[ic] nameless III: lost and found

At the hill fort ruins

The goblin shaman returns to her companions as Cromwell questions Nate as to what is going on. Occasionally she glances up to see what you are up to before returning to her discussion. Hadarook drifts a little way in their direction trying to see what they have to say, and trying to look as if he is not.

As before, as soon as Fredar crosses the threshold, the two dark shapes detach themselves from the shadows and hurl themselves across the yard. What remains of their flesh hangs off them like tattered robes over an decomposing body. They have empty pools of blackness where their eyes should be, but still Fredar can feel the malevolence in their gaze. Or perhaps its just hunger. They cross the distance between Fredar and themselves in great stides, in complete silence but for a dull grinding of bone on bone.

ooc: The wolves will cross the yard (80ft)in about 3 seconds, giving you a 'half' round of action. Readied for the wolves action, Nate, Fredar, Cromwell and Craddoc may take one standard (or move action) before the wolves reach the gateway. Fredar may turn and run at any time with ihs move action.

Initiative order for the first full round:

24 - Fredar
19 - Craddoc
18 - Goblin Riders
17 - Wolves
11 - Nate
10 - Sharman
06 - Hadarook
01 - Cromwell

"Aw, Hell no," Fredar says in a voice that is half-mutter and half-scream. He wheels and sprints directly for the goblins: If they're going to chase me it might as well be towards the gobbos and not the Seventh. What in the Lady's name are these? Then, when he gets a little ways away, and turns to establish position, Who cares what they are, idiot, the question is, 'can they be killed?' He sets his eyes on the closest one of them and lets fly with his sling.

At the hill fort ruins

'Surprise' Round

Fredar gets about 10 feet in before deciding discretion is the better part of valour. He spins around and dashs straight back the way he came, past his companions and towards the goblins who are gathered about 30 feet beyond the gate.

Nate, bringing up his mace and rushes forwards to protect Fredar only to be passed by him going the other way.

In a burst of clarity, Fredar realises that the plan, while a good one in principle, in practice means running the wolves straight past his companions clustered around the gateway. He skids to a halt and turns around about 20 feet behind his companions.

Craddoc lets out a shout of surprise and brings his staff to the ready position. "Nate, you fool, get out of there!"

On the other side of the gate, his attention on the shaman, Cromwell is caught off guard by the sudden turn events. Only as Fredar sprints past does he realise his mistake.

The Shaman snarls out a surprised curse as she looks up at Cromwell's questions to sees the wolves dashing across the yard toward the gate, and Nate.

A couple of feet away Hadarook turns to look around at Fredar.

"Aye?"

End 'Surprise' Round.

Round 1

Fredar brings up his sling but realises that three of his companions now stand between him and the wolves. He can't get a clear shot from here!

ooc: You want to take it?

Craddoc hesitates, indescision written across his features.

The goblin riders bring up spears but only turn to their leader.

The wolves slam into Nate. Nate manages to deflect the first but the second wolf manages to take a chunk of flesh out of his arm [1 wound]. Nate snarls at the rotten beast.

ooc: TH, I kinda did the dirty on Cromwell, but the sychronicity between the throw-a-way question to the shaman and the Init of 1 was too hard to resist.

ooc: Crunchy bits
1st Wolf vs Nate: Attack 13 [9+2+2] vs Def 15 [13+2] --- Miss
2nd Wolf vs Nate: Attack 14 [10+2+2] vs Def 13 [11+2] --- Hit/+1 dam.
* Dam 6 [4+1+1] - Soak 5 = 1 wound to Nate.

Your turn DrZ.

dp.

Fredar stomach drop out from under him as he realizes what he's done.


ooc: Ah, nuts. His 7 wisdom is really coming through So Fredar has used his surprise action only, right? Could he move to a different angle to get a clear shot at the wolf attacking Nate? If not, he would probably rush in (again probably not smart, but he's feeling terribly about getting completely out of danger without being able to help his companion), and attack with his spear (drawing it as he moved and dropping the sling on the ground).

Not exactly clear on the positioning here. No worries on the surprise round action.

Cromwell shouts "Get out of the tower!" and rushes to provide Nate cover. His immediate instinct is that if entering the tower awakened... whatever those things were, leaving the tower would cause them to back off. If not, they were in for a fight....

Run to a good location, ready an attack action.

Seeing the wolves, or what used to be wolves rushing towards Fredar, Nate tries to save his friend. Once again, he sees the friends that he failed to protect before his eyes. He braces himself for impact, feeling the rotted teeth pierce his leather armor. A growl escapes from his lips. Once again he feels his rage trying to get out, like a caged beast pacing from side to side, looking for a way out. With a mighty roar he unleashes it, laughing out loud as his mace turns into a twig, and the undead wolves turn into puppies. He chortles as he lashes the twig around, barely bothering to keep his shield up against the puppies' claws. Again he roars, a mixture of rage and pleasure, rage at the enemie and pleasure in the fight.

The hill fort ruins - Round 1 cont ...

The read mist descends and Nate swings his mace with abandon but is unable to connect with the wolves. He doesn't seem in the slightest bit worried.

The shaman throws up her hand in a 'wait' gesture. The goblins beside her stir uneasily but hold their positions.

Hadarook twists around to see what's going on behind him. "Oh goblin poop!" He hurries off towards along the southern wall to the east of the gateway. As he moves, he pulls his bow off his back and slips it from its leather sleave, dropping it as he goes. Ten feet from the south eastern corner he comes to a section only about 4 feet high. He stops and begins to lean on his bow.

"Oh bugger it Nate. Why can't you stay out of trouble?" Craddoc mutters as he rushes into the fray and catching one of the wolves on its flanks.

ooc: TH, the fight is happening about 20 feet into the ruins. Do you want Cromwell to move in and engage or pull up just before he enters any threated areas?

ooc: DrZ, the character in the [rg] thread is still a L1 NPC. I dug up an L2 character in the

OOC: thread, but it doesn't have a shield listed. Could you get the [rg] thread updated. Cheers. ooc: Crunchy Bits. Nate vs Wolf 2: Attk 19 [11+7] vs Def 21 [17+4] --- Miss Craddoc vs Wolf 2: Attk 12 [7+3+2] vs Def 7 [3+4] --- Hit/+5 dam * Damage 10 [4+3+5] vs Soak 2 [2] = 10 wounds * * Moderately Wounded (-1 penalty to attk, defense, ability, skill and save rolls)

Fredar hears Nates screams of blind rage, and swallows hard. Okay so I'm not going into melee against both two wolf-things and a Nate-thing. Still got to do something. He moves back into the courtyard, slipping past his two comrades at the gate and then moving right in order not to block their line of sight and to get a decent line of sight himself. When he's moved either as far as he can or into what he thinks is a decent position to attack from, he launches a bullet at whichever of the wolf-things is least obscured by Nate

(ooc: I assume that tha's W1 on the map)