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 Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 10:50 am
The owlbear reared back, roaring in pain, the arm of one now-dismembered soldier falling from its mouth. So far there had been no real threat to it, the tough hide and feathers turning aside the clumsy blows of those who could summon the courage to fight. This though, this was a danger. This was painful.
The maddening rage which the twisted creature felt towards the world in general focussed as the bolt ripped through one of its eyes, bursting the orb in an explosion of blood and puss. The metal tip, deflected by the soft eyeball, lodged in the bone of its orbital socket. With its one remaining eye the creature managed to focus upon the crossbow-armed drow. Inside its small brain neurons fired and connected.
With a sweep of one massive arm it cleared a path through the soldiers between itself and the new target. One was casually disembowelled, while most of the others in its way suffered merely broken limbs or shattered bones at it charged mindlessly at Tathdorl. As all owlbears, its mind was not something which could be understood, but anyone with the slightest empathy would have winced at the pain and anger radiating from the creature.
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Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 11:26 am
Tathdorl felt a faint twinge of fear skitter up his spine as the beast charged. It absolutely crushed the opposition in it's path, and Tath knew that he would fare no better against such a brutish monster if he tried to combat it hand to hand. However, he had the intestinal fortitude to c**k another bolt and fire while his nerve still held. He would have felt pity for the creature indeed, perhaps even genuine sympathy, but his life and the lives of his men were in danger. This beast had trespassed in his realm, and violated the Masked God's territory, and that was unacceptable. He aimed and fired the bolt quickly, doing his best to aim; however, his arm was unsteady as he was a bit shaken by the beast's roar. He hoped for the best as he summoned his sphere of shadows and popped back down into the trap door; he hoped that the parlour trick would confuse the beast, as a disappearing act was difficult to comprehend for those of normal intellect, let alone bestial. He drew his magical blade, A Dagger of Graceful Striking, and waited. He took comfort in knowing the blades power: most warriors relied upon their strength to amplify the lethal power of their blades, but this dagger took his dexerity and channeled it just as the warriors did. The more dextrous the warrior, the more lethal the blow...
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Posted: Tue Mar 30, 2010 3:06 pm
As the bolt glanced from its shoulder, gouging an inch of meat and fur away from its body, the owlbear continued towards the source of its anguish. The unfamiliar view granted by a single eye where it was used to two did not help, as it overshot its mark, tumbling over the trapdoor in a trail of blood and feathers.
With stunning agility for its size the beast tumbled back to its legs, rearing up to its full height, arms and vicious claws spread wide as it bellowed a challenge to the few fully healthy remnants of the mercenary group that remained. Standing by the door, it bellowed victoriously as its pain-addled brain decided that the one challenger who had managed to hurt it, the one threat, was now gone - fled. It was victorious, and once it had despatched the last few pests it would feed.
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:43 am
(gee ya'll know I'm only realy hear on weekends right? geeze oh well i'll work with what i got)
((Sorry, but you reserved posts and then just left them - while I appreciate that posting during the week may be difficult for you, it's unfair to expect everyone else to do nothing all week while they wait. As a second point, the druidic Call Lightning spell (along with a lot of other druidic magic) works only in the open, not in caverns - UG GM))
Drejan stood in mild shock for a second before registering what was going on, calling upon her druidic magic, she sends a bolt of lightning spiraling toward the beast hoping to stop it.
The uninjured of the group drawing blades quick to defend their matron from the inevitable charge of the owlbear.
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 12:49 am
Muse was equaly surprised at the appearance of the owl bear as the soldiers were, when she noted that Drejan was casting a spell she sent flying at the beast three poisoned needles and a dagger in hopes to gain its attention, before dissappearing in shadow only to reappear behind the beast and throw another dagger.
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 8:36 am
Tath heard the Matron and the others snap to attention at last, and as the thunderous beast passed over his hiding place, he re-emerged and slashed at the beast's legs, attempting to either cripple it or at least inflict some more pain on it; when rage took it over, it was less likely to look around and more likely to just start slashing at things. His dagger hissed through the air, it's magical energy charging at the base of the hilt where his lithe fingers gripped it. As it whizzed in a neat arc towards the back of the creature's leg, Tath twisted his arm to activate the enchantment. A thin green pulse seemed to blitz over the dagger's edge as his dexterity accelerated the swing to a velocity that would gash a hideous wound in anything short of scaled armor; now, all he had to do was hit the thing...
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 1:39 pm
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 2:00 pm
The owlbear roared once more as the lightning melted a wide patch of its fur, the tiny needles thrown at it glancing off the tough hide of the creature, while the first dagger caught it a glancing blow, barely enough to register.
The second thrown dagger however sank through the tough hide, causing the creature to whirl around in a fury, casting out with its long strong arms to strike blindly into the shadows behind it, claws reddened and dripping with the blood of dying soldiers.
This was the moment Tath's blow struck. The perfect positioning, combined with the magic and the carefully timed stroke all worked to pierce the green, pulsing blade to the hilt in the beast's leg. Blood poured freely from the wound as the speed of the blow drove it through even the owlbear's tough flesh and hide, catching barely a moment as it clove through the joint of the creature's knee.
The beast fell forwards, the deadly blow flung into the shadows halted before it could connect as the creature hesitated. Its roar dropped to a low, croaking hoot as its flailing now took on a more desperate air.
One soldier, a little too close to the wounded animal, was caught by a flailing limb and flung backwards to crash against one of his fellows. The creature was doomed now, it would die shortly of the wounds inflicted upon it, but its death throes would drag down any who came too close. Its maddened eyes cast about for one last victim, any who came within reach before its twisted, abominable soul fled its body.
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 8:30 pm
Recovering his blade as the brutish monster toppled, Tath emerged from his hiding place at full speed. His words echoed in the hall as his motion took him to his target.
"Mine."
He leapt from the trapdoor onto the floor, and sprang at the beast. Since it had fallen forward, it's back was to Tath: wide open territory for an experienced rogue. He sprang onto the hulking, heaving back and stabbed the dagger downward, activating it's latent power once more with a flowing green flicker. His years of backstabbing guided the blade, his muscles recalling exactly where it's refined edge had to go to end the creature once and for all. He only hoped that his talents wouldn't fail him now.
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Posted: Wed Mar 31, 2010 11:19 pm
As the tip of the dagger sank into its flesh, the animal had no time to do more than shudder slightly. The backstab sliced through its spinal cord, taking the beast's breath and movement in a single blow. The torrent of blood from its leg slowed as its heart stopped beating.
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 5:42 am
Tathdorl felt the beast's heart freeze, and it's frantic thrashing slowed. He breathed a sigh of relief as it's life faded away; he wasn't sure he would have been able to handle it alone. He gave the blade a firm twist to ensure the beast's demise, then climbed off it's blood-stained back. He pried one of the talons out of it's massive paw, and slipped it into his pocket; a prize for later. He made a note of the creature's impressive phsyique, and wondered if there might be any useful reagents in it, but that would come later. For now, he had to handle the rather gory situation in the catacombs. He flicked the blood of his dagger and resheathed it, glancing about the hall disdainfully.
"I must admit, I expected better from Aleanrae's best. Nonetheless, you were taken by surprise in unfamiliar territory, so I suppose that it was justified in some small measure."
He glanced down to some of the men who had survived, but were injured, then back up to Drejan.
"I'd urge you to get your men inside immediately. Owl-bears travel in mated pairs, and they are rarely alone for long. This way."
He opened the trapdoor wide, and descended the ladder, leaving the hatch open for those who wished to follow. He waited at the bottom to catch anything that was dropped, or anyone that fell; Vhaeraun needed every loyal follower he could gather. Waste not, want not.
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 12:56 pm
Drejan looks over her injured and those that remained standing, before giving an order of "Get the injured and the dead inside, and make it quick we'll heal and see whom we can either raise, or at least reincarnate when inside, afterwords your training is doubled for the next month, move." Ice in her tone and an angry glint in her eye as she states this.
The troops move quickly to get the injured and the dead passed down into the trap door and then climing down themselves, followed quickly by Drejan whom calls up to the assassin that followed them "You coming or staying? make it quick."
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 1:04 pm
Muse responds to Drejan with a hint of sarcasm in her tone "Matron I wouldnt leave you now, I've decided to join you, your group makes things interesting. I'll be down in a second." She then runs over to the dead owlbear and grabs her weapons before climbing down through the trap door closing it as she did so.
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Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2010 8:09 pm
Tath waited until they had successfully descended the ladder, and examined the troops. They were more than a little ragged from both the march and the recent attack, but he knew that with some roasted rothe and some good fungal ale, they'd shape up in no time. He beckoned for them to follow, leading them towards the keep in the center of the plain. He pressed open the doors, and they opened soundlessly. Shadow billowed out like inky smoke, and the welcoming dimness within seemed to invite them inside; the smell of food and drink came from within, making the concept even more enticing. He glanced over his shoulder, smirking smugly, and proceeded into the darkness.
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