As Lya made ready, the remainder of the garrison's defenders prepared for an assault. On collapse-able walkways, just inside the wood and stone walls of the garrison, stood the half dozen men who had returned with Farfeld and Haymane. They were not in top condition by any means, but they grimly readied bows. Other militia-men who had not gone out, supplemented those who had. They were more sturdy, but mostly younger and less experienced. The rising clouds of dust grew closer until the riders were just coming into view.

OOC: Sorry, got late on me. I'll have to finish tomorrow.

Lya made sure her short sword and daggers moved freely in their sheaths and then looked about trying to see if an attack was coming from any other direction than the one everyone could currently see. At the same time she tried to gauge the size of the garrison and count how many men were in it, at least the ones visible to her.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:39, Wed 01 Oct 2014.

The garrison had been built on the slope such that traffic from three directions along the roads could be seen. The farmers in the area had laughed and joked about the "fortress", but new recruits needed to be kept busy, and the never ending supply of rocks and leg-sized saplings provided them with plenty of opportunity over the years. The walls were stone at the bottom and then inset into them were sharpened logs about the diameter of Lya's waist, and lashed with rawhide. The gate was sturdy and made from thick timbers held by very stout iron hinges which were kept well oiled.

The lookout tower was located near the center of the garrison, not far from the main building itself. There was a conical-shaped cast iron bell with a pull rope, and plenty of room for at least four archers. Today there was only one, a half-elven thief who was far, far from home and definitely out of her element. Below her, another man was ascending the stout ladder. He had a bow and a couple of quivers with him. He climbed the last few rungs and then then nodded to Lya.

"Name's Var, but you can call me 'Luckshot', everyone else does." He pointed toward Lya's weapon. "Ghelm makes good bows, take your time, you do your job and the bow will do its job." He looked over the terrain below. "It's just you and me up here," he continued with a slight coloring of his cheeks. He seemed to be a bit off his guard in the presence of an exotic beauty. "I mean, once they get close, you and I will be the only archers." He pointed out a handful of militia-men who were gearing up with mail and axes. They didn't look like they'd drilled much, and Ghelm was using several colorful dwarven phrases to line them out. Then Var pointed out another group of seven men who had swords on their hips and bows in hand. They wore mismatched armor, but it looked comfortable on them. "Those men are from up near Falport. They escort wagons through the mountain trails sometimes... there's been trouble lately. They came along just before the noon meal was served and had planned to ride on. They won't be going anywhere now."

Lya totaled them up in her head. Two archers on the tower, six more on the walls. There were the seven huntsmen and the five militia-men with Ghelm. Farfeld and Haymane gave orders and moved men around. That made twenty-three that she knew of. There could be a few more, but she didn't know everyone's faces well enough yet. There was still no sign of Honeywell, and his name had not been mentioned by anyone.

As she looked eastward toward the mountains, her sharp elven eyes seemed to detect a movement in the rocks. She waited a long moment, but it seemed to be gone. Now into view, thundering down the road and illuminated by frequent flashes of lightning came riding two groups whose numbers were masked by the dry dust rising from the roads, but which Lya guestimated to be nearly two-score, twenty from each direction. They were nearly within bow shot when they were called to a sudden halt.

Var the Luckshot nocked an arrow and made ready to fire, gauging the distance with practiced skill.

As the two groups merged, the wind seemed to surge around them all and the dust swirled. Large drops of rain began to splatter randomly around them as the sky grew darker and angrier. Thunder boomed off of the mountains behind the garrison. Finally, one gray-clad rider stepped his horse forward. He thrust his long black cloak aside and drew a foul-looking blade which he held aloft. It seemed that the sky darkened a bit more as he did so, making it even more difficult to see them. The raindrops started splashing down harder and more frequently.

"Open your gates! Do not resist or you will all be slain!" The voice of the leader was powerful and had a heavy and strange accent.

Lya gave Var a warm smile and introduced herself, "I'm Lya." Pointing to the east of the garrison she continued, "I saw movement out there. Around where those rocks are.". After looking around some more she said, looking into Var's eyes, "Luckshot, do you know where Honeywell is? I haven't seen him in some time and I haven't heard anyone talking about him. Maybe I better let Seeker Haymane know."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:58, Fri 03 Oct 2014.

Var turned his gaze where Lya had pointed, but after several moments of searching, he saw nothing. "I don't see anything Miss Lya, but that don't mean there ain't something up there... keep an eye out from time to time."

The archer then did a strange thing. As the riders came to a halt and one of them began to bellow about opening gates and killing, Var squinted one eye and held his bow out at arm's length. He did not draw however, he seemed to be gauging using irregularly spaced carved notches. "Two hundred paces..." he informed Lya quietly.

Below them near the gate, on one of the raised walkways, Command-Deputy Farfeld stood defiantly. "We'll not be opening the Garrison today!" he shouted back, "You do know that your threats will be held against you when the Sheriff arrives shortly with his men? I hear he's been in a foul mood of late... You don't want to cross him. I suggest you all turn around and ride back where you came from."  The Commander was trying to sound confident with his drawl, but all of them could here the slight quaver in his voice.

"Nobody's seen Honeywell since this morning... He's a strange one on his good days. Maybe he caught wind of this and fled..." Var said quietly as he flexed his fingers, preparing to draw and fire.

The leader of the riders raised his voice in reply to Commander Farfeld. "Open your gates! Open them now and live... Falport has fallen, your Capital is under siege. Your Sheriff is not coming, for he will soon be dead if he is not already so... Open your gates!"

Thunder and Lightning punctuated his command. Lya felt the hair on the back of her neck begin to rise.

"Well I'd hate for Honeywell to be a traitor. There isn't some back gate, hidden passage, or something else he could open to those people out there is there? If he is a traitor I mean. Couldn't that be the movement I saw out there? Him either sneaking away or sneaking back? Or someone from that bunch out there? Don't you think the commander or someone should know? I don't think any of us want to die here today. Or worse." Lya was thinking, once again, about the downside to being a beautiful woman. Being captured by those...creatures...didn't bear thinking too closely on.

In an effort to put those chilling thoughts aside Lya studied the area where she'd seen the movement while keeping an ear out to the exchange going on between the commander and the foe beyond the gates.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:03, Mon 06 Oct 2014.

"Well... there is a back way out, but we are forbidden to talk about it, especially considering what's been locked in there lately... Personally, I ain't got any interest in going to check it out, so I do my work and stay away from that particular trouble... I really doubt that Honeywell's deserted, and I doubt even more that he fled through those caves. If he did, he's probably something's dinner by now..." Luckshot's gaze never left the scene beyond the walls.

Out there Commander Farfeld replied in an icy voice, suddenly no longer quavering, "So much more the reason not to open our gates, and so we will not!"

The leader of the riders pointed his fell sward toward the garrison. "So be it, fools!"


OOC: Go ahead and roll your initiative: 1d20 + Dex Mod (normally it would be 1d6, but there are so many folks in this fight that I need a clearer distinction for order). Then narrate your first action if you would...

The soldiers are mounted and riding toward the garrison at full speed. Once they reach the walls, they may dismount and try to gain entry.  The sky is dark, the wind is blowing, and lightning and thunder abound. Very precise shots will be very tricky unless the target is fairly close... There are about forty mounted soldiers and their leader.

Lya initiative roll: 8 using 1d20+1.

Lya, knowing her limitations as an archer, decides to aim for the easiest enemy target she can find.

The thundering of the horses hooves was drowned out by the pealing of real thunder as the horsemen charged toward the garrison. Beside Lya, Luckshot released his first arrow and even at the long distance he was able to sink one of Ghelm's lead crafted arrows into one of the gray-clad soldiers. The soldier fell off his horse, which caused the horse beside his to shy away unexpectedly to its rider who also fell to the ground, getting trampled by his comrades behind him. Then Var was readying his next shot. So quickly had he fired, that he was able to get off his second shot before Lya had time to react!

The men on the walls, the remnants of Haymane's patrol, fired their first volley with little success as the riders quickly advanced. The scouting party volleyed next. They had little in the way of martial training, but were good shots and very patient. They loosed at will, when each truly felt their shots. Three more riders fell from their horses and several were struck.

Ghelm had found a place at the wall and fired a ponderous-looking crossbow. He'd dialed in the range just right and though it missed the Leader of the raiding party, it penetrated the armor of the man next to him! Command Deputy Farfeld and Seeker Haymane had their hands held aloft toward the heavens. Farfeld brought his down upon and pointed at the ground the riders were rapidly approaching. A bright line of blue flame erupted in front of the horses, causing them to rare and balk. This had the effect of slowing the charge, but the Leader of the raiders urged his mount onward which leapt through the supernatural flames and surged toward the garrison gate. Haymane's hands came down and the air shimmered along the wall, almost as if there were a very thin, watery barrier between the garrison and the attacking raiders.

The gray-clad leader pointed his fell sword at the gates as fire of his own, red and angry lanced ahead of his charging horse. The fire struck the gates with great impact and immediately they burst into flame. The archers had to back away, and the militia-men behind as well.

The large drops of rain became more frequent and the flames of both colors hissed as more lightning sheeted the sky above.

---

Sorry Lya, I should have had you roll your attack as well. Please do so now and then we'll start the next round. Don't forget to add +2 to damage rolls from your arrows. So the attack and damage rolls would look like this:

Attack: 1d20 + 1 (Dex) + 2 (BAB), Damage: 1d8 + 2

Also, go ahead and pre-roll initiative for the next round. In general, if you forget, I'll roll initiative for you just to keep things going. Thanks for indulging me here, I wanted to try a larger battle. ;-)

Round 1
================

Initiative
--------------------
Var the Luckshot  26 (wow! natural 20)
Haymane's Archers 17
NPC Scouts        15
Ghelm             11
Farfeld           10
Haymane           10
Raider Leader     10
Lya                8
Gray Raiders       7
Garrison Militia   7

Geez, even with d20 I still had ties...


NPC Var the Luckshot, rolled 19 using 1d20+6 ((13)). Attack.
NPC Var the Luckshot, rolled 9 using 1d8+2 ((7)). Damage.

Haymane's Archers, rolled 12 using 1d20+2 ((10)). Attack.

The NPC Scouts, rolled 18 using 1d20+3 ((15)). Attack.
The NPC Scouts, rolled 35 using 7d8 ((1,6,4,7,7,7,3)). Damage.

Ghelm, rolled 18,12 using d20+2,d8+4 ((16,8)). Attack, Damage.

Var the Luckshot, rolled 11,5 using d20+6,d8+2 ((5,3)). 2nd Attack, Damage.


This message was last edited by the GM at 21:29, Wed 08 Oct 2014.

Lya attack roll: 6 using 1d20+3.

Lya let loose her first shoot and it missed...everything. With grim determination she drew and nocked another arrow.

Lya initiative roll: 10 using 1d20+1.

The riders charged hard, their horses chewed up the distance between themselves and the garrison's walls astonishingly quickly. The garrison's defenders made ready. One of the militia-men did so by retching.

From below and to Lya's right side, the scouts continued to plug away at the oncoming foes. They were methodical and patient and deft with their hands to reload. Their volley took two more from their saddles.

On Lya's left, Haymane's archers seemed to have found a bit of discipline as they all fired on her command. One rider fell from his saddle and another lurched backwards, precariously bouncing on the horse's rump!

Then Var had lined up another good shot. He loosed with practice ease and the arrow streaked to its mark. Another one down!

Farfeld threw up another barrier of flame, but it was not as strong as the first. Haymane directed her men, rousing them to take heart.

Then the leader of the gray-clad riders released his spell. A bolt of black energy shot forth from his fell blade to strike the garrison's gates. They exploded into kindling! The concussion of the blast could be felt deep inside each of the defenders, causing them to gasp for breath. On they rode, now with a focus! They would soon be through the gate!

Ghelm cursed as he worked to cock his crossbow and ready a quarrel.

---

Round 2
================

Initiative
--------------------
NPC Scouts        22
Farfeld           21
Gray Raiders      19
Haymane's Archers 11
Var the Luckshot  10
Lya               10
Raider Leader     10
Garrison Militia   9
Haymane            7
Ghelm              3

rolls(4,19,4,7,9,1,19,18,7)

Scouts attack: 16, Hit!
Scouts damage: 7d8 ((1,3,2,4,8,2,8)).

Archers attack: 18, Hit!
Archers damage: 5d8((8,1,7,1,3)).

Luckshot attack: 17, Hit!
Luckshot damage:  7

Lya 2nd round attack roll: 6 using 1d20+5.
Lya 3rd round initiative roll: 4 using 1d20+3.
Lya 3rd round attack roll: 8 using 1d20+5.

Lya looses her second special arrow and again misses miserably. Sighing she nocks her third arrow and lets fly. Once again the arrow flies away...going who knows where. Lya looks at her bow suspiciously and once again considers that life as a pampered concubine could, after all, be better than this.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:23, Thu 09 Oct 2014.

Ouch! Those are some crazy low rolls! At least you're consistent.

[Private to Lya: I'll try to get caught up late tonite. I should have know it would be a bad idea to have two separate fights going on at the same time over a busy weekend. Sry.]

Once again the careful Luckshot took aim and loosed one of Ghelm's heavy arrows. It arched beyond the wall and landed hard right in the chest of one of the raiders. It sent the man tumbling backwards off of his horse. It was becoming clear now that this man beside Lya was an exceptional marksman with the longbow and that their success or failure would be in large part due to his methodical thinning of the ranks with shot after unerring shot... His movements were deft and smooth with no wasted effort. His breathing was calm and his eyes seemed almost lackadaisical when he was not squinting slightly just before firing each time. So far he was unperturbed.

The Leader of the raiding band rode directly at the blasted gate and his dark charger plowed into it, scattering the remaining splinters. Several others followed close behind him. Seeker Haymane stepped forward with the few other militia-men to repel the intruders. She was wielding a fantastic looking mace that seemed to glow a bit each time the lightning struck around them... which was very often. Lya's ears were now ringing from the thunder pounding the mountains behind her and overhead.

The closest of Haymane's Archers went down as the fell blade of the Gray Leader swept swiftly through the man, armor and all!

The battle was then fully joined as the riders poured into the yard of the garrison. Lya could see several of them leap form their horses fearlessly and land atop archers and militia-men. They were savage in their technique and several of the garrison's defenders fell in the initial rush.

The close range turned to the archers undoing as Ghelm's arrows seemed much too heavy for closer range combat. Haymane's archers as well as the Scouts all seemed to have a ill-fated volley with few landing solid hits.

It was the few militia-men who'd been standing with Ghelm who stepped forward to try and plug the hole. Of the five of them, four scored devastating hits which dropped their foes lifeless to the ground. But still the battle raged and the defenders seemed diminished.

Lya fumbled with the heavy arrows, dropping one over the side of the watch tower. Thankfully, Var beside her seemed much too focused bringing down the enemy to noticed her difficulty and fumble. In frustration Lya glanced around and by chance noticed something glinting shiny in a flash of lightning on the slope where she'd seen movement. Then it was gone and the sounds of battle pulled her attention back to they fray...

---

Switched to d6 now for initiative. With the modifiers I only had 2 ties... go figure. That's not intuitive for me, so thanks for reining in my poor experiment.

Round 3
================

Initiative
--------------------
Var the Luckshot  9
Ghelm             8
Haymane           7
NPC Scouts        6
Haymane's Archers 6
Raider Leader     5
Gray Raiders      4
Farfeld           3
Garrison Militia  2
Lya               2

rolls(3,3,4,2,4,6,1,3,1)

Luckshot attack: 21, Hit!
Luckshot damage: 10

Haymane attack: 20, Hit!
Haymane damage: 7

Raider Leader attack: 18, Hit!
Raider Leader damage: 9

Gray Raiders attack: 19, Hit!
Gray Raiders attack: 1,3,6,2,2,5,4,5,3,1,1,5,4,5,1,4,5,2,3,2 (1 down!)
Gray Raiders attack: 5,5,6,1,5,2,4,4,6,6,5,1 (3 down!)

Militia-men attack: 16 18 Hit!
Militia-men damage: 6,6,3,5,5 (4 down!)

"There IS something out there Luckshot. I just saw something shiny glinting in the sun in the very same place I saw movement before."

Looking out over the battle which seemed very likely to end with all the luckless defenders dead, maimed, or captured, Lya swore viciously and let loose yet another arrow, aiming at the leader himself this time though she knew it was hopeless. Maybe she'd distract him at least though she doubted it...

10:34, Today: Lya rolled 6 using 1d6+1 with rolls of 5. Round 4 Initiative Roll.

10:35, Today: Lya rolled 20 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 17. Attack Roll Round 4.

Var didn't turn around to look. "You must have good eyes Lya, there's not alot of sunshine just now..." As if to emphasize that a very loud booming of thunder pounded just then. Though the sky was dark and very angry, there was still enough light to see by and Lya seemed confident in what she'd seen. Luckshot's eyes were drooped lazily and he appeared as if he were bored of the action around him, but that simply was not the case as leadened arrow after arrow streaked from his bow with uncanny accuracy worthy of his name, for his shots seemed to defy natural laws and fly farther and faster than one might have guessed. It must have had something to do with his state of relaxation that bordered on the verge of sleepiness that he was able to drop his arrows just where he wanted on almost every volley. "Stay sharp Miss Lya," he said.

Below the watchtower the scene was grim. The rain had begun in seriousness now and the giant drops quickly muddied the dry ground. Horses slid and men alike as the battle was joined. Haymane's archers abandoned their bows now that the raiders had penetrated the garrison gate. They maintained the highground of their platform which gave them some slight advantage were they not facing such superior numbers.

With a ferocious shout of defiance, Seeker Haymane engaged the black-caped leader of the raiding party. He was the biggest threat they faced if he could throw terrible flames and dark energies from his sword. They parried and fought with style until the Seeker got in a very good stroke! Her opponent staggered backwards a bit as if dazed by the blow, but it was only for a moment before he was back again, swinging with that fell sword. The moment's hesitation was all that Ghelm and Lya needed to line up great shots.

Ghelm's bolt took the raider leader in the midsection, a shot that would have put a normal man on the ground, but their adversary pulled it out and flung it aside! He pounded hard on Haymane's armor with stroke after powerful stroke, driving her backwards as she slid in the mud. Miraculously, she was able to hold on and when her foot finally caught against a rock she gave no more ground!

Lya's shot followed then, somehow penetrating the armor. It went deep. Again the leader broke it off and kept fighting, but there was serious blood pouring from the wound! The leader looked her way and locked eyes with Lya for a brief moment...

Almost in unison then, were let fly the arrows of the remaining archers and the scouts, joined by the unerring Luckshot. More than a handful of the mounted raiders met their end...

But then the raiders rallied in the rain and booming thunder. The remaining men of Haymane's party were laid low as were a few of the more experienced scouts.

The militia-men were so hard pressed that they began to flounder in the mud and rain, and simply gave ground as the remaining raiders pushed them towards the watchtower...

---

Round 4
================

Initiative
--------------------
Haymane           8
Ghelm             7
Raider Leader     7
Lya               6
Haymane's Archers 6
Var the Luckshot  5
NPC Scouts        5
Gray Raiders      4
Farfeld           3
Garrison Militia  3

rolls(1,2,4,4,4,5,1,3,2).
(LS,Scts,Hay,RLead,HArch,Ghelm,Farf,GRaid,Militia)

Haymane attack: 18, Hit!
Haymane damage: 5

Ghelm attack: 16, Hit!
Ghelm damage: 6 1 Down!

Archers attack: 17, Hit!
Archers damage: 8,7,1,6. 3 Down!

Luckshot attack: 24, Hit!
Luckshot damage: 3
Luckshot attack: 18, Hit!
Luckshot damage: 3 1 Down!

Scouts attack: 15, Hit!
Scouts damage: 6,4,1,8,7,3,1. 3 Down!

Gray Raiders attack: 16, Hit!
Gray Raiders damage: 5,6,3,5,1,4,6,1,1,5 (5 down!)
Gray Raiders damage: 1,6,3,6,5,3,4,4,1 (3 down!)

BTW, I'm only listing the hits, don't think all the rolls were this good. However, it was a particularly good day for rolling!

08:34, Today: Lya rolled 6 using 1d6+1 with rolls of 5. Round 5 Initiative Roll.


08:34, Today: Lya rolled 6 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 3. Round 5 Attack Roll.

Lya cursed as she loosed another shaft, this time at the throng of raiders at the foot of the watchtower, but managed to miss.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:39, Thu 16 Oct 2014.

As the rain began to fall in sheets, driven by a wind that rushed from the north, toward the sea with a fury of its own, the melee inside the garrison continued to be fierce and more desperate. Two of the last raiding soldiers to near the blasted gate seemed to hesitate before riding in to join their gray-clad brethren whose uniforms had become splattered with mud. As a pair they turned and began to flee, out into the storm and away from the battle.

The leader of the raiding party swatted aside an attack by Seeker Haymane and roared in a loud voice something which was unintelligible to the non-raiders. Lightning arched from the sky and struck the ground which immediately began to shake and tremble! Whether the earthquake was a product of the storm or powerful magic from the adversary, none would ever know! Everything shook violently for several terrifying moments and then it stopped.

"If those two get away, they may bring reinforcements Lya... I've gotta bring them down." The way Luckshot said it, matched the almost sleepy look on his face. There seemed to be no doubt he could do it, nor fear that he might fail, just simply a statement of the gravity of the shots involved, and what must be done. He pulled his beautifully simple bow, paused, breathed one puff of air and loosed into the deepening gloom and rain. The first of the leadened arrows was still in flight and the uncanny archer had the second readied and drawn. The same procedure followed as the riders neared the edge of the bow's range. One final portion of an instant was spent in aiming and then he released his second shot. Just as he did, a thrown sword from somewhere below flew just past Lya and clipped her marksman companion in the shoulder. Blood flared instantly, although she was confident the wound was shallow, however it was just enough of a distraction to throw off his shot. Luckshot's luck had just run out...

Farfeld, who had been chanting and out of the main fighting, now stepped back in, wielding a long-handled mace which appeared to glow in the failing light. His blow struck the armor of the leader, sparks flew, but the enemy still retained his footing!

The Scouts left their place of advantage, which had become much diminished now that the fighting was taking place within the walls. They drew their swords as they cast heir bows aside. Hand to hand, they were formidable. Two raiders fell to their blades before they were overwhelmed. Lya thought she saw one of the Scouts kneel and then rise groggily before heading for the garrison gate. It was difficult to blame him.

Ghelm fired one last shot from his crossbow, yelling in rage as he narrowly missed skewering the leader with his powerful crossbow. He picked up an axe and waded into the bloody fray, trying to work his way toward the leader.

The remainder of the bloodied militia-men fought valiantly to defend their leaders and their garrison, but were then overwhelmed by the superior numbers.

Meanwhile, Lya let her next shot fly. The leaded arrows were difficult to handle at close range and so her shot did not arch properly, especially with the much diminished trajectory. It hit at the feet of several fighters. One looked up at her and grinned a horrible grin which spoke volumes about what might happen to her if the garrison was truly overrun. He lunged toward the watch tower and began to scale the built-in ladder!

Seeker Haymane swung her weapon again at her foe, the gray-clad leader of the group. This time it hit! With a screeching of metal, Haymane's weapon bit deep, but with seemingly inhuman toughness, the man came on still...

Possibly inspiring his followers to do the same.

And they did. Now only thirteen of the gray soldiers remained, but it was enough to suffocate remaining resistance.

---

Round 5
================

Initiative
--------------------
Raider Leader     9
Var the Luckshot  9
Farfeld           7
NPC Scouts        7
Ghelm             5
Garrison Militia  5
Lya               5
Haymane           4
Gray Raiders      3
Haymane's Archers

rolls (3,4,1,6,3,5,2,4).
(LS,Scts,Hay,RLead,Ghelm,Farf,GRaid,Militia)

Lya looked down at the mass of raiders at the foot of the watchtower and saw one of them start to climb up. The look on his face told her of his sickening intent towards her in words that, though unspoken, were crystal clear.

For a split second she contemplated firing her next shot at the man but then she turned at let fly at the second of the fleeing raiders hoping to down him so he couldn't bring in reinforcements.


08:50, Today: Lya rolled 4 using 1d6+1 with rolls of 3. Round 6 Initiative Roll.

08:50, Today: Lya rolled 15 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 12. Round 6 Attack Roll.

OOC: I'll let the GM decide what, if any attack / damage modifiers are to be added in due to the raider being attacked from the rear.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:38, Mon 20 Oct 2014.

Luckshot quickly realized that further attempts would risk much for an unlikely gain if he tried another shot at the fleeing rider. Instead he turned and fired down the ladder at the ascending raider. His awareness was uncanny, he seemed to know where everyone was at on the battlefield below. He risked a quick glance where he'd been wounded before he nocked another arrow and prepared to shoot again.

Lya took her desperate shot anyway. Her arrow flew from her bow into the rain and gloom. She felt good about the shot, but was not rewarded by any sort of scream, at least one she could hear over the din of battle, and perhaps it had struck... something.

Farfeld was engaged with his glowing weapon. Haymane fought valiantly, and at one point simply reached out her hand and pointed. From the hand burst a gout of flames similar to those which Farfeld had raised earlier.

Ghelm also advanced, cleaving his way through the gray-clad raiders. He picked up several very nasty wounds in so doing.

The leader of the raiders shouted something just as he struck Commander Farfeld. The blow buckled him, and he dropped to a knees. The glowing weapon disappeared from Farfeld's hand as he struggled to remain conscious.

"Surrender!" the leader demanded.

Provoked beyond endurance Lya cried out her defiance to the brute below.

"Even in hell will I not surrender to thee forsaken brute! Even though the gods themselves forsake me I WILL not surrender myself to thee, thou which art the spawn of filth and wretchedness. I am Lya. Lya Fargazer. By my troth I swear upon my own name that I will gainsay thee this. That thou art a craven and misshapen thing unworthy, even, of the name creature."

With that Lya, forgetting she was a thief only, and knowing only that the struggle was desperate beyond even the hope of hope, pulled forth her blade and flung it full into the face of her enemy.

01:12, Today: Lya rolled 7 using 1d6+1 with rolls of 6. Round 7 initiative roll.

01:12, Today: Lya rolled 18 using 1d20+3 with rolls of 15. Round 7 attack roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:15, Tue 21 Oct 2014.

Sheet lightning shattered the dark skies and, like the voice of some God which hearing the invocation of a simple thief, punctuated the boldly declared words with that which was most primal... the stone splitting sound of a thousand angels as thunder erupted from the mountain slopes.

The foul leader looked upon the elf-girl atop her tower and she saw its eyes glowing red, simmering in rage! The fell blade pointed at her and just as the terrible spell which would end her existence was about to be unleashed, Lya's blade struck true! Right into the mouth of the gray-clad leader it sank, stealing whatever command he was about to give. Beside her came a low whistle from a sleepy looking archer. "Well done Miss Lya! Very well done!"

The leader of the attacking party dropped his dark blade and clutched at his throat. It did little good, for Lya's blade was protruding from the back of his neck. Deep red flames surged from his eyes as he dropped to his knees. Seeker Haymane, nearly dumbfounded by what had just happened, swung her weapon, sending the demonic leader's head rolling across the muddy courtyard... just in case.

The remainder of the attackers then showed their true colors, and like all mercenaries, when the man who makes the payroll stops breathing, they quickly exit the scene. A few of them actually made it out of the gates and onto horses as Var's arrows rained down upon them. Of the forty which had assaulted the walls of the garrison, only seven were able to ride away.

The storm did not let up however, and instead the rain pounded even harder. The second quake hit right then, and both Lya and Var had to scramble to keep their balance on the rocking watchtower!

~~~~

Epic freakin' ending Lya! Perfect roll too! You got the initiative and a great attack roll which was just enough to match the leader's high AC... Wow, waaay cool. Rock'n'roll!

Take 1 XP for surviving, and a bonus XP for eating your Wheaties this morning! Not how I expected the scene to play out, not at all, but a pleasant surprise!

Oh, and please make a Dex check for me... (d20 roll low!)

Elation at the sudden and unexpected turn of the battle quickly made way for consternation as Lya found herself on a most unstable surface. Luckily she was able to keep her balance as the storm raged about her. Looking about she reached out to steady Luckshot should he need it.

16:03, Today: Lya rolled 4 using 1d20 with rolls of 4. Dex Roll.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:10, Tue 21 Oct 2014.

Between Lya and Luckshot, was a beam which rose up as a center support of the roof over the watch tower. The beam was actually bending, but it was the only thing the two of them could hang on to. After what seemed like hours of vigorous shaking - but was in reality only moments - the creaking, swaying and cracking stopped.

"Let's get down, before another one comes along Lya, I don't think this tower can survive much longer!" Luckshot slung his bow over a shoulder and dropped onto the ladder. Looking up at Lya he smiled, "I'll try to catch you if you fall, but I'm an archer after all, not a barbarian... be careful!"

He went down ahead of Lya, politely helping her as needed to find footholds where the rungs had splintered in places during the earthquake. When they reached the bottom, Var patted her on the shoulder awkwardly. "Nicely done Lya. That was either incredibly brave or incredibly desperate, but sometimes one begets the other. Why don't we see if we can help out?" He did not seem so sleepy anymore and he seemed to have suddenly noticed that the woman with the stringy wet hair was in fact very beautiful.

Seeker Haymane was kneeling not far away over the still form of Commander Farfeld. He looked very pale. She seemed to be praying quietly and had her hand resting on his chest while her eyes were squeezed shut in concentration.

The dwarven veteran, Ghelm, was going from body to body of the downed raiders to make sure they were dead, or if there were any that had survived which might be taken into custody. He had a nasty gash across the top of his overly large nose and the blood dribbled down into his beard. He also examined the downed archers and militia-men to see if any of them could be helped. His time with each was brief however and his jaw had a grim set to it.

They were all soaked to the skin now and there was water actually running atop the muddy ground. Rain pounded and lighting flashed and everywhere, everywhere was the echo of thunder.

"Thank you Luckshot but it wasn't much that I did really. Your skill with that bow did much more good than I. What's more, I believe that the true hero of the day is over there praying over her fallen commander." Lya said, pointing to the half-elven Deputy Seeker. "When that gate burst apart and she ran up and confronted the leader of the raiders by herself that was courage." Nodding to Luckshot she gave him a smile before moving away.

Lya paused to look over at the slope where she had seen the glinting earlier. She looked the area over trying to take in as much detail as possible. This done she moved on.

Lya knew she was less than hopeless in giving aid to the wounded so she forbore doing so lest she actually do more harm than good.

Walking over to the head of the corpse of the raider leader she put her booted foot on his decapitated face and pulled her sword from it's mouth. The squelching sucking sound it made as she pulled it out elicited no emotion from Lya. She looked intently, for a moment, at the face noting the color of hair, eyes, and skin and the shape and demeanor of it. When she was done she nodded to herself and continued on her way.

Her next stop was the raider leader's body. Squatting down next to it she first wiped her sword clean on it's clothing and reinserted it in it's sheath on her back. She then began a minute inspection of the remains. First the armor and clothing were inspected by sight and touch with special attention to finding any cleverly hidden pockets or pouches. Then she leaned back slightly on her haunches and surveyed the now semi-bared body taking note of it's every detail. Lastly she peered closely at the sword the leader had used taking care not to touch the vile thing lest it be cursed or possessed of some evil will.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:38, Thu 23 Oct 2014.