Oret, seeing that the time has arrived, jumps down to the ravine floor and lands hard. The earth around the point where he lands ripples and roughens. He looks at the rangers and laughs, "That small blaze isn't your main concern right now - I am. Come now, let me teach you a lesson in humility." He assumes a defensive posture, awaiting the approach of the riders.
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The rangers look at Oret in surprise.
Cracks in the ground extend from the monk, exposing sharp edges of the dessicated ground. All around him, teeny-tiny rivers of sand gently slide down into the trench.
Captain Varning handles the surprise quite well. "You three - Arrest that impudent conjurer. Try not to kill him."
<- they are all at ini 7
The two guards furthest from Oret aim their shortbows at his legs. The third guy, in front of the other two, waits for them to shoot and then runs forward to knock Oret on the head with the flat of his blade.
and
and
These man have obviously trained as a team; they wait for eachother to strike almost simultaneously. Too bad the man waving his sword hasn't taken the crusted mud in accoun: his charge comes to a rather uneventful halt, and his attack is reduced to little more than a ballet pose. He looks a little annoyed at being embarrassed.
Captain Varning spurs him on: "Oh come on Rickard, don't play around. If he wanted to dance, he'd have asked. just arrest the man!"
Upon seeing Oret jump down and challenge the soldiers, Aerent calls upon Furcas to bless his trident.
At the next opportunity, Aerent charges out of the brush and leaps at the nearest soldier!
From underneath the burning trees, Sindran begins to chant a spell. He brings his arms wide and then holds them level to his chest, the thumb and index finger of both hands touching at their tips to form a circle, the remaining fingers extended. "Rodhull."
A burning globe of fire materializes above Captain Varning, growing steadily larger until it looks almost big enough to swallow a man whole. It falls to the ground, threatening the man beneath it.
Sindran grins and exhales, fire wrapping itself around his arms before fading.
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Varning and his men spot the ball of fire and quickly realize the predicament they're in.
Varning: "Curses - It's a trap! MEN! Pull down that tree! DIG your way out of here if you want to live!"
He points to the tree at N3, and the rangers at J L O spend the next rounds uprooting the tree and creating a makeshift slope out of this soon-to-be-hellhole.
the captain has no time to manage the details, because Sindran's ball of fire descends upon Varning and his warhorse Varlet.
management:
okay, looks like it's all of you, then all of me in the ini order.
Both rangers at F and H shoot an arrow at Aerent.
and
and
And for good measure, the riderless warhorse takes another kick at Aerent:
and
In round 1, only Letho is left, then Oret is up for round 2.
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Talon's escapade in the rookery)
With no soldiers left to patrol the battlements, flying to (43) the rookery on top floor of Balentyne's south-eastern tower is easy. The man-sized windows are always open, so ravens can come and go when needed. The rookery is home to hundreds of messenger ravens each ready to fly in case of an attack by the savage tribes of the east. You would never guess by looking at this foul smelling, dark chamber littered with bird droppings, that this is one of the key strategic places in Balentyne.
The ravens are tended to by a mad old codger named Martin Rayard, who is currently in the opposite side of the room, talking to his birds like a normal person would speak to their children. But as soon as he spots Talon, he flies of the handle: "A hawk! GO AWAY Hawk! Don't eat my ravens! GO AWAY! My Lovelies, peck his eyes out! Chase the bad bird away!"
Talon probably has a higher initiative, but as soon as he's able, Martin calls up a Raven Swarm from the rookery. The raven swarm engulfs Talon (which provokes an attack of opportunity) and snap at his wings, arms and legs from all directions - doing damage, no attack roll needed. The overwhelming swirling mass of birds can also pose a serious distraction - against which Talon will need to make a DC12 Fort save or be nauseated by the mass of birds.
Fort
Init
Talon swears in Strix at the unexpected onslaught, then he reaches into his component pouch and flings multicolored sand into the swarm. He cries out "Shreikla hvul!" and the sand explodes outwards in a blinding mass of colors
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Also, remember you get an attack of opportunity against the swarm as they engulfed you. I strongly suggest you take it.
If you fail the caster level check, the swarm will continue snapping at you for damage. They're plucking your feathers from all angles!
att
damage
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Talon wills himself to ignore the painful bites, and makes the room explode in colours. The ravens flying around him are instantly dazed, and stop snapping at the Strix.
They drop out of the air as the cloud of ravens becomes a rain of ravens.
Mad Martin screams in mad frustration as he listens to the sounds of his 'lovelies' thudding on the cold, hard stone, one after another, dunk-dunk-thunk. He then seems to have a moment of clarity, fidgets around behind his back, and comes out looking both mad and smug at once.
In his hand is a small signal horn - and he blows a simple but *very* loud tune on it. Everyone in the fortress must've heard it.
Taking a seat for a moment, Caladwhen ponders what commands to give the Golem. Starring at the bulky construct, she considers the physical strength it possesses.
Telepathically communicating with her familiar, Caladwhen muses A mechanical monster like this doubles easily as a workhorse, wouldn't you say Lars?
Standing up slowly, Caladwhen moves around the Golem and speaks quietly to it in ancient elven tongue.
It's done. Meet me back at the Inn Lars, though check on Talon before you leave. Alert me if he is in any peril.
Gathering her things, Caladwhen smooths the wrinkles out of her clothes and cloak. Grabbing some scrolls in her hand, she heads for the door. Opening it, Caladwhen walks forward again disguised as Havelyn.
Striking an even more convincing tone that whence she arrived, Havelyn barks at the guards in a stern commanding voice "I've found what I came for. Now then, stay sharp and vigilant soldiers, you hear me?" Again, not waiting for a response, Cala turns on her heels and makes her way from the lab.
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"open the portcullis and gates at the predesignated time."
that should be a little more specific...
The remembrance service starts at 10 AM. At what time *exactly* on wednesday should the golem get up?While Cala finishes up with the Ice Golem, Lars flies out the hole in wall, amusing himself terribly at being able to exit through what was supposed to be a solid structure.
Moments later, he returns, looking not so amused.
"Lady Caladwhen - It seems the Stryx is in conflict."
The squeal of Mad Martin's signal horn sounds over the fortress.
Talon shakes his head "You just couldn't do this the easy way could you old man?" he raises his sword "Shrieka!" and lets the electricity flow through his arm into it, swinging it at him
Att
Damage
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The thundering, near deafening crackling of a *really close* lightning strike makes every single person in the fortress look up to the rookery in surprise.
A few dead ravens tumble down the tower, and then, silence.
Lars interrupts his report to look outside at the tower for a moment.
"Ah. Yes." When he speaks again, he looks somewhat annoyed. "Forgive my earlier interruption, mylady. Your...esteemed colleague is not in any difficulty."
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Talon is looking at the smoking corpse of Martin Rayard.
The ravens, with no one to guide them, quiet down. Some simply leave the tower and are never seen again. A few of the more venturous ravens slowly step towards the toasty Martin, and peck at his pouch of bird seed. Most, however, return to the rafters.
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Talon grabs some of the ravens food and throws it on top of Martin's body, speaking in Auran to them "Dinner time, come get your food" and after all or most of the ravens fly to one side of the room, he grabs what he can and puts it in front of the door to slow down anybody from getting in. Then he pulls out some sparkling white ground mica and tosses it up into the air "Gleish rak toh" and it silently explodes outward in a blinding flash. The instant the ravens feel the affect, a scene of blood and flying feathers begins
Oret moves quickly and attacks ruthlessly.
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round 1:
Letho throws a bomb at L
for damage to the rider and 4 splash damage to the horse at L, horse at K, rider at K.
round 2:
Letho throws a bomb at K
for damage to the rider and 4 splash damage to the horse at K, horse at L, rider at L.
required ride checks for these riders in round 1 and 2:
rider L is burnt to a crisp, and drops off his warhorse. The warhorse rears and tries to run forward in panic.
rider K is seriously injured.
Aerent moves forward stabbing at the guard who attacked him .
"Tch." Sindran, keeping his pose, moves his hands to follow Captain Varning, keeping him in the middle of the circle.
He turns his head to look at the Scout, just remembering him. "You know, I heard one of them say that you're a eunuch. Is that true? Geisa."
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Aerent shows it's easy to fight men on horseback, as long as you've got a long enough weapon. The trident easily passes below the ranger's breastplate, and the weapon leaves quite a mess.
The west-most horse attempts to flee, while the horse @ G kicks, rears, and flees.
for
Both horses provoke an attack of opportunity from Aerent as they run off to the west.
Edit: Aerent, Balentyne is SE of here.
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Varning again attempts to dodge the ball'o'fire,
but this time, Sindran anticipates, and moves the sphere directly in the path of the rider. The horse remains unharmed, but the same cannot be said for captain Varning.
Screaming in agony, he takes a second to catch his breath and commands his men: "Light! Flee! To Balentyne! Flee!"
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The remaining rangers do as they're told, and attempt to ride off.
H flees west:
J and O were using ropes and their bucklers to uproot the tree and dig a path up, but they drop what they're doing and mount up.
R and T flee to the east;
However, the rangers' predicament only increases, as the horses bolt and refuse to approach our threatening villains.
All the combat maneuvers fail, which means the mounts end their turns directly in front of our villains - much like lambs to the slaughter.
Presented with new targets, Oret again attempts to bring them both down. This time, however, he throws caution to the wind.
Talon eyes the door to make sure his small barricade is holding, but otherwise ignores the noise. He gets ready to summon a web in case they break down the door before he's done
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updated map
"Is that so? How Interesting(!). Your mother never seemed to think so, pup!"
He charges Sindran with his longsword.
for , -2 AC this round.
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"My mother?" Sindran says, evading the blow with ease, his hands continuing to follow Captain Varning. "You must have been desperate if you went to her. I must wonder why." He looks meaningfully at the guard.
"Though I can't imagine she must have been any fun, with what happened to her. But if you come closer," he says, giving the scout a lewd grin, "I'm sure I can give you a better time."
Aerent lets the horses run past, but he takes the opportunity to set his aim and attack the fleeing scout!
Cala, you're about done in the main tower I guess? Where do you go and what do you look like?
Yes, I believe so. I'll post later this evening, just taking care of some marking this afternoon.