Hazel hurries over to the other side of the platform, still keeping behind cover.

The orc answers, "Why not?! You will kill me soon anyway! I may as well go down fighting!"

And with that, he gets one last hit on Gnara before the girl gnoll lassos him with shadow and yanks him off the wall, snapping his neck. "Heeheeheehee! What a wonderful sound! You should've heard it! Did you hear it?! It was all CRAAACK!HEHEHEHHEHEHEHEEEE!"

  "Closer to a keerack, Gnara.  Though the one on the southern wall was a craaack." Oh gods, he's serious.

  He looks over to Nathan and Hazel, "Are you two in any danger of losing consciousness?"

"No love lost over these jerks it seems," Nathan says, taking a seat to rest up and tend to his wounds.

"Thanks for the lifesaving, Hazel.  Now I'm bias in favor of your occupation."

Gnara says, "Heeheehee... you're wrong, Rhagar!" she then perfectly imitates the sickening snap as if she were a sound effects machine. "See, I learned to perfectly mimic any sound I hear... heeheehee..."

Hazel sweatdrops. "Strikers", he thinks to himself. Then says, "You're welcome, Nathaniel. And thank you for not only your faith in me... but you healing me also. Let's rest..."

---

A staple gnoll ability, I couldn't resist taking that as my level 1 feat instead of some high-damage weapon.
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:15, Fri 10 Apr 2015.

  "Well, that seems quite useful."  We admit he deliberately avoided saying it SOUNDS useful.

  He nods to Hazel's suggestion.  "Yes, it is best for you to be more recovered before we start dealing with the crystal."  In case somebody left it set to 'next encounter' instead of more convenient settings.

"So that giggling thing.  I've been meaning to ask.  Is it anything like a human high on mushrooms?  Or is it more of a verbal tick that has nothing to do with being happy?"

This might be important later!  Rhagar's dead, Hehe!  He gets to work checking the crystal for traps or whatever.

Gnara giggles. "Yes? Heeheehee... I mean... It happens when I bree-heeheeth... but my giggling coincidentally tends to happen when something I think is funny is happening." She goes to lazily put an arm around Nathaniel, leaning over slightly with her head tilted so she can be eye-to-eye with him (Remember, gnolls are 7' tall minimum XD). "Heeheeheehey, buddy... you seem a bit less upset now that you got some combat in. Feeling alive?"

Hazel's feral look vanishes as he rests. He breaths a sigh of relief and leans against the steps with a relaxed smile as he gazes at the sky. He glances at Rhagar. "Sure was handy we had you along for all those long-distance enemies..."
This message was last edited by the GM at 01:58, Fri 10 Apr 2015.

Nathaniel isn't drunk.  So he's got no excuse when he reaches to scritch behind the gnoll's ear.

"Who's a cute giggle-puppy?  You are!"

Great way to lose an arm.  Even if you're not using the "what a cute baby!" tone of voice.  But his wry smile says he's not expecting Gnara to take offense.

"Hmm.  I dunno.  I guess?  Being angry enough to kill a man has a way of clearing away self-doubt.  At least for a little while.  Though I suppose today proved I'm still a weakling of a paladin.  Went down in one hit."

  Of course Nathan has an excuse, Gnara is fluffy.

  To Hazel he comments. "A poor option is better than none at all, yes."  To Nathan, "It would not have gone well for any of us, you at least could get back up.  Though I do not see why being angry should change how likely you are to kill."

Gnara gets a blush and a "huh?" expression with both eyebrows raised upon Nathan treating her puppy-like. Both eyes roll towards the scritches. She starts panting with a smile and slightly stomping a leg as Nathan can hear her giggle under her breath. Her tail involuntarily wags.

Hazel shoots smoke out his ears when he hears Rhagar's brain-breaking statement. "You... wha...what? Huh? Everyone in the world is more likely to kill when angry than when they are not."

Gnara says, "....yeah? Even people who kill all the time are still more likely to kill if angry. Heehee though some rare few are less likely to kill when angry because they no longer feel killing is enough and they want their victims alive enough to experience pain and torture!"

Nathan chuckles at the cute puppy antics of the gnoll.

"I think he was talking about how likely I am to be killed."

He considers.  "Yeah.  I guess an orc axe would have split most in two.  I feel somewhat less of a wimp now, knowing I can still be breathing after a hit.  Still, Hazel here didn't even pass out."

  "Is that how it is supposed to work?  How is anyone still alive, I wonder."  Rhagar is imagining this anger=violence thing in the extreme sense where people start decapitating eachother over things like talking during a play.

  Now it's his own turn to look mildly 'what?' at Gnara.  "That seems wasteful, I never understood the appeal."

Hazel says, "More likely to kill doesn't mean absolutely certain to kill." wondering why he is even having to explain this. He looks at Nathan. "I doubt I'm tougher than you so much as you were unlucky and I was lucky... so far as surviving one hit from an axe bigger than me is lucky."

Gnara giggles at Rhagar's comment. "Meheehee neither! But then, maybe you and I've just never been all that terribly angry before. But you know... some people like to eat orc meat, some like elf meat. Some like both. Still others don't like meat at all. It's the same with killing or torture; it's all about preference! Far as waste? It's rare to find non-waste... after all, do you eat everyone you kill, Rhagar? If not, that too is a waste... heehee."

Nathaniel sweatdrops and considers the orcs.

"That is a lot of meat, yes."

He nods at Hazel.  "Appreciate the vote of confidence."

He gets back to the crystal business.

  "I have been lead to believe it is widely considered improper to eat people, regardless of potential nutritional value or opportunity."  As well as how bad an idea it would be for him to suggest he might look into it.  His awareness of social graces wildly varies.

  "I have been quite angry before.  It made no difference to who lived and died, or how." Even if he had certainly thought about it.

  He lets the Angel deal with the Crystal for now,considering it was another Angel that stuck them with this job.  Mostly because Nathaniel was already doing it all on his own though.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:47, Fri 10 Apr 2015.

Gnara helps Nathan. And soon, so does Hazel. Gnara giggles and replies to Rhagar. "But when you got very angry, did it make you think about killing? Were there times you got angry and as a direct result, you killed someone? If the answer to even one of those questions is yes, then you are more *likely* to kill when angry. Even if you don't actually kill more, the chances are still higher. But!! Even if the answer is 'no', that doe not negate that the answer is 'yes' for most people. Ask anyone and start keeping count."

The topic is clearly one she enjoys.

Hazel says, "Good thing we brought a wagon... I didn't think the crystal would be this big..."

"I'm sure Rhagar is plenty aware that rage killing is a thing.  All he said is that he never understood it.  Which is a good thing."

Nathan puts his strength to good use and helps load the big crystal up onto the cart.

"At least any thieves wanting to try and steal it will have a hard time sneaking it out."

  Interesting points from Gnara, but he's starting to remember that openly discussing 'so, what makes you feel like killing things?' can be an iffy subject for those not as enthusiastic as her.  Oh good, Nathaniel brings up an easy answer and subject change.  "We should cover it up once it is loaded, on that note.  I still expect roadside ambushes because those just happen anyway, but it would help to not show an obvious shining target."

Meanwhile, other heroes were finding a crystal. Noah has been stuck with an impatient elf (first he ever heard of such a thing), a gruff human who has a bugbear demeanor about him, and a draconian who has demonstrated a lack of understanding just about anything basic to being human. Welp!

On the bright side, Noah is probably one of the more patient humans of his age.

"Ohlookit'sthecrystal!" and with that, Keyleth charges into combat!

With speed unlike any the group has seen, Keyleth rushes up the stairs all the way to the orc and strikes at it! But the orc lucks out and manages to dodge just out of her strike!

He retaliates by swinging his greataxe! Despite the sheer size of the axe, Keyleth manages to dodge it just enough to only get scratched!

  Murphy's dice remain the bigger problem for level 1 characters than level 3 enemies, as Rhagar gets the dejavu of failing his first turn.  It remains to be seen if we get a repeat performance of thrown axe to chest.

  Rhagar's sling stone from the previous reality missed so hard it slipped into this dimension, and cracks off a tusk from the further north raider's mouth.

OOC: Move, duh.  Standard: Sling sly flourish misse Hits with 'enemy has not acted yet' Sneak DMG.  21 total.

Raider B HP: 46-21= 25/46
This message was last edited by the player at 04:48, Tue 14 Apr 2015.

"Surrender..." Toothix sighs, charging up the stairs and slicing one of the orcs.

"Yeah yeah I know.  'Like we'd surrender to an Elf.'  Whatever.  Didn't want you to surrender anyway.  Prisoners are a hassle."

Noah and some more orcs all approach the fight.

Meanwhile, Keyleth chops the orc in the neck with her hand, then rushes off, ducking under a swing of the axe. While the orc is swinging at Keyleth, Toothix hits the orc hard!

Keyleth almost seems to appear behind Noah.

The orc hits Toothix right back and hits hard!

  Rhagar flaps partway up the stairs, coming to a stop out of arms reach of the nearly fallen Raider.  He looks over to the approaching Drudges, and sprays a blast of freezing liquid from his mouth at their faces.  Side effects include tripping down stairs, and their skulls shattering like T1000.

  That over with, he flicks a dagger behind him without looking into the neck of the Raider facing Toothix.  Hey, it's called Sly flourish.

"Yeah didn't think so."

Hacky mchackerson ensues.

"Think the princess will complain if their precious gem is covered in blood?"

Noah smiles and Toothix feels a warm calm over him as his wounds just... vanish. Noah then stabs the orc raider, killing it. The remaining orc yells, "NEVER SURRENDER!" and whacks Noah, making him oof!

Keyleth then hops off the steps, rushes around behind the orc and does such a quick succession of punches, it sounded like maybe 5? ...inside of a second. The orc drops unconscious. Keyloth just bounces in place, dukes still up with a smile and she thumbs the blood off the corner of her mouth.
This message was last edited by the GM at 05:40, Tue 14 Apr 2015.