The Lords of Life and Death

[nyarlathotep]

Nightfall was still a full moon cycle away but the wagon-train was nervous. They had found broken carts along the roadside that had showed evidence of forceful destruction and a crippled horse. It had its legs broken and was partially gut. The poor beast was still struggling against the straps that bound it to an upturned wagon until the train leader, Malcolm, put it down.

Landsend could be seen on the horizon scarcely a mile away, but sinister clouds rolled in from the north. The travelers made haste to avoid falling in their shadow.

[BelGareth]

Beldin's Oracular orbs flickered as he surveyed the tree line adjacent to the caravan. He had overheard the caravan leader saying he was nervous about possible bandits.

It was the logical outcome.

Beldins metallic face shone in the darkness unable to portray the confusion he had inside.

He was having a hard time trying to rid himself of the constant logical procedure, it was so ingrained into him it automatically came to him instantly as his first thought.

It was something he would have to work on.

Shrugging his shoulders he moved on, having scanned the section of treeline to his level of need, his feet taking him further and faster than most would believe was possible from a warforged made from metal and wood.

[NotScaryBats]

A desiccated walking corpse in shining steel breastplate, boots and gauntlets travelled with the wagon train. Her body was covered in clean white bandages, some scribed with runes, some unadorned. The bandages ran up to her chin, leaving her face and hair uncovered. Time and undeath had changed her once beautiful face into a much different sight. At best, it was uncomfortable to look at, but when she loosed the divine might animating her body, those eyes burned and few were able to meet her gaze. Hair as white as snow was kept tight in a soldiers' bun. If nothing else, the woman looked dangerous.

Joan held the rear of the wagon train, partly because an attack from the rear was more probable than one from the front, but also because she still felt uncomfortable with the sidelong glances and horrified looks people gave her. She was here to protect them -- that was why she was here, after all -- so why couldn't they just treat her equally?

She continued to walk upright and proud despite her inner feelings. This body was built for strength, not speed, however, and she had to push herself a little bit to keep up with the wagon train. Luckily, fatigue was no longer an issue for her.

[Kazyan]

Istid removed the end of her waterskin from her mouth and idly looked over her left hand. She honestly had no idea if the puce streak was receding or expanding. In either case, she shouldn't slow down on drinking.

With a sad smile, she glanced over to the broken wood at the side of the road. The people at the caravan never did inform her what went wrong there, or maybe she wasn't paying attention. Probably that. It didn't matter anyway. The dead horse tugged at her heartstrings--someone could have saved it somehow.

She took another gulp form the waterskin and walked alongside one of the wagons, not particularly interested in borrowing a ride. Walking burned off a lot of energy. Repetitive motion sometimes helped her get focused, too. Maybe she would rest in a wagon if she got tired or too thirsty. Considering the distance and the amount of water she had left, Istid might be able to get back to her cottage without dealing too much with the nonfey she didn't feel attached to. With a sigh, she laced her fingers together and rested them on her head, her elbows out to her sides.

[Dr.Orpheus]

Les rests his feet by slowing to the speed of the horses so we can all arrive at the same time. As soon as everyone catches up with him he sees Istid drinking "Hello again miss do you need your waterskin filled?" (I assume it has become a daily routine for Les to do this not that he minds). Apon seeing the dead horses he scowls "If another horse is wounded DON'T KILL IT *cough*. Between all of us there is bound to be some healin' magic, so think before you go murder someone.".

[nyarlathotep]

Upon hearing Lester the caravan lead whispers something to his son who is before handing him the reigns of their wagon and dropping back to talk. He has a manner about him of a man who is trying very hard to project strength to those around him but is very scared himself. When he talks he does not whisper but does attempt to keep his voice down so that the others will not hear.

As he begins speaking Lester can hear the sound of breaking leaves and swaying branches. It is the sound of animals with very small hoofed feet, but very long strides. This is comforting most animals with such a spindly structure would collapse under their own weight if corrupted by dragon's blood. They are moving southward and quickly.

Malcolm: You're probably right Mister Gerdmen, I acted rashly in response to the younger ones getting scared their are rumors floating around that it was something rather than someone that attacked those caravans and that's why we saw no other bodies. I'm just not used to having any around who can still cast healing magics. I will try to leave any other such matters in...

The middle aged man trailed off in mid sentence, having noticed something off the road's western side. The animals covered in shaggy black fur with a head and body much like those of a horse supported by four slender legs, easily four meters long each. These creatures, known as forest striders or wooly giraffes, seem very startled and are moving southward as quickly as possible through the trees and fallen leaves.

Malcolm: I need to get back to the front. Whatever's got them spooked this bad can't be good for us, even if its just timber wolves.

As the man gets up to go Malcolm is able to hear something else that eludes the other members of the train. Far to their north behind the wagon-train he hears the greeting cries of terror birds. Something wasn't right though, their calls were pushed out all as one current meaning that they had a diaphragm, when the large flightless birds normally had the same gas sac respiratory system shared by all birds.

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Wow that is a high listen bonus for Lester.

Terror birds are a real world animal that went extinct, but survived in this setting. They're a lot like very large strictly carnivorous emus.

picture of the striders for you folks

[Dr.Orpheus]

OOC: that all comes with having a wis mod of 9

"Ya mean well and that will more than make up for it in terms of me forgivin' you, but It's the horse that needs the appology... Hold on now I hear trouble a comin. Get ready for battle mates!".

initiative (1d20+5)[6]

[NotScaryBats]

Joan perks up, readying her shield and swiftly drawing her sword and looking about for the threat.

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Initiative: (1d20+6)[10]

[Sneaky Weasel]

Malain crouched on top of the wagon, conserving his energy. Whenever possible, he refrained from walking, as the pain it caused was not worth the effort. He tilted back his head, enjoying the cool wind blowing across his skull. As they passed the broken wagons and the dying horse, he shook his head and gave a rasping sound that could have been a laugh, a cough or something else entirely. Just another casualty in the war of worlds, he thought. Pushing the thought out of his mind, he looked around warily for whatever had caused the damage. He tried to drown out the voices of the others, concentrating on anything that might mean danger. Then Lester gave a shout of alarm. Malain curses, sliding off the wagon and drawing a pair of knives. I should have heard them coming. What good am I if I let danger walk right into our midst without doing a thing to stop it? He swiftly drops into the bushes beside the road, hiding so he can launch a surprise attack against whatever threatens them.

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Initiative: (1d20+8)[21]
Hide check: (1d20+24)[32]

[nyarlathotep]

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Iniatives
enemy 1: (1d20+2)[9]
enemy 2: (1d20+2)[7]
enemy 3: (1d20+1)[21]
wagon-train: (1d20-2)[12]

[Wavelab]

He sat quietly in the corner while all the commotion was happening. He quietly got up and poked his friend Les with the tip of his sword to get his attention. Has someone decided to engage us then?

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(1d20+6)[25]

[Kazyan]

Istid, in her distraction, hadn't heard Lester's question. The louder mention of battle, however, pulled her back to reality. After removing her dagger from its sheath, she looked forward and to both sides, unsure of where a possible threat could come from.

"Can we finish this up fast so we can keep walking?" In preparation, she took a moment to concentrate on fortifying her body with the power to endure wounds.

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Inititative: (1d20+6)[15]
Manifesting Vigor, 4 PP. Share Powers with the psicrystal in the Handy Haversack on her back. If that doesn't work due to extradimensional blah blah blah, ignore it.

Conentration check to suppress material and olfactory display, DC 16: (1d20+8)[20]


20 temporary HP, 86/90 PP

[DeusMortuusEst]

Anthony

Walking besides the nixie is a young boy, with dark, unruly hair and pale, green eyes. Little can be seen of his face, as it is hidden behind a white crystal mask, just as the rest of his thin body is beneath a large piece of worn cloth that he has wrapped around him, revealing only his bare feet and his small, almost delicate hands. As the people around him prepares for a fight he reaches out and grabs Istid's hand.
"Be careful, Istid!" The voice is as thin as his body, but there's a hint of some unknown strength beneath its brittleness.

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In his monstrous form Anthony forms one mouth and one tentacle with the following costs:

Mouth, 2 points
Large mouth x3, 6 points
Hooked teeth, 4 points
Razor teeth x2 12 points

Tentacle, 3 points
Hooked tentacle, 2 points
Long tentacle x4, 12 points
Coiling tentacle, 4 points
Large tentacle x2, 6 points

[nyarlathotep]

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This is at initiative 7 and 9 because the enemies didn't show up until then. Everyone was able to do battle prep and weapons drawing unmolested. The wagon train began moving forward with all due caution

Two bipedal forms emerge from the forest's shadow slowly approaching the train's rear. They are birds as tall as horses at the shoulder, but only in shape. All other actual features of avian life have been forced out of the creatures: their feathers have hardened into a black spines, their wings already too short to fly are now completely unable to move due to their down fusing into a sing mass, and their heads have become entirely dominated by overgrowth from their beaks, eyes, crest, and all other features have been covered up.

Unusually however they announce their presence with repeated shrieks and approach in the open, only dropping into a full run once in view of their prey. Malain and Lester both understanding a predator's mind, Lester through observation and Malain from being one, instantly realize that these creatures are not intending to be the force of the kill, they want to caravan to panic and start running, likely directly into an ambush. Beldin makes similar though slightly different observations based on his highly logical mode of thinking: if they approach from the back they are intending to drive the wagon-train in the direction it was already going. This would mean that their trap either needs those running into it to be moving quickly or it needs them to not be paying attention to what it in front of them.

[Wavelab]

Siggeir watched the situation patiently. Thinking. Planning.

[Sneaky Weasel]

Malain watches the terror birds as they charge, his eyes narrowing. They're trying to drive us into a trap, he thinks. Clever little bastards, aren't they?
He scuttles a pace or two forward, testing the wind. Then his two dagger leap like chain lightening from his hands, flipping through the air towards the birds.

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Ranged Dagger Attack: (1d20+12)[14](26) / (1d20+7)[5](12) Damage: (1d4+6)[4](10)
If a critical threat(12-20): Comfirmation: (1d20+12)[3](15) or (1d20+7)[3](10) Damage: (3d4+18)[3][1][4](26)
On a critical, 90 or higher is a threat of death or crippling(my choice) Fort DC 19 avoids: (1d100)[24]

Extra Sneak Attack Damage: (7d6)[19]
Using Assassin's Stance to up my sneak attack damage.
Edit: I'm assuming 26 hits, so that's 29 damage in total. If the confirmation roll of 15 hits, then it's 45 damage.

[Dr.Orpheus]

Sorry, but I'm afraid that you can't attack until they appear something that happens after your turn look in the spoiler at the top of the DMs last post. I guess for most of us this will be a buff round.

[nyarlathotep]

Sneaky very well could have delayed his action until they showed up and attacking them while charging would allow the 15 to confirm.

[Kazyan]

Istid looked over to Anthony and smiled, as she dropped her waterskin to reach for the psicrystal in her backpack. "Don't worry about me. I can handle it!" She grabbed the psicrystal and pushed some of her mental energy into it, then let go. "I'll protect you." Flickers of ectoplasm surrounded her as a mild ringing sound pressed into the thoughts of others nearby.

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I think this is my initiative count?

Share Pain with psicrystal. 83/90 PP. Move action to grab crystal.

Joan's turn next, if I mathed right.

[Dr.Orpheus]

DeusMortuusEst goes before you.

[Wavelab]

"Would anyone here that possesses the ability to fly mind distracting the birds behind us while me and the the toad go ahead and try and weaken some enemies? After we have distracted them with our quick attack the wagon can come in and we can turn the guerrilla strike into full fledged battle." Siggeir said as he looked at his group of companions.

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Basically, Les' eagle distract the two birds behind us getting them away from the wagon, while staying out of harms way. Me and Sneaky, sneak up ahead and sneak attack, at which point the cavalry charges in, attacking the confused birds as their plan backfired.

[Sneaky Weasel]

Malain grimaces at the sound of Siggier's voice. His plan was sound, but...
"That might work. But going into battle with me after calling me 'toad' is not a wise plan. Don't call me that. My name is Malain." He creeps stealthily towards the birds, dagger in hand.

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Move Silently: (1d20+23)[26]

[Wavelab]

"Of course. I am terribly sorry. Malain I fear that I have not thought of a very solid plan as I don't know much about these birds, but I can assure you that it will be easily handled. Though I advise extreme caution as the trap that might be ahead, might not be what it seems at all." Sigger said, thinking about what is up ahead.

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May I ask towards which birds you are creeping?

[DeusMortuusEst]

Anthony

Seeing the birds appear from the forest and hearing Istid's reassuring words he nods to himself and lets go of her hand.
"And I'll protect you..." He whispers and turns his attention inwards for a moment, calling upon the darkness that hides inside his body. "Nothing bad..." His body jerks suddenly and he seems to bend strangely backwards, his back arching so that it is his head is almost touching the ground. "Will ever..." His voice becomes strangely muffled for a moment, before it returns, deeper, more powerful than before and originating from the center of his body and not his head. "HURT YOU!". Anthony snaps forward, the cloth that he's wearing is thrown back, revealing his pale stomach that is now consisting of a mouth impossibly large, stretching out beyond the size of the boy. Long wicked teeth fill the mouth to the brim. From his back a long tentacle covered with sharp hooks forms, ready to grab hold of the first enemy to approach.

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Forcing every opponent within line of sight to make a will save DC 21 or become shaken for 1 minute or until the end of the encounter.
Ready action: Attack the first enemy who comes within 25 ft.

[Dr.Orpheus]

"There are probably some ambushers ahead I'll try and throw em off.".

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I will make a run 525ft. and my eagle will be 125 ft behind me. As we move I will make a listen check (1d20+22)[31] and my eagle will make a spot check (1d20+30)[41]. If eather of us detect something then we will both change direction preferably twords a forest and lead the opponents in that direction.

[nyarlathotep]

The terror birds turn as if to flee but then doubleback and charge toward the party once more, as if compelled by some greater power to ignore the fear inflicted on them by two great supernatural forces. They both race forward and having been forced to confront their fears attempt to destroy them, biting at Joan and Anthony.

Meanwhile Lester explores what is before the caravan and fines two disturbing sights from the air. Covering the entire road widthwise is a sinkhole covered by dirt and branches to make it appear as a natural part of the path. The trap resembles the kind that would be set by trapdoor spiders or ant-lions. Second is a horse-sized creature with bat-like wings nesting to the east of the road and camaflagued by the trees' think foliage. It is the result of a giant eagle or similar great bird being subjected to dragon-blood taint. It is at the moment covered in its leathery wings, but you know from experience that although such corrupted creatures struggle to fly for great lengths of time due to the mutations of their lung, they have enough energy for short bursts of incredible speed.

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The terror birds ironically failed their saves versus both fear effects but were forced not to flee and simply have to stomach the penalty instead.

Everyone who had readied actions to attack can make them now. Their AC is 15 while charging and flat-footed (as they would technically be against your readied actions.)
Attack against Joan: (1d20+8)[12]
Confirmation roll: (1d20+8)[21]
Grapple if hit: (1d20+13)[29]
Damage: (1d8+8)[10]
Acid: (1d6)[6]
Critical extra damage: (1d6+8)[13]
Attack against Anthony: (1d20+8)[15]
Confirmation roll: (1d20+8)[9]
Grapple if hit: (1d20+13)[25]
Damage: (1d6+8)[11]
Acid: (1d6)[2]
Critical extra damage: (1d6+8)[12]

[NotScaryBats]

Joan effortlessly blocks the bird's clumsy attack with her shield, and counterattacks with her long sword.

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Full attack
Attack 1 (1d20+23)[38] v AC,
18-20 crit range (1d20+23)[42] x3 crit

On hit (1d8+15)[23] and (1d6)[5] cold dmg
Trip attempt (1d20+11)[30]

Attack 2 (1d20+18)[26] v AC
18-20 crit range (1d20+18)[20] x3

On hit (1d8+15)[20] and (1d6)[3] cold dmg
Trip attempt (1d20+11)[24]

[DeusMortuusEst]

Before the bird charging Anthony has a chance to strike at him the boy lashes out with his tentacle, aiming to halt the charge before the beast gets too close to him and Istid.

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With a reach of 25 ft. Anthony should get an attack before the bird has a chance to strike him. A hit with the tentacle triggers Snatch, allowing Anthony to start a grapple, and if the grapple is successful it deals 1d8 constrict damage. While grappling Anthony will pull the bird into reach of his mouth and begin devouring next round. Because of Bizarre Grappler the bird doesn't get any grapple bonuses for being larger than Anthony (if it is).
Attack - (1d20+12)[14]
Damage - (1d8+4)[8]
Grapple - (1d20+22)[42]
Constrict - (1d8)[1]

Since he is attacking with a natural weapon this might cause Imperious Command to trigger, I'm unsure if it counts as a full attack. If it does, the birds must make another will save DC 21 or move down another step on the fear-table (I'm unsure if they're shaken or frightened).

EDIT: Wow, talk about unlucky rolls, failed to hit but got a massive grapple check. Well, guess it's time to take some damage.

[Wavelab]

Siggeir followed Les t'wards the ambush, running swiftly behind him.

[nyarlathotep]

Obviously not expecting such competent opponents the terror bird attacking Joan swiftly perishes, but the creature attacking Anthony lands a blow and is able to shrug off the effects of the mummy's paralysis.

Although the wagon-train behind them is spooked, Joan's ability to quickly dispatch one of the beasts keeps their ordered retreat from turning into a mad dash.

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This is just finishing up how the actions interacted together. Pretty much everyone except Wavelab needs to go still because of the way prepared actions work.