Use Augmentation while punching the closest patrol to the door to dust
Use Augmentation and cover Magnos's back.
Skeletons (INS): 5-2
Magnos (STR): 4+2
Durkon (STR): 1+1
Skeletons (STR): 6 (surprised)
Wight (STR): 4+1 (surprised)
Magnos dashes straight through the gate, followed closely by Durkon. The two wizards cast augmentation just as they're about to crash into the nearest skeletal patrol. Sorcerous power flows through their veins, and the world around them turns into a blur as the spell reaches the muscles in their limbs. Magnos' course takes him past the wall and directly into the band of undead, which promptly begins falling to pieces under his quarterstaff.
Most of the skeletons don't react quickly enough to save themselves, but Magnos find himself with an unexpected problem. The remaining three foot soldiers are throwing themselves at him in a suicidal charge, too thick and fast to destroy without leaving himself exposed. A corpse with glowing eyes stands behind them, ready to leap in at the first sign of weakness.
Durkon circles around to flank it, but slips after misjudging his own enhanced strength. He slides forwards on the dirt, then stops on the other side of the melee with a painful thud.
Francis hangs back and lets the combat mages cover the attacking, instead opting to use Clairvoyance to provide information to his teammates.
August goes with Francis and helps him out by also using Clairvoyance
Francis (INS): 4
August (INS): 3
Crossbones (DEX): 6
Francis (DEX): 4
August (DEX): 2
Francis and August spread out and use clairvoyance to get the lay of the land. The spell extends their perception past the gate and fifty feet into the city, which gives them a better sense of the battlefield than vision alone. Just as importantly, it gives them a look at the first two levels of the guard tower.
It's staffed by a skeleton crew, in both senses of the word. The dead have a small contingent of warriors on the first floor and crossbowmen positioned to fire through the arrow slits, but the second floor is oddly empty. Francis notices that the floor tiles seem to form some kind of mosaic, but neither of the two wizards can focus their vision enough to make it out.
Battlefield-o-vision doesn't provide much new information, but it does confirm that there are marksmen on the walls. They're shooting wildly enough to knock out some of their own men, but one of the skeletons clips August with a lucky shot. He probably could have figured that one out without using divination.
Are we hitting things already? If so, use Augmentation and go hit those skeletons with my staff. If not, see about getting information on the enemy positions from one of the Clairvoyance users and try to sneak closer or otherwise position myself to target any undead that might be controlling or commanding the other skeletons. Then use Augmentation and hit it with a stick.
Clairvoyance~~ I'll see if I can find a Command Center.
That and hide, hiding somewhere that isn't in the open is good. Hiding from the Skeletons is even better
Rune (INS): 1
Harry (DEX): 3
Skeletons (INS): 6-2
Harry (STR): 6+1
Wight (STR): 3+1
Rune drags Harry up to the base of the wall, where skeletal crossbowmen will need to fire at a difficult angle to hit them. Then he casts clairvoyance, using the sudden expansion of his mind to search for undead leaders. Most of the horde seems to be on the brink of mindlessness, but he quickly notices that a skeleton with glowing eyes is in command of each group. The officers tend to have better equipment than the others, and they're certainly putting more thought into the fight.
His proximity to the tower also puts a sliver of the third floor within his viewing range. There's a single entity standing there, judging by the number of legs, but Rune can't get the rest of it into his view without jumping into the paths of crossbow bolts.
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Harry listens to the clairvoyant babble for a while before peeling off to infiltrate enemy territory. Two other wizards are fighting a squad that was supposed to be guarding the gate, which allows him to skirt the edge of the chaos while going in the general direction of the tower. One of the glowing-eyed commanders that Rune pointed out notices him before he gets much farther, but Harry bashes its skull in before it can raise the alarm. The rest of its squad immediately collapses, scattering bones everywhere.
Use Mage Lightning against the crossbow wielding skeletons
Use Mage Lightning against the crossbow wielding skeletons
Alexander (DEX): 2
Ebor (DEX): 4
Crossbones (DEX): 5 (surprised)
Two of the group's ranged combat specialist begin exchanging fire with the skeletons on the wall. Lightning bolts and crossbow bolts tear through the air until bones begin toppling off the wall. Most have been blasted apart by lightning or disassembled by way of friendly fire, but on one occasion an entire skeleton impacts the ground face-first. It doesn't live long enough to for Alexander or Ebor to finish it off.
The crossbowmen were firing wildly at first, but they begin to find their stride as the confrontation continues. Blots are coming uncomfortably close by the end of the first wave, even though half the undead have already been put down.
Meditate to focus my magic. Use Clairvoyance to attemp to feel the magical energies in the area.
Henry also uses clairvoyance to scout out the battlefield, but chooses to concentrate on the sixth sense rather than the five physical ones demanding his attention. The flows of magic are strange and occasionally confusing, but he takes advantage of a brief reprieve from the crossbows to turn them over in his head.
All of the skeletons glow with a spark of magic, but the ones with glowing eyes have a larger, more visible light. Thin threads extend outwards from them, used to tie them to all the lesser undead in their squad. The commanders' orders are silent, but a pulse of magic travels down each strand whenever they direct their troops.
There's also a large concentration of magic in the guard tower, mostly coming from the upper floors. Some of it is a result of the mosaic, but most is emanating from a figure on the third floor which is standing at the very edge of your perception.
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Name: John Smith
Appearance: A dirty looking old man.
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Strength: +1
Dexterity: +1
Insight: 0
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Mage Lightning
You're good to go. We'll just assume you've been hiding behind a wagon or something.
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More generally, turn schedule. I'll be updating the game roughly every 2-3 days. Maybe more, if I have time, but that's on a case-by-case basis.
Author
Topic: Alexandria: Wizardly Dungeoneering (Read 4250 times)