I'm cool with that.
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I feel like one of the undead right now. :(
I am leaving for GenCon in a few hours, and will have limited access to the internet during that time. I will probably be back on Monday, August 22, assuming the eclipse does not portend the end of humanity's existence.
I have it on good authority that our Fearless Games Master is experiencing higher than normal business in his non-work hours, and his employer has recently blocked the Paizo site at work. The spirit is willing, of course, but there's only so many hours in the day...
Bunko stumbles a bit as the aurochs crashes to the ground, wincing as he clutches the place where the beast caught him. "That'll leave a mark," he says, pressing his hand to the wound to help staunch the blood. "You alright, Iteb?"
Bunko quickly spins as the aurochs flees, hoping to bring it down before it can leave.
Now at close range, Bunko drops his crossbow in favored of his hooked hammer, and steps up next to the massive bovine. He swings his hammer, aiming to strike the aurochs squarely between the eyes.
Bunko tries to roll out of the way as the aurochs bowls over the two of them, but ends up being clipped in the side by the creature's horn. He grimaces in pain as he reloads his crossbow and fires at the beast again.
Bunko curses as the shot goes wild, his vision hazy from the blood loss.
"Oh...f**k it," Bunko says as the aurochs begins to leave. He raises his crossbow, takes aim, and squeezes the trigger...
...striking the beast square in its side!
"I certainly wouldn't turn away a few extra bows," Bunko replies, unshouldering his crossbow, checking the weapon to be sure it's battle-ready.
"Just to add another wrinkle - there's an awful lot of meat on the bull, and we have mouths to feed. We could loose arrows at it, see if we can bring it down quickly."
Bunko's eyes widen as he spies the massive beast. "Strong enough that I'd rather not mess with it if we can avoid it," he says in hushed tones. "Although I may be able to talk with it if it notices us. That's no guarantee it still won't charge us, but it's a shot."
Bunko's eyes narrow at Lysander's words. "I'm going to let your ignorance slide here, but only because you were a civilian up until tonight. Make no mistake, Lysander, this is a military action now. The hobs' presence changes everything. Either we start acting like a unit or lots of people die. Get your s**t together."
"Of course I couldn't," Bunko replies with a sniff. "And that's the damned point. Your Lepidstadt training meant your job was to play sapper, and the rest of us were to provide cover and harry the invaders. If you weren't sure about the plan, then next time bring it up before we commit to the skirmish, because if you don't, there might not be a next time."
"Lysander. Finally, a name to go with the face," Bunko says with a growl, not bothering to hide his displeasure. "I'm not familiar with the armies in Kyonin, do they make a habit of ignoring mission parameters regularly? Because we barely escaped Phaendar and might have had the whole of the Ironfang at our heels if you had continued to delay setting those charges. Hell, we're probably lucky we didn't get caught in the explosion and blown to smithereens. If these folk, these civilians, are going to have the slightest chance of survival, then each of us needs to know what our roles are, and what role we play in the mission. And you, Lysander - you almost got us all killed. Got them all killed."
Bunko does some quick figuring in his head. "Heading towards the Chesnardos won't delay us too much in making our way to the caves. And if we're lucky, they can spare some men to help escort the civilians. That'd be my vote."
"Name's Bunko Derwerrid,", the gnome says shortly after Iteb introduces herself. "I'm a cobbler, but before that I was with the Nirmathan irregulars. Did my best to train the youth of the free nation to fight against Molthuni oppressors, and eventually joined them on the front. That's where I got these." He gestures to his horrible burns that cover half his face, his melted features unsettling to look at. "I was lucky. My squad was not. Left the army that day, and hoped to never pick up a hammer again except to place hobnails in boots. Fat load of good that did." "You've seen what I have to offer. I'm probably one of the best you'll see with a hooked hammer, and I still can summon up my drill sergeant days if I have to. I wanted to spend the rest of my days in Phaendar, didn't really care if I died or if I just bleached away. Now? I'm going to make every last one of these hobs bleed for ruining that plan." . "I'll take your word on these plans for survival, Iteb. My familiarity with the natural world is more due to what I've read. Otherwise, your plan seems as good as we're going to get. Put as much distance between us and the hobs. If we were all soldiers, I'd recommend a forced march, but we've got civilians here, so we need to move a bit slower."
Sorry folks, things have been crazy recently. I'll be updating my character soon. I get Tactician this level, so I'm debating which feat to take. Here's what I'm looking at, and if you have some thoughts, please let me know! Distracting Charge: passing this out would grant an additional +2 to hit targets that have already been charged this round. We have a lot of melee fighters, so that plays to our strengths. Escape Route: Moving through allies does not provoke AoOs. This would give us tactical advantage during fights - set up flanks, get out of bad positions, etc. Shake It Off: Gain saving throw bonuses. Might be of lesser importance, especially right now, but our Will saves will be poor throughout the life of the game, and anything we can do to bolster that is a good idea. Stealth Synergy: Take the highest Stealth check for our group, and use that for all of us. I kinda like this option, since our group will probably be gravitating towards heavy armor, and anything we can do to mitigate the clankiness is attractive. Volley Fire: Another way to shore up our weaknesses. We're strong on melee, and up until recently, light on ranged. This would give us strong bonuses to ranged attacks in the inevitable flying creature encounters. Precise Strike is not on here, as I don't have a Dex 13+.
Bunko nods in agreement. "Once we've got a few hours distance between ourselves and the front, we can set about making real plans."
In my shoes, Aerel. I mean, you don't think I'd put my feet in those things, do you?
Bunko tries to block out the noise and confusion and doubt and focus on bringing the final guardian low, spinning his hooked hammer around, tearing the hook across his foe's gut.
While Jeb distracts the warrior, Bunko circles around and swings his hammer at the hobgoblin's knee.
"Get across the bridge!", Bunko shouts, looking back at the people they've shepherded through the night. "Don't look back, just keep running!" He turns his attention back to the recruit. "HEY! DHOLAAR!", he shouted back at the hobgoblin, enjoying the pettiness of swearing at him in his own tongue. He swings as the larger foe turns to him, slamming the business end of his hammer in the hobgoblin's back.
Hey, Pixie/Aerel! Good to see you again!
Bunko easily parries one of the blows, and almost dodges away from the second, feeling the impact lessened by his armor. "That all ya got?", he spits, spinning his hooked hammer in his hands. "'Cause I've got plenty more." He strikes at the hobgoblin on his right with the blunt end.
Bunko spins as the hobgoblin is upon him, swinging his hooked hammer at his foe's midsection, but he's distracted by Iteb's wounds - how is she still standing? - missing his foe completely. He snarls in frustration, moving to place the warrior between himself and his partner.
Bunko's snarl turns vicious as the wolf turns on Iteb. "EVEN THE WOLF WON'T LISTEN TO ME! THAT IS IT!" He steps up and spins his hooked hammer around to slam the business end into the canine's hindquarters.
Bunko doesn't hide his frustration when he sees Lysander engage the wolf. "WHAT THE F**K ARE YOU DOING, SOLDIER?!?", he shouts at the gnome, backpedaling away from the wolf. "You have one mission! Do it! Leave the beast to me!" He snaps off a shot at the animal before him, but his fury causes his bolt to fly off wide of its mark. Cursing, he drops his crossbow and pulls his hooked hammer. "Come on, hound. Let's do this."
Bunko swears to himself as he hears the Ironfang warrior's shouts. "Silence her! She's already called for reinforcements, we don't have much time!" He races across the road, training his sights on the lone guard.
"The gnome has a name, dammit," Bunko grumbles, loosing his crossbow as he follows Lysander out to the bridge.
"That's as good a plan as we're going to get," Bunko says, listening to Jeb and Iteb's plans. "Someone might want to go with Lysander, though, to watch over him and provide ranged support, just in case Big and Ugly over there calls for reinforcements. I've got my light crossbow now, but if someone else feels they're better suited for the job, I'm good with that as well."
Bunko gives the fallen hobgoblin a final stab, just to make sure his foe is dead, leaving the blade in the invader. "Give me a few minutes," Bunko says to the rest of the group. "Can't believe I'm putting this armor back on. I thought my days of fighting for Nirmathas were behind me." A short time later, Bunko is wearing a gnome-sized suit of scale mail, blackened in roughly the same patch of his body as the horrifying scars on his face, with a gnome hooked hammer in his hands. A few other weapons adorn his belt as well, but none of them seem as well-cared as the hammer and armor - indeed, if it weren't for the scorched marks, you'd think the armor was recently crafted. "Alright," he says, gripping his hooked hammer tight. "Let's kill every one of these bastards."
Bunko has few words for the hobgoblins ransacking his home, save a growl of anger as he steps in, slicing at the invader's midsection with the oversized blade. Hot blood spills from his foe's wound, and the gnome's burned visage takes on a veneer of grim satisfaction at his handiwork.
Bunko spots the wolf, and is about to caution the group to move on, when he spies the wolf's prey beyond the cart. "Archers," he whispers, pointing at the foe and backing out of the way.
"Not yet on the bridge," Bunko says, his face sweaty and soot-streaked. "I have my weapons and armor back at my bunk. If we're taking that bridge, I want my hooked hammer in hand. This sword is well-made, but it's too cumbersome for me."
With the last hobgoblin felled, Bunko races towards the door to the house, gritting his teeth as he nervously glances towards the flames spreading across the thatched roof. Wasting no time to check if the door is unlocked, he throws his shoulder into the door to force it open.
"I've got this one, someone deal with the flames!", Bunko says, though there's a quaver in his voice at the final word, and his concentration is divided between his foe and the unforgiving flames.
Bunko closes ranks with his allies, gripping his oversized sword and swinging for the fences. He's not able to get a good balance of the weapon, though, and his swing is clumsy, and easily dodged.
While Iteb rushes towards her home, and the dwarves attack their foes head on, Bunko crouches low and begins circling around the hobgoblins, hoping to flank them while they're distracted.
"He did what needed to be done," Bunko says to Rhyna. "If he hadn't given his life, then who knows what would have happened." You know. Butchery. "Stay close to us - once we've gathered everyone we can, we're making a break for the bridge."
As several of his band strike the hobgoblin in the front of the shrine, Bunko slips past Iteb and ducks into the space between the pews. While the lightly armored hobgoblin is distracted by the rest, he hopes to slip around her and strike from behind.
Bunko nods at Iteb's plan, ready to assess any threats that lay beyond the door.
"Gods above and below, I hope that's not Noelan," Bunko says as he lays eyes upon the body the wolf feasts upon. "If you've got ranged weapons, use them - maybe we can scare the wolf off without having to fight it." For his part, Bunko gripped the hilt of Aubrin's sword, ready to move against the wolf, should it decide to charge the group.
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