A Tunnels and Trolls® play-by-post adventure run by khara_khang
Tosal Thoth, played by konatsu257 is dropped from the game with this post. It is assumed that his horse was left behind somewhere. If he wants, he can rejoin at any time.
Jay's Detect Magic shows the gloves and the tattoos to be magical, each giving off good magical vibes. The Omnipotent Eye spell determines that the gloves and tattoos are both linked to a summoning alteration magic.
Krandor and his knights are special elite mounted troops, and yes, they are members of the Khazan Army. They are not common city guards. You don't find knights standing around on guard duty in Khazan unless they are being punished.
Brienna and Blodwydd both turn their horses around and return for the fallen knight. The knight sheaths his sword after quickly cutting his horse's throat, and, not seemingly hurt in the fall, climbs up behind Brienna, offering his thanks in Elvish as Brienna and Blodwydd quickly attempt to make up lost ground for the momentary pause.
Several hours pass as Krandor's horse continues to gallop. Krandor himself is tired, having not rested in a few days himself, but he knows the dire consequences of not getting to his destination. Krandor was on the front lines and he knows what is happening; the Wizard Grutoss isn't kidding. What his fellow delvers don't understand, they will soon enough. Krandor shakes his head with a stern "No" to all suggestions that they rest the horses. The horses' lives mean little in the big picture.
Not very far from their destination, the group makes its way across the Plains of Ephren heading northwest to near the Turquoise Valley.
Jax notices the tattoo on his upper shoulder/back glowing. The light from it shines through his clothing and armor. Seven creatures appear out the darkness without warning. With the speed of the horses, there is no chance of avoiding the intruders. The four-armed monstrosities are huge---at least nine or ten feet tall---heavily muscled, with very thick bodies and sporting four arms covered with greaves, two arms holding swords, and the others bearing wicked looking claws. Their heads are horned, round, and held close to their chests. Their bodies are a drab leathery gray, with enormously large feet designed for balance and combat.
The following happens in a matter of seconds....
Kahi Bladefist looks up to see a blade swishing down into his horse. It rends his horse from its chest to Kahi's thigh. His horse is killed in mid-gallop, with blood and guts flying everywhere. Kahi is sent flying, thrown hard to the ground. [GM note: Kahi takes 25 hits minus 15 for his armor. Kahi doesn't have his shield ready while riding, since he didn't state that he did. Kahi takes 2 hits from the fall straight from his CON to make a total of 12 hits.]
Krandor turns the Dragon shield on his arm to protect his horse and his leg. Sparks fly madly as a sword slams against it, but Krandor and his horse pass through the creatures' line unharmed.
Seeing a sword raised for a death strike, the knight riding with Brienna reaches up and yanks the reins hard at the last second, causing Brienna's horse to turn just a little and hit the unprepared four-armed monstrosity head on. With a bone crunching thud and a loud whinny from the horse, Brienna is sent flying, and the knight riding with her is thrown under the horse as it flips end over. [GM note: Brienna takes 3 hits from the fall straight from her CON.] The moment she hits the grass, Brienna rolls one way, then another way as knights zip by on all sides of her, narrowly missing her.
With almost no reaction time, Taran leaps to his left from his saddle, grabbing Jax around the waist and almost pulling his unsuspecting brother backwards off his horse. From the right side, Taran's horse is split from chest to hindquarter in the flicker of not more than a second by one of the creatures' swords. Blood sprays everywhere as the horse whinnies out a death yell and tumbles to the ground.
A knight is cut into two pieces at the waist and another is ripped from the saddle, pulled to the ground and torn apart with clawed hands. A third knight is thrown from the saddle as his horse stumbles and falls over Brienna's horse. The rest of the group passes through the (now six) creatures left standing. The entire group (those still mounted) slide to a stop some 50 yards away. The knights all draw theirs swords and prepare their shields. Their swords glow a strange bright silver in the darkness.
What do you do?
Kahi jumps to his feet and pulls out his flail and Phoenix shield. Barely glancing around, he sees the Orc brothers fall from their horses as several of the knights fall beneath the monsters' blades and as Brienna is thrown from her horse. Jumping back from the monsters, he heads towards his fallen comrades (the ones still alive) who have been thrown off their horses. If any of the beasties come close, he's gonna attack them and defend himself but still try and make his way towards the other fallen party members
The knight... climbs up behind Brienna, offering his thanks in Elvish....
"I'll assume that means 'thank you,'" she says, leaning back against him and smiling slightly. "My Elvish isn't very good."
Brienna rolls quickly to her feet, her hand shooting up to her shoulder to whip her dagger out of it's sheath and send it flying at the monstrosity that just attacked her. "It seems the horses get to rest a bit after all!" she shouts, a wicked grin on her face. "Let's return the favor, and put them to sleep!"
"Who are you, stripling, to question the Captain? Frak it, this is WAR, you idiot! Ride!"
"A war? Oh yeah, well I thought you looked stressed," he says jokingly. "Want a chocolate with a little cherry in the middle?"
"Limosus puppis mori!!" (translated roughly: "Slimy poo die!") he yells. "Dang blighters messing up our ride of 'rest' and chocolates." He says this as he dismounts his horse and draws the Caput Necare then procedes to attack the nearest slimy-poo-dude-bad-person-type-of-an-evil-guy-hopefully-undead-thingy-of-a-bobbers.
Blodwydd leaps from her saddle and draws the sword of Pax from its scabbard. With a mighty yell, she runs back towards where Brienna is standing, looking to take a swipe at any monstrosity that gets in her way.
Jay's Detect Magic shows the gloves and the tattoos to be magical, each giving off good magical vibes. The Omnipotent Eye spell determines that the gloves and tattoos are both linked to a summoning alteration magic.
Jay will pass the latter information on to the Orcs. Hopefully it'll do them some good. When/if we get more time during the adventure, I'll give them a more thorough going over, and thought. Perhaps the last few years studying at the Wizard's Guild covered something similar to these.
The rest of the group passes through the (now six) creatures left standing. The entire group (those still mounted) slide to a stop some 50 yards away.... What do you do?
For starters, I stay on the horse. It seems to know what it's doing; I was lucky enough to get this far. For action, I'll try casting an Oh-Go-Away at one of the things that is currently attacking either the Orcs, Kahi, or Brienna---and of the three it should be the monster furthest from my position. I don't know if the spell will work on them, and if it doesn't and the thing consequently charges me, I want a round or two to consider other options before it's upon me. (And hopefully that'll give whomever was fighting it an attack against its back.)
Tosal Thoth, played by konatsu257 is dropped from the game with this post. It is assumed that his horse was left behind somewhere.
Ummm, can I have his gear before we leave the horse behind?
Moving over to the side of the party, [Kahi] starts watching the skies and up ahead for danger.
Ol' eagle eye on the job.
The moment she hits the grass, Brienna rolls one way, then another way as knights zip by on all sides of her, narrowly missing her.
Well, that answers the trampling question brought up earlier.
In one swift motion, Krandor pulls his magical broadsword from its sheath and turns the horse completely around. He rides back into the fray, fighting the monsters and trying to give the wounded an escape route towards their intended destination.
"Take what openings you have. The knights will help protect our retreat. We must reach our destination," he yells above the noise of battle.
"Summoning alteration magic?" Jax replies to Jay with the anguished look of an Orc who thinks he's been poisoned. "Frak, you're laying some stuff on me, dude. What does it mean?"
Jax nearly careens his horse into Krandor's when Taran jumps aboard amidst a splatter of steaming equine blood and intestines. At the same moment, or perhaps a little earlier, Jax is momentarily distracted by an eerie glare in his peripheral vision. "What the---?!" he yells, turning his mount about to face the monstrosities as Krandor and the other riders slow.
"Bro, you're glowing like a firebrand back here," Taran says behind him.
Jax confirms the glow. "Fewmets, it's the tattoos. Bet your back's lit up too."
Taran twists around, "By the tusks of Arahk! What do you---" he starts, but notices his brother has hopped out of the saddle, his EverSharp™ scimitar at the ready.
"Crank your cranequins, dude. It's clobberin' time!" Jax tells his brother.
At Krandor's orders, he shouts back, "My opening is wide and right." And with that, Jax shimmers out of view as he draws his magic cloak's hood. He aims to attack the beasts' right flank under the cover of his invisibility.
Stumbling up from the rear as usual, Jack pauses for thought amidst the carnage, sparks up a cigarette and scratches his chin.
(Inside Jack's head: Beerdeadpeopleboozefineladies MONSTERS! Deadpeoplebloodgutsfightpissedoffdrunkagainneverlikedthathobbitanyway MONSTERS! ...Monsters? Ach! MONSTERS!)
He smokes, looks around, wonders who all of these people are anyway and why they all seem to know each other. He wonders who he is... it's hazy but, oh... AH! That's right. Got it taken care of....
"Ahem...Good evening fell beasts, and to all the rest of you fans too. I'm afraid that the GRAND HIGH MASTER OF THE KNOWN UNIVERSE AND BEYOND THE BEYOND, i.e., me, simply doesn't have time for mucking around with a pile of pansy-poof demon highway men. And how trite of you all: an ambush on a lonely forest road! OOOH!! Terribly original! Anyway, prepare to be dispatched....
"BEHOLD MORTALS! THE DAGGER OF TIME!!!"
With that, Jack whips out a inoccuous looking little blade (depending on where you're standing, it could be confused with a butter knife), and makes a grand sweeping gesture over the clearing, whooping and shouting things like "MUMBO JUMBO". He shakes the dagger menacingly at all the bad guys, stands back with a poo-eating grin, and appears to be waiting for something....
Titania flies high above her horse, hopefully out of the creatures' reach, and casts "Panic" on her foes. "Perhaps if this backfires," she thinks, "they will try to get me and I can stay high above their heads, allowing the others to move away."
"Die you scum! One of you Fairies can fly down if you want and borrow my dagger. After throwing it, it returns to the user---perfect for fighting from a distance. So if you want it, grab it from my girdle!"
Those arrows that Mr. Toad gave me---do I know what they do, or what?
Felixia flies up as well, looking at the scene. She pauses on casting anything to see how Titania's spell turns out. If it fails, she attempts to cast it in order to protect her new friend.
Kahi trys to disentagle himself from the fray and heads in the general direction of Krandor and the knights. Should anyone attack him, he's going to "hammer about their private parts with righteous beatings and very heavy pointy things" (flail heads in this case). Actually he's probably just gonna try and hit them really hard in as vulnerable a spot as he can and hope for the best.
Ol' eagle eye on the job.
Hey, it's not my fault the Orc brothers have tattoos on their backs that summon a bunch of four-armed demonoid monsters totally out of the blue, who then proceed to attack us with malicious and painful intent. ("If we could harness that power we would be like unto gods!") But seriously now, maybe if we removed the tattoos, we wouldn't have this problem. Kahi has a great tattoo remover in his hands right now and most people survive the proccess of flaying when its only a small area of their backs. Still first, we have to get out of this mess before we do any corrective surgery on anything with two or fewer arms.
"Summoning alteration magic? Frak, you're laying some stuff on me, dude. What does it mean?"
"I can't say for now; it'll take either a lot more study on my part or a more highly trained Wizard to give specifics. Unfortunately, we haven't the time for that now. Perhaps you'll be lucky enough to trigger them on our mission."
"Take what openings you have. The Knights will help protect our retreat. We must reach our destination."
"And now the reason for the escort is made clear. If only we had a brilliant mage to point this out earlier. Oh, wait---I did!"
"My opening is wide and right."
I thought Krandor meant to order us to flee rather than fight. This fight isn't likely to do more than deplete our ranks and/or weaken our strength before we even get where we're going.
"BEHOLD MORTALS! THE DAGGER OF TIME!!!"
If you live through this, Triple M will trade you the Wand of Orcus for the Dagger of Time.
Titania flies high above her horse, hopefully out of the creatures' reach, and casts "Panic" on her foes.
Exactly what Jay did, 'cept for the flying part. He's encouraged to see some similar thought tactics/strategies. "Panic"? Must be the Corgi variant school of magic. ;)
Felixia flies up as well, looking at the scene. She pauses on casting anything to see how Titania's spell turns out. If it fails, she attempts to cast it in order to protect her new friend.
Ditto here. Jay thinks he might have cause to worry if he has more in common with the Fairies than with anyone else.
"One of you Fairies can fly down if you want and borrow my dagger."
He's got to be kidding (it requires a 16 Strength).
"If we could harness that power we would be like unto gods!"
As long as the criteria for godhood is only power, and not wisdom.
"Frak!" Taran wastes no thoughts on the dead horse or the possessions he'd packed into its saddlebags, as he concentrates on utilizing his brother as an escape pod.
"Crank your cranequins, dude. It's clobberin' time!"
"Cranequins? Bah!" Taran says to himself as his brother fades from visibility to rescue the fallen adventurers. He expects that Jax's charge toward the monstrosities will be joined any moment by the knights and their shining swords, and he means to give them all a little aerial cover, not unlike the two Fairies he saw whisk up into the air.
"Me don't need no stinkin' cranequins!" Taran unholsters his over-and-under crossbow from its new shoulder carrying case and grabs a pair of bolts from his enchanted quiver. He loads the bolts using the built-in cranks on each side of the crossbow as quickly as he can and trains his shots on the nearest attacker on the right side of the battle, along the same vector his brother mentioned, but obviously a bit higher in elevation due to his station on horseback.
Loading the bolts is a process that takes one round, if I read the rule book correctly. Assuming Taran gets the chance to fire the two shots, he does so while yelling the traditional Dracon battle cry. According to the enchantment on the bolts, Taran needs to make a L0SR(15) vs. DEX(11) to auto-hit. Bolt 1: 6,6,1,3=16 + DEX(11) = 27 > 15. Bolt 2: 4,4,2,2,3,5=20 + DEX(11) = 31 > 15.
Taran "SniperOrc" Dracon will continue to act true to his nickname, firing shots at the creatures, until his grounded comrades are safetly extracted, and his brother is back in the saddle.
Possessions still in his deceased horse's saddlebags are his old boots, and all food and supplies provided by the knights.
Hey, it's not my fault the Orc brothers have tattoos on their backs that summon a bunch of four-armed demonoid monsters totally out of the blue.
Admittedly a likely explanation, split, but unproven, so don't go writing a flaying scene just yet! Two comments: Kahi was watching the skies, not the Orcs' backs, so I'm assuming your hypothesis is OOC, and I won't have Jax respond to it. Also, Jay detected "good vibes" from the tattoos, even though he has kept that discovery to himself, so the jury's still out on their culpability. For all we know, cause and effect could be swapped: the tattoos may have glowed as a warning against imminent summoning alteration magic nearby.
In other OOC ramblings, your mention of the Orcs' falling from their horses is a more likely explanation than my interpretation of the GM's initial description. I mean, come on, could Taran really leap to Jax's horse in full gallop? What with him clawing all over Jax to stay aboard, I find it hard to believe either of them could've maintained balance. Even Dracons must bow to the law of gravity every once and a while.... But who knows? Taran could've kept rolling doubles on that Luck SR! Your call, GM. ;)
Taran indeed managed a feat of extraordinary dexterity in his mid-gallop trans-equine jump, as confirmed by the GM in chat a couple days ago. Think about it---Jax was holding on to reins with his boots in stirrups. While the horse probably did a couple double takes, it is feasible Taran stayed afloat. Of course, it isn't as heroic and doesn't make nearly as good a visual scene (in the great T&T movie to be made one day) if Taran jumps to escape death only to fall on his Orc ass with his brother and get trampled. That's no way to treat two of the main characters---unless it's a comedy.
No, Jay, you cannot have Tosal Thoth's horse and equipment. Wherever it is, he would be on it. Thanks Taran, but all dice are rolled by the GM (i.e., me). You are correct that the process of loading a crossbow bolt takes one round, but you also forgot about unholstering it. That takes a bit more time as well.
Jay casts Oh-Go-Away, picking the closest creature to Brienna. It has no effect, good or bad.
Brienna's magical dagger sinks deep into one of the creatures' shoulders before magically leaping back to her hand. Kahi's shield sparkles in the darkness, catching the creatures' attention as he moves up beside Brienna. The entire group (those still mounted) slide to a stop some 50 yards away and spin their horses around. The knights all draw their swords and prepare their shields. Their swords glow a strange bright silver in the moonlight, much like Mithril weapons do. It takes very little time for the 26 still mounted knights and Krandor to charge back into the fray. Both Brienna and the bleeding Kahi [GM note: Kahi loses 1 more CON from bleeding] have little choice but to run out of the way when the knights come thundering back into the battle.
Blodwydd, Demens and Jax all dismount quickly. Jax disappears from view. Blodwydd's horse runs away, disappearing into the darkness when she dismounts.
Jack de Crampon rides up from the other direction, having been separated from the group and delivers his oration, ending with, "BEHOLD MORTALS! THE DAGGER OF TIME!!!"
Titania's "Panic" spell has no effect at all. Felixia does not fire off her spell, and Taran does not unholster/load his over-and-under crossbow before the creatures are suddenly gone.
A round mirror-like pitch black portal opens. Those not looking directly towards it fail to see it, as it blends so easily with the darkness. Black tendrils reach out of the portal to each creature and in the span it takes to click one's fingers, all of the creatures disappear. To the distant viewer, (e.g., Jax, Jay, Blodwydd, Demens, Taran), it almost appears as if Jack did do something to dispel the creatures. Jack, Brienna, Krandor, Kahi and many of the knights see the portal open and then disappear taking the creatures with it. Krandor and the knights halt their charge, only to find Jack waving a butter knife (or some such small knife), believing he dispatched them.
What do you do?
"Well call me a Bogwart's behind," Titania thinks. "That didn't work at all!" A learning experience already. This is going to be some adventure.
She wields her fairy kris, takes a deep breath (as deep as one can expect for someone who is only 7 inches tall) and prepares to plunge into the fray---but then suddenly the monsters are gone. "Strange..." she thinks, perplexed.
She flies down to Krandor's position. "Excuse me, but I'm assuming that these are the creatures you mentioned. Anyone guess as to why they left? They had, after all, the upper hand. And anyone know why my spell didn't work?"
"Sacer puppis! [holy sh*] What was that black ominous hole thingofamijig? Was that your butter knife?? Want to trade daggers?" he says with sarcasm. "That was a close one. I thought I was dead! Vita prehendimus! [We grasp life]."
Demens walks around looking for people to help. Then he sees Brienna [sic] is without a horse and he approches her. "Would you want to ride with me?"
He turns around, looking in the general direction of the mages. "I got these enchanted arrows that Toad gave me. Will someone tell me what they do??"
I emphasize "tell me what they do" because after you find out, do tell Demens please.
Jax flips up his hood to cooperate once again with the electromagnetic spectrum. "Fewmets, I hate when that happens," he spits at the Demons' sudden disappearance. He laughs internally at Jack's gloating as he sheathes his vorpal blade. Noting that his companions, both ahead and behind, are more or less hale, he walks the twenty or so yards to his brother, still on his horse.
"Move over bacon, I'm driving. Or better yet, take the Fairies' mount. They don't need that horse when your shoulder can do. Here," he says, loosening the Fairies' horse's reins from his horse's pommel and placing them in Taran's hand.
Once in the saddle, he says to no one in particular, "Something tells me that we were just delayed." He waits for Krandor's signal to ride.
Krandor lowers a hand down to Kahi to pull him onto his horse.
"We have very little time left. If Jax's assumption of this only meaning to delay us is true, we may already be too late."
A moment or two later, he gives the signal and begins to ride again. He'll be able to get a head count once they reach their destination.
Jay detected "good vibes" from the tattoos, even though he has kept that discovery to himself....
When khara_khang wrote that I detected good magic vibes, I thought he meant good as in "strong." Since Jax already knew they were enchanted, I didn't mention it. But if khara meant good as in "beneficial," then I'll pass that along too. Jay has no reason to keep anything about the gloves from Jax.
No Jay, you cannot have Tosal Thoth's horse and equipment.
Bloody Roman. What has he ever done for us?
Jay casts Oh-Go-Away, picking the closest creature to Brienna. It has no effect, good or bad.
Presumably, I've still lost the Mystic points, since you said the spell went off, but was ineffectual. Oh well.
Blodwydd's horse runs away, disappearing into the darkness when she dismounts.
"Perhaps if you call it by name it'll return."
What do you do?
I wonder if the skeleton has any legal rights to that dagger....
"I got these enchanted arrows that Toad gave me. Will someone tell me what they do??"
Seems like a waste of power, but what th' heck. You never know. If he brings them over, I'll cast the Detect Magic and Omni-eye on them, if we have the time. Krandor might hurry us along before I have the opportunity to do so.
[Krandor] gives the signal and begins to ride again. He'll be able to get a head count once they reach their destination.
I ride after him. "Hee-ya, mule!"
"One!"
Kahi was watching the skies....
Actually, I stated "Kahi will watch the skies and up ahead for danger" (this means in front of the party). So I should have seen them unless I'm blind, they were summoned from nowhere, or they have the ability to turn invisible. Since I haven't angered any Wizards lately, I probably am not blind. I already spoke on the summoning, although your explanation is as plausible as mine. Nevertheless, you might just not know how to control the monsters your tattoos bring forth, hence the good magical vibes but bad effect. And if they could turn invisible, they would have stayed that way when they attacked because that gives them an advatage over us that we have no real way of beating.
Kahi walks over to Krandor but before he climbs up, he quickly grabs one of the saddlebags from one of the dead horses. "Thanks mate," he says, accepting Krandor's hand and hauling himself up to the back of the horse.
As they ride, Kahi is going to rifle through the saddlebag. If he finds any healing stuff, bandages, potions, etc., he's going to attach the sack to his back. If he finds food, he's going to take a bit out and eat it and then put the sack over his shoulder. If he finds anything he can heal himself with while riding, he's going to use some of it.
Ehh... did I offer Brienna a ride when it was Blodwydd who needed one, or did both of them need one?
Demens walks up to Jay.
(The truth about the upcoming Lord of the Rings movies is revealed in this interlude: Didn't You Hear?)
Hey, it's not my fault the Orc brothers have tattoos on their backs that summon a bunch of four-armed demonoid monsters totally out of the blue.
Actually, the tattoos' flaring up struck me as a warning signal. I could be wrong though.
I thought Krandor meant to order us to flee rather than fight. This fight isn't likely to do more than deplete our ranks and/or weaken our strength before we even get where we're going.
Although it could also prove useful to find out what they're capable of, before we have to face them without 30 knights backing us up. Just a thought. :)
Brienna stares at where the portal was for but an instant. Death wanders this road tonight. The bitch queen in charge must be feeling frisky. "Let's get out of here." Brienna looks around for her horse.
Actually, the GM said it was Blodwydd's horse that ran off. If Brienna can't find her horse, she'll hop on with Demens though.
I wonder if the skeleton has any legal rights to that dagger....
Well, from a legal point of view, (sort of) if he's one of the "living skeletons" from Monsters! Monsters!®, then he's not an undead. He's basically a human with transparent skin and organs. From a moral point of view however, he's a sentient, self aware being with opinions and feelings. He's a party member. He might save your life some day. Don't screw with.
Actually I stated "Kahi will watch the skies and up ahead (this means in front of the party) for danger" so I should have seen them unless I'm blind....
Split, you may have missed my point. Kahi most definitely saw the Demons. However, he most likely did not see the Orcs' tattoos glow since his attentions were directed elsewhere. Given this assumption, it follows that your words connecting the tattoos to the Demons should not be taken in character.
Sorry for the interruption. I will now shut my yapper.
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