Another arrow hurtles through the darkening air, and this time Colwyn gives a whoop of victory as the projectile bites into the ogre's stinking flesh.  "Got yer, yer bugger!"

And he reaches for another arrow, as he call's out a warning, "Look out, the other's on its way!"

On some level Aarnr is aware that Fergus is fighting at his side, the young farmer consumed with the same reckless abandon as himself.  Instintively he determines that his friend is neither foe nor rival ... though Fergus' mere presence spurs the priest on, causing him to hack at the ogre with his two-handed blade with yet more ferocity, the roar becoming an almost gutteral scream ...

Judging the range to be about right, Corian takes up an appropriate posture, and extends one hand towards the ogre.

"Taflegryn yn y tywyllwch!" he pronounces, and an orb of energy darts out from his fingertips, weaving and looping towards the monster and striking in a burst magical force.

Sprinting onwards the monk heads in the direction of the downed priestess and the second ogre, keeping an eye on the first ogre in case it notices her as well.  As she closes in on it she throws herself into a roll to make it as hard as possible for any attack to actually hit her.

Shaking her head, Erista dips a hand into her pouch, and brings out the potion from earlier, pulling out the stopper.  Then she throws it towards Eilieen.  The fragile glass sails through the air and drops towards the hard ground; just before it hits, she points at it and calls out.  "魔 術 手!"  Crooking her finger slightly, she guides the bottle more gently towards the priestess.

OOC: If Nameless gets there safely, she'll guide it more towards her hand - if she isn't there, she'll try to tip the bottle to pour into Eilieen's mouth.

Last to arrive on scene by blessing of his short legs, Ozzy's eyes nearly pop from his head at the sight of the two ogres. He stops some twenty yards from the lumbering giants, watching with anxious interest as Erista tosses - and then stops in midair - a small bottle for the fallen Eileen. He watches it all unfold as he brings his lute up and begins playing a few opening chords for a song of inspiration designed to turn the battle toward inevitable victory...

" Define your meanin' of war
To me it's what we do when we're bored
I feel the heat comin' off of the blacktop
And it makes me want it more

Because I'm hyped up, outta control
If it's a fight I'm ready to go
I wouldn't put my money on the other guy
If you know what I know oughta know

It's been a long time comin'
And the tables' turned around
'Cause one of us is goin'
One of us is goin' down

I'm not runnin'
It's a little different now
'Cause one of us is goin'
One of us is goin' down...

INIT: 8
INSPIRE COURAGE: +1 to attack and damage for anyone who can hear me sing :)

Erista hurries forward getting all too close to the ogre, which also places her closer to Eilieen.  The Namelss Monk also starts to run, but her destination appears to be the ogre nearest to the two fallen strangers.

Back in the woods, Aramil uses his sword to prod Jack in the region of the kidneys, thus encouraging him to keep moving...

The second ogre, the one which had arrived late on the scene, roars a challenge and breaks into a lumbering run as it sees its companion struggling a against Aarnr and Fergus.  The other ogre continues to battle against the two men.  It swings its club in Aarnr's direction again, but savage instincts play their part, and the priest of Bowbe evades the blow easily.  The weapon strikes a roadside tree instead, and the jolt sends it spinning out of the brute's hand.  Cursing and bellowing, Aarnr siezes the opportunity to drive his heavy blade in a sweeping cut which opens the ogre's guts...

Astral swoops close to Eilieen even as Erista draws a small crystal vial from her belt pouch and hurls it, the words of a spell springing easily to her lips...

Staggering, the ogre tries to use its left hand to hold the wound in its belly closed, while continuing to flail about with the right.  And an arrow sinks into its chest, seemingly unnoticed by the creature.

Floating in the air inches above Eilieen's face, the vial suddenly tilts over, and the stopper pops out.  Fluid pours out of it, splashing on the priestess' face in the vicinity of her mouth.  The woman coughs, takes a sudden shuddering breath and cries out in pain before laying still again... 

With a loud impact, Fergus' axe cuts into the ogre's hip and the monster starts to topple.  It's eyes glaze over.  As it falls the Nameless Monk throws herself into a diving roll to avoid its crushing bulk, and comes up on the balls of her feet close to the second ogre.

Ozzy and Aramil, along with Jack and Decklan burst out onto the road, where the two wood-be bandits again stop in the ir tracks.  Ozzy, who has been preparing for this moment since he left the camp, starts to sing, his voice surprisingly loud for one so small, and all of his friends within earshot immediately start to feel their spirits lift...

Loud though his voice is, it is almost drowned out by the thud as the ogre's body hits the ground, just as Corian's magic missile strikes it...


OOC: One down, eight one to go.

Combatant         Init
Erista             23
Aramil             21
Second Ogre        20  AC=16
Aarnr Foultongue   14
Astral             14
Eilieen            13
Colwyn Akbar       12
Fergus Andarson    11
Nameless Monk      10
Oswald Osbourne:    8
Corian              7
Lead Ogre          Down


Characters' Apparent Health
Aarnr Foultongue: Good
Aramil:           Good
Eilieen:          Dying?
Erista:           Good
Fergus Andarson:  Good
Nameless Monk:    Good
Oswald Osbourne:  Good

Colwyn Akbar:     Good
Corian Barade:    Good

Ozzy only glances toward the ditch where Eileen lies, having expected this when he signed on.
He uses her probable death to inspire him to sing all the clearer...

Define your meaning of fun
 To me it's when we're getting it done
 I feel the heat comin' off of the blacktop
 So get ready for another one
 Let's take a trip down memory lane
 (Do you remember me?)
 The words circling in my brain
 (And what you did to me)
 You can treat this like another all the same
 But don't cry like a bitch when you feel the pain

It's been a long time coming
 And the table's turned around
 'Cause one of us is going
 One of us is going down
 I'm not running,
 It's a little different now
 'Cause one of us is going
 One of us is going down...

Don't forget your +1 morale bonus this round when you roll :)

Fergus barely hesitates as the first ogre falls, pausing just long enough to wrench his axe free of the its hip before turning his attention to the remaining beast.

Hefting his axe overhead, Fergus charges towards the ogre, heedless of his own safety*  He brings the axe arcing down towards the ogre's head and chest, making up for a lack of technique with brute strength.

*A trifle ironic given it was Eilieen's haste, and subsequent injury, that got Fergus riled up.

Aramil takes in the scene and shudders at the form of Eilieen laying on the ground. Seeing one of the large creatures on the ground bleeding the half-elf wishes to give his companions a better chance. Words of elven form on his lips as he gets close to the standing ogre and then he speaks with clarity that is not in his singing. A feeling of power floods out of Aramil towards the creature as he attempts to slow the next set of attacks that will surely come.

"GRRAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRR !!!" Aarnr bellows in triumph as the first of the Ogres falls.   "RRRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHH !" he continues, as he casts about for the second foe, launching himself forward as he spies it through the red mist that clouds his vision.

Closing swiftly, the priest brings his great blade around in a wide arc, screaming in triumph as the blow strikes true and he cuts a great gash ... in the tree.

With an eye still half on Eilieen's fallen form, and somewhat distracted by Ozzy's singing, Erista sends a stone about an inch over the second ogre's ear.

"Bloody Hells, we got one!" Colwyn exclaims as the first ogre hits the ground, the shock in his voice nothing compared to that on his face.  He readies another arrow and launches in the general direction of the second monster.

Unfortunately he has to aim high, to avoid hitting any of his companions in the gathering dusk and misjudges slightly.  The arrow lands somewhere far beyond the ogre...

The monk moves in to kick the ogre while trying to ensure she does not end up under its big and smelly feet.  At the very least she will hopefully keep it busy enough so that it forgets any person on the ground.

Oswald's song rings out across the battlefield, inspiring courage and determination in the hearts of his allies.

Having done whatever she can to aid Eilieen, Erista concentrates on the second ogre.  The range is a bit further than she'd like, and there is a lot of rapid movement around the target, which doesn't help matters, and her sling stone narrowly misses the brute's ear.

Aramil, meanwhile, having just arrived and made a quick assessment, hurries forward and speaks a few words of elvish, casting a spell at the monster.  The magic causes the creature to shake its head for a moment, but otherwise seems to have little effect.  Jack and Decklan, now left unattended and with everybody else's attention on the ogre, start to edge back towards the forest.

Throwing back its head, the ogre roars a challenge.  The cry is so fearsome that the two bandits freeze in their tracks, and a dark, wet stain starts to spread down the leg of Decklan's britches.  Those two, though, are not the target of the monster's rage.  A broken tree limb, doing service as a club, lashes out and slams into Aarnr's upper arm, spinning the cleric of Bowbe through a half circle and causing his massive blade to slam into a tree...

Colwyn launches another arrow, but it sails high above the creature's head and vanishes into the twilight...

As a yell of triumph comes from the ogre, along with a blast of fetid breath that would probably kill lesser foes than those who presently face it, the Nameless Monk steps to one side, and kicks at the side of the ogre's knee, to no effect.  The thing is too heavy to be unbalanced by such a blow.

It does, however, provide a momentary distraction which allows Fergus to make a leaping attack which brings his axe down on the ogre's shoulder with considerable force.  The blade, driven by all the young man's weight and muscle, plunges down through the monster's flesh and bone, tearing through both with ease.  The ogre's yell dies in its throat as blood suddenly gushes from its mouth, and those who are fighting it are quick to scatter as the creature drops its club and starts to sway...

With the nearest danger out of the fight, Corian dashes towards Eilieen and kneels to check if she is still alive.

A short distance away, the second ogre keels over with a crash like a felled oak, dead before it even hits the ground.

The ensuing silence is broken only by Decklan's terrified whimpering...

"Ogres!" Erista shouts triumphantly, whirling her empty sling over her head.  "We fought ogres!  And won!" she adds, feeling that, in fact, that warranted clarifying, as presumably anybody could merely fight ogres.  "And we saved people!"  Lowering her sling, she looks at Decklan and Jack, and points at the fallen ogres.  "Did you see that?" she asks.  "That could've been you!  'Cept you're half their size, so Fergus would have gone clean through.  Hah!"

And with this remarkably bloodthirsty image, the blonde moppet skips over to the fallen couple that we came to rescue, checking to see if either of them are alive.

At first Aarnr misinterprets his companions' shouts of victory as cries of terror, and he renews his assault upon the innocent tree with further vigor and enthusiasm ...

But at length Erista's proud exhultation penetrates the battle-fugue that grips him, and he abandons the attack, shoulders dipping in exhaustion as Bowbe's spirit leaves him and the pain of the ogre's final blow now strikes him in full measure, his great sword falling from a hand that can no longer hold it.

"Ow."

The priest grits his teeth, wincing as his fingers probe the mangled mess of pulverised flesh and cracked bone.

"She alright ?" Aarnr asks Corian, nodding at Eileen.  Despite his own hurts, he will give her what divine aid he can demand before tending to his own.

Corian looks up from where he examines Eilieen, "She's alive still, and breathing easily enough.  But I can't rouse her."

Colwyn smirks and suggests, "She's a priest of Zadastha... maybe she'll feel better if yer loosen 'er clothin'?  I's jus' sayin' is all." which brings a guffaw from Jack and a nervous giggle from Decklan.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:28, Fri 23 Dec 2011.

With everyone crowding around the fallen priestess, Ozzy decides this an opportune moment to see if the fallen ogres have anything worth having. Shouldering his lute he ambles casually over to first giant, rifling through the creatures smelly possessions for any coin, gemstone or any other heretofore unknown ogre treasure to fatten his own coin pouch with.

"Mind yer froggin mouth," Aarnr snarls at Colwyn, too far gone in pain to even pretend a politeness that is in any event so foreign to his nature that he doesn't even speak the same tongue.

Stooping at the priestesses side, he touches his good hand to her brow, mumbling a litany of curses and imprecations under his breath, insisting his God get His finger out and heal the woman.

The blow struck and the fight abruptly finished, Fergus seems almost dazed.  It is perhaps fortunate that the ogre falls away from Fergus, for he makes no move to avoid it as it falls, or to recover his axe, which is still buried in the ogre's chest.

Fergus stands a long moment, breathing heavily and apparently disoriented.  When he eventually recovers his wits he runs across to join the small crowd clustered around Eilieen.

"Is she going to be okay?"

  Erista sits down at the fallen couple with a heavy sigh, closing her eyes for a moment, and then stands up again, and reaches down to close theirs.

"Well, we saved the next people those ogres would've attacked," she says, no longer as cheerful as she'd been a moment ago.  Wandering over more slowly towards the group around Eilieen, she says hopefully, "Breathing's good, though, right?"  She sounds uncertain of this, as if she doesn't want to offer it as a medical opinion, just something she'd maybe heard somewhere.

Feeling frustrated that he forgot something important about his spell, Aramil is glad to see Fergus take out the last orge with an amazing chop of axe. Looking around at Eileen, the half-elf is relieved to her she is breathing. Looking at the priest he feels that Aarnr is worth having around. The language could be more poetic, but his heart is definitely in the right place. Walking over to the man and woman, he shakes his head in sadness at the wasted life that is crumpled at his feet. With a croaking voice he says "I can't help too much with the wounded, but I can help with these two poor travellers. Has anyone got a shovel, or shall we burn them on a funeral fire."

Bowbe is, apparently, suitably impressed (or cowed) by Aarnr's prayer and deems Eilieen worthy.  The priestess' eyes flicker open at Aarnr's touch, and she starts trying to sit up, though clearly she is still in some pain.    Corian lends a hand, and Eilieen is soon sitting up on the rutted (and still slightly muddy) road surface.

Colwyn watches as Ozzy starts to examine the ogres, then he shakes his head and chuckles.  "Shoulda been a bit bleedin' sharper." he mutters to himself, before swinging around to not quite aim his bow, complete with fresh arrow, in the general direction of Jack and Decklan. 

The rest of the group meanwhile start to gather around Eilieen.
This message was last edited by the GM at 14:29, Tue 27 Dec 2011.

Aarnr nods in satisfaction as his god answers his prayer.

"I'm going to have to teach you to use that froggin' spear of yours," the priest informs Eileen, though the curl of his lips shows he's impressed at her willingness to fight with something the size and ferocity of an ogre, even if those efforts came to naught.

Nodding his head, Aarnr turns away, shoulders slumping in fatigue, tucking his useless hand into his belt before retracing his steps to where he dropped his sword, stooping painfully to pick it up and cradling it across his body.  Leaning against a strangely battered and marked tree, he waits for the others to bury, burn or rob the corpses as the whim take them, though it is clear at this moment he is only interested in sitting down by the fire and getting back to his rudely interrupted meal.