Quest #8 "Bring Me The Sea Monsters Head"

[Urson]

Luther

The big ranger is furious and freaked out by now, seeing this thing trying to escape after all the effort and injury that went into capturing it. He roars, his hackles bristling, and attempts to grapple the troll, intending to try and hold it in place while the others finish it off.

Yeah, I know- he's probably dead where he stands. If I read the DMG correctly, Luther's base chance to grapple is 41%. If he's successful, it will just be grab and hold, nothing fancy.

percent[1d100] = 98

[OGRE MAGE]

After All That Work
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Taking Down Mean Green, Round 4
Noon, Sunny, Humid, Buggy

The huge sea troll continues to pound its way through the sand towards the water as the many attacks on it continue to fall. Avaala, Rollo, Alordan, and Lightfinger all continue their assault on the beast, their attempts to take it down fail.

Monocar steps up with one of the long pikes, trying to skewer it to the ground. The beast swats the pole away easily with a flick of its huge claw. Chauncey rushes up into the action now as well, throwing three consecutive darts at the monsters back. One flies wide, the next sticks into the shoulder plate of Alordan's armor, but the third finds the target, its tiny point barely sticking into the things rubbery flesh. Yet, somehow, the beast does not fall.

I so badly wanted that 1 point of damage to take it down.

Luther knows the thing will get away once it hits the water, so he decides to try to stop it's lumbering advance. Or, at least slow it down. He throws himself towards the monster in an attempt to grapple with it. His large frame slows the thing down slightly, until it decides to use its bite attack to break the ranger's hold. It's massive spiky toothed maw clamps down on the burly human, biting deep and ripping through the flesh of his upper arm and shoulder, bringing memories back to the last gruesome fight with this creature as Luther screams out from the pain. 12 dam

Saracen steps in, swinging his giant sword as the creature advances. Not even the blessed mighty warrior priest's holy blade can stop this fleeing monster. It bounds forward, mere seconds from the waters edge.

Actions!

It moves dreadfully slow on land, (3") especially with all of you poking at it. You estimate that it will reach the water at the end of next round, and will be gone after round 6. It's AC is 2, so you should probably stop trying to hit it with weapons you aren't proficient with.

Luther R2 2/20
Chauncey MU2 10/10 CL, DM, RM, 0/2 first
Saracen 12/12 1/3 first
Avaala 5/5 CL, DM, RM, 0/1 first
Rollo 17/17
Monocar F2 21/21
Alordan R2 13/13
Lightfinger T2 10/10

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Draws his sword... Devrin's sword... and tries to move to flank with Aldoran, but although the swing has the power behind it, he is still leary from last time.

To Hit [1d20+2] = 5+2 = 7 S DMG [1d8+4] = 2+4 = 6 DMG L [1d12+4] = 10+4 = 14

[ChubbyPixie]

Thrilled with his "success," Chauncey lets fly his three remaining darts as the creature makes its way inexorably to the surf. It's like watching someone who trained their whole life in the rigors of magic study attempt to do something other than magic competently.

Attack with dart (THAC0:20): To Hit [1d20] = 11, Damage vs s/m [1d3] = 2, vs Lg [1d2] = 2
Attack with dart (THAC0:20): To Hit [1d20] = 11, Damage vs s/m [1d3] = 3, vs Lg [1d2] = 2
Attack with dart (THAC0:20): To Hit [1d20] = 6, Damage vs s/m [1d3] = 1, vs Lg [1d2] = 1

[Storm11]

Saracen calls on the last of his light magic, and lifts his lens of direction towards Scraggy’s back.

”I call upon the Blinding Light, to blast the beast with burning might, and take the monster’s wicked sight, to fell him with your dazzling might!” he cries, as a beam of sunlight lances down from the sky, ricochets off the lens and sizzles into the monsters back.

[1d6+1] = 4+1 = 5 : [1d2] = 1


”Charge him my comrades, strike at his back before he escapes completely.” the holy champion calls out.

its the best chance we have now if he is running for the sea. +2 for the charge and +2 more for hitting at his back, and no dexterity if he has any. He’s legging it too so he won’t have an attack.

[ravenn4544]

Alordan appears to be loosing his footing in the sand...

Long Sword Attack [1d20] = 13 (THACO=20)
Long Sword Damage(+1 str/+2 vs. troll) = S/M: [1d8+3] = 3+3 = 6 / L: [1d12+3] = 12+3 = 15

[Urson]

Luther

The big ranger is bleeding profusely, his snarls turning to screams of pain and rage. He scrabbles for his harpoon, slashing at the beast with it as if it were a poleaxe.

Great Bear, Help me!

attack [1d20] = 13

[1d8] = 8

[tkrexx]

Lightfinger tries another desperate whack.

To hit: [1d20] = 14 No +'s added. Dmg: [1d8] = 3

[SirOwen]

Avaala

Seeing Luther nearly torn apart and the troll about to escape, Avaala mutters, "No.... oh no." as he swings once again with his staff and calls for Rollo to continue attacking. But his fear of the beast, and what it is capable of, ruins his attack.

Attack with Staff [1d20] = 1

Rollo, however, tasting the troll's blood, is eager for more combat.

Attack from Rollo, 2+2 Hit Dice [1d20] = 15 (Plus whatever bonus he gets from attacking a retreating creature from behind?)

Damage from Rollo [2d4] = 5

[OGRE MAGE]

After All That Work
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Taking Down Mean Green, Round 5
Noon, Sunny, Humid, Buggy

The party senses that their hard work and planning is about to slip through their fingers if they are unable to take this monster down before it gets back to the sea. Quite pleased with his last efforts, Chauncey tosses 3 more of his metal darts at the thing. Two of his missiles miss completely, the third sticks into the leg of his friend Avaala. 2 dam

Alordan, and Lightfinger have little luck in injuring it further with their swords. Monocar draws forth the blade of his fallen friend Devrin, who was killed by this very beast. He too is unable to cause it any more damage. Avaala does not look comfortable in hand to hand combat, but that doesn’t stop him from trying to do his part. He commands Rollo to attack again as he flails away with his staff. When his dog takes another chunk of flesh from the beast, the creature jerks his long leg around violently, trying to shake the dogs firm grip. The movement causes the mage to accidentally club his own dog instead of hitting the troll. The blow is not overly devastating, 3 dam but it is enough to cause Rollo to release his clamped jaws from its stinking rubbery flesh.

Luther calls out to the Great Bear to guide his blow while doing everything he can to prevent the monster from escaping. His call is not answered and his blow does no damage. Saracen watches this all transpire while droping his huge sword in the sand. As the beast bounds past the half-orc, he retrieves his piece of glass and aims his last beam at the back of the fleeing monsters head. Again, a bright beam of light is projected from the sun, magnified through the glass, that hits the green beast with loud sizzling and popping noises.

As the monster lets out one last loud scream, the pain from burning beam causes it to fall limp, face first into the sand at the edge of the shoreline. No longer able to attack, or even move at this point, the things 10 foot long frame just lays there in the wet sand, its head and shoulders starting to get wet as the shallow waves lap up onto the sandy shore.

Rollo leaves the side of his master and walks to the very edge of the waves. He starts barking uncontrollably out to sea. As the group tries to discern what he might be sensing, they see one lone arrow still floating on the surface of the water. The elf boy is nowhere to be seen however, and the dog continues to bark.

Actions?

Luther R2 2/20
Chauncey MU2 10/10 CL, DM, RM, 0/2 first
Saracen 12/12 0/3 first
Avaala 3/5 CL, DM, RM, 0/1 first
Rollo 14/17
Monocar F2 21/21
Alordan R2 13/13
Lightfinger T2 10/10

[Urson]

Luther

The ranger drags himself to his feet, coughing and bleeding from his many wounds. He grabs the troll's leg and tries to drag it away from the water. Gimme a hand! He may be playin' possum!

Once the thing is on _DRY_ sand, Luther goes down in a heap, gritting his teeth to bite back a scream. Ruttin' bastard won't eat *cough* anybody else!

[Bluehorse]

Monocar

Waste no time in helping Luther drag the assumed corpse of the troll away from the water that could nourish it back to health. The then quickly goes to work with his sword at hacking the head free of the body, not caring if it is clean or not, just wanting it off. Dismember him and pile it on the wood over there! Quick! We will save the head for the Treefolk as proof but let's make sure the rest doesn't come back to get us." He is already going to work on the grizzly task of quartering the troll with furious blows of the sword of the friend the beast slew here days before. Each one is like a prayer... a bloody prayer... to the lost soul he hopes now rest in peace. I'll put his head on a pike.... I'll carve his face off and stretch it to dry in the sun!

[ravenn4544]

Alordan follows suit with the dismemberment. He too thinks of the appalling death of Devlin and with some grim satisfaction satiates his need for revenge.

[Storm11]

Saracen smiles as the new spell fells the creature, and slips the lens back into his belt pouch, picking up his two handed sword and sheathing it in its back scabbard.

”If you are keeping the head make sure you cauterise the neck so no regeneration can occur yes. Well done everyone, we made it. Where is Jack? We should ensure the creatures corpse is fully burnt to ensure it is truly gone!”

The half-orc helps the team of hackers, gathering drift wood and kindling from the tree line to make a bonfire. ”Can you eat troll? I don’t knows that I really know much about that!”

[ChubbyPixie]

Chauncey grimaces, mortified, frozen in place as the troll falls. He stares at Avalaa’s leg.”Ah... sorry about the...” he begins, ... I’m usually quite accurate with those.... um... do you mind?” He trails off, holding out his hand.

Before the troll is placed on the makeshift pyre, Chauncey will gather samples of its flesh and ichor in two of the unused grenade bottles and stash them in his robes. ”Surely, through research, we may learn something useful about its properties of regeneration,” he says.

He pokes around in the sand in an effort to recover what spent darts he can. He only finds every other one. Oddly, he only ever seems to be able to find every other one.

[SirOwen]

Avaala

Avaala helps pull the troll's body away from the water, retrieving his two daggers from its stinking carcass and wiping them off before replacing them in his scabbards. He stands aside as the others begin to butcher the monster for burning. He limps over to Rollo and kneels beside the huge dog. He wraps his arms around him and tells him, "I'm sorry, Rollo. I didn't mean to hit you. Good boy. You did really good. Good boy!" He lavishes praise on the Mastiff and pulls food out of the bags on the side of his armor and gives it to him.

He is very quick to 'pish-posh' Chauncey's apology for the dart. He points at Rollo and says, "I absolutely understand. You can ask him. I whacked him in his poor head. I'm just glad he wears armor." He looks at the dart, however, and adds, "Just a moment on that, please. I really don't have any bandages on my person, and I don't want to pull that out and start bleeding until I have something ready to wrap on it properly. Oh, Saracen!! Do you have a bandage I could use for this?"

[tkrexx]

Lightfinger wants to be certain.

As the beast flops on the wet shore, the tall, wiry Hobbit leaps upon it's back and drives his small sword to the hilt into it's flesh. No getting up again for you, foul one! He glances at Chauncey and pants, I hope there are no more of these things! His gaze goes back to the water. Jack! JACK!! He runs to the water's edge, back and forth hollering the Lost Elf Boy's name, tho fearing to dive in to further the search.

[OGRE MAGE]

A Bitter Sweet Victory
Sunday, 28th of Reaping
Mean Green Is Dead!
Early Afternoon, Sunny, Humid, Buggy

Wisely pulling the beast away from the lapping water, the exhausted group instantly begins hacking away at the carcass. The beasts head is chopped off violently while arms, legs, and anything else is bisected, dissected, and maybe even trisected until the thing is laying in many pieces on the hot, dry sand. There is no sign of it regenerating, but the stench is nearly unbearable in the hot sun. You notice that most of the insects are even staying away from this fresh kill.

Chauncey and Lightfinger notice a particularly offensive smelling rubbery gland at the base of the things slashed open neck. The mage squeezes the horrible smelling glop into one of the unbroken glass bottles for later study.

A small, wet leather sack is found tied around the waist of the grotesquely slimy creature. 7 small pearls are found inside of it along with a 5" long, slim cylinder of a strange black waxy substance. The more learned in the group believe this item could be an implement of writing.

Monocar fells a couple of dead trees as anything flammable on the ground is assembled together to form a makeshift beach bonfire big enough to melt this smelly bastard down. The thought of consuming the meat is immediately dismissed once the horrific aroma of its cooking flesh hits your senses.

Rollo continues staring out to sea where the single arrow floats lazily on top of the soft rolling waves. Avaala gets him to stop barking, but there was clearly something out there that caught the animals attention.

Lightfinger calls out for the lost elf boy, but sadly, there is no reply. He thinks he spots a glint of soft light flash across his line of sight from under the water, but when he squints his eyes and shades his face from the suns rays, the flash is no longer visible.

Wounds are tended as the group decides what to do next. The stinking carcass continues to burn as the hot afternoon rolls along.

Actions?

Luther R2 2/20
Chauncey MU2 10/10 CL, DM, RM, 0/2 first
Saracen 12/12 0/3 first
Avaala 3/5 CL, DM, RM, 0/1 first
Rollo 14/17
Monocar F2 21/21
Alordan R2 13/13
Lightfinger T2 10/10

[ChubbyPixie]

At Lightfinger’s outburst Chauncey looks up to see what all the commotion is about. ”Well, I’m sure the boy has just run off again. Although during a fight with a troll seems an odd time for it, given his enthusiasm for such things” he says. ”Ah, there, you see? Evidence.” he continues, noticing the single arrow floating in the water, ”Those are the arrows he was collecting, there. Abandoned. Which indicates he’s most likely been... that he’s likely to have been... oh.”

[ravenn4544]

Alordan sighs at the thought of another fallen islander to this beast. While the natural order of things - prey and predator - are inherent to his being, it makes it no less easy to endure when the prey has a story and a name.

He will help tend to the wounds of those that need assistance.