A Descent to Dissent (IC)

[Lazy Genius]

... He had done it.

His comrades congratulated him, but warily now, gone was the young Duskling warrior, their comrade, their friend,and in it's place was one that would become the new shaman in time, the leader of the clan. As for Talisham, he let the praise wash over him, more concerned with his success, he was not just a warrior now, he was more, more powerful than he had ever imagined. His life was before totally before him, and screaming behind him.

Talisham heard it before the other people gathered heard it, thanks to the competence he was given by his mantle, but the advantage didn't last long, as the sound was fast approaching. Turning around, Talisham could see the source of the screaming, a vague humanoid figure running through the woods, looking back repeatedly. The figure was screaming in fear, it seemed, running from something. Indeed, shortly after the figure crossed the treeline into the clearing where Talisham and his comrades were gathered, a mass of more monstrous figures could be seen.

The woman running, who turned out to be an elf, gathering from the grace with which she moved and the pointedness of her ears, didn't seem to notice the people that were gathered, or even anything around her, for that matter. She was looking back too much, with a look of utter horror on her face, panting, the screaming had stopped due to lack of air. She seemed to intent on running from her pursuers to even notice the fire ring, and tripped over it, falling right into the fire. "Ah! Ungh!"

By this time, her pursuers had reached the edge of the clearing, and it seemed at first they were elves also, but they seemed taller than an elf, and had sharp features. At a quick glance, it seemed there were a handful of these people. Before you had time to react, some of your comrades managed to stand up and take out their weapons, looking only toward the hostile band of humanoids, looking to defend their village if need be.

I'm not so good with combat maps, so I won't always make a map, but I have made one this time, so that you can see that my maps usually aren't very good. All maps will be in this style (paint! :smallbiggrin:), if you want to have a map like this for each encounter, feel free to ask, it's not a big deal.
http://img804.imageshack.us/img804/8028/firstbloodround0.png
Light Brown is you
Light Gray are your comrades
Dark Gray is the Shaman
Red is the fire, and the elf in it (the elf will get her own colour once/if she leaves the flames)
Dark Blue Are the pursuers.
Light Green is regular terrain, grass/moss etc.
Middle Green is Light Rubble, Balance DC10 to run/charge across, no extra movement cost, patches of overgrown grass.
Dark Green is obstructed vision, Spot DC+5, counts as mildly difficult terrain*, can run/charge, DC15 Balance, the jungle outskirts.

*Each square counts as 1.5 squares of movement, diagonal ones 2 squares.
The surprise round of combat was the elf running out of the forest into the clearing, and the pursuers coming out of the jungle. you and your comrades are sitting by the fire (-2 Melee AC, +2 Ranged AC, move action to stand up), the Shaman is standing.
I've rolled initiative, and you're before the pursuers (they delay and act on the turn of the slowest, as one, none are Flat-Footed), but after the elf, who managed to run into the fire and fall prone, and after some comrades, who stand up and ready their weapons. (move = stand up, move = draw weapon)

[FyreByrd]

ooc:

On the map that's MORE than adequete...I do prefer having a map for combat, I've found it cuts down on questions/illegal actions that then have to be retro'd by the DM/Player, but understand if you don't always provide them.


Talisham quickly scans the jungle edge, taking in the scene in an instant. Rising quickly from his seated position, he takes a step towards the fire, ready to help the female Elf up from her position. "Quick, Defend the fire!" he says in Sylvan to his comrades.


Move Action: Stand Up
Move Action: G,8

I'm assuming helping the Elf out of the fire would be (at least) another move action, so I'm merely here to aid her, if that helps her escape the fire on her turn.

[Lazy Genius]

After Talisham moved around the fire to attempt to help the elf out of it, the pursuers, whose identity was still rather ambiguous, moved in closer as one, drawing bows as they did. Upon moving in closer the five that were clearly visible and separated from the jungle behind them seemed mostly humanoid, if sharp in features and slightly tall, except for a serpent's head, complete with long fangs and forked tongue rising from their shoulders in place of a humanoid one. "Huwag pansinin ang mga duwende, pumunta para sa mga nakatayo!" The commanding voice seemed to come from an entity other than the snake-like people already present, as none of their mouths were moving, and they all shifted the aim of their bows, and loosed their arrows. Of the five arrows loosed, only two struck true, both on a different of your comrades, both on ones that had already stood up. One arrow was particularly nasty and afflicted his right eye, blood squirting out of it as a result.

After this volley of arrows, your two other comrades, Manian among them, stood up as well, drawing their own weapons in a rush of movement toward the now hostile pursuers. The Shaman, who had been watching all this with quiet disapproval, strode over to the man with an arrow for an eye, and deftly removed said arrow in a quick movement. Just as this event was closing, an arrow sliced off the Shaman's ear completely, leaving a gaping, bleeding hole in its place. Upon looking for the arrow's origin, a creature could be seen emerging from the shadows of the woods. A creature that looked like a giant serpent, even more than the head of the previously seen attackers, this creature had the entire body of a snake, the only thing that betrayed its intelligence were its eyes. As for the origin of the arrow, two burly humanoid arms were protruding from the snake's body, holding a rather large bow.

Despite all this, the two men that had previously drawn their weapons, weren't fazed, and moved closer to the snake-like people attacking them, putting themselves in between the assault and their brethren. Their weapons raised, they moved slowly, wary for more volleys of arrows. The elf, recovering from her past session of falls, looked up at your outreaching hand, and grasped it fervently, attempting to get herself out of the heathen of flames. Once she managed, she looked again toward the snake-like people now standing in the clearing. Once had the painful revelation of her clothes being alight in flames, she began rolling on the ground almost instinctively, putting them out bit by bit.

I noticed you used the present-tense in your post, I think it's clearer for both of us if we use either one or the other, so do you want to have everything present or past tense? I can work with either equally well.

Updated map:
http://imageshack.us/m/17/3707/firstbloodround1.png
Light Brown is you
Light Gray are your comrades
Dark Gray is the Shaman
Red is the fire, and the elf in it (the elf will get her own colour once/if she leaves the flames)
Dark Blue is the assault-team.
Orange is the elf.
Light Green is regular terrain, grass/moss etc.
Middle Green is Light Rubble, Balance DC10 to run/charge across, no extra movement cost, patches of overgrown grass.
Dark Green is obstructed vision, Spot DC+5, counts as mildly difficult terrain*, can run/charge, DC15 Balance, the jungle outskirts.

*Each square counts as 1.5 squares of movement, diagonal ones 2 squares.

[FyreByrd]

ooc:

On present/Past tense issues, I hadn't even realised I'd slipped into present tense..swapping tenses is a very bad habit of mine, however I'll endeavor to remain in the present if I can!

Quick Rule clarification(won't change this turn but would be good to know):

I assume I can only invest as much essentia in my racial speed boost ability as I could in a soulmeld (i.e. max 3)?

Secondly: Sphinx Claws/girallon arms allows me to charge, and full attack with natural weapons, while binding Amon does this mean:

A) I charge, and attack with 4 claws(from girallon)
B) I charge (and with Amon's ram attack) do a ram + 4 claws
C) I charge (And with Amon's ram attack) do a ram + 3 claws (the ram being primary nat attack, the 3 claws being secondary)

I'm not overly fussed which way you rule, just would be good to know!





Talisham pulls the Elven lady up, and out of the fire, however doesn't stop to find out if she is seriously hurt or not. He had discharged his duty to her, by the initial help, now he had to concentrate on those that were invading his village. He closed his eyes for a brief second, focusing the power of incarnum into his legs, then tensed for a moment.

Opening his eyes wide, his legs exploded into action, the added power given to him by the souls of the dead, and the not yet living powered him further and faster than he could usually run in such a brief time. Angling towards the south, he ran at a tangent to the invaders, looking to flank them as his comrades attacked from the front. He momentarily thought about the Shamen as he hurdled a particulay thick outcropping of brush, but reasoned that one so powerful and wise, could defend himself while he took the fight to the enemy.

He slowed as he came into line with the invaders, and with a deep breath, prepared for the attack.


Swift Action: Reallocate Essentia (move 3 from Girallon arms, to Speed increase)

Speed increases from 30ft ->45ft

Double Move to K,22 (90ft - I believe, if I've counted wrong, move me to the closest point to that I can get to, while remaining a similar distance away from the nasties!

[Lazy Genius]

As Talisham moved around to try and flank their serpentine attackers, the same commanding voice as before was heard, only now it seemed it originated from the larger snake-with-arms. "Ito!" It was clearly an order, and by the way he was pointing at Talisham, and the subsequent arrows flying his way, it was turning the attention to him. While they seemed able with their bows, every single one of the arrows failed to do any lasting damage, and either missed completely, or deflected off of his armour. The clear commander and leader seemed aggravated by this and grumbled another, short order. "Akin!" This second succinct order prompted the other adversaries to step back a ways, closing the gap between them and their commander a little.

Talisham's tribemates were still wary of the unusual creatures and approached as slowly as they did before, crouching low to the ground to drop down if need be. The Shaman, together with the last two allies of Talisham, excluding the elven lady, approached with the same level of caution. Though it is usually unlike dusklings to move slowly, these men have seen battles and think it unwise to charge in heedlessly. Thus, they move with a purpose, while trying to keep themselves alive in the process of getting there. The largest snake-man, the one issuing commands, clearly in charge, fired two arrows of his own at Talisham, but they both hit his shoulder and fell to the ground in pieces.

The elf, seeing all this from a lower point of view, decided to stand up. And, running her hand through the flames, it seemed as if she threw part of the flames towards the attackers, uttering some esoteric words. In mid-air, the spark of flame that was hurled, grew in size and slowed down, growing faster and faster until it seemed an entire hemisphere, consisting completely of flames alone was between Talisham and his tribesmen, and the snake-like attackers. The flames didn't seem harmful to Talisham's tribesmen however, as they weren't overly uncomfortable. Keeping her focus completely on the flames, apparently feeding off of nothing, but supposedly er concentration, the elven lady moved in closer to the wreathing flames thoughtfully. "Don't go through the flames, let them come." The elf called out in warning with a voice like a blazing inferno.

You unfortunately are not trained in Spellcraft.

Updated map:
http://imageshack.us/m/830/575/firstbloodround2.png
Light Brown is you
Light Gray are your comrades
Dark Gray is the Shaman
Red is the fire, as well as the wall of fire.
Dark Blue is the assault-team.
Orange is the elf.
Light Green is regular terrain, grass/moss etc.
Middle Green is Light Rubble, Balance DC10 to run/charge across, no extra movement cost, patches of overgrown grass.
Dark Green is obstructed vision, Spot DC+5, counts as mildly difficult terrain*, can run/charge, DC15 Balance, the jungle outskirts.

*Each square counts as 1.5 squares of movement, diagonal ones 2 squares.

So, have you figured out what they are yet, the 'snake-like people'? :smalltongue:

[FyreByrd]

ooc:

At one point I had trained spellcraft(well 1 point at least) and then ditched it for something else I wanted more (I think it was another point of intimidate so I could get Improved Binding) Oh Well!

As for the snake-people it's a jungle, possibly with influences from Chult, I would imagine Yuan-Ti or similar, but because that's rather meta knowledge on my part I'll do this properly:

Knowledge(Nature)[roll0]
Knowledge(The Planes)[roll1] (I don't think this is relevant, but just in case....)



Talisham watches in amazement as the Elven lady turns and summons the strange flame that encapsulates the snake people. "So much for her being defensless", he thinks to himself, before concentrating on the enemy at hand. As the arrows fly thick and fast around him, Talisham realises that it is only a matter of time before one strikes him, so concentrating, the purpleish glow that surrounded his body, grows, and intensifies, strengthing his defences against the arrows. Then moving less swiftly now, he approaches the snake-like people, knowing that each aggressive move he makes draws more fire to him, and less towards his less powerful comrades.

Once in a suitable position, Talisham takes a deep breath, then stops. As he breathed in he felt, or tasted rather the sulpher in his mouth as a result of his successful communion with Amon before the camp was turned to uproar. Focusing his will on the Incarnum made real that was Amon, he took in a mighty breath, and exhaled, breathing a stream of flame, clear accross the grass, directly at the large beast directing traffic, the flame passed through another of the snake people on it's journey to the beast. "If that doesn't get their attention, nothing will!" he thought.


Rolls:

Swift: Reassign Essentia: Move 3 points from Racial speed, put 2 in Wormtail belt (bringing it up to 3 - and my natural armour bonus up to 5), and 1 in girallon arms.
Move: N,19
Standard: Breath attack from Amon Vestige

Max Range 10ft / Binder level(max 50ft) = 50ft range
Aimed at square: X,19 (that should catch one of the medium snake people, and the large snake person.
Reflex Save(DC:18) for Half damage.

Damage:
Medium Creature (R,19) [roll2]
Large Creature (V,19-W,20) [roll3]

Have to wait 5 rounds before I can use the breath attack again.

[Lazy Genius]

As Talisham breathed fire into the wall of flames, a loud roar of dissatisfaction could be heard, and a subsequent order, "singilin!" was all that was necessary for the snake-like people to come charging through the flames and into the hands of Talisham's tribemates. Before this maneuver, they left their bows where they were, drawing wicked-looking curved swords. Of the five smaller ones, one came straight at you, but fell down short, bleeding from blisters caused by the fire you blew at him and he ran through, the other four ran for a different tribesman, one for the priest, leaving the tribesman in the second line of defense not involved in melee. Talisham's tribesmates weren't as lucky as him, and their attacker reached them, swinging their blades through the air, and for one, through flesh, severing the man's limb, causing him to bleed to death on the ground.

In response, the tribesmen swung their own weapons almost in unison, some cutting through flesh of their own. After this melee was going on, the larger snakeman stepped back slightly to escape from the heat of the sheet of flames, and laucnhed two arrows at Talisham, the first of which grazed past his arm, drawing blood. The elven lady looked alarmed at the passage through her conjured flames, and ceased concentration, leaving it to simmer on its own, not quite dying out yet. Instead, she moved in clear range of the large snake-man, pointing one finger straight at him, and with the other hand reached towards the fire. A glowing pea-sized bead moved from the fire, over her arms, towards the snake-man, exploding in a great ball of flame right in his face. Unluckily for the elf, the surrounding trees caught on fire as well as the snake-man's clothes. "Oops."

You might as well know, the language they speak is Yuan-ti, you don't understand what they (or rather, he), is saying anyway.

So, now it's a simple brawl, with two people on both sides down.

Edit: Map:
http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/4184/firstbloodround3.png
Light Brown is you
Light Gray are your comrades
Dark Gray is the Shaman
Red is the fire, as well as the wall of fire.
Dark Blue is the assault-team.
Orange is the elf.
Light Green is regular terrain, grass/moss etc.
Middle Green is Light Rubble, Balance DC10 to run/charge across, no extra movement cost, patches of overgrown grass.
Dark Green is obstructed vision, Spot DC+5, counts as mildly difficult terrain*, can run/charge, DC15 Balance, the jungle outskirts.

*Each square counts as 1.5 squares of movement, diagonal ones 2 squares.

[FyreByrd]

Talisham smiles in grim approval as his fire breath prompts action from the invaders, although that smile fades as he sees his tribesman cut down. A cold hard rage infuses his bones, and focusing on the obvious leader of the snake people he growls, a deep viseral sound in the back of his throat. The insubstantial arms that seem to move around him, harden, into four powerful claws, and he lowers his head, before his muscles power him into a run.

He pays no attention to the fact that as he charges his foot stamps down hard on the body of the badly burned snake person, but instead focuses all his energy on slamming his head, with rams horns intact deep into the gut of the abomination. As his head strikes it, his claws come up, and begin to rip at the exposed flesh of the monster.


Rolls:

I'm pretty certain I can't take a swift action to change essentia around on a charge, if however you rule that I can the below spoiler is a swift action to change essentia:

Move 2 points from wormtail belt (reducing nat armour by 2), and add them to girallon arms (basically add +2 to each of my attack/damage rolls with girallon arms below)



CHARGE! (Sphinx claws allows me to make a full attack(Ram primary, 4 claws secondary (-2 pen from multiattack rather than -5) ) after a charge)
(+2 bonus to attack - 2AC)
Ram Attack: [roll0]
Damage [roll1] + [roll2]

Girallon's Arm Claw Attacks (I've added the +1 from essentia to attacks, and damage, if you rule I can have my swift action, just add a further +2 to final scores)
Claw 1: [roll3]
Damage: [roll4]

Claw 2: [roll5]
Damage: [roll6]

Claw 3: [roll7]
Damage: [roll8]

Claw 4: [roll9]
Damage: [roll10]


EDIT:
Woops, didn't add the +2 from the charge to the claw attacks, shouldn't matter massively although might be the difference between the last hitting or missing

[Lazy Genius]

Upon your attack, the large snakeman roars in combined fury and pain, and, with his clothes still on fire, his burns are starting to bleed through the skin damage, as well as the wounds you managed to inflict on him. "Dalasaydugos ... pumunta ang ulat na ito ... ito ay isang nawala sanhi." This time, it didn't sound like an order more as a last wish from a man who knew who was going to die. The other snakemen there didn't so much as flinch when the larger one said this, and even began fighting more fiercely, keeping themselves defended. The result of this, was that Manian was under attack by two of the snakemen, getting hit in the back of the head by one of them as he turned around to face them. As he fell, his tribesmen caught another snake-man on his arm, who seemed to have become too light-headed because of blood-loss. One of them even managed to get the jump on one of the snake-men that felled Manian. The shaman, locked in his own battle, seemed concerned for the well-being of the tribesmen, but more determined to put an end to this and deal with injuries later.

The large snakeman, seeing himself locked in melee, dropped his archery gear, and took out a particularly vile-looking curved sword, those of the kind not friendly to soft flesh. He didn't waste any time getting it to slash at you, and it hit you, but the specific focus of soul-energy into the purple belt hardened your skin just enough to glance away the swing. The elf, looking at the fire on and behind the large abomination of a snake, moved closer to it. When she'd firmly planted herself between two of your tribesmen, she spoke some more esoteric words, pointing at said flames, and they began to burn brighter, burning up the clothes and wood they were drawing from twice as fast. Even to you, these flames seemed somehow hotter than a normal fire. The large snakeman, however, was receiving the worst of it, and spat blood and sputtered as the flames were consuming him. With his snake head, the abomination seemed to have difficulty forming words other than the one he'd managed so far, but they did come out. "Don't ... feel ... safe."

You were correct in assuming you get no swift action in a charge, but count yourself lucky, the abomination missed by 1. :smallwink:

I've also decided to switch from referring to Talisham as 'Talisham' to referring to 'you'. This makes it much easier, as there's only one PC anyway.

And updated map:
http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/1123/firstbloodround4.png
Light Brown is you
Light Gray are your comrades
Dark Gray is the Shaman
Red is any kind of fire.
Dark Blue is the assault-team.
Orange is the elf.
Light Green is regular terrain, grass/moss etc.
Middle Green is Light Rubble, Balance DC10 to run/charge across, no extra movement cost, patches of overgrown grass.
Dark Green is obstructed vision, Spot DC+5, counts as mildly difficult terrain*, can run/charge, DC15 Balance, the jungle outskirts.
Note: Although the flamewall effect is less thick in this map, it isn't any less lethal, it's just to make my job easier editing the map, I hope it's still clear this way.

*Each square counts as 1.5 squares of movement, diagonal ones 2 squares.

[FyreByrd]

ooc:

That's fine, I assumed that was the case...and the nomenclature change is fine by me as well.

Apologies for crappy IC post, will touch it up later if I have time.



Talisham turns away from his vanquished foe, and focuses on the next closest, taking the distance in a quick bound, he again slices away at the snake-like man with his claws. "I need to finish this fight quickly," the savage young Duskling thought to himself, "And see just what this elf is doing here..."



Rolls:

Swift: reassign essentia move 2 from wormtail belt to girallon arms (reflected on sheet)

Move: U,17

Standard: Attack
Primary:
Claw:[roll0]
Damage:[roll1]
Secondary:
Claw 2:[roll2]
Damage:[roll3]
Claw 3:[roll4]
Damage:[roll5]
Claw 4:[roll6]
Damage:[roll7]

[Lazy Genius]

With the wall of flames still in effect, you experience the heat radiating to this side of the wall when you attack the other snake person through it, and your skin starts searing as a response, blistering almost in mere seconds. Despite the repercussion, the swipe of your claw seems to do considerable damage to the snake, and you really teat him apart, almost slicing him in half while you do it.

The remaining two snake people seemed too determined to stop attacking, and focused on one tribesmate in particular to attack, flanking him on both sides. This proved rather effective, as the tribesman in question was less able to defend himself and fell victim to two vertical slashes from the curved swords. In response to these events, the shaman and the last remaining comrade took position on either side of the snake person that was closest to the central fire. The shaman managed to score a solid, bone-cracking hit, but the swing by the tribesman went wild, almost throwing him off-balance in the process.

These events all transpired with the elf in the very middle, looking a bit lost in all the melee. However, she moved back, keeping her conjured wall of flames on one side, a little bit toward the ever-expanding fire now enveloping the jungle outskirts the larger snake was still burning in, and, having drawn her preloaded crossbow, fired at the one snake not currently tightly engaged in melee, so as to have a clearer shot at him. But she missed completely, and only drew its attention and its fury-filled eyes were now locked on her.

You take 11 Fire Damage, any resistance you might have hasn't been subtracted from this yet. Since this is the first damage you take, I will always give you the damage you would have taken if DR/resistances, etc, did not exist, you can work out how much damage is actually taken and tell me what you've factored in yourself, I guess I'm too lazy to do that. Sorry. :smalltongue:

Almost done with combat, but there seems to be a problem rising when it is over... :smallamused:

Updated map:
http://img607.imageshack.us/img607/962/firstbloodround5.png
Light Brown is you
Light Gray are your comrades
Dark Gray is the Shaman
Red is any kind of fire.
Dark Blue is the assault-team.
Orange is the elf.
Light Green is regular terrain, grass/moss etc.
Middle Green is Light Rubble, Balance DC10 to run/charge across, no extra movement cost, patches of overgrown grass.
Dark Green is obstructed vision, Spot DC+5, counts as mildly difficult terrain*, can run/charge, DC15 Balance, the jungle outskirts.
Note: Although the flamewall effect is less thick in this map, it isn't any less lethal, it's just to make my job easier editing the map, I hope it's still clear this way.

*Each square counts as 1.5 squares of movement, diagonal ones 2 squares.

[FyreByrd]

ooc:
On restistances/DR that's fine...currently I have no resistances or DR, so it makes it easier!

Talisham looks around, noticing the fall of his comrades, and a deep rage builds within him. Who were these intruders? Why had they come? He knew not the answer, but he knew the solution. Taking a step forward, towards the nearest snakeman, and rips at him with his claws.

Rolls:

Move Action: S,16
Standard Action: Attack R,15:
Claw: [roll0]
Damage:[roll1]