• This section is for roleplays only.
    ALL interest checks/recruiting threads must go in the Recruit Here section.

    Please remember to credit artists when using works not your own.

Chapter Two: Bilal's Menagerie

Status
Not open for further replies.
Luna laughs. "Just six of you? Don't you know that you are facing a wizard of the Kaftan line? We have been manipulators of magic for a hundred years! You won't end that line today!" She once more begins to tap into her memorized spells, but instead of firing off an attack, she works to defend herself. "Displacement!" Suddenly, a blurring effect surrounds her, just like waves of heat radiating off a hot surface, making it difficult to target the mage in the middle of the distortion.

The spell gives any attacker that successfully hits me an additional 50% chance of missing me from the visual distortion. Lasts for 6 rounds.


Current memorized spells:


Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Read Magic, Detect Magic


Level 1: Shield, Gravity Bow


Level 2: Mirror Image, Scorching Ray x3


Level 3:


Force Missiles x5
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wolf spots two things: The movement in the bushes, and Luna in trouble. But he can't commit to either until he gets the laughing hyena out of his face.


"Never mind, I got it this time!" he shouts back in reply to the gnoll, then repeats the attack - with greater focus this time.


[dice]825[/dice]


[dice]826[/dice]
 
Bronze views the carnage calmly, though violence is seldom his preference, it does come in handy sometimes. Calmly unpacking what medicines he has available, taking out bandages, and readying an area in the cell wagon for what treatment he can provide to his allies. Smiling at the Meadowsweets he asks them politely if they would care to assist and helping the wounded. Bronze, with eyes glowing a misty blue, a sign of something unusual about his person says some words of Wisdom to Stewart.


"There is still time to redeem yourself, be true to what is good, and what is Just, aid those who need it, fight for those who can't fight, and live with Truth, Justice, Honor, and Loyalty" a blaze of bright blue energy comes from Bronzes eyes at the last 5 words given. Resuming his task, Bronze looks to the battle to see if there is anyone he might be able to get to and drag to the relative safety of the cell wagon.
 
Just for good measure, Wolf turns connects a second attack in quick succession to the first.


[dice]842[/dice]


[dice]843[/dice]
 
Kitrin squeals in frustration as the gnolls laugh at her. It sounds rather like a boiling teakettle (the old-style kind you put on a stove that makes a high-pitched noise when it's ready), both in tone and volume. The nearest gnolls may wish they'd been covering their ears about now. "Oooo!" she hisses. (No, I don't know how she manages to hiss vowels either. But she does, all the same.) "Powerpaw! Let's give that leader what he's got coming!" Of course, there are underling-gnolls in the way, but she expects to remove those soon...


Attacks are on the gnoll nearest her between her and the gnolls' leader. If the first shot drops him, the second will be on the next guy.


[dice]861[/dice]


[dice]863[/dice]


[dice]862[/dice]


[dice]864[/dice]
 
Looks to the Meadowsweets and Stewart, "Do any of you know how to clean and bandage wounds? Maybe even make some kind of medicine to help with the pain and infections that may come? Stewart, now may be a good time to turn away from the evil path and strive toward something good. There are bound to be wounded out there, lets see if we can get them to safety together?"
 
Otiorin felt mildly elated in the injuring of the first Gnoll, but reined in his joy with the knowledge that he was still outnumbered and, while his attack had been good, his foes were still in fighting form. Best I concentrate on the bleeding one, finish the job. Again Otiorin lashed out with his blade, its keenly honed edge whistling as it moved through the intricate dance he instructed it in. The weapon swept this way and that, seeking an opening through the beast's defences to land a killing blow.


[dice]875[/dice]
 
Luna's excellent focus allows her to defensively cast one of her most difficult spells even while surrounded by furious foes. Displacement occurs immediately. Luna and Sparkle notice every gnoll near them is now looking about two feet or so to Luna's left, as if they truly believe she is there and not where she really is.


Have I told you how much I like that spell? Sparkle watches Luna's back, her fangs bared. She keeps herself visible and threatening, her fangs and dreaded sting-tail at the ready, though Luna knows Sparkle to be loathe to use the latter in any event. Even now, the little dragon is more than happy to let Luna do the killing.


Nearby, Wolf has his dagger again...

...and is using it well enough to defend himself against the irritated gnoll. Wolf's first blow is deflected by the gnoll's chain armor, but then the cackling creature, taking advantage of what he thinks is an opening to Wolf's defense, opens his eyes in alarm as Wolf's second, unexpected attack draws blood along the canine's face. The gnoll howls, outraged, and looks more than ready to return the favor.


Bronze readies what gear he can find...

...to make the cell wagon a readier place for any wounded nearby. The Meadowsweets listen to his question, look to one another, nod eagerly to each other, then back to Bronze. "See," Bonny hops up and offers a hand to his lady, "that's how decent folk should act at a time like this! Let's help!" Their little feet are quick to move all over the wagon as they help Bronze make a different purpose for the awful cell wagon.


Meanwhile, Stewart stands and watches the battle for signs of nearby danger. As Bronze speaks, the servant regards Bronze's words respectfully. The older fellow becomes distant for a moment, his eyes turning northward as if looking beyond the scene of the battle. Without looking at Bronze, Stewart replies with a firmness in his voice and features. "While I heartily concur with the path you would have me take, I would ask you to come to realize that I did not arrive at this very wagon, key and familiar in hand, carrying all of your gear, without Bilal's knowledge, with wicked intent in my heart."


Then Stewart admires Bronze like an old man wishing better for someone of less years and adds, "I cannot be redeemed of my actions. I served Bilal all too well, you see. All I can do is help the one person I did it all for..." He sighs. "...and pray what I did for you and the other Wardens makes a difference by the end of this battle. I simply cannot hope for more."


When Kitrin squeals like a kettlepot...

...her gnoll opponents recoil from her as if she has lost her mind. Even their ears curl! The wounded gnoll with the dirty knees and face raises an axe and bellows a high-pitched war cry as if to try to match her sound, but it fails to affect Kitrin's flail as the mighty hobbit connects with a crushing impact to the gnoll's lower ribs. He crumples with a whimper. His fellow screams long and brandishes his axe. Kitrin's flail finds him too with an upper-cut-like swing to the taller creature's jaw. Her blow shuts him up immediately. With a bloodied muzzle, the gnoll beady black eyes glare with all of the hate in its evil soul at the terribly-irritating hobbit!


Meanwhile, Kitrin has succeeded in making a hole to the gnoll leader...


The snarling gnolls on either side of Otiorin...

...continue to yip and hack in an effort to harass and distract the half-elf, but Otiorin's own actions have found the way out of their little game. His swordplay becomes a thing of wonder to the wounded gnoll. Unable to follow the sword-dance, the hyena-faced monster barks in confusion as Otiorin's skill with a sword takes its full attention. The half-elf notices an opening in the gnoll's chest when that rust-edged battle axe goes past, and there he finds a spot only a skilled adventurer could take advantage of. The gnoll cries out in fear as Otiorin's sword thrusts home.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Otiorin's blade gives the gnoll a wicked scar to keep and a higher respect for half-elven swordsmanship, but it does not end the foul creature's life.


Bria hops and cheers at the sight of the rising mercenary...

...but the cutest little shriek leaves her lips when she sees the gnolls charge and surround Luna. "Ah! No, you don't! Bad gnolls! Bad gnolls!" Bria moves into a position where she can clearly see Luna. This puts her close to the melees involving Wolf and Otiorin. Once there, Bria watches the scene closely without another word - her martial stance and visage say it all - she is preparing for something.


Powerpaw, on the other paw, is beyond preparing...

...as he spies the hole Kitrin has created in the gnoll front line and growls, "Kitrin! Dere are too many gnolls between you and dat ugly fang-face! Im'ma change dat!" The three gnolls within his striking distance cringe as if to say, "Nuuu! You don't have to change anything!" For all the good it does them. Powerpaw lets loose again using his Great Cleave attack.


[dice]903[/dice]


[dice]904[/dice]Powerpaw's roar is just as mighty as the hammer blow that follows it, as the gnoll he strikes soon learns as he is launched through the air, bounces off a wagon, and lands quite dead on the ground.


[dice]905[/dice]


[dice]906[/dice]


Using his growing momentum, the furry warrior comes down on the second gnoll nearest him takes a full-power maul to the gut. An ungodly moan utters from the canine. It is his last.


[dice]907[/dice]


The third gnoll ducks, but he doesn't have to as Powerpaw's hammer goes wrong with the possibility of a fumble behind it! Powerpaw sez, "Whoops!"


[dice]908[/dice]


His hammer strikes a dead gnoll on the ground, splattering its corpse all over him and adding to the grotesqueness the big fellow has already accrued. The Guardians and gnolls both look at him as if wondering if he struck the gnoll purposely. To which Powerpaw looks back and meekly says, "Uh... Just makin' sures!" When the gnolls begin to cackle, Powerpaw interrupts them with a fierce "MOAR!" and they hop in surprise as if on cue.


Then the gnolls begin their retaliation...

beginning with Kitrin and Powerpaw. The beast with the bloody maul has given up some of his defense against the gnolls and they seem to know it. Three of them move up and strike at him with howls and reckless abandon, while there is now no gnoll near Kitrin able to do so. She is free to act upon whomever she will.


[dice]910[/dice]


One gnoll scores a hit on his mid-section with a victory cry, while the other two nearly do the same. Only the warrior's armor saves him from nastier wounds.


[dice]913[/dice]


The savage gnolls try to put each of you down with fierce axe chops and snapping teeth.


[dice]914[/dice]


[dice]915[/dice]


[dice]917[/dice]


[dice]918[/dice]


[dice]919[/dice]


Despite their efforts, not a single gnoll strikes true. Several axes come close to the displaced Luna, but the one who does get his bearings on her hacks down on her back only for the blade to pass clean through her illusory defense. The gnoll whines in surprise and swings about as if to say, "How did I miss?! I had her! I had her dead to rights!"


Their lack of skill and cowardly tactics has proven to be their undoing this round.


Grimdell's Guardians and the gnoll squad leader's band exchange a series of blows as steel sings across the battlefield. There are more wounded on each side, but Bria is keeping tight focus on her party.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Luna is quite glad that she had the forethought to have her Displacement spell memorized along with her Mage Armor and Shield spells. She is even more glad that she has several more Force Missiles ready to fire. Never standing still to keep the gnolls from getting a good shot at her back, Luna turns on the closest one and raises up her hand. "You never even stood a chance against the Grey Wardens! Let me give you an education on why that fact is true! Force Missile!" Unerringly, the bolt flies out and hits her foe square in the chest, causing grievous damage.

Current memorized spells:


Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Read Magic, Detect Magic


Level 1: Shield, Gravity Bow


Level 2: Mirror Image, Scorching Ray x3


Level 3:


Force Missiles x4
[dice]921[/dice]
 
Wolf raises his focus and aims two hopefully lightning-fast attacks at the weak spots in the gnoll's armor, hoping to dispatch the creature and help the others wrap up this encounter.


[dice]928[/dice]


[dice]929[/dice]


[dice]930[/dice]


[dice]931[/dice]
 
"I'll take you whole or one chunk at a time, vermin.", the Half-Elf growled as he locked eyes with the bloodied creature he'd chosen for his first kill as a Grey Warden, "Pray to whatever twisted deity you worship, or hold your tongue and prepare to meet them personally."


He dashed aside, putting a few feet between himself and the as-yet unharmed Gnoll, then lunged at the other one in an effort to finish it off.


[dice]948[/dice]
 
Kitrin throws a grin over her shoulder at Powerpaw. "Yer the greatest! See to Luna when you can, she might've bitten off bigger 'n her mouth." She charges at the gnolls' leader, shield first - but at the last minute, dances to one side and whips her flail out from behind the shield to tangle his ankles and bring him to the ground.


[dice]950[/dice]
 
Luna moves out of the would-be gauntlet, taking her outside some of the gnolls' attack range. However, as Luna casts her Force Missile in the melee, the gnolls see the opening she has made and take full advantage of it.


[dice]953[/dice]


The first gnoll may as well be swinging from inside a sack, so poor is his attempt, but the second one is dead-on target and this time, Displacement does not save Luna from the strike.


[dice]954[/dice]


Call it luck (because it certainly isn't skill), but this gnoll rings Luna's bell with an absolutely perfect battle axe swing on her right arm.


[dice]955[/dice]


The gnoll's powerful attack cuts into Luna's arm very badly, and in moments, there is blood all down her right arm and thigh. The pain is excruciating as the gnolls shout in hateful glee! Keep your focus, Pyri! Sparkle cries.


"[I]Asteallo verris lasai ris!"[/I]

For a brief moment, Bria's willful shout is the loudest sound on the battlefield as the readied Ko monk weaves powerful magic of her own. Again, instead of having to touch Luna as clerics do, Bria casts from afar, restoring health and life to Luna just as quickly as she lost it.


[dice]956[/dice]


Instead of feeling perhaps like she just lost her arm, suddenly Luna's health is as strong as it has ever been as a result of Bria's most powerful healing spell. "Don't worry, Luna!" her call is almost a cheer. "I have yooou!"


Wolf's magical dagger flashes in the night...

and before his snarling, spitting opponent realizes it, the ranger's blade has found it's way into its gut and out of its side. Wolf's opponent bites savagely at Wolf's face in his death throes, and the life does not fade quickly enough as the beast's spirit departs from its body.


Otiorin attempts to even his odds at surviving the night.
"I'll take you whole or one chunk at a time, vermin.", the Half-Elf growled as he locked eyes with the bloodied creature he'd chosen for his first kill as a Grey Warden,
Click to expand...
"Not if I have you first, twin-blood!" Otiorin's canine hauls off with a strong axe cut to Otiorin's head, but now the gnoll could not be more open if it laid a welcome mat at its feet. The half-elven rogue/sorcerer has only to be swift to take advantage, and swift he is and sure as well. The gnoll would cry out a death-howl were it not for the shortsword embedded in his throat.


"Erythnul take you!" Otiorin's second opponent rushes in to attack him.


The hobbit and the "kitty-face" fight comfortably side by side.
Kitrin throws a grin over her shoulder at Powerpaw. "Yer the greatest! See to Luna when you can, she might've bitten off bigger 'n her mouth."
Click to expand...
"Huh?" Powerpaw turns and sees the gang of gnolls attacking Luna and his face breaks into one savage snarl. With a wave of his furry tail, he indicates the gnoll leader to Kitrin. "He's all yours, hobbit-face!"


Kitrin's runs up into melee. Her flail snakes out and snags the gnoll leader's ankle and with a skilled pull using her entire body, she has the fierce fiend on the ground! "Dung-eater!" he shouts. Unlike his cohorts, the gnoll squad leader is far from stunned; he seems to know exactly what just happened to him. And the squad of Grimdell's Guardians do too!


"No, friend!" shouts Guardian squad leader with his fellow mercenaries to the game-changing hobbit. Their weapons are suddenly as high as their spirits as they tell her, "YOU'RE the greatest!" They will all jump this foul evildoer unless Kitrin decides differently. But she has scant moments before the decision is taken out of her hands.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Wolf spits on the ground next to the now dead gnoll, discards his dagger and picks up the bow once more. He looks around while doing so. So far so good, he thinks to himself.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kitrin grins at the Guardians. "Keep the rest off my back, I got this!"
 
Luna nearly blanks out in shock from the pain as the axe bites deep into her arm. She stumbles back as the blood flows down her wrist. Oh, Great Maker! Thats bad. That's real bad. Just as she was struggling to get back on her mental feet, the healing spell of Bria hits her with as much of a shock to Luna as the axe was. Before her eyes she sees the injury knit back to smooth, perfect skin, leaving no scar to mark where it was. Luna lets out a gasp and shouts to the Ko monk, "Thanks Bria! I needed that!"


Her glare returns as she looks over at the gnoll that hit her. "You should be running, but then you'd die tired. Try a bigger axe, since I'm not dead yet!"

Current memorized spells:


Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Read Magic, Detect Magic


Level 1: Shield, Gravity Bow


Level 2: Mirror Image, Scorching Ray x3


Level 3:


Force Missiles x4
 
Otiorin's agile feet carried him in a dizzying pattern of evasion and feints as he circled his victim, leading the uninjured Gnoll in his wake. As he moved, he chuckled and directed a stream of profanities in both Elven and the Common tongue at them in the hopes that they would lose what little discipline they had and attack him recklessly enough that he could deliver a telling blow. As he went, he directed yet another stroke on his blood-soaked target.


[dice]967[/dice]
 
"Sure!" Bria replies to Luna. There is a slight smile of relief upon her pretty features, and she prepares herself again to act upon certain conditions. Bria is a calm stillness in a chaotic scene.


Powerpaw bounds away from Kitrin towards Luna...

...using every last ounce of movement he can muster to give the gnolls something else to think about. With his enhanced speed, he is there in short order, looming over two of the four gnolls and but a five foot step away from Luna.


"Hi..." he waves his reddened maul to the gnolls and licks his fangs. "You iz ready to die?"


Some of the gnolls attacking Luna turn toward him, attacking more out of sudden fright than anything else.


[dice]969[/dice]


[dice]970[/dice]


[dice]971[/dice]


[dice]972[/dice]


The gnolls fail to harm their targets and Otiorin's Shield spell saves him from yet another blow. Still, they fight on!
 
Grimdell's Guardians shout to her, "For the hobbit folk of Highwind!" "Take him down!"


Lastly, the gnoll leader curses and rises to his feet, his gleaming battle axe wet with human blood. This creates an opening for Kitrin to take advantage of if she desires?


[dice]975[/dice]


And Kitrin gets her shield up just in time to block the axe meant for her neck!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Kitrin smirks at the gnoll leader. "You don't have to fear me. You just have to die!" As he rises to his feet, she swings her flail in a graceful arc.


[dice]973[/dice]


[dice]974[/dice]
 
Kitrin's flail to the thigh causes the leader to limp and shout evil gnoll words at her. In other words, he wants revenge...
 
Luna smiles as Powerpaw leaps to her aid. "I told you, you should have run! Now its too late! Powerpaw, watch to your left!" She keeps maneuvering, trying to keep the gnolls from getting a clear shot at her back while in the middle of the melee. When a target of opportunity opens up, she strikes with another Force Missile.

Current memorized spells:


Cantrips: Ray of Frost, Mage Hand, Read Magic, Detect Magic


Level 1: Shield, Gravity Bow


Level 2: Mirror Image, Scorching Ray x3


Level 3:


Force Missiles x3
[dice]977[/dice]
 
Back in his element, Wolf looks for targets and quickly finds them; the same two gnolls that he had shot at previously, which were now flinging axes at Luna. He loosens an arrow at each, perhaps slightly too fast out of fear that they might harm Luna if he waits too long.


[dice]978[/dice]


[dice]979[/dice]


[dice]980[/dice]


[dice]981[/dice]
 
"Not good enough!" she shouts as she deflects the gnoll leader's axe with her shield. "Too bad you ain't gonna be around long enough to learn from it!" Her hobbit-sized flail comes whistling in once, twice more with a most unhobbitlike ferocity.


[dice]984[/dice]


[dice]985[/dice]


[dice]986[/dice]


[dice]987[/dice]
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Back
Top