"Strange lot." Grith wonders to himself. "What brings them here?"
He stays silent and keeps his eyes forward.
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Toots leads you on with a shrug of her shoulders. You plunge deeper into the woods, cutting your way through undergrowth until you have penetrated about 100 feet into the boundary. Toots calls everyone to a halt and says, "Just ahead is a clearing where they lair. I've tracked them here before, but I was never with a group well-armed enough to make a kill."
She creeps closer to the entrance of the clearing. "We need to make some noise in the clearing to draw them to the surface. I'm going in. Cover me."
She slips quietly into the clearing, but then begins whooping and dancing about as a woman possessed. Sure enough, she makes a quick retreat as two large insect-like creatures burst from the ground of the clearing.
She dances clear and hoists her spear. "Remember, we need one intact! The other one we can dissect if necessary."
She thrusts her spear at the nearest ankheg, the spear point going deep into its carapace. The ankheg reels backward, pulling the spear from her grasp! She swears loudly and draws a dagger.
INITIATIVE
Toots
Kal
Devon
Alcelia
Grith
Ankhegs
Devon was nervous but ready as Toot informed them of her plan to draw the Ankhegs to the surface. He hoped they wouldn't be throwing rocks at a bee nest and thankfully they seemed to only draw out a pair. He judged that being on the ground with creatures that could burrow like these ones likely was a bad idea so he took to a tree climbing up to a sturdy branch and unslinging his bow. As Toot struck the first Ankheg he trained his arrow on the beast looking for a weak spot and letting loose toward its underbelly.
Grith steps forward and plants his hammer in the ground before him.
"Save him that one!" He commands with a gesture to the speared beast as he channels fire between his hands, unleashing a ribbon of flame like a serpent that coils around and strikes at the beast.
Kal lifts just a bit off the ground, enough to stay out of melee range, and summons a blast of lightning towards the beast they weren't trying to keep intact, but misjudged the distance and managed to do little more than incinerate a tree he was floating just a bit too close to.
Gesturing slightly, Alcelia summoned chains once again, quite content to try and tie down foes for the others to strike.
Devon balanced himself in the tree and flinched as a nearby tree burst into fire from a lightning blast from one of these mad mages. "What are you doing!? That could have..." He trailed off as he saw Toot get struck a nasty dazing wound. He gritted his teeth and felt a sudden surge of insight flowing through him. "Everyone we need to focus our attacks together instead of just working separately! Kal I'm going to shoot an arrow into the top of ones head between the chitin, focus your lightning through that into its body! When it convulses Grith pour your flames into its mouth! NOW!"
Multiple attackers can attempt to combine their attacks in order to overwhelm an opponent’s resistance. The attacks to be combined must have the same effect and resistance and be within 5 ranks of each other. So attacks all doing Damage against Toughness can combine, but not with a Mental Blast, for example, which is a Damage effect, but resisted by Will rather than Toughness.
The attackers must all delay to the same point in the initiative order (that of the slowest attacker). Each attacker makes an attack check against the target’s defense. Effects not requiring an attack check may be used in a team attack; count the effect as having one degree of success, if it is not the main attack.
Take the largest effect rank of the attacks that hit and count the combined degrees of success for the other attacks: one degree provides a +2 circumstance bonus to the rank of the main attack, three or more provides a +5 circumstance bonus. Unlike a normal team check, degrees of failure do not reduce success; those attacks simply miss and have no effect. See Team Checks in The Basics for more.
Kal nods when Devon suggests they coordinate, and starts gathering his lightning, ready to supercharge the arrowhead that he shot as it struck the beast, but mistimes it and the lightning goes off track, striking the ground just a moment after the arrow flew through the space.
Grith shrugs, thinking the plan seems a bit dramatic and overly complicated. But even so his own part is easy enough, and akin to what he was going to do anyway.
As the coordinated assault plays out, he channels a ribbon of fire straight into the ankheg, towards the mouth.
As the lightning flashes into the ground, Kal clenches his fist, Not a chance he thinks, and lets his transmutation race in front of the lightning, transmuting the dirt to sand and from sand to metal, guiding the shockwave through the ground and back up into the ankheg.
Alcelia clenched her fist as the battle continued - although she wasn't sure this situation had enough desperation to warrant the name - and chains continued to wrap around her target as she worked to keep it held down and as vulnerable as possible.
Devon seeing their combined attack having a powerful effect on the vulnerable monster draws another arrow and fires it from his tree at the badly hurt one choosing to aim for a open wound and let the others do their own thing rather then trying to coordinate such a strike again.
Kal attempts to blast the bound ankheg, but his lightning seems stubbornly opposed to actually going where he wants it.
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The beast struggles against the mystical chains weighing it down, causing them to give way. The remaining ankheg snaps at Grith, but comes up empty-handed. As the first (wounded) animal's head comes low, Toots makes a leap for her spear but she catches only air! Still, near the ankheg, she slashes with her dagger but the attack misses. Kal attempts to electrocute it but only manages to turn a tree to ash. Devon lets fly another arrow, striking the creature in the carapace again and bouncing away.
With an ankheg now bearing down on him Grith sidesteps the blow and draws his hammers. He strikes out with the heavier while he uses the lighter to control the beast's advances.
Devon pulls another arrow back past his cheek aiming at the wounded monster an letting another arrow fly.
Hmm... chains weren't much good. "I'll guard you." she called out, mindful of the importance of communication as her ward whizzed through the air.
Kal keeps trying, at this point mainly trying to get his lightning to show that he could as much as anything.
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Toots lashes out with her dagger, hoping to further wound the furious ankheg, but she comes up short. Kal continues his crusade of deforestation. Devon launches another arrow, but it is again turned away by the insectoid beasts armored carapace! Alcelia switches to a spell of deflection to aid her companions. Grith launches an attack against the one that lashed out at him, striking it on the head, but the blow is turned aside!
The wounded ankheg rears back and spits a gob of brown, slimy substance at Devon . The other snaps again at Grith, but is turned away by the defensive movements of Grith's hammer!
Kal gives up, and instead of throwing lightning this time, he extends his transmutation into the area around the less-injured ankheg, forming a bubble of sandstone around the creature and isolating it from the fight.
Grith begins to laugh as he dances with the Ankheg, deflecting its dangerous maw as he swings again.
Devon is shocked that the creature suddenly targeted him that he hesitates for a brief second. Then his instincts kick in and he leaps to the side trying to land on another supporting branch all while drawing his bow and firing back at the Ankheg. His body moves instinctively as if he wasn't behind the wheel as a small part of him is shocked by this.
Noticing the attacks coming in, Alcelia continued to keep her ward up to protect the other fighters - the last thing they needed now was serious injuries. She got a lot of funny looks when she treated those...
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Devon is covered in the sticky brown goo that burns like fire! The tree branch blackens and withers beneath him, but he manages to resist the effects.
Kal tries a different tack, attempting to encase the creature in sand. The massive bug tries to move out of the area of effect, but it moves too slowly and the brute is caught like a rat in a trap.
The wounded ankheg snaps at Grith, but is turned back by the dwarf's warding hammer. Grith returns the favor, but the blow is turned aside by the carapace. Devon sends another arrow it's way, the projectile sinking deep into the insect's side, leaving it reeling!
Ankheg Toughness: -4
Devon screams as the acid hits and he rips off his clothing spending his turn moving to a safer perch that isn't about to collapse under his feet.
It seems they can't hurt each other as the ankheg can't get past his hammerwork and Grith can't make a dent in its tough hide. It's a little reckless, but he decides to put his whole body into the strike this time, hoping he can still keep the thing away with his other hammer.
Kal looks at Devon trying desperately to get the acid off him, and with a wave of his hand, all the goo turns to sand and falls harmlessly to the ground below.
Alcelia let her floating defense fade as the other seemed to have the situation entirely under control. ...Well, mostly. "Here." she said, walking over and patting Devon's shoulder. "You can walk it off."
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Toots presses the attack with her dagger, as Kal transmutes the acid to sand, causing it to fall away harmlessly. Toots swings her dagger, but the blow falls short of the intended target! Devon moves to a safer branch and begins to strip his clothing away until Kal's spell takes effect and the elf relaxes. Alcelia casts a spell of healing on Devon as Grith slams the ankheg again across the jaw, the bug recoiling in pain, but it remains standing.
Ankheg Condition: -5 Toughness, dazed
Devon is relieved as the many mages come to his aid and then he turns back to his task of helping in the fight to hurt the creature. He checks his bow to make sure it is not damaged and then pulls out another arrow and takes careful aim before firing at the stubborn Ankheg.
Grith's hammers continue their arcs as he seems to be getting the better of the beast.
Kal prepares to take action, pulling a spell to the tips of his fingers, to transmute any acid the ankheg tries to spit to sand before it strikes any of the hunters.
Satisfied that her arts had worked their usual wonders, Alcelia let her healing powers fade away as she watched Grith aim to smack the beast around. Best to not throw too many powers into a melee, especially when they might hit another... she did, however, scan the area around the battlefield to be sure no other foes were approaching.
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Seeing the ankheg reeling, Toots decides to try again for her spear. Flexing her leg muscles, she leaps for the spear haft. She snags the spear and swings up onto the monster's back, yanking the weapon free and plunging it into the beast again. And once again, the thick carapace turns the blow. Toots continues to hang on.
Kal stands by to transmute the acid to sand, as Devon launches another arrow. The arrows sinks deeply into the beast's eye, but it roars and rears back again. Grith hits it hard again and this time, the creature goes down! Toots jams her spear into its other eye, leaving it spasming for 5 minutes before it finally lies still.
Devon slowly climbed down to the ground as the monster finished its death throes looking around at the group. His shirt had multiple spattered holes exposing more of his upper torso and arms which were thankfully unharmed. Luck had smiled on him today as his arrows found mark after mark in the creature, bleeding its strength until the heavy hitters in the group pummeled it down. He glanced at the other trapped creature nervously. "What do we do now?"
Grith shoulders the larger hammer with a slight grin and looks down at the fallen creature with satisfaction. Then he looks at the impromptu cage the young mage created for the other.
"Say, can these critters burrow?" He asked with narrowed eyes as he began to put away his weapons.
"Can they truly burrow through solid stone, though? Sandstone may not be the hardiest material on the material planes, but it is still no loose soil." Kal responds, his feet touching the ground for the first time since the creatures appeared, "They do still need to breathe, yes? A suffocated beast might do well in the collection of the professor." he posits.
"Don't know that I feel like strangling an ankheg today." Grith admits casually. "But I suppose you meant something more magical." He adds with a wave of his fingers.
"Metal?" Kal asks, "That's doable." he closes his eyes for a moment to ensure that the ankheg is indeed still within its enclosure , then transmutes the prison, starting with the inner layer, to solid iron.
He turns to Toots,
"That should hold it, right? Do you happen to know how they breathe while underground? I know that's frequently a problem for burrowers." then, he tries transmuting the air inside the sphere into sand, hopefully suffocating the creature.
Devon watches in awe and horror as they plan how to best murder the creature and proceed to do so with magics bordering on sociopathic detachment. He turns his attention away not wanting to hear the details as he begins inspecting the area around them, looking at the ground for tracks of anything they Ankhegs may have been hunting or protecting...