CH. 5: Vying Factions

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Beginning of the mountain trail to Esker)
Jaymes stops in his tracks at Gregeddin's question. After a moment of thought, he answers, keeping his gaze forward, up the mountain trail. "In the open," he says. "Our plan had been to ambush it from a distance, with bow and sling, to minimize the danger of fighting it up close. This...was a mistake. The giant had boulders with it, it carried them in a satchel. Its aim was...remarkably accurate. One by one we fell, unable to do more than annoy it slightly as our arrows and bolts were little more than mosquito bites to it. I only survived because my partner sacrificed himself to save me." The leather of Jaymes' gloves creak as he clenches his fists. "I will not make the same mistake again." He then begins walking up the path again.

"This is personal then?" asks Miriam. "You are seeking revenge?" Jaymes does not respond, though. Miriam frowns in disapproval and looks to Gregeddin. "I hope he can keep a level head when we face this thing," she says quietly to the bard.

"Wow, what an intense guy," Ismene comments to Haahqae. "Is he always like this?"

===============

(OOC: Alright, we'll say that if Jaymes loses the trail, Tulbas can use a cantrip to give him a +1 to his roll to find it again.)

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
Readying his magic quarterstaff, Darga starts to move across the bridge. He moves carefully, but as fast as the situation will allow. The bridge creaks with each step, but doesn't give way, at least. At the last second, it occurs to the Aghar to look aloft for more of these critters. This turns out to be a really good move--he spots two more on the ceiling, to the north, moving toward them. And fast! These creatures were incredibly quick for something so armored and big. They would probably reach the party within a minute.

Once across the bridge, Darga strikes at the creature with his staff with a mighty thunk. But it doesn't seem to do much more than slightly scuff the creature's armor.

Deciding not to risk crossing the bridge at all, Crystal pulls out her crossbow, loads it, and aims. When she pulls the trigger, the bolt sails across the bridge and punches through the creature's shell, leaving a hole in its armor that squirts out some disgusting black ichor. "Guess a giant bug is better than shite monsters," she comments, preparing to reload her weapon.

Pen draws the long sword from his back. "A horax! Don't let 'em bite you," he warns. "They don't like to let go once they do!" Then with a shrill battle cry, he charges full sprint at the creature across the bridge. The bridge moans and groans in protest as he stomps on each plank, but miraculously it holds. The extra momentum helps, though, for when he brings the sword down on the horax, he slices into its armor and spills more black ichor.

Kendra quickly sets down her lantern and draws her blades. The horax's attention is solely on her at the moment; its beady black eyes follow her whenever she moves. The creature strikes at her at the same time she strikes at it. She isn't able to do any damage, but she does manage to use her swords to parry the creature's mandibles, stopping them from latching onto her leg--which would have severely hurt, she would guess.

==============

Initiative
Kendra (1d10+5): 12
Darga (1d10+3): 7
Pen (1d10+5): 11
Crystal (1d10+7): 10
Monster (1d10+2): 12

Round 1!

Darga moves 30 feet west, then turns southeast and attacks the creature with his magic (+1) quarterstaff (1d20+1): 14, miss.
Crystal draws her crossbow and fires a bolt at the creature from short range with excellent accuracy (+2) and brutality (+1) (1d20+3): 19, hit for (1d6): 3 damage. The creature is now moderately wounded.
Pen draws his long sword and charges (+2) at the creature with great skill (+1) (1d20+3): 15, bare hit for (1d8+2): 5 damage. The creature is now seriously wounded.
Horax 01 strikes at Kendra with its piercing mandibles against her studded leather (-1) (1d20-1): 11, miss.
Kendra sets down her lantern and draws her short swords, striking at the creature with her elven sword (+2) with great skill (+1) (1d20+3): 9, miss and with her mundane sword with great skill (+1) (1d20+1): 11, miss.

(OOC: The creatures are so fast they get a -1 to initiative and have a movement rate of 15, so the other two on the ceiling will reach the party next round. They have AC 3, so getting through their shells won't be easy. Good luck!)

[djhyland]

Darga grimaces as his attack proves ineffective. "There's more comin'!" he barks, "Look ta th' ceilin', an' don' let 'em drop on ya!" He hefts his walking stick high and brings it down again at the creature attacking Kendra.

(OOC: Darga is attacking Horax #1. He has an initiative of 7, and rolls a 15 for his attack. I don't think that hits, but if it does, he does an impressive 7 points of damage!)

[Haahque]

"Well, from my past encounters with him he's usually a bit more dark and brooding, keeping to himself and a bit pessimistic. I haven't had the pleasure of seeing him angry, or even that motivated before. I knew he'd be able to fight once we found the giant, and I was well hoping his expertise would give us some insight in it's defenses. Turns out he told us one way to not fight the giant. That's good at least. It sounds like if we want to rely on ranged weapons we need to aim for weak points and find a way to deal with his boulders, perhaps by hiding them. Or we could rely on stealth and assassination like Jaymes suggested earlier."

[HorizonsDream]

Kendra glances up at the ceiling, and lets out a string of curses as she concentrates on the one that is focused on her. "Uh, someone try to take out the ones on the ceiling before they all drop on me," she calls out. Though, in the process, she continues to try to attack the creature in front of her.

Init Roll, Hit Rolls (8, 20, 10, 19)
Dmg Roll (11, 10)

[BishGada]

It's a shame about the wind though, since it will carry sound further as well...

"So maybe you should talk less??" Tulbas suggests with a lot of difficulty to hide the sarcasm.

As Jaymes describe his previous encounter with the giant Tulbas asks, "If the bolts don't penetrate his hide or armor, what makes you believe hand to hand weapons will do more damage? Also, how many of you were in the last group and what were your skills?"

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Beginning of the mountain trail to Esker)
"Hiding boulders could be a challenge, since they are so big and heavy," Ismene muses. "I wonder if there's a spell that could accomplish that?" She pulls out her crimson spellbook and starts paging through it while they walk.

"We were rangers," Jaymes answers to Tulbas. "A small group, dedicating to protecting the lands around Haven. And I don't believe hand to hand will work any better. That is why I hope to catch the giant in its slumber and kill it while it is defenseless."

The party treks up the mountain trail, their pace slowed now that they are no longer walking on level ground. Footprints are less visible on such a rocky path, but there are plenty of other signs of the giant's passing--broken trees, smashed rocks, and the occasional dry blood stains. The more they ascend, the colder it gets, until they can start to see their own breaths.

As they travel, Magnus notices Raena giving him the stink eye now and again from behind him. "Something amiss, dwarf?" the magi asks with a hint of amusement.

Raena snorts. "Big scary wizard man, huh?" she asks. "Bet you're used to folk cowering in front of you?"

Magnus shrugs. "People often fear what they do not understand."

"I don't understand, but I'm not afraid of you," Raena boasts. "A good whack with an axe would take you out, just as easy as anyone else. Maybe even faster, since you're wearing no armor."

Magnus laughs boisterously. "Not all armor is made from steel or hide, you know. And do you really believe that?"

"You saying otherwise?" asks Raena, skeptically.

"No, quite the contrary. I'm as mortal as any man," Magnus assures her. "But you might find it difficult to imbed an axe in my chest when you're nothing more than a smoking crater in the ground."

Raena's eyes narrow, but she doesn't respond and falls back into silence.

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
Darga gives the original horax another good whack with his staff. But sadly, it's not enough to break through the creature's thick shell. Had it been, things may have played out very different today...

Despite the Aghar's warning, the horaxes move so fast, nobody can really prepare for them before they arrive. One drops right behind Kendra, the other lands next to Darga. The original one lashes out at Kendra again, this time grabbing her neck with its mandibles! The warrior goes down as blood gushes from her.

"Get away from her, Bug of Evil!" demands Pen, raising Kynaston's old sword overhead again. He brings it down right on the creature's mid-section, slicing through it completely. The horax shrieks in pain, spraying ichor all over the place and twitching like mad. It at least lets go of Kendra before it dies.

Crystal loads another bolt into her crossbow and fires at the horax that landed behind Kendra. But the bolt simply ricochets off the creature's shell. "Shit! Is she okay?" Crystal call out, preparing to load another bolt.

The two remaining horaxes do not seem put off by the death of their comrade and prepare to continue the fight.

=============

Initiative
Kendra (1d10+5): 13
Darga (1d10+3): 7
Pen (1d10+5): 15
Crystal (1d10+7): 16
Horax 01 (1d10+2): 11
Horax 02 (1d10+2): 10
Horax 03 (1d10+2): 8

Round 2!

Darga attacks Horax 01 with his magic (+1) quarterstaff (1d20+1): 15, miss.
Horax 03 moves 45 feet south across the ceiling and drops behind Kendra.
Horax 02 moves 35 feet south across the ceiling and drops next to Darga.
Horax 01 strikes at Kendra with its piercing mandibles against her studded leather (-1) (1d20-1): 15, hit for (2d8): 14 damage. Kendra falls.
Kendra is down.
Pen attacks Horax 01 with his long sword with great skill (+1) (1d20+1): 19, hit for (1d8+2): 4 damage. Horax 01 dies.
Crystal fires a bolt from her light crossbow at Horax 03 from short range with excellent accuracy (+2) and brutality (+1) (1d20+3): 10, miss.
Kendra is down.
Pen has no targets in range.

(OOC: Not going so well...)

[djhyland]

Darga leaps over his fallen companion to protect her from the other creatures. "She's bad!" he calls back to Crystal. "Keep 'em away from her, an' hope we kin make her better later!" Driven by desperation, he snarls and lashes out at the nearest creature, fighting to save not only himself but his companions.

(OOC: Darga is attacking Horax #3. He intends to stand over Kendra to defend her from any further injury from the creatures. His initiative is 11 and his attack roll is 20! He does 7 points of horax-bashing damage!)

[mgbevan]

The long trek up the cold mountains seemed to be bringing out all the underlying differences in the group. Gregeddin hoped they could all keep it together until the task was done at least, but a bardy sing-song seemed hardly appropriate at this point.

"Let's keep our blades as sharp as our wits hey? You can duel all you like back at the pub once we're done. But let us all remember that there are countless innocents at risk here unless we sort this mess out. And each and every one of us has a part to play. I trust you all implicitly, and expect the same of each other, I don't need to be worrying about the dagger in my back when facing off with a bone smashing giant now do I?. How much further to our destiny Jaymes?"

Leading such a mish mash of personalities wasn't at the forefront of Gregeddin's mind during the interviews, perhaps if there is to be a next time, he would consider his candidates more wisely.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Mountain Trail to Esker)
"You speak truly," Miriam says. "Regardless of anything else, we should remember the people we are trying to protect."

"Yeah, right. The poor, poor innocents," Raena says with a scoff. "Certainly none of us are in it for the money or the glory," she adds sarcastically.

"Hopefully not too much further," Jaymes says in reply to the bard. "The days are short in the autumn, and we are fast running out of sunlight."

"As if it wasn't cold enough," mutters Mateo. "You actually live out here, in this wilderness?" he asks Jaymes. "How could you survive?"

"Finding food and water is not difficult, if you know what to look for," Jaymes replies. "Or shelter, for that matter."

Mateo laughs. "Nevermind food, water, or shelter. I'm talking essentials. Bet it gets really lonely out here. No ladies, anywhere."

Jaymes actually stumbles in his footing, so caught off-guard by Mateo's remark. He clears his throat, blushing brightly, and immediately moves on without comment.

After following the trail for awhile, they come across the splattered remains of something. Like some kind of animal that was torn apart. Most of the meat has been removed from the bones and blood is all over the place. Jaymes quickly approaches and kneels down, touching the blood. "Still wet. Fresh. This was a ram, I think. Or maybe a goat." He gets up and looks around. "This happened recently. We are close. Very close."

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
Before anyone can move at all, the horaxes strike again with lightning speed. The smaller one strikes at Pen, seeing an easy target in the kender. Pen, however, is more of a warrior than he might look. He easily rolls to the side, the bridge creaking loudly underfoot as he does. The larger one snips at Darga, its sharp mandibles cutting through his leather armor as if it was cotton, slicing into his left leg.

Empowered by a desire to save Kendra's life, assuming it is not already too late, Darga snarls and lashes out at the smaller horax with his enchanted ironwood staff. His strike is true, cracking the creature's chitinous shell like an egg, and causing it severe harm. Not enough to quite kill it, but it's clear the creature is on its last legs now. Both Pen and Crystal attempt to finish it off, but neither can penetrate its armor.

Pen notices the larger horax preparing to strike at Darga from behind. "Watch out!" he calls.

==============

Initiative
Kendra (N/A)
Darga (1d10+3): 10
Pen (1d10+5): 14
Crystal (1d10+7): 15
Horax 02 (1d10+2): 9
Horax 03 (1d10+2): 5

Round 3!

Horax 03 moves 15 feet north and strikes at Pen with its mandibles (1d20): 5, miss.
Horax 02 strikes at Darga with its mandibles against his leather armor (+2) (1d20+2): 10, hit for (2d8): 4 damage.
Darga attacks Horax 03 with his magic (+1) quarterstaff (1d20+1): 20, hit for (1d6+1): 7 damage. Horax 03 is now near death.
Pen attacks Horax 03 with his long sword with great skill (+1) (1d20+1): 7, miss.
Crystal fires a bolt from her light crossbow at Horax 03 from short range with excellent accuracy (+2) and brutality (+1) (1d20+3): 10, miss.

(OOC: Boy, I am tanking my initiative and attack rolls for Crystal and Pen here.)

[BishGada]

After the exchange of words between Raena and Magnus Tulbas asks Magnus, "Making friends?".
When they see the remains of the ram Tulbas looks around concerned, then looks at the other companions trying to read their feelings.

[djhyland]

Darga snarls in pain as the creature's mandibles close on his leg, but he swings again, knowing that he's fighting for his life. Only by killing these things will he have a chance to see the sun again...

(OOC: Darga attacks horax 3 again. His initiative is 9, his attack roll is 13, and his theoretical damage would have been 5. Let's hope that Pen and Crystal have more luck!)

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Mountain Trail to Esker)
Tulbas looks over the group, trying to judge their reactions. Mateo and Zoya look worried. Raena, Jaymes and Burzan appear tense, ready to pounce if needed. Ismene looks fascinated. Miriam seem stoic, but is keeping a sharp eye out nonetheless. Magnus does not appeared even interested; if anything, he seems bored. (OOC: How Gregeddin and Haahqae appear is up to their players, of course.)

"This way," Jaymes says, following the trail.

After another 10 minutes without incident, the party has relaxed somewhat. There have not been any visible signs of the giant's passing since, but Jaymes seems to be seeing something they are not, because he stops every now and again, examines something, then continues on as if he knows where he is going.

During one such pause, Mateo approaches Ismene. "So, uh, I've always wondered something about you small folk," he begins casually.

"Actually, we consider ourselves to be normal-sized. It is your kind that is too tall," she says with a smile.

"Oh, yeah," Mateo says, rubbing his stubbly chin. "Good point. I guess compared to people your size, we are pretty big, huh? Even a somewhat short guy like me must seem...impressive? Maybe even a little intimidating?"

"Not especially?" replies Ismene, not quite following. She tilts her head and squints at him, as if this would help her understand him better.

"I've heard stories that among the small folk, the women are drawn to human men, because we're so...well, big," Mateo explains.

"Ohhhh, I see. You are referring to the size of your genitalia, not your actual height!" Ismene exclaims, her eyes lighting up with understanding. "But if that rumor was true, then wouldn't we small ladies really be attracted to men like Burzan? He's much bigger, right?" she asks, looking up at the half-ogre.

Burzan sniffs and shrugs nonchalantly. "Well, I've never seen his...but yes."

"Uh..," Mateo begins, not sure how things have been derailed so quickly.

"What about the giant? He's huge! I bet his is as big as your whole body! Maybe we'll get a peak of it if we run underfoot!" Ismene giggles. "If you do, though, try not to get stepped on in the process."

"You know what, forget I said anything. Nevermind," Mateo says, holding up his hands and returning to Zoya.

"Smooth," Zoya comments softly, shaking her head.

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
Pen leaps over the dead horax to attack the larger one behind Darga. He swings his blade at it, but it simply bounces off the creature's shell.

Darga's staff is deflected by the smaller horax's chitinous shell, to his chagrin. The larger horax behind him strikes at Darga, grasping his neck with its mandibles. Like Kendra, Darga falls limp.

Before losing consciousness, Darga hears the faint sound of shouting and shrieking...but it sounds so far away...then there is only blackness.

===============

Initiative
Kendra (N/A)
Darga (1d10+3): 8
Pen (1d10+5): 6
Crystal (1d10+7): 9
Horax 02 (1d10+2): 8
Horax 03 (1d10+2): 9

Round 4!

Pen moves 10 feet west and attacks Horax 02 with his long sword with great skill (+1) (1d20+1): 10, miss.
Darga attacks Horax 03 with his magic (+1) quarterstaff (1d20+1): 13, miss.
Horax 02 strikes at Darga with its mandibles against his leather armor (+2) from behind (+2) (1d20+4): 16, hit for (2d8): 13 damage. Darga falls.
Crystal fires a bolt from her light crossbow at Horax 03 from short range with excellent accuracy (+2) and brutality (+1) (1d20+3): 19, hit for (1d6): 4 damage. Horax 03 dies.
Horax 03 is dead.
Pen attacks Horax 02 with his long sword with great skill (+1) (1d20+1): 19, hit for (1d8+2): 4 damage.

(OOC: Hmm, well...both PCs are down. But the NPCs are fine. I guess now I need to figure out how to proceed here.)

[BishGada]

Tulbas goes near Jaymes again and asks, "Hmmm... what do you plan to do if we get to his lair and find him awake?"

[Haahque]

Haahqae was about to go off on a tangent about how traveling the big folk world may have been a bit intimidating at first, but the novelty of always being the smallest guy around wore off pretty quickly. Anyways it wouldn’t be all that hard to build a robot that was taller than most humans around if a gnome really needed to be tall. Then the conversation took a turn to the… more primitive. This turn in the conversation completely scrambled all of Haahqae’s well laid out plans on how to tackle the conversation and left him with sputter a few phrases such as; “Hey Gnomes aren’t that small where it counts, we’re normal sized you know. And there’s something to having just the right size for the job. And besides we’re inventors, innovators and tinkers, if it truly was useful to have a larger one we probably would have built one by now.”

Despite his bold words, a prudent observer still might be able to see written all over Haahqae’s face, just how embarrassed he is about how outclassed he is in this regard, compared to all the other men in the group.

[JadedDM]

Haahqae, Gregeddin and Tulbas (Mountain Trail to Esker)
"Then we come up with a new plan, based on the situation," Jaymes tells Tulbas. "It is all we can do."

Nobody comments on Haahqae's statement. Mateo just has the look of someone who wishes the subject to be dropped and forgotten. Ismene eyes Haahqae a little skeptically, as if she suspected he doth protest too much, but otherwise does not say anything.

As they continue to walk, Miriam moves closer to Jaymes, as well. "I have a question for you," she says.

Jaymes sighs. "I am not accustomed to being bombarded with so many questions," he mutters. "What is it?"

"You were the one who started this all; the one who brought news of the giant attacking refugees, and tried to put together a company to defeat it, were you not? Tell me, are you motivated in this to help those poor people? Or are you simply looking for revenge?" she asks.

Jaymes is silent for several moments before answering. "I seek to do what I think is right. The giant is a danger to all."

"That does not answer my question," Miriam points out sternly. "Do you aid the refugees in other ways? You are a ranger, yes? Do you hunt for them? Teach them how to live off the land the way you can?"

Jaymes is silent again before replying. "That is not my concern. The actions of those who live in the city are outside my jurisdiction."

"But what of the refugees not living in the city, but are trapped outside the city walls?" Miriam presses.

"You should speak to the Seeker Council on that, not myself," Jaymes says.

Miriam shakes her head silently, then returns to her position in the marching order.

It is not long after that the company finds themselves approaching a massive opening in the mountain--a cave mouth looms before them, at least twenty feet high. Old blood stains the entrance and gnawed upon bones litter the area outside the mouth. Jaymes stops and drops into a crouch. "I believe we have found our lair," he says quietly.

Kendra and Darga (Haven Sewers)
The horax, with a shriek, goes for Pen's jugular next. The kender's armor protects him somewhat, but he still is hurt pretty bad. Crystal fires again, but her bolt doesn't come close to hitting. Pen retaliates with his sword, but weak from the blood loss, his weapon only bounces off the horax.

=============

Initiative
Kendra (N/A)
Darga (N/A)
Pen (1d10+5): 15
Crystal (1d10+7): 12
Horax 02 (1d10+2): 6

Round 5!

Horax 02 strikes at Pen with its mandibles (1d20): 20, critical hit! for (4d8): 19 damage. Pen is now critically wounded.
Crystal fires a bolt from her light crossbow at Horax 02 from short range with excellent accuracy (+2) and brutality (+1) (1d20+3): 6, miss.
Pen attacks Horax 02 with his long sword with great skill (+1) (1d20+1): 13, miss.

(OOC: Well, this just gets better and better.)