OODM The River is about 10 metres from where Colm and Sir Pedivere are standing, Calis is about 13 metres away, and the Scrag (Troll) is about 14 metres away. :)

Is there a drop off from the bank, or does it just taper gently into the water?  And am I mounted?

ie, does the bank look like this

----|               ----~~~~~~
    |~~~~~~~   or 

The answers to these questions will influence what I do.

cheers

Calis pops under the water to avoid another swat or bite from above him and scrambles for the bank, pulling himself up onto the rocks and dirt of the river bank.  Rys, retreats from the bank, in search of the help of the knight and his mighty blade.  Calling upon the angels of God to strengthen the knight, he meets the knight as he charges forward in response to the Scrag's roar, the priest able to tap the knight's arm as he brushes past.  Resolutely the priest finds his own weapon determined to join the knight in the defense.
    Colm, an expert with his weapon finds an arrow, and with a shout, launches, one, then another grey goose shafts at the monstrostiy now threatening all of them.  The first one nicks the troll before splintering off it's muscled shoulder and into the river, the second sails past the scrag and splits the water with a 'plop'.
     The Scrag with a roar, pursues his meal, namely Calis, splashing up out of the water in pursuit.
      "Demoror!" Chrissa shouted in latin, holding her hands up protectively.   The hermit's call for help from above was answered, the Scrag's limbs seized and stopped in mid-stride, dripping water, it stood frozen in one spot, statue like.  The little nick in it's shoulder oozing green blood....


OODM  I rolled for Chrissa and Colm, Sir Pedivere can attack next round, Rys can rush up next round, any questions, pvt message me! :)

hang on... I missed my turn!
I should have been able to attack it this turn.  Hence, I was asking questions to find out what Pedivere should clearly be able to see.

Is he mounted, and how runs the bank of the river?
This message was last edited by the player at 01:32, Fri 17 Sept 2004.

Pedivere at least moved to the edge of the river, drew his blade and unslung his shield.

   Init: 18

    MEA: Move 20' to the river bank
          -and- draw sword
Partial: Unsling and ready Shield.

     FX: Bulls Strength (+4 Str) 1/?

Hearing the green skinned thing stop moving behind him, Calis turned, and moved towards his clothing and gear. As he quickly dressed, he snatched up his spear and shuffled it from one hand to the other while keeping an eye on the troll.

ooc - dude that's like more than a full rounds actions... moving to your gear (MEA).  Picking up your discarded weapon (MEA). Getting dressed (Priceless - but not happenin - you'll be fightin' in tha buff (pray the Troll don't like franks'n'beans!)  ;-)

So next up is Rys and then Pedivere.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:46, Sat 18 Sept 2004.

OOC: Then Swim has my actions for a few rnds less something changes. :)

  Calis scampers up the river's bank in search of his belongings.  He sees them in a rough circle where he stripped before jumping into the water.  Working purely on instinct, he finds his breaches and pulls them on first, jumping around to get them up, the water on his legs making them a struggle to don.

  "Deus Volt!" the padre shouted, lifting his mace and charging after the knight and into battle against the green skinned monster that had so brazenly accosted the minstrel.  Despite the frozen state of the troll, the priest's blow manages to find a heavy bone and bounces off with a soft thud, barely injuring it.


Sir Pedivere steps into the fray against the creature.  Shield held before him, the glittering blade flashes in the fading light of the day.  The heavy blade cut into the troll's shoulder, thick green blood splattering outward.

   Colm remained hidden in the shadows of the trees above the melee, his hunting leathers making him difficult to see.  His bow sang a song of death as the silvery darts flew forth.  They found the monster's chest as easily as Colm would find the chest of a straw dummy on a practice field.  Each arrow landed with a sickening 'thud', sinking deap and painfully into the troll's chest, it's toothy maw open in a silent snarl of hunger and anger.

   Chrissa scampered about, helping the minstel find his essential belongings and escape danger...
This message was last edited by the GM at 19:00, Tue 21 Sept 2004.

OOC - so I take it we're back at the top of the initiative order.
Calis, Rys, Pedivere, Colm, Scrag, Chrissa...

So Calis is up.

After everyone's post (DM's inclusive), it'd be good if the next person was prodded.

Seeing that his legs were covered at least, Calis reached down and grabbed his weapon from where he left it before he decided to go for swim and get a bath that didn't turn out that well.

Rys continues to attack the Scrag.

Pedivere follows up the previous hit with another assault against the beast.

   Init: 18

     AC: 22
    fac: 21
    tac: 11

   Full: Attack v Scrag
          -hit- AC 17 (forgot bull's strength again)
          -dam- 7

     FX: Bulls Strength (+4 Str) [3/?]
         DR 2/- [constant]

  The troll's face continues to be frozen in a roar as the band of defenders continues their assault, fighting madly while the blessing held the thing in check.
   With a mighty war cry, the knight Sir Pedivere swung a mighty blow, cutting deeply, another cut appearing and spouting out green blood.  The troll was hearty and it's flesh and bone thick and tough.

   The priest added his own blow to the knight's the great club landing with a thud on the troll's chest, he could not tell if the thing was hurt or not but he had swung with all of his might to connect.

   Calis, having recovered his spear, jammed the sharp end of the weapon upward, finding his mark in the guts of the thing, still the monster uttered no cry of pain, no roar of anger.

    Colm's bow sang out again, the wicked twang brought death with it, a single arrow piercing the Scrag's skull from the embankment above.  It was a lucky shot, and amazing shot, but it connected with all the force of thunderbolt.  Leaving the black shining eyes of the troll, dull and lifelifeless, only the blessing of the hermit kept it on it's feet.

     Moments passed as the thing continued to pour out it's blood onto the banks, then without much more than a thump as its weight struck the ground, the troll fell, quite dead.

    The party stood staring at the corpse for several moments, expecting it to leap up and attack, but it continue to lay there, motionless...

"Well that was, um, exciting, aye? Is it really dead..." Calis asked as he stood there half dressed and watched the blood drip lightly down the tip of his spear.

I'm not sure if exciting is the right word for it. However, I'm surprised that it fell so easily. My studies would indicate that these things are a bit tougher.

Looks at troll more closely to see if it truly is dead.

Chrissa regards the fallen creature, thankful for their deliverance, yet grieved by the necessity of killing.

"'All goe to one place, and all was of the dust, and all shall returne to the dust.'"

She shakes her head, and remains on her guard.

"I have seen similar creatures before, which were able to recover from wounds *very* quickly.  Does anyone here have oil?  We may need to actually burn the body to ensure that it doesn't attack anyone else again..."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:41, Mon 27 Sept 2004.

"Oh aye? I thought it was exciting. But then maybe that was because it was me that it was chasing," Calis replied with a laugh.

Pedivere thrusts his blade into the water, then returns to his gear.  Drawing a small cloth, he wipes the blade clean before re-sheathing it in the leather scabbard.

"Are you alright Calis?  Did the beast injure you?"

"Nay my friend, it didn't and I am fine. It was close though. Teach me to jump into rivers to get clean, aye?" Calis answered his friend as he cleaned off the end of his bloody spear.

Turning to the female member of thier group he nodded at her again, "If I insulted you with my actions, I beg your forgiveness. It was not my intent, I am just used to more openness. Also I don't have any oil."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:15, Wed 29 Sept 2004.

Should we press on? That troll came from somewhere, and its lair may be nearby. I would not want to face another.

The party stands about expectantly watching the troll's body as it slowly bleeds on the ground, no longer twitching just quite still.  The scene is an odd one with the tranquility of nature beginning to take over again, the summer breeze rustling the leaves in the trees birds still chirping and fluttering from tree to tree, the river's surface slightly rippled as it slowly snakes its way through the hills.

  OODM:  Guys I still haven't heard back from Trout about coming back to play Colm, I am giving serious thought to seeking out someone to take over his character.

Chrissa smiles at Calis.

"No offense was taken, young man.  A healer is only too happy to see a body whole and healthy.  Thankfully the Lord has preserved us..."

"Yet I am still concerned about yonder beast.  Do any of the rest of you have any oil?"

Colm emerges from the shadows at the top of the riverbank to inspect his work.  Wordless he walks down to the party and then nods seeing how is arrows found their marks.
   "I have some here sister," he says in reply to the hermit's request for oil.  Dipping into a pouch at his waist, he provides a clay vessel, stoppered with cork.  He gives it over before taking a glance around the banks of the river.  "I'll have a look around and see if there are anymore," he nods and moves off carefully examining the riverbanks for signs of footprints and the foliage for signs of breakage or marking.

   The party dribbled oil over the outside of the troll's body and put a torch to it.  There were hissing and poping sounds as the monster began to burn, the party was forced to retreat from the horrible stench, covering their noses as they did so.  Atop the riverbank they watched for several minutes as the flames continue to lick and burn at the corpse, even downwind there continued to be a hint of the smell.

     Colm retuned many moments later, his breeches from mid-thigh down wet from wading along the river bank.  "I think I found it's lair,"he began to say in his thick accent.  "Over yonder in those reeds, there's a hole partly under water.  I didn' see any other tracks other than this one's"he pointed down the bank at the ever blackening troll.