Silver Insanity

Precious, Valuable Madness
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 Post subject: Chapter VI: Fire And Ice
PostPosted: Mon Jul 23, 2007 10:44 pm 
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Prismatic Pangolin

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:50 pm
Posts: 2283
The Arkwood, the great central forest of western Harcylon, is ancient beyond mortal reckoning. And, as is the nature of such places, it has acquired a reputation for danger far beyond what an average traveler might encounter. It is said that packs of man-eating dire wolves roam its darkened depths*, and that the trees bestir themselves to squash any so foolish as to intrude upon their contemplations.

Today, an intruder might notice that an unusually large number of people have decided to ignore this reputation. In fact, there is an entire bandit camp set up here, sprawling to the very edges of a small clearing. The camp contains a mixture of human and gnoll warriors - and, judging from the zombie hyenas on sentry duty, at least one cleric amongst them as well.

Still, destroying this group of bandits is worth a thousand gold to each of three different local mayors - not to mention full salvage rights to any loot you find (aside from the food supplies that the villages desperately need back). And getting to play the part of hero isn't exactly a down side, either.

________
* There is, in fact, a pack of dire wolves. But they are haughty, and aloof, and regard mere human prey as beneath their dignity.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 3:44 pm 
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Lunatic

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:46 pm
Posts: 515
Location: In front of my computer
Aurora strides out of the smallest of the three villages that had of late been plagued with bandits. When she is perhaps a hundred yards from the edge, she makes a small gesture and speaks a single word. A horse that resembles nothing so much as a nightmare appears to her right and she swings herself up into the saddle. With a light tap of her heels, she sets off towards the forest. Half a mile away from the forest's edge she dismounts, makes a second gesture, and disappears from sight.

Invisible and airborne, she continues on towards the forest towards the bandit camp's reported location, keeping a weather eye out in all directions for anything of note.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:03 pm 
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Prismatic Pangolin

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:50 pm
Posts: 2283
Spotting the camp from the air is trivial; there are very few breaks in the canopy of the Arkwood. The fact that these bandits decided to camp in a clearing does not indicate a high level of tactical thought amongst them...

There are four tents set up, one smaller and better made than the other three.
The visible inhabitants of the camp are:
four zombies (at the edges; there might be more hidden under the tree cover),
six humans (burly warrior types),
and four gnolls (also warrior types).
All of the humanoids are armed, though only the four gnolls are paranoid enough to be carrying ranged weaponry (composite shortbows) while "safe" at home...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 4:44 pm 
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Lunatic

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:46 pm
Posts: 515
Location: In front of my computer
She drifts down silently over the clearing, staying well above the tents (though within the range of the gnolls' shortbows if she flies over them). Peering at the clearing's inhabitants she attempts to determine what magical surprises each might have, paying special attention to the armed gnolls and the fancier tent. Zombies imply a cleric or priest of some sort, though she knew well enough that wasn't a guarantee. She idly wonders if the cleric is perhaps a gnoll and what that might mean. Not that it would really matter, but...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:00 pm 
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Prismatic Pangolin

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:50 pm
Posts: 2283
The humans are relatively poorly armed; weak magic swords, and maybe a trinket or two on each.

The gnolls are much better equipped - their melee weapons are slightly higher powered, their shortbows are at least minimally enchanted, and they sport magic armor and a small collection of other enchanted items each - perhaps half a dozen magic items each, in total, though none of any noteworthy power.

The tent in question is made out of a plain dark green silk (as opposed to the simple grey canvas of the other three tents), and is, itself, magical: it blocks attempts to perceive what might be inside it.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:28 pm 
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Lunatic

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:46 pm
Posts: 515
Location: In front of my computer
She flies to above a tree behind the richer of the tents and hovers for a moment. A grin that nobody can see flashes across Aurora's face as she cocks her head, focusing on the center of the clearing. A ball of sinister blue-black energy rockets to the center of the clearing, writhing bolts shooting out to lash at the gnolls and humans as it stops, but not the zombies. Her invisibility broken, she drops down into the thin branches near the top past where someone climbing would be able to support their weight. Her skin and garb shimmer into colors matching those of the tree whose leaves and branches she is using for concealment.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 5:52 pm 
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Prismatic Pangolin

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:50 pm
Posts: 2283
The humans display a variety of reactions: one drops screaming to the ground, having attempted to dodge the bolt of energy headed his way and, instead, fallen into the cooking fire; two dash for their crossbows; the other three simply start running for the nearest edge of the clearing.

The four gnolls stand their ground, draw their bows, and look around to see where the attack came from. One of them points at you, and cries out something in (presumably) gnollish. Or perhaps it's just an inarticulate cry of rage; it's hard to tell the difference...


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:02 pm 
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Lunatic

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:46 pm
Posts: 515
Location: In front of my computer
Having possibly been spotted, Aurora makes no real attempts to remain hidden, but neither does she drop the camouflage or move from her spot - knowing where an opponent was was not the same as being able to hit them. She makes no movements as her next attack surges out, but the ball of fire zipping out from the tree branches doesn't exactly blend in. Again, the ball erupts in the center of the clearing, this time shooting smaller fireballs at all in the clearing including the zombies and those humans still fleeing.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:19 pm 
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Prismatic Pangolin

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 8:50 pm
Posts: 2283
There are now ten burning corpses in the clearing; six human and four hyena. Though one of the zombies, hardier (or luckier) than its peers, is making its way towards the tree you're flying in.

And the gnolls themselves are still standing, too, though they don't seem very happy about being on fire. Three of them fire off a single shot at you and then scatter, trying to get far enough apart that you can't hit all of them with another blast. The fourth simply stands his ground and sends three arrows up at you.

They all miss. Well, not quite miss, per se; most of the arrows are well enough aimed that they end up bouncing off your armor. And there is that one arrow that would probably have hit you, except that it hit a branch, first...

The air is filled with the sounds of angry gnolls yapping to each other; there seems to be a fifth gnoll voice from inside the green tent, but if so, that gnoll is staying out of sight for the moment.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Tue Jul 24, 2007 6:45 pm 
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Lunatic

Joined: Tue Apr 17, 2007 9:46 pm
Posts: 515
Location: In front of my computer
She really needed to learn the trick of bouncing spells off of targets that that sorcerer she had traveled with a year or so back had known... This time the bolt that flies from her position is a sickly mottled green-and-orange blob and it streaks through the air towards the gnoll who hadn't scattered. If everyone else runs and you don't, you're just as much of a target as if you'd been the only one to break.

Presumably the three shabbier tents are unoccupied, either that or the inhabitants are either heavy sleepers or not... "active", but the tent that presumably holds the leader would bear watching.


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