Episode 1

Maeriks
TR2 (cont'd)

Rigin WIS Save vs. Dissonant Whispers unsuccessful.
Full damage.
Reaction used to flee at a crawl.

With Rigin on the ground after the thundering club strike, Maeriks towers over his shocked adversary who now lies at his feet. Maeriks, The Adept, speaks The Old Words that he knows will finish his foe off for good.

Maeriks's lips move, but perhaps no one in the room sees that. His voice is so quiet that certainly no sound is heard by anyone other than the man on the ground. Yet what is clear is that Rigin Felin's son, bane of Maeriks's life for decades, agent of ruin for the entire Bat Hannoc clan under the reign of wretched Glaaki, is wracked with pain and suffering immeasurable.

Rigin is slow to move at all at first, but then bursts into a scraping clawing crawl. He drags himself away from Maeriks, away from the Throne. Slowly he claws and squirms along the floor towards the outer circle, towards the battle between the Glaakieou and the Ulathi that is still raging in the outer perimeter.

In his injured condition, the Phantom does not get far however. Soon he stops and begins to contort and thrash on the floor. His hands shoot up to clutch at his head, pressing over his own ears. After several more heaves and throes, Rigin tears away his menacing leather mask, exposing his scarred pale face beneath.

Rigin's eyes are filled with horror. His mouth is wide open and quaking. All of the muscles of his eyes and cheeks are pinched tight in pain and stress. His breath heaves in and out, chest rising and falling as he guppies for air.

In a quick crash, the violence of his movements cease. His body slows from the convulsions, gathers his breaths in fleeting gasps.

Rigin's eyes seem to fill with conscious recognition, but only briefly. In that moment, he looks up at Maeriks, and his eyes widen with surprise and fear once again.

"MAERIKS!," Rigin heaves out in a rough coughing whisper.

He gives two more labored breathes in and out. "It cannot be. You....cannot... you.."

And then he is gone. The back of his head thunks down on the stone floor.

Rigin son of Felin, the Phantom of the Hive is defeated, lying at the feet of Maeriks Mac Mahan Mac Hannoc.

Goat
BR2

On the ground, legs entangled, with enemy close upon him, Cealwin tries to strike out to give himself some space, and time to get his feet pulled free.

Bonus Action: Spear, swinging attack (Special), with Reach 10'

He takes critical seconds and costly use of his hands to unravel the leather strap.

Action: Escape attempt bola strap, STR Athletics checkEscape Result: Success
Movement: Stand to end Prone condition

The goat tears free of the rope and stands up, trying to reset his battle stance.

Bear
BR2

Donnchad, the Bear of the Hive, looks like a giant lumbering forward towards Doirind. He raises his axes high and at fully extension before he rains them down at the small-framed barefooted Dannein woman.

Doirind raises her khopesh in defense and screams out a battle cry, standing her ground against the heavy onslaught from her most hated enemy who was once her caretaker and champion. Her defiance is song-worthy perhaps, but she is outmatched against this juggernaut.

Action: 2 Attacks Battle Axe
Bonus Action: Off-hand Attack Hand Axe

Results: Hit, Miss, Hit

The attacks are terrible, but Doirind still stands, perhaps on rugged force of will alone.
She yells out in rage again, proclaiming with ferocity that though she is bleeding, she is not yet broken.

Transition Round 2 Top of Round 3

Ivor
TR3

Ivor cuts and chops against The Bear, trying to wear the heavy man down under a flurry of attacks.

R2 Reaction, Axe: Hit
R3 Axe: Hit, Menacing Attack Damage Applied. Target impervious to Fear effects.
R3 off-hand Dagger: Miss

Though the monster warrior absorbs the blows with little reaction, the bloodletting begins to take its toll. Donnchad begins to slow. His legs falter beneath him, almost buckling.
The Bear still stands. A picture of grotesque wounds and blood now, but he still stands, enduring punishment beyond the capability of a normal man.

Bear in Zero HP State. Endures 3 Levels of Exhaustion.

Doirind
TR3

Worn down from the assault she just endured, the curved sword is too heavy in her hands now. She drops it inadvertently, but is too injured and exhausted to pick it up.

With her last reserve of energy, Doirind draws forth her drusus shorts sword again and dives headlong against Donnchad, driving the sword straight towards his heart -- a last desperate measure to either kill or be killed.

Attack, Shortsword

Result: Hit

The blade slides into Donnchad's chest as Dorind yells out. From the position, it must be impaling the lungs or possibly the liver. She lets go of the sword. Now it is stuck, protruding out from his wide torso.

The great Bear shudders - rocked through his entire frame. He takes two steps back, and then one forward. His head tilts down. The profane mask keeps its dull look all the while, no expression even as the blood pours out from the devastating wound.

Doirind too is shaking. She has given her all, and is now weaponless. She looks up and glares at her former husband. She has nothing else to give.

Donnchad's smaller axe drops to the floor in a loud rattle. Both of his arms are low at his sides now.

But then...he resets his grip on his large axe. In a smooth flow he raises it over his head, and grips it now with both hands.

His stance is solid again. The Bear of the Hive, bleeding towards death, strides forward on a heavy step, axe raised high once again for the kill.

Doirind looks up, thoroughly spent, hopeless, accepting her fate.

Bryn
TR3

Attack 1: Miss
Off-hand Attack: Hit

Bryn moves in swiftly and puts the Goat on his heels with vicious slashing attacks of the kukri blades. Cealwin is able to duck back out of the way of all of the strikes...except the last.

Bryn slashes downward with his left blade and connects near the base of the neck and the right clavicle, just missing the thicker leather corners of the elaborate mask. The blade's sharp edge thrashes through flesh and blood erupts forth immediately, pouring out to saturate the barbarian's costume wraps.

The Goat jerks back from the pain of the injury. Bleeding severely, he stands and continues to fight, again displaying the inhuman tenacity of these possessed maniacal warriors.

Goat enters the Zero HP State

Maeriks
TR3

Maeriks charges in against Donnchad the Bear, joining Ivor in the attack, and seeking to lay the hulk low before he is able to crush Doirind under the weight of his heavy axe.

As Maeriks swings the war club in, Donnchad swings his axe suddenly right at Maeriks, knocking the club aside before it is full swing.

Attack: Miss

Maeriks speaks the Old Words, sending forth a harsh message of discord that should break Donnchad's mind apart.

But then Maeriks realizes that the Words are not working, that Donnchad has already dismissed them, as if they never reached his ears.

Dissonant Whispers. No effect.

The Bear draws back his axe again, this time targeting Maeriks instead of Doirind.
Covered in blood, sword in his chest, Donnchad fights on as no man should be able to do.

Thorn
TR3

2 Attacks: Both Hit

Thorn charges into the growing circle of attackers who have ganged up against Donnchad the Bear. It is a crowded front, with Ivor and Maeriks both sending in active attacks and the recently disarmed Doirind right underfoot as well. Thorn has to time his opening just right to swing his greatsword through the melee without endangering his allies, but he does just that, with expertise.

Seeing the hulking barbarian swinging his axe inward towards Maeriks, Thorn strikes in a downward arc to intercept the incoming axe and inflict injury at his opponent's hands. Urdav's heavy blade dives directly into the already bloodied barbarian's left forearm. There is a burst of blood. The blade chops completely through the beefy limb. The severed hand and part of the forearm spins and hits the floor in a gruesome tumble. The bear pulls back his nub limb in pain and blood pours over his other hand, onto the floor, and some is slung out onto Maeriks.

Following through from the first devastating slice, Thorn spins the huge blade deftly in his hands and regrips it for a thrusting motion. He drives forward at the center with all of his weight. The point of the sword pierces through the Bear's chest, breaking through 2 or more low ribs on his right side, and sliding into the chest cavity. Thorn feels blade crack the ribs on the back and halt progress after piercing through the back perhaps a few inches.

Impaled, Donnchad the Bear of the Hive leans forward with all of his weight and shoves the hilt of Thorn's blade with the bloody nub of his amputated arm. Thorn's blade is forced back out from the wound.

Thorn recovers his battle stance and resets his control over his weapon. He sees the bear still holding the great axe in his right hand. Despite a short sword still impaled in his chest, an arm amputation at the forearm, and a sucking chest wound, the Bear stands ready to continue the fight even as his enemies have completely encircled him.

Opponent Below Max Neg HP Threshold. Must begin Death Saves.

Death Save 1: Success

Attempt to Keep Fighting While Dying. No Death Marks, so DC 5 CON.

Top of Round 3 update

Partial Shift to BR 3

Bear
BR3

Donnchad the Bear, bloody, impaled, and maimed, roars out. It is the very first time that any of his opponents have ever heard a sound come from underneath the bulky animal mask.

The hulking barbarian stomps forward with unnatural vigor, swinging his axe with his only remaining hand at the opponent who struck him last.


Recover Rage
2 Attacks v. Thorn