Arc 1: Dreams of Heroism

[Bjorn]

It's hard for Brian to be sure of the distance -- perhaps half a mile?  Certainly farther than a quarter mile, since this is as far as he can actually control the winds, and the disturbance, whatever it is, is beyond that.

[Brian]

"Uh ... more than a quarter mile, I'd guess," Brian says, frowning.  "I'm not sure yet.  Noticing Nathan's anxiety, Brian opts to try and move in fast bursts, stopping every so often to use his nifty-keen sonar-hearing to ping the target until their approach vector and distance are confirmed.

[Bjorn]

It takes you about five minutes to get closer; Brian has no problems homing on the signs of battle.  You can tell you're getting close when you find yourself face to face with the unhappily familiar form of a half-melted rock statue, all that's left of a hellhound.

Just up ahead, you can make out flashing forms; the battle is apparently moving around.  At this distance, Brian can hear that there are two hellhounds, and three humanoids -- all chanting in elvish.  As you come level with the molten statue, one of the voices cut outs.

[Brian]

"Hold on," Brian says sharply, trying to keep his voice low as he halts abruptly.  "They're speaking Fae."

[Rezantis]

Rez skids to a stop himself, not totally sure which way to be going still.  "So . . . they're Fae . . . fighting what?"

[Brian]

"At a guess," Brian says dryly, pointing at the molten remnants of a molten rock-hound, "two more of those.  And one of the Fae just dropped.  I hear two more chanting at the dogs.  That's what it sounds like, anyway.  I think it's the same spell I used to cool the last one.

"But I don't know what we should do here.  We could probably help them, but we may not be automatic and fast friends -- still, we'd probably better choose fast.  Like, within the next fifteen seconds, or else the choice will probably be made for us."

[Halbarad]

"I say we go myself," Tim says after debating for a moment. "That hound back in the city didn't seem to have any problems tracking us down, so if these two drop the Fae what's to stop them from coming after us? Better to take them down first since we know for sure they're not going to be friendly, and then sort out the Fae after."

[Rezantis]

"Agreed . . . don't know if we actually want to help them, but . . ." Nathan looks at Brian "You don't speak Fae, do you?"

[Brian]

"I do, actually," Brian says, already heading towards the battle since he's the slowest.  "I have to, to use their magic."

Heading towards the battle, Brian mentally prepares himself to hit the first dog he sees with a wind blast -- that worked well last time.  The Fae will probably freak at the iron-bound Nathan-collosus, if they don't cry over watching mega-Tim break the sound barrier on foot.  But if that doesn't do it, at least they can contend with an arrogant human wearing a star-treck shirt who steals their magic.

[Bjorn]

In the time it takes you to race to the sight, a second Fae voice cuts out -- thought not before ending the spell that Brian recognized.

When you arrive on the scene, two hellhounds are squaring off a single Fae, who seems to be wounded, with one arm hanging limply, but alive... for the moment.  One of the hellhound shows the same cracked and weakened hide that helped you end the battle so decisvely last time.  As you burst on to the scene, the other hellhound leaps for the other Fae, but is seized in midair by ropes of earth that leap out on cooly-uttered command.

Let's see if we can handle this without an IRC session.  You've taken everyone flatfooted with your arrival, so you'll get a free Turn of action.  Technically, the order is:  Hal, Hal, Nathan, Brian, Hal, Hal, Nathan, Brian; feel free to post a summary of your overall strategy, and I can run it from there.

[Halbarad]

OOCness!

My strategy is as follows: Phase 1, locate large stick (you'd mentioned on AIM that there's a fallen tree here that I could probably wrench a decent club off of). Approach enemy.
Phase 2 and following: Smash weakened puppies with club if available, hold until the pansy elf or Brian can weaken the other if this has not happened yet. No haymakers for now, though, just straightforward smacktification.

If the mutts decide to come after me, I shall abort to dodge and hope to hell they think Iron Rez is a better snack than I am.

Apply my CSL to damage for this fight, since I can claim proficiency in beating things with large sticks and thus do not need the boost to OCV.

[Rezantis]

OOC:

Rez shall draw his sword, drop his backpack, engage IronRez Mode, and smash things, focusing on the unhurt hellhound when it breaks out of it's snare.

If one looks to be going for Brian I'll try and catch it, but I'm slow enough I think that I can't really do that for everyone.

EDIT: Besides, I'm sure the other two can take care of themselves!

[Brian]

Brian reaches for his bow, fumbles it to the ground, then remembers to use magic and target the still-active lavadog with an energy blast.  At the same time, before casting the spell, he shouts out, "Get the monsters," in the Fae tongue.

OOC:  EB, bracing, +1 with ranged combat used for OCV.  If anything actually attacks me, abort to dodge.

[Bjorn]

Faster than anyone's eyes can follow, Tim snatches up a hefty-six foot oak branch from the ground and races across the clearing.  Before the wounded hellhound has a chance to react, he smashes its skull in.  As before, the rocky skin shatters and the lava flows out -- but there is a new variable this time.  As the molten rock touches the carpet of dried leaves, a bonfire is lit, and while the corpse of the monster soon solidifies, it does not prevent the conflagration from swelling.  The sudden blast of fire takes Tim off-guard, and he stumbles after landing his blow, scrambling away.

Nathan, seeing this, shifts slightly as he assumes his Crafter form, trying to shield Brian both from the remaining hellhound and the leaping flames.  But just as he moves to the fore, the hellhound breaks free of his earthen prison.  Stones fly out, and the largest of them smashes into Nathan's chest.  While it does no injury to his iron hide, it does stagger him, and before he catches his balance, he manages to knock over Brian, interrupting his attempts to summon the winds.

When Nathan and Brian regain their balance, they quickly regain their guard, but the hellhound has with typical single-minded ferocity gone after its original prey.  The wounded but still-fighting Fae stoically stands his ground, chanting steadily as the hellhound bounds toward him.  He finishes his spell as the Hellhound takes its final leap into the air... and earth surges up around the spreading wildfire, smothering it.  His strength apparently fails him as the spell finishes, and he drops to one knee.  The maw of the hellhound misses as a result, but the Fae is sent flying backwards to smash into a tree as the bulk of the beast slams into him.

Thoughout all of this Brian has not been wasting time, and as Nathan and Tim stand ready, he finishes his incantation.  There is an ominous creak as the oaks bend in towards you, bowing in the gale-force winds that rush into the clearing and then hammer into the hellhound.  It howls in agony as the armour along his flank chills, cracks, and then collapses.  Spinning nimbly on its injured leg, it turns from the fallen Fae and rushes at Brian.  

Tim has been waiting for this, and rushes in from the side, thrusting his club at the weakened hide like a lance.  Fast as Tim now is, however, the demon dog is just as quick.  Tim's blow is slightly off-target, as the hound darts to the side, and while it widens the wound, it does not finish it off.

But it does slow it, and before it is Nathan.  With a massive overhead blow, he brings his greatsword down onto the hound's head.  Off-balance from Tim's strike, the hound has no chance to dodge.  The head is flattened, and the body awkwardly flips over the point of impact, spraying drops of lava through the air.  Most of it cools and solidifies in mid-air, with the unnatural swiftness that marks the hellhound's death, but they are still hot enough when they land to make leaves smoulder and start to burn whereever they land.

[Halbarad]

"Dammit!" Tim swears, dropping the branch quickly as he moves to stamp out the largest of the flames - a blanket would be really handy right about now, but he doesn't have time to rummage through the packs for one.