CH 2: Two Heads are Better

[JadedDM]

Echo awakens the next day alone in Hollidan's tent. This was exactly how she remembered going to sleep, which begged the question as to whether Hollidan ever actually returned to the tent or not.

However, all was not peaceful this morning. Echo hears screams and shouts outside of the tent, as well as the sound of people running. Something was amiss.

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It is now Turquise 04, Lightday at 8:00 AM.

[HorizonsDream]

Echo quickly gets up and steps outside the tent to see what exactly is going on.

[JadedDM]

Upon exiting the tent, Echo finds the camp is under attack. She spots a creature to the south approaching. It is ten feet tall with mottled greenish brown skin and with a very large haversack slung over its shoulder. The strangest thing about the creature, however, is it has two heads.

Screams behind her get her attention, and Echo spots a second creature approaching from the north. There's also a third one coming from the east. Both also carry large haversacks.

The pilgrims are panicked, but already the clerics and paladins are moving in to protect them. On the north side of camp is Argis and two clerics Echo hasn't met yet. To the south is Cadegund and two other clerics. And in the center are the Pharise, Hollidan, Gimog and Nuvain.

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(OOC: Basically, it would be way too difficult for me to run this battle with three enemies, seven clerics, three paladins, and thirty pilgrims. So I've broken the battlefield into three segments. Echo can choose to aid any one of the three segments (north, south, or center), run, hide, wait and see what happens, or any other feasible option open to you.)

[HorizonsDream]

Echo looks at the chaos before she runs to join the Pharise and Hollidan to battle the two headed creature coming from the east.

[JadedDM]

Echo hurries out of her tent and goes to the east side of camp to aid the Pharise. There are pilgrims panicking, attempting to flee the giant beast. Gimog draws a hammer and holds his ground, despite being significantly smaller than his enemy. Nuvain readies a sling, while the Pharise himself readies a metal staff with a silver sheen to it. Finally, Hollidan draws his sword and quickly hops up on Clementine, ready to charge forward.

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(Actions and Initiative for Round 1?)

[HorizonsDream]

Echo curses for a moment before she runs as close to the creature as she can. She keeps back at least twenty feet away from the creature before she lets loose her darts. "Get back towards the tents," she tells the pilgrim she ends up next to.

Init Roll, Hit Rolls (9, 20, 15, 11)
Dmg Roll (3)

[JadedDM]

Grinning (with both faces), the ten foot creature stomps forward, looking like a two-headed child at a candy store. This one, a male, walks right up to one of the pilgrims and grabs her. She screams and kicks, but it is futile. However, the giant simply stuffs her in his haversack and chuckles to himself, before looking for another prize.

"Hiya!" Hollidan shouts, charging forward on Clementine. The giant, however, easily steps out of the way, avoiding his sword altogether.

"Put her down!" Gimog insists, moving forward and swinging his hammer at the monster's shin. It hits, but the force of the blow isn't enough to even cause the creature to flinch. It annoys him entirely.

Echo hurries forward and hurls three darts. The first one hits the creature right in the chest, and it seems mildly annoyed by this, as one of the heads grunts, "Ouch!" The second and third darts hit, but merely bounce off the creature's thick, leathery hide.

The Pharise, meanwhile, starts to chant a spell. A large hammer made of light appears before him, floating as if carried by some invisible hand.

Finally, Nuvain slings a stone overhead and fires it, but it doesn't come anywhere close to hitting the giant.

Echo watches with surprise as the dart wound she gave it slowly begins to mend itself right before her eyes.

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Initiative
Echo (1d10+2): 11
Gimog (1d10+4): 11
Hollidan (1d10+5): 10
Nuvain (1d10+6): 16
Pharise (1d10+5): 14
Monster (1d10+6): 9

Round 1!

Monster moves 20 feet to the west and picks up Pilgrim 02, placing her in his haversack.
Hollidan charges the monster on horseback (+2) with his long sword (1d20+2): 8, miss.
Gimog moves 15 feet to the east and attacks the monster with his hammer (1d20): 11, miss.
Echo moves 30 feet to the east and throws a dart at the monster (1d20): 20, critical hit! for (2d2): 3 damage. She then throws a second dart (1d20): 15, bare miss.
Pharise casts Spiritual Hammer.
Nuvain hurls a sling stone with his sling (1d20): 5, miss.
Echo throws a third dart (1d20): 11, miss.
Monster regenerates 1 HP.

(OOC: I'm not going to do a play-by-play of the pilgrims actions. Let's just assume they try and run away. Actions and Initiative for Round 2?)

[HorizonsDream]

"Gimog, get out of the way, or this is going to hurt!" Echo cries out as she rushes forward again so that she is close enough to the creature to cast her spell. She quickly falls into her well known trace where she concentrates on the words and actions of the spell. She places her thumbs together and spreads out her fingers one by one as she chants before her hands look like a fan. Once the spell is done, her hands catch fire before it jets out in an arc towards the creature.

Init Roll (7)
Dmg Roll (4)

[JadedDM]

Several pilgrims rush by Echo, terrified of the two-headed monster.

With a gesture, the Pharise sends the spiritual hammer spinning forward. However, it merely bounces off the creature's thick hide without even leaving a bruise.

Echo hurries forward, calling out a warning to Gimog, although it's a little late for that now. As she chants her spell, he fights for his life against the creature. The monster rakes him with one claw, but the dwarf tumbles aside and avoids the second. Then the monster leans in and bites him with both heads, which leaves the dwarf a bloody mess on the ground, unconscious. Echo's spell then triggers, blasting the monster with a handful of flames. It hops back to avoid the worst of it, but still takes some nasty burns.

"I'll smash ya good for dat!" the monster cries, very angry now. So far, Echo was the only one to actually cause the creature any harm. And with Gimog down, there was nothing standing between him and the half-elf sorceress.

That is, until Hollidan rides back in, placing himself and Clem between the two. "Echo! Get out of here!" he calls. He strikes with his sword once, then twice, but neither attack leaves even a mark on the monster.

Finally, Nuvain launches another stone with his sling, but it just bounces off the creature's thick hide.

Echo notices that the dart wound she gave the creature earlier continues to heal up right before her eyes. The burns, however, do not heal at all.

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Initiative
Echo (1d10+1): 8
Gimog (1d10+4): 12
Hollidan (1d10+5): 9
Nuvain (1d10+6): 14
Pharise (1d10+5): 6
Pilgrims (1d10): 2
Monster (1d10+6): 8

Round 2!

Pilgrims move to safety.
Pharise attacks the monster with the spiritual hammer (+2) (1d20+2): 10, miss.
Monster attacks Gimog (-4) with his left claw (1d20-4): 14, hit for (1d4+4): 7 damage. He then attacks with his right claw (1d20-4): 5, miss. He then bites with his left face (1d20-4): 14, hit for (1d12): 3 damage. He then bites with his right face (1d20-4): 8, hit for (1d12): 7 damage. Gimog falls.
Echo moves 25 feet to the east and casts Burning Hands at the monster, dealing (1d3+2): 4 damage.
----Monster saves vs. spell (1d20): 18, pass. It only takes half (2) damage.
Hollidan rides 20 feet southwest and attacks the monster with his long sword (1d20): 10, miss.
Gimog is unconscious.
Nuvain hurls a sling stone with his sling (1d20): 10, miss.
Hollidan attacks the monster with his long sword again (1d20): 3, miss.
Monster regenerates 1 HP.

(OOC: Well, I can't hit anything to save my life, except when I'm the enemy. Actions and Initiative for Round 3?)

[HorizonsDream]

While Hollidan keeps the creature distracted, Echo moves back towards the Pharise. "Wounds caused by normal weapons only heal," Echo explains. "Though, his burns aren't healing. Fire is our best option in taking him down."

[JadedDM]

"Fire?" the Pharise says, surprised. He allows the hammer to vanish into thin air. "Quickly, go to my tent. Inside is a Wand of Fire, in my backpack. The command word 'Fire' will cause a short burst of flame, like the spell you just used. The word 'Fira' will work as a Pyrotechnics spell. 'Firaga' will create a Fireball, and 'Firaja' will create a Wall of Fire. You must be careful, though, that you don't hit any of the pilgrims with it. Now go!" He then shouts to Hollidan, "Forget hurting it, Redstone! Try and free the woman instead!"

[HorizonsDream]

Echo rushes to the Pharise tent to get the wand of fire from the Pharise's backpack.

[JadedDM]

Echo hurries to the tent and enters. Inside is a sleeping bag, rolled up, some odds and ends--and there, an open backpack with a few objects spilling out of it. It must have been knocked over in the commotion, but a wand is clearly visible. It appears to be made of ironwood with a fire jasper sphere at one tip and a clear quartz at the butt.

Wand of Fire.JPG (120.45 KiB) Viewed 12170 times

Meanwhile, the Pharise conjures up some flame and hurls it at the giant, but it misses and bursts at the ground nearby. Nuvain rushes forward and saves Gimog with a healing spell, but leaving himself exposed to the enemy.

Hollidan tries to use his sword to sever the strap holding the giant's haversack, but misses. He then rides away, taunting the creature. "Hey, over here! You're the ugliest and second-ugliest face I've ever seen! I bet your mama slapped you twice for good measure when you were born!"

Angry, the giant quickly approaches Hollidan and his horse, ignoring the elf and dwarf and any pilgrims.

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Initiative
Echo (1d10): 5
Gimog (N/A)
Hollidan (1d10+5): 12
Nuvain (1d10+5): 9
Pharise (1d10+5): 8
Pilgrims (1d10): 3
Monster (1d10+6): 15

Round 3!

Pilgrims avoid the monster.
Echo runs 80 feet to the Pharise's tent.
Pharise casts Produce Flame. He throws a ball of flame at the giant (1d20): 7, miss.
Nuvain moves 55 feet north and casts Cure Light Wounds on Gimog, automatically restoring him to 1 HP.
Hollidan attacks the monster's satchel with his long sword (1d20-4): 11, miss. He then rides 65 feet to the south.
Monster moves 65 feet to the south. It regenerates 1 HP.

(OOC: Wow, still can't hit anything. Because the tent was so far away, Echo has only just arrived and hasn't had a chance to grab the wand yet. Actions and Initiative for Round 4?)

[HorizonsDream]

Echo stares at the wand for a moment before she grabs it, and runs out of the Pharise's tent. She takes note of where the two headed creature is now, and lets out a sigh. She looks towards the fire in the middle of the tents. "Hollidan, towards the fire!" she cries out to him. "The rest of you, get behind a tent or some cover!" she cries out to the pilgrims.

[JadedDM]

Echo steps out of the tent, wand in hand, to shout out her commands. She is just in time, though, to see Hollidan get cut down by the monster and be knocked off his horse.

Gimog gets to his feet and limps over to one of the tents, and most of the pilgrims scream out at seeing the paladin fall, huddling for safety near the tents.

The Pharise chucks another little ball of flame which smacks the giant in the side and then bursts, burning it. Likewise, Nuvain chucks a stone but again it just bounces off the creature's thick hide.

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Initiative
Echo (1d10): 1
Gimog (1d10): 8
Hollidan (1d10+5): 14
Nuvain (1d10+6): 11
Pharise (1d10+5): 9
Pilgrims (1d10): 9
Monster (1d10+6): 7

Round 4!

Echo grabs the wand and exits the tent.
Monster attacks Hollidan with his left claw (1d20): 17, hit for (1d4+4): 8 damage. It then attacks with his right claw (1d20): 18, hit for (1d4+4): 5 damage. Hollidan falls.
Gimog gets to his feet and moves 30 feet to the southwest.
Pilgrims avoid the monster.
Pharise throws a ball of fire at the monster (1d20): 14, hit for (1d4+1): 4 damage.
Nuvain slings a stone at the monster (1d20): 12, miss.
Hollidan is unconscious.

(OOC: Actions and Initiative for Round 5?)