Around Ladydove - The Countryside on the Border of Anauroch

[Brainpiercing]

Uh... that was Hit & Run alright But you really should actually write about your actions.

The danger to the pack left at full speed - which was quite remarkable. However, the pack had hunted many times, and now they were even stronger, thanks to Mother's gifts. The gathered around their fallen comrade for a few seconds, whose breath was rasping ever so slightly in his shattered chest. Then they unanimously opened their many gaping maws, and tore him apart, chewing almost ever last shred of flesh off his bones. As was said often, the desert was a harsh mistress. You couldn't afford to waste. The Troll just looked on.

Then the pack turned to him, and with one voice said 'Now.... HUNT.'

They picked up the scent in an instant, and fell into a steady canter, noses close to the ground, but one head always watching the horizon. The Troll followed after them, but he didn't feel like sniffing the ground. Instead, he unfurled his new leathery wings, and somewhat clumsily took to the air, flying about thirty yards above them.

[mthor]

Hit and run was always the game plan and now I'd like to know how far ahead of them I am because getting 2ish (AFB right now) rounds and I can expel vistige and bind a new one who can help me get out of this mess.

Thor continued his quick pace upwind, aided by his magical boots, knowing full well that even his boots of speed wouldn't get him clear of trouble this time. He hoped he was out of range of both the scent and the vision through this quickly falling night that would allow them to make a bee line to his position, and used this buffer of space to arc slightly (45 degrees average) to his left. He had left his horse waiting there and had used the falling darkness and the range of scent to create a slight misdirection for his following hunters.

aberittion darkvision is 60 ft and the range of scent is 60/30/15 (downwind,no wind, upwind) so I should have to be activly tracked or they risk running right past me in the dark.

OOC:

It does make sense that a pack of hive minded killers would fan out a bit so I expect a good chase scene, If I do something stupid I expect to be killed for it. In any case last resort I plan to kill my horse and use the resulting blood(which should qualify as a strong smell) to hide my position while I get a good escape vistige bound.

[Brainpiercing]

They don't run right after you - they are confident in their tracking abilities. Since you basically leave all their ranges in a single round they actually have no other choice. However, in order to shake their tracking, you have to interrupt the trail of your scent for long enough that you might lose them by a change of direction. If your trail moves to the horse, and then it's just the horses trail, they'll just follow that.

If you really only need two rounds for a hasty rebind, then do that.

If Thor took the time to look around, he would find no immediate pursuit. But a gut feeling should tell him that they were definitely coming.

[mthor]

Thor hopped on to his mount thankful for the feeling of power between his legs. He pointed his horse's nose north and took off at a gallop, but not before drawing on the reserves of power that linked him to the powerful spirits that were his birthright.  A bird popped into being between his hands and flapped to observe the followers.

OK, it does take 2 rounds to bind a vistige quickly. Unfortunately drawing the circle requires a minute and can be hurried.   Therefor I have to run for at least a little while. The SRD says I can hustle (on my mount) for 1 hour with out making any checks. So I'm going to do that. That gives me 10 miles base (magebreed's have +10 movement for a total of 60 ft per round) but 1/2 of that because were in a desert.  So 5 miles in a hour. This gives me a good pocket of space to do......

Thor dropped of the back of the mount that was now drenched in sweat. In the back of his mind he reminded himself to make sure it got enough water. He quickly stretched his already sore muscles before setting down to draw a seal that was ingrained into him mind. A moments spare thought was spent trying to understand how and why such a device to power worked but the thought was quickly stored once again for consideration sometime where he was not facing disembowelment. He stood over the symobole and drew a deep breath as he started the process to bind a creature of legend. "Zceryll: The Star Spawned, come forth....."unbinding (1d20+8=28)binding vs dc 25, -10: hurried (1d20+8=19)OOC: bad pact

Never admit that you need help or that you are weaker than anyone else. Treat those that are weaker than you with scorn and contempt, especially young women and spontaneous spellcasters.
Your eyes appear as circular mirrors. In your peripheral vision, all other living creatures appear
twisted, covered in tentacles, extra eyes, and vestigial organs. 

OOC:

This is all assuming I don't get caught first.  it takes 22 rounds total to bind and unbind and if i get caught in the middle I'm kind of screwed but if they dont push then I get Zceryll and I have all sorts of tactical options

Thor looked behind himself and sought to use his inner power to create an elemental (1 large fire) to burn the area behind himself. After that he summoned a Bralani to fly around as a whirlwind and blow sand all around to confuse the scent.

[Brainpiercing]

SORRY for neglecting you for so long....

Who are you unbinding? Otiax?

And you do need some items to get your binding checks better. That was a rather lucky unbind.

I do question the wisdom of summoning a fire elemental in the dark - that will be visible a long way off. An earth elemental (or it it exists, sand? elemental, not sure, have to check sandstorm again...) would probably be the more clandestine choice. Of course, a fire elemental can create a diversion, too... so... just keep these things in mind.

Thor was indeed undisturbed for his brief moment of pact making, and brought forward his desired vestige. The abomination glared at him for a moment before granting its power to him, but filling him with its influence.

The elementals he brought forth did his bidding, as was expected of them.

Ok... how to figure out a tracking DC:

Creature tracking by scent is DC 10. Your trail isn't older than one hour, so it doesn't change. You act as a large creature (your horse) so, you they get -1 to the DC.
Now you are covering your trail, +5, and I'm letting the sand cover from the whirlwind act like a fresh snow cover, so +10, for a total DC of 24.

The critters are actually slower than you, but they will make a forced march if they have to, so they have to lose your trail for three consecutive hours for you to effectively shake them, then they give up. Obviously you have to keep covering your tracks. It will also be hard for you to actually know you've shaken them... well...

They roll 8 (lost it), 24 (found it again), 9, 22, 11. With that they have lost your trail.

If you have been marching your horse during the day it will take some damage from forced marching - which is lethal damage for mounts, and it will be fatigued.

[mthor]

OOC:

That sounds good. I'll post action text and results sometime tomorrow because work is calling.

SORRY for neglecting you for so long....
Who are you unbinding? Otiax?

No problem.  Yes.

And you do need some items to get your binding checks better. That was a rather lucky unbind.

Yes, yes it was. To be honest I didn't notice the how close it was going to be until I had already written the rest of the block. Talk about anxiety.   

[Brainpiercing]

Nothing like a little shuffle with death and beating the odds.... Well, they were not so unfavourable, maybe I should have calculated exactly how much time you really had, might have been a lot closer that way.

[mthor]

Thor smiled as he saw his hunters fall behind him in his minds eye. It was rather enlightening to see things from a birds eye view, he reflected. How small troubles seemed when he could just float right over them. However this didn't mean that Thor was finished. This was the first time he had summoned this particular vestige and he wanted to stretch his metaphorical wings. Thor felt quite strange. Things that usually seemed sad now just made him want to laugh. He felt alien and omnipotent. He quickly came up with a diabolical plan. He sent his bird to find an spot just hidden from view from the roaming creatures and found a spot that was directly in the line of advance of the creatures. Next he summoned a bearded devil with the powers granted to him by the spirit he had bound. Once the devil had been told of the place to which he was to be destined, Thor sat back and watched the action unfold from his birds eye view as the devil teleported away.
If the devil remains hidden.

Thor watched delighted as the devil, already in battle furry, burst from his hiding place and jumped, glaive spinning, into the midst of the deady creatures. 

If they detect the devil

Thor watched as the hunters circled the devil who they had detected via his sent. the troll lead the charge, but in the end, a couple of the hunters were the ones who limped away wounded.

All right a couple things. Bearded devils have infernal wounds (2 damage per round) so unless one of the creatures can do a heal check any one of the hunters (I'm assuming a troll's regen will offset this) who gets hit is dead. I will note that these creatures have wings so I'm assuming that after this attack they get smart and start flying to avoid the wounding devil. Sent range is 60ft upwind and I want the devil to charge the hunters as soon as they get in range. The devil will actively try to hit things that he hasn't hit already. The devil is in battle fury so it has +4 str and con and -2ac and charge is +2 Attack roll and -2 AC so note it has a total of 57 hp and 15 ac

Rolls and stats:

hide (1d20+11=17)
attack rolls +2 charge +2 battle frenzy (1d20+13=33, 1d20+13=22, 1d20+13=31, 1d20+13=23, 1d20+13=24) Looks like the first one is a crit.crit damage ((1d10+5)*2=)damage rolls (1d10+5=11, 1d10+5=13, 1d10+5=9, 1d10+5=6)devil statshttp://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/devil.htm#beardedDevilBarbazu

[Brainpiercing]

Your bird only has ll-vision... I'm not sure whether you could see a pack of animals with only moon-light to go by. Well... ok.

Your frenzied bearded devil has 75HP, but even with battle frenzy it can hardly hit those guys. It also doesn't get pounce, AFAIk, so it makes one attack on the charge, after that it's initiative to decide who goes first. In any case, there are 9 critters, and if just one of them spots the devil, all know he's there, due to Pack Mind (ignoring the troll). The devil gets +2DC for distance.
They roll: 25 (there goes)...

Initiative: 21, Devil: 22
Using the first attack for the charge, the second for the first AoO (which misses).
He takes 30 damage from the first critter, 24 from the second, and 11 damage from the third (already including his DR 5/good or silver). Round 1 damage 66.

He is surrounded, but he can take a 5-foot step to get a critter back into reach-weapon range. Using the third attack roll for his round 2 attack No. 1, but since that is no longer charging, it misses (29), and so does the second (at -7, total, for 16).
He invariably dies in round 2.

Strangely enough you can use Heal untrained - and the critters have a pack Int of 12, so they will try to do this. And with enough tries, they absolutely do make this check after a few rounds (even though the DC is 18 during frenzy, being a Con-based ability). They have 40+ rounds to do this, and all they need for a retry is "proof of the initial check's failure" - wich is easy: if it keeps bleeding, it didn't work.

As Thor watched, the Devil sprang from his hiding and charged at the leading sand hunter. His glaive bit into the creature's tough hide, and the wound immediately started festering.
But then the pack was upon him. They surrounded and flanked him within seconds, and then began tearing him apart. The first critter hit him with a flurry of claws and teeth, wounding him badly. Then the second attacked, and gave him another good mauling. The third moved to flank and bit him once with its dragon head, and a fourth moved to close the circle, but only bit on air.

The devil left the encirclement, and swiped his glaive at another of the hunters, but missed, and then he was very quickly bitten to death as four hunters dug claws and teeth into him. His corpse vanished even before hitting the ground.

The smitten hunter began flailing about in agony, and then slowly wasted away as its blood kept draining. The others looked on, but then the began licking the wound, and doing other strange things to stop the blood-flow - and strangely enough, after a few tries, the wound stopped bleeding.

After a short period of further deliberation, they set out again, trying to find the trail again.

When did you think this was supposed to happen? After they have already lost you, or before that?

[mthor]

I love how you can use heal untrained with no thumbs 

It was to happen after they lost me.

I feel stupid now, I know the devil doesn't have pounce and all the rolls were just extra in case the devil lasted more rounds then one. It was something I saw you do and I figured that it was a good idea. 

Thor was rather disappointed in the results of his plan. It was true however that every little bit helped.

[mthor]

Thor continued to run his horse well into the wee hours of the morning 4 hours of movement DC 10,12,14,16 (1d20+9=24, 1d20+9=22, 1d20+9=22, 1d20+9=15)OOC:

damage for horse horse is now fatigued: (1d6=4) 34 hp

After his horse could stand it no longer, Thor dropped down to the ground and fell into a deep sleep one that would take him until the sun was well in the sky.

Till 8 hours of rest.

The next morning, as he rose to consciousness, Thor wondered if he had been found in the night and was in Valhalla. Alas he could smell the sickly sweet sweat that dried on the horse and the reek of its breath. He set about with his morning chores, rubbing the horse down, and binding his visages binding mal (15), otax (25) (1d20+18=27, 1d20+18=34) He drew the power required from malphas and sent his bird out to find the quarry he so rashly confronted.

[Brainpiercing]

The high-flying bird could easily cover great distances and monitor vast stretches of desert - but apparently, the hunters had veered away during the rest of the night. They were not to be found - at least not quickly.

If you wish to keep searching, give me a survival check DC20 to find the direction of the trail, and then some spot checks, one per hour you wish to keep searching, I'll tell you when you've spotted them.

[mthor]

OOC:

I can't believe I just rolled 5 times for survival

Thor shook his head in frustration. He should not have attacked the creatures so rashly. They were one of his only leads on how to find this illusive Mother. He would have to try to find them. He settled down to search methodically with both his bird and his own body. Thor decided if he searched for 5 hours without results then he would take a break to try different methods. His searching proved fruitless but in the second hour his bird spotted the path they might have took. His bird then started forward into the breaking day.

You use the ravens modifier to search. +2 for wisdom. (1d20+2=9, 1d20+2=21, 1d20+2=7, 1d20+2=22, 1d20+2=7) please note these are the survival checks.Bird's spot checks (1d20+7=23, 1d20+7=26, 1d20+7=9, 1d20+7=13, 1d20+7=21)

Binding Malphas 15, Otaix 25 (1d20+18=34, 1d20+18=28)

[Brainpiercing]

After only two more hours, the bird spotted some movement far in the distance. It flew closer, and managed to make out the strange pack of hunters and the troll, moving north-east.

[mthor]

OOC:

Sorry I haven't reposted but I just graduated and life has been rather hectic. Sadly I am on vacation for the next couple weeks and will be AFB. When I get back I'll repost on here and I can PM you if you want. Thanks for understanding.
Thor

[Brainpiercing]

Weeks of vacation?

Well, have a good time, then, can't say I don't envy you.

[mthor]

Continuing forward into the desert Thor continued to stalk the trolls at a distance he judged safe. far enough away that the hunters caught no wiff of him but close enough that Thor had few problems picking up the trail on the next day. It had been frightening when his attack had not only failed but almost resulting in his death. The sent of blood and sweat still swirled around them as if following him to mock the mounted man. But grimly Thor continued forward. What else could he do? He had made a promise.

whooo! I'm back I should be posting regularly now up until 2 weeks from now. I keep slacking off then getting rexcited about it over and over again and I need to work on being more even keeled. Anyway sorry about the absence I have 1 more vacation then none as far as I know for the next year after that.   

[Brainpiercing]

The hunters and the troll criss-crossed the desert roughly northward for the remainder of the day. As night fell, they spread out to hunt once again, but did not find anything. Finally they lay down to rest until dawn.

The next day, the continued their meandering search - for whatever. Around noon, there was movement on the horizon. The hunters ducked down and hugged the sand as they approached, and then quite suddenly charged in unison. But again, they broked off at the last moment as they became aware of their quarry: A group of demons. But not normal demons. Indeed, they had five heads, like the hunters and the troll, and leathery wings on their backs, even if their normal forms did not sport them.

And again their was the disconcerting discourse between the effective hive mind of the hunters and the many heads of the demons, in both common and draconic, and some abyssal thrown in for good measure.

[mthor]

Curious and curiouser, Thor thought. This near ambush of a similar species would imply that what ever force that unites these creatures is either multiple entities that perform similar actions or one larger entity that is an imperfect hive mind. Regardless either force is dangerous and if left unchecked then it could be deadly to the civilized lands. A motivated demon invasion has not been seen in hundreds of years and the last one nearly destroyed civilization as it is known.  A hive mind that coordinates the invasion could be the straw that breaks the camels back. Regardless I must continue to follow them. Thor wrapped his cloak around him and closed in to 3 miles from the warped meeting. His bird closed in to around 50 feet above the demon to try to hear the draconic bits and pieces of the talks that were going around. Sitting there listening to the broken speech of these twisted creature, Thor felt a familiar twist of hate rising in his gut. There creature are the quintessence of wanton destruction. Though I can't attack them directly I will watch them, and I will do anything in my power to destroy them. About an hour before the sun set Thor sent a silent order out to his bird. The bird stretched its wings and then started to fly at top speed along the course that the demons had been taking the day before hoping to get a good view of the terrain that will be covered in the next day. 

For now I will just wait and watch to see if anything happens but if the demons approach some sort of settlement Thor will start on guerrilla tactics. A discovery of anything interesting will result in more watching.

[Brainpiercing]

I'm sorry for being slow. I have to GM a Shadowrun P&P group now, too, and it's more work that I had imagined.

Strangely enough, the groups once again united. The bird picked up the occasional mention of "MOTHER" again, without being able to make sense of who or what this mother was. It seemed, though, that the demons were acting differently from normal demons. They lacked the wanton cruelty that they normally exhibited, even among each other. While there was no apparent leader, they still somehow managed to decided on one course of action.

As Thor sent his bird out to scout the areas the mutated demons had crossed (which was fairly easy, the demons left a wide trail), it eventually found movement. On the trail was another large group of demons, but these were quite normal - they marched under the whip of a huge flaming creature. It seemed they were also following the trail, albeit in the other direction.