Bannog heads to the skies while Tristan throws his starknife at the dire tiger that had been attacking him. His aim is good enough to hit with the first throw and the great cat falls to the ground, unconscious. The next two throws, directed at the dire tiger currently grappling Groff are less successful.
Auleth casts stabilize again, and Groff's bleeding stops for now, and then the inquisitor moves to the south.
success
Grimm's flaming sphere fails to ignite the dire tiger this time, but the magic missiles from his wand slam into the creature drawing its attention firmly to the gnome. With a snarl the creatures drops Groff and launches itself through the air towards Grimm.
hit, no critical
hit, critical
The dire tiger's barrage of attacks on the gnome knocks him out almost before he can feel the pain, and the tiger now holds his small body in its enormous jaws, glaring at those still conscious at this point.
Over the sounds of the birds and other small animals as well as snarls of the tiger, you hear what sounds like a dog barking to the southeast.
Round 4 Initiative Order
Grimm: Used wand of Magic Missiles
Dire Tiger: Attacked, grappled
Bannog
Tristan
Auleth
Khoran: unconsious, disarmed, prone
Groff: unconsious, disarmed, prone
Round 5
Grimm: Grappled, unconsious, dying, disarmed, not prone as the tiger is holding him up
Bannog, Auleth, and Tristan can act. Grimm can make a DC 24 Constitution check to Stabilize.
11:40 AM on Djinsdag, the eleventh of Eostre, 3517 I.R.
Bannog frowns when he sees the last remaining tiger maul poor Grimm. He gathers up a mass of electrical energy, and sends it shooting toward the mean ol' beast.
Is Auleth within 40 feet of the blue tiger? If so, he casts Stabilize on Grimm and then moves to roughly 60 feet from it. Otherwise, he moves to where he’s 40 feet from the blue one and casts Stabilize on Grimm.
(I’ve dropped Bane).
Spread out, he calls to the remaining standing party members. Make it chase us around. Time for tiger baiting!
Bannog sends a bolt of electricity which shocks the remaining tiger while Auleth stops and doubles back to cast stabilize on Grimm, stopping his bleeding, though the gnome is still held in the Dire Tiger's jaw.
Round 4 Initiative Order
Grimm: Used wand of Magic Missiles
Dire Tiger: Attacked, grappled
Bannog: Fired Elemental Blast
Tristan
Auleth: Moved, cast stabilize
Khoran: unconsious, disarmed, prone
Groff: unconsious, disarmed, prone
Round 5
Grimm: Grappled, unconsious, disarmed, not prone as the tiger is holding him up
Tristan can act.
11:40 AM on Djinsdag, the eleventh of Eostre, 3517 I.R.
Tristan decides that outrunning a tiger isn't going to work unless he's willing to let his companions die. Although he realizes these may be the last throws of his life given the deadly nature of the tiger.
Attacking the deadly tiger
haste+1
Starknife 5bab +6Cha +1Starknife, (Risky Strike -2,+4), Flurry-2
With a flurry of throws Tristan's aim improves and he hits the tiger three times, the starknife sinking deep in it's side all three times. The dire tiger drops Grimm from it's jaws and prepares focuses its attention on the bard, gathering itself to leap at the new source of sharp pain. Before it can launch itself through the air though a voice calls out from the Southeast, "Call her off, Jeraldus, I recoginze some of them from the Camp." This is followed by a complex whistle which the beast seems to recognize, and though it still snarls at the remaining conscious party members, instead of pouncing, it turns to the north and runs into the foliage at high speed.
Though the trees to the southeast the dogs barking has grown louder, and you can now see that it is coming from a large, shaggy wardog that bounds ahead of a human woman wearing leather armor and a cloak with shortbow in hand who you recognize as Alicia, one of Skeribar's rangers. With her is another and a tall human man clad in leather armor, holding a spear. As the three approach the party and Alicia calls out again "I see you've found your way to the Reclaimer's Garden and met some of it's protectors, the twins. Next time you should make your way directly to the heart of the garden so that the twins won't think you're up to something and attack."
Combat is over (unless someone wants to continue to attack the fleeing dire tiger at this point.)
11:40 AM on Djinsdag, the eleventh of Eostre, 3517 I.R.
Khoran's nameless spirit animal, that odd collection of flying rocks, slips out of his pack and begins a silent dance (that some of you have seen before), apparently gesturing at his left hand...
Auleth returns to the site of the melee, raising a hand to Khoran. Save the wand, Dame Torren's blessing can get our friends upright at least.
Turning to the new arrival, he says half-jokingly Understandable your welcoming committee isn't very welcoming. We were trying to make our way in straight off. What is this place, and do you get many outright hostiles?
He checks the fallen tiger and casts Stabilize if it's still dying and the new arrivals don't heal it, and then Cure Light Wounds on each of the 3 fallen, then waits to see which party members are still out:
"Urrgh" with a groan, Khoran regains consciousness. He is dismayed looking at the bloody results of the melee, but heartened that none of his friends are dead! He gathers the wounded away from the tiger and starts channeling.
As the three approach the party and Alicia calls out again "I see you've found your way to the Reclaimer's Garden and met some of it's protectors, the twins. Next time you should make your way directly to the heart of the garden so that the twins won't think you're up to something and attack."
While Auleth and Khoran go about healing everyone, Tristan addresses the Ranger and her companion. That's one hell of a security system you have there pointing to the retreating tiger. We were told these Oasis are sanctuaries. Didn't realize we could die by tiger if we somehow missed the front door. We truly meant no harm and were simply defending ourselves
Bannog came back down from the air, coming to a hovering stop 5ft off the ground and near the new arrival. He had a rather large grin on his face, seemingly none too concerned about the near death experiences of his companions. "Nobody hurt too bad for too long. Was fun! Tigers give good boosts for long jumps! They come with us? Me great wizard, could be great cat tamer too..."
"Ugh. I don't like being a cat toy. " he groans as he stands up.
As Alicia moves towards the group to talk to you the man accompanying her gives her a nod and goes to tend to the unconscious dire tiger. Bending down over it he casts a spell of some sort and the some of the tigers wounds begin to close. Its eyes open and it snarls at the area on general, but the man lays his hand on it's back, appearing to calm it, before pointing in the direction the other dire tiger fled. The newly conscious dire tiger rises to its feet and bounds off in that direction, not looking back.
Alicia addresses you as you tend to your own recovery. Speaking to Auleth first, she says, "I don't recognize you from the Camp, but if you're traveling with these others I expect that you're out here searching for something, whatever it is they were looking for. My name is Alicia, one of Skeribar's rangers, guides through the desolation should you ever want to hire one. You're now in the Garden, home of the Reclaimers who are attempting to fight back against the blight that is the Desolation. As it happens you seem to be heading north through the outer garden here but the entrance to the heart of the garden is to the south. Given that no one in your group is familiar to them, the twins would have taken that as a sign that you're here as invaders."
Pointing back to the thick hedgerow to your east she continues, "I don't know if you've examined that barrier closely, but the Reclaimers have been putting the skulls of the various demons and other threats that have attacked the garden since they started to create it in the wall as a warning for those who approach. It doesn't seem to have warned you off, and it doesn't seem to deter most of the demons as the twins and the Reclaimers regularly find new skulls to add to it."
To Tristan's comment she nods, "There are certainly things out in the Desloation that new explorers don't know. It's perhaps one of the reasons you might want to hire a guide should you ever have the chance to." The sarcasm in her voice is light, but clearly there. "Not knowing what will attack you is a good way to get killed out here. Fortunately we've trained the twins to incapacitate all but obvious demonic interlopers, but in most areas of the Desolation wandering into areas without knowledge of what's there can easily get you killed."
To the floating Bannog Alicia smiles and says, "You're welcome to try to tame the twins, but beyond the training not to kill non-demons and to leave the Reclaimers, Skeribar's Rangers and those with them be, we've found them uninterested in any sort of civilizing. Granted we haven't tried that hard. Just be sure not to become a meal for the two of them, as they'll only put up with so much before they decide that you're good prey after all."
To Groff she nods, "I don't envy you the experience. Being introduced to the twins wasn't that fun for me, but at least I didn't get to try to shake their claws up close like you seem to have."
The man, having finished with the dire tiger now comes to stand next to Alicia who introduces him. "This is Jeraldus, one of the Reclaimers." He nods in a greeting, but doesn't seem overly happy to see you here. "I happened to be here in the Garden just now, so when we heard that something was happening out here I accompanied him to see what was going on. Do you seek shelter at this point? I know that I told you back at the Camp to seek this place out should you ever need it."
"Do you seek shelter at this point? I know that I told you back at the Camp to seek this place out should you ever need it."---Alicia
Is this offer of shelter an honest one? Just the perimeter guards were almost enough to take us out. If they have any more allies within we could be EASILY overmatched. Honestly if whoever killed those bodies we found came from this place, I'd like to leave them alone and camp outside, far away in the Hideaway.
Not sure if we're seeking shelter? Although it does look nice and quite a beautiful change from the Desolation. We were following the tracks of what appeared to be a survivor of an ambush that left two dead bodies in the Waste. We were hoping to find them and escort them back to the camp before something bad happened to them. But their tracks led them here. Have you had any strangers wander in from the Waste in the past day or so?
Khoran listens to the discussion, as he begins to hand out individualized treatment with his healing touch ...
7 ranks +3 trained +4 wis + 2 Healing satchel
Edit: 18 hp for Groff and 33 for Grimm.
In response to the proposals of shelter, Khoran chips in with "Well, the poor soul we were following has clearly made it here. Still, it would be a nice change from the desert to camp in this greenery." He turns to Jeraldus and continues "I am impressed by the way; how are you reclaiming the land from the desolation?"
Before she can answer with something technically true yet disingenuous , Tristan adds or maybe not a stranger? Maybe someone from your oasis survived the attack that killed two in the Wastes
Bannog floats lazily back up into the air, forming a ball of electricity between his outstretched hands, then lobbing it up into the air and catching it again. He giggles lightly, then floats on his back gently away from the group. He begins to complain to his rabbit, "Longshanks talk long time. Talk talk talk." Caer's furry head pops out of the pocket long enough to give a sympathetic nod.