Thiy and Artaxes' Excellent Adventure!

[ian_scho]

Thiy sits backs on her haunches for a second, absorbing this wonderful alien scene. While she was not completely comfortable with her new companions she was certain that they were better than those guys with the SAR rune emblazoned on their forehead. The pig seemed happy enough. A fucking useless beast yet she was glad that it was sufficiently independent so she didn't need to waste time with it... Then she remembered a previous question by the caravan guard that she hadn't responded to.

"Artaxes. Would you like to take first watch? I'll go and check if they need help with... The grahhssk. Do me a favour and makes sure no one eats or tries to impregnate the pig will you? Anything could happen here and you are right. It's just too civilised at the moment."

She dumps her pack and ties it the the pig's tether. Thiy is happy to remove the weight from her now bruised shoulder and back, and walks across to where they are handling the grahhssk. The closer she gets the more in awe she is that a lizard can smell so bad. Impressive creatures close up, and she had to admire the handlers tenacity to try to control them. Obviously food is the their main motivation now but she makes a mental note of staying away from those powerful hind legs. She could make an estimation of the age of the things from the webbing between the toes. The one in front of her had tattered and broken webbing so she assumed that it was both older and travelled further than the others. They seemed perfectly suited for the wet environment where water would run off their scaly skin even if it were pitted or scarred.

The best thing she could do is to offer to carry the harness and associated equipment that beasts of burden always seemed to require. She would offer to imitate in some of the other duties but nervous about getting too close to them. She hoped that they didn't need oiling or a scratch behind the ears.

[oh_brother]

While sitting with the cobra-headed creature Artaxes had to admit that he had no camping supplies. "They were all lost in the attack." The offer to get some spiderweb as covering took him by surprise. Looking around to make sure Thiy was not listening after his disdain for her spider silk garment he whispered "If the spider has something spare left around, I don't see why not. And so long as I don't have to touch it." He imagined the horror of being trapped in a spider web and unable to move. Shuddering at that thought he resolved to only use it if it could be shaped into some sort of canopy, well removed from his person.

But despite himself he was starting to like old snake-head. He acknowledged the thanks for the information on the chaos-worshippers with a nod of the head as he went about his business.

"Yes, I will take first watch" he replied to Thiy and the lizar guard. "And don't worry, no one will get that pig. This could be a good time to slaughter though. If we get salt we can preserve enough to keep us going for some time. Maybe even the smoke from one of the fires could do."

As he wandered around the camp he tried to suppress his irritation at the fact that they all seemed to be speaking some sort of crazy hissing language. He wandered over to the cook, and peered into the pot. "What will you cook?" he asked slowly, pointing to the pot.

Roll for talking with the cook was 8 - 1 (Cha) = 7.

[raixel]

I love the concept of being able to tell how old a grahhssk is by its feet, and I'll be adding that to the lizar words post!

The pig glances at the pack tied to the rope around its neck, grunting and nosing at it lazily for a few seconds before laying back down. Having fed itself an gone to the bathroom, it doesnt seem interested in its surroundings anymore, and after a few seconds its little blue eyes close, and it drifts off to whatever swine dream about when they sleep.

Thiy walks over to the grahhssk. To her human nose, they had a powerful smell, although unlike any typical barnyard animal that most humanoids keep. They smelled like a combination of swamp ferment, and fish Have you ever smelled what a pet snake's tank smells like, if it needs to be cleaned? That mixed with what the mud and water in a marsh smells like.. However, after a few seconds she gets used to it, and in fact the smell is much better than the barnyard smell that surrounded the animal pens where she worked as an apprentice, to build "character". The large reptiles are surprisingly docile, craning heir long thin necks in her direction and nosing her, flicking their black forked tongues at her foreign smell. The lizar in charge of feeding and caring for the grahhssk is nearby, kneeling down and examining one of the creature's large webbed feet, which it patiently holds off the ground for the drover to work with. Seeing the monk, the drover clicks at the grahhssk, which drops its foot. The lizar stands and approaches the monk, and after some brief pantomime, the monk is able to figure out that it wants her to pile the removed harness and tack, which is strewn around by the wagons, in a pile under a worked stone overhang on stilts next to the food and water troughs, obviously set up for that purpose. THe drover carries a harness and associated tack, showing the monk how to lay the straps out properly, then points the the bits of tack strewn around randomly. It seems grateful and appreciative for the unasked for help.

Thhrraxxisss calls to Ktch'klik in their shared language, and the spider reponds. "He says as soon as he is finshed with his nest, he would be happy to weave a simple covering in the branches above your spot" he tells Artaxes. After setting up his bedroll, the mercenary wanders around the camp. Except for the unfamiliar scenery and the cadence of the odd hissing language that fills the air, this could be one of many camps he has been in while on campaign. If he closes his eyes, he can almost pretend he wasn't lost in the middle of a swamp surrounded by beings that looked like something out of an old granny-tale told to frighten naughty children, but on just a typical caravan-guarding job contracted out by his Guild. The illusion is broken as across the clearing, a grahhssk shrieks at another for some offence. The noise is like nothing the human has ever heard, It sounds like a lemur shriek, like this http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl_0gj5L ... re=related only much much louder , and many small birds take off from around the clearing at the sound.

The lizar cook nods at the human, and points to the pot, then to some shriveled dried black strips of *something* he has laying out on a thin skin and is busily chopping up with a curved knife wich looks like an axehead, and is grasped where the head would attach to the shaft by a bar and place to slide the fingers through. The cook is busily rocking the curved blade across the dried objects, dicing them into small pieces and dropping them into the bubbling pot. He holds one of the pieces out to Artaxes, andmimes eating it. Next to the stuff are some kind of greens, a purple root, and something that may be dried meat.

Time passes, and Thiy works as the drover cares for the grahhssk. The lizar is pleasant, although they dont speak the same language, happily pointing out various parts of grahhssk care to the monk as she works. He shows her how to check their feet for damage, and clean much and stones from their long, blunt claws. The beasts snuffle at her as she works around them, although two shriek at each other as they vie or the attentions of the drover and have to be separated quickly. The labor is not backbreakig or demeaning, compared to some of the tasks she has had to do in the past, and she finds the rhythm pleasant.

After a time, she feels a presence next to her, and notices that the drover is holding out a cared wood bowl of some kind of soup or stew, with an odd wood paddle sticking up out of it, obviously some kind of utensil. The drover pushes the bowl at her, and nods.

The lead-guard approaches Artaxes with a bowl of soup as well and says "You ssshhould eattt, forr we gho onn wwwattchhh asssss sssoon ass the sssun goesss down." The human looks up, and although he can't see the horizon due to the heavy foliage, the previously reddish-pink sunset has deepened to a dark blue, and he realizes twilight is not far off.

Have fun describing the taste of whatever it was Artaxes ate, and the soup. Or at least what you guys think of it . I'm not gonn aput any description in, so your free to come up with wghatever you want!

[oh_brother]

Artaxes gingerly accepted the black lump, eyeing it with disdain and scepticism until hunger overcame him. He placed it in his mouth and chewed several times with a look on concentration on his face. After about the sixth chew the full flavour of the morsel exploded in his mouth, and it took all his efforts not to spit it out on the ground.

"Gods, life with you swamp rats sure is fun" he grumbled, his face still contorted in disgust as he walked away.

For a while he waited on his own, arms folded, looking around at the camp. At least it was just two more days travelling with the caravan. And then we are in a city full of these things he realised.

The lead guard approached and brought Artaxes back to the present. He accepted the bowl with a sigh - he had to eat after all. The soup itself however was not as awful as the uncooked black strip he had been fed, and he had to wonder if the lizar cook had played a trick on the new guy.

"I am ready" he said, in between gulps of soup. "How do we deal with the watch? One person out in the open, one person hidden?" This had been a common strategy in the mercenary camps he had worked in, as it meant any attackers could not just silently take out the guards with a few crossbow bolts.

[raixel]

The guard eyes him, an obvious respect for him dawning in her alien gold gaze. "Yesss, tthhatt issss jussstt whhatt I wass going to ssssuggesst. Iff you wanttt tto ssssttay hhhidden, I will ssssttay outt in tthhe open, as you arre nott accusssttomed tto tthhhe ssssswampsss, ssso it mighhtt be eassier for a sssskilled banditt tto sssneak up on you witthout you noticcing iff you werre in the open.." She says this last without any sort of insult implied, just one warrior pointing out strengths to another.

"An ambussshh woulld mossstt likely come frrom tthhe ssswamp, and not tthe roadsss. hsss. Ssso I will be faccing tthatt dirrecttion, and everry quarterrr bell I will walkk a kkcirrcuitt of the camp. Pickk a sssspot wherre you are hhhidden, buttt hhave a clearr view of the camp and rroad."

K OB, give me a hide plz if you want to follow her advice. Or you could offer up a different plan.

[oh_brother]

Artaxes accepted the lizar's logic. "Right, I will find somewhere I can keep and eye on things". He scanned the area, looking for an appropriate place to conceal himself. After selecting a location covered with a reasonable amount of foliage, he placed his sword on eh ground beside him, and stuck a few arrows into the ground for easy access. His bow and another arrow were in his hands as he lay down on his stomach.

Hide roll was 5 +2 (Dex) -1 (ACP) = 6.

[raixel]

K. Im gonna wait a little bit to see if Ian shows up and posts before advancing. You guys are currently a day behind Beo's campaign time-wise, but I'll balance it out.

[ian_scho]

OOC - Will update over the next two hours.

[ian_scho]

The beasts, for what they were, did not end up either intimidating nor stepping on her. She felt a little foolish. Thiy performed her duties as a normal acolyte would with neither enthusiasm nor attention to detail, however noone would complain about her final work. She did what was necessary. It was rewarding, therefore, when the animal handler bought her a bowl of something that should probably be digested in her stomach. She bowed to the lizar in appreciation and was already mentally preparing herself to eat it. Past experience had taught her she should ingest whatever nutrients and calories possible when in an alien environment... She was a slight build for a reason, having existed in various cultures not accustomed to providing a human diet. Usually what she did was eat a part of what was on offer and if she lived not to regret it and then would move onto something else as well. That way she would know what it was that had disagreed with her and within 3 or 4 days she would be able to have some kind of a semblance of what was considered a satisfactory diet. A monk was not to enjoy her food, however.

She would eat with the handler and then get ready for sleeping. Hopefully Artaxes would find her to wake her up for her guard duties later that night!

OOC - A random roll, to move things on a bit (1d20=10)

[raixel]

Thanks for the roll. Im sure I'll find some use for it

Artaxes wanders around the camp looking for a place to settle in for watch. As he passed the tent the Thhraxxiss, he sees a small glowing green globe inside, casting a light that doesnt penetrate very far and the form of the snake-headed man with his neck bent studying something. The mantis' tent is dark, and looking up he ca see that Ktch'klik is crouched seeming comfortable in a weblike-hammock. Although he can still see the spider's many eyes glitter as they catch the firelight, he is unmoving, his abdomen swelling slightly and then deflating as he breathes. Above Artaxes and Thiy's area, a silk drape has been woven into the trees, providing some protection from the damp.

The mercenary finds what he thinks is a decent spot and settles in as the camp falls asleep and the fire burns down to embers. The sounds of the swamp change as the nightc creatures come out of hiding, and the large white moon, Rasar, rises. Night watches were always boring, and he uses many mental tricks that he learned on campaign to keep alert. Time passes, and the monotony is only broken by the measured tread of the female guard circling the camp every so often. Towards the end of his watch, he hears a distant eerie scream that sets his hair on end, followed by a crash in the same place. Whatever it was, the noise doesnt repeat, and was pretty far away. The air grows heavy and still with a promise of a storm as clouds obscure the stars, and just as he hears the other guard approach to call him in, there is a flash of light as lightning strikes somewhere nearby, followed by a teeth rattling peal of thunder, and the clouds open up, drenching the human.

"Itt issss ttimee tto tturn inn nnow." she tells him, not seemig to notice or care taht rain is rolling off her scales and chitin armor. "I wwwwil wwakke tthhe otthherrssss."

Thiy awakes to a chittering noise nearby. She looks up and sees Ktch'klik's black-furred many eyed face a few feet off. Blinking the sleep out of her eyes, she looks around. The camp is quiet, and various tents and bedrolls lay scattered around. The spider chitters again when he sees she is awake. Outside of the canopy above her head, the ground is soaked, but the rain has stopped. She steps out and sees taht Rasar has nearly completed its journey across the sky, and the smaller purple moon Zosar is past its apex, making its journey down to the horizon as clouds ocassionally obscure it. Dawn is only a couple hours off. Ktch'klik points with one of his long arms towrads the edge of camp clearing and makes a circlig motion with another. He appears to be telling her he will circle the camp in that direction.

She sleeply goes to her watch. An hour or so in, she a brief glimpse of a shape moving around by where the caravans are parked. Peering at it as it passes in front of the wood of a wagon, she can only tell that whatever it is, it is not Ktch'klik. Perhaps it is a lizar. It moves furtively, and ducks under a wagon where she loses sight of it. Ktchklik was on the far side of the clearing from her, and should be circling around where she can see him shortly. At least tahts where she believes him to be.

[ian_scho]

Damn. She instinctively thinks to herself. Is this just another old human male needing to piss in the middle of the night but ends up getting his throat cut?

Thiy moves from her position, silently as possible (1d20+6=11) to try to meet up with Ktch'klik and warn it of the danger. She positions a shuruiken in her hand as both a weapon and a way to warn Ktch'klik of any danger - by throwing the pointed metal star at it if necessary. Shuruiken were more a weapon of distraction or delay than that to cause mortal harm. The monk pads across the open area between the swamp and the wagons and then moves round to meet her companion currently on guard.

OOC - How close is Artaxes tent/throw-to from Thiy? She would be happy to give him a poke in the ribs to request for help as well. Thiy still doesn't know if this is a threat yet.

[ian_scho]

OOC - We seem to have a wonderful night sky, by the way!

[oh_brother]

Artaxes stood up, shook off as much excess water as possible, and moved over to his bed site. He could see Thiy and the spider thing moving around, so he lay straight down. The ground under the web was relatively dry, showing that if he had been in bed he would have been dry.

Still despite the wetting he was used to sleeping whenever the opportunity arose, since you never knew when you would get the chance again. Closing his eyes he fell asleep within seconds.

[raixel]

Very busy this weekend, family came into town for the weekend and I was upgrading my vid card and power supply and corrupting Windows/my data.(No I'm not kidding. It wasnt directly caused by the vid card/powersupply, although if i hadnt installed it, I wouldnt have been dicking around the back of the booting/updating computer and accidentally cutting the power for a split second, causing it to flick on and off. NOT fun. But as this comp is only about 2 months old, I didnt really agonize over having to wipe it.) So sorry for the delays.

Artxes is close enough that Thiy is able to reach him on her way to where she last saw Ktch'klik. So if you want to wake him, no biggie. I woould post a map, but I gotta get maptools again first. So think of the whole clearing as an oval about 200 feet wide and 80 feet across, although the area your caravan is in aonly takes up about 60 feet total. The caravan area is in the upper left corner of the whole clearing. The wagons are circled in the middle, the grahhssk troughs and tie ups are near that, farther left up against the trees. There is a firepit in the center of the wagons, but it is out due to the rain. The tents are scattered to the right of that. The grahhssk handler is sleeping over by his charges, but most everyone else is directly to the right of where the wagons are. Ktch'klik's nest in the trees, Thraxxisss and Artaxes are in the north-right, up againnst the treeline. Hope that helps. Ktch'klik is currently on the grahhssk side of the wagons, and Thiy is on the tent side. Ktch'klick is moving counter clockwise so he should be coming around the south side of the wagons soon. The shadow was moving inside the wagon circle.

Thiy pulls out her shuruken and moves back under the canopy where Artaxes is sleeping. The mercenary is used to being woken up on campaign, and he snaps quickly awake. He sees Thiy's face above him.

A few seconds later Ktch'klik comes around the edge of the circled wagons. The spider-man is up in the trees at the edge of the clearing and moving from tree to tree gracefully, before dropping down to the ground once he passes the outskirts of the tents, to move on the ground for the last half circle. When he sees Thiy waking Artaxes and the glimmer of metal in her hand, he approaches.

Although the spider's face shows nothing that a mammal would recognize as an expression, he does a pretty good job of cocking his head sideways to make it look like the "curious or questioning pose" that the humans have seen the lizar adopt when they are asking a question. He clacks his mandibles quietly at the two, seeming concerned as to why the monk is waking her companion and has sharp metal in her hand.

Thiy glances over her shoulder, and again sees the shadow moving in the circled wagons. It dips out of sight as she watches. What it is doing, she has no idea. But it definitely isn't someone answering the call of nature, as it is staying within the circled wagons and darting from shadow to shadow. It doesnt seem to notice that the monk or spider-being is moving around the outside of the camped wagons, or at least it doesnt know where they are right now or taht it has been spotted.

[oh_brother]

Artaxes wakes up fully alert as Thiy gently stamps on his throat. Seeing where Thiy is indicating, he slowly pulls himself up to his feet. Not wanting to risk light flashing off his longsword, he leaves it sheathed while he gathers his bow. The arrows that he earlier stuck in the ground were perfect, since the metal was now covered by slime, and less likely to attract attention.

He slowly half-notched an arrow, and stayed crouched down on one knee as he scanned the area for any movement.

Spot check was 17 - 1 (Wis) = 16.

[raixel]

Artaxes sees

Spoiler

a lizar dart out from behind a wagon, going over to the next one. It hovers there for a second, apparently slipping something under the tied canvas cover going across the top of the wagon. All these lizars look the same to him. But in the brief flash of the purple moon, he can see that it appears to be wearing a long vest and pants similar to what one of the passengers of the wagon was wearing.

[oh_brother]

Artaxes nodded in the direction of the creature, and indicated with a gesture that he would circle around behind him in a wide arc. He silently pointed at Thiy and the spider in turn, indicating where he thought they should move - essentially to try to surround him. That way, even if the creature spotted one of them, chances were he would run straight into another member of the group.

As such Artaxes did his best to move silently, keeping his body low and his bow ready. If he was spotted he was ready to charge.

Move silently was 13 +2 (Dex) -1 (ACP) = 14.

[raixel]

Gonna wait for Ian before updating.

[ian_scho]

Thiy was satisfied that Artaxes had not misinterpreted the situation when she woke up. He was a real trooper she realised. Next was Ktch'klik. She indicated to the spider-thing where the figure had been moving by putting the two fingers of her hand to her face and then to where she had seen it last.... Then realised that Ktch'klik had four eyes and not two. Oh well. She continued to move as silently as she could to the direction Artaxes indicated (1d20+6=10), albeit somewhat nervous as to what Ktch'klik might do next. Did it understand what was going on? Thiy moved cautiously onwards, aware that this was going to be a long night under Zosar.

[raixel]

Ktch'klik seems to understand. He turns his four eyes to the area the the human indicated. Whether or not he has better or worse vision than a human, the two dont know, but he apparently sees something that agitates him, as his long mandibles move back and forth rhythmically for a second, and 4 inch long black fangs unfold from their insides, a drop of clear venom glistening on each one. He points with 3 of his arms, as if tracing out a path each person would take, as Artaxes decribed. He does a decent impression of a nod by bending his thorax, and moves off in his direction, pulling out an odd hooked small knife from hib bandoleer with each arm..

The three stalk silently around the wagons, Artaxes with his bow out, Thiy with her shurikens, and Ktch'klik with his baldes. The three get into position, crouched on each third of the wagon. The purple moon gives just enough light to see by, although without Rasar's bright influence everything is colored a dim purple, lending an eerie cast to the already strange night in the foreign land. Think like a UV light, but a bit dimmer and without as much of a UV affect (at least to a human!).

They can see what the lizar is doing now. It appears to be holding a small white flat disk in its hands, and inscribing it with some kind of black shiny stylus. Intent on its work,it doesn't notice the three watching nearby, ranged around the wagon circle. it finshes what ever it is doing, and puts its hand across the disk. There is a brief sickly red flare of light from under its palm, and itquickly pulls a knife out of a belt-sheath and slits a small hole in the tightly-bound canvas top, sliding the disk inside. Then it traces itsfinger along the rip, and again, a brief sickly red glow coalelesces across the rip, and the tear vanishes as the three watch.

Alright. He doesn't see you so I'm going to allow everyone to decide their actions now. I'm d/l maptools and some texture packs as we speak, but dont have them yet. So basically, the area is circular, 25 feet in the center. There are 3 wagons making up the circle and a firepit in the center. The lizar is at the North wagon, Artaxes is to the right, Thiy at the bottom, and Ktch'klik on the far side. That make sense? I'll post a map ASAP, but some o these texture packs are huge.

[oh_brother]

Artaxes crept closer and closer to the lizar. He was torn between letting lose an arrow or taking the creature down by force of numbers, but either way it was better to be close.

I am assuming that at some point he will see one of us.

When the lizar looked up Artaxes drew back his bow to the full extent and aimed right at the creatures centre. "Stop right there!" he roared, shattering the quiet that had pervaded the night thus far.

Artaxes is ready and willing to fire if the lizar makes any vaguely threatening moves, or tries to run. If Ktch'klik or Thiy make it to the intruder before he sees any of us, then disregard this - instead Artaxes will charge to get into close quarters. I will edit this post as necessary.

[ian_scho]

With the lizar entertained by Artaxes Thiy rushed to the wagon. "Fire!" she shouted and then immediately regretted it. Would Artaxes let loose an arrow or understand that she was going to remove a possible incendiary device from the wagon?

She moved to the side of the wagon, disregarding a certain amount of personal safety, and immediately set to work trying to locate the disk that was placed in there. The shuruiken acted as both a weapon and a cutting tool so she immediately attacked any tarpaulin that may be between her and whatever magicks was placed inside the wagon.

OOC - A random d20 to put out the fire, or locate the disk at least if it wasn't for setting alight! (1d20=17)

[raixel]

Artaxes creeps as close as he can. Ktch'klik also moves slowly from his hiding, in a weird graceful undulating motion as he steps with four legs on one side, then four on the other. As the mercenary gets closer, the lizar finally senses his presence and spins around when the human and Ktch'klik iare10 feet away.

Whether or not he understood Artaxes' words, he quickly grasps something in a belt pouch, muttering a string of runes under his breath.

Thiy rushes forward after she shouts and starts sawing away at the canvas with her shuriken. The sharp metal slices through the tick canvas easily, and Thiy can see a flare of sickly red light through the rip. Apparently, what was tossed in there is glowing. It appears to be a disk made of bone, with sickly-red glowing runes on one side, and appears to be hot, as it is blackening the wood and supplies it is laying on. The light grows brighter, and the three can see that another wagon also has reddish light leaking from the cracks in the wagon's wood. The smell of smoke begins, and a strange sort of suckin and gushing sound, as i a void was being torn in the fabric of space itself.

Ktch'klik aims his abdomen at the lizar, and shoots a stream of thick webbing out of his spinnerets. The webbing turns from a liquid to a sticky solid as it flies throughj the air, impacting the lizar and pinning him to the side of the wagon.

The strange sound caused by the disk(s) turns into a squealing, as if of a thousand rats. The canvas starts lurching, and disgusting black boil-covered rats begin to pour our of the rent Thiy made, swarming around the monk, and dropping off of the sides of the wagon like maggots on a corpse. She manages to reach into the wagon, feeling disgusting rat bodies squirm against her fingers and locate the disk, which she throws as far as she can away from the camp. Rats pour out of the air next to it as it sails away, although for some strange reason, once it leaves the confines of the wagon-circle, the red glow stops, and rats no longer appear

The other wagon's canvas is buckling and rolling as well, as something, most likely similar rats, appear under it.

The camp is alerted, and the humans can hear shouts in Zaangaardian and sounds of lizar waking to the disturbance. Ktch'klik shouts something, and the sound of hissing chanting is heard. Suddenly, a green ball of light similar to the one Artaxes saw Thhraxxiss studying with in his tent, but much bigger, appears overhead. The light of Zosar mixes with the green light, causing the area to be bathed in a sickly purplish green hue and crazy shadows to appear everywhere.

Alright, give me an init! Theres at least 3 rat swarms, maybe more. And a pinned lizar

[oh_brother]

Artaxes swears loudly in shock at the sight of the rats appearing. Realising his bow would be of limited use he dropped it, drawing his sword in the same action. Thiy seemed to know what she was doing with those disks, which meant Artaxes did not have to waste time thinking about them. The lizar seemed incapacitated and could wait, right now the rats were the main danger to him and the rest of the caravan.

Holding his sword in both hands he charged forward, right up to the nearest swarm. He swung low and hard at the viscous creatures, snarling as he did so, and followed up by stamping and kicking at anything that moved.


Right, I don't know if technically a bow is any good against a rat swarm, but it would feel wrong to just fire arrows. Hence drawing the sword. Drawing the sword and dropping the bow are free actions I believe, meaning Artaxes can still attack. Holding the longsword two-handed is just flavour text. I don't think Ameena is reading this thread, which is just as well since she may not like the idea of people stomping all over little rats.
Initiative was 7 + 4 (Impr. Int.) + 2 (Dex) = 13. Does ACP count towards initiative? If so there is an extra -1 modifier. I took the liberty of rolling an attack, though I don't know initiative order yet, it was 17 + 7 = 24. Damage was 5 + 3 = 8.

[ian_scho]

It wasn't fire that those disks created but some kind of swarm eating and gnawing their way out of the wagon. Artaxes curse was well placed as was his sword. She had seen nothing like this before but his training was obviously thorough as he applied himself to this very alien enemy.

Thiy had a choice of either attempting to remove the other disk from inside the wagon or stay and fight with the others. She preferred the latter as she felt that she had already risked her skin enough. A quick glance to the lizar rogue and she briefly wondered if murdering it would stop the incantation, as sometimes happened with necromancy. However these rat things were of merely displaced from this plane of existence, and not constructed. Pocketing (or dropping!) the shuruiken she moved closer to Artaxes and performed an unarmed attack (1d20+2=19) with her leg in a sweeping motion against the mass of bodies that seemed to move as one (Damage (1d6+1=4)).

"We need fire! Blunt weapons!" was all she could think to say.

OOC - Initiative (1d20+2=17)

[raixel]

Rolling early is *always* good, as it keeps me from having to stop and wait for your roll, or roll for you. And no, initiative isnt affected by ACP. At least I never had it be. Its only affected by stuff that lowers your *actual* dex mod.

And I like rats, have kept them as pets and even enjoy watching the rat family that lives in my alley, cuz their intelligence and problem solving is amazing when it comes to working together to find food. (Theres a fancy restaurant next door, like 80$ a plate. The rats live nearby and forage in their dumpster, I swear they eat better than me, always looking glossy and happy when I see them out at night.). But these arent cute pet rats, or even cute little (not sewer) alley rats. They are filthy red eyed pus-encrusted gross rats, so dont feel bad about nailin' em.

I'm currently getting all the needed tokens and images for use with maptool for this fight(I just downloaded the base packs I used to have), and hope to have a map posted tonight. I used to have a *huge* image/object/token collection, but lost it (,>_<,)*sob*. So I'll post movement and actions, and get the map up ASAP. It usually takes me about an hour to set up the layout, but then after that moving is just as easy as announcing the grid # in bold with your description. So the first post of battle is always longer. Bear with me, and if I place you where you dont want to be initially, let me know.

ROUND 1

Init:

Ktch'klik: 21
Thiy: 17
Swarm 1: 16
Artaxes: 13
Swarm 3: 8 1/2
Swarm 2: 8

The humans can hear the shouts continuing around the camp, and see lizar rushing around. There appears to be confusion as to where the attack is coming from, as there are a few guards running to the outskirts of the clearing with weapons drawn, as if to fend off an attack from the swamp. Ktch'klik shouts one popping word, and even though the language is unfamiliar, the humans could easily hear the annoyance in it, imagining it to be something like "HERE!", although they have no idea what was actually said.

They can see Thhraxxiss, notable for his seemingly larger stature than the lizar due to his long neck and broad shoulders, running towards them. His robes are askew and hiked up around his green-scaled calves as he runs and his three toed clawed feet are bare, as if he threw on whatever clothing he could in haste and ran out of his tent barefoot.

Ktch'klik jumps forward, stabbing at the nearest swarm with his odd curved blades that appear to be a metal rendition of a mantis' claw. His thin black arms thrust forward one after the other in a blur of speed, striking at the surging and squealing mass of rats coming towards him. There is a horrible squelching sound and many tiny shrieks as the curved blades make contact with the swarm repeatedly, and tufts of fur and blood spray everywhere. Many torn rat bodies lay on the ground after the spider-man stops his deadly dance. He clicks his mandibles in disgust as without even stopping their charge, the still living members open their mouths and tear off and swallow chunks of the fallen as they rush by in their frenzied haste towards the spider.

Thiy moves towards the swarm boiling its way towards Artaxes, while shouting about fire. Perhaps the guard that can speak Common will hear it, although judging by the shouts and confusion in the camp, it might take a little time. The monk lashes out with her foot in a sweep-kick, feeling a few rat-bodies crunch like a bag of brittle bones against the edge of her foot at the impact, and knocking a few others back into the seething mass. The impact hardly slows the main body of the swarm, however, and they continue to move towards Artaxes in a horrific wave.

The rat swarm nearest Ktch'klik reaches him and begins to boil around his feet. A few of the more frenzied members of the swarm begin to climb his black hairy legs, heading for his thorax and face. He clicks in disgust, and lashes out at the mass of rats around his feet with his blades while attempting to shake the climbers off. He manages to crush a couple rats with his blades, but that doesnt seem to faze the main mass which swarms up his legs, biting and tearing as they go. He *chrks* a few times as he lifts his legs and shakes them trying to dislodge the filthy creatures. The humans notice a glistening fluid begins to leak from the joints where his exoskeleton is thinner as the rats tear into his flesh.

Artaxes' bow is almost immediately lost in the seething mass as he meets the swarm heard on. The human sweeps his sword close to the ground, a maneuver he learned in training that could potentially cripple an opponent without proper leg armor.This move once saved his life in a frantic battle against Uxmali raiders in the southlands, as the dark-skinned warriors of Uxmal didnt wear armor into battle, instead trusting in the power of their bloodthirsty High Lord and magical jaguar skins.
But now, instead of a grimacing Uxmali warrior with a brightly colored headdress and filed-to-sharpened-points teeth, he faces a swarm of rats. The move is still effective, however, and dozens of tiny bodies and severed parts go flying as the mercenary slices through them with practiced ease.

The mercenary watches in horror as rats use the severed bodies of their fellows as a jumping off point to leap on the human. He feels the squirming bodies and skittering claws through his clothes as the rodents try to fight chinks in his armor they could get their teeth through. Disgusted, the human kicks out at the seething mass of pus and fur, trying to shake the clinging rats loose. He hears brief squeaks and popping sounds as he crushes a few rats underfoot.I rolled your AoO for you. Here it is: Artaxes AoO (1d20+7=26, 1d8+3=4) There is a brief sting on the back of his knee as a rat finds a gap big enough to sick its head through, and the human kicks out, sending the offending creature flying. You take 1 point of damage.

The other swarm heads for Thiy, and within seconds the monk is engulfed by the twisting mass of fur and teeth. She can see the creature's beady red eyes glittering in the sickly greenish purple light illuminating the area, and what looks like black ichor drooling from their mouths around yellowed teeth. She instinctively lashes out with her body as the rats mob her, swarming up underneath her robes to bite at her legs. She kicks out with her feet, smashing quite a few of the beasts into the muddy ground, their broken bodies noting but fodder to feed the bloodlust of the rest.. I rolled fpor your AoO Thiy AoO (1d20+3=16, 1d6+1=4). She feels a sting on calves as a few rats bite thru her robes into her skin. You take 3 points of damage.

Alright, so I have to post on BEo's thread, then you guys will get your map. I rolled your AoOs so we didnt have to stop. If you want, you can just roll twice during this battle, as a swarm suffers from an AoO to move in the space for an attack. Otherwise I could just roll for you. I dont mind doing it but I generally dont like rolling for player without their explicit OK.

And I need you both to roll me two Fort saves!

[raixel]

Maps up!
http://imageshack.us/f/252/endofround1rats.png/

[oh_brother]

This was unlike anything Artaxes had faced before, and his blows seemed to not even slow them down. He swung out at the swarm, but he was distracted by the bodies all over him, gnawing into his flesh. Continuing to swear loudly he took a step backwards towards the nun, unsure about her combat abilities. Surprisingly she seemed to be holding her own against the swarm - clearly she had not been hired by the mercenary group simply to say a few prayers.

So I am guessing I missed with attack and AoO, they were 3 + 7 = 10 and 6 + 7 = 13 respectively (damage rolls included, but probably not needed). Fortitude saves were 8 + 5 = 13 and 7 + 5 = 12 respectively.
Artaxes took a 5-foot step to the south, to threaten the two swarms. With combat reflexes I was hoping to take a swing at Thiy's swarm if they moved. I don't know if this is possible - if it is and they move feel free to roll for me. Finally I mentioned holding the long sword two-handed as flavour text, but actually from now on I might do it for real (no shield to worry about).

[ian_scho]

OOC - "Rolling early is *always* good, as it keeps me from having to stop and wait for your roll, or roll for you."... I certainly don't mind anybody rolling for Thiy, it just takes you time to take those little dice out of the pouch which is the problem!
Two fort saves (1d20+4=14, 1d20+4=14) - woo hoo!

With the horde of rats upon her she loses concentration on those around her with panic. With horror she sees Artaxes then moves into view wearing a living carpet - something that her previous dark elf trainer, Captain Lovecraft, would have enjoyed hearing about. Human females were better at handling themselves in an emergency, he told her, but the human men are more enthusiastic to die by the sword. With the two masses of fur and teeth converging she realised that she didn't have a plan.

OOC - If I can't do this bit, just assume she stays where she is.

First she decided to assault the mass of bodies around them between her and Artaxes (1d20+2=6, 1d6+1=3). She was mostly uneffective with fear at hitting the fighter and lack of self control. The pain of many sharpened teeth was psychologically having a very negative effect. So she then makes the decision to leap across the firepit in the hope that it buys her a little time from the mass of rats milling around her. Jump check. (1d20+1=13) "Damn this rain. If that fire pit was alight I'd have jumped right in it!"

OOC - The next AoO attack. (1d20+2=15, 1d6+1=2)

[ian_scho]

OOC - Love the map, btw.