"Discretion is the better part of valor..." Arjun readies himself to retreat back to the monastery.
With a broken neck and no head you feel confident that the demon will not be getting back up. Grall grasps his grisly prize while Sajan takes the halberd leaving behind only the rancid loin cloth.
You head out the way you came in,through the buildings and along the river, bruised but triumphant. Grall and Nuveril are slow initially but soon recover and you head south for the relative safety of the hills.
Looking back at the town several hundred yards away from cover you see that the gnolls have hastily assembled a strike force. At least a dozen gnolls and a half dozen hyenas. Admidst their bulk you almost miss a slim figure, fully covered in black chador and veil. It seems to be ordering the gnolls around and they hop to obey. They do not see you but they seem to be trying to find your trail..
Maybe make footsteps hard to follow? Sajan asks, suddenly out of his element once more. The shrine is more protectable. And the other mercenaries could help...
Having dropped her foe, Nuveril turned with a smile of triumph, despite her wounds and fatigue. "Two more notches for my hammer today!" she crows. Her face darkens when she sees the demon lying broken on the ground, but she joins the party in victorious retreat, with only a kick for the caprine body lying still in the dust.
Later, away from the town, as they look back to see the hunting party assembling for pursuit, she suggests, "The ancestor dogs? If we can make it to their hills, perhaps their pawprints will cover our trail and we can return to our camp."
Seeing the Hyenas..he makes an assessment.
Take 10 on knowledge nature check, can I remember if the Hyenas have scent?
Seeing the Hyenas..he makes an assessment.
Take 10 on knowledge nature check, can I remember if the Hyenas have scent?
Nuveril's left arm is soaked in blood from the still-slowly-seeping cuts on her shoulder.
Nuveril's left arm is soaked in blood from the still-slowly-seeping cuts on her shoulder.
Nuveril's left arm is soaked in blood from the still-slowly-seeping cuts on her shoulder.
1d8+2
The halfling gives Linah a grudging nod of gratitude, working her shoulder in its socket as the cuts heal. "Even if they track us now, we could take them," she boasts.
Blood trickles from one large wound and several small ones.
"Even if they track us now, we could take them," she boasts.
Never has Sajan fought a foe as strong as the one who wielded this halberd- or as slippery to hold onto... Sajan would like to crush Gnoll's tomorrow.
Linah releases a burst of positive energy to close the worst of Grall's wounds.
"We should try get to the mountain terrain where it will be easier to loose them. My reserves are being stretched thin, i do not want to face the horde right after the trial with the demon."
Grall lines them up in single fil, Khalid in the front, Nuveril in the middle helping to keep the group focused and moving, and we start to move at half speed with Grall in the rear wth a bush covering the tracks.
We will move slower, but be harder to track. We must go now!
Between them Grall, Khalid and Nuveril use every trick they know to try and throw the gnolls off your trail: cutting false trails, moving back and forward over rocky ground, sweeping your tracks, even using a rare cactus sap to try and thwart the following hyenas sense of smell.
fail!
fail!
Proceeding as you are the going is fairly slow. But you reach the shelter of the high hills surrounding the monastery and note with some relief that the gnolls are not following. Whether they lost the trail or just gave up is unclear. Nevertheless, it seems it is only a matter of time until the gnolls locate your camp. Where else could you be?
Fighting and running in the heat is taking its toll and you spare a few minutes rest before setting off for the monastery.
Before much longer its stone walls are in sight. But something seems wrong... You are used to seeing one of the mercenaries stationed permanantly at the entrance, both as a guard and to keep watch over the camels. But no guard stands there now. And as you approach you hear yells and some sort of shriek from inside.
Bored with all the work to cover their tracks (and slightly disappointed that the ruse seems to have worked), Nuveril perks up as the shriek reaches her ears. "Trouble," she gloats, clutching her hammer, as she runs for the monastery entrance.
he follows Nuveril but looks to make sure we are not walking into an ambush...
(-4 for armor and i'm going to snag one of those survival assists if you don't mind :)
Linah follows close behind with her scimitar drawn. While running she prays that they are not to late.
1d20+5
Arjun fort
The heat took its toll.
Arjun non-lethal
Sajan non-lethal
Linah non-lethal
Khalid non-lethal
Niveril pinpoints the noise of battle from the courtyard and you run there, Grall alert for ambushes.
Arjun spends a great deal of time mopping his bald head with a handkerchief. "What shall we do, now that the forces of Kelmerane know for a fact we are here?"
You run to the courtyard and find a battle in progress.
The six mercenaries are fighting an enormous vulture-like bird. Its wingspan must be a full fifteen feet wide. A long narrow neck ends in a squat fachttps://secure.paizo.com/cgi-bin/WebObjects/Store.woa/wa/DirectAction/ed itPost?post=v5748gbij1nkq#newPoste with an eighteen inch long beak that looks wicked sharp and is coated red.
The bird is hovering just over twenty foot off the ground. Even at that height the beat of its wings are sending up columns of dust and dirt.
Yesper is lying, bleeding and unmoving, on the ground. Elia and Utarchus stand over her trying to ward off the bird with scimitars and shields. Both seem to bear wounds, a fan of red covers the left side of Elia's face and Utarchus is bleeding from hip and shoulder.
The other 3 mercenaries have spread out around the edges of the courtyard shooting at the bird with crossbows. A bolt sticking out of the bird's side testifies to their efforts but they may have done little more than anger the creature, it is frenzied.
Chicken or Egg?, Round 1
Initiative
Grall
Nuveril
Linah
Khalid
Sajan !
Arjun
Mercenaries
Giant Bird
Ordered Initiative
Sajan 22
Arjun 20
Linah 20
Nuveril 15
Grall 15
Bird 12
Mercenaries 9
Khalid 8
Effects
- N/A
Notes
- Bird has ten feet reach.
- The other combatants will not start the fight flat-footed as they have been battling.
- Map is up. Ignore the trees Sajan has pretty much cleared the open area as part of his gardening.
Grall enters his rage and draws a Javelin as he moves 40' to G18
He roars at the beast trying to get its attention!
Arjun throws a fire bomb over the bird's head, purposely trying to hit the backside of the monster and avoiding hurting the mercenaries.
Attack square M16
Attack vs AC 5
Vulture-thingie takes 5 fire damage. Half damage with DC 15 Reflex save.
Nuveril takes in the situation at a glance and moves toward the clutch of people bearing the brunt of the bird's attack. She takes her place, hammer and madu held up protectively, to defend the fallen mercenary.
Round 1, initiative 20
Always quick to react () Linah draws her scimitar and darts forward. Midway to the wounded guards she emits a wave of soothing energy.
Sajan moves to H14 and takes a shot with his heavy crossbow before tossing it aside.
Sajan reacts more quickly than normal. However, the vulture is a difficult target despite its size and his shot goes wide, the thick bolt sailing over the roof and out into the sky.
Arjun moves around to get line of sight and lobs his fire bomb. It explodes in mid-air showering the bird with fiery fragments but it jinks away evading the worst. pass
Linah's burst of healing washs over the group and the cluster of mercenaries. Some of Elia and Utarchus' wounds close over but the effect on the fallen Yesper is not immediately apparent.
Nuveril fearlessly takes up position in front of the mercenaries.
Grall's javelin takes the bird in the wing shaving off skin and feathers. His roars don't seem to grab the bird's attention though, it seems very focused on the figures in front of it.
It flights around and down in a tight spiral, hovering about 13' off the ground to snap a bite at Nuveril . The beat of its wings sends up a torrent of dirt and debris from the dry (and now cleared) ground of the courtyard creating a large hemispherical cloud and making it difficult to see.
Bite miss
The beak comes close but the halfling is too quick to be hit.
With the creature out of reach Elia and Utarchus are unable to do much. Both shield their eyes from the cloud and defend. The three crossbowmen are similarly thwarted, moving in closer and waiting for a better opportunity to fire.
Linah's burst of healing washs over the group and the cluster of mercenaries. Some of Elia and Utarchus' wounds close over but the effect on the fallen Yesper is not immediately apparent.
Khalid can't really see the creature but can determine its general location. His fire bolt rockets through the cloud, cleaving a path, to strike the vulture in the neck. The damage is minor but the bird is clearly discomforted by the fire.
Chicken or Egg, Round 2
Ordered Initiative
Sajan 22
Arjun 20
Linah 20
Nuveril 15
Grall 15
Bird 12 (-11hp)
Mercenaries 9
Khalid 8
Effects
- N/A
Notes
- Bird has ten feet reach.
- Map is updated please excuse my kindergarden level paint skills. Ignore the trees Sajan has pretty much cleared the open area as part of his gardening.
- Cloud is providing concealment from 15-20' (20% miss) and total concealment over 25' (50% concealment and cannot target with sight). This is indicated in brown on the map.
You identify the bird as a Geier a solitary type of vulture which can grow very large. This one is as big as any you've heard about. Like all vultures its a carrion eater but a Geier is so big that its not uncommon for it to seek fresh prey. Its obvious now that the nest in the courtyard was its. Its quite common for a Geier to have several nests and leave them for days at a time which is clearly why you didn't encounter it before now. Its extremely protective and you surmise it will keep attacking anything around its nest. As angry as it it now you expect it will be even more so if it discovers its eggs gone.
In terms of combat there isn't much to know. Its big and strong with a tough body. Like any animal it isn't too keen on fire but in its current agitated state you think you would need to hit it with a lot to make it flee.
Linah's burst of healing washs over the group and the cluster of mercenaries. Some of Elia and Utarchus' wounds close over but the effect on the fallen Yesper is not immediately apparent.
Round 2, initiative 20
Linah continues her rush towards the injured mercenaries and kneels down next to Yesper and examines his wounds.