An Arl's Ransom

[mgbevan]

Davne looks between Simone and Wallace. They seemed awfully quick to change their tune. Davne supposed she could see why. "that would be a lot of money, I would like to be like an arl or something someday..." the memory of holding that sovereign and returning it flashed to the front of her mind. "When you don't have a lot, having a decent name is important. I guess I always figured I'd climb the ladder in a good light."

She looks up at the others faces, searching for nothing in particular, but her own internal conflict was plain to see.

[JadedDM]

"Well, it's something to think about," Alenka says. "There's time to mull it over before we meet up with the children. Although if you ask me, the answer seems obvious."

They cook and eat the nug, resting for about an hour in silence. This gives Wallace and Alenka a chance to recharge their expended mana from the genlock battle.

When it's done, Alenka stands up and puts out the fire. "Shall we be going then? It will be dark soon enough, so we should press on before then."

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

Wallace rests for an hour and regains (1d6+4): 10 MP.
Alenka rests for an hour and regains (1d6+4): 10 MP.

[mgbevan]

Davne nods and takes the front again, at least here she could try and keep her thoughtful face hidden along the journey.

[HorizonsDream]

Simone takes the rear of the group. She had some reservations about this whole plan, but the money was too good. Plus, she was assured that the children would be, mostly safe, as they returned to the arl with the ransom.

[JadedDM]

The party follows the road into a lightly wooded area as the sun sets. "It's not much further to the waypoint now," Alenka claims. As darkness sets over the land, they begin to hear the sounds of night. Crickets chirp, beasts scurry through the brush and hooting owls can be heard in the distance. The hooting gets louder as they venture into the woods.

Simone, Wallace and Davne all spot something in the distance, flying toward them. It resembles an owl, but is the size of a bulldog and has glowing red eyes. It has black feathers, large blood red eyes, and a toothy beak segmented into four parts.

Blight Owl.png (171.82 KiB) Viewed 5837 times

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Simone makes a PER (Seeing) test at night (-1) [TN 11] (3d6+1): 13, pass
Davne makes a PER (Seeing) test at night (-1) [TN 11] (3d6): 12, pass
Wallace makes a PER (Seeing) test at night (-1) [TN 11] (3d6): 14, pass
Alenka makes a PER (Seeing) test at night (-1) [TN 11] (3d6): 5, fail

[spyguy1503]

"Alenka!" Wallace cries out, pointing to it. He fires an arcane lance at it.

[HorizonsDream]

Simone pulls out her crossbow. "What is that?"

[mgbevan]

Davne follows suit with Simone, readying and loading her own crossbow. "I'm not sure what it is, but we'd better put bolts through those glowing eyes rather than ask it questions!"

[JadedDM]

"Flames!" Alenka swears. "It's an owl--it's been blighted; infected by the darkspawn's taint. Which means it more or less is a darkspawn now. Take cover!" She moves over to a nearby log and holds up her staff to protect herself.

The blight owl flies right toward the party, but then suddenly starts to circle around them at a very fast pace, going higher and higher into the air. Davne and Simone both pull out their crossbows and load them. Wallace immediately readies his staff and fires an arcane lance, but the creature is too high up to be hit by it.

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Initiative
Davne (3d6+2): 9
Alenka (3d6+1): 18
Wallace (3d6+1): 7
Simone (3d6+3): 14
Blight Owl (3d6+7): 15

Round 1!

Alenka uses a minor action to move 10 yards to the west and a major action to defend (+2 to her defense).
Blight Owl uses a minor action to fly 22 yards southwest then uses a minor action to circle around the area to climb higher into the air.
Simone uses a minor action to pull out her crossbow and a major action to load it.
Davne uses a minor action to pull out her crossbow and a major action to load it.
Wallace uses a minor action to ready his staff and a major action to fire an arcane bolt at the Blight Owl, but it is out of range.

(OOC: The Blight Owl is currently about 20 yards away from the party and 20 yards in the air. So making a ranged attack will have a range of 40 yards, unless you move closer, or wait for it to move closer. Melee attacks are not possible when it is at this height. Also, due to the darkness, everyone suffers a -1 to hit on ranged attacks.)

[spyguy1503]

Wallace runs/walks to the log, and aims at the owl.

[mgbevan]

"If it's tainted darkspawn it needs to be vanquished!" and with that Davne aims and let's loose a bolt, at long range, towards the blight owl.

[HorizonsDream]

Simone takes cover under one of the nearby trees in hopes that the branches and the like would protect her from the owl. Once under protection, she fires her bolt at the owl.

[JadedDM]

Alenka continues to hide by the log, waiting for the owl to move into range before employing any spells.

The Blight Owl dives suddenly, going for the nearest party member in the open, who happens to be Davne. It strikes the warrior woman hard, its segmented beak tearing into her flesh and drawing fresh blood. The impact actually knocks Davne back a bit, and she nearly crashes into Simone as a result.

Simone moves for the nearest tree, before turning around and firing her crossbow at the owl as it hovers near Davne. The bolt flies overhead, hitting a tree in the distance.

Gritting her teeth from the pain, Davne raises her crossbow and fires. But the owl nimbly avoids the bolt, which disappears into the darkness.

Wallace high tails it out of there, deciding to go for the log where Alenka is hiding. Once there, he pulls out his staff and carefully aims, not wanting to shoot wildly into the dark.

=========

Initiative Order
Alenka - 18
Blight Owl - 15
Simone - 14
Davne - 9
Wallace - 7

Round 2!

Alenka uses a minor action to move 2 yards southwest and a major action to defend (+2 defense).
Blight Owl uses a minor action to aim (+1 to hit) and a major action to dive (+1 hit and damage) at Davne [TN 12] with its beak (3d6+8): 5+5+5+8 = 23, STUNT! for 5 points. Blight Owl uses Mighty Blow, Pierce Armor and Skirmish. The Blight Owl's beak does (3d6+7): 6+5+2+7 = 20 damage (-3 armor) = 17 damage. Davne is now seriously wounded and knocked back 2 yards.
Simone uses a minor action to move 12 yards to the nearest tree and a major action to fire her crossbow at the Blight Owl [TN 17] in the dark (-1 to hit) at short range (3d6+2): 3+1+5+2 = 11, miss.
Davne uses a minor action to aim (+2 to hit) and a major action to fire her crossbow at the Blight Owl [TN 17] in the dark (-1 to hit) at short range (3d6+3): 2+4+1+3 = 10, miss.
Wallace uses a major action to run 18 yards to the log and then a minor action to aim (+1 to hit) at the Blight Owl.

(OOC: The Blight Owl is currently in melee range, only a couple of yards off the ground. Davne has been reduced to about 50% of her HP.)

[mgbevan]

Davne cries out in surprise at the amount of pain the owl caused her. She does her best to reload her crossbow as she moves as close to the log at possible. Her primary concern to bring the owl into range of the others offensive capabilities.

[spyguy1503]

Wallace casts arcane bolt at the owl, then aims again.