Old Ways IC

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon growls in frustration. From his position in the back of the party, he can barely see anything up ahead, much less do anything.

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Artanis, hearing the mention of skeletons, he shouted out his elven war-cry as stealth was not an option. He tried his best to encourage his companions as he moved out of the way of the others in the back.

Avel niemel sikki mor hiedoso welsa, op avel inorum nekra! They shall not overpower us! The dead shall rest peacefully before the day is out!

He nocked an arrow at his last statement.

I must see that these tortured tools of this foul necromancer be laid to their permanent rest.

He began to disregard Ash's command and aimed at the closest skeleton. As he was about to loose the arrow, he jolted himself back to a more rational state of mind.

No, a party is all about working together. While I will not let go of my hatred for this foul magic and its products, I will not give these people reason to distrust me.

He returned to following Ash's instructions by instead loosing the arrow at the hobgoblin.

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HP: 3/3
AC: 2
Thac0 (longbow close-range) 17: (1d20+1)[4]
Damage: (1d6)[1]

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna hears her name called. "Oh my goodness!" she says as she maneuvers closer to where Ash is. Putting her mace into her off hand, she pulls her holy symbol over her head and points it in the general direction of the skeletons. She repeats the special phrase the other priests taught her, and a beam of holy light shines from it. She slings the chain around her wrist for faster use next time and puts her mace back in her good hand, ready to release a smashing attack.

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*crosses fingers*
Turn Undead: (1d20)[4]
EDIT: Grr. Ah well… maybe one of them was turned? I don't have access to the rules AtM…

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Talsarios keeps out of the way as best he can, letting anyone past who needs to, and fixing another wick in an oil flask.

[Roland St. Jude]

Talsarios remains in the tunnel ambling forward more slowly as he fixes the wick in the lamp oil. Even Brandon can squeeze past him to reach the threshold of the cavern.

The room floods with people as Ash cuts down the crossbowman who raises his crossbow in a vain attempt to block the bow.

Nathros steps just inside the room and hurls his axe at the hobgoblin, but fails to land it. Artanis has no better luck as he changes his target at the last second. Mycah's dagger sails wide of the creature as well.

Alanna stands in the face of the nearest skeleton and channels the power of her faith. She becomes suffused with holy light and all the skeletons flee toward the far end of the cavern, mostly disappearing behind the large hobgoblin.

Enraged, the hobgoblin attacks. It takes several large steps forward and takes an unsuccessful swing at Ashala.

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PCs win initiative again.

Combatant Accounting:
Two sleeping crossbowmen
One dead crossbowman
Four skeletons, fleeing, at the far end of the room and barely visible behind the hobgoblin.
One Hobgoblin

Positioning:
Ash, Artanis, and Alanna are well into the room.
Nathros and Mycah are nearer the tunnel.
Brandon is in the tunnel opening.
Talsarios is behind him.

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Bran moves forward as far as he can while still being able to wield his bow and loose an arrow (but without coming within sword-swinging range of the enemy).

He bellows at the hobgoblin, "Hey, hobbo-gobbo! You hungry? Well, swallow THIS!"

And he looses his arrow at it.

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This roll assumes that Bran can attack this round. If not, please ignore.

Level 2 Fighter
Hit Points: 5/10.

Attack: (1d20)[10]
Thac0: 18
Damage: (1d6)[1]

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna grins a bit as she watches the four skeletons flee. You know we'll just have to deal with them later… her common sense whispers to her, but she brushes it aside for the moment. Heartened by her success, she takes a swing at the hobgoblin with her mace and hops back just after, hoping to dodge the inevitable counterattack.

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Attack: (1d20)[1]
Damage: (1d6)[5]

[Matthew]

Nathros attacks the nearest enemy combatant, and tries not to think about the supposedly friendly arrows zipping past his head.

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Nathros, Level Two Dwarf: AC 9(1); HP 9(9); THAC0 19.

Attack Roll: (1d20+1)[2]
Damage Roll: (1d6+1)[5]

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Peeking round into the room the Thyatian scholar takes stock of the fight, then:
"Yikes! That's no hobgoblin!" cries Talsarios in sudden alarm - "That's a thoul! A rare horror! It paralyses! Don't let it touch you! Use bows and slings - and fire!"
He readies a fire bomb, waiting for his allies to clear a space round the unnatural cross-bred monster.

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Alastor Talsarios, MU2, HP 2/2, AC 9, THAC0 19
If the party stand back from the thoul, he'll lob a fire bomb at it - but not otherwise (for fear of hitting his allies).
Fire bomb (1d20)[17]

[Koren n'Rhys]

Mycah had been readying a second dagger for the hobgoblin when Talsarios' warning rings out. A thoul? What in the hells is that? he wonders.

Still, he respects the Thyatian's opinion on these things and reaches for his bow instead and falls back to keep his distance from the creature.

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Mycah, Level 2 Thief:
HP: 3/3 AC: 6 Thac0: 19 (18 Missile)

ATTACK: (1d20+1)[7] DAMAGE: (1d6)[2]

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Artanis, still near the tunnel entrance, peered a little more closely at the hobgoblin even while he nocked another arrow.

I don't see what's the matter. But I respect his magic expertise enough to warrant caution. I've never even heard of this Thoul that he's blabbering about so I wouldn't be able to recognize it. In any case, I don't want a mace of that size being slammed into me, much less Solahel.

He fired the arrow at the hobgoblin and then moved to pluck the oil flask hanging in his belt in order to light it on the closest torch.

He stood his ground and only moved out of his current position if the hobgoblin (or thoul in the mage's terminology) moved closer to him.

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HP: 3/3
AC: 2
Thac0 (longbow) 17: (1d20+1)[14]
Damage: (1d6)[5]

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

"Everyone, do as Talsarios has said!" Ash will take a swing at the thoul before she cautiously step further into the room enough to avoid any strange power it may have; also to make way for incoming ranged attacks. By the end of this turn, she will probably be the only one left with her melee weapons out.
So this is likely the necromancer then. - Good.

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AC: 1
HP: 11/11
Thac0: 18
Attack: (1d20)[6]
Damage: (1d8)[2]

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna decides to be funny. "A thoul? Sounds rather foul to me!" she cracks as she hops back, dropping her mace (for now) and slinging a stone. Once she's fired it, she bends down again to retrieve her mace and scrambles away as fast as she can.

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Attack: (1d20)[19]
Damage: (1d4)[1]

[Roland St. Jude]

End of previous round:
Alanna and Artanis find themselves paralyzed as they prepare to attack. Some spell holds them in place, weapons raised.

This round:

Brandon's arrow and Mycah's dagger both go wide, and neither Nathros nor Ash connect with their melee attacks. Alanna and Artanis remain aware but unable to move.

Nathros remains toe-to-toe with the thoul, and Talsarios remains in the threshold and holds his fire. Ash moves farther into the room, stepping away from the hobgoblin. From this deeper spot in the room, she can see a tunnel, exactly opposite the one she entered from. A large table, simple chair, and crude bed is next to the tunnel opening. A lamp on the table provides most of the light in the room, but it does little to illuminate the tunnel entrance.

The thoul swings his mace over the head of the dwarf.

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Tie for Initiative, so post your actions and I'll sort it out.

PCs win initiative again.

Known Combatant Accounting:
Two sleeping crossbowmen
One dead crossbowman
One Hobgoblin Thoul

Positioning:
Artanis, and Alanna are well into the room, off to each side of the hobgoblin and paralyzed.
Ash is even farther in the room, behind a well off to the side of the hobgoblin.
Nathros is in melee with the hobgoblin.
Mycah and Brandon are just in the room and away from the tunnel opening.
Talsarios remains in the tunnel opening, holding his lit flask.

[Matthew]

Nathros ducks under the thoul's mace and aims to drive his short sword into its throat!

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Nathros, Level Two Dwarf: AC 9(1); HP 9(9); THAC0 19.

Attack Roll: (1d20+1)[14]
Damage Roll: (1d6+1)[2]

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Bran continues to advance further into the room even as he draws another arrow from his quiver. He shouts, "Hey, Alanna, Artanis, get a move on! What are you just standing there for?!"

He looses another arrow at the thoul, muttering, "Shaft in your eye, you hobbo bastard."

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Level 2 Fighter
Hit Points: 5/10.

Attack: (1d20)[18]
Thac0: 18
Damage: (1d6)[2]

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna feels the spell take hold of her, and she is alarmed when she discovers she can't move. If she can make any noise, she groans when she hears Brandon. Because her initial position was rather unstable, she soon topples.
"Mmph!"

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Talsarios looks at the flickering wick of his fire bomb and estimates how long it has left to burn.
He calls, "Damn it, step back Nathros! It takes fire to kill a thoul!"

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Alastor Talsarios, MU2, HP 2/2, AC 9, THAC0 19
Regarding the timing of the bomb:
If the wick burns like a molotov cocktail, then I'd estimate Talsarios has little more time to hold onto the fire bomb. (Molotov rag-wicks tend to burn slowly, usually without lighting the contents until after smashing the bottle open, because of the stopped in the bottle - but we're using chunks of rope, not rags, and I'm not sure how fast or slow an oil-soaked rope burns.)

If you (Roland) judge that the wick burns more quickly and aggressively than that, then I guess Talsarios will see he has to throw it before it sets the flask on fire.

If Talsarios is forced into throwing the bomb now can I use my original roll (17) for the attack? Please?
If not, here's my new roll: (1d20)[9]
He's targeting the thoul - but he's only throwing now if he has to throw the bomb this round.

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

Hearing Talsarios' words, Ash will change her ranged plan of attack for this turn. Instead of dropping her sword and shield and firing with her bow (that obviously doesn't toss fire), she will dash around the room to where Alanna is, avoiding melee range of the thoul.
Her sympathy for Alanna will have to wait until this - thing is dead and gone.
She'll drop her sword and shield beside Alanna and rummage quickly through her bag, wherever her oil flasks are, and grab one.

(This may have to take place next round, I'm not sure.)
She'll light the rope part on the fallen torch which Alanna had been carrying.
"Nathros!" she'll yell to let him know they're ready (Ash and Talsarios, maybe Mycah) to throw the flasks.
Burn like a bonfire. She grits her teeth and throws at the thoul upon seeing an opening (where Nathros/anyone isn't directly engaged with it).

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AC: 2
HP: 11/11
Thac0: 18 (19 from fighter, +1 lower cause it's thrown and I have a Dex bonus)
Attack: (1d20)[2]
Damage: (1d8)[6]

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Artanis unable to move away from the 'thoul', although some part of his mind still doubted, holds the arrow partially nocked but unable to bear on his adversary.

How in the world... how did it get so close?

He noticed Alanna topple and was glad that he had chosen better footing as plate mail wasn't very comfortable to land on.

As the others shouted at Nathros to move away from the thoul he berated both himself and the dwarf.
NO! NO! NO! It can't end like this! Not with me frozen like some marble statue! Nor cooked in my own protection because some stone-addled DWARF wouldn't move out of the way! A true Warrior-Seer would have had this finished in half the time! BUT NO! I've failed miserably to finally confront the necromancer!

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna lies motionless on the ground. With nothing to do… well, nothing she can do, she stares at her limited view of the battle.
Sigh… ouch, my arm hurts… hope I didn't injure it too badly… I wonder if anyone else is frozen… hope not, this really sucks… hmm, how long will this last? What do thouls do? Am I gonna die? I'll miss Mom, and Dad, and Zach, and… no, I'm not. Gonna. Die.
This continues until something big happens.

[Roland St. Jude]

Nathros cuts into the thoul's shoulder and Brandon pierces the thing with an arrow. Ash repositions herself and draws out a pre-wicked flask. Talsarios watches as the rope wick burns out.

Mycah finds himself out of daggers to throw, so he switches to archery and looses an arrow into the hobgoblin. {DM action}

Alanna and Artanis remain paralyzed and find their view of the battle to be a very limited one.

The thoul swings again without success.

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Another tied initiative.

Known Combatant Accounting:
Two sleeping crossbowmen
One dead crossbowman
One badly injured Thoul

Positioning:
Everyone still in their prior positions except Ash, who moved next to Alanna.

I resolved the lit oil flask issue by deciding that the wick just burns out after two rounds. It will need to be re-wicked, though, before it can be used.

[Matthew]

"It is not just going to stand still for us, you know," Nathros growls from beneath his helmet. "Cast the fire behind it and I will drive it back into the flames!" Nathros fights on!

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Nathros, Level Two Dwarf: AC 9(1); HP 9(9); THAC0 19.

Attack Roll: (1d20+1)[19]
Damage Roll: (1d6+1)[5]

[Tsunamiatunzen1]

Artanis heard Nathros' reply and mentally grimaced.

Well at least he has some sense in that brick-layered head of his! But I will NOT have him putting my life in danger because of his pride!

He tried to spot anything useful within his vision that could prove profitable later.

[Koren n'Rhys]

Mycah know he can't risk getting within range of the thoul, so continues to try and make a pincushion out of it.

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Mycah, Level 2 Thief:
HP: 3/3 AC: 6 Thac0: 19 (18 Missile)

ATTACK: (1d20+1)[16] DAMAGE: (1d6)[6]

OOC: I had made a post Sunday that isn't here any more. I don't think the GitP forums like me for some reason.

[Nevaera]

ASHALA

Ash shrugs, lights the wick (rope) on the torch, and repositions a little if necessary. She hopes to hit somewhere behind the thoul when it's distracted with Nathros, but she'll try to land the flask as close to the thoul's ankles as possible with out risking Nathros getting hit. If it turns to fight her, she'll just have to face it and flank with Nathros.

"Sure, 'kill it with fire', he says, but it looks like you fellas aren't really having too much trouble with out it." She half quirks her head as though to gesture a "Here goes nothin'" and hucks the oil flask.

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AC: 2
HP: 11/11
Thac0: 18 (Oil Flask)
Attack: (1d20)[4]
Damage: (1d8)[4]

[Frivolous]

Brandon Bor


Brandon looses another arrow at the thoul. While his hands move, his mouth sings incoherently, "Oh, you're a sausage on our fire, to stick you our desire..."

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Level 2 Fighter
Hit Points: 5/10.

Attack: (1d20)[18]
Thac0: 18
Damage: (1d6)[3]

[Altair_the_Vexed]

Talsarios elects to lob the unlit flask at the thoul, aiming to add fuel to any fire that catches from his allies' efforts.

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Thrown unlit flask (1d20)[6]

[MeanMrsMustard]

Alanna continues watching the wall.
I think we're almost done…

[Roland St. Jude]

Mycah and Brandon both stick the thoul with arrows and Nathros does cut into the thoul and drive him back some, but the thoul strikes back and bashes his mace into the dwarf. The clang echos through the room.

Neither Ash nor Talsarios land their oil near the thoul. Ash's fails to break and merely rolls about.

Though few likely see the source, focused as they are on thoul, a trio of magical arrows fly out of the tunnel on the far side of the room to strike some of those visible from that vantage. Artanis catches a glimpse of the dark-robed necromancer standing a few feet back in the tunnel. He quickly disappears once his spell is complete.

New Turn:

The thoul continues its assault on its small foe, but this time fails to land a telling blow. Nothing more is seen or heard from the necromancer, whose actions in that dark tunnel are unknown.

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Nathros -1 hp from thoul's mace; -6 from magic missile
Ash -6 hp from magic missile
Brandon -3 hp from magic missile

Foes won initiative. Their actions taken. PC's turn!

Known Combatant Accounting:
Two sleeping crossbowmen
One dead crossbowman
One gravely injured Thoul
One necromancer, seen by Artanis, assumed by others I'd guess

Positioning:
Everyone still essentially in their prior positions.