Playing in the Sandbox

Alma continues to move toward her allies, choosing to get close behind them. She may be warrior caste, but she never picked up the physical art of fighting, instead opting for more strategic support. She would move with the others and assist them, more than actually fight. For now, she takes a position near Skaimos.

Spoiler:

The Dragonborn barbarian roars an unintelligible battlecry at the party as he charges closer and positions himself to intercept attacks at the mage (minor) as the Shifter crossbowman shoots at Cyrta and reloads (minor).

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All the enemies gained 1 Temp HP and all the PC's lost 1 Temp HP (though I don't think any of you had any).

Cyrta then took 4 damage.

Edit: Tordek's turn, followed by Skaimos.

Tordek puts his back into it as he kicks the half-orc off of his axe and twirls it around, waiting for the next blow.

---

Perfect Focus: Tordek now has Resist 3.

Tordek: 30 HP, 2 PiPs, Status: Resist 3

Skaimos was actually rather surprised at the diversity of the bandits, which seemed to have a wide assortment of greater and lesser races. However, it seemed that the two greater race bandits, the Genasi mage and the Dragonborn warrior were a bit better trained (or at least, more durable) than the lesser race thugs who had been cut down by Tordek and Tethe.

He wanted to follow Cyrta's example and get the mage out of the way, but the Dragonborn was blocking the way. Any direct attack would be absorbed by the barbarian, but if he could go around...

He aimed a telekinetic blast past the Dragonborned, at the Halfling Crossbowman. The Force Punch was meant to act a bit like an explosive: once it hit its target, the force would radiate out and hit nearby enemies, including the mage.

combat talent:

stats:

Skaimos' attack caused a thrilling explosion of sand and guts minus the guts. In fact, the Halfling, the Shifter, and the Genasi all seemed more or less fine.

The half-elf followed the lead of the others and took a shot at Cyrta and reloaded (minor).

---

Cyrta takes another 2 damage. And it's now her turn again.

Revised Initiative

Spoiler:

The Pixie's magic flares up as her aura engulfs her in fire. "I AM READY!" She declares.

Combat Turn:

stats:

The human apparently agreed that Cyrta was ready.... to be shot some more and obliges, then reloads.

---

Cyrta takes 7 damage. (4+3 from Vulnerability.)

Tethe's turn.

This shot seemed to draw blood from the small humanoid.

stats:

Tethe brings her spear up to a ready position, once again pulsing with divine power as she charges straight for her fellow dragonborn. "HAVE AT THEE KINSMAN!" She shouts out as she momentarily outpaces the sandstorm around her and plunges her spear into the barbarian. Once again the divine energy discharges, this time with even more force as a stray bolt of divine lightning arcs out at the half-elf crossbowman. Caught on the spear's blade is a strange glowing green energy seeping from the barbarian to the glowing characters along the blade. As she pulls her spear out of her adversary and brings it back, she twirls it, sending the mystic cloud flying towards Cyrta. It covers her body and begins healing her wounds. The twirling of her spear managing to blow away the small sandstorm the mage has brought up as the divine energy began to build up again. Tethe taking a ready stance before her fellow dragonborn.

combat stats:

The dragonborn grunts, clearly angered and the half-elf gets knocked out.

Sand continues to swirl around the Genasi who then send a blast of sand at Tethe, Cyrta, and Alma.

The Halfing shoots Cyrta and reloads.

---

Genasi deals 5 damage and grants Vulnerabilty 2 until the end of their next turn to Tethe, Cyrta, and Alma. (Cyrta takes 8 and the Vulnerability doesn't do anything to her since what she has going is already stronger.)

Halfling deals 7 (4+3) to Cyrta.

Edit: And now to wait on DB to see if Slashback y/n and 7/9 for Punishing Blow y/n. Afterwards, Alma's turn.

Tethe growls lowly at the mage, breaking past the barbarian as she charges for the genasi, the magic in her spear pulsing wildly. "You stay out of this!" Lashing out with her spear again, there's a bright flash of light as it makes contact. However the magic doesn't dissipate this time, if anything flashing wilder as it moves down the spear, up her arm, and down into the sand below in a shockwave. The sand begins to shift and rumble as something begins rising up out of the desert. In short order, standing behind Tethe is a massive stone golem. Shaped only crudely like a man, with a very thick chest, legs, and forearms connected to much thinner biceps, thighs, and waist making it look disproportionate. It has no head or neck to speak of, a crack running through its torso flashing with magic the same blue color as that around Tethe's spear acting as a single 'eye'.

Combat Stats:

Tordek was tempted to shout out something about picking on someone your own size as he ran for the halfling with the crossbow. Deciding it's done quite enough damage to his pixie ally, he swung with all his might, aiming to slam his axe in with as much power as possible.

---

Spoiler:

To Tethe's dismay the Barbarian leaps in the way of her spear at the last moment. Possibly to her delight he promptly bites it.

Oh, also a halfling was totally killed by a half-pint.

---

Now the FG needs to go as my ruling on summons is that they go when they're summoned. So hurray for weird summoning times!?

Then it'll be Alma's turn.

The massive golem rumbles to life, taking a step forward as it draws its massive fist back and swings with all its weight...and undershoots it slightly, nearly drowning the enemies in a wave of sand as it impacts like a meteor.

Combat Stats:

Alma grips her totem stone, and speaks in commanding tone, loud enough for the others to hear, but not really shouting. "They're nervous- they broke from cover early!" As she surveys the immediate events, she continues. "They focus their efforts, hoping to pick off the perceived weakest, but leave themselves vulnerable!"

1st Standard Action:

She watches watches carefully, sand swirling at her feet, her gaze intense as she picks out targets, opportunities. "Redouble your efforts, wait for the right moment, and then hit them when they are distracted!" She places a hand on Skaimos' back, as if willing him to fight through her touch.

2nd Standard Action:

"The desert fights with us, they cannot win!" With this, she leaves Skaimos and runs, this time toward the Pixie, and the heat of the battle.

Extra Standard Action:

[spoiler=Status]HP:30
Vulnerability: 2
Resist: 3
PiPs: 5

Skaimos felt energized by Alma's determination. He decided to try a mental attack on the mage. Doubt paralyzes an opponent's resolves, and if properly planted, is not easily removed. Skaimos sent a telepathic wave towards the Genasi, trying to bend his thoughts to a painful degree. "Your comrades are dropping like flies, and even the barbarian is lost. Perhaps attacking this caravan was a mistake."

combat talent:

stats:

The Pixie With Her Fiery Aura throws some fire at the remaining three enemies.

Combat Talent:

stats:

The remaining two crossbowmen go down, leaving the Genasi standing alone.

---

Tethe's turn. Tordek's turn.

Tordek, having had no crossbow bolts fly at him while he was taking in the battlefield, feels more than ready to take on the Genasi. Charging at the mage, Tordek swings his axe with all his strength, somehow inspiring his pixie friend to hold out just a few moments more.

---

Spoiler:

Skaimos watched as Tordek ran towards the mage, his axe held high. He decided that he'd help finish off the Genasi with another mental attack.

One of the main weapons of the psion was taking advantage of distraction. When an opponent is suffering from an ongoing affliction (being blinded, confused or Skaimos' own Lingering Doubt), the opponent has almost no mental defenses whatsoever. This presents an opportunity to strongly affect the the opponent's strongest, most basic emotions, such as fear, pain...or sorrow.

Skaimos sent out a crushing wave of despair toward the Genasi, which would hopefully overwhelm the mage's mind with a simple thought: All is lost.

combat talent:

stats:

---

Just in case Tordek wasn't enough to finish him off.

The Genasi barely dodges Tordek's axe. It's unclear if Skaimos' effects worked as intended or not as the mage summons a sudden, if brief and localized, sandstorm. A moment later when it clears, he's nowhere to be seen. All that's left are corpses and a couple unconscious crossbowmen.

Over at the other fight, the party can see a clear progression of corpses that show where Thag was during the fight (who is now cleaning off his axes on the shirt of the latest kill) and Uhiya is in mid leap, deflecting a lightning bolt and then landing on what appears to be another mage and skewering him through with her sword. A bolt flies from one of the wagons (though you can't see who fired it because of the angle) and stabs into the back of a fleeing crossbowman. It appears that was the last member of that (apparently larger) group left alive as there are over a dozen corpses reddening the sand.

"Well!" shouted Tordek, cleaning off his axe. "That was certainly exciting!"

Skaimos gave a bit of a smile. “Good job, everyone. Let’s head back to the caravan to debrief and rest for a moment.” He was glad that they had all managed to get out of this alive. He took a moment to reflect on what he had seen.

Poor Cyrta had been shot at throughout the whole battle, and seemed to leave herself open as she charged up her energy. But it had been worth it to see her blast the remaining crossbowmen away. Tordek and Tethe had handily deflected the attacks of the thugs, with Tethe showing exceptional skill and managing to finish off the Dragonborne.

As they walked back to the caravan, Skaimos went up to Alma and said, “Your support was most helpful, Lex-Iya-san. Thank you.” He was happy that she had seemed ALIVE again, like she had when they had first met. And he meant what he said; Alma’s invigoration had helped him pull off the Lingering Doubt-Despair combo quickly, before the Sand Mage had a chance to pull himself together.

Although, it was unsure how much good it did in the end. Skaimos glanced out at the desert where the Sandsoul Genasi had disappeared. Was he off to find more thugs, or did he have more in reserve? Had they successfully scared him off, or was he merely assessing their strength for another try later?

Well, there was nothing for it at the moment. He was glad that Thag and Uhiya had their back (and considering that they had taken out a larger group, their combat talents were not to be taken lightly). As he walked back toward the wagons, he decided the best thing to do was chalk it up as a win, but stay alert.

After the combat was over... The Small Pixie drops to the ground. "Ohof!!! Oh my that was intense... Yet also felt like there should've been more..." She mutters as she just lies tired on the ground.

Thag walks over, covered in blood and says, "Little pixtsie know she all bloody?"