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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Nov 30, 2022 22:18:14 GMT -5
Tanner
This was bad. Tanner had to make a decision and had to make it fast. He could either run back and tell Shaa what happened or he could try and reach the guildees before the tribesmen found them. On the one hand, a towering Minotaur would go a long way in evening the odds. On the other hand, getting to him and catching back up here, he may be too late.
They don’t pay me enough for this nonsense. Tanner heads off in the direction of the tribesmen. He hurries to catch up to the group, keeping quiet and to the shadows. They are moving quickly now, hunters who have caught sent of prey. Their focus may be the only thing to Tanner’s advantage. If they are paying attention to the hunt, they might not see him coming.
Swiftly and deftly he moves. Cutting though the trees and brush with much more noise then he would like. Soon enough, he can see the pair in the distance. Good, he found them first. Oh no, he’s not the only one who’s found them…
Shaa
Shaa turned his face to to the sun as a warm breeze passed over him. It had been a long time since he had a real break and it was a nice change of pace. Before he left camp, Tanner had left a package that Shaa had requested for the trip. The package contained 3 pies, a nice consolation prize for a day of aimless wandering. All Shaa got on his trip was blisters.
Along with the pies was a small parcel. A little bonus for Shaa and all his hard work he put in. He sat down and pulled the draw string that held the parcel together. As it unfurled, it revealed a banana nut muffin with poppy seeds, one of his very favorite. Shaa looked around cautiously. He had felt eyes watching him earlier and he could sense something now. He looked around but no one was there. He could feel them though….greed.
A small brown blur burst past him. Scattered motion sped across to campsite as Shaa tried to track them. Then, suddenly they stopped. In front of him, a large brown squirrel…with a fresh muffin in its grubby hands. Noooooo!
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Nov 30, 2022 22:29:25 GMT -5
"And I think you're underestimating our foe, now shut up, you're very noisy." Another little laugh as it was very obvious who was the noisier of the two men.
While Zarius relies on his spells to keep hidden, Gerhart crouches down below the tall grass to conceal himself.[1] He crept forward towards the water's edge to get a look at some of the animals. There are a few animals there that could be a special treat for the snipe. Treats if this thing was carnivorous that is......there was also some good looking grass if it was a herbivore. It was a real buffet if it ate plants and beasts.
As he gets closer, Gerhart seems to get that same tingle at the back of his neck. He stops moving to blend into the grass, he looks towards Zarius for confirmation if something seems off. He attempted to make a few hand signs towards the tiefling, "Danger" "Others" "Behind Us." Those are the intended meanings behind his signing, but it is impossible to know if Zarius actually understands what is happening. They did not pre-plan any form of silent communication.
[1]Camouflaged Master
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 2, 2022 0:02:53 GMT -5
Luckily for Gerhart, Zarius had played his fair share of charades with Eirynor, the mute half-elf who is his sister’s trusted right hand, to be pretty good at guessing the intent of gestures. Sure, Gerhart’s flailing was a far cry from actual sign language, but the tiefling caught the gist of it purely from Gerhart’s sudden aversion to communicating verbally.
He nods and gestures for Gerhart to remain quiet and to duck down low into the grass to hide. It wouldn’t be a perfect hiding place as someone looking down from a higher vantage point could likely see the young adventurer, but it would maybe buy Zarius enough time to get in close and distract them.
A shimmer of invisibility falls over the tiefling as he waits in the open for someone to arrive.[1] He could hide in plain sight which definitely came in handy given the environment they were in. He silently heads a bit up the hill in the direction they came and listens closely for any rustlings in the grass of the approaching pursuers.[2]
The group of tribal warriors were careful in the approach as well, spreading out as they closed in on their quarry in an attempt to set up flanking positions and prevent any escape. They're armed with blades and bows appropriate for hunting down their prey or shaking down some unsuspecting travelers. It was a shame they picked the wrong trail to follow.
Zarius waits as they come into view and start scanning the river. There's a moment of confusion spread across the orc woman's face as the two have seemingly vanished from sight and the trail seems to end. Would she chance a closer look?
[1] Invisibility [2] Silent Step
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 2, 2022 0:53:13 GMT -5
Tanner
Tanner watched with baited breath as the two groups were about to converge. He watches carefully as Gerhart and Zarius disappear into the background. Would this work. Tanner watched as the hunters split up and expanded the search. The hunters covered the area in a grid cris crossing one another but finding nothing.
They then move to the river and search there as well. The orc woman, Steka, bends down and examines some of the dirt, a steely look crosses her face. She starts to laugh. Hahaha oh you are good my pretty boys, you hide like little rabbits in the grass. She starts moving slowly away from the river, motioning to the other tribesmen to circle back around. Oh yes…I can SMELL you my darlings. Maybe I’ll even make one of you a pet…if your lucky. Will you come out and play. She starts to move even closer. No? That’s ok loves. I know your just shy. Here, I’ll even make the first move…
Steka reaches into her bag for a strange looking torch. She smiles as she flints the torch alight. The flame on the torch lights with a blue flame that looks unnatural. She appears to say something to the flame. Suddenly half a dozen fiery blue rats emerge from the flame and start to spread out, lighting the grass on fire as they go. They quickly dart around, working their way closer and closer to where Gerhart and Zarius are hiding.
Shaa
Give that back you sneaky little butt sniffers! Shaa roared at the ground squirrels. They were apparently not as intimidated by him as most people. The squirrel with the muffin just stared back at him like he was a crazy person. Another squirrel came up to the first. After a short squirrelly conversation, the tear the muffin in half and take off in different directions. Shaa watches the scene in disbelief. This is not how he pictured today was going to go.
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 2, 2022 14:04:49 GMT -5
A little fire is hardly enough to worry Gerhart, even if it was little mice on fire, but he was concerned about catching the entire grasslands on fire if they were trying to smoke him and Zarius out. For the moment he stayed motionless and hidden.[1] They were outmanned, but Gerhart had a feeling they weren’t outmatched.
Gerhart could already hear Zarius disapproving, so there was no need to communicate the plan. It always worked for them before, Gerhart is loud as hell and very annoying which makes people want to punch him. The desire to punch him lets Zarius slip in a punch in return. It’s teamwork.
He waited just a moment more before dashing across the battlefield, shoulder checking the orc hopefully in the gut.[2] Gerhart quickly draws both his swords to show he is armed. “I’ll let the fire thing go if you turn and leave now, otherwise I can’t be held legally liable for the ass kicking you will receive.
1. Camouflage Master 2. Rushing Charge
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 3, 2022 0:01:23 GMT -5
Of course Gerhart rushed right in and now was tossing out threats. At least the young fighter was predictable. It made planning easier.
Zarius skirts around and snatches up one of the burning rats and runs over to one of the tribesmen. The tribesman looks confused as the rat comes rapidly floating towards him and raises his weapon to defend himself just as Zarius catches his arm and forces it down.[1] He then shoves the flaming rat down the front of the man's shirt which causes him to shriek in pain and dance about trying to get the flaming critter out of his clothing.
The tiefling's invisibility breaks and he dusts the cinders from his scorched hand. A small price to pay all things considered. The tribesman got the worst of it.
He turns to face the Orc woman who appeared to be the leader of the band who decided to interrupt their hunt for the snipe. Gerhart had gotten dangerously close to her and now they both had broken stealth. Hopefully the group would be deterred, but chances were unlikely based on the belligerence on display thus far.
"Move along while you still have the chance. I have little patience for fools who instigate needless fights."
The grass and the rats weren't the only things burning. The smoldering fire burning through the tiefling's veins was starting to flare up from his anger. His eyes flicker from gold to blue and a trail of smoke escapes from the corner of his mouth. He stares down the tribesman and the atmosphere becomes heavier with a demonic aura emanating from him.[2]
[1] Iron Grip [2] Invoke Fear (1/2)
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 3, 2022 12:15:57 GMT -5
Tanner
Tanner continues to watch the fight from the shadows. It was unfortunate that these nomads were a bit more skilled then he gave them credit for initially. No, these were no common bandits here, not with this set up. This was a nomadic raiding party.
Unless you spend a lot of time out here, it’s hard to understand the dynamics of the nomadic tribes. There are so many of them, they are constantly trying to wipe each other out so one can finally gain dominance. An unfortunate side effect of this is that several of the tribes have adopted crazy strong raiding parties like this one. They even conscript war like races like orcs and trolls to merc for them in an effort to utterly annihilate the other tribes. Tanner had even seen one with no fewer than 5 Necromancers running an undead hoard across the plains. Nightmare. Tanner hoped the boys wouldn’t underestimate them. It could be a deadly mistake.
As Gerhart attempted to gut check Steka, she takes the blow to the gut and just smiles. Oh ho boy, you like it rough do you? I approve. Steka rubs her well muscled abdomen like she just ate something. As Gerhart pulls his swords, Steka remains calm and spins the lit torch in her hand like a baton, walking casually towards him. Staring at Gerhart, she quickly places the torch in front of her face and blows hard. A huge burst of blue flame erupts right at him.
As the field continues to burn at their feet, Zarius pools his anger to strike fear in the heart of their attackers. The one with the fire rat down his shirt starts to shake violently and makes a fast break for the river to put himself out. The second tribesmen seems distracted, as if he can see something ethereal haunting him. The final tribesmen is just staring at Zarius, with an almost blank look on his face. Suddenly he starts to smile and wags his index finger at him back and forth. He holds out his hand and suddenly an exact doppelgänger of him appears. The two run in opposite directions of each other in attempt to surround Zarius.
As Tanner looks on, he feels he needs to intercede. Pulling out his Eldrich Horn, he does his best impression of the largest rune bear that he can. He gets several peoples attention.
Shaa
The ground squirrels swarmed around like furry ants. As they passed each other, the handed off smaller and smaller pieces of muffin to each other until it had all but vanished. Shaa attempts to throw rocks at them in frustration but they easily dodge the stone barrage. Shaa is positive that they are laughing at him in squirrel language.
In the distance, the sound of a giant rune bear roars. Hearing this, the squirrels disappear into the ground. There are no rune bears in the hills. Shaa says scratching his head in confusion. Looking back towards the sound, Shaa can see a giant pillar of smoke arising from the hills. It is coming roughly from the direction of the snipe hunt. Yup, of course it is. He lets out a deep sigh of frustration. Grabbing the pies, he ducks his head and quickly makes a bee line for the fire.
Tanner- Shadow Hiding, Eldrich Horn Steka- Flame Breath (flavored) , Force of Nature Nomad 3-clone Self
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 3, 2022 14:13:25 GMT -5
“You were warned.” He crosses his blades in front of him to block his face from the gout of fire. As it threatens to overtake him, right at the very last moment it seems to collapse back and into his blades before it dissipates leaving him without a burn.[1]
”Fine I won’t hold back, figure I can take you down before my friend takes the others. What do you think?” He sets his face into a serious expression as he sets his challenge and marks the orc.[2,3]
Gerhart slashes out in X pattern seeing how the orc reacts, each sword moving a bit differently. With his blurring blade, he aims a strike at the wrist holding the torch looking to disarm her and see what other weapons or skills she might have.
1. Spell Drinker
2. Challenging Mark
3. Sworn Enemy
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 6, 2022 16:35:47 GMT -5
The fear gripped at least two of the bandits, but somehow the third was immune to the effect. Zarius readies himself as their form splits in two and they rush him in an attempt to flank his position. They wanted close combat? That suited him fine.
The wrappings on his arms fall loose and seem to take on a mind of their own as he flings one forward, catching one of the clone's legs in the bindings and tripping them up.[1] They hit the ground with an audible thud and reach to start cutting themselves free. Zarius yanks them around and gets a firm grip on the bindings with the intent of whipping the man around into the second.[2]
Before he can though, the second is able to close the gap and goes in for slash with a particularly jagged dagger which Zarius ducks away from. They are surprisingly quick, following up the first slash with a quick cut across the tiefling's face.[3]
The tiefling swears in infernal and closes his eyes as the blood running from the wound gets in his eyes. A chuckle leaves the nomad's lips as they go in to gut the blinded tiefling. Zarius' ears twitch and he draws back from the following strike, before yanking on the wraps and throwing the clones into one another.[4,5]
The nomad gets slammed into with their own clone and collapses in the grass with an oof. Zarius feels the tension on his wraps go loose as they cut themselves free and get back up. While he was at a disadvantage, he was far from defenseless. They would need to take a different approach.
[1] Constrictor Wraps [2] Iron Grip [3] Double Strike Enchantment (Nomad) [4] Fighters Sense [5] Improvised Weapon
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 6, 2022 17:37:49 GMT -5
Tanner
Tanner looked at his Eldrich horn and smacked it a bit. He had expected a different reaction from the group with a giant rune bear on the way but they must have been too distracted by the battle. He woukd have to work on that. From the woods behind him, a large crashing noise was coming. To his horror, Tanner sees an owl bear rushing to join the fray. Remembering that Rune Bears and Owl Bears are deadly enemies, he must have accidentally summoned the owl bear here. Apparently his impression was better than he thought.
As the nomad with the fire rat in his shirt was putting himself out in the river, he looks up to see the owl bear baring down on him with a look of fury. The nomad tries in vain to escape out of the river. It is too late as the massive beast tears into his back with a swipe from its massive claw. Aarrrggghhhh! Blood begins to pour into the river as the tribesman goes down.
As Gerhart strikes at Steka’s wrist, she turns to the side and takes the strikes in the arm but keeping hold of the torch. As she prepares to counter, Steka is surprised by the cry from the river but keeps her focus on Gerhart.You think you are strong love? You want my full attention? She sneers at Gerhart. Stekas eyes roll into the back of her head. Her body begins to shake violently from side to side as spit and bile erupt from her mouth. Her skin bubbles over like it’s boiling. She screams as her bones begin to move and shift, growing larger and larger. A putrid smell of feted flesh wafts over the field. In a moment, her eyes roll back in, yellow as lemons and sharp as a dagger. Stekas whole body has changed into a giant rat. With fierce abandon, Rat Steka charges Gerhart and slashes at him with her needle like claws.
Back with Zarius, the clone who cut him looks on with pleasure. With knives in hand, he goes in for another strike, this time to the gut. The other one however, has now noticed the Owlbear and starts to back up. The frightened tribesman looks on, even more terrified than before. He can barely stand and slowly moves away from the fight.
Amplified Shape Change- Steka Claws
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 7, 2022 12:17:12 GMT -5
Gerhart really wished he had kept his magic blocking knife, that would be helpful right now, but he had more than enough to take her on. The change into a rat was a surprise, but honestly it made the fight a little easier. Only so many things a rat could do.
As the rat comes in to claw at him, he brings the blurred sword across his body to catch the swiping claws, holding the rat in place for the moment.[1] After wrestling with the rat for a moment as they were locked in position, Gerhart shifts back and attempts to throw the rat off balance by tossing it to the right.
As the rat was hopefully tossed off, Gerhart brought Double Strike low to try and slash the rats stomach while it was still off balance and falling. With Sworn Enemy and Double Strike any hit from the young adventurer would slam into the rat with extra damage.
1. Lock Up
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 7, 2022 19:00:46 GMT -5
Zarius jumps back away from the clone, but the other one had a hold on his wrappings and pulls him back. As the clone attempts to plunge the dagger into his gut, he slaps their hand down and shoves his shoulder into their chest before grabbing onto the back of their clothing. Using the momentum of their strike, he flips them off their feet and throws them over his shoulder into the grass.[1]
He wipes the blood from his eyes and blinks through it as the clone on the ground gets back up. Something was off. The double should just be an illusion and yet they clearly have physical form. Right? Zarius rubs his eyes again. There seemed to be some small differences between the two, but they were very similar.
It dawns on Zarius that this asshole actually was a pair of twins and one was invisible before and only dropped the spell to appears as a double. That ticked him off, mostly cause it was the kind of trick he would pull. Luckily he caught on quick enough to not get fooled.
Zarius waits for the one on their feet to come at him again and this time he steps into the attack to throw off their timing before bashing them in the face with his fist. The get knocked back and slam into the terrified nomad, collapsing in another pile on the ground.[2]
He breathes and glances about, there was just the rat orc leader left standing with the other three being dazed. Oh, and the guy being eaten by the OWL BEAR THAT JUST SHOWED UP OUT OF NOWHERE.
Can't forget that.
[1] Reverse of Momentum [2] Blow Back (1/2)
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Post by Shaa Rhunn on Dec 8, 2022 14:21:41 GMT -5
Tanner
Watching the chaos unfold on the shore, Tanner starts to panic. Aggghhh this is not what I wanted to happen. Good luck boys, I don’t get paid enough for this. After scanning the woods, Tanner disappears back into the trees, unnoticed by the rest of the group.
As Rat Steka and Gerhart continue to face off, the owl bear finishes tearing into the tribesman from the river and starts to move towards the action.
Focused on Gerhart, Rat Stekas claw swipe is blocked by Gerhart’s lock up. Claw and sword locked up together, unable to move. Gerhart breaks way, trying to shove Rat Steka off balance. This is not Rat Stekas first fight however. She had a lot of practice with her rats. Rat Steka rolls with the shove in a half cartwheel. She whips her tail around quickly aiming at Gerhart’s dominant hand, attempting to knock his sword out.
Zarius has his own problems. As the twin on the ground rises, he dusts off his clothes and looks at his brother who is smothering their terrified companion. He jogs over and helps his twin. Dusting off he says So you saw through our little act did you? That’s pretty good. I would actually think you would be a good addition to the tribe…if didn’t want to kill you so much. The first twin breaths deep then releases unnaturally strong wind at Zarius. His twin however elects to fire pebble shot into the wind, creating a torrent of wind and stone all coming for Zarius.
Just then, a large form busts through the trees behind them. As Shaa breaks through the tree line, he sees the owl bear, the giant rat, the corpses, the tornado twins and still burning grass with rats jumping. Shaa drops his pies to the ground in disbelief but then composed himself. Well he says contemplating the scene. I’ve seen worse. He reaches into his gift bag and pulls out a nXkWtSuS
Ok, somebody’s getting a beating.
Tail- Steka pebble shot twin 2 Push/Pull air domain- twin 1 Bag of Gifts - lion dragon
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Post by Ser Gerhart Stanislav on Dec 8, 2022 19:16:49 GMT -5
As the tail comes in, Gerhart raises a gaunlet up to block the hit. He quickly twists his wrist to wrap the tail around his arm and grab it. A good effort to stop the rat, but it did prevent him from using both swords. It did keep the rat held in place though which was perfect for the moment. Gerhart inhaled a breath as his cuirass lit up. Lightning breath crackled and spewed from his mouth directly at the rat only a mere few inches from him.
Being connected to the rat meant he felt some of hit, his fingers going a bit numb but keeping hold. When the lightning stopped and the rat was properly cooked he tried to stab her through with his off hand, the blurred blade aiming to come down on her spine.
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Post by Eameia (Zarius unavailable) on Dec 10, 2022 14:54:19 GMT -5
"Even if you offered, I would decline. I would not want to stain my reputation by associating with your ilk."
The tiefling digs his heels in and skids backwards from the buffeting wind. He's about to react to the wind spell when he sees shards of stones flying at him. Gripping his knuckle knives, he starts to deflect the pebbles which clang into the metal and bounce off, imbedding themselves in the ground to either side of the fighter.[1]
Zarius focuses on the one that cast the stone spell and his eyes flicker blue for a moment. He breathes out a wisp of smoke which fights against the wind before slipping past and encircling the twins. They cough a bit and waft the smoke away, but some effect unknown to them takes a hold.[2]
With the hex in place and the wind died down, Zarius closest the distance between himself and the twins.[3] He quickly goes in for a combo of two quick strikes, one to the head of the twin who cast the air spell, and one to the arm of the other armed with a dagger.[4] As the blows connect, the twin who cast the air spell reels back and grips their head, unable to focus on any spells, while the other drops their weapon as their arm seizes up.[5]
He then looks back at the owl bear and lets out a large whistle to draw its attention this way before a veil of invisibility falls over him and he slips away into the grass.[6]
[1] Deflecting Slice (1 out of 2 uses per topic) [2] Spell Hex (1 use per topic; Pebble Shot no longer can be used by any characters during this topic) [3] Dashing [4] Two Piece [5] Stunning Blows (head and arm) [6] Invisibility
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