Sajan's kick finds a weakpoint in the right pincer joint and chitin tears under the impact.
The scorpion lunges forward. There are no tactics to its mindless attack, just the instinct to kill and devour the warm blooded things in front of it. Left and right its pincers shoot forward at Nuveril and Sajan respectively. The halfing easily rolls out of the way, the pincer driving deep into the dirt while Sajan takes a powerful blow to the head. The monk is stunned for just a second but that is enough for the scorpion to close the pincer around his waste, the sharp edges cutting painfully into his sides.
The scorpion's tail, edge glistening with black venom, tracks Nuveril as she rolls, and then darts forward, the barbed tip ripping through the halfing's leggings like parchment and penetrating the flesh of her leg. Almost immediately she can feel the effect of the scorpion's venom weakening her muscles.
Pincer vs Nuveril miss
Pincer vs Sajan hit
Grab success
Tail hit
The rigors of the day may have weakened Nuveril's weapon arm, but her feral little white blood cells just keep on fighting. :)
Round 1, initiative 13
Warned by the barking blink dogs Linah turns around to see the scorpion skitter from the rocks. She draws her scimitar and follows Nuveril and Sajan into battle .
Linah moves up, scimitar out and ready.
Possessing few options, Felliped moves to the side and takes a potshot with her heavy crossbow. Unfortunately, the heavy bolt slices through the air a yard or so to the creature's right.
The little blink dog growls at the scorpion in anger at the sigt of Nuveril being attacked and runs down the path toward the battle, barking all the while.
Gralls growl matches that of the blink dogs as he forgets all pretenses of defense against this beast and tries to hurt it badly enough to turn its attention away from Sajan while yelling at the vermin!
Grall's yells don't seem to distract the scorpion but his falchion does. It sinks deep into the flesh of its left pincer and comes out covered in ichor. Still holding Sajan, the beast twitches and swivels to face the gnoll.
Khalid shoots a bolt of flame that streaks out at the scorpion, midway between Grall and Nuveril, but the angle is just slightly too high and it misses high.
Scorpion Attack!
Round 2
Ordered Initiative
Nuveril 19
Sajan 18a (grappled)
Giant Scorpion 18b (controlling grappler)
Linah 12
Victoria 11
Juvenile Blink Dog! 10
Grall 8
Khalid 7
Effects
Bless (Khalid, Linah, Grall)
Posting from phone so won't format sorry. Sajan atttempts to break free of the grapple and 5 foot away
Nuveril steps to B 15 and tries once again to smash through the scorpion's natural armor. Her weapons bounce back, though, without making a crack in the creature's carapace.
Round 2, initiative 13
Linah advances carefully towards the scorpion, taking care to avoid it's pincers and tail
Linah darts into the fray and swings at the scorpion. The strike is however way to weak and bounces harmlessly off it's armor
Nuveril flurry of attacks indeed does not penetrate the scorpion's natural armour.
Sajan is badly wounded but far from out of the fight. He pulls the pincer down with all of his weight and seizing an end with each hand manages to lever himself free. He steps back and the mindless creature already seems to have forgotten him (at least for the moment), turning to face Grall.
It lunges forward, nearly burying the barbarian under its bulk. A pincer shoots forward and the gnoll throws himself backwards, the tip of the claw passing a few inches in front of his face.
But the creature is not finished. The second pincer follows the first, snapping tight around his left arm and cutting deeply into his flesh. For all his rage the barbarian can do little but watch as the tail snaps downward, the barb piercing deeply into his breast.
Pincer 1 miss !
Pincer 2 hit
Grab success
Tail hit
Following the brutal attacks the scorpion jiggles its pincer as if surprised its prey is still capable of moving.
Linah dashes forward. The creature is too occupied with Grall to strike at her but like Nuveril before her she cannot find a weakpoint with her scimitar.
The blink dog pelts down the trail, passing Felliped and approaching the battle. For a moment you think it is going to run straight in but it stops short. It screws up its face, as if deep in concentration. And with a blue light and a popping sound the dog teleports! It appears behind the scorpion, flanking it.
Felliped reloads her crossbow.
In his battle rage he barely feels the pincer and sting, but he can sense the poison flowing through his veins and for the first time in his life a small amount of fear creeps into the back of his mind...he has seen Ogres dropped to slobbering piles of flesh before being devoured by the Vermin they were fighting due to poison...
He desperately strikes out at the beast trying to end its life before it strikes him again...
potential crit
Grall can feel even his rage enhanced strength draining away from the monster's poison.
strength damage
Gripping his falchion in his free hand, Grall hacks at the scorpion and worries at its pincer with his teeth. His mouth comes away with a mouthful of chitin but he is just short of finding purchase with the sword.
Khalid's bolt again just misses, the inquisitor unable to get a clear shot through the melee.
Scorpion Attack!
Round 3
Ordered Initiative
Nuveril 19
Sajan 18a
Giant Scorpion 18b (controlling grappler)
Linah 12
Victoria 11
Juvenile Blink Dog! 10
Grall 8 (grappled)
Khalid 7
Effects
Bless (Khalid, Linah, Grall)
Terribly wounded and wanting to retreat, Sajan tries to ignore his wounds and harm the scorpion gripping Grall with a flurry of blows with the Sentinels Fist.
Round 3, initiative 12
Linah looks horrified at the onslaught the creature brought down on Grall, and hacks desperatly at one of it's arms, trying to force it to releas the gnoll .
Roaring with frustration as she has been unable to damage the scorpion, Nuveril keeps swinging away with abandon. The ancestor-dog is in danger now; she cannot let it down.
I guess it is time for my beatdown....
I guess it is time for my beatdown....
With the aid of her own rage, Nuveril finally manages to land a telling blow, dislodging a leg plate with a wide horizontal sweep of her hammer and pounding away at the flesh underneath.
Sajan adds more damage, his right fist penetrating nearly up to his elbow into the protective chitin around the scorpion's abdomen and coming out dripping in ichor.
The scorpion's wounds are adding up and its focus seems to be shifting from hunt mode to flight. Almost reflexivly it closes its pincer around Grall, cutting more deep lines up and down his chest. Then it simply drops him to the ground and begins scuttling away.
Grapple success
(includes constrict)
Close to collapsing, Sajan delivers a solid blow that nevertheless fails to punch through the vermin's hard carapace.
Grall's AOO, still in flank with blinkie...
Grall drops to the ground on his feet, he sees the Scorpian shift away from him and with no weapon in hand bites down on the beasts legs as it scuttles by, almost being dragged along with it, not willing to let it just flee!
Linah makes one last desperate thrust against the scorpion as it turns away, hoping to stop it before it skitters away with Grall following it . She manages to penetrate the creature's carapace and her blade is stained with ichor as she withdraws.
Grall fills his mouth with scorpion while Linah sinks her scimitar to the hilt in the base of the creature's tail. The priestess must have managed to cut something vital as the scorpion ceases moving and starts to spasm. Taking care to avoid the thrashing pincers, you smash the thing until it stops moving.
While several of you bear serious wounds you have prevailed! The blink dog, very pleased at coming into its genetic heritage, barks in happiness moving in to nuzzle at Nuveril.
The scorpion finally dead, Nuveril falls to her knees in fatigue, loosening her grip on her weapons. As the ancestor-dog approaches, however, she smiles through her exhaustion and leaves her hammer on the ground as she buries her hand in its fur, scratching it in affection and appreciation. "Ancestor-dog, you honor me," she murmurs, resting her head against its own.
Sajan helps Grall up after his bite/dirt drag maneuver and checks on the rest of his charges. Nodding in satisfaction, he continues to act as scout for the group.
Sajan helps Grall up after his bite/dirt drag maneuver and checks on the rest of his charges. Nodding in satisfaction, he continues to act as scout for the group.
Grall pants in anger and exhaustion as he tries to fight the poison running through his veins..as the battle slwoly fades from him he sinks to his knees, blood still flowing freely from massive wounds that would have killed almost any other man or beast....not able to stand on his own he accepts Sajan's offered hand and then relies on Khlaid and Linah to help him the rest of the way to the Monastery.
You take a few minutes to bind your wounds as best you can and give Grall a chance to recover from the scorpion's poison. Then you pull yourselves wearily to your feet and struggle up the rocky path toward the monastery.
The blink dog travels with you, an eager escort. About half-way you are intercepted by three adults, presumably from the same pack. The juvenile barks at them proudly and they make much ado about the little one, nuzzling him in turn. The four journey with you the rest of the way, peeling off only when the monastery comes into view. The juvenile stops for one last nuzzle and a goodbye bark for all of you before departing with the others.
Brotis and Elia are standing guard. The former spits at the sight of Grall but does not meet his eye. One look at your wounds and Elia bolts inside, presumably to go fetch Father Zantus.
In the nave you are met by Garavel who quickly sends one of the servants to fetch Lady Almah. Khalid commences a recap of the day's events, starting with who Felliped is, but only gets half way before Almah arrives from one direction and Zantus and Elia from another.
The old achemist runs his eyes over the group obviously looking for Arjun.
Where is Arjun? Where is my boy? He pleads.
We were seperated in Kelmarane by hostile magic... Sajan says softly, laying Arjun's portable alchemist lab at the feet of the older man.
Nuveril is about to tell how he ran, when she catches herself. The old man has sorrow enough. "We did not see him dead," she tells him. "He may yet survive in hiding. That one did," she grunts, gesturing at Felliped with disgust.
Grall says little that night and the next day, using it to recover from his wounds.
|
"As Nuveril said, all hope is not lost for Arjun. We will still need to return to Kelmarane. We may find him there still alive."
Returning to his original report...
"As I was saying, this is Felliped. She had been taken prisoner by the Kuldis, but managed to escape. Our initial meeting with her was...somewhat strained." he says glancing between Felliped and Nuveril. "After that was done with," emphasizing the "done" part to both Felliped and Nuveril, "she did what she could to help us out. Though there is still plenty of work to be done in Kelmarane."
Felliped nods at Khalid’s words although she looks asleep on her feet. Maybe its due to her small size but the sorceress seems to have avoided taking any wounds at all during the battles of the day.
Captured. Father Zantus looks pleadingly at Almah. We have to save him. The boy is as brave as anyone but he’s no warrior. He’s just an alchemist. Nethys protect him.
Almah herself has gone a bit white. She struggles to speak. We…. Jezmah we’ll do every we can. We’ll not leave him to the gnolls, I swear it to Abadar. We’ll get him out of there . She seems skewered between personal feelings and her sense of duty as leader of the expedition.
Only Garavel appears to be keeping his calm.
Mistress. The harpy said she would return at dusk. She may know more. Where Arjun is. Whether he is injured. If this Kardswann is as smart as the harpy claims he will likely keep Arjun alive for leverage if nothing else. Where there is life there is hope. As well, it is clear our strongest warriors need time to recover from the wounds suffered today.
It takes a long moment but Almah nods. Yes. You are right as usual Garavel. We need more information before we act. If I rush in I likely doom everyone. It seems to hang in the air, unspoken, that a rescue mission would be futile if the alchemist is already dead.
We will wait for the harpy.
Father Zantus hands his last healing extract to Grall (1d8 + 3) and helps Linah in ensuring everyone’s wounds are cleaned, treated and bandaged. The alchemist does his work efficiently but is clearly almost overwhelmed with worry about his former apprentice.
Felliped reunites with Oxvard. At the sight of the little gnome much of the mental malaise the man has exhibited since his rescue appears to fall away. The two hug, the sorceress laughing at finding another of her group still alive.
Upon arrival at the monestary a worried Linah insists that Sajan and Grall be taken to rest in the care of Father Zanthus. She does everything in her power short of physically pulling the two to the infirmary. Once there she does her best to treat her companions wounds.
The cleric is clearly distressed with the days events and avoids eye contact with Garavel, Almah and especially with the old alchemist. She keeps silent except to speak a few words while working on Sajan and Grall. When spoken to she anwsers with as few words as possible, the strain of loss weighting heavy on her voice. Once her work is done every last ounce of strenght seems to drain from her. She retreats to the chapel and stands before the altar.
The days failures all come over her like a tidal wave and the young cleric drops to her knees and starts to cry.