---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------ Chapter 6: The Village in Trouble ----------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------- (DM:) Tuft's news is slightly amended. The natives do not appear to be stragglers, nor are they looting. They are methodically chasing and slaughtering women and children and destroying buildings with fire and more of their explosive stuff. (Shade:) Shade wonders "How close are they physically to my kin? I wonder if... they are quite similar for this slaughtering frenzy." (DM:) They appear to have been the (one of) purpose of this attack. To damage the settlement as much as possible...... (Shade:) A wicked grin appears on Shade's face "What a kind people are these natives: They want to remind me of homeland... - then, in a tone so callous you have to unconsciously cast him a worried glance - They must have a very good reason to explain this behaviour, otherwise they don't deserve to be alive." (Arlon:) OOC(sort of): Boy are these guys in trouble!! After hearing and seeing this, Arlon's face will show a grim determination - his face will go pale and his eyes will shine a brighter blue. He then yells with a voice that would surprise those who know him - deeper and louder than you would expect: "You natives will know the WRATH of the AVENGER, for what you do here today" You also hear some frustration; because he has very few spells left. He makes a few gestures, then he disappears from view. (DM:) Falrun and Kaeyar are running after the natives, cautiously looking around corners, and hiding behind buildings and piles of stuff lying around, attempting to take the natives by surprise. (Silver:) When Tatiana relates Tuft's news that the natives are embarked on slaughter, she swings around to face the village, realizing that Falrun and Kaeyar have already left to defend our new home. Silver will join in with the rest of the party who are running towards the centre of the village. She will stay close to Tatiana if possible, since Tuft will be able to direct them more efficiently. Silver will remain in human form, using her staff to strike with surprising accuracy. For the moment, she will resort to melee, not using any spells. If things get *really* tough, she may seek to invoke the wrath of Mielikki on the natives. She may decide against this, depending on how she (and the rest of the party) fare against the natives in hand-to-hand combat. (DM Meta:) Keilan, you are healed pretty much, but the pain will leave you at half movement for a few hours or so, nothing serious (arteries, muscles, bone) got damaged by the knife (its just a flesh wound! I can still fight you!) The rest of you are still debating on a course of action or running up now (Keilan limping, and Shade still a slight bit cautiously testing out his leg.) (Shade:) Trying to set his friends in a 'holy avenger' mood using his Barding ability, Shade calls out in a clear voice "These are dire times, friends, evil is upon us: it is our honor and our duty to fend it off. - he raises his longsword in a beckoning way - The snow of innocence is being tainted by these dogs' mud at this very moment" - the drow starts running toward the center of the village - "Come on!" OOC: It won't be of good effect if I start the run limping and falling, so, if it is necessary I'll use a little bit of levitation to reduce the burden on my leg. (Dithion:) Dithion, time permitting (he will leave as soon as he hears women and children are in danger), will first heal Shade since he was trapped. (7 pts back) He then lays his hands upon Keilan. His wounds start to close up but not to completion. (4 pts) After Dithion hears about the women and children, he says, "Sorry to those I did not heal, but we must not waste time!" He gets up and runs back into the city full tilt until he finds some natives to slaughter. He looks enraged. (Keilan:) Straightening up from his position over Tarok, Keilan says "But other matters must concern us now," looking in the direction Falrun and Kaeyar took. "Where did my bow fall?" He begins searching for his bow, or any bow, amidst the rubble. "I dropped it somewhere here before we 'jumped' from the wall." After a bit of searching he finds his bow, checks it to make sure it's intact, then gives it a kiss. He then picks up the quiver he threw off moments ago and dons it. "Now a few arrows and we'll see if I can't harm a few natives' legs..." He begins looking for a few (half-dozen?) arrows still in fair shape. Assuming he finds some, he will limp into town shooting for the legs of any natives he spies..... (Shade:) When I first meet enemies: if it's just one => melf's acid arrow. a group => web. Before entering melee I'll try to use all second and third level spells (acid arrows for singles, webbing groups) and Minute meteors. I'll keep the last first level spell to cast shield before melee. Then I'll fight with swords. I'm a subtle dancer, I make a lot of easily predictable blows and if I parry it always seems it was dumb luck. When the contender opens his guard I flash in with the longsword. (DM:) Meanwhile, Arlon is hurling fiery globes at those natives he can spot from his exalted (i.e. flying) position. You see him hurling eight globes in quick succession, some of which are punctuated with the screams of native troopers caught afire :). (Silver:) Silver runs with most of her colleagues towards the village. Seeing Arlon cast fire from the skies towards her left, she veers around a corner towards where he is aiming. Without wearing much armour, she easily keeps up with the rest of her colleagues, her long hair and cloak swirling behind her. Without caution she rounds the corner, and finds herself a lot closer to a group of the natives than she expects. Only some of the small men are immediately aware of her, the others distracted by the rain of fiery globes from above. A look of horror crosses her face as she sees one of the natives pick up a rock and make as if to crush the head of a woman villager who lies unconscious on the floor with blood showing in several places. Silver's momentum takes her just to one side of the native holding the rock and she swings her staff from almost ground level in an upward arc. The impact jars her arms, but she has smashed the native in the body, and he lies stunned a couple of yards away. Unseen by Silver, another native runs behind her and stabs an arm, causing a long but shallow wound to appear. The damage would have been much worse but for one of her colleagues who sent a green-feathered arrow straight through the creatures neck. During the brief pause, Silver rushes to the fallen woman, and finds that she was lying over and protecting a small child. Heedless of the natives, trusting in her colleagues and Mielikki to protect her from harm, she tends to the wounds of the woman and child. If there is urgent need to stop the death of either of them, Silver will beseech Mielikki to restore some vigour to the innocent souls before her. (OOC:Cure Light). Having moved them into whatever shelter is nearby, she will once more look around to her colleagues. (DM:) Okay, here some things on the fly.. I am assuming that all of you are trying to kill those @#$& natives :)... As Tatiana stated, you guys move about the village in a hurried, but guarded manner, and come upon a sizable band of natives, who somehow look different than the rest you battled earlier, though you are pretty sure, these were exactly those who busted through at your section of the palisade (how do you say the past tense of palisade? :) ). They look more vicious and powerful, though still small. Though you hit them with your weapons, they seem to have but little effect on them. Only your magical weapons seem to really hurt them. They are a group of seven, about to bust down the door to a wooden house, from within which you hear the terrified wails of some women and children. As you guys all bust from cover, around corners etc. and bear down on them, they turn around, backs to the wall and face you. Their eyes gleam a reddish hue, and in their hands they carry ornate onyx daggers, smeared with some greenish liquid, which drips off them. Instead of looking apprehensive or afraid, they look at you guys eagerly and smile as if you are some kind of food or such :). Silver, Tatiana and Dithion (who seemed to be the most enraged by the situation, save Arlon, but he is flying) rush them unhesitatingly, while the others would rather use missile weapons or spells or such. Dithion's club seems to have some desired effect, as it strikes a native an the side of its head, but it just looks at you as if to say 'you dummy, now I am REALLY PISSED OFF!'. More strikes by the staves of Tatiana and Silver and Dithion's club bang them around, but do them no serious harm, and they begin to advance slowly on all those standing. Then Arlon come flying by, and whips out with his staff, causing one native to do an impressive backflip. But even he just rises again and continues to advance. Then one of you guys notices and points. One of the charred bodies lying around is one of the natives, and it carries the same kind of knife...... It appears that Arlon's fiery attack had met with some success, where physical battle seem mainly to wear them down a bit, and exhaust you.... The new sit is thus... Arlon still flying Arlon Airlines Inc, Dithion, Tatiana and Silver fending and sparring with the natives, desperately trying not to get one of those nasty looking knives stuck in them, the others in a semi-circular ring at about ten meters from the advancing natives... The natives that the party have encountered are proving a little tougher than the others back at the palisade .... (Dithion:) "Use magic on them! They seem to be less resistant to that." He pauses for just a moment and points a finger at one of the natives. Bolts of energy leap from this hand and strike the native. (Magic Missile...all on the one native in front of me.) (Tatiana:) Tatiana was dumbfounded as the tiny native easily took the blows she was delivering. And they were nasty for she was specialized in their use. Unfortunately her blade was nothing special in and of itself. Following Dithion's example, she shouted "Burning hands coming up!". She took a step back and folded her hands together with the longsword improperly held to accomplish the somatic gesture. But a fan of flame flew from her finger tips searing almost all of the natives. "I've got no magic left" she shouts and then goes on the defensive trying to prolong the battle so the other mages could finish the animals off. OOC: On her 1 attack round she will just parry. On her two attack round she will parry and try to disarm expertly having the blade land in her free hand. (Arlon:) OOC: Boy these guys have a lot of tricks up their sleeves! Arlon hovers about 15' in the air and slightly behind the party, he hesitates sizing up the situation- he then yells: "Try backing up slowly as you fight and try to pull the natives away from the building, I need more clearance so I wont harm others with my spells" Arlon watches the effect of Dithion's magic missile, and then makes preparation for his own. (DM:) Tatiana and Dithion let loose. A sheet of flame and bolts of pure energy streak forth at the natives. Three bolts of energy slam into a single native, and it staggers. It sinks to one knee and its face twists in pain, but it does not yet die. Then the flames reach the natives, and the stricken one keels over, but the others take the fire and advance, slightly more mutilated than before. They appear greatly weakened, but still among the 'living'. Arlon follows Dithion's example, and four more darts of energy strike a native, as the missiles slam into it, one after the other, it staggers, falls to one knee, two, and falls sideways at the last missile hitting him.... there are still five of the creatures left..... (Kaeyar:) [Note : I'm assuming that I didn't get my Glitterdust spell off before the natives blew up the wall, as it was the last thing I planned to do, and wound up using Feather Fall then instead] As Falrun and Kaeyar advanced, with the rest of the group a bit behind them, they come upon a small but fierce looking group of natives. Hiding around the corner, Kaeyar quietly says "let us move into a flanking position while the others catch up." Kaeyar makes some hand motions to those coming up behind, then quickly dashes to a new position. As everyone gets into position, Kaeyar steps out, throws some powder into the air, and speaks a few words of power. Shortly afterwards, a cloud of golden dust surrounds the natives, blinding [?] several of them. OOC: *finally* I *really* use the spell instead of just talking about it! (DM:) Kaeyar cast a glitterdust, showering the natives with sparkling particles. The blinding shower touches the natives, and it appears to burn them as though acid. They shriek horribly, and halt their advance while clawing at themselves. however, the power of the spell is not enough to kill them. With horribly mutilated faces and skin (wherever the motes touched them), they advance once more, now more grim then ever. (Kaeyar:) As the others rush out to attack, Kaeyar throws a couple of daggers at one of the foul marauders. Although they hit their mark, he is surprised at how little the native seems affected. "This calls for a bit of necromancy, hmm." OOC: Can't recall components for Chill touch, and don't have PHB handy. Oh well Kaeyar speaks some foul-sounding words in a croaking voice, and his left hand begins to glow blue. He then hefts his mace in his right hand, and advances to join his comrades in their battle. He swings the mace frequently, hitting occasionally, but more importantly distracting his foe from his glowing hand. He touches the foul savage, and a blue glow briefly remains on the native's skin as the man gasps with surprise. Kaeyar takes advantage of the native's surprise, landing a blow that would have crushed an ordinary man. OOC: If possible, I'll try to hit several of them with the Chill Touch, which lasts for a number of rounds... (Falrun:) Falrun, noticing the ineffectuality of normal weapons will assume that the daggers the natives are using may prove fatal to themselves. With his shortsword he will parry and try to defend as much as possible while using his long sword to disarm the natives. If this action is successful, he will try to pick up one of the natives daggers and use it on the natives. (DM:) Falrun is battling a native, and is trying to disarm one, and use one of their own nasty blades on them, in hopes of doing more harm. He expertly slaps one native on his wrist, causing a blade to fall to the ground, but does not yet have time to grasp it, as the native rushes him, ensuing in a grappling/ wrestling match. The native just rushed Falrun, who desperately tried to fend the native off with his sword, but the native ran himself through, and now grapples Falrun, with Falrun's sword sticking through his chest, as though nothing is wrong..... (Keilan:) Keilan comes up slowly behind those already battling and waits patiently for a clear shot at a native. When an opening appears, he lets fly with an arrow straight at the thigh of one of the natives. "WHAT!?" as the native pulls the arrow from his thigh and casually snaps off the arrowhead. "How can this be?! It jus' is no fair...." He drops his bow and draws his sword as well as the jade knife he was stabbed with earlier, and once more enters the fray. (DM:) Keilan was just fending off the natives, to give the spell throwers time to use their magic. He weaves a wall of steel and jade as his sword and captured knife twist and turn, foiling all native attempts at sticking their knives in him... (Silver:) Silver realizes fairly soon that unless the natives are moved away from here soon, the wounded villagers in the nearby buildings won't stand a chance. Concentrating hard, she moves in once more to take long swipes at the small men. Even though with some blows she makes a solid contact which causes them to fall back, they still stand once more soon after, and charge again at the party. Meta: Whisper, how is my staff doing ? Is it not sufficiently magical to cause damage on these tough little blighters ? (DMs Answer:) Well, you did do some damage, however, they were invulnerable to regular weapons, and only hurt by magical ones per plus, so even with strength and all, you did but 2hp per hit, and these beasties had plenty of hit points. I just ruled a larger effect for Dithion's club, he also has ogre strength magic, but the club will impact harder than a staff. As you noticed, I just said his blows shook them, not damaged them :). (Silver:) Some of them even have the temerity to dodge under her long reaching blows to attempt a stab at her, but her cloak swirls about, causing them to misjudge their attacks. It would be tempting to fall into a steady rhythm of blows in concert with Tatiana and Dithion, but Silver soon thinks once more of the helpless villagers. She attempts a quick flurry of blows at the two natives in front of her, muttering "Damn your greed. Damn your souls". One of the blows hit home, causing one of them to stumble back. As he did so, Silver leapt back from the front line of melee, holding her staff in one hand, reaching into a pouch with another. As Tatiana and Dithion close the gap, flanked on one side by Kaeyar who now joins the fray, Silver calls to the skies ... "Oh Mielikki, Grant me a token of your might; Allow me to show these defilers of the balance how to truly fear your gentle touch." As Silver finishes speaking, she flicks something glowing over the heads of her colleagues, and almost instantly a sheet of amber flame springs up. It is over three times the height of a man, and it obscures all sight of the natives, except from perhaps Arlon flying high above. Meta: Wall of Fire. If at all possible, I would cast this in it's circular form if it would catch the majority of the natives, so they could not escape it. I would at all costs avoid the rest of the party and *especially* any villagers in the vicinity. Silver will lean on her staff, concentrating hard on maintaining this precious gift from her goddess. (DM:) Then in a desperate burst of power, Silver loosens a mighty spell. A Wall of Fire springs into existence. Through the flames, you see the writhing figures of four of the natives. you see their mouths scream a soundless scream, their eyes filled with terror. Soon they succumb to the flames, and perish. (Kaeyar:) Kaeyar dodges backwards from the wall of flames that engulfs the natives, and looks at Silver in awe for a moment. Snapping out of it, he sees his friend Falrun in need, and rushes over and attempts to touch the native with his hand that still glows blue. As he grasps the native, he watches carefully for any reaction, as he has learned that this particular sorcery has no effect upon undead. (DM:) There is now only one of the monsters left, the one grappling with Falrun, as a wall centered on that one too, would have wounded (killed?) Falrun.... (Arlon:) OOC: Well this ought to be interesting - we'll see how many of us collide while going to help Falrun - if he needs it. While Falrun battles the seemingly invulnerable native, Arlon makes a slow dive at the two - coming at them from the side (hopefully a blind side). He appears as if he is casting a spell, as he closes in he reaches out to touch the native and then ... OOC: Well the suspense is killing me - I hope these guys aren't what I am beginning to think they are. (Dithion:) Dithion charges in and starts pounding on the native in the hopes of getting him off of Falrun. (Arlon:) "RATS RATS and double RATS" starts backing away before he gets to the native. "I believe we may have some undead on our hands here!" OOC(sort of) Let me just say $%&*!@!!?. "I don't think I have any other spells to harm it, unless you are willing to get caught in the spell" (Falrun:) Falrun's jaw drops at seeing this native claw its way down the length of his sword just to get at him. "What manner of creature are you?!" he screams as he is washed in the light of the Wall of Fire as it bursts into existence behind the native. In desperation (and not seeing the host of people coming to his aid) Falrun lifts his boot to the chest of the impaled native and attempts to kick him off of his sword into the wall. If the native is persistent enough to stick to the sword, Falrun will let go of the sword and send the native with the sword to his flaming doom. (DM:) As a host of people swinging weapons and spells bears down on the last poor native and Falrun, Falrun, while holding the sword with both hands, kicks the native in the stomach, sending it screaming into the flames of the wall of fire.... Falrun is screaming abuse at the native just as loud :). (Falrun:) After the demise of the native, regardless of the method, Falrun smirks and says, "Take that you worthless son of an orc!". He will then look around to see if aid is needed any where else. (DM:) When the movements of all the deep fried natives have stopped, Silver extinguishes her wall of fire, lest the adjacent buildings catch fire (small flames are already creeping along the wall of one building, the one the natives were originally trying to get into). You look around you, but it appears the battle is pretty much under control. There is no loud sound of fighting anymore only the cries of the wounded and dying can be heard. The Pentagon is deserted, and presumably the cabal is now aiding those wounded and mopping up any stray native beasties. (Kaeyar:) After the final of these natives has its life stripped from it, he begins to examine the corpses carefully, to see what manner of men they are...And if he happens to find something interesting or valuable, well... (DM:) Confronted by this group of undying (?) creatures, some of you begin sifting through the ashes of the killed natives. Their golden jewelry are just pools of molten gold, and the onyx weapons are cracked and burned. However Kaeyar finds a small round container (10 cm diam) with a stopper. It seems to be made of some kind of hardened leather, but did not burn. As Kaeyar shakes it lightly, you hear some liquid sloshing around in it...... The stopper is closed, but not sealed (You find pieces of string type stuff suggesting it was sealed at one time). (DM:) What with all the soot around you, you did not notice this before, but Silver suddenly remarks with a gasp that the bones of these natives are black instead of white...... (Silver:) Silver reels slightly from the mighty power of the spell which was channeled through her. Steadying herself on her staff for just a moment, she takes a deep breath and then runs to where the natives perished. "Aaah ! What fiends these must have been - see their bones - as black as their souls" (Arlon:) Arlon lands on the ground. "Black bones, what foul sorcery is this!" We may want to take some trinkets off of the natives since we are low on funds, there should be plenty of unburnt ones. (Falrun:) After the flames die down, Falrun examines the bones of the fallen natives and says, "Arlon, you may be the most learned of the group. Can you tell me if these bones are naturally that color or if they became that color for some reason or other?" (Arlon:) Arlon perhaps looking a little startled: "Uhh, well thank you Falrun; I would not be able to say with total certainty - generally only foul magic will turn bones black. Mendahl would definitely have a better idea than I and I believe we should seek him out as soon as we can." (Falrun:) He also starts cleaning his swords as he finds rags or pieces of cloth to wipe down his swords with. "There, that should do for now until I can clean my weapons properly." (Tatiana:) Tatiana breathed hard from the battle with the Undead warriors. She wiped sweat from her brow and looked to the others "Wow, That was great! This is a battle worthy of a great ballad!"