoids Sarusa's writhing vines and sends two arrows at Plod's slayer, the second of which finds its mark, eliciting a howl of rage and pain.
Tekkis lays about himself once more, striking mighty blows on Qarxoosla's children, though they stubbornly cling to life.
Sarusa's spell flashes around Qarxoosla, Tekkis and one of the remaining drakelings, but all shrug off its effects.
Gellig strives mightily, but is still unable to wound his opponent.
The murderous drakeling who slew the noble Plod, having suffered Corbyn's arrow once, takes wing, and coughs up another ball of acidic phlegm, splattering Corbyn and Karozekas.
DC 12 Ref for half and to avoid entanglement.
Meanwhile, the other remaining drakeling strikes at Gellig once more.
For her part, Qarxoosla focuses on the slayer of her young, striking out at Tekkis with all her might.
Gellig manages to handily avoid the assault, but Tekkis is not so lucky, and is battered and crushed by the jaws and tail of the furious Mother of Drakes.
The stalwart half-orc manages to withstand the damage, but it is plain to any observer that the next blow to land may very well do him in.
Morin slips through the grasping vines to get in a better position on the great drake's flank, then strikes at her with a well-placed blade.
Chloe winces.
Being that Tekkis is close enough to Tekkis to administer aid, she does, simply praying that Plod makes it through okay.
The movement is difficult, but she stays mostly balanced and chants. The telltale light of a curing spell emits from her fingers.
Karo plods through the overgrown vegetation, moving to the north, then turns and fires an arrow at the mother.
The remaining drakeling proves to be too elusive for Sarusa's grasping plants, but is unable to land a solid strike against Tekkis.
Sarusa steps to N69 and smashes the drake with her shillelagh.
The burning mucus is too much for Corbyn, who in his anger is unable to exact revenge on the drake that murdered poor, noble Plod.
Meanwhile, Tekkis swings mightily with his mattock, piercing not one but two drakelings and pinning them both to the ground, dead.
Meanwhile, Sarusa chokes up on her Shillelagh and succeeds in braining the drakeling between her and Gellig. The small dragonette shakes and shudders on the grassy sward between them before hissing out, with a bit of fight left in it.
Plod's slayer charges Corbyn, bringing teeth and tail to bear against
the antagonist archer.
The drakeling between Sarusa and Gellig turns its attention from the ineffective amphibian and towards Sarusa and her magic club.
Perhaps this is the runt of Mother Qarxoosla's litter, for its attacks fare no better against Sarusa than they did against her croaking companion.
With two more of her children dead at Tekkis' hands, Qarxoosla's rage knows no bounds.
In her fury, her powerful jaws are unable to savage the warrior, but her striking tail nearly brings him to his knees.
Morin lashes out with both blades at the drake, but fails to connect.
Chloe remains in place, her knees shaking from all the carnage and uncertainty. However, she knows enough to continue pumping out her healing powers.