4 - 043: The Fourth Piece

[K Man]

Romar -

Dropping behind a nearby dune, you quickly begin to scrub yourself in the ever-present sand of the wastes. The sand clings to your body, burning like little orbs of molten metal--a sharp contrast to the cool leaves and shadows of the Elven capital you just left.

When sufficiently covered, you run to the crest of the dune again and hail the riders.

"Hail, riders! I am on a journey to the Dune Palace, but my mount has left me, now alone in this desert, and I fear I am lost..."

Upon spotting you, the riders stop and instinctively reach for weapons. After a second, the large rider waves a gloved hand and urges her mount forward. You can see that the mounts are no ordinary creatures, but giant bipedal lizards of dust browns and greys...probably very adept at suriving in the harsh suns.

The foremost rider is huge, probably of the same race as your former companion Girud, a Half-Giant. The broad shoulders, the long torso...all classic signs of a half-breed of giants. The rider carries himself well, holding a steady hand on the reigns of the strange mount while keeping a hand cautiously close to the hilt of his blade - a true warrior.

You are shocked to think of how much this figure reminds you of Girud. Indeed, when the rider is near enough to spot you think for a moment that you have been played a trick for it looks identical to Girud Sandstrider...that is until it speaks and you realize it is a woman.



"Hail wanderer! I am Telana Sandstrider, council member of the Gathered Nations..." She unheaves the giant blade from her back and levels it at you menacingly. "And why is it you seek the Dune Palace?"

Sandstrider...Girud never mentioned a sister...

------------------------------------------------------------------------

All but Romar -

{I will assume Girud is next, followed by Yuri and finally Garor in the interest of speeding things up.}

Krysta fires throuh the hole again. [Attack Rolls = 20/27, Damage Rolls = 14/12] Another of the undead Ogres collapses to the ground, returning to peaceful lifelessness.

Yuri blasts his cone again, ecompassing all of the Ogres before him. [Energy Blast, REF Save = All Failures (Again!), Damage Roll = 25] A few more of the Ogres nearby drop, leaving just the 'fresh' recruits.

Girud - {You need to be near the Phase Door to operate. It's just like a normal door, it just allows you to walk through stone or similar substance.} Melting into the ground, Girud leaves his attackers confused in the field and nears the stone fortress. Teetering precariously on the bodies of the dead Ogres, he speaks his name and hopes Yuri is not lying. Girud feels himself melt through the stone and knows it is truth. [Tumble Check to Avoid AoO's = (Base 14, I'm assuming failure with full plate)] The Ogre reaches for him. [Attack Roll = 20] The Ogre misses as Girud melts into the room with the others...

Galdren fires from the window. [Attack Roll = 29, Damage Roll = 13] A crackling arrow strike an undead Ogre in the shoulder, but does not drop him.

Last is Garor who remains steadfast in his defense of the colossus.

The ogres move about, all too slow to close and bring their undead fists to bear in a single round.

The Colossus however, takes out its frustrations on the heavily armored Garor. [Attack Rolls (You are now flanked by Ogres) = 35/33/23/33] This time three powerful blows land solidly on Garor, nearly crushing him. [Damage Rolls = 18/23/26] The Collossus groans with heavy weight swinging around, ready to chew through Garor next round...

The battle to enter this fortress is nearly at an end...

{Initiative: Krysta, Yuri, Alton and Girud, Adelia, Galdren, Garor, The Ogres, The Colossus}

{I have Yuri into the hole next, followed lastly by Garor. Keep in mind that more than one--thanks to Yuri--can squeeze through this hole.}

Map;

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..............******************************....
..............******************************....
........CCCC..******************************....
........CCCC..******************************....
........CCCC..******************************....
........CCCC..******************************....
..............******************************....
.......OOOOR..[]****************************....
............OOOO.............XXOO...............
......OOOOY.XX......................XOOO........
............X.................OOOO..............
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.............XOOOOO..........OOOO...............
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[/pre]

>>Legend>>
*** = 'The Masters' Fortress
[] = The hole made by the pearl
CCCC = Colossus
O = Undead Ogres (teams of 4, 20 to a side)
X = Re-Dead Ogres
G = Girud
D = Galdren
R = Garor
A = Adelia
K = Krysta
M = Mordrock
T = Alton
Y = Yuri
__________________________________________________________________________________________

[VemuKhaham]

Romar thinks deeply before he says anything, and wonders whether he should bring up the issue that is Girud, his former companion. Suddenly an idea comes to his mind. He lowers one knee to the ground, and politely speaks to the council member, trying to find out more about this situation before he says to much:

"Lady Telana Sandstrider, I must ask you a question first: Do you know Girud?"

[Japic]

Blinking at the suddenly dim interior Girud relaxes when he sees his companions doing ok, and quickly moves out of the way so that the others can get clear shots out the hole.

He moves closer to the door, sheathing his swords and unlatching the massive mace from his belt. He hefts it in his hand a moment and speaks to no one in particular.

"Those two had better hurry, they can't last forever"

{unless Im mistaken they can both go in on the same round if they are close and speak their names, right..?}

[BluSpecs]

(HP -8/80 stable)

Garor musters up his wll (diehard feat) and breaks for the door as quickly as possible

single action to move toward the door (if he can make it in two action he will and take the 1 point of damage bringing him to neg 9)


Bye fellas......

[Japic]

{Hey specs, don't forget that you can vein ride... If you wanted to ride away from the fortress (for healing) you could. Or ride to the doorway and hope to make it inside.}

[Fangor the Fierce]

Seriously, Vein Ride away, possibly even back to Ravenshead, get some healing, then come back. The door will still be there!

[GeneralMHB]

(OOC: If he vein-rides, he'll get ALOT of AoOs from everyone around him if I'm not mistaken. Is it possible for me to shield him from the attacks, IE tackle him and shove us both through the phase door?)

[BluSpecs]

If he takes anything other that a partial move action he takes a point of damage . If he hits -10 he's dead period no save....

Before geting back to ravens head he'd die (1 hp to ride + aao's 1 hp to come back and then move inside) . His best hope seems to be getting into the fortress so Alton can heal him a bit...

[Japic]

{Triple post for me, I'm sorry}

{The best way I can see to get Garor through that door is for Yuri to draw the AoOs from the ogres and the colossus around Garor. Then with his enemy out of AoOs, he can move about freely enough (except for the partial actions thing). It would have been benifitial to 5ft step closer to the door on another of your rounds so that your only one 5 ft step away, but it's too late for that.....

Only other option is for Garor to heal himself in hopes that its enough to keep him alive going forward. Otherwise the AoOs are too great a risk... he is still a cleric, right?}

[Jevva]

Krysta, Girud and Galdren can exit the fortress and try to clear the entryway of the ogres so that Garor can veinride in next to it without getting AoO's.

[BluSpecs]

Wouldn't he get the aao's anyway from casting a heal spell?

If youse guys can draw the aao's away he'll give it a shot otherwise it's a full with draw to the fort hole ;-)