As his fightee falls to the floor, Ozyre sees Cork still being badgered by the thug and decides who he'll be focusing on next. He stows his axes away in favor of a metal hilt. The crossguard of the hilt is a flat, solid circle, on top of which is a steep curve for a short distance, and then a plateau. Interestingly, the hilt appears to have neither pointy nor cutty bits attached anywhere on it.

Hilt in hand, the gnome bounds towards the hunter poking at Cork and, at quite a distance away from his apparent destination, lunges. From out of the strange mound on top of the crossguard flies yet more strange mound, carried forward by the momentum of the lunge before it clicks into place at the plateau. It continues the curve of the mound perfectly. As some sort of mechanism stops it from going further, another mound inside of it goes beyond where its predecessor stopped. Metal extends from metal extends from metal, the cone getting thinner each time, until one very pointy bit of metal peeks its head out and stops the chain. The hilt is a lance, and the lance is big.

The point of the lance came out just a bit behind and beyond the neck of the hunter. Holding the lance in his right hand, Ozyre uses his left arm to push against the lance towards the hunter, driving it bluntly into the back of the man's head.

Movement: To 10 feet within the spearman by Cork.
Action: Attack spearman attacking Cork (lance, nonlethal): 21 (16 + 5) to hit, 11 (8 + 3) piercing damage, Unconscious if reduced to 0 HP.

Cork had been avoiding the worst of the martial carnage, but the combination of dagger and spear have left him staggered.  He looks down at his bleeding, battered form, then looks up at the towering wolf/moose.  

A string of animal calls erupts from his open beak.

 Then he whispers a few soothing soothing words to himself, healing for 6 hp.

Finally, he raises his longsword in both hands and sends a desperate slash toward the hunter stabbing at him with the spear.

Longsword (2hand) Attack:  16  Damage:  10

The combined efforts of Cork and Ozyre would be enough to knock out the second spearman, leaving only the leader, the crossbowmen and the hunters dealing with Ember and the beast.

Perhaps it's the cumulative bloodloss of Thurodim or the fact that the leader is starting to get a good read on the large barbarian's fighting style, but no attacks land on target. The leader begins looking left and right, as two of his colleagues fall, and considers his options. He's not looking too hot himself. He disengages from the fight with Thurodim and begins running back through the forest.

"This is getting out of hand! We have to get out of here. Fall back!", he calls out to his team.

As he runs, he sees that two of his lackey struggling to handle the little wizard. "Are you serious right now? You're getting bested by a little girl? Get your act together!", he shames the other two.

On their turn, those two hunters look at each other a bit shamefully. The one on the beast attempts to hastily finish sawing one of the horns off the beast. Since he's not being careful, he's not as efficient.

(Strength-based tool check): 12

Meanwhile, the other one that released Ember tries one final time to restrain her.

Grapple check: 2 (vs Ember's Athletics or Acrobatics check)

The hunter is unable to saw the wooden horn, but it is probably no longer as sturdy as it once was.

The beast replies to [Sound of Cork Popping]:

The beast attempts to shake off the hunter still on its head.

Strength check from Beast: 10

Dex save from bandit: 16

With a strong grip on the horns, the hunter remains in place, despite the beast's best efforts.

Finally, the two crossbowmen fire their shots at the large barbarian, who by now, is starting to look like a pin cushion.

Crossbowman 1: Attack: 8 Damage: 3

Crossbowman 2: Attack: 9 Damage: 6

After firing their bolts, they will retreat further into the forest, following their leader's orders.

(Ember is up, followed by Thurodim)

Acrobatics against Grapple: 13+5 18

"I'm not a little girl," Ember howls as she, like her squirrel, scurries up and onto the hunter's shoulders, then launches herself at the beast and out of his grasping hands. "You should work for nicer bosses! Like Mr. Brugg!"

The little wizard grasps handfuls of fur as she makes her way up the beast towards the other hunter. "Go on, git!" she yells up at him, aiming a mote of fire his way though not aiming to hit him.


((Movement: as far up the beast as she can get (I realize she couldn't have jumped that far, was just for flavvoorr lol!). Ready for an opportunity attack from the grappler! 
Action: Fire bolt. Not aiming to hit, but scare.
Aggie: Will leave the pant leg of the fleeing crossbow guy and scurry his full movement and Dash (60 ft total) back towards Ember.))

The massive blonde bearded warrior roars and charges the hunter having his filthy hands on the red-haired girl, smacking him hard with Skullcrusher before moving on to the fleeing leader.

(Attacking recklessly, -5 to hit +10 to damage)
Skullcrusher: 18 Bludgeoning: 24

(If crit or downed foe then bonus attack against closest enemy)
Skullcrusher: 19 Bludgeoning: 20

The final moments of the hunter trying to grab Ember are spent cursing the choices that brought him to this situation. As Ember jumps up on the beast’s back and out of arm’s reach of the man, he has just enough time to turn around to see Thurodim’s maul shatter his face in a Gallagher-esque mist of blood and gore. Building on the momentum of his first attack, Thurodim swings again at the leader.

 ‘’Shit…’’, is all he has time to say before his body is sent flying against a nearby tree, broken and dead on the spot.

While climbing on the wolf’s back, Ember sends a warning fire bolt just close enough to the hunter. A short high-pitched squeal comes out of the man’s mouth as he prepares to make a run for it. Seeing his friend and his boss get destroyed has shaken his resolve.

(With both spearmen unconscious, it comes around to Ozyre’s turn followed by Cork)

Seeing that the hunters are all dead, unconscious, or scared as hell, Ozyre plants his lance into the dirt and brings his hands to a cone around his mouth, to amplify his shouting. "We'd appreciate it if you didn't come back thanks!"

Action: Dodge

(Unless Cork wishes to take a hostile action against the remaining hunters, in which case we can retroactively include it, I’ll say we can end combat as the two crossbowmen and the last hunter run through the woods and escape)

Cork stands, looking down at the fallen spearman before him, and at his longsword.  As the other enemies flee, Cork drops his sword and sits down in the grass, the usual blank stare evident in his black, expressionless eyes.

Thurodim lets out a final roar as the last enemies flee the field of battle. He huffs and grunts for a while as his rage abates. He then looks around at the smaller brave heroes, making sure they were all alright before cautiously stepping closer to the enormous beast.

(If given time, Thurodim would mutter and chant to ritualistically cast Speak with Animals to join the conversation between Cork and the horned besat. :-)

Ember looks sadly down at the smashed in head of the other hunter--they'd been sort of nice actually, and hadn't hurt her at all when they easily could have--before she scrambles the rest of the way up the beast. She hurries about, looking at each of the hooked chains for how best to remove them, uttering little soothing words to the great wolf as she does so.


((Investigation? 24))

As combat subsides, the party is now alone in the forest, surrounded by the knocked out or dead bodies of their hunter opponents and the trapped form of the giant beast.

Thanks to their respective magic, [Sound of Cork Popping] and Thurodim are able to understand the beast’s speech.

Ember, standing on top of the lupine creature, studies the chain holding it down. There are two chains wrapping around two massive trees in a sort of barbed fence. The hooks on the chain links seem anchored in the bark of those trees. It also seems the beast ran head first in the chains and, in its confusion, must have gotten tangled in it. If you could untangle the chains, it could be easier to set it free.

After completing his savage ritual, the massive blonde bearded warrior starts growling as if communicating with the enormous horned beast.

In beast speech:

 Insight: 17

In a look of recognition, the beast looks at Thurodim and begins to make guttural noises in response.

Thurodim and Cork:

The massive blonde bearded warrior seems to listen to the guttural noises of the enormous horned beast, and then he starts growling again.

 Thurodim bows to the beast and then starts to untangle the chains to set her free.

With a mute sigh, [Sound of Cork Popping] pushes back up from the ground.  He looks to the great beast.

 He pauses his beastly grunting...

 Can Cork see an efficient way to loosen these chains to get some slack so the others can work?  Investigation:  8

Ozyre attempts a bit more of a direct approach to freeing the creature. Instead of just untangling the chains, which would presumably leave them suspended between the trees, the gnome walks up to one of the spots where the chain is hooked into the tree, with the idea of severing the chain from the tree completely. He is a smith, after all, so he figures he might find a use for some nice chain, provided it isn't arboreally bound. He brings out his hammer, and his tiny magical muscles strain as he brings its full force down onto the hook.

Seeing Ozyre working at the hook in the tree, Ember decides to try the same with the other. As she climbs off the creature, she yells to Cork and Big Man, "Hey, did you ask her name yet? Don't be rude, you guys!" The feral little wizard launches herself off the side of lupine giant, continuing mid-air, "We gotta get her foot outta that nasty trap too," then begins to beat at the hook with that neat rod she got, the reverberation of metal against metal vibrating through her bones. 


((To hit: Natural 20 lmao... so 19 hahaha. In case that still counts as a crit: 1+4-1 4 dmg)

Through your combined efforts, you manage, over the course of several minutes, to release the creature from the chains. Ozyre's strike against the chains makes them go slack, which simplifies your efforts to untangle those that ensnare the creature. The beast seems to sigh in relief as part of its pain dissipates. The other part is currently still attached to its leg, being whacked on by the child wizard, to no great effect.

The beast is able to stand up however, towering over Thurodim by a solid 3-4 feet. Its furcoat is stained with blood from its wounds. Its movements are jerky as it strains under the weight of its injuries.

Thurodim and Cork: