Same :(
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Hope everything is ok. LCF hasn't been on, so you haven't missed anything.
Still alive here. Hopefully everything is ok with LCF.
I'm not sure who moved him but I put him behind Pythia so he didn't die.
Kael hopes that their brief talk of tactics has left an impression on Pythia and that she doesn't go charging ahead again... but doesn't hold much hope... "Stay by my side Pythia..."
Kael claps Percival on the shoulder. "What magic can do, I'm sure it can undo. But we probably should deal with the Necromancer first, while he's vulnerable. You can stay in the back, maybe Pythia can find you something interesting to hold onto." Not the best pep talk, but hopefully enough.
Someone capable of melee might be advantageous. Kael is pretty tanky, but he can't be everywhere.
Trust me, we're apparently in very similar situations, so I completely understand. Cat herders, unite! Except you're already triple booked for every timeslot in core hours.
"Aaaaaaaaaaa-huh?" Kael grimaces and turns around just as quickly, rushing back to the fight until he sees the rest of the party relatively unscathed. He takes mental note of Percival's condition, but brandishes his sword. "One way or another, we can't leave things like this with the necromancer. I have a feeling that owl is a familiar of some kind, and he was looking for help. Either we work things out with swords, or end his foul experiments permanently."
Well, looking at the DCs, Kael had roughly a 25% chance of making his save, so I'm glad he got hit with the Fear and not the Blindness. We had some tactical errors and fought from a disadvantageous position against a stronger and numerically superior group of foes. We can try to work on tactics later, but the retreat is probably the best move. Kael can probably carve through the remaining zombies pretty quickly, which have been the only things to only do damage so far. Makes Kael a "I am the tank. If you see me running, please try to keep up. It shouldn't be too hard, I only move 20'" sign to put on his armor.
Well, a timely withdraw until Kael stops running might be in order. This seems like another one of those "tough fights." I wouldn't mind a fifth / sixth. 5 does seem to be the magic number in PBP to keep things rolling without getting bogged down, but keeping a spot open for Percival if he comes back sounds good. There is going to be some attrition over time.
The caster's eyes set upon him and the half-orc feels a moment of intense dread the clouds over his mind. As he suddenly feels himself unable to keep from running and screaming down the stairs, one thought manages to pierce the fog: "This is getting left out of the story of this encounter."
Kael prepares for the zombies to approach him; ready to swing at the inevitable foe... until Pythia rushes past him and attacks a zombie largely ineffectually. He sighs and plans to have a long conversation on tactics with her afterwards... possibly including drawn instructions. He then moves forward a bit more and taking a large chunk out of the larger zombie.
I had a post all set up... then forgot to post it. If need be, my action is going to take a 5' step and swing at the big zombie with the roll I made, cursing at Pythia's tactics and making a note to make some drawn instructions for her.
Well, at least in a world of strange worms and necromancers, some things stay the same. Even if this is one of the weirdest combats I've ever seen... Kael advances into the room, quickly drawing his greatsword and readying to attack the bigger zombie (closest?) when it comes into reach. Readied attack:
Dun dun dun...
The half-orc holds back, letting the less... abrasive members of the party to do the talking, while, ready for the inevitable fall to hostilities. It rankles him that a corpse desecrator might walk out of here alive, but if he provides more information, it might be worth it...
Nope, Pythia's fun. FYI to the group, I've been having some unexpected 12 hour work days in the middle of OutPost starting and some other personal stuff. I'm definitely around, just a bit more strapped for time than I'd like.
Kael holds his breath as Chaetris searches. "Find anything? Or is it at least safe to move?"
"We can give a more thorough search once we've cleared areas that might contain enemies." Kael nods to the stairs. "No use being surprised while searching if we can avoid it."
Kael grins at Cerise. "You're remarkably inconsistent, you know. First you save undead, then you destroy them. Rather spectacularly, I might add." The half-orcs toothy visage shows with mirth, trying to keep high spirits despite the surroundings. "Filge... Do we know that name?"
Kael looks on the macabre sight, raising a brow, ready to become violent when the enemies are.
"Let's leave the stuck door for now until we find the necromancer. No use in waking the dead." Kael does a cursory examination of each of the rooms before turning on to the larger door and nodding towards it, looking for the party's readiness to barge in.
Kael looks at the impressive display of casting prowess that Cerise exhibits. "Remind me to never get on your bad side, ok?" He glances down at the skeletons. "Anything interesting with these, or can we move on?" Once again, Kael is glad for the armor he's wearing.
Kael grumbles at the disarray of the room, and how long it's going to take him to clear it. "Are all necromancers so messy?" Slowly he picks his way across a broken table, still woefully short of his foes.
Kael sighs. "Great, more undead. Well, let's go dispatch them, unless you want to make for friends?" He glances to the necromancer. "Just don't get any ideas about more friends, ok?"
Oh, I hadn't forgotten it either ;) No worries about work... I completely sympathize there, plus I'm getting over the flu.
Kael looks on the scene with a mixture of fascination and desire to give the unholy thing a sudden but inevitable demise. He still holds his weapons at the ready, just in case. At the talk of letting the thing go, he whispers to the group, "I don't know if we can trust that thing outside of your power. Before you worked your magic on it, it clearly looked like it was going to kill us. We're also probably at our quota for 'barely controlled killing machines that can turn on us at any time.'" He glances back to Browl, forgotten in the exchange, making sure that it isn't trying to eat someone, or worse, deciding that the mote is a new, inseparable playmate.
"That doesn't look... natural..." Unsure with what the creature is and not wanting to find out, Kael readies Dirge to attack when the strange thing comes into range of his blade. Readied attack:
Kael nods to Percival and advances resolutely, covering the trap-finder with his twin weapons as they approach, ready for the inevitable zombie onslaught or whatever foul foes are about to befall them.
Kael looks after Cerise as she starts to leave, and shrugs as he follows. "I have not trouble looking for things in the dark, but I'm not sure if the rest of you will have things quite so easy." He glances back at the thugs and rolls his eyes. Once safely out of earshot, he adds, "In the future, please don't offer a thousand gold to greedy idiots, Percival..."
Kael glances at the more diplomatic and knowledgeable members of the party. This area clearly wasn't his forte. "We could start with a round of drinks?" he supplied helpfully.
Kael rises to his full height as well, shifting and stretching a bit to show off the ripples of his muscles under his fortified chainmail and his impressive display of weaponry. He looks to Percival and snorts. "Care is probably a strong word." He turns to the thugs. "Look, we just killed the thing that ate someone with a mark just like that one." He pauses and points at the brand. "We just. Want. To. Talk." The half-orc holds himself ready, like a potential dervish of death. The greataxe made him cautious, but backing down at this point would surely make them targets. When staring down an alpha of the pack, you needed to present yourself as someone that was too much effort to attack.
Kael wanders up behind Percival, staring down the opposite half-orc, his hands open but clearly adopting the role of 'heavily armed, hired muscle.' He leans over on a table looking almost bored, picking at the grain of the wood of the table with his thumb. Need to have a united front in this one, I think
I will and will post here in a couple hours.
Here's the icon I made for Gnarrr, the owlbear companion I had for a character in PFS :)
Kael glances around, then looks back at his drink, sipping it lightly. "Sounds like a plan. What exactly were we going to be asking about, again?" The half-orc shrugs as he tries to remain unobtrusive. "I know that his buddy was probably the one that... Browl's... mother ate. And there's a grave robber around. Is it just to see if the two were related?"
I'm sorry to hear that Chaetris. I would say don't worry about the game; take care of you and your family.
With little else to do at the moment, Kael joins his companions heading towards the Feral Dog. He still had some reservations from the -last- time he was there; someone tried to pick a fight with the half-orc. Not the first time, nor certainly the last, but it still made him grit his teeth as he entered the unsavory den of the drunken despondent. Seeing his other companions, he approached Pythia and Percival. "Did you find out what you needed? And... did anyone remember to get some lamp oil?"
Take your time. I think we're all eager to keep going but understand things being crazy.
Kael opens his mouth to try to caution the more talkative investigator; after all, they hadn't completely cleared out the cairn and there were still some of the most interesting parts were yet to remain! Yet there was no putting the proverbial djin back in the bottle... or words back in an elf's mouth. He remains mute as Chaetris talks, and then mulls over the wizard's response. He takes a very long time to consider his next words, then responds. "You have been more than generous... which is almost unexpected in a town like this. I'm used to looking for a catch in any show of generosity, but you seem honorable. Which is why I ask you two things. First: while attempting to learn more about the grave robber, we discovered an owlbear, which we were forced to dispatch. With it, though, we found a baby owlbearcub. It has sort of taken one of our party as a surrogate mother for now, but it's likely we'll need to find a more permanent home for it. Do you know anyone that would be interested in purchasing it or training it?" Even more difficult than finding a home for their newfound pet comes next: "Second, these Wind Dukes. Do you know much more about them? Or what this might mean?" He lifts up his chainmail enough to show the tattoo on his arm, then lowers it.
Working late tonight, but I'll get a post in.
The half-orc regards the wizard curiously, mentally deciding, Wizards are weird... And I hope this one can't hear what I'm thinking.... Kael looks to his companion, then in their absence, speaks up. "A good and dry day to you... my companions and I have come upon an assortment of magical and esoteric goods for which you might be interested in purchasing. Or at least know who might be a buyer."
I'll try to post something adequate soon; work has been somewhat crazy the last few days. I'll tag along with whomever looks like they need it the most... though Kael would probably avoid the brothel ;)
I think we broke Chaetris
"Yeah. A thousand gold to the right buyer. It's funny to think how such a small and dangerous thing could be worth more money than I would have earned in a lifetime of militia-work." He nods to Percival, and goes to explore the rest of the house.
... In my Kingmaker home game, one of the players put a lot of effort into trying to tame the owlbear, which he named Albert ;) Luckily he got a Ring of Dominate Animal.
Kael raises a brow at the antics of the baby owlbear. "Ah, cute little baby murderous thing." Looking around at the party, he shrugs. "I really don't think we should kill it if we can avoid it. Besides, it's worth at least a thousand gold if we sell it to the right buyer... I don't know about you all, but there's a lot we could buy or accomplish with that kind of money. Besides, taking it back or trying to sell it would be a good cover for coming back to the town and buying more supplies."
Kael finds himself under a mound of fur with claws, half buried by the thing's carcass. He slowly extracts himself from the carnage and wipes his blade of rage-bear-blood. The half-orc looks around and adds, "Percival, remind me about this next time we're about to walk into certain death. I still think that we'll walk into the certain death regardless, but at least you deserve an 'I told you so."
"The men at the militia told stories about how one of them found an owlbear cub. It was cute at first, but he never could quite train it all the way; he ended up selling it as a guard-animal to someone in Greyhawk. As much as I'd love to take on training it... something tells me we aren't going to have the time to do that. We also really can't just leave it loose..." He gestures to the rage-bear corpse that tried to kill him. "What do you think?"
With what seems to becoming a trend, Kael finds himself staring down death in a way that, a couple days prior, he wouldn't have even considered existed. In this case, it's being savaged by a murder-bear. Trapped in a tight owlbear-hug, he yells out, muffled by the fur and feathers that are smothering him: "Mrpphah- ah! I could probably use little help? Also I think it's defending its baby back there..."
Unable to bring his morningstar to bear he plunges Dirge into the side of the thing. |