Previous -- NextLong fight scene and lots of updates. I hope people are finding it a satisfactory experience!
Tohil is immediately harangued by Solde. (Wow, and he seemed so nice before.) There are words about "Priorities!" with the living still in danger of joining the dead. Especially, there are words to the effect of "Can you not smell the smoke?" He makes disbelieving hand gestures back and forth between where you had been planning to build a funeral pyre and where, come to think of it, you can see distant smoke. He says there's a burning building. Ahhh, now you get it. Maybe you can take advantage of that fire and solve more than one problem at once!(I'm not trying to speak for you; I just thought it would be funny.)
6, 7, 8, 11, 2, 9, 4, 5, 1, 3, 10
. . . Swordperson C, swordperson D, swordperson E, MYSTERIOUS ENTITY,
John, swordperson I,
Dwain,
Gary,
Dustan,
Alyssa Alpine, the
rock hydra.
(Interesting how the ones with swords have consistently out-maneuvered the ones with teeth. Maybe they'll live through this . . . )
Swordperson combat tables as before, either when in smoke or when not
Swordperson C attack roll: 7, Fail by succeeding!
(Choosing an ally. . . )
Damage roll (1d6+1): 5+1 = 6!
John, HP: 11/19
Swordperson D drenching roll: 5, Succeed greatly!
Swordperson E attack roll: 3, Succeed weakly!
Damage roll (1d4-1): 3-1 = 2!
Rock hydra B, HP: 20/32
MYSTERIOUS ENTITY combat table, target is armored against blunt attacks:
1: Fail terribly
2: Fail
3: Fail
4: Succeed weakly
5: Succeed
6: Succeed
7: Succeed
8: Succeed greatly
9: Fail by succeeding
MYSTERIOUS ENTITY attack roll: 4, Succeed weakly!
Damage roll (1d4-1): 1-1 = 0!
Swordperson I attack roll: 5, Succeed!
Damage roll (1d6+1): 5+1 = 6!
Rock hydra B, HP: 14/32
John's combat table with a firebreath attack is unaffected by smoke
John's attack roll: 4, Succeed greatly!
(For completely unexplained reasons, I do not show you any rolls after this success, but I'll still remove your paralysis penalty)
John's completely-unexplained-secondary-success roll: 5, Succeed greatly!
Dwain's drenching roll: 4, Succeed!
Dustan's get-away-from-there-you-fool roll: 1, Fail terribly!
Gary's likewise-you-fool roll: 4, Succeed!
Rock hydra B's hey-I-was-mangling-him roll: 2, Fail!
With Dustan's poor result, the rock hydra will apply the first attack to him
Rock hydra B attack roll: 8, Succeed greatly (with paralysis)!
Damage roll (1d6+6): 4+6 = 10!
Dustan, HP: 9/19
Paralysis roll (1d6+9)/2: (4+9)/2 = 7!
Continuing to attack uses the weakest combat table by now
Rock hydra B attack roll: 7, Succeed weakly!
Damage roll (1d4-1): 2-1 = 1!
Swordperson I, HP: 7/10
Result: 3, Succeed weakly!
Result: 4, Succeed!
Result: 3, Succeed weakly!
Result: 3, Succeed weakly!
Result: 4, Succeed!
Okay, you know, this has been a rollercoaster ride
The smoke continues to spread rapidly, obscuring the view out of the north. The rock hydra continues to push south, into the crowd of combatants. The combatants continue to assail the beast as well as they can, but they are matched in number by people now trying to get them to back away; Dustan and Gary arrive to get them to retreat for their own health. The efforts are half-successful: Gary pulls away a warrior, but Dustan's struggle brings him into range for a brutal series of sawing bites, complete with paralytic saliva!
Dustan now has -7 to his next damage roll in combat!
You can feel your muscles weakening. Oh yeah, it's totally worth it to save these people. From here, you wonder whether the rock hydra were even interested in predation, or if it were just trying to get people out of its way. For Gary, it clicks: the beast is just as afraid of fire as any of the other creatures you've seen down here, and south--through all the warriors--is the first way out it can see.
John goes in pursuit of the alleged unseen entity in the smoke. Both you and Dwain think you can see something; something bipedal. Your arrival is greeted by the flailing sword of the swordperson who had announced the problem; ouch, watch where you're swinging that thing! You bellow for all present to get out of your way and call upon the glowstone still burning within your veins.Fwoosh! You can hardly see a thing in the layers of smoke upon smoke, but that had to make an impression.
Everyone who matters is out of the way. Alyssa, passing through the walls, heard the warning and has ascended slightly above the level of the conflict.(I've been vague about how tall these tunnel areas are. In the graphic, I say that
Alyssa is at "z+1," though we're not talking about one of those wide-open quarry areas so I suppose it's more like "z+1/2" or "z+3/4," but those aren't as nice to fit onto the map. Eh.)
From there you're afflicted by roiling clouds and heated air, but you can see that those in the east are making progress on the fire. The swordperson who dropped a keg is trying again. She has much greater success with water-keg-aim this time, dousing a large patch of flames! Dwain continues at work; you finish emptying the keg you first grabbed, creating what you think should be a broad enough area of wet thatching to keep the remaining fire under control. Progress!(I'm pleased with how the gout of flame looks within the cloud of pre-existing smoke.)