Shadowflux Risen

[Irrealist]

Lock blinks as sweat runs into his eyes. He wipes it off, then freezes. "Did you hear that?"

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sport - 12 listen - 23

[PolkaBear]

Nivlan Kirk

This is not the stillness of tranquility--not that sound has anything to do with quietude. Yesterday there was silence even in the thunder of a waterfall. Nivlan thinks back to his prayers that morning, offered while the sun broke the unseen horizon beyond the trees and gradually dispelled the shadows.

He had stood his place on watch and addressed his lord with the traditional morning worship. Then he spoke his heart more personally. "This is an interesting place you've led me, Light of My Soul. We are facing principles of Creation and Destruction that I had scarcely guessed existed. You have given strange gifts and alien wisdom to use as tools; but I still lack the wit and the skill to use them properly. There are times when I wonder why you choose to work through agents when you could undoubtedly work more effectively than through a frail, ignorant creature. But as you give strength and illumination, I will serve."

Those whispered words return to him as the island once again behaves in an inscrutable and inimical fashion. Its concerted oppression of the senses is almost sentient. Nivlan returns to one of his favorite "hypotheses for traveling cogitation:" Perhaps the grove's awareness and function is shared by the island as a whole. Is the entire thing an integrated system, constructed to protect the world against the sort of incursion we're now facing? If so, then we'd be gravely mistaken not to be wary of the deeper craft and subtlety that such an entity could implement.

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Spot and Listen checks in the dice-rolling thread.

[Annarrkkii]

Shael Greyswan

Shael ignores Fryst's gentle jab at the events of the two nights previously.

I think they have the right of it. Let's take a detour from our destination, already days away, in order to investigate the only place on the island where we KNOW there are humanoids. Since everything else on the island has been so friendly, I'm sure these humanoids will continue the trend.

Shael runs a hand over his face, closing his eyes for a moment. The fire doesn't appear too large. One fire means their can't be more than a handful of creatures—and no handful of creatures will give us pause. A few hours more when we already have days to go makes little or no difference, Marix.

Considering that you're already giving up arriving days earlier so you can enjoy a perilous and exhausting cross-country trek with your excellent buddies, those few hours are just further proof of your unrequited idiocy. If you...

The silence has settled around him like a cocoon. But not until Lock's speaks does he seem to notice. He lifts his head, trying to block out Marix's tirade and perk his elven ears.

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Spot 11
Listen 15

[whoisjohngalt?]

Sparky

Sparky is impressed by the vista. After slogging through the humid conditions, it was like a breath of fresh air to be greeted with such a view. The voices of his companions and their awed expressions blur into the background as he focuses on what lies before him. However, the seeming sanctity of nature is yet again marred when Lock's words reach his ears.

He notices now the lack of sound that is pressing in on his eardrums. Sometimes silence can be worse than the most vexing of cacophonies, he realizes. This change in his environment sets him on edge like the fine hairs on the nape of his neck stand to attention.

"I didn't hear anything, Lock. That's what worries me."

Sparky tries to sharpen his senses, wondering what could have brought on such a change in the island.

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spot: 28.

listen: 21.

[blue chicken]

The charged silence stretches onward; everything vibrates with the energy of the moment. A light breeze breaks the monotony, shivering branches and leaves for a moment before dissipating into nothingness. Heartbeats thump by like hours.

Sparky, Adur, Fryst, Lock-

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You suddenly become aware of a faint rustling nearby, subtly different from the swish of the local foliage in the wind. The sound is coming from close by, ferns and soil being disturbed as something(s) edge through the fringes of the vegetation around you.

Adur-

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There, through the branches! A glimpse of a sleek, triangular head; blunt, toothy snout, small nostrils, predatory eyes gleaming with restrained energy. You can't see much of the creature, but its skin appears covered with short, sleek feathers, giving the whole beast a disturbing avian aspect.

Sparky-

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Your muscles frozen with suspense and restrained excitement, you scan the trees lining the periphery of the small clearing on the ridge top. At first you see nothing, but as your eyes rove across the trees a second time, you pick shapes out of the foliage...the S-curve of a poised neck here, a glimpse of a powerful, feathered hind leg there...two individuals, hiding in the bushes...and their eyes! The yellow eyes of a predator, pupils contracted into gleaming, vicious, vertical slits. You swallow nervously, the hair on the back of your neck rising.

And then, abruptly, the clearing atop the ridgetop explodes into motion and chaos as strange unknown creatures burst from the foliage, murder in their eyes and a chilling deep bass thrumming pulsing through the air as the party scrambles to react to this newest threat.

[KuH]

Fryst
HP 77/77 (71/71); AC 22; Init 21; Rage: 1/11; Attack: multiattack

Danger! Fryst's nerves throb and his tangled hair stands on end. "Ware!!" he shouts, his heartbeat throbbing faster and faster as excitement pulses through his veins, his nostrils widening as they smell the musky scent of the prey.

Smell? a tiny observant part of his brain asks as his muscles move to grasp a greatclub which somehow seems to be absorbed into the fur of his arms fur? as his muscles bunch and then his instincts take over.

Where moments ago a halfling was standing, there is now a spitting, furious, speckled wildcat. His leg muscles bunch as he throws himself madly forward, meeting the animal fury in front of him with equally great animal fury of his own.

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Not sure how you want to run this: Fryst will rage and then pounce on an appropriate target ... in fact, he'd like to disrupt the attack by putting himself into the middle of a bunch of them ... happy to have the DM pick this one

[Irrealist]

Lock

Init 18
HP 35/35
AC 18

Despite being forewarned, Lock jerks as the creatures break through the foliage. "Let's try not to kill them", Lock yells before "shhhshh"-ing the creature to his right while he points at it.

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Assumung Fryst attacks nr.2, Lock casts Whelm on target 1, dealing a baffling 6 nonlethal damage, will DC 18 negates.

[Kahlynn]

Kahlynn

Init 14
HP 53/53
AC 16

When in doubt ... pray.
Pelor, grant Your favor to my companions, and dazzle those who would do us harm with your brilliant Light!

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casting Prayer (with your assent, of course, o Azure Poultry)
Enchantment (Compulsion) [Mind-Affecting]
Level: Clr 3, Pal 3
Components: V, S, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: 40 ft.
Area: All allies and foes within a 40-ft.-radius burst centered on you
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes

You bring special favor upon yourself and your allies while bringing disfavor to your enemies. You and your each of your allies gain a +1 luck bonus on attack rolls, weapon damage rolls, saves, and skill checks, while each of your foes takes a -1 penalty on such rolls.

[whoisjohngalt?]

Sparky
HP 38/38; AC 22; Init 22.

Bird... things... Sparky mutters under his breath as his brows knit themselves into a knot.

Pushing off from the ground with a practiced stride, Sparky dashes toward the avian creature to his left, eyes narrowing as he pushes his churning anxiety to the back of his mind. Feathered muscles and yellow eyes with slivers of pupils confront him as he attacks.

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Sparky will attack avian antagonist no. 2. His rolls are in the dice-rolling thread.

[blue chicken]

(GitP is going nuts...I'll be lucky if I can even get this up. You can all supply your own narrative, I'm just trying to advance the combat. It also makes it easier for me to note all this in my word document.)

Note: KuH: natural weapons are light weapons, yes? You should only get .5 your Str bonus on damage...I adjusted, but could be wrong.

Also, if I've missed any attacks of opportunity, let me know. This is SO much easier in person.

-Sparky sneak attacks raptor 2 for 10 damage
-raptor 4 attacks nivlan for 5 damage
-fryst transforms, pounces on raptor 2 for 19 damage
-raptor 1 attacks lock for 11 damage
-raptor 2 attacks fryst for 12 damage
-Lock attacks raptor 1 for 6 nonlethal damage (waiving the concentration check to cast defensively)

So I think that's where we are now.

Edit: Drat. I have more actions to sub in (Kahlynn, Shael, Jorme, etc) but I'll have to do it tomorrow. Aches in the head at the moment.

Updated map!

[KuH]

Fryst
HP 65/77 (71/71); AC 22; Init 21; Rage: 1/11; Attack: multiattack

Feathers fly into the air as a spitting wildcat claws and bites wildly at the second of the fierce, feathered raptors. Distracted as it is, the beast hardly notices the small and deadly halfling behind it. Instead it draws back its beak, narrows its eyes, and stabs downwards, piercing the skin of the cat ... the yellow and white spotted cloak now speckled with both its own red, and the darker blood if its prey.

The acrid scent and salty taste of the warm blood wash through Fryst as a novel sensation, swept into the background along with all rational thinking as he becomes a natural creature, driven by rage.

[blue chicken]

...to continue...

-raptor 3 moves to attack Nivlan as well, slashing with its claws for 7 more damage.

-Adur's action

BEGIN ROUND ONE

Sparky
Raptor 4
Nivlan
Fryst
Raptor 1
Raptor 2
Lock
Jorme
Kahlynn
Shael
Yorkin
Raptor 3
Adur

Take your actions as they come up, we'll try to move along a little better now that that surprise round is done with.

[KuH]

Fryst
HP 65/77 (59/71); AC 22; Init 21; Rage: 1/11; Attack: multiattack

A howling, spitting ball of fury ... a wildcat, one might almost say ... continues to attack the raptor under his claws.

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I'm a little unclear - is everyone supposed to post their actions? It strikes me that waiting for everyone to post in order is going to make rounds very slow to complete. How about if we all just post - and if we have a chance to do so, we can edit our posts to adjust to the actions of our comrades?

[The_Snark]

Adur

Although he'd caught a glimpse of the creatures before they attacked, the suddenness of the assault is still a surprise to Adur. As the creatures leap towards his allies, he takes a deep breath, resorting to his oldest defense. He clears his mind, as he had been taught, and fills it with thoughts of ice and snow. The jungle, even the battle before him was shunted to the background as he envisioned a world full of snow, so thick with it that it was hard to tell where the blizzard ended and became solid glacier.

It felt to him as though the heat of the jungle was suddenly cut by a chill wind. He let himself see again; but with a gesture, a spot just behind one of the bird-things turns chilly, fog condensing out of the humid air rapidly. More gestures, and more shapes grow out of the ice crystallizing in midair.

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Starting to cast Conjure Ice Beast III to summon 4 ice wolves, 1 for each raptor! The spell is a full-round action and this is the surprise round, so Adur is using the rules for starting full-round actions here.

His action in round 1 will be to complete the spell, placing one creature behind each raptor—preferably in a flanking position; all the creatures have to be within 30 feet of one another, but I think that works out.

Statistics on the ice wolves:

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Size/Type: Medium Animal
Hit Dice: 2d10+8 (19 hp)
Initiative: +2
Speed: 50 ft. (10 squares)
Armor Class: 16 (+2 Dex, +4 natural), touch 12, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +1/+4
Attack: Bite +5 melee (1d6+4 plus 2d6 cold)
Space/Reach: 5 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Frigid touch
Special Qualities: Cold subtype, construct traits, vulnerabilities
Saves: Fort +0, Ref +2, Will +0
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 15, Con - (19), Int -, Wis 10, Cha 1
Skills: -
Feats: Weapon Focus (bite)
Challenge Rating: 2?

[whoisjohngalt?]

Sparky
HP: 38/38; AC: 22; Init.: 22; Burst 1/10

The sound of his shortsword making contact with the monster's flesh filled Sparky with a sort of hysteric glee. After days of nothing but walking and the sound of his own thoughts, it was good to have something so tangible to enter his life, even if it was rather life-threatening. He half-crouched, knees bent and torso leaned forward, anticipating an attack and preparing his own.

It was so easy for his thoughts and instincts to entangle themselves with each other at times like these - but for some reason, this encounter was different. After his first attack, there was a warmth that spread from his temples to the nape of his neck, sliding almost viscously down his spine. It was accompanied by the prickly sensation of a surge of adrenaline as it made its way down his legs and ultimately to the pit of his stomach. He flared his nostrils, relishing the dilation of airways afforded him by this rush. This was no ordinary release of endorphins, he realized. With the phantom taste of citrus and salt at the back of his tongue, he focused this newfound energy and readied himself for another attack.

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Sparky will invoke Burst of Energy and attack Ugly Number Two again. His rolls are in the dice rolling thread. Hope I didn't mess them up! :D

[PolkaBear]

Nivlan Kirk
HP: 43/55 - AC: 12 - Sanctuary 1/6

Having been slashed twice already by the sudden and ravenous attack, Nivlan stumbles back to shield himself. He hears the keening cries of the other sauroids, and the cries of pain from his companions. In order to maximize his ability to get to them and heal their hurts, he calls upon Pelor for sanctuary from the reptiles' hunger.

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Taking a 5-foot step "north" and casting Sanctuary on himself, DC 14 (Will negates for the attacking creature).

[Tyrel_Aurelian]

Darkstrider
HP: 74/74 / AC: 14

Totally surprised by the rapid attack from the strange reptilian creatures, Gauran loses a precious few seconds to gather his wits.

Seeing Nivlan under ferocious attack from the beasts, however, snaps him out of his paralysis and with a thunderous roar the giantkin rushes to the healers aid, bringing his Greathammer down in a wide arc to smash the raptor's head in.

Actions

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If a 17 should be enough to hit, the raptor takes 23 points of bludgeoning damage. Rolls in the DR thread.

I assume here that I'll be attacking raptor number three, but see the OOC thread for my guessing infomation.