Caiten lances a bolt of pain into the mind of the drake trying to flee with the wargs, and it shakes its head momentarily, then looks towards Caiten, having noticed his spellcasting.
Oren begins to circle around the drake when its tail suddenly whips around, striking at the big man trying to flank him. The sudden strike stops him in his tracks, denying him from flanking, but his strikes find purchase nonetheless, and the drake dies at his feet.
The drake with the pups ◆◆lobs a glob of venom at Caiten, splattering in the area all around him, hitting Joran, Lisi, Cev, and Guba in addition to the android. He then ◆flaps his wings, carrying the wargs 20 feet away from the rest of you.
The other surviving drake unleashes a barrage of attacks against Cev. He manages to bite Cev across the torso under his arm, teeth puncturing a U-shaped series of wounds sideways across his back, chest, and abdomen. Those jaws ◆grab him firmly, not letting go as the stinger tries to finish his prey off.
Will Save: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
With chaos exploding around her and the drake that had been her target before dying, the aasimar woman whipped around to pursue the drake that had taken Rocco and Shadow, fury etched into her normally smooth, radiant face. She takes a few steps forward, the jungle floor impeding her motion just a little, and narrows her eyes at the drake. Perhaps the same oil from before would work just as well?
Catalina grins as she assesses the drake's weaknesses and smears more of the oil on the end of her pistol. She aims carefully then fires off a perfectly aligned shot at the drake.
Will Save: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17
The drake fell to the ground, blown apart by their combined weaponry, before Dario staggers for a moment. The nausea and sickness seemed to intensify, a painful ache growing in his arm. He leans against the tree for a moment, shaking his head.
"I don't feel so good." Dario muttered, his pain going to side as he sees the drake begin to rise away with their wargs in its claws. His lifts his pistol up and aims down the crystal sights, getting a clear shot on the enemy. His hands are a blur again, firing the pistol at the beast.
"Hey...those are our mutts, g$$&~!nit." Dario says as he moves forward, muscle memory helping him ignore the pain as he reloads the pistol as he moves. He lines up another shot, aiming for the core of the drake. He gets behind Catalina, lining up his shot and taking another shot.
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Dario fires off a pair of well aimed shots into the Drake carrying the wargs, one of his bullets leaving an impressive hole as it tore through the thing's scales. Then, to his right, Catalina rushes forward, stopping just ahead of him and firing her own pistol. Her shot landed right where Dario's pair hand, only it blasted such a hole through the creature that it encompassed both his smaller wounds he'd inflicted. It brought to mind the tail of an archer who could split his opponent's arrow in twain.
HPoint
Thankfully, everyone sees Cev begin to glow and know that he is healing; it happens twice, so at least Cev isn't actually dead yet.
LoH = +18hp +18 hp == 37hp
Managing to shake off the poison that he was unable to avoid, he looks over at the drake and sees it still clings to life, which he finds amazing after watching it get BLASTED with shot after shot. Rolling his eyes in utter frustration, "Why won't you DIE already! I'm on it!" Joran takes off, charging right at the creature with his war flail raised high, bringing it down hard toward the skull of the beast.
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Seeing that the drakes are well in hand, Lisi looks at the pillar.
"YASAMI! Drop to the ground!" he shouts.
He then points one finger, slightly like his Ray of Frost, but with more hook to the index...and a tiny seed of white hot incandescence with an orange halo speeds towards the pillar at a breathtaking speed.
It expands into a roaring sphere of flame, the light hitting before the wave of sound and heat smashes into tree and creature alike. The pillar briefly disappears in the conflagration...
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Managing to catch a massive ball of flame explode out of the corner of his eye, Joran turns and his eyes go wide before exclaiming, "Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! What in the HELL was that?!"
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"Goodness gracious, great balls of fire! What in the HELL was that?!"
↺
Caiten glances over at the destruction erupting at the pillar. "Fireball."
Yasami hears her name, looks at Lisi, and notices him lobbing something at the pillar. An explosion is heard, and the heatwave hits her, waving her acid-covered clothing. She winces a little when the clothes move the acid on her skin. After the explosion induced chaos subsides, she looks at the drake near Joran, and notices it is carrying the warglets.
"Hey! Pick someone your own size, ugly!"
Not sure if the totem will still go after her, she decides to run across the clearing, circling around the drake. Making a mental note of Oren being struck by a tail. She comes in from the west, and brandishes her blade.
"I'm right here, you damn pest." and she strikes at the drake.
Cevendyll nearly loses consciousness when the drake's teeth stab into him, the pain sends waves of shock through him, and he channels his connection to Yuelral quickly to stave off the encroaching darkness.
Joran, meanwhile, was not about to let some overgrown flying snake make off with Rocco and Shadow. Fllowing on the heels of the gunfire came a running, raging man with a very large flail. He brought it down on the drake's skull and it shattered into meaty chunks, a large piece of which the big guy had to dislodge from his weapon distastefully.
Lisi, seeing the pups were safe, turned his attention towards the wooden pillar. An unmoving, flammable target that was the perfect test subject for a new spell. Lisi had formed a deeper connection with the elemental fire that that spawned his ash clouds, and he'd figured out a way to amplify the heat into a raging, destructive inferno. The danger was the size of the blast -- but the pillar stood alone in the middle of the clearing. No better time to try it out.
The fireball BLASTS the pillar full force, a sonic shockwave rippling the tall grasses, and with a crystalline snap the gem powering the thing shatters. The pillar smolders as the fire fades, still intact, barely -- but in the broken state you found the blue one in. Disabled, and unable to attack.
Yasami, seeing the drake with the wargs is dead, does the exact same thing but to the other drake, the one that literally has Cev in his mouth and nearly killed him, and is the last one still standing.
Also wanting to try out a new spell, Caiten casts ◆◆ Behold the Weave on the drake. "Let's see here..."
Caiten casts ◆ Guidance on Yasami.
Hexes
◆ Stoke the Heart
↺ Phase Familiar
◆ Needle of Vengeance
Cantrips
◆ Shield
◆◆ Haunting Hymn
◆◆ Stabilize
◆ Guidance
◆◆ Divine Lance
1st
◆◆ Fear
◆◆ Command
◆◆ Heal
2nd
◆◆ Heal H+1
◆◆ Phantom Pain H+1
◆◆ Resist Energy
3rd
◆◆ Heal H+2
◆◆ Behold the Weave
Fighting off the venom, Oren runs towards the remaining drake, and brings Foehammer down upon the creature, full force!
"Cevendyll. Prepare yourself." Caiten targets the drake and Cevendyll with Needle of Vengeance.
Oren crushes the drake's wing with Foehammer, and the creature flails in pain, but still lives.
It tries to drag Cev away from the rest of you, , using it's speed surge to drag Cev 120 feet away to the north, unable to understand why spikes of pain keep stabbing into it.
Caiten ◆ sustains Needle of Vengeance.
He then ◆ chases after the drake.
Caiten then peers through the jungle trying to target the drake effectively and fires his longbow that he has been carrying but not using for this entire battle.
Yasami watches the drake fly away with Cevendyll. She looks in the distance and frowns.
"Oh! Good idea, Caiten..."
She drops her blade, pulls out the bow, and starts firing.
Which may or may not work in 'real' life
Dario turns and reloads, watching the drake be taken out just before an actual explosion manifests before the totem. The arcane device is ruined, leaving just one drake left who eagerly tries to escape with its meal in check. As the bullet is reloaded into the chamber, the gunslinger rushes forward to try and close distance. He levels a shot through his sights and fires.
The shot goes a little wide as the drake moves erratically, earning a string of curses from the small man as he rapidly reloads and fires off another shot.
Sulee comes out of the bushes and trots over to Shadow and Rocco. "Hey, you two OK? None of this blood and gore is yours, right?"
No one really knew Cev could get ... angry. But it would seem he was NOT pleased at being eaten. What they DID know was he had been honing his work with his divine ally and their shift rune. It was time.
The glow started in the back of the creature's throat, and by the magic of the Goddess, they could see the Cross of Castrovel begin to form. The pommel of the sword was clearly Castrovel itself, and as the hilt grew, it was the inlay of forests which shone out through the drake. Inch by inch, the blade grew, until it speared the creature's skull.
Buffeted by attacks from both Yasami and from Dario, the team sees Cevendyl force the glowing longsword even higher into the roof of its mouth, with more of the blue glow appearing over its head.
The work done, the sword remained.
"Could someone open this thing's jaw? Please? I'm a Champion, not a snack-food."
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"Cev!" Lisi sprints across the clearing, lapped quickly by the completely unharmed and rather-eager-to-run wargs...and trailed by Guba.
Once at the drake's mouth he assesses for a minute. "When I prise open this thing's jaws, it will hurt and your wounds may open," says Lisi. He grabs some strips of cloth from this pack. "Pressure, and healing, as soon as they come out."
He wedges his dagger between the drake's front teeth and then draws his club and bangs on the fulcrum of its mandible, first one side, then the other. Satisfied, he pulls on the knife slowly until the jaw opens, releasing all kinds of goo, shreds of flesh, and a hole-y Champion.
"Have to do it before rigor sets in, and you have to smack the jaw open. It's like feeding a reluctant lizard, or in this case, the reverse."
Catalina stows her implements, hooking her bag of estoterica to her waist after checking to make sure the oil corrosive is tightly closed. She takes a deep, cleansing breath, willing the adrenaline to fade out. The thaumaturge sees that Cev is being rescued and steps carefully toward the wounded Dario, pulling out her healing kit. Over time, she had filled out the rather basic kit with folk remedies and herbal mixes. "Hold still. I saw you get hurt. They got you good," She says, towering over him as she pulls out some ointment and gauze to patch the gunslinger up.
Caiten goes over and inspects the pillar.
"Well, it appears that most types of damage will destroy the gem that guides its attacks. I believe that this one is in the same state as the previous one. It is still passively functional, just disabled from active attacks."
The final drake falls and the there is finally a silence that covers the battlefield, giving Dario a moment to finally lean against a tree. His body felt terribly weak, the poison sapping his strength even as it burned the rest of the way through his arm.
"Those things got a nasty sting." He says, taking off his hat and wiping away the sweat from his brow. Against less-abled prey, the poison would likely be enough to incapacitate them. The gunslinger holds firm though, even if he is paler than he usually would be. His eyes look over the myriad of herbal remedies, stitching needle, and clean thread that she brought to bear. Nodding, he'd take the needle from her and hold it between his teeth.
"Let me help." He'd mutter, ripping open a cartridge and placing most of the needle inside. With his remaining hand, he would take a match and strike it alight before putting it to the powder. There was a quick snap and a flash of light, the threading needle burning hot but certainly clean as he handed it back to her.
"That was a clean shot you had there. You wield our steel well and bring honor to it." He said, offering the smallest smile as he adjusted the glasses on his scarred face. "Go ahead and get on with it, I'm used to being put back together again."
"Those things got a nasty sting." He says, taking off his hat and wiping away the sweat from his brow. Against less-abled prey, the poison would likely be enough to incapacitate them. The gunslinger holds firm though, even if he is paler than he usually would be. His eyes look over the myriad of herbal remedies, stitching needle, and clean thread that she brought to bear. Nodding, he'd take the needle from her and hold it between his teeth.
"Let me help." He'd mutter, ripping open a cartridge and placing most of the needle inside. With his remaining hand, he would take a match and strike it alight before putting it to the powder. There was a quick snap and a flash of light, the threading needle burning hot but certainly clean as he handed it back to her.
"You first, then I'll help with the others..." The thaumaturge smiles down at Dario, taking back the newly-sterilized needle carefully. "This will hurt. Sorry," Catalina warns, more out of habit than any thought that the gunslinger wasn't aware. She takes his arm and begins to swiftly stitch his wounds back together.
"That was a clean shot you had there. You wield our steel well and bring honor to it." He said, offering the smallest smile as he adjusted the glasses on his scarred face. "Go ahead and get on with it, I'm used to being put back together again."
"[I]Mulțumiri," Catalina thanks him, smiling down at the scarred man again as she worked. "I've been trying to master the trick to reloading so quickly. You'll need to teach me sometime," She comments, tying off the stitches so that it wouldn't hurt if he flexed his arm. "There you go. You did well with the stitches. Good." The thaumaturge smiles at the scarred man, patting him on the uninjured part of his arm.
After they finish speaking, Catalina will move on to Caiten to help patch the android up.
With the drakes destroyed and the pillar neutralized, Caiten meets up with Sulee and finds a bit of soft ground to sit on.
He is sitting there holding Sulee on his lap with his eyes mostly closed as Catalina comes over. "Greetings." Seeing the medical toolkit she is holding, he adds, "Ah. I was not directly attacked by the creatures. Just some poison effects from what they spit. I could use some salves and maybe some bandages on the worst of the burns though, thank you."
"Cev!" Lisi sprints across the clearing, lapped quickly by the completely unharmed and rather-eager-to-run wargs...and trailed by Guba.
Once at the drake's mouth he assesses for a minute. "When I prise open this thing's jaws, it will hurt and your wounds may open," says Lisi. He grabs some strips of cloth from this pack. "Pressure, and healing, as soon as they come out."
He wedges his dagger between the drake's front teeth and then draws his club and bangs on the fulcrum of its mandible, first one side, then the other. Satisfied, he pulls on the knife slowly until the jaw opens, releasing all kinds of goo, shreds of flesh, and a hole-y Champion.
"Have to do it before rigor sets in, and you have to smack the jaw open. It's like feeding a reluctant lizard, or in this case, the reverse."
"Thank you friend Lisi, that was, among many things, intense. Are the puppies okay? Come, let us all gather, I will get things going before the bandage brigade starts."
Cevh holds the sword up before his face, appears to make a silent prayer, and it begins its shift back to being one of his daggers from Kyonin. The glow seems to transfer to the Holy Symbol on his wrist.
When the drake drops down in the distance, Yasami lies on her back where she stands. She reaches for the acid on her skin but thinks better of it at the last moment. "Ah... This will hurt like hell when the rush wears off. Better treat it now." she just thinks out loud and looks at the totem angrily.
She pulls out her healer kit and starts pulling things out. Leeches, baker's bowl, rubbing oils and alcohol. "So what can we use here? Acid, acid, acid..."
She shakes her head. "Nope. Nothing here." she rubs the bridge of her nose and winces, then looks at whoever remained near the totem. "We might need to take a dip in the river. Rinse off the stuff, then bandage it. How far are we?"
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Caiten, Dario, and Yasami shoot the thing down before it can escape with Cev -- the elf was what some might call a snack, but he'd prefer the drake not see him that way.
Sulee asked the pups if they were okay, but they didn't even hear her. They were both charging around with a strong case of the zoomies, laughing, snarling, and play fighting with one another. "That was FUN!"
"Shadow did you see? I bit him!"
"I saw! We helped!"
This continued as you all took some time to tend to wounds, the warg pups nearly knocking over Yasami's supplies in their exuberance, Guba riding on Shadow's back as if in a rodeo.
The poison that afflicted some of you did not last long, and you started feeling better with a bit of first aid and a dash of magical healing from Cev.
The pillar remained enchanted, and you know from the last one that destroying it will release a large shockwave with the potential to alert the Cinderclaws to your location.
While Catalina is treating Caiten's injuries, Sulee says to her, "So you know - if you are curious about anything, you are going to have to just ask directly. Don't expect Caiten to notice subtle hints. He is even worse than most men about picking up on things like that."
Yasami smiles through pain as the very alive warglets run around, but the smile turns into a panic as they move in the direction of her gear. Fortunately, they barely touch the medicinal tools as they jump over. She starts packing up most of the items, and looks at the injured team.
"Alright, folks. Line up, you know the drill. I will help Catalina with those injuries of yours."
Since there are 13 of us, (including Warglets and Renali - not sure if those got scratched) I am rolling 13 times per 10 minutes.
Start
10 minutes
20 minutes
30 minutes
40 minutes
While Catalina is treating Caiten's injuries, Sulee says to her, "So you know - if you are curious about anything, you are going to have to just ask directly. Don't expect Caiten to notice subtle hints. He is even worse than most men about picking up on things like that."
"I have learned the hard way that people do not like it when you are too direct," Catalina replies, smiling wryly at Sulee. She looks to Caiten as she finishes patching him up, an eyebrow raised. "I'm curious about everyone, really. How all of you came together? But it's probably a long story, best saved for another time." She shrugs and then inspects her work on the android before letting go of his arm. "Feeling better?"
With Catalina's tender touch, Cev's mystical healing, and Yasami's treatments, Dario feels the pain dull in his arm before it is wrapped up to keep it clean. Catalina's question brings a grin to his face as he thinks back at how they all met. Strangers at a bar, answering a call for a bit of coin and maybe some publicity. Now they were in a jungle, fighting against dragon cults, half a world away.
"In Breachill, they have a tradition called the Heroes' Call, if I'm remembering that right. Some of us had purpose being there, like Oren and his visions. I was wandering town to town. Some were locals. We met in a bar, drank some, went to the town hall, and a racist halfling tried to burn the place down." He laughed again, imagining how absurd of a start it all was. "Now a former hellknight that we rescued acts as a seneschal for a citadel that we're rebuilding thanks to the help of some goblins. We walked through the portal to get on the other side and...here we are. We g@~&$&n bunch of irregulars but...we make it work. I couldn't ask for better friends."
He brushes himself off, twirling his pistol for just a moment before sinking it back into his pocket. "Stay with us long enough and I'll show you how to pull off more tricks with that shooter you have. In return, you tell me about that weird mirror and we're you been. Deal?"
Catalina furrows her thick brows, trying to recall where Breachill was on a map. Quite a ways away, she thinks. The Hero's Call rings a bell in her mind, but she couldn't place the details. "You all have a citadel?" The thaumaturge looks impressed, crossing her arms over her chest and regarding all of them with no small amount of awe. "You'll have to share the details at some point. I feel like there's more to it."
She nods to Dario, grinning. "Deal, yes. I would love to learn more tricks. And, I'll even try to use my mirror next time. It's easier to show than explain, I think." Despite her practice with Taldane, her accent still shines through, the 'th' sounds sounding more like 'z's. Catalina fidgets with her rings a little bit, feeling a little bit anxious now that the adrenaline has died down.
"Well, shall we try to destroy this thing, too?" She asks, gesturing at the disabled pillar.
"Feeling better?"
"Yes. Thank you."
"Well, shall we try to destroy this thing, too?" She asks, gesturing at the disabled pillar.
"I think that would be best. It would be ideal if we could do it without the large release of energy, but I am not sure that is possible. So it would be best to destroy it right before we are ready to leave this place."
Oren stands up, his wounds now fully treated, and picks up his hammer in response to Catalina's question. "I was just about to ask the same question. I can smash this one too, whenever we're ready."
"...Yes, I recall, in the distant past, back when I used to heal things instead of setting them on fire," says Lisi with a chuckle.
"Cevendyll was some sort of cleric, as well. Sulee was a flammable doll. It's like second puberty all around," says the druid.
"...Yes, I recall, in the distant past, back when I used to heal things instead of setting them on fire," says Lisi with a chuckle.
"Cevendyll was some sort of cleric, as well. Sulee was a flammable doll. It's like second puberty all around," says the druid.
"Indeed. Some sort of cleric for sure. Actually, I was the kind who prays, to a goddess of wisdom, for guidence. I had thought she would send me a sign, some direction on what was next for me. But she is also the elven goddess of magic, so she had other plans. So she basically plugged me into the ring of elf gates beneath our citadel and reforged me as a Champion, tasking me with learning what I had known before ... as well as sending me here to learn some things I didn't know I needed to learn."
He thinks for a moment"Second puberty, agreed, thankfully shorter. Couldn't ask for better friends, well, in principle one could ask ... it just isn't possible."
Catalina nods along with their explanations, glancing around the entire bunch. A strange group, but she felt lucky to be on the outskirts of it. She missed companionship, and this bunch was welcoming.
"Destruction and creation are two sides of the same coin," Catalina comments to Lisi, grinning. "Useful for destroying these pillars."
She turns to Caiten, nodding at his comment as well. "I think the energy release will be unavoidable...but at least we know and can stay out of the way." She shrugs, then goes to poke around at the drakes, seeking to steal a scale and a tooth to add to her esoterica.
"Yes. unfortunately, I would agree with that assessment." Caiten stands up from his resting and recharging. He nods over to Oren. "I think we are ready. Take care of the pillar and we can continue on towards the excavation site."
Searching the area around the pillar before you leave, you spot a couple of cinderclaw bodies, partially eaten. Again it seems they were guarding their pillars, only to be taken out by a third party -- first Gerhard, now the drakes. Perusing the remains, you find on one, and a suit of on the other.
Renali rejoins you all an hour or two after you depart the scene of the green pillar, having been scouting to the north a bit on her own. She sees the bandages and stitches and such that several of you bear, and give s a small frown of concern, doing a quick headcount and relaxing when she sees you all present.
"Your day was eventful?" It was more of a joke than a real question.
"I found nothing pertaining to our mission to the north of us, though I did find some worrying tracks. There are great reptiles that dwell in the Expanse, some relatively placid, some vicious. I found tracks belonging to one of the most fearsome, fresh enough that it is still likely somewhere in the region. My people call them dhalimu. They are gargantuan creatures, walk on two legs, with massive jaws that can snap a man in half. I do not think we would wish to happen upon such a beast. They travel a great deal, so it might not be in the immediate area any longer, but we should be cautious when we travel."
Catalina grimaces at Renali's news, trying to imagine the creature in her mind. "I don't think we need to run into anything else today. Ran into a few jungle drakes." She comments, a wry smile on her face. "They sound magnificent, though...I bet they'd be a good fight."
"Your day was eventful?" It was more of a joke than a real question.
"Yes. Though we did accomplish what we intended to."
On hearing the report of the dhalimu, Caiten mentions to Lisi, "When we camp for the night, be sure it is in a place that is easily defended."
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"Thanks Renali. Last thing I want to deal with is more things that want to eat me." Dario muttered, rolling his shoulders a little before looking towards their resident druid. "You know, I think I'm starting to get a good idea of this jungle now. I'll help where I can."
It seemed that the gunslinger, despite his constant grumbling about how he never felt like he wasn't constantly wet, did seem to get the hang of things. The lessons that Lisi was giving were being taken in stride and the young man helped track down a better place to rest than usual. As they travelled, he saddled up beside the tall angelkin and pulled out his pistol and nodded for her to do the same.
"Alright, you want to know the trick? It is keeping the paper catridges on hand. You have them secured on your person but...secured is slow." All over his body were his ammunition packets, ready to be grabbed and used at a moments notice. "Now, it is all about maintaining the momentum to reload. Snap it with me. Follow my arm." The gunslinger, with the woman's consent, would put his arms on her and guide her through the motion before letting her feel him at motion. It was a strange exercise, the sound of pistols constantly reloading as they walked through the jungle together.
"Eventful?", Yasami looks at the bandages she and Catalina were applying, and smiles. Just a little.
"I suppose you could say that. We got found another pillar. Guarded by some fauna. It was... painful. For everyone involved." she sighs "But we pulled through."
Then she hears of these creatures Renali speaks of, and is shocked. "Are we talking elephant size? Because that sounds terrifying." she instinctively grips her blade, though not sure whether it would help much with a creature of that size.