The cattle begin to flee the area, which seems to remind the rustlers why they're here in the first place. One does a full withdrawal from in front of Rocko and Pious, running off after the cattle. Another steps out of the growth, but instead of attacking Rocko, stuns one of the cattle with it's rod.
The remaining opponents pretty much repeat last round:
Attacking Lexxan:
Melee on Rocko
MISS
Melee Attack on Pious
HIT
Spizz' action bottom of Round 2.
Spizz fires off another cone of flame, hitting the one next to Pious, and the one above and to the left.
Another large cone of fire comes from the little dragon. "No hitting FriendPious!"
Save # 1:
Save # 2:
The first creature, who'd already been hit, seems pretty agitated by this second attack, and prepares to flee. The second one, for whom this is its first damage, stands strong.
Top of Round 3. Lexxan, Pious, and Rocko can act.
Lex tries another disarm.
With barely grunt, Pious steps forward and keeps hacking away at the scorched creature.
Lexxan fails to disarm the creature.
Pious manages to take down the creature that Spizz had damaged most heavily.
Pious' second attack damages the creature who stunned the cow.
Rocko's action.
Pious' second attack damages the creature who stunned the cow.
"geh, why won't these damn bugs go down?"
Rocko does a pair of swings at the one still in front, hoping to at least do something useful tonight.
oh, and "At least Pious be faring better"
Those two inside the entangle area are starting to get annoyed at the slow damage the cacti in the radius are causing them, and begin to move at half speed toward the closest egress from the spell radius. One of them makes it out this turn, the other will make it out next. That one that's still in the radius, however, is within melee range of Lexxan now.
Melee on Lexxan:
HIT
STILL HIT
Creature is dazzled for 1 round.
Melee on Rocko:
MISS
Two of the others are now moving trying to capture more cattle.
Spizz may now act in Round 3.
Spizz throws a long range blast of fire at the furthest north bug.
It burns hot and bright against the night sky, streaking through the air. Spizz may be running low on first level spells, but the fire that they create is just as impressive as the first two.
Spizz' shot seriously injures the creature. It ignores his query as to whether it understands Draconic, and raises its weapon weakly, as if to fire.
Top of Round 4. Rocko, Pious, and Lexxan can act. Make sure to reference the new map, as the enemy's positions have changed.
Rocko slides over toward Pious, hoping for a little backup since the religious fellow seems to be having a better time against these things. That and he's half a mind to run if he gets wounded any more.
"Better keep calling out to your ... well, whatever you've been calling to. We could sure use the help here"
Rocko's first axe is a hit, though barely. The creatures' natural armor is dense, and they've got some odd protective gear over the top of it to boot. The bug survives the attack, but is none too happy about it.
If they hd been more deft it might have looked like a dance. As Rocko steps towards Pious, Pious steps forward and telegraphs a swing at the creature, almost perfectly in time with Rocko's axe hit.
Pious' attack bounces off armor, causing the creature no damage.
Lexxan's action.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lex move away from her attacker 15 feet, and snaps her whip.
Lex move away from her attacker 15 feet, and snaps her whip.
6
Lexxan's whip slashes out, knocking the creature's weapon from its hand. The whip does not get a purchase on the weapon, however, and it falls to the ground between them.
Pious' combatant fights back with his baton/wand:
HIT
Rocko's opponent does likewise:
MISS
Lexxan's opponent, now unarmed, seems uncertain, and performs a full withdrawal toward map-south (not yet added to the map) rather than attacking.
Spizz' target retreats backward, firing to cover his retreat.
HIT
Spizz may now act.
Wounded for more than half of his hit points, but not one to back down, Spizz runs up [ooc]to two spaces down from the northernmost yellow circle cow, and fires off his last first level spell for the day as a cone to hit the two bugs in the north.
"Spizz run out of powerful magic! Will use less strong magic instead."
Still on Spizz
Saves against Spizz' spell.
Spizz takes out the one bug he'd previously hit, and damages the other to within an inch of its life.
Top of Round 5
See updated map above. The two red X represent dead bugs. The two with yellow arrows near them are in retreat in the direction of the arrows. All the remaining creatures are injured to various extents.
Lexxan, Pious, and Rocko may act.
Pious steps forward once more, looking to split the creature's attention between himself and Rocko.
As he does so he finally breaks his silence, "As Galicien is or Lord and saviour, I declare thee enemies of Justice!"
Unfortunately this brings him into the effect of Lexan's spell...
...grasses wrap his greaves and boots but he breaks through.
Grasping his blade in both hands now he drives the tip forward.
Lex chases after the well armed weirdo chasing after the cow. She attempts to disarm the rustler.
Rocko knows an opportunity when he sees it. He slides to the side of the creature opposite of Pious to hopefully catch one of these bug things in its blind spot.
"Nothing like a good spot of teamwork!"
Grasping his blade in both hands now he drives the tip forward.
"Nothing like a good spot of teamwork!"
Between Rocko and Pious, they take down the one near them.
Lex chases after the well armed weirdo chasing after the cow. She attempts to disarm the rustler.
At this point, the two remaining ones move away toward the fence, exiting from the hole they made. You can follow them, if you wish.
The one running unarmed toward map southwest is still within the pen. Since the battle is largely over, I'm going to stop updating the map and just answer general position questions.
Right now, the closest one to Spizz is 70' in to the map north (after it's move) and the other is about 90' to map north.
The one closest to Lexxan moves 60' due southwest away from her (straight past the cow), and so is about 70' away.
Rocko and Pious would find it difficult to catch up to either for melee, but can attempt to move up (or not) and use any ranged effects they might have. They would be able to get closer to the one Lexxan is chasing, but probably still not get to melee range.
Spizz may act
Rocko calls out to his companions, "Best not to chase! Let's patch up and check the cows first."
Lex stops worrying about combat based on Rocko's call for it's ending. She walks to where the weapon, which she ripped from the beast, lies. Lex examines it.
"Keep one of the beasties alive. We'll need to question it." she quips.
So you have three running away, and three dying from wounds. If you want to question one, you'd best pick one of the incapacitated and save it.
By the time anyone moves to enact Lexxan's suggestion, the dying creatures have completed their journey across the rainbow bridge into whatever passed for an alien bug's afterlife.
Fortunately, Spizz monitored the retreat of the other creatures; he's pretty sure he saw them climbing onto a path on the side of a butte several yards beyond the fence.
Lexxan holds the weapon she retrieved, and Rocko *thinks* the cattle will be okay, eventually. In any case, they're breathing.
Lexxan tries to examine the weapon (Again :P). "Yeah, don't listen to me. After all, I'm just a girl."
Having thoroughly cleaned, and released, his sword. Pious trudges over to one of the corpses and kneels over it "they must be weak willed indeed to leave this plane so swiftly"
Drawing his dagger he begins to inspect the creature, Turing the carcass this way and that, not afraid to cut into it's flesh where needed.
[Ooc]Are the creatures insectoid? Exoskeletons etc? Do they have mammalian features at all? Fingers? Are there any signs, beyond the use of the 'weapons' that they are sentient/civilised? Any clothing or worn trinkets?
Lexxan tries to examine the weapon (Again :P). "Yeah, don't listen to me. After all, I'm just a girl."
The weapon is a rod about 2.5' in length, black. The metal casing almost feels woven rather than cast. There is a trigger button on the casing. Since Lexxan did not hear them use any command words of any sort, it is possible anyone could use it.
1. Insect-LIKE would be more accurate; the head and body features certainly suggest a similarity. However, they have a total of ten "legs" (eight to walk on and two on their upper body that function as arms), not six.
2. Yes on no. They are wearing protective armor AND have a thick plating on all of their outer portions. It's not a true Exoskeleton in that creatures this large surely have an endoskeleton for frame support, but it has the defensive features of such.3. They have pincers on their jaw similar to those of an ant or a praying mantis, and five digits on their "hands" similar to fingers, though they appear to grasp only toward a central point, rather than wrapping like humanoid fingers.
4. They do not seem to have clothing (aside from the armor, above) or trinkets) but they do have a design painted on their heads; the devices vary between creatures. Could be their names, or perhaps a hierarchy of some sort.