Uthred, son of Uthred, blows a long note from his horn, and starts singing with a deep guttural voice!
The song quickens the blood, despite the long, slow notes... from atop his rock, the Ulfen warrior raises his greataxe and yells in the face of their foe!
Oriol swiftly moves forward and then slashes the closest bandit, letting Uthred's song invade his mind.
Junan moves up to get a better shot at the unprepared bandits.
The group charges towards the bandits, with Oriol leading the way and Uthred's song inspiring them to greater acts of strength.
Oriol's first strike is true and deadly, impaling the blade straight through the raider's heart.
Surprised by the sudden attack, and the swift death of their comrade, one of the bandits backs away, drawing his bow and firing a shot at Oriol. "The authorities have caught up with us! We need to warn Rohkar!"
Initiative:
Oriol; -2 HP
Blue
Nutar
Uthred
Red
Junan
Green
Uthred, still singing his rage song, charges the one in front of him.
Nutar jumps out from behind the rock, running after the one that is trying to create distance.
Following on the heels of Oriol's kill, Uthred charges at the closest target, a song on his lips, as he cleaves the bandit in two before he can even react.
Nutar chases after the remaining bandit.
Initiative:
Oriol; -2 HP
Blue
Nutar
Uthred
Red
Junan
Green
Cursing at the success of his allies, Junan rushes ahead of the last bandit hoping to cut him off.
"♪ Don't curse our success, Junan! rejoice!!!! ACCEPT THE RAGE IN YOUR HEART!!!! ♪♫"
Oriol eyes the remaining bandit and, with wide eyes, runs towards him. "Embrace the rage, the One-Eyed Red God, the doom and Natharal, ENJOY THE BLOOD!" Then he laughs.
While Junan moves to head off the bandit, Oriol embraces the rage-inducing music and charges the remaining target, slicing through him from stem to stern.
Nutar, huffing and puffing, kicks at the snow and laughs. "Well glad I could be here for emotional support. Remember when I asked if we could handle these guys?" He shakes his head and collapses down into the snow on his back, doing a rather lazy snow angel.
Junan relaxes as Oriol cuts down the last bandit. "Well that was efficient. I wonder what they were going through before we got here."
Once the last enemy falls, Oriol lowers his sword and finally notices the small wound in his arm. "That was a strange feeling, though I'm not yet sure from where the strangeness comes."
He then sheathes his sword and starts to inspect the bodies. "At the same time the feeling appears somewhat satisfying, which is even more troubling... I have not thought myself as a warmonger."
Searching over the bodies reveals a pretty meager haul. Whatever loot they were fighting over, doesn't seem to be here. Maybe whoever this Rohkar person is might have it.
padded armor x3
buckler x3
short sword x3
shortbow x3
59 arrows
24 gp, 15 sp
Once the search is over, Oriol looks back to the trail. "Shall we continue?"
Nutar stands up, shaking to get the snow off his clothes. "Yup, right on forward."
After the disappointingly easy fight with the first bandits that they found, the group continues to follow the trail in the snow.
Another hour passes, but after climbing at least a hundred feet into the hills, the snowy trail finally levels off. In a clearing among the trees, a large wooden lodge overlooks a ravine spanned by a long rope bridge. Smoke rises from the lodge's two snow-covered chimneys, and a large woodpile is stacked against the outer wall. A small outbuilding stands east of the lodge, and a stone well nearly blanketed by snow is barely recognizable to the north. Several tracks lead southwest towards a detached stable.
While he's never been here before, Uthred suspects that this place my be the home of the High Sentinels; Rangers that make these woods their home.
"I don't think those bandits and fey would be as bold if these rangers were still operating. We should find out but be careful." Junan slowly leads the the way towards the lodge.
Oriol nods and agrees with Junan's reasoning. Oriol also moves to investigate, but he leaves the main path and instead moves through the trees to the east, intending to inspect the small outbuilding first.
While Oriol moves through the deeper snow to check out the outbuilding, very quickly smelling the overpowering stench of it's recent use, Junan cautiously moves towards the lodge itself, though not cautious enough to detect the trip wire before walking right through it.
To add insult to (literal) injury, the crossbow that shot him in the shoulder falls from it's perch above the doorway, dragging down a string of attached pots and pans, creating a loud racket. Voices can be heard from the other side of the door, and within seconds, it swings open to reveal more bandits, armed and ready.
Initiative:
Nutar
Brown
Blue
Oriol
Purple
Green
Uthred
Junan; -8 HP
Red
Nutar, sensing the incoming danger, rushes forward into the open and grabs Junan's shoulder. "Rooleh!"
Nutar rushes in to help Junan recover from the crossbow-inflicted wound.
Meanwhile, inside the lodge, one of the bandits looks wide-eyed at the party before heading up a set of stairs, yelling "Rohkar!"
One of the other bandits (blue) draws and arrow and fires at the first target he sees
The projectile flies over his shoulder.
Initiative:
Nutar
Brown
Blue
Oriol
Purple
Green
Uthred
Junan
Red
Oriol moves quickly towards the side of the larger building, while drawing his sword. He doesn't engage the bandits just yet, waiting for them to leave the building.
Another of the bandits makes his way to the doorway, bow in hand, and seeing Oriol, steps out and fires.
Seeing the shot coming, the seasoned warrior easily side-steps the arrow.
Within the lodge, a bandit opens the nearby door, yelling "Move yer butts, boys! We've got intruders! You too, Tacey!"
Initiative:
Nutar
Brown
Blue
Oriol
Purple
Green
Uthred
Junan
Red
Uthred begins his song and moves forward, axe held high!
Feeling the effects of Uthred's song, Junan moves to the opposite side of the doors from Oriol waiting to to ambush the bandits at the door.
Uthred once again has a warsong ready on his lips, announcing their intentions, while Junan positions himself to slay the enemy.
With a powerful thrust of his glaive, he runs the bandit through and drops him dead.
More movement can be hear within, but no clear sign as to what they might be doing.
Initiative:
Tacey
Nutar
Sick (Green)
Bandit (Brown)
Sick (Brown)
Oriol
Sick (Blue)
Bandit (Purple)
Bandit (Green)
Uthred
Junan
Bandit (Red)
Sick (Red)
Nutar maneuvers himself to be see better through the door, seeing a bandit still standing in the door way. He casts a bolt of fire at the target, which goes wide and splashes against the treated wood of the lodge.
Another bandit stumbled into the fight from another room, seemingly drunk, until you easily notice the shaking of his limbs, as he he were inflicted with the chills. The man looks haggard, and barely able to stand or hold his weapon. He makes his way up to Junan, barely looking threatening with the sword that he carries.
One of the bandits can still be heard calling out, "Rohkar! Attackers!" banging on a door somewhere not too far away."[/b]
Another chill-stricken bandit staggers out of the lodge, weapon in hand, and thrust it at Oriol.
The bandit manages to still cause some damage, if minimal.
Initiative:
Tacey
Nutar
Sick (Green)
Bandit (Brown)
Sick (Brown)
Oriol; -3 HP
Sick (Blue)
Bandit (Purple)
Bandit (Green)
Uthred
Junan
Bandit (Red)
Sick (Red)
With so many enemies around him, this time Oriol keeps his mind on the fight and doesn't pay too much attention on Uthred's song. He then slashes at the sick bandit in front of him.
With the skill and precision taught him by the Aldori Swordlords, Oriol has no issues returning the hit against the weakened enemy, downing him instantly.
Another bandit makes his way out of the lodge, shaking like some of the others. He makes his way to Junan, looking looking to help his fellows in some way.
Yet another bandit makes his way out the door, dropping the bow he had in hand in favor of his short sword, and tries to stick Oriol with it.
Another bandit makes his way past Junan and Oriol and takes a bead on Nutar with an arrow.
Uthred continues to sing his war shanty with a deep voice, while swinging his greataxe in time to the beat.
Initiative:
Tacey
Nutar
Sick (Green)
Bandit (Brown)
Oriol; -3 HP
Sick (Blue)
Bandit (Purple)
Bandit (Green)
Uthred
Junan
Bandit (Red)
Sick (Red)
Junan takes a swing as the first bandit makes it's way towards him. When given the chance, he prepositions to swing again.
Getting into a better position, Junan easily cleaves through the bandit with his polearm.
A new bandit steps out of the doorway, arrow nocked in his bow, and let's fly at Junan.
Still another bandit, this one also seeming to be inflicted with the shakes, stumbles out the door, heading for Uthred.
A different-looking silhouette appears in the doorway, being both smaller and broader than the majority of these bandits. Her curvy form gives away her gender, while the green tint to her skin belies her orcish heritage. She holds a hand crossbow in one hand while drawing a simple short sword with the other.
A new voice can be heard clearly, if somewhat distantly, coming from the lodge. "I can hear that we are under attack, you twit! Stop standing around and go kill them! You two! Kill the intruders!"
Initiative:
Blue
Tacey
Nutar
Bandit (Brown)
Red
Oriol; -3 HP
Sick (Blue)
Bandit (Purple)
Bandit (Green)
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan
Bandit (Red)
Sick (Red)
Nutar circles around the edge of the battle, placing himself in a point where he openly faces the small swarm of bandits, with no allies who could be caught in the fire. He takes another step forward, putting himself right in the face of one of the archers, not flinching at the ranged weapon. His face twitches as he raises a hand, last joints of his fingers bent strenuously. "Valignatir cha'sidic!" The words crackle and hiss like stoked coals, and his hand quickly flashes from orange to red, and a cone of searing flame erupts, washing over and burning the exposed skin of the bandits!
Junan's reactionary attack takes out another bandit in a single strike.
Nutar casts a spell of flames, catching three of the bandits at once.
All three bandit become burnt to a crisp!
Another bandit appears in the doorway of the lodge, beside the one called Tacey, weapon in hand.
Initiative:
Blue
Tacey
Nutar
Bandit (Brown)
Red
Oriol; -3 HP
Sick (Blue)
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan
Oriol steps forward into the porch and tries to attack the half-orc.
Ready for Oriol's attack, Tacey nimbly dodges aside.
Barely even recognizing that he is the only one left standing, the nearby bandit attacks Junan with a shakey hand.
Uthred continues to sing, exulting in the thrill of combat and letting the rage carry him through. He takes another swing at the nearby bandit.
In a single slice, the bandit falls.
Oriol hears what sounds like chanting coming from somewhere inside the lodge, but no immediate effect is noticeable. He does see that one of the the new arrivals inside the lodge appears to be little more than a walking skeleton, though there is something ominous about it's aura.
Initiative:
Blue Skeleton
Tacey
Nutar
Bandit (Brown)
Red Skeleton
Oriol; -3 HP
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan
Continuing to revel in the music, Junan steps up to confront the adversary in the doorway hoping he'll be able to use his spear to stop further enemies from approaching.
Junan targets the half-orc woman and scores a serious wound to her, but she seems to be of hardier stuff than the majority of these bandits.
Out of the doorway, pushing it's way past the two bandits, is a skeleton dressed in tatters. Yet this one had a literal chilling aura; just standing near it is almost overwhelming, frostbite forming nearly instantly.
It stops immediately between Junan and Oriol and takes a swipe at the bloodrager with it's chilly claws.
Tacey tumbles past Junan tries to stab at him from a flanking position.
Initiative:
Blue Skeleton
Tacey; -13 HP
Nutar
Bandit (Brown); -3 HP
Red Skeleton
Oriol; -3 HP
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan
Nutar fires a powerful, but unfortunately inaccurate bolt of fire harmlessly past the fighters. He scowls and steps back.
The brown bandit involuntarily shakes at the sudden chill emitted by the nearby skeleton, but stands his ground and strikes at Junan, taking advantage of the tactical position.
A second skeleton comes up behind the first and Swipes a claw at Oriol.
Initiative:
Blue Skeleton
Tacey; -13 HP
Nutar
Bandit (Brown); -3 HP
Red Skeleton
Oriol; -3 HP
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan
Oriol takes advantage of the skeleton's movement and lack of self preservation to strike a might swing with his sword, soon following with another swing.
With a mighty swing, Oriol cleaves right through the first skeleton, ending it's undead quickly. Unfortunately, the destruction of the skeleton seems to have a reactionary effect where it explodes with a wintery burst of energy.
Unfortunately, his attack against the second skeleton comes up short.
Uthred carries on the song, inspiring his comrade who choose to follow in getting swept up in the heat of battle.
He moves in to help Junan, taking a great swing with his axe.
WIP
Initiative:
Blue Skeleton
Tacey; -10 HP
Nutar
Bandit (Brown)
Red Skeleton
Oriol; -1 HP
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan; -1 HP
Initiative:
Nutar
Bandit (Brown); -6 HP
Red Skeleton
Oriol; -7 HP
Uthred
Rohkar
Junan; -7 HP
Time to even up these numbers. Nutar claps the flats of his palms together and hums low in his throat. His clothes lift up slightly and the snow around him swirls ominously.
As enemies stack up in front of him, Junan looses himself in his rage. He drops his weapon as his fingers extend into wicked looking claws. Those sensitive feel a wave of darkness sweep over them as the claws appear. He looks to the bandit and skeleton with hatred as flames run up and down his arms and newfound claws. He lashes out with swift sweeps of the claws.