Turn 11 - ASSASSINS

THREE WARRIORS, FIVE ASSASSINS

Gaigin knew trouble when he saw it, and this was trouble. Outnumbered and in a bad position, he moved fast to try to even the odds. Eyeing the swordsman in front of him, Gaigin slashes forward with a quick movement, then suddenly reverses his momentum and turns slightly, cutting downward towards the man's leg. Following through with the swing's momentum this time, Gaigin brings the axe up high and swings down hard, trying to drive his axe-blade deep into his opponent's shoulder. The axe blade hits on a bone shoulder pad shattering it to pieces. Fortunately for the guard, the axe's momentum was stopped by the hard carru leather underneath after loosing most of its strength on the bone plate. It still doubled him over making his swing go awry. The wounded fighter saw his opportunity and swung hard on Gaigin's body. This time, the hero's armor took the blow but did not seem worst for the wear. The green hide plates still glinted dully in the pre-dawn's light.

Koreth grins at the warrior sprawled on the ground before him, his charge had worked well and had placed him behind the lines of the enemy warriors. Bringing his sword into a fighting stance, he struck at the warrior with all his psionically-enhanced strength. Koreth's sword cleaves deep into the warrior's shoulder, spraying blood into the air and spattering his armor. The warrior screams in pain at Koreth's vicious attack. The warrior retaliates with a quick sword thrust that the noble warrior deftly dodges.

Taking a hit to his antenna, Chit-Zik is put in extreme pain and struggles to keep fighting. Anger drives his attack furiously against the guard. He claws at the man from below, attempting to get a hold of him, then swings his gythka around and hacks right down the center of the warrior's head. The kreen rakes his claw leaving a series of crimson lines in the warrior's thigh. He then swings hard with his gythka for head-splitting stroke. Out of pure instinct, the warrior steps back just in time. The mantis warrior goes in for a bite trying to breach the space left in between them. He over-stretches himself and misses leaving his head exposed again. The warrior swings his bone sword again connecting with the side of the neck with a loud sickening crunch. He yells at the elven archer, "Get 'im, get 'im, he's almost done in for it!" The elf is still astonished by the fact that the kreen had eaten a piece of his shoulder, bleeding profusely he throws his weapons down starts practicing an age-old tradition; his legs raise puffs of dust in the predawn air.


ROOFTOP, MINDSCAPE

Things hung on a knife's edge. Elric was battered, Chit-Zik was bleeding, and Koreth and Gaigin faced multiple opponents. To make things worse, a warrior recently knocked off the roof by Aryus was mere feet away from where Tak’ stood, until now out of harms way.


Still, they had one significant advantage - Tak’ had their leader’s mind. Placing a grim smile on his face, Tak’ thought quickly. Pointing to Aryus rapidly, Tak’ then pointed to the guard with one hand, and drew the other across his own throat with the other. Praying that Aryus could contain the warrior, even if only for a short while, Tak’ turned around, to face the combatants on the rooftop.


Trying to catch Elric's attention, Tak’ summoned what volume he could "Elric! I have the elf’s mind! He is mine, defend yourself!" Immediately entering his mindscape, Tak’ drew one more on his Will, hoping that the physical world would not intrude on what he knew he must do.


In his mindscape: walking towards the battered elf’s body, with a disgusted sneer, Tak’ prodded the body with his spear to see if he still lived. Rewarded by futile motion, Tak’ stated flatly: "Call your assassins off. Unless of course you wish to face more horrors from the ‘barbarian’ forests that is?" Tak waits only a moment for an answer that never comes…

"Very well then. Drown." Water once more rushed into existence before the terrified elf’s eyes. Gathering momentum and volume, the flashflood gathers overruns the terrified elf, battering his body with debris and filling his lungs with water. The elf screams in pain as he tries to ride out the rapids but never has a chance against such an awesome force. His silent mindscape screams were loudly heard in the still Tyrian morning.


Elric glares at his two adversaries, a slight grin appears on his lips as he hears Tak's words. His whirling blade forming a deadly shield before him. He steps back half a step, taking up a defensive position. Holding his position watching the rogue intently for any sign of distraction. Flowing with the motion of his whirling blades, Elric strikes out with a quick slash of his right blade, slicing fiercely towards the rogue's neck. Following with a straightforward stab of his left blade over the line of his first strike. Catching the rogue while his thoughts where in the mindscape, Elric's blades slip past his defenses. The blades dig into soft flesh with an audible thud.

The elf rogue takes a desperate swing with his curved dagger catching Elric on the shoulder. The dagger slices the warlock easily leaving a gaping gash in its wake. As the warlock screams his pain, the rogue's assassin lunges past his defenses piercing him on his upper torso. Elric has had more than enough and darkness threatens to engulf him.

Aryus could not help but smile in satisfaction. His arrow had found its mark and his spell had knocked two warriors off the roof. Tak and Elric had charged forward to finish them off. From his perspective, the battle was going well.


Aryus quickly scans the area once again. One of the warriors that had been knocked down from the roof stood up. He was still alive. How could the winds permit such a thing? Swiftly, Aryus draws another bone tipped arrow and aims very carefully. That warrior being so close to him, Aryus was confident that he could finish him off with one shot. The arrow flies true aided by the wind lords but the warrior's armor hinders any real damage; still the arrow was left sticking out from his upper torso.


Aryus curses. Instantly, the warrior draws his sword and approaches the wind mage. Scrambling quickly Aryus takes out another arrow and attempt to shoot him down. This time he aims for the unprotected throat. Waiting until the warrior was up close, he releases the missile. A gurgling cry and a wide-eyed warrior clutching a bone shaft protruding from his neck rewarded his excellent shot.

 

THE FIGHT IS ENDING

Tak’ stood still, his body tense, his eyes locked on the elf. A mighty struggle was taking place, away form the eyes of all in the street.

In his mindscape, Tak addresses the elf, "More? I am willing to oblige you. My companions in reality are much more gentle than I in the mindscape." Grinning and exposing his teeth, "Here, there’s only you and me - and no need for me to behave..."

Cursing inwardly, Tak’ summoned the last of his Will into creating the Sloth which had terrorized the elf before. The muscular body and gaping jaws leapt at the elf, seeking to feast on and devour his opponent, as it devoured much in the forests of home. The sloth thrashes the defenseless elf holding him fast in his muscled arms; the elf finds that just as he is held in his mindscape he is held immobile in real life.

Calling loudly to Elric, "The elf is helpless, finish him if you can!" Readying his spear, he ran forward, uttering a savage war cry, indicating that once more Tak’Nak’Raq hunted on the streets of Tyr.

Bleeding profusely from his many wounds, the warlock does his best to fight the oncoming blackness. He acknowledges the hunter's wishes but there is no more fighting left in him. Elric curses his luck and spins in a flourish of blades and uses the magic strength still in his legs to leap across the alley. His last strength ebbing from him, the elf lands with a dull thud. He weakly raises his head when darkness finally overwhelms him…

Ayrus smiles once again as he sets an iron tipped arrow to his bow. The gravely wounded warrior stumbled over notwithstanding the two arrows stuck in him. He raises his sword for a great over head swing just as the air priest releases his missile. The arrow buries itself deeply in his eye a mere few feet away finally killing him but not before his sword strikes Ayrus. The swing of a desperate, dying man is sometimes the worst as Ayrus viewed the bone blade that nearly split his head firmly lodged on the side of his neck.

Seeing the gravely wounded air priest, the warrior left on the roof top jumped on top a nearby tentroof and with a murderous look in his eyes set for the air priest.

ON THE FAR SIDE OF THE STREET


Koreth maneuvers his sword deftly, dodging a blow from his opponent with his shield. He thrust his sword, catching the warrior while he still sought to recover from his swing. Koreth's blade sinks into the warrior's flesh, a look of pain upon his face and a low moan escapes his lungs. The man drops dead with a curse on his lips.

Koreth steps back, seeking to better position himself, his eyes warily scanning the battle. The noble warrior turns his attention to the knots of fighting behind him, choosing to help out Gaigin being the only hero outnumbered in this part of the street. Koreth moves in quickly behind one of Gaigin's opponents, his sword darting swiftly into the warrior's back. The spear wound had been too much for the man who sinks to his knees from the unexpected attack; Koreth used all of his enhanced strength as he kicked his bone bastard sword free.

The kreen was infuriated and did not seem to feel his many wounds. He swung his gythka again and again trying to gut his opponent while raking him with his claw. He was being careful with his bite so as to not overbalance himself again. His gythka connects this time leaving a bloody trail behind. The man's weak swing struck the kreen's chitin but did not break through. Finally, the mantis' mandibles clasped around the man's arm where the sound of crunching bone was heard.


Smiling behind his fierce mask, Gaigin raises his axe and brings it down hard in an overhead chop meant smash the man's skull to pieces. The experienced warrior ducks underneath the blow and strikes true with his own sword ripping a bloody gash on Gaigin's shoulder. Gaigin curses as his opponent refuses to drop. Changing tactics, Gaigin drops back a few steps, intentionally letting his axe go wide. The swordsman smiles and moves to exploit the obvious opening, thrusting at Gaigin's chest. Deftly, Gaigin side steps the expected attack and slashes once more, attempting to slash at the man's side while he is unbalanced and out of position. His tactic meets with success as he finally manages to draw blood from his enemy. The ex-caravan guard chuckles at the sight of his enemy's blood, the toothy grin behind the hideous mask is almost enough to unnerve even this experienced assassin, "So yer blood is as red as mine, get ye close and we'll see the color of yer guts…

The crimson sun finally made its appearance shinning all its glory on a yet another bloody scene in Tyr where a few silver pieces was enough to kill and die for…

OUT OF CHARACTER

Here is the situation as it stands right now.

Remember the scale:

Healthy (H) 100% hitpoints remaining

Slightly Wounded (SiW) 75% to 100% hitpoints remaining

Wounded (W) 50% to 75% hitpoints remaining

Seriously Wounded (SeW) 25% to 50% hitpoints remaining

Mortally Wounded (MW) 0% to 25% hitpoints remaining

There is small group at the end of the street:

Gaigin (W) W2 (SiW)

Koreth (SiW) (W for PSP)

Chit (SeW) W5 (MW)

 

At one roof and alone:

Elric (Unconscious), mind breached

DM note: I don't expect (I do expect you will survive however) a response from you in character but you may want to take the opportunity and think about your supplies and other stuff…

 

At original roof and alone:

Psionicist (MW), mind breached, not reacting

 

At the close end of the street:

Tak (SiW) (MW for PSP)

 

Ayrus (MW) W6 (W)

 

We'll go two more rounds again.

Questions, comments, and suggestions please.

 

L8r,

Fabian

Here is a little sketch.

I I P I I

E I W6 TI I I

______ I I I I__________

A

G W2

K

C

_______ _____________ __W5_________

I I I I

I I I I

I I I I

 

 

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