The Harbinger of Ferocity

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

For the first time the beast was struck with considerable force that overcame its defenses. The paladin's ongoing effort to smite evil unleashing damage upon it that, for lack of better words, was just as it really should have been for all the pummeling and brutalizing it had received before that seemed turned aside. Whatever had gripped this monstrosity of what once was an animal, arrow, blade, and fist alike struck with such little result that it was unsettling. Without Renault's conviction and desire to make good on what he had promised and to throw himself into the battle heart and soul unfettered to cleanse himself of past sins, perhaps the monster could not have been overcome. Even the audible batter of the warhammer cracking down upon the rat, carried in the hand of de Brey all but slid off the creature whose bones did not break or bend under it.

The man heaved and panted, retrieving control of the weapon on the return swing, the sickly quality of the air making him gag. He would bathe long and hard after the battle to retake the stead, he swore it, and if only it too could wash away his failings he felt. Each blow he landed and how it glanced off, was it not just another torment leveled against him by the gods who abandoned them? Another cruel joke like their proposed freedom? He would have spat off more writing curses audibly under his breath, eye hurried between the holy warrior whose sword seemed to strike true each time for reasons he rightfully assumed magical to the goliath who seemed intent on never being confined in such a pit again.

Effects

The Quentin de Brey scores a hit on the creature with his warhammer but does little to it like the other attacks. However, the rat is now visibly wounded meaningfully by the other human's sword, a sizable wound left on it whereas before each was much less potent than assumed.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

Post a random fact about yourself.

I have heard a numbers station for myself.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

That rat was cleaved by the bit of the axe's edge, rather it was just not in twain, slicing down its side and burying itself in the ground. More blood hit the air, along with a distinctive sickening sound of an arrow penetrating flesh. Just beside the bleeding gash carved down its sickly hide, Tracan's arrow embedded itself. Free of her bow, its shot had been woven just between the goliath's roaring strike and against the broad side of the rat, sinking almost to the fletching.

The punishment the monstrous vermin was enduring was substantial, as nothing short of Renault's strike had cut so cleanly into it. Each blow seemed to be turned aside ever so slightly, each wound inflicted forced into the flesh with such effort, and the rage of the beast hardly tempered. Even the elf's arrow, as she prepared the next shot, seemed to have truly done little to harm it. Its scarred, bloodied hide made it more manic as the flash of its seemingly red eyes alight in the flames of lantern and torch turned on the giant woman as she hefted back her axe.

With blinding speed and fury, it lashed out at her an tore at her exposed arm, its teeth rending at her flesh. With force she reared, liberating herself, but not escaping injury. The once gladiator swept her arm as she did so, ensuring that had her foe held on, it would have lost part of its face - no stranger to weapons that latched on or grappled with her. To her luck, and that of the diabolical broodmother, it dared not attempt such a maneuver but that did little to quench the searing pain and shock of a strong wound taken in.

Effects

Vah'lux strikes the rat, which in turn bites her on its turn for 4 points of piercing damage. On the turn of Tracan, she scores a solid hit with her bow. However, it appears the rat is far more durable than it regularly appears and that beyond its rage, it is tougher than its flesh implies. Wounds and injuries seem to be hard won and grazing, even if the creature is relatively easy to strike.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

The rat, between its frenzy and its recklessness, was pummeled and beaten thoroughly by the monk's onslaught. The strikes delivered by staff and fist beat against its flesh with frightening efficiency, its twisted and warped body no match for its own frantic attack that made it more vulnerable and the spark of deadly focus it had ignited in its once near-death enemy. It turned to recoil, to retaliate at the orc-blooded man, to add more crimson to his stained clothes but with one prayer the once divinely gifted holy warrior found his hand guided. It may have been circumstance, that the creature they focused upon just happened to be in the right place at the right time, but for a man grasping with his old beliefs and the promise of returning to favor of a god who seemed not to scorn him nearly as much as he thought, it was pure divinity.

The sword sliced, just as it should have, and it cut a narrow channel in the bloated monster's flesh. Red welled up from the wound and slid down the steel's fuller, running on to the hilt. Were he an ill informed, ill experienced fighter the wet that flitted his leather and metal grasp would have upset his backstroke, particularly in the frantic close quarters. Indeed his tired body struggled with the motion but he was alive again with conviction at the smiting he delivered. It would have bewildered Renault had he the time to think, that he could truly be doing something so just as slaying rats, but a sensation crept into his mind that had not struck him in a long, many years.

This rat was evil.

Not just common vermin, some hungering scum that fed upon carried and refuse that only served as prey to far worse things. Rather, no man of the holy could strike any creature with such force and conviction as that were it not truly evil. Erithar had heard him, he was sure of it, and he was sure now of his place in vanquishing this creature. This flash of enlightenment faded, the reality of their grim, panicked combat in the barely lit den of the broodmother settled in on him as he had the wherewithal to sidestep his comrade as a hammer rose overhead. So too did the half orc pull a punch, one arm slung at his side and the other halfway, realizing not to interfere with de Brey who threw himself into the attack. The hammer missed, the soldier's hands retrieving it as they slid down the weapon's shaft and handled the recoil, and it served as a reminder that as hastily as they needed kill this monster, they dare not be as reckless as it.

Effects

Beaumont rediscovers his ability to Smite Evil, informing him that this dire rat is no ordinary vermin as the others. He, like Gorosk, successfully land their attacks thanks to the myriad of bonuses they are receiving from the creature having charged, it being flanked, and it raging. Quentin de Brey missing his warhammer attack, however, but avoids rolling the worst he could in the process.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

Post a random fact about yourself.

I speak no foreign languages, the concept of language very strange and abstract to me even as I write this, rather I seem only to have understanding. When I observe and listen to people speak regardless of the language, it is less what they say and what more it seems to strike me as. Perhaps this is why I understand things of the natural world too.

D&D 5e - Hoard of the Dragon Queen

These all sound viable to me, be it Lamentations of the Flame Princess or an entirely original narrative. Again, my primary interest is maintaining a character and failing that, not starting over from nothing again at low levels. I believe the others should voice their opinions with this in mind but in general I have no issue with anything presented so far among the options.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

The metal point and its long, balanced shaft hurtled with a swish through the air, almost entirely silent otherwise, and sunk into the exposed earth right before the sizable rat with a soft sheathing sound. Had fate veered ever so slightly in the mighty woman's favor, it would have struck the creature square in the head rather than make it pull back further, coiled tighter like a viper preparing to strike. A second similar sound overcame the brief onset of disappointment, although with being an arrow the snappiness of its launch from its bowstring was quite different, as was where it landed. The wild elf's finger's plucking the next from her quiver following the shot, the rat raged at first blood being drawn; the head of the arrow grazed off its back, slicing a wound into it and spurring it to attack.

Attack it did, for as the elf was drawing up her bow to fire another shot and the goliath arming herself, the creature's wild frenzy turned into a headlong charge against the lead man. Eyes widened at first under his helm, de Brey focused intensely and braced his shield, to which the dire rat slammed against. Boots shifting as he steadied his weight, armored hauberk clattering against Beaumont who he was shoved into, de Brey shoved back and aside with his shield - the creature's charge deflected for now. His expertise in protective armor and his presence that roused others to greater defenses saved him yet again as surely had the near frothing beast struck him, it could have downed him outright. Instead now it leapt back to its feet and snapped at any that dared too close.

Alone it was outmatched and outnumbered but its bristling aggression was unmatched and unexpected given its appearance. Perhaps it was the taste of its own blood in the stagnant air that riled it, perhaps the burn of the elf's arrow and its steel, perhaps the scent of all its slaughtered denmates. Whatever the case, it was not to be underestimated and this was something the half orc knew well after being on death's door mere minutes earlier.

Effects

Initiative Table
Vah'lux - 16
Tracan - 14
Creatures - 9
Gorosk - 6
Renault - 3
Quentin - 3

Vah'lux misses her javelin throw, fortunately compensated for by Tracan who manages to land an arrow. Wounding the rat, it enrages and charges the first person in order, de Brey, and almost lands a hit on its attack. It is now next to the two men, allowing Gorosk to potentially step in from behind it and launch an all out attack on it.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

Applications to the game may still be made, @Archangel89. Please send me a private message regarding the thread and with what ideas were had for a character in it.

D&D 3.5e - The Marches of the Savage Realm

The steady pour into Gorosk's mouth as the orc held himself on the verge of the conscious and living world alone proved as successful as the man knelt beside him could have prayed for. The brew of spell infused compounds had wondrous effect one it was quaffed and Gorosk's wounds were surrounded by dim glow that faded, the bleeding stanched, the gashes largely knit, the subconscious searing burn of them fading away from his thought. Coherency and cohesion returned at last, the bottle set aside and empty of its once blood-tinged contents. It was as miraculous as anything else magic could do, ever so slightly alarming each time in how extreme the contrast had been; a man on verge of death was spared his life by the magic draught.

With no further blood seeping into the exposed underground of their own, the threat was stabilized and all that awaited now was the final chamber. They had pushed back, nay, destroyed each and every attempt by the creatures to repulse them. Perhaps some had fled, perhaps some were absent during this hour of massacre, perhaps, perhaps, perhaps, but it was nothing they could busy their thoughts with. Surely whatever of them remained, if any, could be taken by the militia and the peasantry who were set to resettle this plot, and only did that become possible by their doing. That made it no less ominous a future as Beaumont extended a troubled, tired hand to the man-orc and pulled him back to his feet, however.

With but one final potion in their possession which they may well need for the battle ahead after, the paladin thought better against keeping it hidden away again. Altering the leather of his belt just enough to fit the thin necked, thick glass container to fit against him, it would be ready at moment's notice - to work in absence of what once his hands could do through the power of Erithar. The fallen soldier and elf rejoined the other two in the meantime as they found nothing of merit or note in this cell of the rats' lair. Short of Tracan, who had avoided all harm, each of them appeared haggard although she seemed as indignant as ever that they were sent to kill these creatures or legitimately die trying; her bow poised low, arrow casually knocked, her pointed elven features on edge.

"Onward?" The fighter questioned, to which the others nodded or voiced their agreement, de Brey channeling his breath. Hustling, leading the group in order of their brief march, he was determined to again take the brunt of whatever awaited them next. It was his duty, his oath, and he was committed to not reliving another failure as his last, even if that cost him his life as price for the recklessness and overabundant courage.

It was then through the final bend they discovered the first sign of trouble, the torch he bore leading the way as the lantern the paladin carried opposite the potion on his belt illuminated the entourage. There were bones scattered upon the floor, gnawed, both human and animal and many of them. Presumably this was where they hoarded their larder and the reason why was clear. An enormous one of the vermin shrilled at them with a hiss and clatter of its teeth, its back cooped up against the wall, a size and body like a well-fed sow. It had heard them coming, carving through its nest, and it was all that was left now. Everything else had been removed and all that remained now was this creature, whose anxiety manifest as a hurried dart to one side of its room upon its legs then the other. It proved just as alarmingly fast as the others and cornered as this, they knew what danger a beast posed.

Effects

Initiative Table
Vah'lux - 16
Tracan - 14
Creatures - 9
Gorosk - 6
Renault - 3
Quentin - 3

A lone Medium sized dire rat awaits them, presumably the den mother of the lair and the one responsible for the atrocities seen here. It is cornered with no way to escape and will fight to the death. The party needs roll for initiative.

@BangoSkank@Hellion@Lord Wyron@TyrannosaursRex

Post a random fact about yourself.

My condolences on your loss, @Landain. As for myself at this point I suppose it is really a question of what I hadn't done for a specialty.