Kronk, as he strides up and down the train looking at all the strange equipment, realizes that he has no clue as to how any of it works. He understands, on a basic level, what most of the weapons are; long tubes mean one doesn't want to stand in front of them when things get . . . heated. But their operation in a combat situation is beyond his ken, at the moment; he privately hopes that learning how to use them will not be too difficult. From somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind(s) the concept of 'boarding' a hostile vessel comes bubbling up and he searches for any indications of boarding equipment.
"Kornk be fighting close, to see the eyes die," he hefts his iron bar. "Dancing in a storm of blood, special fun Kronk likes and knows in bones. Get me onna another train and red ruin will come to any standing in Kronk's path!" His voice is roughened with a deep, bestial glee that bring the fires of bloodlust to his eyes, turning them into two green and orange sparks that promise mayhem and wreckage to any regarded unfavorably.
He will also search through the train for any melee or ranged weapons for use by an individual, he has a particular fondness for throwing chunks of metal at opponents: his favorite weapon like this are iron spheres, about 12 cm. in diameter, but anything of that nature would work; rail spikes, chunks of rail or other scrap metal, helmets (best if still filled with the head it once 'protected'), even rocks, although those don't really feel right.
(Very sorry for letting this go unupdated for so long. I got caught up with life stuff, and unfortunately let it slip to the back of my "to do" list. I hope to get it back up and running, if everyone is still on board this crazy train.)
The sun begins to dip below the horizon as your travel begins. As you all look back, you can briefly see the last rays illuminating the twisted fingers of Pointer. Farther away, you can see the fractured isles of wastebone that may have once been an arm, scattered hundreds of meters apart from each other. And just barely visible through the thick smog that permeates the west, you see the outline of a giant ribcage, with far too many ribs than seem proper, and a misshapen skull. Rising from those last wastebones are giant spires and grand walls, an imposing construction that causes a chill to run down everyone's spine. Ireena shudders.
"The Baron's manor. Bastard is far too rich for his own good. Hundreds of people could live on those bones, but no, it's all for him, and his... employees, if you can even call them that."
The warm light of the sun is finally swallowed up by the horizon, and an oppressive darkness spreads over the land, swallowing up everything. Lanterns are lit on the deck, illuminating it with eerie, flickering light from the eternal flames within them. Once again, looking back at Pointer, the only shape fully visible is the outline of the Kirk house. But another shape becomes visible, disrupting its outline. A great, winged thing, clambering up its side. For a brief moment it pauses, then it seems to crane its head, and a deep, thrumming sound comes from the direction of Pointer. It's barely audible, but it can be felt reverberating through everyone's bones. A brief moment later, it's answered with a chorus of rumbles, and the Sands behind and around your train begin to shake and shift.
"Shit. He's noticed us. Get ready."
(Feel free to roll initiative, though we're not yet in combat yet and you can act freely. You have some time to make preparations, if you so choose.)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
"What's going on out there?" Hugeo calls from the pilot's seat. However, once he sees the sands (or once someone tells him if he cannot see), he calls to Isoldus: "What's the plan cap? Fight or flight?"
(Is the train we're using the one in the Train Statistics part of your Homebrewery? If not, what are they?)
Winchester laughs out loud in excitement, a mad spark flickering in his eyes. He paces back to the guns, his steps ridiculously wide-legged. Rubbing his hands together, he readies himself and the weapon in front of him for the upcoming battle.
The noise ceases, and the Sands stop shifting. Then, at once, over a dozen man-sized creatures burst from them in a spray of yellow-brown sand. They are awkward, gangly creatures, devoid of any hair except for a long mane running down each one's back. They seem somewhat bat-like in appearance, with similar ears and faces, but they do not have wings. Their fingers are still webbed with a membrane of skin, like ordinary bats, but it is thick and leathery, and their arms are much longer and their fingers shorter and less splayed. Several leap from the Sands, covering an impressive amount of distance in a single bound, and cling to the side of the train with little effort, clambering forwards.
Irene curses. "Mole bats!"
The creatures clamber in through windows, wrenching open doors, and stalk through the train on their malformed limbs. Three of them manage to make it into the gunners' car, where (I assume, correct me if I'm wrong) Kronk, Cormac, and Winchester reside, and each leaps at one of them.
Attack(Kronk): 21 Damage: 10, on hit roll a DC 11 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
Attack(Cormac): 14 Damage: 10, on hit roll a DC 11 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
Attack(Winchester): 12 Damage: 6, on hit roll a DC 11 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
"Ya cranky 'lil critters'll have to try harder than that to crank me up." Winchester yells as the creature slides off his armor. He uses the momentum the attack provides him with to turn after it, whipping out his revolver and firing three rapid shots at the thing as it stumbles away from him.
First attack: 25 Damage: 9
Second attack: 14 Damage: 8
Third attack: 18 Damage: 4
In case duelist is triggered (exceeding the AC by 5 or more): 3
Hugeo hears the noises from within the train but also sees how some of the other bats are still outside. Having received no orders from anyone, he makes a decision himself and moves a few levers, boosting the train forward, doubtful that a bat can be as fast as a train.
(Hugeo uses his action to take the Pilot's Move action, moving 300 feet forward.)
Cormac curses as they get in close, knowing that his rifle will be mostly useless at such close range. With little else 9l do he whips out a hunting knife(Dagger) and attempts to stab the creature with it, whistling loudly in order to command his mechanical hound to attack as well.
Kronk keeps one of the mole-bats at bay, though he fails to land a solid hit. Meanwhile, Winchester's excellent, albeit reckless aim sends one mole-bat flying back, its body peppered with smoking holes. It keels over dead, but even as it does more of its kin begin to approach. Everyone briefly stumbles as the train puts on a sudden burst of speed, and a second wave of mole-bats surfaces, only to be left behind. One foolhardy creature attempts to leap onto the train, only to be crushed in its churning wheels. Back in the weapons car, Cormac drives his knife deep into a mole-bat's abdomen, and just as it is about to retaliate his defender pounces on it, tearing off an ear. It still lives, but it is bruised and battered.
Isoldus and Dusty are up!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Dusty checks the systems and keeps the power directed toward the engines, (Directing power, +Half movement speed to train)
as He pokes his head up from the Engineers Cab to keep an eye on how things are progressing further along the train, He spots Kronk in a compromising position and sing songs a little ditty, "Monsters abound kronk! onto the train, enrage all your senses and bring home the pain. swing at it hard with that iron bar, or failing that throw the things out the train car!" bardic inspiration For Kronk (1d6 to any one chosen check, attack or save)
Sensing the rumble in the engine as a result of Dusty's directed power, Isoldus narrowed his eyes at the being far in the distance. Used to shouting commands, Isoldus snaps an order towards the pilot - "Push the advantage of distance. Full speed ahead."
(Granting the Pilot an additional opportunity to push the train an additional half its movement).
"Aye aye, captain." With the energy directed to the engines, it barely even requires Isoldus command for Hugeo to push a button which, for a moment, causes the train to move at a concerning speed.
(Using his reaction to move half the train's speed, which thanks to Dusty should be 450/2=225 I believe.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
The engine belches out smoke and the car rattles as the train is pushed beyond speeds it is meant to travel at for any extended period of time. Pointer grows smaller and smaller at an alarming rate, as you leave it in the dust. Still, the creatures that have managed to scramble onto the train do not let up, even as the three in the gunner's car defend valiantly against them. Three more clamber into the room, over their smoking comrade's corpse. The two pairs who go after Kronk work in tandem, one leaping high, the other low, making it hard for him to effectively defend.
Attack(Kronk): 11 Damage: 8. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone. Attack(Kronk): 21 Damage: 5. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Cormac): 24 Damage: 8. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Steel Defender): 13 Damage: 7. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Winchester): 22 Damage: 9. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Everyone is up!
(Oh, ouch. Sorry about that, Kronk. Pack tactics is scary.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Seeing the mole bats continue their assault Dusty yells out "I hear you mole bats are damn near blind, which you would find fortunate if you guys were ever to see a damn mirror! if I looked anything like you sand eating skin flaps, I'd save you any effort and kill myself!" Vicious Mockery Dmg,4 at the first molebat to attack Kronk, as he tries to draw attention toward himself Dusty swings around to address Isoldus, "I think they might need aid in there"
Kronk, as he strides up and down the train looking at all the strange equipment, realizes that he has no clue as to how any of it works. He understands, on a basic level, what most of the weapons are; long tubes mean one doesn't want to stand in front of them when things get . . . heated. But their operation in a combat situation is beyond his ken, at the moment; he privately hopes that learning how to use them will not be too difficult. From somewhere in the dark recesses of his mind(s) the concept of 'boarding' a hostile vessel comes bubbling up and he searches for any indications of boarding equipment.
"Kornk be fighting close, to see the eyes die," he hefts his iron bar. "Dancing in a storm of blood, special fun Kronk likes and knows in bones. Get me onna another train and red ruin will come to any standing in Kronk's path!" His voice is roughened with a deep, bestial glee that bring the fires of bloodlust to his eyes, turning them into two green and orange sparks that promise mayhem and wreckage to any regarded unfavorably.
He will also search through the train for any melee or ranged weapons for use by an individual, he has a particular fondness for throwing chunks of metal at opponents: his favorite weapon like this are iron spheres, about 12 cm. in diameter, but anything of that nature would work; rail spikes, chunks of rail or other scrap metal, helmets (best if still filled with the head it once 'protected'), even rocks, although those don't really feel right.
"Kronk be boarding party!" he says delightfully.
Panic is a mechanism that strengthens the gene pool.
(Very sorry for letting this go unupdated for so long. I got caught up with life stuff, and unfortunately let it slip to the back of my "to do" list. I hope to get it back up and running, if everyone is still on board this crazy train.)
The sun begins to dip below the horizon as your travel begins. As you all look back, you can briefly see the last rays illuminating the twisted fingers of Pointer. Farther away, you can see the fractured isles of wastebone that may have once been an arm, scattered hundreds of meters apart from each other. And just barely visible through the thick smog that permeates the west, you see the outline of a giant ribcage, with far too many ribs than seem proper, and a misshapen skull. Rising from those last wastebones are giant spires and grand walls, an imposing construction that causes a chill to run down everyone's spine. Ireena shudders.
"The Baron's manor. Bastard is far too rich for his own good. Hundreds of people could live on those bones, but no, it's all for him, and his... employees, if you can even call them that."
The warm light of the sun is finally swallowed up by the horizon, and an oppressive darkness spreads over the land, swallowing up everything. Lanterns are lit on the deck, illuminating it with eerie, flickering light from the eternal flames within them. Once again, looking back at Pointer, the only shape fully visible is the outline of the Kirk house. But another shape becomes visible, disrupting its outline. A great, winged thing, clambering up its side. For a brief moment it pauses, then it seems to crane its head, and a deep, thrumming sound comes from the direction of Pointer. It's barely audible, but it can be felt reverberating through everyone's bones. A brief moment later, it's answered with a chorus of rumbles, and the Sands behind and around your train begin to shake and shift.
"Shit. He's noticed us. Get ready."
(Feel free to roll initiative, though we're not yet in combat yet and you can act freely. You have some time to make preparations, if you so choose.)
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Initiative: 14.
"What's going on out there?" Hugeo calls from the pilot's seat. However, once he sees the sands (or once someone tells him if he cannot see), he calls to Isoldus: "What's the plan cap? Fight or flight?"
(Is the train we're using the one in the Train Statistics part of your Homebrewery? If not, what are they?)
Varielky
(The train is the one in the stat block section. Its name is currently undecided, I’m leaving that matter up to the group.)
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Cormac Initiative: 17
Isoldus Initiative: 13
Will post more in the morning.
Dusty takes up position in the engineers cab; Initiative; 5
Winchester laughs out loud in excitement, a mad spark flickering in his eyes. He paces back to the guns, his steps ridiculously wide-legged. Rubbing his hands together, he readies himself and the weapon in front of him for the upcoming battle.
Initiative: 8
Kronk initiative: 4
Enemy initiative: 21
Initiative:
21 - Enemy
17 - Cormac
14 - Hugeo
13 - Isoldus
8 - Winchester
5 - Dusty
4 - Kronk
The noise ceases, and the Sands stop shifting. Then, at once, over a dozen man-sized creatures burst from them in a spray of yellow-brown sand. They are awkward, gangly creatures, devoid of any hair except for a long mane running down each one's back. They seem somewhat bat-like in appearance, with similar ears and faces, but they do not have wings. Their fingers are still webbed with a membrane of skin, like ordinary bats, but it is thick and leathery, and their arms are much longer and their fingers shorter and less splayed. Several leap from the Sands, covering an impressive amount of distance in a single bound, and cling to the side of the train with little effort, clambering forwards.
Irene curses. "Mole bats!"
The creatures clamber in through windows, wrenching open doors, and stalk through the train on their malformed limbs. Three of them manage to make it into the gunners' car, where (I assume, correct me if I'm wrong) Kronk, Cormac, and Winchester reside, and each leaps at one of them.
Attack(Kronk): 21 Damage: 10, on hit roll a DC 11 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
Attack(Cormac): 14 Damage: 10, on hit roll a DC 11 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
Attack(Winchester): 12 Damage: 6, on hit roll a DC 11 STR saving throw or be knocked prone.
Everyone is up!
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Kronk snarls as the thing attacks him. DC 11
Swinging his iron bar as hard as he can, he yells out in a guttural, wordless voice, gleeful in its raw emotiom.
Attack: 9 Damage: 13
Being slightly off balance causes him to swing a bit wide, at which point he goes into a frenzied rage.
OCC Can he be both in a 'Frenzy' and in a 'Rage'?
Panic is a mechanism that strengthens the gene pool.
"Ya cranky 'lil critters'll have to try harder than that to crank me up." Winchester yells as the creature slides off his armor. He uses the momentum the attack provides him with to turn after it, whipping out his revolver and firing three rapid shots at the thing as it stumbles away from him.
First attack: 25 Damage: 9
Second attack: 14 Damage: 8
Third attack: 18 Damage: 4
In case duelist is triggered (exceeding the AC by 5 or more): 3
Hugeo hears the noises from within the train but also sees how some of the other bats are still outside. Having received no orders from anyone, he makes a decision himself and moves a few levers, boosting the train forward, doubtful that a bat can be as fast as a train.
(Hugeo uses his action to take the Pilot's Move action, moving 300 feet forward.)
Varielky
Cormac curses as they get in close, knowing that his rifle will be mostly useless at such close range. With little else 9l do he whips out a hunting knife(Dagger) and attempts to stab the creature with it, whistling loudly in order to command his mechanical hound to attack as well.
Knife: Attack: 14 Damage: 6
Steel Defender: Attack: 21 Damage: 5
Kronk keeps one of the mole-bats at bay, though he fails to land a solid hit. Meanwhile, Winchester's excellent, albeit reckless aim sends one mole-bat flying back, its body peppered with smoking holes. It keels over dead, but even as it does more of its kin begin to approach. Everyone briefly stumbles as the train puts on a sudden burst of speed, and a second wave of mole-bats surfaces, only to be left behind. One foolhardy creature attempts to leap onto the train, only to be crushed in its churning wheels. Back in the weapons car, Cormac drives his knife deep into a mole-bat's abdomen, and just as it is about to retaliate his defender pounces on it, tearing off an ear. It still lives, but it is bruised and battered.
Isoldus and Dusty are up!
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Dusty checks the systems and keeps the power directed toward the engines, (Directing power, +Half movement speed to train)
as He pokes his head up from the Engineers Cab to keep an eye on how things are progressing further along the train, He spots Kronk in a compromising position and sing songs a little ditty, "Monsters abound kronk! onto the train, enrage all your senses and bring home the pain. swing at it hard with that iron bar, or failing that throw the things out the train car!" bardic inspiration For Kronk (1d6 to any one chosen check, attack or save)
Sensing the rumble in the engine as a result of Dusty's directed power, Isoldus narrowed his eyes at the being far in the distance. Used to shouting commands, Isoldus snaps an order towards the pilot - "Push the advantage of distance. Full speed ahead."
(Granting the Pilot an additional opportunity to push the train an additional half its movement).
"Aye aye, captain." With the energy directed to the engines, it barely even requires Isoldus command for Hugeo to push a button which, for a moment, causes the train to move at a concerning speed.
(Using his reaction to move half the train's speed, which thanks to Dusty should be 450/2=225 I believe.
Varielky
The engine belches out smoke and the car rattles as the train is pushed beyond speeds it is meant to travel at for any extended period of time. Pointer grows smaller and smaller at an alarming rate, as you leave it in the dust. Still, the creatures that have managed to scramble onto the train do not let up, even as the three in the gunner's car defend valiantly against them. Three more clamber into the room, over their smoking comrade's corpse. The two pairs who go after Kronk work in tandem, one leaping high, the other low, making it hard for him to effectively defend.
Attack(Kronk): 11 Damage: 8. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Kronk): 21 Damage: 5. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Cormac): 24 Damage: 8. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Steel Defender): 13 Damage: 7. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Attack(Winchester): 22 Damage: 9. On hit, DC 11 STR save or be knocked prone.
Everyone is up!
(Oh, ouch. Sorry about that, Kronk. Pack tactics is scary.)
"Ignorance is bliss, and you look absolutely miserable."
Seeing the mole bats continue their assault Dusty yells out "I hear you mole bats are damn near blind, which you would find fortunate if you guys were ever to see a damn mirror! if I looked anything like you sand eating skin flaps, I'd save you any effort and kill myself!" Vicious Mockery Dmg,4 at the first molebat to attack Kronk, as he tries to draw attention toward himself Dusty swings around to address Isoldus, "I think they might need aid in there"
Kronk howls in rage and smashes one of the mole bats.
Attack: 20 Damage: 13
Frenzy: Attack: 9 Damage: 13
OCC both rolls have +2 dmg from Rage
Panic is a mechanism that strengthens the gene pool.