Playing in the Sandbox

Toku yelped as he was blinded, stumbling back as the cylinder fired, sending the stone soaring...up into the air, where it exploded harmlessly...Toku reeled back, trying to clear his vision, and failing for the moment and barking orders to his golem with a vague gesture, which sent it charging into one of the Withered...

combat data:

A Dessicated stops in for a bite of Maihime.

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Dessicated 3 deals 6 damage to Maihime and she's Infected.

Biting Tethe on the arm is what the dessicated wished had happened, unfortunately it chose the arm she wore her shield on. A quick push and stab later and the undead monster exploded in another blinding cloud of sand. Completely unable to see, Tethe simply sends her raptor running wildly in any direction, dragging the withered with her, and manages to successfully pry it off with a jab from her spear and a bite from her raptor. That done, they continue to ride blindly around the battlefield feebly wiping at their eyes in an attempt to clear them and failing. "Why do they explode?!"

Tethe Combat Stats:

Amidst the shower of sand, Tethe got grabbed again from behind. Meanwhile, the cube was smothered down to a mere handful of flame.

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Tethe and Ryuusei (Maihime's Pet) got Blinded (save ends) when Dessicated 2 died.

Tethe is Grabbed (save ends) by Withered 2.
Edit: Withered 2 failed its save vs ongoing 2 damage.

Withered 3 deals 12 damage to the Fiery Companion Cube which is also Weakened until the end of its next turn.

Maihime furrows her brow slightly, the creature's bite didn't cause her any pain due to magic she recognized as Tethe's but she began to feel a little ill from it. She watched the dragonborn riding madly around dragging a withered behind her. Backing away from the creature, she enters into a trance as she begins a ritual. She spins in place like a ballet dancer on the tips of one of her legs before performing a back flip and twisting in the air. As she lands she carries the momentum into another spin that brings her down to her knees and causes her to sweep both her fans horizontally before her. This kicks up a fierce wind that coalesces into a small tornado of sand before her. When the sand dies down, standing before her is what appears to be a young samurai. Seemingly made entirely of a silvery white sand himself that trails in the wind in little streams from his body. He's dressed in the robes of a ronin samurai and holds a katana drawn in his hand, gleaming a bright silver in the sunlight. His face looks mostly featureless save for two black marking that resemble eyes by their shape and placement. His hair is pulled back in a long ponytail which whips around and fades away in the wind behind him. Bringing the sword up horizontally by his head, he charges forward and slashes down on the dessicated that bit his master. The dessicated explodes into sand as it's cleaved and the ronin leaps out, giving a shallow slash to another dessicated as it lands and wipes its eyes on its sleeve. Above, Ryuusei seems to be put off for a moment by the cloud of sand but after circling a little he quickly dives down and pecks at another of the dessicated.

Maihime Combat Stats:

While the swordsman's first seems to have enough strength to down the Dessicated, his second one, even with the aid the fiery bird, for all their valor seem to accomplish nothing but pulling away strips of sandpaper-like skin from their target which shambles over to the preoccupied Tethe and bites her in the neck.

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Dessicated 3 dies, giving the Spectral Swordsman and Skaimos Blinded (save ends).

Dessicated 4 deals 7 damage to Tethe and she is Infected.

A combination of the sand in his eyes and the zombie's grasp caused Skaimos to miss with his telekinetic blast, but he at least was able to wrestle his way out of the Withered's grasp.

Combat:

Stats:

While Skaimos is wrestling with the Withered, a Dessicated comes up from behind him and gives him a nasty bite. The Withered, pushed away, finds itself in arms reach of Cyrta and grabs a hold of one of her legs.

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Cyrta is Grabbed (save ends) by Withered 4.

Dessicated 5 deals 10 damage to Skaimos.

"Oh, no you don't!" Skaimos quickly shifted the Desciatted's mind so that it would go after a new target. Unfortunately, it bit down on the Withered that had grabbed Cyrta, who would most likely try to drain Cyrta to restore some of its energy. Still, it was better that half of the attack had gone to his team than all of it.

Combat:

The Pixie flares up with fire, causing the zombie to let go in fear, then Cyrta attacks with a good deal of fire at the zombie that dragged her and the ones next to it.

Sadly Cyrtanthus' Fiery Cubie, wasn't doing so hot, hitting the Zombie that held it for some alright damage, but still, it was unable to brake free.

combat data:

status:

The two Dessicated don't seem much phased by the fire. The three that Skaimos had blown away before come in clawing at the two smallest members of the party and one of the Withered grabs hold of the kobold as well.

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3 more Dessicated show up (1, 2, & 3) and take the places in initiative & adjacency as the previous ones.

Dessicated 1 deals 3+3 vuln = 6 damage and Ongoing 2 damage (save ends) to Cyrta.

Dessicated 2 deals 5 and Ongoing 2 damage (save ends) to Toku.

Toku is Grabbed (save ends) by Withered 1.
Edit: Withered 1 succeeds his save vs ongoing damage.

Initiative & Adjacency:

Toku struggled a bit as he was grappled, trying to to get free...He grabbed one of his crystals, slamming it hard against the side of the undead's head to 'encourage' it to let go...It shattered, emitting a burst of sheer cold, enough to cause the corpse to hesitate and let him get away, though he probably needed to get that wound looked at in a moment...He blinked to clear his vision, noticing that one of the other monsters had gotten caught in the very edge of the burst...He barked two quick orders...In response, his golem advanced, striking the unfortunate dessicated before moving close to Toku, prepared to intercept blows on its behalf.

combat data:

The Dessicated manages to lurch out of the way of the golum's attacks and another one lurches over to claw at Skaimos.

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Withered 1 is Bloodied.

Dessicated 3 deals 4 damage and Ongoing 2 damage (save ends) to Skaimos.

Tethe cleared her eyes partially at last and looked around for a moment before looking down at the withered holding her. Raising her naginata up above her head she stabbed down into it, before flicking the stolen life energy over towards the kobold with a twirl of the weapon. Finally blinking her eyes clear of the sand.

Tethe combat stats:

Tethe and her raptor, Aran Dom, X slashed the Withered's head and it fell down re-dead. In (spiteful?) response, the Withered with a grasp on Cyrta's firey familiar, snuffs it out.

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Withered 2 is dead.

Withered 3 deals 4 damage to the Fiery Companion Cube, killing it.

Tethe rides up and slashes the withered that just snuffed out the cube in the back of the head with her naginata.

Tethe Combat Stats:

Maihime sends a gust of healing wind towards Skaimos with a flourish of her fans.

Maihime Combat Stats:

The ghostly ronin charges at the sandy undead that survived before and cleaves into it with his sword.

Shirogane Combat Stats:

With a small burst of flames the fiery bird swoops down on the first of the withered.

Ryuusei Combat Stats:

Dessicated 4 throws Blinded (save end) at the Spectral Swordsman (which already saved against it) and Tethe.

Skaimos' turn.

Still blinded, Skaimos decided to put up a telekinetic shield up so he could try and shake it off.

Combat:

Stats:

One of the Withered mistakes the spectral swordsman for an actual living being and grabs onto it, while one of the Dessicated scratches at Tethe's legs.

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Lynt, I think you forgot to take the 2 damage from your ongoing damage.

Spectral Swordsman is Grabbed (save ends) by Withered 4.

Dessicated 5 deals 6 damage and Ongoing 2 damage (save ends) to Tethe.

(OOC: DEEPLY SORRY EVERYONE FOR THE WAIT!!! Would've posted sooner, but didn't notice it was my turn. )

Cyrta in her fiery aura, starts up a dance of flames... Making three backup dancers out of fires themselves... After a short prep time the dance turns into an extremely artistic attack on nearly all of the zombies. She was a bit too much caught up in the dance to notice if she had hit any allies in her attack. At the end of the dance that to those that watched it swore there was music from nowhere that was accommodating it, the three backup dancers fly headfirst into that Zombie that killed her poor Cubie and the two next to it...

combat attack:

status:

All of the Dessicated went up in a cloud of ash that blinded Cyrta and Skaimos. Out of the smoke comes one of the Withered and it grabs a hold of Skaimos.

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Withered 3 & 4 are bloodied. All the Dessicated are dead. Cyrta and Skaimos are Blinded (save ends). (Cyrta already made her save vs it.)

Withered 1 flip for Staggered: Heads.
Skaimos is Grabbed (save ends) by Withered 1.
Save vs Chilled: Success.

Toku blinked for a moment as he saw Tethe assisting him, smiling and nodding. "You have my thanks!" He called to her before focusing on what needed to be done...Maybe he should try that again...Yes...He loaded another crystal into the cylinder, pointing at one of the withered and firing...Though he did cover his face with his other hand as he did so. The crystal flew, embedding itself in the thing's chest in a painful-looking manner, but Toku smirked a bit, counting down quietly..."3...2...1..." By the time Tethe was finished striking, the stone would explode, with very harsh consequences for the monsters in the area of effect. However, he barked a quick order to the golem, who punched the Withered closest to it a bit clumsily...Clearly the sand from some of the exploding enemies had gotten in its gears.

combat data:

Tethe took a few deep breathes to steady herself, she was blind again and wounded pretty badly. Clutching her naginata in her hands she spots one of the creatures and charges towards it, stabbing out while her raptor attempts to bite it. While her mount snaps at empty air her stab connects and energy begins flowing up the weapon and into her. As her wounds knit with the stolen essence she feels invigorated enough to charge forward and slash once again at one of the undead creatures.

Tethe Combat Stats:

Tethe's second attack slashes the spectral swordsman with the Withered holding it. The next moment the Withered Toku had attacked with a crystal exploded, with the spectral swordsman, Skaimos and the other two Withered getting caught in the blast as well.

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Damage to Withered 4 is split with Spectral Swordsman.

Withered 3 takes 6 damage and dies. Withered 1 & 4 take 3 damage & are dazed (save ends). Skaimos & Spectral Swordsman take 3 damage. (Though Skaimos resists the damage.)

Maihime sends another gust of wind towards Skaimos with a quick twirl of her fans, this one raising his spirit instead.

Maihime Combat Stats:

The swordsman slashes into the withered holding him with all his strength, then drags the edge of the blade along the creatures arm on the backswing before kicking it away.

Shirogane Combat Stats:

Ryuusei flies up high and swoops down on the first withered, pecking him as hard as he can before flying away.

Ryuusei Combat Stats: