Tavion closed his eyes, clasping the medallion of Majere at his chest. "Guide our steps in truth and light," he whispered, his voice imbued with quiet conviction.


Bless fills your allies with courage. Each ally gains a +1 morale bonus on attack rolls and on saving throws against fear effects.

With the centaur grappling the monstrous creature, Caitlin seized the opportunity and moved forward, aiming her spear at the intersections between the creature's armor plating. noticed she could not reach the creature and decided to stay put.

ooc: No action Move to engage creature. Attack 21, damage 13pts (Forgot +1 from bless, included here)
01:10, Today: Caitlin Merrywick rolled 13 using 1d8+5.  Damage.
01:10, Today: Caitlin Merrywick rolled 20 using 1d20+12.  Spear Attack .
This message was last edited by the player at 00:59, Mon 11 Dec 2023.

As the beast chomped down upon him, Talrand grimaced momentarily, then let out a joyful cry of engagement in the contest of might.  Blood surged through his muscles, and he grinned.  Elbowing the creature on the top of the head in effort to momentarily stun or distract it, he hammered at its head.  Blood running from his leg seemed to bother him little, save to drive adrenalin.  Driving one knee upwards, he shot an arm through the gap, while at the same time shifting weight to bring down the creature's head, trying to pin its head to prevent it from easily biting his allies while they brought him down.

---

OOC:
Talrand has continued the grapple, and will maintain.
He will try to pin the creature with his attacks until pinned, then dmg with remaining attacks once it is pinned.
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 30,17 using d20+23,d8+9.  pin/Dmg .
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 24,10 using d20+23,d8+9.
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 34,16 using d20+23,d8+9.
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 34,12 using d20+23,d8+9.
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 36,13 using d20+23,d8+9.
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 38,14 using d20+23,d8+9.
18:17, Today: Talrand rolled 43,12 using d20+23,d8+9.
Grapple/Pin 30
Pin 24 or dmg10
Pin 34 or dmg16
Pin 34 or dmg12
Pin 36 or dmg13
Pin 38 or dmg14
Pin 43 or dmg12

Kora lowers the Lance and charges the beast. The heavy lance strikes at the creature's side, impacting heavily.




23:54, Today: Kora rolled 20 using 1d20+15.  Dragonlance attack.

23:54, Today: Kora rolled 40 using 2d8+28.  Charging Lance damage.



Hits AC 20 for 40 damage, Reach 10'.

Current HP 80/80

Moonflute holds for now as the other charge in for the kill.

Tavion prayed.

Talrand attempted to pin the creature and was successful on his third attempt. Using that pin he tried to injure his opponent, but was only successful on his last attempt.

Kora charged with the dragonlance in both of his hands piercing the pinned monster.

While both Caitlin and Moonflute waited.

The monstrous centipede escaped the pin and attacked Talrand with several of its legs. Four of them injured him.


[
Each of you has +1 to attack and +1 on save vs. fear for the next 8 minutes.

Talrand lost a total of 23hp. He has 37 hp remaining. He is grappled.
Kora: Kora has AC -2 until the beginning of his next turn. Attack +2. Str +6. 8 temporary hp. Dragonlance -4 to attack because of non-proficiency.

The creature is grappled.
]

[OOC: What do you do?]

Although he was bleeding from a number of cuts, and certainly appeared to be taking a bigger beating than he was dealing, Talrand remained joyful.  The combat was exhilarating, his allies were protected, and they were managing some excellent strikes upon the great monstrosity while he held its attention.

He pulled two of the legs still stuck in his own, pushing them high to twist the segmented body around in leverage, and lunged for the large head again, driving to control it.  While creatures such as this possessed an incredible flexibility, and even the smallest pussycat could turn into a spineless dervish of claws, there was a strong maxim that controlling the head controlled the battle.

---

OOC:
As before, grapple until pin, then damage with remaining attacks
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 31,10 using d20+23,d8+9.  pin/Dmg.
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 31,11 using d20+23,d8+9.
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 29,16 using d20+23,d8+9.
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 33,14 using d20+23,d8+9.
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 34,10 using d20+23,d8+9.
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 35,13 using d20+23,d8+9.
06:35, Today: Talrand rolled 25,14 using d20+23,d8+10.

Pin31, dmg10
Pin31, dmg11
Pin29, dmg16
Pin33, dmg14
Pin34, dmg10
Pin35, dmg13
Pin25, dmg14

Charging and crowding the carapaced creature even more didn't appear to make sense to Caitlin and so she stayed put, sending in a handful of darts made of force that struck the creature unerringly.

ooc: Cast 'Magic Missile', maximized, empowered for 30pts of damage.

Moonflute moves closer but refrains from attacking as the combatants grapple with each other.

Kora tries to stab the monster with the lance, but it slips from his grasp. His eyes roll slightly as an exasperated huff escapes his snout.





17:49, Today: Kora rolled 14 using 1d20+13.  Heavy Lance attack. Fumble.

17:49, Today: Kora rolled 14 using 1d8+10.  Lance damage.

Rushing to Talrand's side, Tavion laid his hand softly upon his wounded friend. A warm, white light emanated from his palm, enveloping the injury before gradually fading away.


22:23, Today: Tavion rolled 14 using 2d8+8 ((1,5)).

Talrand continued to convert his grapple into a pin and this time he succeeded on his second attempt. The centipede was very good at grappling too, but this time he was able to inflict damage three times on it. Finally squeezing it into unconsciousness.

[
Each of you has +1 to attack and +1 on save vs. fear for the next 8 minutes.

Talrand lost a total of 23hp. He has 37 hp remaining. He is grappled.
Kora: Kora has AC -2 until the beginning of his next turn. Attack +2. Str +6. 8 temporary hp. Dragonlance -4 to attack because of non-proficiency.


]

[OOC: Combat is over. What do you do?]

With the foe vanquished, Moonflute moves in swiftly and lays a hand on Talrand, murmuring consecutive prayers.

Casting Cure Light Wounds twice on Talrand, restoring a total of 25hp

14:25, Today: Moonflute rolled 13 using 1d8+5.  Cure Light Wounds on Talrand.
14:25, Today: Moonflute rolled 12 using 1d8+5.  Cure Light Wounds on Talrand.

Moonflute prayed and healed Talrand.

[Talrand has 62hp out of 78hp.]

Talrand's flanks heaved, might bellows gathering his wind back as he held the grip a few moments longer to confirm the monstrosity was defeated.

He stretched out along the much longer foe, grinning unabashedly at the party.  "Tis good for breaking fast, but what hast thou for tea?"  He chortled, and gave his over-sized friend a solid thump.

"Good bite on these.  'Ware the fangs.  Anyone have particular use for parts of these, or should we give the stomach and innards a check for more halpless subjects?  I've heard tales that some of these creatures devour gemstones for gizzard work, or the odd adventurer.

"Magical items can survive stomach acids, cannot they?

"Also might be worthwhile to see if there's a lair around."

Tavion and Moonflute's healing quickly resolved the worst of his injuries, knitting together into solid flesh.  The centaur kipped up to his four hooves, and nodded deeply to the healers.  "Mine thanks for thy ministrations."

---

OOC: did we decide on action for blipping across, or if the party was adjusting size to travel at a faster Talrand pace?

Tavion arrived at Talrand, prayed, and healed him further.


[Talrand has 76hp out of 78hp.]

Kora moves to his horse and sheathed the Lance. He then pulled out his longsword and approached the belly of the immense insect. "Ware the smell" he says as he exposes the stomach contents with the sharp blade.

With his knowledge of magical beasts and survival, Kora sliced the creature open without damaging any internal organs, removed the guts, and then sliced them open. There was quite a stench.

Caitlin crossed her arms at Talrand claiming victory over the oversized vermin, sounding like this had been a training bout for him. For a moment she wondered if his brashness would be the centaur's downfall eventually. There was a saying: There are old mercenaries and brash mercenaries but no old and brash mercenaries.

When Kora opened the centipede-thing and its smell filled the cool winter air, the sorceress grimaced but didn't say a word. "If we're lucky the grave robbers are in there, then we won't have to chase after them." she wondered out loud.

They looked through the disgusting stomach contents.

Casting a spell to sense magical auras, Caitlin tries to determine if anything found was magical...


ooc: Cast 'Detect Magic'

Caitlin cast a spell.

"The scarab and whatever's in that tube seem to be magical." Caitlin informs her companions. "We should clean those first." the sorceress added, pinching her nose against the stench.

"Have we decided on where we are headed today? I would offer to inspect those, but I fear it will take some time." Tavion said, holding a sleeve over his nose.

"I have done some thinking and remembered something about High Sanction: A scroll of the stellar path can _make_ the moons align for the caster. One moon for the caster, to be precise just the respective moon of the caster. So... we could arrive late and Kel could cast the spell from a scroll which would make the moon align with the other two." the sorceress revealed, looking over to the Elven wizard hoping for him to acknowledge her statement.