As Elthana pulls her hand back out of the bag, she holds a single piece of paper. "Sorry Sam, apparently I can't wish for things with this bag." She unfolds it and the words are confusing to her, some sort of message or code. She holds it out, "Can anyone make sense of this?"
Now:
As Elthana climbs up to the driver's seat she immediately sees why they have stopped, the horses have run the carriage off the road and both of them are in the treeline struggling to move any further forward as their reins are caught in a branch, they are clearly terrified... The driver's seat is empty and broken, splinters stick up from the base of the seat which is slick with moisture, there is one thing that is left behind, the only remnant that the driver's had ever been there, a severed leg lays in the footwell of the driver's box, still dripping with blood.
Staying calm, she looks around to make sure she isn't in any immediate danger. Baring none, she pops her head back into the carriage, "We have a problem. I think we have lost our guides for good." She then pulls out her pole and hops down to the ground, keeping an eye out and moving towards the horses. Hoping to calm them down.
"Just one pull a day then, is it?" Sam asks, curiously. "I guess I understood that cut-rate wizard to suggest it was a never ending supply." That would explain why there wasn't a trail of trash behind the guy as he just kept pulling til he got enough valuables to relax and retire...
Now:
Sam's hand is on his maul even before he is awake. To be fair, Sam is stumbling out the door of the carriage before he is actually awake. He caught enough to know there was some spooky something out here due to Vin and not to smash it but beyond that he is clueless about what is going on. Standing with legs firmly planted on the ground, maul in both ands and his back blocking further exit or entrance through the door he just came through, Sam scans the area (60' dark vision) to try to get a glance at whatever the hubbub is all about.
"Anyone have a direction?" Sam asks back over his shoulder. "Who was on guard? Who we missing?" Sam's hands squeeze and his knuckles whiten as he asks his questions and awaits answers. He wants something to hit...
The wind howls thought the trees as Elthana manages to calm the horses enough to get them unstuck.
The group now sees the full extent of their situation, the carriage having lost its drivers had careened into the treeline to the north of the road which lays some 60ft behind them, the ground is slick with moisture and covered in hoof prints, not all from the horses recent scare, to those who know it, the metallic stench of blood, both old and new burns into the nostrils.
Neferox looks further north still, into the darkness along the treeline and growls. This new creature, Ted, spirals out if the darkness as if it had always been there, part of its form still one with the shadows surrounding it, Ted cocks his horned, eyeless, head slightly as he receives instructions from Vin, then he crouches in a sickening posture before springing forwards and running north, it's lanky and grotesque limbs move fluidly and with a practiced elegance as it disappears out of view and into the inky night.
Gewyn holds his nose at the stench of blood and stays low in the carriage. He reaches for his pack and pulls out a candle which he quickly lights. He peeks through the window on one side and then the other.
Vin having lost sight of Ted as he heads north Vin goes over to join Neferox and look North. They seem to share a moment as Vin looks to Nef and pets them. The young man looks to his companions and says "There is a lot of something out there. Nef can sense them. I don't want to get trapped in here so I'm stepping out." Vin then open the carriage door and steps out into the darkness of the night however, a sudden haunting scream from something that shouldn't be alive can be heard from the north. Vin looks back into the carriage and says "Ted found the enemies by the sound of it. I don't know if we want to run or not but I'll follow whatever you all decide. I'll get an eye outside for us and turn invisible but I'm nearby if we want to make a run for it." The young man begins to call on his dark powers and starts summoning shadows to wrap himself in darkness causing him to vanish from sight. Vin now quite invisible. The young boy finds a place to hide but keep the carriage in view and close as they look north at whatever is coming. They stand by ready to attack and help their friends depending whatever is coming their way and what they want to do. With no idea what is coming they just focus on position to best support the group. Vin tries to get a look at Ted who went north but isn't sure if they are close enough still concentrating on the spell to be able to tell if Ted is destroyed or not.
Neferox seems nervous and growls towards the northern direction. When the scream from ted happens the hound jumps out of the carriage and takes a position to block whatever is coming their way and scare off any would be attackers. Their fur bristling with agitation as they stay out in the open growling and small tendrils of smoke begin to rise from between her jaw and from her nostrils. She's definitely trying to look as intimidating as possible to hopefully give pause to anything that tries to attack but is ready to pounce and attack if something hostile charges them.
Actions:
Vin:
Move: 30 feet to find a place to hide by and see to the north.
Action: One with Shadows - Turn invisible while in dim light or darkness. Breaks if Vin takes an action.
Skills Used:
Perception with darkvision 60 feet 14
Stealth: 25
Keeping concentration up so they can tell when Ted's summoned form is destroyed.
Nef:
Action: readied action to breath fire if a lot of hostile beings charge and they can hit a lot of them or bite action to stop one if 3 or less coming.
Move: 30 feet forward to take a vanguard position.
Realizing that he is about to be alone in the carriage, Gewyn quickly scrambles out behind Vin. "Hey," Gewyn whispers. "Good luck out there." (bardic inspiration 1d8). "I'm going to try to get this carriage back on the road in case we need to... hoof it." Gewyn comes up beside Elthana. "How are the horses doing? They seem calm now at least. Do you think they have enough left in them for a good sprint?"
By the light of his candle, Gewyn quickly locates the bullseye lantern hanging off the front of the carriage to light the horses' way. He snaps his fingers, lighting it up and illuminating the ground before the horses.
Elthana looks to the North as she hears the unnatural scream. Finishing untying the horses from the brush, she turns just as Gewyn comes up beside her. "Honestly? I don't know, they seem to be pretty worn out. If they were able to sprint, it wouldn't be for very long."
She hands over the reins to Gewyn as she sees him start to light the way, "Here, take them to the road, but be mindful, with this light you have just put a spotlight on yourself." and she runs off into the dark, also attempting to hide amongst the shadows to try and surprise their attackers.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Sam noticeably sniffs at the air and studies the hoof prints for a while. (Nature check: 15 ) "We think these are all from our horses?" Sam asks, indicating the prints while also scanning the horses for actual injury. "My guessing is they got confused or uncontrolled... or both... I don't think they were attacked. But that leaves our guards. What the blazes happened to them and where are they?"
As the scream suddenly pierces and haunts the night, Sam turns in it's direction at the ready. "I'm not fleeing from the darkness while we have people missing," Sam grunts out and tentatively takes a few steps towards the noise. "Whatever we're here to figure out may actually be right here... So let's get ready to do some figuring."
He pauses and looks over his shoulder a moment. "But, you know... Good to have the horses ready if needed..."
It's at this point that the entire group hears the thundering of hoof against the wet ground approaching rapidly, Neferox barks and prepares her heat breath, flames licking up her teeth from within her maw.
Coming out of the darkness 14 deer foaming out of their mouths, madness burning in their eyes approach at speed and begin attacking those outside of the carriage.
As the deer gain on the group they split off into small groups, each attacking separate things.
Three head straight for Nef, antlers lowered ready to gore, Nef releases the pent up wave of heat burning the the damp grass in front of her with a satisfying sizzle. Two of the deer take the brunt of the heat their antlers crack, the fur on their heads shrink and blacken as their skin starts to vaporise, erupting in blister and boil before also breaking and sloughing off it's place. The rest of their bodies follow suit as the heat wave passes through them, the third deer takes a more evasive movement attempting to jump over the incoming attack, the move is in vain though as the wave catches it's legs and underside, as it falls joining it's companions on the ground in front of Nef, it's death isn't as instant, it screams out for a second before succumbing to shock and death.
Four deer run directly up to Sam, two of them go low for an antler attack, the other two rounding him to bite at his sides, but they weren't expecting or perhaps did not care enough to notice how heavily armoured the orc is, their blows glance off of his plate barely leaving dents.
Elthana and Vin having successfully vanished into the shadows, watch as the rest of the seven deer swarm around the horses, a couple of them rearing up to try to jump at Gewyn too. Five attack the horse to the left the only horse they can reach right now, through biting and goring, the crazed deer manage to take down the horse with ease, their faces and antlers soaked in blood as the horse collapses and whinnies its last. The two deer that jump up at Gewyn miss, one over shooting and going sprawling out over the grass on the other side of the carriage, the second undershoots slamming into the driver's box damaging it slightly but leaving the deer scrambling to its feet, the bump on its head doing nothing to clear the crazed look in its eyes.
Elthana curses herself for hiding when the deer take down one of their horses. As she approaches the deer that are by the other horse, she thinks to herself, these can't have been the creatures that took the guards, can they?
She surprises the deer that is closest to the horse that is still alive, rushing in, punching at its face and kicking at its legs to try and take it down. Moving on to the next if needed.
As Elthana surprises the blood smattered deer that took down the horse, she deftly punches and kicks, breaking bone and snapping the necks of the first two deer, the third takes the beating of its life but seems to be holding on by a thread as it turns it's gaze toward it's attacker
Hearing, and then seeing what is coming at them, Sam initially takes up a defensive position expecting the animals to try to run past them - that the danger would be in being trampled accidentally in the beasts blind fleeing from whatever rather than them actually attacking. But Sam is obviously wrong. Once the animals actually actively attack, Sam goes on the offensive himself. He swings out with his heavy maul to bash the beasts away from him as quickly as possible. They do not seem a large threat but anything can be dangerous given enough numbers... And they may still be running from something even more fierce. Best to have this over and done with.
Sam first strikes out at the two closest animals to him:
Maul Attack: 14 Damage: 10 on first deer.
Maul Attack: 22 Damage: 13 on second deer.
The first deer Sam strikes is hit with an upward swing of his maul and the deer is moved (via Crusher feat) five feet up off it's feet and into the air.
Seeing their horses in danger Sam spares the briefest of moments (his reaction) to bring his maul down to strike the ground, sending forth a concussive force out towards the deer near the carriage, disrupting one of the deer attacks upon their horse and causing that deer to hit one of it's own brethren instead. (Via Cloud Rune, assuming those deer are within 30' of Sam...)
And with so many potential threats, Sam feels a surge of adrenaline and finds pushes his attack (Action Surge) against the deer, striking out again and again at whatever is within reach of him and his maul...
Sam smashes ruthlessly at the four deer surrounding him, their bodies cast in every direction, the first flying through the air it's lifeless body coming crashing down with a sickening crunch moments later.
The one deer hanging on to life in front of Elthana goes lifeless, the concussive blast from Sam's reactive attack seeming to have taken a moment to cause the necessary damage to seep the remaining life from the beast.
Sam surveys the area around him, he is dripping in viscera, bones stick up from the ground around him like broken sticks. Only the two deer that had attempted to attack Gewyn, and two still near the horse remain... For now
Gewyn flinches and starts as the rabid deer swarm the carriage. He cringes and ducks one goes sailing over his head and he watches in horror through laced fingers as one of the horses goes down. His mind races as he watches Sam's carnage, and sees Elthana take down one... two... not enough. There are still too many, and Gewyn is no fighter. There is no way to save the remaining horse. Unless...
With no time to think further about his gamble, Gewyn pulls out his knife, glad he hadn't thrown it away yet after the fight with the wolves. He begins to sing an old battle chant in a loud clear voice, and he hops from the carriage on to the horse's back, slashing at the leather straps keeping the horse tethered. The song begins to stir up everyone's blood, pushing them to run faster and fight longer. Gewyn does his best to free the horse, and then digs his heels into its flank to prompt it forward out of danger.
(Everyone who is within 60 feet and not hidden gain 8 temp hp and can move up to their speed as a reaction, including the horse, without taking attacks of opportunity.)
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Invisible and hidden from view Vin wasn't sure he should reveal himself at first. When the stampede of deer showed up out of the darkness of the night Vin was extremely surprised. It wasn't what he expected at all. The deer seemed driven mad with reckless abandon. Vin's first instinct was to blast them but he hesitated with inexperience and youth. His companions made short work of most of them as Neferox incinerated many others. Vin was a bit confused though, why did the deer charge in like that? It was like they charged into a grinder or fire, blades and hammers. Soon there was only a few left. Vin almost broke their invisibility when the deer looked like there were about to gore the horse. Gewyn managed to get the horse away from them before that happened. He was about to blast the deer but instead a shadowy form seems to know where he was. Which makes sense, as Vin summoned them. Vin whispers to them "Ted. Go help Gewyn with saving the horse so he doesn't get attacked and the horse doesn't die then go help Nef. She will bark at enemies you need to attack. She will growl at someone to signal to you to keep them alive. She will claw the ground towards a target to signal capture."
Neferox having roasted three deer looks around to see if anyone needs help. They see most are handling themselves fine and decide to start eating one of the deer. The hungry hound had barely taken one bite when they suddenly look behind them. As they do the shadowy form of Ted makes their way over to Gewyn to help him protect the last horse and attacks the nearest still alive deer. The dog doesn't really pay attention to that though and instead seems to focus on some spot where the shadowspawn came from. She quickly swallow's her bite of venison and then begins to sniff at the air and seems to be looking around.
Ted: Attack Shadow Rend - 25 for 15 cold damage to one of the remaining deer near the horse and Gewyn.
Coming out of the tree line Ted appears once more taking a swing at a nearby deer, the deer evades any damage bit the movement is enough to give the remaining horse some room to turn. The horse moves south along the tree line back toward the road, taking the only source of light with it, but doesn't make it too far (20ft) as it is now dragging the carriage alone as well as the body of its companion which lays bleeding in its harness.
As Sam and Elthana move toward the remaining live deer, two more appear from the north, these two new deer catch sight of Ted and immediately stop in their tracks, moving no further forward they instead leap into the forest.
Bed darts off into the forest line too, moving swiftly past Elthana heading in the direction of where vin was before he became invisible.
The four deer around Elthana and Sam disengage and all dart off into the forest, directly into where an impenetrable haze of darkness has formed.
Sam grunts out a "Huh," but otherwise lets the deer run off.
"Just what exactly is that... of yours? Another pet?" Sam asks Vin as he gives a wary look to the haze of darkness but heads towards the carriage to try to see what the can do about that situation. "Some kind of ghost? Can it tell you what it sees and such?"
Regularly looking back towards where the deer took off to and all around at the darkness, Sam wants to unbind the dead horse and get everything all straightened out as much as he can. He figures they may need to walk, at least in turns. The carriage was meant for two horses and it'll be helpful to at least have the supplies pulled but they can't wear out their remaining beast of burden.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Elthana watches in confusion as the mad deer run off. Seeing Sam head over to the carriage, she worries about the haze of darkness. She heads about 15' towards it, trying to make heads or tails of what is going on. Try as she might, she cannot see into the haze and she looks around it, seeing if there is any clue as to what might be going on. She also readies herself to attack anything that is about to attack her out of that darkness.
With Sam's help Gewyn is able to free the dead horse from its harness and give a little relief to the one remaining, they head off a little further down the tree line, nearly making it to the road.
All seems well and combat seems over, for a moment, the dark patch that appeared being completely still. Suddenly Nef begins barking, the warning bark of a guard dog sensing danger. What follows Nef's barking is an unholy shriek it sounds humanoid but not quite right, eerily like a beast mimicking human noise, then a cacophony of clattering antlers and a hurt whimper from Nef.
Despite her readiness, nothing emerges from the darkness for Elthana to attack.
Earlier:
As Elthana pulls her hand back out of the bag, she holds a single piece of paper. "Sorry Sam, apparently I can't wish for things with this bag." She unfolds it and the words are confusing to her, some sort of message or code. She holds it out, "Can anyone make sense of this?"
Now:
As Elthana climbs up to the driver's seat she immediately sees why they have stopped, the horses have run the carriage off the road and both of them are in the treeline struggling to move any further forward as their reins are caught in a branch, they are clearly terrified... The driver's seat is empty and broken, splinters stick up from the base of the seat which is slick with moisture, there is one thing that is left behind, the only remnant that the driver's had ever been there, a severed leg lays in the footwell of the driver's box, still dripping with blood.
Staying calm, she looks around to make sure she isn't in any immediate danger. Baring none, she pops her head back into the carriage, "We have a problem. I think we have lost our guides for good." She then pulls out her pole and hops down to the ground, keeping an eye out and moving towards the horses. Hoping to calm them down.
Earlier:
"Just one pull a day then, is it?" Sam asks, curiously. "I guess I understood that cut-rate wizard to suggest it was a never ending supply." That would explain why there wasn't a trail of trash behind the guy as he just kept pulling til he got enough valuables to relax and retire...
Now:
Sam's hand is on his maul even before he is awake. To be fair, Sam is stumbling out the door of the carriage before he is actually awake. He caught enough to know there was some spooky something out here due to Vin and not to smash it but beyond that he is clueless about what is going on. Standing with legs firmly planted on the ground, maul in both ands and his back blocking further exit or entrance through the door he just came through, Sam scans the area (60' dark vision) to try to get a glance at whatever the hubbub is all about.
"Anyone have a direction?" Sam asks back over his shoulder. "Who was on guard? Who we missing?" Sam's hands squeeze and his knuckles whiten as he asks his questions and awaits answers. He wants something to hit...
The wind howls thought the trees as Elthana manages to calm the horses enough to get them unstuck.
The group now sees the full extent of their situation, the carriage having lost its drivers had careened into the treeline to the north of the road which lays some 60ft behind them, the ground is slick with moisture and covered in hoof prints, not all from the horses recent scare, to those who know it, the metallic stench of blood, both old and new burns into the nostrils.
Neferox looks further north still, into the darkness along the treeline and growls. This new creature, Ted, spirals out if the darkness as if it had always been there, part of its form still one with the shadows surrounding it, Ted cocks his horned, eyeless, head slightly as he receives instructions from Vin, then he crouches in a sickening posture before springing forwards and running north, it's lanky and grotesque limbs move fluidly and with a practiced elegance as it disappears out of view and into the inky night.
Gewyn holds his nose at the stench of blood and stays low in the carriage. He reaches for his pack and pulls out a candle which he quickly lights. He peeks through the window on one side and then the other.
Vin having lost sight of Ted as he heads north Vin goes over to join Neferox and look North. They seem to share a moment as Vin looks to Nef and pets them. The young man looks to his companions and says "There is a lot of something out there. Nef can sense them. I don't want to get trapped in here so I'm stepping out." Vin then open the carriage door and steps out into the darkness of the night however, a sudden haunting scream from something that shouldn't be alive can be heard from the north. Vin looks back into the carriage and says "Ted found the enemies by the sound of it. I don't know if we want to run or not but I'll follow whatever you all decide. I'll get an eye outside for us and turn invisible but I'm nearby if we want to make a run for it." The young man begins to call on his dark powers and starts summoning shadows to wrap himself in darkness causing him to vanish from sight. Vin now quite invisible. The young boy finds a place to hide but keep the carriage in view and close as they look north at whatever is coming. They stand by ready to attack and help their friends depending whatever is coming their way and what they want to do. With no idea what is coming they just focus on position to best support the group. Vin tries to get a look at Ted who went north but isn't sure if they are close enough still concentrating on the spell to be able to tell if Ted is destroyed or not.
Neferox seems nervous and growls towards the northern direction. When the scream from ted happens the hound jumps out of the carriage and takes a position to block whatever is coming their way and scare off any would be attackers. Their fur bristling with agitation as they stay out in the open growling and small tendrils of smoke begin to rise from between her jaw and from her nostrils. She's definitely trying to look as intimidating as possible to hopefully give pause to anything that tries to attack but is ready to pounce and attack if something hostile charges them.
Actions:
Vin:
Move: 30 feet to find a place to hide by and see to the north.
Action: One with Shadows - Turn invisible while in dim light or darkness. Breaks if Vin takes an action.
Skills Used:
Perception with darkvision 60 feet 14
Stealth: 25
Keeping concentration up so they can tell when Ted's summoned form is destroyed.
Nef:
Action: readied action to breath fire if a lot of hostile beings charge and they can hit a lot of them or bite action to stop one if 3 or less coming.
Move: 30 feet forward to take a vanguard position.
Skill used: intimidation 26
Realizing that he is about to be alone in the carriage, Gewyn quickly scrambles out behind Vin. "Hey," Gewyn whispers. "Good luck out there." (bardic inspiration 1d8). "I'm going to try to get this carriage back on the road in case we need to... hoof it." Gewyn comes up beside Elthana. "How are the horses doing? They seem calm now at least. Do you think they have enough left in them for a good sprint?"
By the light of his candle, Gewyn quickly locates the bullseye lantern hanging off the front of the carriage to light the horses' way. He snaps his fingers, lighting it up and illuminating the ground before the horses.
Elthana looks to the North as she hears the unnatural scream. Finishing untying the horses from the brush, she turns just as Gewyn comes up beside her. "Honestly? I don't know, they seem to be pretty worn out. If they were able to sprint, it wouldn't be for very long."
She hands over the reins to Gewyn as she sees him start to light the way, "Here, take them to the road, but be mindful, with this light you have just put a spotlight on yourself." and she runs off into the dark, also attempting to hide amongst the shadows to try and surprise their attackers.
Stealth to hide: 23
Sam noticeably sniffs at the air and studies the hoof prints for a while. (Nature check: 15 ) "We think these are all from our horses?" Sam asks, indicating the prints while also scanning the horses for actual injury. "My guessing is they got confused or uncontrolled... or both... I don't think they were attacked. But that leaves our guards. What the blazes happened to them and where are they?"
As the scream suddenly pierces and haunts the night, Sam turns in it's direction at the ready. "I'm not fleeing from the darkness while we have people missing," Sam grunts out and tentatively takes a few steps towards the noise. "Whatever we're here to figure out may actually be right here... So let's get ready to do some figuring."
He pauses and looks over his shoulder a moment. "But, you know... Good to have the horses ready if needed..."
It's at this point that the entire group hears the thundering of hoof against the wet ground approaching rapidly, Neferox barks and prepares her heat breath, flames licking up her teeth from within her maw.
Coming out of the darkness 14 deer foaming out of their mouths, madness burning in their eyes approach at speed and begin attacking those outside of the carriage.
As the deer gain on the group they split off into small groups, each attacking separate things.
Three head straight for Nef, antlers lowered ready to gore, Nef releases the pent up wave of heat burning the the damp grass in front of her with a satisfying sizzle. Two of the deer take the brunt of the heat their antlers crack, the fur on their heads shrink and blacken as their skin starts to vaporise, erupting in blister and boil before also breaking and sloughing off it's place. The rest of their bodies follow suit as the heat wave passes through them, the third deer takes a more evasive movement attempting to jump over the incoming attack, the move is in vain though as the wave catches it's legs and underside, as it falls joining it's companions on the ground in front of Nef, it's death isn't as instant, it screams out for a second before succumbing to shock and death.
Four deer run directly up to Sam, two of them go low for an antler attack, the other two rounding him to bite at his sides, but they weren't expecting or perhaps did not care enough to notice how heavily armoured the orc is, their blows glance off of his plate barely leaving dents.
Elthana and Vin having successfully vanished into the shadows, watch as the rest of the seven deer swarm around the horses, a couple of them rearing up to try to jump at Gewyn too. Five attack the horse to the left the only horse they can reach right now, through biting and goring, the crazed deer manage to take down the horse with ease, their faces and antlers soaked in blood as the horse collapses and whinnies its last. The two deer that jump up at Gewyn miss, one over shooting and going sprawling out over the grass on the other side of the carriage, the second undershoots slamming into the driver's box damaging it slightly but leaving the deer scrambling to its feet, the bump on its head doing nothing to clear the crazed look in its eyes.
Elthana curses herself for hiding when the deer take down one of their horses. As she approaches the deer that are by the other horse, she thinks to herself, these can't have been the creatures that took the guards, can they?
She surprises the deer that is closest to the horse that is still alive, rushing in, punching at its face and kicking at its legs to try and take it down. Moving on to the next if needed.
Attack: 28 Damage: 8
Attack: 29 Damage: 11
Attack: 24 Damage: 10
As Elthana surprises the blood smattered deer that took down the horse, she deftly punches and kicks, breaking bone and snapping the necks of the first two deer, the third takes the beating of its life but seems to be holding on by a thread as it turns it's gaze toward it's attacker
Hearing, and then seeing what is coming at them, Sam initially takes up a defensive position expecting the animals to try to run past them - that the danger would be in being trampled accidentally in the beasts blind fleeing from whatever rather than them actually attacking. But Sam is obviously wrong. Once the animals actually actively attack, Sam goes on the offensive himself. He swings out with his heavy maul to bash the beasts away from him as quickly as possible. They do not seem a large threat but anything can be dangerous given enough numbers... And they may still be running from something even more fierce. Best to have this over and done with.
Sam first strikes out at the two closest animals to him:
Maul Attack: 14 Damage: 10 on first deer.
Maul Attack: 22 Damage: 13 on second deer.
The first deer Sam strikes is hit with an upward swing of his maul and the deer is moved (via Crusher feat) five feet up off it's feet and into the air.
Seeing their horses in danger Sam spares the briefest of moments (his reaction) to bring his maul down to strike the ground, sending forth a concussive force out towards the deer near the carriage, disrupting one of the deer attacks upon their horse and causing that deer to hit one of it's own brethren instead. (Via Cloud Rune, assuming those deer are within 30' of Sam...)
And with so many potential threats, Sam feels a surge of adrenaline and finds pushes his attack (Action Surge) against the deer, striking out again and again at whatever is within reach of him and his maul...
Maul Attack: 10 Damage: 10 on third deer.
Maul Attack: 17 Damage: 8 on fourth deer.
Sam smashes ruthlessly at the four deer surrounding him, their bodies cast in every direction, the first flying through the air it's lifeless body coming crashing down with a sickening crunch moments later.
The one deer hanging on to life in front of Elthana goes lifeless, the concussive blast from Sam's reactive attack seeming to have taken a moment to cause the necessary damage to seep the remaining life from the beast.
Sam surveys the area around him, he is dripping in viscera, bones stick up from the ground around him like broken sticks. Only the two deer that had attempted to attack Gewyn, and two still near the horse remain... For now
Gewyn flinches and starts as the rabid deer swarm the carriage. He cringes and ducks one goes sailing over his head and he watches in horror through laced fingers as one of the horses goes down. His mind races as he watches Sam's carnage, and sees Elthana take down one... two... not enough. There are still too many, and Gewyn is no fighter. There is no way to save the remaining horse. Unless...
With no time to think further about his gamble, Gewyn pulls out his knife, glad he hadn't thrown it away yet after the fight with the wolves. He begins to sing an old battle chant in a loud clear voice, and he hops from the carriage on to the horse's back, slashing at the leather straps keeping the horse tethered. The song begins to stir up everyone's blood, pushing them to run faster and fight longer. Gewyn does his best to free the horse, and then digs his heels into its flank to prompt it forward out of danger.
(Everyone who is within 60 feet and not hidden gain 8 temp hp and can move up to their speed as a reaction, including the horse, without taking attacks of opportunity.)
Invisible and hidden from view Vin wasn't sure he should reveal himself at first. When the stampede of deer showed up out of the darkness of the night Vin was extremely surprised. It wasn't what he expected at all. The deer seemed driven mad with reckless abandon. Vin's first instinct was to blast them but he hesitated with inexperience and youth. His companions made short work of most of them as Neferox incinerated many others. Vin was a bit confused though, why did the deer charge in like that? It was like they charged into a grinder or fire, blades and hammers. Soon there was only a few left. Vin almost broke their invisibility when the deer looked like there were about to gore the horse. Gewyn managed to get the horse away from them before that happened. He was about to blast the deer but instead a shadowy form seems to know where he was. Which makes sense, as Vin summoned them. Vin whispers to them "Ted. Go help Gewyn with saving the horse so he doesn't get attacked and the horse doesn't die then go help Nef. She will bark at enemies you need to attack. She will growl at someone to signal to you to keep them alive. She will claw the ground towards a target to signal capture."
Neferox having roasted three deer looks around to see if anyone needs help. They see most are handling themselves fine and decide to start eating one of the deer. The hungry hound had barely taken one bite when they suddenly look behind them. As they do the shadowy form of Ted makes their way over to Gewyn to help him protect the last horse and attacks the nearest still alive deer. The dog doesn't really pay attention to that though and instead seems to focus on some spot where the shadowspawn came from. She quickly swallow's her bite of venison and then begins to sniff at the air and seems to be looking around.
Ted: Attack Shadow Rend - 25 for 15 cold damage to one of the remaining deer near the horse and Gewyn.
Neferox: Perception check: 28
Vin: Remain invisible in their hiding spot.
Coming out of the tree line Ted appears once more taking a swing at a nearby deer, the deer evades any damage bit the movement is enough to give the remaining horse some room to turn. The horse moves south along the tree line back toward the road, taking the only source of light with it, but doesn't make it too far (20ft) as it is now dragging the carriage alone as well as the body of its companion which lays bleeding in its harness.
As Sam and Elthana move toward the remaining live deer, two more appear from the north, these two new deer catch sight of Ted and immediately stop in their tracks, moving no further forward they instead leap into the forest.
Bed darts off into the forest line too, moving swiftly past Elthana heading in the direction of where vin was before he became invisible.
The four deer around Elthana and Sam disengage and all dart off into the forest, directly into where an impenetrable haze of darkness has formed.
Sam grunts out a "Huh," but otherwise lets the deer run off.
"Just what exactly is that... of yours? Another pet?" Sam asks Vin as he gives a wary look to the haze of darkness but heads towards the carriage to try to see what the can do about that situation. "Some kind of ghost? Can it tell you what it sees and such?"
Regularly looking back towards where the deer took off to and all around at the darkness, Sam wants to unbind the dead horse and get everything all straightened out as much as he can. He figures they may need to walk, at least in turns. The carriage was meant for two horses and it'll be helpful to at least have the supplies pulled but they can't wear out their remaining beast of burden.
Elthana watches in confusion as the mad deer run off. Seeing Sam head over to the carriage, she worries about the haze of darkness. She heads about 15' towards it, trying to make heads or tails of what is going on. Try as she might, she cannot see into the haze and she looks around it, seeing if there is any clue as to what might be going on. She also readies herself to attack anything that is about to attack her out of that darkness.
Perception: 9
With Sam's help Gewyn is able to free the dead horse from its harness and give a little relief to the one remaining, they head off a little further down the tree line, nearly making it to the road.
All seems well and combat seems over, for a moment, the dark patch that appeared being completely still. Suddenly Nef begins barking, the warning bark of a guard dog sensing danger. What follows Nef's barking is an unholy shriek it sounds humanoid but not quite right, eerily like a beast mimicking human noise, then a cacophony of clattering antlers and a hurt whimper from Nef.
Despite her readiness, nothing emerges from the darkness for Elthana to attack.