Thwip
Realizing that he is exposed Thwip bolts towards the kneeling Blue Hawk. Barring a sudden case of javelin in the back on the way there, he plans to kneel back to back with the shaman and takes aim at the most immediate threat.
Blue Hawk
In his peripheral vision, Hawk sees the horse braved, and heard itâs very of pain. Angered, he stands, taking a defensive posture and a defensive grip on his spear.
He tries his own Northern tongue again. âWe mean you no harm, but we will fight any cowards who would choose to attack defenseless horses instead of the warriors protecting them.â
If he has time, the shaman repeats that in Arabic as well.
GM POST
While Ranar struggles with the horses, the three remaining javelins let fly, aimed at de Courcy, Jibril and Thwip.
Both de Courcy and Jibril are sheltered by their horses; Thwip, in contrast, stands exposed with his back to Hawk.
Javelin at de Courcy: Base skill of 14, no aiming, -4 for cover, range/speed -2. Effective skill of 8.
Javelin at Jibril: Base skill of 14, no aiming, -4 for cover, range/speed -3. Effective skill of 7.
Javelin at Thwip: Base skill of 14, no aiming, range/speed -3. Effective skill of 11.
@discbot roll 3d6 vs 8 to hit de Courcy
@discbot roll 3d6 vs 7 to hit Jibril
@discbot roll 3d6 vs 11 to hit Thwip
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 11 vs 8 to hit de Courcy (4,3,4)
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 9 vs 7 to hit Jibril (4,1,4)
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 13 vs 11 to hit Thwip (5,2,6)
GM POST
Three javelins miss their targets, but they were all thrown at crowded areasâŠ
@discbot roll 3d6 vs 9 to accidentally hit de Courcyâs horse
@discbot roll 3d6 vs 9 to accidentally hit Jibrilâs horse
@discbot roll 3d6 vs 9 to accidentally hit Hawk in the back
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 14 vs 9 to accidentally hit de Courcyâs horse (5,6,3)
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 15 vs 9 to accidentally hit Jibrilâs horse (6,3,6)
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 5 vs 9 to accidentally hit Hawk in the back (1,1,3)
GM POST
The javelin flies straight at Hawkâs back; having never seen it coming, he has no chance to Dodge.
@discbot roll 3d6 for random hit location
@Wanderfound the 3d6 dice reads: 11 for random hit location (5,4,2)
GM POST
With almost uncanny accuracy, the javelin flies straight for the shamanâs lean posterior.
@discbot roll 2d6 +1 impaling
@Wanderfound the 2d6 dice reads: 5 +1 impaling (1,4)
GM POST
The oversized javelin pierces the northern shaman clean through, entering and exiting just above the hip.
12HP damage to Hawk; thatâll need an immediate roll vs HT to avoid Knockdown and Stun. Youâre now at half Move and Dodge, and need a HT roll per second to retain consciousness. You can heal yourself quickly if you want, but youâre at a -4 shock penalty this turn
Thwip
The world slows down. It tilts. It becomes unreal. The arc the javelin makes as it flies towards Thwip is beautiful. In the approach of death he feels that he can now see the mathematics that God used to create the universe.
â d equals v squared over g? Itâs so obvious now. â
Thwip pushes it out of his mind and resumes his aim at the centaur. Either he will die or he will not. Itâs all in the Lordâs hands now. He will not register that Blue Hawk took a javelin meant for him. Though if he did, he would feel very guilty about it.
â One Makarem. Two Makarem. Three Makarem. Fire!â
Ranar Bolijyr
Ranarâs blood had run cold when he saw where the javelin was aimed. Too late, he hauled over on the reigns, only adding to the horsesâ confusion. His vision beginning to blur with rage, he glared at the centaur.
@nimelennar @Daaksyde @Mitchell @William_George @daneel
GM SCENE
As the shaman falls stunned to his knees, so too does the wounded horse. Seeing that the carriage is no longer going anywhere, the mysteriously blurred Ranar leaps from the driverâs bench. In front of Ranar, the shot-up centaur that wounded the horse shifts its spear to a two-handed long reach and steps forwards.
Behind Hawk, Thwip snaps off an unaimed shot against the centaur charging from the other side of the road. Whether guided by skill, prayer or luck, the bullet strikes true, slamming deep into the centaurâs chest. Stunned by the wound, this centaur falls to the ground, dropping its spear.
Meanwhile, at the front of the group, Jibril scampers behind the centaur attacking de Courcy, while de Courcy in turn repeats Jibrilâs earlier trick, spooking his horse forwards and using it as cover against the second centaur. As de Courcy lunges forwards with his rapier, the centaur scrambles backwards, avoiding the blow and nearly trampling Jibril in the process.
Back at the rear of the group, Hawk struggles to focus past the pain, clinging grimly to consciousness as he summons the spirits to aid his battered body. With a grunt and a jerk, he removes the javelin from his side with one hand, while magical energy flows from the other to repair the damage left behind. As the spirits enter his mind, Hawk feels his natural calm and control return.
As Thwip frantically reloads, his target tries to struggle to its knees. Before it can rise, however, the wound takes its toll and the centaur collapses unconscious.
Nearby, Ranar charges towards the centaur. As he approaches, the centaur retreats and jabs at him with its spear. Despite the obvious difficulty it has in seeing him (it squints and grimaces as it strikes), the spear is nevertheless on target. Ranar throws himself backwards, barely avoiding the questing spearpoint.
Up with the vanguard, de Courcyâs target also lunges with its huge spear, while twisting to try and keep Jibril in sight. The elegant swordsman steps aside and easily avoids the clumsy strike; however, in doing so, his regrettably inexpensive rapier bends to the edge of breaking. Although the blade springs back into true, it is clear that every parry is a gamble against weapons of such size.
Meanwhile, Jibril lunges at full extension towards the centaurâs side. His blade strikes true, sliding to the hilt into the centaurâs lungs. At the same instant, de Courcy springs forwards, planting his rapier into its lungs as well. Transfixed by the two blades, the centaur collapses unconscious and bleeding.
As Hawk runs to support Ranar, Thwip carefully takes aim at their remaining opponent. Ranar himself continues to charge towards his enemy, but is struggling to close on the retreating centaur. However, he has managed to get inside the reach of its spear; unfortunately for him, this puts him within the reach of its hooves.
Determined to close the distance, Ranar does not retreat and collects a thunderous kick to the chest. Fortunately, his armour soaks up the blow, reducing a serious wound to merely unfortunate bruising.
As Jibril and de Courcy withdraw their swords from the fallen centaur, the second attacker finally closes the range and thrusts at Jibril. Still unbalanced from his earlier lunge, the Wazifi barely manages to avoid a strike that would surely have pinned him to the ground.
As de Courcy and Jibril once again scamper into flanking positions on their remaining target, it scrambles backwards and kicks at the mercenary. Again, de Courcy casually voids the blow with his cloak and rapier.
Jibril again sneaks his blade in from the side, but without such dramatic effect as last time; although the centaur is surely badly wounded, it retains enough mobility to jump aside as de Courcyâs attempt at a finishing thrust comes in.
As Hawk skids to a stop and aims his spear for a throw, Ranar recklessly charges forwards, swinging his hammer wildly. Although the blow is surely mighty, it narrowly misses connecting with the target.
Realising that it is surely headed for the same fate as its fallen companion, the centaur facing Jibril and de Courcy turns and flees, blood streaming from the sword wound in its side. The thrill of combat leads the two swordsmen to momentarily pursue, before realizing the futility of such a task and pulling up.
As the last remaining centaur unsuccessfully kicks at Ranar, Hawkâs spear takes to the air. The target is completely focused on Ranar; it never saw it coming, and does not dodge. As the weapon buries itself in the centaurâs flank, he collapses to the ground, dropping his spear.
Seeing his chance, Ranar steps forward, looses a battle cry and slams his pickhammer down with all of his might. The spike rips straight through the centaurâs heart, releasing an explosion of blood that soaks the dwarven warrior from head to toe.
As Thwip lowers his rifle, you survey the battlefield: one slightly-bruised dwarf (whose mysterious blur has disappeared as rapidly as it appeared), one exhausted and bloody but otherwise okay shaman, one badly wounded horse. Plus one centaur that is already dead, and another two that are likely to bleed out very rapidly if not seen to. The fled centaur has disappeared over the hills, although the blood trail left would likely make it easy to track.
[PLAYER CUE: what next? Ranar is down 3HP; Hawk is down 4HP plus 8 fatigue (on top of the five earlier, so some powerstone was used)]
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Ranar Bolijyr
Ranar spends a few moments catching his breath, recovering, and extracting his pick from the downed centaur. Then he turns and walks slowly back toward the wounded horse. As he approaches he speaks calmly, in a subdued tone, tries to comfort the horse while checking the severity of the wound. She is clearly in pain and seems barely conscious. Although he has helped wounded animals before, there is no safe place here for this one to recover. The merciful thing may be to end the beastâs suffering. UnlessâŠmagic, perhaps? He looks imploringly to Blue Hawk.
JibrÄ«l Al-Lasâas
Although JibrÄ«l isnât a soldier, he feels the exhilaration of surviving combat. It felt good to use his tulwar in anger.
JibrÄ«l examines the centaurâs javelins and spears. Perhaps these might be useful?
Maybe there is something to be learned from these centaurs? Could they help find what we seek? He turns to the nearby unconscious creature. Perhaps it could be helped?
Thwip
The goblin lowers his rifle to the ground in front of him. He remains kneeling over it as if transfixed. He shudders and his hands shake as he tries to hold back the tears of processing the trauma of the fight. He will remain that way until he is roused by the others.
â No matter how many⊠Iâm an engineer, dammit. Not a killer.â
GM POST
As the dust of the fight settles, Aronn emerges from the carriage. Heading forwards towards Ranar and the horses, leaning heavily on his staff, he gently soothes the wounded animal as he instructs Ranar to carefully remove the javelin.
As the weapon comes free, Aronnâs hands move across the wound, magically sealing damaged tissue as it goes.
Once he is done, the horse, although weak, is no longer panicked and bleeding.
âWeâll need to shift one of the other horses to the carriage; this fine lady shouldnât be doing any work for a whileâ he says as he looks around. âItâs a lovely spot, but best not linger, yes?â
Nicholas de Courcy
De Courcy wipes down his rapier, examining it for damage as he does so, feeling the familiar post-combat shakes as the adrenaline seeps from his system.
The blade flexed to a worrying degree on that parry. Cheap continental knock-off, maybe he shouldnât have bet his Arlaise-made blade in that poker game a couple of months back, but it had seemed like such a good hand.
When he looked up Jibril was already making his way back to the others, de Courcy shrugs and recatches his horse and wonders up the hill to retrieve the arrow that went wide.
That done, he returns to the fallen centaur. Blood bubbles on the horse-manâs lips as he struggles for breath, de Courcy draws a knife and finishes him off before cutting his arrow free.
Everything sorted the mercenary returns to the main group, sees Aronn and Ranar tending to the injured horse and notes Thwip kneeling over his rifle and clearly on the edge of weeping.
Remembering his first real fight, and the advice a veteran gave him at the time, de Courcy dismounts and slowly approaches the goblin.
He crouches down so their faces are level.
âThwip, look at me,â he says gently, waiting until the goblin makes eye contact with him.
âTake slow breaths. Feel your heart beat, like itâs about to burst out of your chest? Do feel that taste in your mouth? That means youâre alive. See Ranar, See Blue Hawk and Arron. They feel that too. Theyâre alive because you did your part. Focus on that, and when youâre ready get up because your fellows need you.â
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Blue Hawk
Exhausted and sore, Hawk gingerly and wearily makes his way back to the wagon, collecting his horse along the way. Perhaps, he thinks to himself, I now understand why the city-men choose to cover themselves in metal, after all.
Hawk has heard of shamans who can ask the spirits to harden the air around the shaman, blocking some such attacks. He must try to figure out the drum beat or chant for such a request.
The tribesman reaches the wagon and hands the reins of his horse off to Ranar. âMy horse well. Maybe,â he chuckles wearily, âhappier pulling wagon than carrying Blue Hawk. I not know how tie to wagon, so please.â Having spent so much energy on first endearing himself to this horse, and then not recovering it because of the rough ride, and now the strain of healing his own injury, he is clearly having more trouble than usual forming thoughts in the strange Anglish language.
The shaman looks imploringly at Lord Arron. âLord Arron, I aware this not of usual, but may I ride wagon so recover energy? Should be hour, not more. Do not need heal, but very sore, very tired, and not rest riding horse.â
