Red Dead Annihilation: Campaign Thread

Ran will use 1 superiority die on that first attack - Precision Attack: 4  

That makes the first attack a 17 to hit.

If these two attacks take #10 down, Ran will use Action Surge to lunge over at the one on the other side of Nalo as well.

Attack: 17 Damage: 5  

[Thanks! I thought with Meili's 40ft speed she could reach the one even from her initial position, hence, action.]

The attacks were not sudden but nevertheless, devastated. Meili lived, though, and in the heat of the battle even managed to notice one aggressor passing by, to try and reach it with her sword.

AoO: Attack: 17 Damage: 8

The velociraptors rush and assail the near-defenseless wizard. He wields his book like a weapon and attempts in vain to smack the tiny predators away from him, but the flurry of needle-like talons catch his arms as much as they catch the book. (Nalomanterys is bloodied). He yelps sharply as blood begins to stain his sleeves. "Arseholes! Shite!" He drops his airs and graces and curses wildly at the beasts.

As Ran tears onto the scene and kills one or both of the velociraptors, the wizard pulls up his robe so he doesn't trip on it and finds as much cover behind the warrior as he can ((he stays in range of any living velociraptors so as not to provoke opportunity attacks)). "Hold them a moment!" He yells to Ran, and begins chanting over his tome. After his companions have a moment to counterattack the velociraptors, he finishes the spell by throwing a pinch of sand into the air, which expands into a great cloud and settles over the brawl in the southeast. (Ready action: cast sleep at level 2 once Hew's turn is over. 22 hp pool. I think Danica is immune to this (Elf)).

((Hopefully this doesn't put any allies to sleep. I apologize if it does and causes anyone to lose a turn. I can use my action next turn to wake someone up.))

Ran draws his swords and leaps to Nalomanterys' aid, cleaving through the backbones of both Velociraptors attacking him.  His momentum down the last of the hill carries him to Meili's side, where he gets a whack in on one of her attackers as well with an extra bit of exertion.

[V9 and V10 are dead and V7 is wounded.] 

At the front of the column with Hew, Mica was unaware of the predators until they burst from the undergrowth.  Maybe it was because he was looking back over his shoulder to talk with their new companion, maybe it was because he felt comfortable going back over ground they had already traveled.  Whatever the reason, Mica froze and barely got his axe up in time to try to fend off the quick dinosaurs. Unable to avoid the snapping teeth and jagged claws, he bleeds freely from several wounds.  

He lashes out with both hand axes, attempting to cut the creatures down (both attacks on V6)

Attack: 16 Damage: 4.

Attack: 9 Damage: 6.

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Growling a little at her poor aim, Danica steels herself as the dinosaurs begin to rush forward and she takes a slash at one running past making a bee-line for Mica. She could hear the grunts and cries of pain from her crew as they were attacked and smelled the blood in the air. A single point in the elf's sternum grew brighter and brighter until it burst and suddenly her entire form is that of the night sky, deep black and blue with points of stars throughout her form, that of her eyes and the constellation of a chalice on her torso glowing the brightest. Seeing four of them surround herself and the earthen ranger, Danica plants her feet and cries out a warning, "Mica, Hew, brace yourselves! Detono!" A Thunderwave releasing from her as she stomped down a foot hard onto the ground. Hoping desperately that she wouldn't be hurting them more than helping them. 

Reaction: Scimitar Attack of Opportunity against V5:  6 , Damage: 9
Bonus Action: Wildshape into Starry Form: Chalice
Movement: None
Action: Level 3 Thunderwave, DC 12 CON Save, Damage: 12

Meili was indeed standing but not for long. Not with two raptors attacking. She hit the point above the gaping wound to stop the bleeding, and tried to even the odds:

Attack on V7:

Sword Attack: 8 Damage: 7
Flurry of Blows: 1. Attack: 7 Damage: 4
                             2. Attack replaced with Hands of Healing for 5 HP

Meili is able to heal herself, but her attacks against the dinosaurs are ineffective, the small creatures proving almost impossibly agile.

Danica is more successful.  Her spell propels a wave of thunderous force catching Velociraptors 2, 3 and 4.  2 and 3 duck under the worst of the blast, but 4 is knocked completely off its feet, tumbling like a ragdoll through the ferns and bushes.  The booming thunderclap rips through the trees, sending flocks of colorful birds into the air.

Hew draws his rapier.  "Damned raptors!  You'll find me tougher than boot leather!"  Velociraptor 2 is still recovering from Danica's Thunderwave when Hew skewers it.  He then turns on Velociraptor 1 and smacks it across the face with the blade.

In seconds, half the pack has been slain.  Velociraptor 1 hisses at Hew, then looks around the field.  It screeches loudly then honks three times.  The surviving raptors all turn to look at 1, hiss at their opponents, and then disengage, fleeing back into the underbrush.  Mica carves a chunk out of V6 as it departs.

And just like that, the party has been bloodied and five raptors lay dead in the foliage around them. 

[Nalomanterys, its up to you on the sleep spell.  You can either save the spell slot, or you can put Velociraptors 3, 5 and 6 to sleep as they try to flee.]

Ran cleans off his blades on the side of one of the velociraptors then checks on Meili to see how badly injured she is.

"Chock full of smarts, ain't they?" Ran says as the little dinos turn and start to flee. He then calls up to Hew "Are they the kind that hold grudges? Will they be back soon?"

Seeing the small dinosaurs fleeing, Nalomanterys drops his tome ((saving the spell slot, since I think they fled before I even got my initial turn off)). He holds his arms up to his face to examine the damage: rivulets of blood run down his arms and pool in his voluminous sleeves. "I... The gall of those - those beasts!" He stammers incredulously. With a quick flick of his wrists and a rattled "purgo," any blood and mud on his robes instantly dries, cakes, turns to dust, and shakes loose onto the jungle floor. It is soon replaced by more fresh blood.

Fortunately, though the raptor strikes are deep, all of them missed vital arteries and the wizard should be fine after these wounds heal over. The wizard wraps his sleeves around his arms as makeshift bandages and squats next to his tome. "Ahem.. well fought everyone. I appreciate your timely intervention, Mr. Deadgleam."

Ran looks back and nods to Nalomanterys. He then looks over at the bird who had done little more than squawk when the raptors showed up. 

"If this one is my sister," Ran says nodding at the bird, "she'd be the first to tell you that while there might not be much rattling around in my head, I do make a good meat shield."

He takes one more look at the jungle where the little dinosaurs ran off to before sheathing his swords.

"We'll be tramping about in this dunny for a while," Ran says then adds. "I'm sure your magic will save my sorry hide soon enough."

Danica winces as a flock of birds took flight from the surrounding trees at her thunderous spell. What few survivors there were, quickly made tracks retreating before there could be further retaliation. Head swiveling over to their guide, causing her nebulous hair to swirl she asks, "Oy Hew, how worried should we be about that commotion catching the attention of more fun?"
Even as she was asking, the elf turns and looks over the group with her star like eyes, shaking her head with a faint chuckle as she sees Ran doesn't have a scratch on him. "Of course you're fine." But looking over the wizard at his side she frowns deeply, sheathing her scimitar and immediately kneels next to Nalomanterys' squatted form. "Here, let me help." Stopping him from covering his wounds as she places a hand on each of his arms. The stars in her form brighten as she heals the eccentric man and break off, floating over towards Meili, the glitter melting into her wounds to heal her a little. Standing, Danica walks over to Mica and does the same, the stars then float over to Hew to heal him a little. 

1st Level Cure Wounds on Nalomanterys:  12 + 3 (Disciple of Life) = ___
Chalice Healing to Meili: 5
1st Level Cure Wounds on Mica: 11  + 3 (Disciple of Life) =  ___
Chalice Healing to Hew: 5

Meili nodded to Ran's question with her usual "I'll live" but did not refuse Danica's healing - it was needed. Once the colour returned to her face, she walked to the defeated lizards. "Chance for us to add to our food stock, or to leave that meat behind so that others would leave us alone. Not because of fear, but because there will be enough food for them."

She also looked at Hew checking if she remembered correctly. "Don't think they are that smart - to hold grudges. But smart enough to use what they get and not ask for more if "more" means danger. We still need to walk away from this spot, though."

“Thanks, Cap’n.  Will have to keep my eyes open better”  Mica thanks Danica as the healing magic washes over him and shares a glance with Hew as the raptors retreat back into the jungle.

“Wait just a moment, Meili. The meat will spoil soon in this heat, but let’s see if we have anything else worth taking first”  They had been in the jungle for some time without taking any game.  Mica kneels down and studies the fallen raptors, checking their hooked talons and other parts of the carcasses for anything worth harvesting.  Nature: 19.

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Quote from LAXGunner >>

“Wait just a moment, Meili. The meat will spoil soon in this heat, but let’s see if we have anything else worth taking first”  They had been in the jungle for some time without taking any game.  Mica kneels down and studies the fallen raptors, checking their hooked talons and other parts of the carcasses for anything worth harvesting.  Nature: 19.

 Mica pulls out a bonesaw and a skinning knife and gets to work, attempting to harvest something of value from the creatures.  

Dexterity: 13.

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Meili did not try to stop Mica, of course. On the contrary, she used the time to glance around for those elusive herbs for medkit. (Nature/Survival : 6 + 0/3)

While the jungle has an overwhelming amount of floral life, Meili hasn't been able to locate any of the herbs she needs either on the cliff-face or in the jungles below.

Mica has better success.  In addition to harvesting enough meat to potentially feed everyone today, he eyes the long, sickle-like claws on the hind feet of the dinosaurs.  He saw many of these for sale in the bazaars of Port Nyanzaru and they seem to be popular among both locals and collectors.  Additionally, the raptors had pheromone glands under their tales.  While not entirely sure if this is good for anything, Mica is able to extract and put some in vials.

• Velociraptor Meat [6 rations worth; good only for use today]
• 10 Velociraptor Sickle Claws
• 4 Vials of Velociraptor Pheromones.

While Mica works quickly, Hew considers the questions posed to him.

"No.  They don't hold grudges, Ran, but they learn.  If a pack hits you and gets rewarded for it, say by killing one of your pack dinosaurs or a member of your crew, they'll continue to stalk you.  On the other hand..." he gestures with his only hand at the corpses Mica is working on, "... they can also figure out when they've bitten off more than they can chew.  This pack won't bother us again.  There's a good chance they won't attack any humanoids at all after the hurt we put on them."

Looking to Danica, "Aye, Captain.  We shouldn't linger any longer than we must.  A commotion like this will scare half the jungle away, and summon the other half.  The things that come running to a battle like this... we'd rather not have to deal with them right now."

With Mica's butchering and harvesting complete, the party is ready to press on, continuing south.  Hew begs off any further questions for now, intent on keeping his focus on the jungle.