Sorry I disappeared - whole bunch of RL stuff. Very good to see y'all still going. :)
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Mmmm, food porn.
Windsight can't help it; his fellow Shoanti's aggressiveness starts a bark of laughter from him. "Works for me. What was that??"
With gritted teeth, Windsight resists the horrible sonic storm; three fingers drag two arrows from his thigh quiver, nocking and sending them at the horrid flying beastie one after a vicious other. Heart pounding, jaw clenched, the Shoanti brave shifts to allow Gaven past. "Go with all the good gods' blessings!!" Eww! Ick!! Get The Earplugs!! Get The Bactine!!: Point Blank + Deadly Aim still actove, 'as usual'. ;) Yaay, two hits (if a 16 still hits)!!
Rojava isn't the only one to have acrobatic skills, nor is Windsight dives forward, the fist with his bow in it leading the way, to tumble awkwardly past the undead thing. Good or ill, he'll fetch up next to the bard, then lash out with the well-balanced hand axe at the same lurching monstrosity she's swinging for. Action Jackson: -- don't think that'll do it!! - +2 if flanking.
Blech. Bad d20 rolls. :P
Since we're down to low numbers, can we get individual zombie figures?
Easing past Lia with a warning of "Locked door back there, don't go too far - and get that knife that's back there, please?" Windsight moves up to the anti-zombie mayhem and offers Rojava both the longsword and the handaxe. When she takes the sword, Windsight hefts the axe and wades in right after her. Leftovers: I think that the movement and all takes up my available actions; if it doesn't, then attack with the mwk handaxe, which Windsight is fortunately proficient in.
Pretty sure that's a swing-and-a-miss.
Windsight pauses, looking blank for a moment, then nods and heads back for the sharp things.
Movement:
Windsight hesitates, then shakes his head and gestures back the way the two men and one butterfly came. "Bashing takes too long - head back. Do it the Shoanti way - go fast and hard enough, don't even give them time to breathe, much less think. Forward momentum and all that." He heads back up the way, moving carefully over the still-slick area, pausing only to riffle through the goblin's stuff in search of anything that might be necessary - meaning any sort of key, really.
While he would normally think that leaving the others would be a bad idea, Windsight does not think it coincidence that the bizarre creatures and the pumped-up goblin attacked at the same time that whatever-they-are are keeping Karmid, Drasven, and Rojava occupied up front. Moving carefully, he nocks another arrow and, after murmuring "Keep them upright," (with accompanied gesture towards Lia, Karmid, Drasven, and Rojava), the Shoanti ascetic carefully crosses the greased area and follows the glowing butterfly down the narrow 'hall', trying to be alert for ... problems. Keeping On Keeping On:
Well, when you're faced with goblins who want to kill you, the best thing to do is to kill them back. And from the hollering and screaming behind him (which is, of course, at the front of the group), Karmid must be having his own great time ... which would be fine, if it weren't for the fact that bad people are making bad things happen. Oh, Windsight doesn't know about the shapeshifter being down here, but hell, crap's gone down, and right now Windsight is starting to bend towards a 'shoot it first, ask it for forgiveness second' mood. Not his usual self-control, that's for certain, but getting ambushed (or, well, attempted ambush) twice inside of one minute isn't exactly making him like this place any more than he already doesn't. Two arrows pulled; two nocked and drawn; two shot at the goblin on the floor. Graaah! Die!!:
Rolls:
Adding Deadly Aim this time - 6 + 1 - 1 = +6 to attack.
Hope 18 points of damage finishes it. Quick horrorifying realization - I didn't heal from yesterday, was at 9 HP before I took that 4. Was any healing done in the interim, or did I screw up by the numbers?? Windsight may have kicked the foul creature into becoming a corpse, but the stench is still there, its companion is still there, and Windsight really doesn't want to be underground - not as a matter of real claustrophobia (or even cleithrophobia), but just that he can't feel the wind on his face, open a window, or anything. (Well, okay, maybe a little claustrophobia.) So the Shoanti monk takes two rapid steps back, banging his shoulder painfully into the stone wall to his left, then fires two fast shots into the creature's chest, one on either side of where its breastbone should be; with luck, one of the two will pierce its heart and drop it to the ground!
Square Occupied by Tiny Ally Question: Okay, so the SRD says this:
My question is, basically, can we occupy the same square? Can I take a 5' step backwards and stop, sharing the square with the celestial skunk, in order to clear the Grease AOE and deny the sinspawn the AoO it gets when I shoot? EDIT: Ah, crap, answer is 'no' - can't end movement in the same square as another creature unless it is helpless. So unless the skunk takes a 5' move back first... :P =================================================================== On a more personal note, when I was a youngster, lo these many years ago, my family found near our North Woods cottage a baby skunk whose mother had been killed by a car. We brought it home, de-loused and de-ticked it, gave it many baths, and basically made it a pet - and a very, very good one, too. Very loving and playful, it would follow my mother on walks, happily ate lettuce and bugs and such, did its business in the box or outside. It only sprayed once, when my father swacked its butt with a rolled-up newspaper because it'd been clawing the curtains. It looked at him for a second, then spun around and lifted its tail. My father then smelled something extremely nasty, sniffed the still-rolled-up newspaper, and whew!! We kept it for a little over a year, then released it near the cottage. It dug itself a burrow nearby, and for several years afterwards when we came by the burrow, it would happily trundle out to greet us.
"Black ice!!" swears Windsight as the musk's scent (though, fortunately, not its terrible impact) spreads. His fingers pulling arrows out of his thigh quiver, the archer leans back to front-kick the bizarre creature, hoping to finish it off, but the stench makes him more than a bit too tentative - not wanting to get that stink on the bottom of his foot!! - and he doesn't even make contact with the monstrous thing. Rolls: Quick question - my original shots were a 14 and a 19; Rojava's latest strike was a 13. If I can know, why did my first shot miss?
Thank you for the second part of your clarification; that's the part I was asking about, the 'center of body / corner of the square' thing. I knew I couldn't flank or provide flanking by threatening with a ranged attack, but I was hoping I could do so for Gaven against whatever moves into that spot. And like with Tsuto 'upstairs', and probably for the foreseeable future, Windsight relies on his unarmed strikes in close combat. (Probably a bad experience in the past! ;) )
The monk's eyes widen at the vision thus revealed; almost spooked, he twice draws and fires at the lead monstrosity, neither knowing nor caring where to best place his shots for the greatest effect, just wanting to put enough arrows into the creature to make it stop moving. Nor does he follow through on what he'd intended - to warn both Gwyddym and Gaven to let the creatures come to them. Tech Spec: Flurry Attack: +2 Base +2 Dex +1 weapon focus +1 masterwork = 6 +1 point blank. Damage: 1d8 +2 Str +1 point blank.
Question - if any of these things are in the square right next to Windsight, are they flanked between him and Gaven? I think they are (and I'm pretty sure they definitely are if they're in the next square up, next to Gaven), but I'm still a bit uncertain about the other.
Windsight, his head already turning as Gaven nudges him, gives the paladin of Sarenrae a quick nod. Looking back, he holds up two fingers to Gaven, then turns his hand over and wiggles them to make them do the classic 'walking' motion, and then finally points to the other side of the passage the two of them have just crossed - the intent, of course, being for the paladin to cross quickly over and take cover there. The archer lifts his finger to his lips to warn the Sarenite to stay quiet, then turns back around and reaches out to grip Gwyddym's shoulder and squeeze. Another finger to his lips to indicate silence to the bard, and then he gestures with his thumb over his shoulder, towards the passage. Should Drasven turn, he points at the dwarf, then gestures for him to follow Lia up. Finally tucking himself against the side of the passage so that Gwyddym can be ready to fight as well, with all three of them (himself, Gwydd, and Gaven) able to be seen by each other, he points at Gwydd, makes an underhanded-throw gesture towards the passage, then points at Gaven and imitates a 'leaning out' motion. Spoiler: Aaaand that's probably all I can do with a full-round action. ;) But hopefully it'll not only be enough to spoil the ambush trying to jump us, but also set us up to flank anyone who comes near enough to attack and with the torch-throw and him taking a peek, keep the paladin's 'thou shalt not ambush' justice-and-righteousness thing on an even keel. ;) All three characters have been tweaked into place for what I intend.
"Is it natural?" Windsight quietly asks Drasven as the dwarf returns. The Shoanti bowman has been a bit more quiet than typical; perhaps it was that he'd stayed in the Glassworks all night, gaining what rest he could despite being amongst the destruction of that family's lifetime of work. It had chilled his anger against the goblins, to know that they were but pawns in some other beings' plan, and he was still wrestling to regain the equilibrium he typically possessed. Not even a few 'ghost shots' with the exceptional bow he was using had quite been able balance out his disquiet. He wasn't entirely pleased with being so far in the back, either, but being primarily a missile-combatant pretty much determined it. Having to shoot past his friends, though ... Maybe I should have brought the shortbow too, he thinks.
The archer shakes his head, plucking an arrow from the sand and brushing it clean. "No, before my time," he admits. "I've been here only a year - well, a year more than you; I arrived on the day of the Butterfly Festival last year, as you did this year. I think she was believed to have been slain in the great fire, five years back ... ?"
The Shoanti ascetic nods ruefully, digging with his tongue into a back tooth. "Not over yet," he says, then listens to Drasven's statement of the events. "I hate funerals," he admits quietly. "Or at least the extensive ones. People crying, or bearing up under the grief ..." He shakes his head, then wonders, "Mind coming for a walk? Most of the ones that I shot into the sand should be recoverable. I hope," he adds. If Drasven agrees to accompany him, Windsight walks quietly for a few minutes before finally saying, "Thing like this, makes me think about what might happen. It was more than a little touch-and-go in there earlier. So if my end comes at some point in this, I would appreciate you seeing that I receive a sky burial. It's tradition among the Tamiir-Quah - to be returned to the wind and the sky, and those who wing through it. It doesn't have to be traditional Shoanti, just ..." He gives a shrug, plucking the first of his arrows out of the sand and giving it a detailed inspection of fitness to be used again. "Remember life, not death, for I'll no longer be there, yes?"
Windsight had clapped Karmid on the shoulder as he left, saying, "Well done. Let us pray for Gozreh to keep the rain away, that we might track them two or three days hence. I wish that Shalelu was available - my woodcraft is not up to the task of following the blood trail." Leaving Karmid, he returns to the Glassworks; he'd been harrying the goblins for far too long, and that tunnel definitely required a personal bout of 'make sure it hasn't been forced'. Seeing Drasven emerge, he gives a slight smile. "Of sorts," he agrees, then explains what he and Karmid had done, injuring two and chasing all three off to the north, and hopefully leaving a blood trail that the Godtouched could follow. "Everything all quiet in there?" he asks, nodding towards the Glassworks.
Shoanti-bred instinct - the desire to, as he's told the others so very recently, ensure that no enemy is left alive behind you - screams at Hudok Tamiirrik to take the shots, to slay the three goblins that are so clearly trying to figure out how to get the hell away from the town without being spotted. But spotted they were, and a spotted enemy who hasn't seen you yet, one trying to escape to return to a stronghold you haven't located yet, is the thinking warrior-scout's gods-given gift. Windsight steps back slightly from the edge of the cliff, enough to keep an eye on the goblins, but with luck not enough for the goblins to be able to spot his head jutting up over the edge of the cliff in turn. The question that sits in his mind is simple: How do I follow these three without walking into an ambush? The goblins assaulting the town may have been manic, but they'd been handleable with his companions; the ones inside the glassworks had been fish in a barrel, the Shoanti's ankle-twist when he dropped the only twinge he'd taken. The bow he's borrowed from the sheriff's office made staking the big-headed psychopaths almost easy, so he could eliminate them here, now, and probably on his own, even at this range. But that wouldn't get him - them, the Godtouched - any closer to the hopeful goal of eliminating the long-term threat these things were clearly presenting. And if they were this supposedly-dead woman's minions, as the half-elf's diary seemed to suggest, if they're fleeing ... then following their trail might be the best way, maybe the only way, to discover where whatever-her-name is, even if the goblins' return might give the woman information on the forces opposing her ... Hm. A trail. If one or two of them are wounded, and hence bleeding - not enough to bleed out, but enough to leave a trail of blood - then it might be possible to follow them back to their lair, even if a couple of days pass. Well, so long as it doesn't rain, he adds to himself, drawing two arrows from his thigh-quiver. The Perfect Shot: Windsight wants to make sure he hits, so I'll be using Perfect Strike for the first shot of two. Each shot will be at a different goblin; I do NOT want to kill them, only wound. Range increment is 110', so they should still be well within the first increment; don't get point-blank, but won't be using Deadly Aim.
.... yeesh!! I think that misses cleanly, but at least the Perfect Strike means I can avoid the critical miss.
The plan going ahead from here is to shoot to miss every couple of rounds - basically 'shoot / move / move / move' as necessary, to push the goblins into swimming the hundred feet or so around the Old Light. If Windsight spots Karmid going to or into Brodert Quink's place (#8), and he's within shouting distance (he should be), he'll shout to call Karmid's attention to the goblin's presence, ask him to stand watch at the top of the cliff, then run around the ravine in order to get back to the top of the cliff and to talk with Karmid. He would then explain his idea/plan, and make sure that both a) the goblins don't get up into town, but also b) they don't get killed before they can 'daringly escape'. Windsight might shoot once or twice near them while they're in the water, just to 'keep the skeer on 'em', as Gen. Nathan Bedford Forrest would say. Once they're on the Chopper's Isle / Junk Beach side, Windsight will begin shooting again every other round, this time to hit one of the two uninjured ones; not killing it would be preferable, but with one of them hit, it'd be just as good if the second were slain. He'd follow them, shooting to miss every other round, and by preference ask Karmid to run ahead to the northern gate to make sure the guards there don't kill the goblins, just pepper near them with arrows now and then, to chase them out of town and give them a blood trail to follow in the next couple/three days.
Windsight pauses on the way through the glassworks after having made extra-certain - with multiple spikes, pounded in as necessary - that the downstairs door isn't going to open without the group wanting it. "Treat him with respect," he says. "He was rough, but he earned the right to be with sweat, labor, and heartache. If it takes time, it takes time - I will keep watch." And after stalking through the building to learn its layout, he gets the back door open and begins to slowly patrol, keeping his eyes and ears open - the former when outside, looking down the cliff to the beach to try to gauge changes from pass to pass, the latter especially for moving through the building upstairs and down, listening for intrusion attempts. Rolls: If it comes to it:
Windsight considers the information and suggestions and advice, grim as some of it is. "We need to set a watch, then," he says slowly. "Here. Hm. Smuggler's ... that'll be on the beach, on the old light-house side somewhere, won't it. So ... set a couple watches, here and up top, until tomorrow. Let those know who need to know, then rest up." He grimaces, and the hand not around the bow tightens in a fist. I sure wish I had that bastard here again, he thinks of Tsuto.
"I disagree." It's Windsight, who had been reading over (well, around) Rojava's shoulder. "This says they have people already here - down in tunnels underneath us; we need to take care of that first, and maybe we'll find the shapeshifter as well. Drasven, can you find a secret door anywhere?" In a lower voice, he adds, "What's a quasit?"
"Take your rage out on more worthy opponents. Sandpoint has a prior engagement with this gentleman - one which will undoubtedly conclude at the end of a rope." Windsight nods thanks to Drasven, lifting a hand to accept the rope so that the dwarf can help Karmid find out where the heck the shapeshifter went.
*gets a sudden image of a miniature John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John acting out a musical right there ...*
"The only reason you're still alive is because we need information," Hudok Tamiirrik states, reaching into the pouch at his belt and retrieving a truly wondrous item - a spare bowstring. "Drasven, move - I would rather he were bound before you go any further. Perhaps you might help Karmid in looking at the section of wall through which the fake Lia went? I think it best we chase that one down quickly - before more foulness can be perpetrated. Talene, if we leave this maniac with you, will you be able to keep him captured?" It might be of interest to note he does not say 'alive'.
You Don't Fool Me!!:
There's only one response to those words, especially when it's a fellow in close combat with you - a hard, low spinning roundhouse, just about thigh level. His head needs to whip around; luck and perhaps a bit of good timing let him turn his face away to eliminate the worst of the flash and concussion. Bringing his kick hard across the half-elf male's thighs, this time Windsight engages not quite with the top of his toughened foot, but with the durable but less-damaging muscle three inches higher on the leg, the inner arc of his ankle. His eyes-on-the-wind training seems to be paying off, though, as both footsteps and smoke-swirls betray the direction of Tsuto's retreat - presuming, that is, that Drasven's axe doesn't drop him. Hopefully it'll be enough to stop the half-elf, though with his own attacks, he shouldn't be dead ...
The scalplocked archer (definitely not a ranger) flinches slightly at the dazzle of colors that bathes the hallway - he may be as un-Shoanti as he can be, quiet and disciplined, but he's still Shoanti. Pulling two more arrows from his thigh quiver, he shouts (despite the pain in his throat from doing so), "Ro, Lia, clear my line!!" Instead of shooting downrange at Not-Lia, though, Windsight closes again with the half-elf, feinting a stab with the arrows before trying a low-kick to the male's closest knee. Spoiler: Don't think that hits, but what the hell.
Looking downrange in frustration as Lia and Rojava get between him and the shapeshifter, he turns back towards the half-elf and gives a disciplined side-kick before taking a couple steps backwards. With luck, the pinning effect will lure him towards Windsight again, opening up the passage for the other Godtouched to come bloody his skull. Kick It Good: +4 base, +2 for flanking.
Then take a 5' step back down the hall and hold, ready to close back again should he not take the bait, so that Drasven continues to get the flanking bonus.
Still clearly aggravated by the smack to his throat - but not letting the new lump he thinks is there slow him down - Windsight also takes a quick couple of steps backwards, left-right, then snatches another pair of arrows from his thigh quiver. In rapid sequence, they are fitted to the string of the wonderful longbow he's been using (at a half-crouch if necessary!!) and fired at - and hopefully into - this grablix that just kicked him in the throat. "Need a ..." he starts hoarsely, then coughs and rasps, "Ro, get the rest!!"
Spoiler: 5' step back, and then fire into Master Half-Elven - Tsuto, I presume. Don't know his AC, so going to just roll everything. Still Deadly Aim, still Point Blank.
Oh Noes!!:
As an FYI aside, Windsight's PER is one higher - a 9 now, not an 8.
Though Windsight heard the person coming, he shifted only enough to make sure he wasn't presenting his spine or kidneys to the incoming individual - which inadvertently opened up his throat to the slap of toes across his larynx. However light it was, a kick to the throat is nothing to sneeze at, and though the lean Shoanti winces - flinches, really - the hard, painful cough that follows seems to be enough to keep him from really reeling in a moment of shock.
Fire One! Fire Two!!:
5' step if needed to clear line-of-sight to not-Lia.
I expect the first one hit; I doubt very much that the second one did!! :D
Speed kills. Well, in this case, speed doesn't kill. Windsight gets the first arrow off cleanly, even almost perfectly, but the second one is quite clearly rushed, and chips off the floor at a crazy angle before caroming into the wall, narrowly missing Lia as it spins, half-shattered and completely out of control. "Shapechanger," the Shoanti archer says laconically to Rojava, already reaching for another arrow.
The arrow gets pulled to full draw, but Windsight hesitates - then mutters to the Flutter-by, "Get your mistress to drop to her knees." He will be paying very close attention to which one drops first - or any details of movement that just don't match his 'little sister'. Keep It Quiet: Trying to make that sotto voce/under my breath, so neither of them will hear it. Bluff, maybe?
And trying to spot differences between the two - I doubt it's going to be in appearance, so movement or actions:
"On it!!" With an arrow nocked and half-drawn, the Shoanti archer follows immediately upon the heels of Lia and Ameiko, aggressively alert for danger - especially to Lia. Hearing Them?: I posed following hard on after them before - will I be close enough to them to hear what Ameiko says? If needed:
"Lia!! Windsight's cold rage shatters as she disappears into the wall - oh yeah, stairs. The Shoanti archer moves behind Xarmas, then, after hesitating as he sees the troubles of the priests, continues forward after the flighty Desna-chosen. "Karmid, get them pulled back!! Finish the damn things off, then follow!!" And he goes down after Lia and Rojava and the very un-Ameiko Ameiko, an arrow to the string ready to be shot.
Kill Da Wabb -- Err, Goblins:
'Reaction shot', kind of, and considering the damage this bow is doing - with a +5, any hit is killing them, so dropping Deadly Aim's -1/+2 for a bit better chance to hit means it'll still kill on a sub-par 1d8 roll of 3 or better - I'm going to stop using Deadly Aim for a bit.
That should do nicely. :D Windsight draws an arrow from his thigh-quiver even as he straightens back up, to nock/draw/release with a fluid motion and a bow's typical snapping sound. The arrow streaks across the mere twenty-foot distance, flashing between Xarmas and Rojava to slide above the intruding goblin's shield and through its leather armor to take it just above the breastbone, punching the creature back and down. "Stop screwing around!!" he snarls, his Shoanti rage clearly showing, and just as clearly under tight control. Striding forward, though he does favor his right ankle slightly, he follows the path of his arrow between Xarmas and Rojava, to see the onslaught harrassing Drasven, Talene, and the rest. "Drasven! Talene! Gwyddym!! Pull back this way!! Karmid, get that earthbreaker ready. Xarmas, Ro, Lia, bring Ameiko through, get her out the back. Hurry!!" The archer reaches down to his quiver, fingers touching the arrows' feathers as he watches the goblins swinging wildly at Drasven.
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