As the group leaves the Mayor's house, she gives a speech to her people and lets them know you are willing to help them. The looks of fear seem to fade, and cheers of joy quickly take their place.

It is recommended you leave at nightfall, as that will be the best time to fight through the Rider's ring of bikers around the energy walls. While some people still look at Skarciss with some bit of distrust, they do bring out what little food they have for the warriors going to get them their means of deliverance.

Seeing the people glare at Skarciss, Katarina slipped up close to them conspiratorially,

"Did you know that he can melt brains with his thoughts?" she started, insinuating some fear, "But that those that treat him nicely, he can bring them endless fortune?" she added, throwing in a darned good reason for these people to like him.

After she spread the word of that, repeating it secretly amongst the crowd, to hopefully change the way people acted towards Skarciss, she returned to Astrid's side happily, walking with a bounce in her step.

Astrid didn't excessively indulge in the offered food, not feeling right about taking too many of the supplies these people had gathered. She also inspected her weapons to make sure that her axe was sharp, her bowstring was taut, and her spear was pointy. When Katarina returned, Astrid leaned over to speak quietly to her. "You want to drive the motorcycle when we head out? It'll give me more options if I'm on the back with my hands free."

"Oh DEFINITELY!" Katarina looked a little too excited about this prospect, as if she may have never driven before, "It'll be awesome! And umm, heroic and stuff too!" she made sure to cover her bases with a solemn nod.

Even as the group waits for nightfall, the pig riders never seems to let up with circling the walls. Finally, just as another set of riders come to replace the tired out group, the small matter of timing gives the group an opening. Along with an opening of the energy walls and launching a barrage of arrows from the archers among the villagers.

There are enough captured bikes for the group to ride out two people per bike.

Who is doing the driving and who is riding along?

"How about I go with you?" Quetz suggests to Elric. "You drive, I'll ride... Unlessss you'd rather I drive...?"

Elric nods to Quetz, "I'll drive."  There was tactical advantage to being the passenger, but Elric was often willing to relinquish control.

Just knowing that Astrid would definitely want to pair with her, Katarina planted her hands on her hips, expectantly grinning,

"Who is driving?" she asked simply, waiting to hear where Astrid wanted Katarina's supreme skills.

Astrid smiled at her new partner, then pointed at Katarina. "You're driving. I'm...going to be doing other things with my hands, I expect."

Nodding, Katarina smiled,

"Of course! I thought the same! Exactly!" Katarina tried to quickly sound like she knew all along. Nobody would be the wiser...

OOC-Moving on.

As they drive out, almost at once they are spotted by the other riders. They oink and roar at the outrage of someone other then a rider driving their vehicles! The drivers of each of the group's captured bikes gun the engines, but they are quickly followed. Crossbow bolts and bullets whizz by the group as they make their escape!

OOC: everybody roll d20 vs dex to see who has iniative.

Those driving will have to make a dex roll to keep ahead of the riders. Those on the back seat can use ranged attacks on the riders.

OOC: Fail!

18:11, Today: Astrid rolled 14 using 1d20.  Dex (13) - Init.

OOC: Success!

22:51, Today: Katarina rolled 15 using 1d20.  dex.

OOC: Init: 3, DEX: 18

(10:24, Today: Quetz rolled 3 using 1d20 ((3)). Dex 13 = init)

20:52, Today: Lords of Light, on behalf of VX900, rolled 5 using 1d20.  Initiative. Success.

OOC-20:52, Today: Lords of Light, on behalf of Skarciss the Seeker, rolled 1 using 1d20.  Initiative.

OOC: Everyone who succeeded on their dex roll may now act. Those driving will also have to make a dex roll to keep ahead of the rider's bikes.

dex to stay ahead, success

"Woohoo!" Katarina exclaimed, shifting the wheel around as she took off, "This is fun!" She laughed aloud, enjoying herself thoroughly.

Katarina shifted her stance, to be ready to pull a dirty trick on anybody that was close to climbing on their vehicle. She wasn't afraid to fight them off too!
This message was last edited by the player at 04:27, Wed 07 Oct 2020.

In reply to Katarina (msg # 19):

OOC: You can still take an action in addition to driving. Try to factor in that you are staying ahead via your driving.

Elric seemed intent on focusing his attention on the metal beast between his thighs...

OOC: 2 dex checks passed.

Quetz tried to use his wooden spear to take a poke at a pig-man rider who came near, but Quetz missed...

Quetz lands on one rider from his massive leap from Elric's bike. Crashing clawed feet first and razor sharp teeth second. Needless to say, that biker's vehicle rolls and crashes-but not before Quetz does another seemingly impossible leap onto the back of the bike he just left. Elric barley manages to keep the vehicle steady as he does.

Despite that victory, the other pig riders open fire at the escapees. While most of their main force stay circling the energy walls, a small group proceeds to give chase. They too fire with weapons ranging from crossbows to energy pistols.

Elric's and Katarina's bike maneuver and twist, avoiding all the deadly projectiles. However, VX900 and Skarciss's bike gets hit several times. It spins out, and both figures and thrown clear even as the vehicle crashes and explodes. However, neither the robot or the sorcerer impact on the ground. Instead the magic wielder opens a portal and both enter it at high speeds. Another portal does not open revealing them again however...

Even after the barrage, several of the riders seem to hit some sort of after burner on their metallic hogs. A couple of them are catching up despite the lead the group had...

(OOC-Astrid is up and can act against the swiftly incoming foes. Tell me what you wish to do in your private thread and we can work out the results.)
This message was last edited by the player at 00:36, Tue 20 Oct 2020.

Astrid took aim with her bow and sent two arrows arcing toward the pursuing pig men. Unfortunately, they both fell into the desert sand instead of striking one of the creatures in pursuit.

The race continued into the moonlit desert sands. Due to the afterburners of the Pig Riders, and the used up state of the group's own after burners, the Riders comes much closer now. The party can see the gleaming tusks and hear the oinks as the pig men are so close they can be reached with hand to hand attacks.

OOC: Everybody expect Astrid is up! All drivers need to make dex saves to keep control of their bikes in addition to any other action they take.

I rolled a natural 20, is that bad?

In reply to Katarina (msg # 26):

OOC-indeed it is! Also, you should post all your rolls in your private thread. Then when we hash out the results you post that.

Even as Katarina tries to maneuver away from the incoming attacks of the energy pistols, she cannot avoid one of the nitro-like boosted bike of one of the riders. The Pig rider viscously side swipes her and Astrid's bike. She loses control and both woman go flying as the bike crashes. Even as they struggle to rise, other riders are heading directly for them...

OOC-07:26, Today: Lords of Light rolled 6 using 1d6. Astrid and Katarina take that damage, minus whatever armor points they have.

Quetz on the other hand manages a leap off of his bike and lands directly on one of the nearby rider. He shreds the pig man, knocking him off the bike and flips off the vehicle. The raptor then lands in mid-stride, running with a cheetah-like sprint back towards the bike with his friend upon it.

OOC-Astrid is up, after she takes her damage can do her normal attacks. There are going to be pig riders within melee range if she wants to try it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 12:32, Sun 15 Nov 2020.

Landing as smoothly as she could, Katarina's dextrous form tried to roll to soften the landing, but it was simply going too quickly for her. Bouncing and bumping as she rolled along, whimpering in pain as she hit a particularly large rock, she finally thudded to a stop at the end, and looked towards Astrid apologetically,

"I'm sorry!" she said, trying to look around and get to her feet as quickly as she could to avoid being run over.

Looking around, she tried to locate the bike, to be able to get it working again, if possible... otherwise her and Astrid were finished.

Astrid tried her best to land softly as the vehicle careened out of control, though it was all for naught as her shoulder slammed into a rock as the blonde rolled free of the wreckage. With the attacking swine within melee distance, Astrid pulled out her axe.

The barbarian had visions of pork roast, but the distracting thoughts made her attacks ineffectual. Astrid did connect once, but it didn't seem to produce all that much harm to the enemy.

In reply to Astrid (msg # 30):

OOC: Astrid takes 4 damage, Kat takes 5.

Astrid cuts a Rider as he drives by, but its mostly a nick due to the high speeds they are moving at. They proceed to try and circle the two, but half their numbers break off to follow Elric's bike and Quetz's fast moving form.

(OOC-All PCs expect for Astrid are up!)

Elric continues to live the Biker lifestyle as he controls the metal monstrosity between his legs...

Her eyes suddenly widened, as she realized they were vastly outnumbered, and that Astrid would get herself hurt if Katarina didn't help.

Running forward, she threw herself in the direct path of one of the vehicles, trying to get its attention without seeming like she was. Looking suddenly panicked, to bait him into following her, she swiveled her hips and ran directly to the side, dragging the biker's path into the other one's, hopefully causing chaos. Then, she did it again, bringing the biker's into one another's paths, hopefully knocking one down, but at least distracting and slowing them all down to give Astrid some time.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:51, Mon 30 Nov 2020.

In reply to Katarina (msg # 33):

OOC: Yes, but make your rolls and such in your private thread to me, and then do a write up of the in-game action here.

Quetz screams and leaps upon a pig-rider and BITES him.

This particular pig-man is not as tough as those who were previously pursuing the individual members of the now-assembled party, and the bite proves deadly.

Quetz gets on the downed pig-man's bike, and pilots it over to the currently-on-foot ladies...

As Kat played matador, Astrid lined up a couple shots with her battle axe and took two huge hunks of pork out of piggies that ventured too close.

As Elric drove he reached out his hand and the unnaturally long black sword with red runes appeared within it and then sliced the head off one of the foes before it could make a snide remark.  In a flash, the sword was sizzling with the creatures blood.

Sure enough, Kat's distraction caused a massive bike pile up. Each Pig rider slamming into another because they where unable to get out of the way of that first crash. While the riders survived they impact, they did not survive the party taking advantage of their situation.

OOC-Combat over! What is the plan now? Moving on to the wreck?

Jumping up and down excitedly, Katarina grinned and threw her hand up to try and high-five Astrid,

"Yay, you did it!" she said, firmly convinced the valkyrie goddess was the sole reason behind their success.

Moving over towards the bike, she struggled to try and stand their bike back up, to be able to get it back over to Astrid.

"Let's get to the wreck as soon as possible.  We signed up to help these people not deal in pork futures..."  Elric helped others as needed but when everyone was ready he started up the bike and continued on.

Astrid's connected solidly with Katarina's as she completed the 'high-five'. She then grinned at the dark-haired woman. "You did it! Nice work getting them all to pile up like that."

The blonde looked over at Elric and nodded at his suggestion. "Good idea. Let's get moving." Astrid moved over to help Katarina get their bike back upright and slipped onto the back of it once they were ready to move again.

"Woohoo!" Katarina said excitedly, even if Astrid's powerful high five forced her to step back a bit. She didn't care! Her and Astrid, the super powerful female badass were teammates now! The best of friends! Attached at the hip! The world couldn't separate them, she was sure of it now!

Hearing Astrid's words, Katarina nodded affirmatively, and when she helped her get the bike back up, she was thankful, and hopped back into the driver's seat,

"I'll try and be more careful this time, I promise!" she assured Astrid over her shoulder, hoping deep down that she could succeed this time.

Gathering up any bikes that still are functional, the party is able to move on with its remaining members. They drive on, using the route Mayor Sandhira had given them. Sure enough, after a bit of driving they come across the remains of an large hovercraft, seemingly crashed into the side of a larger sand dune. It seems mostly intact, and the trick will be getting it unburied.

That, plus the nest of Bat-Apes that seem to have made a nest on the hovercraft's cargo area. The creatures are about five feet tall with large leathern wings, and the fang filled maws suggest they are not fruit eaters.

"Hm...."

The blonde went rummaging around in the saddlebag near her right thigh. "A-ha! Looks like some of these piggies had...something that looks like it might be meat. Maybe we can draw them off. Move slowly toward them and then I'm going to toss this stuff in hopes to draw them off."

She waited for a nod and the requested movement. The plan wasn't foolproof, but it was one that might save them a fight.

"O..ok!" Katarina tried to sound brave. This looked like a silly idea, but to be a hero, she had to do it!

Inching up with the vehicle, Kat did her best to help slink forward, so Astrid could throw the 'meat'...

This message was deleted by the player at 16:37, Sat 09 Jan 2021.

Astrid tried to throw the meaty substance near enough to the creatures that it would get their attention, but far enough that they would have to abandon their post to retrieve it.

With luck, they would at least be able to get good defensive positions while the creatures were distracted. If not extract the vehicle. She didn't know how much work it would take to fix the thing. Hopefully not much.
This message was last edited by the player at 02:20, Sun 10 Jan 2021.

In reply to Astrid (msg # 47):

The bats are drawn by the meat, and fly towards sudden source of food. They are clearly quite hungry, as they snap and scream at each other for the treat. Everyone can tell those ultrasonic screams are quite painful for anyone who is not a giant mutant bat. Of course, the creatures hearing is quite good-and as soon as the group moves towards the hovercraft all the bats heads snap about followed by the rotating of those giant ears.

It seem they would prefer living prey, as they all take to wing and start circling above the group...

(OOC: Everybody roll dex to for initiative!)

Quetz dodges to the side as a bat swoops near.

...But he trips over something almost-entirely-buried in the sand, and falls flat...