Huzzah, new map! I will scribble on it soon enough. This is how things look going into round 5. Bigbang is up a tree on the right edge of the map, about 200' away from the docks. Izema is standing next to the chained up Half-Dragon (hence the chain pattern around the HD on the map). One orc in front of Izema, two orcs and a half-orc smith to Izema's "south." Ohmen is on the other side of the orc. Three orcs are caught in the mage's Gust of Wind spell for the moment, but will be free once round 5 kicks off fully. The other orcs (two groups of 3) that were hanging out around the back of the pig-nose ship have gone under the deck and are aiming to rescue their boss. As you can see, there is a hole in the dock, and a hole just north of the crane (Drakk's Pit spells). Shiro and Drew are facing off against the Scro boss and his Hobgoblin bodyguards. Some goblins are still left, taking pot-shots at whoever they can see. Nobody knows where Vinnie and Archie are, except for Bigbang. The rabbit gets an excellent view of the two mercenaries. They are within the forge building, doing lord-knows-what. Given how messed up the previous map was, I may be off on some players' locations. Let me know and I can change it to match reality.
Before Drakk can do anything, the goblins to his west make their move. Well, two of them do anyway. One shoots at Drakk, getting an arrow past his guard (3 damage), the other misses. As for the third... he turns around and shoots his buddy at point-blank range! The other goblin isn't dead, but he is hurt! But that distraction only lasts for a second or so. As Izema steps up to deal with the orc in front of him, there is a sudden rush of air, followed by a loud booming sound! Glancing to the south, it looks like the forge has suddenly become a volcano or something! Flames are shooting high into the air, and molten bits of metal start pinwheeling out of the wreckage!
well with no more need to be careful its time to let loose Izema steps up to the poor doomed ork and hit's him right in the chest. the orks rib cage caves in under the blows flying backwards and landing with a wet thud like a bag full of porridge. izema cracks hit neck and turns to face the new comers
...and between that and the forge into into a fireworks display, that is it for a lot of the underlings! Most of the orcs turn tail and run away. The half-orc smith drops to his knees and stares at the wreckage of his workshop. The goblins, including the one under Ohmen's spell, follow suit and leg it away from the fight. This leaves the scro boss and his hobgoblin bodyguards left.
Shiro sees the explosion and the minions running away and smiles to himself as he faces off against the Scro Boss. Circling each other, Shiro swings his sword out trying to catch the other off guard. Suddenly, Shiro remembers a really flashy move from his training. He was never able to pull it off before, but feeling emboldened by Azaphor's presence and the fleeing goblins (and wanting to show off for the others) he launches into a series of swirling sword swings designed to confuse and disorientate the foe, leaving them open to a crashing overhead blow. Focusing Azaphor's energy, he builds the power in the blade to a crescendo and prepares to strike. Just as he enters the final swing, with the Scro boss suitably awed, shiro's hand slips on the handle. All his concentration goes out the window as he desperately tries not to have his hand cut off. Jumping backwards the sword comes down... right in between his legs... with a lighting blast going straight down... Doing absolutely nothing... Jumping back, Shiro dodges one Scro strike, but is hit by a second and takes a blow from the Hobgoblin. Grabbing his sword, Shiro prepares to retaliate.
Drew jumps backwards to avoid the hobgoblin's halberd, but it still grazes Drew's chest. A red stain lines Drew's armor, and it stings, but he's still alive, and the halberd didn't hit his heart, so Drew feels pretty good about that, in response, Drew swings his punching daggers, the first attack is a right-hand jab, the second, is a left hook, both miss, the jab just plinks off of the hobgoblin's heavy armor, and it dodges the left hook. Annoyed, Drew feels the magic from Ohmen flowing through him, so he moves inside the hobgoblin's guard, and jabs his right hand dagger deep into the hobgoblin's left side. The hobgoblin gives out a little squeak of pain, but Drew's dagger didn't punch deep enough to pierce organs, so the hobgoblin stays on his feet. Drew rips out the dagger, causing a steady stream of dark red vitals to spew from the wound, Drew steps back from the hobgoblin, ready to dodge the next attack that comes his way.
Drakk was really having fun with his newfound spell. The look on the enemies face as they fell in was priceless! Seeing a hobgoblin and a Scro in front of Izema, Drew, and Shiro, Drakk created a pit to Cath the two. Unfortunately they both leaped out of the way, but at least they weren't a threat as they were occupied trying not to fall in.
Bang grins the rail gun ready as he prepares to fire before he suddenly notices... "A BUTTERFLY!" Bang totally forgetting he has a high powered gun at his finger releases to early and the shot goes wide
Izema sees what can only be called chaos in the distance well time to run. "FOES INCOMING OK EVERY ONE GRAB CORPSES AND GET TO a SHIP WE NEED TO GO" Bang runns to him scaling his back he scoops the half dragon up and takes off at a dead sprint to the dazed ork mechanic garbing him be the leg he drags him behind him (oh not easy why do dragons have to be so fat) . "MERCS WE NEED A DEAD PIG IF YOU CAN"
Drakk noticed just how deep his pits he made were and kinda pitied the goblins and orcs. Nonetheless he was quickly reminded of their predicament when Izema shouted for them to run. Drakk raced after Izema to one of the two wasp ships. Izema was dragging both the Half Dragon, and the Half Orc Smith. The Half Orc was still in so much shock he just sat there. Drakk kinda felt bad for the poor guy. Maybe he could be reasoned with? Nonetheless, as Drakk raced into the helm to get the ship up in the air, he heard the Half Dragon start to growl, Izema would be in for a treat... Lifting the ship off the ground shakily, Drakk watched the Boar ship explode and the shrapnel tore off a wing on the Wasp Ship Ohmen was piloting. Hopefully they would be ok.
It is the work of a moment for Shiro to get the scorpion-ship active. As it lifts off, Ohmen manages to reason with the helm in the first wasp, and it lifts off a moment later. Drakk takes a bit longer, in part because of the longer run, and in part because the helm in his ship is stubborn. He does get it to lift off though, as Izema secures the half-dragon to a beam and ties the smith to a chair. Drakk's ship just clears the ground when the boar-ship goes up in a cloud of fire and debris! Scraps of metal and chunks of wood rattle off of the hull of the scorpion ship, doing no damage, but the starboard wing on the nearest (Ohmen's) wasp ship is badly damaged by the flying debris. His ship is already having issues maneuvering without proper crew levels, and this is only going to make it worse! As the last wasp clears the treeline, the lead elements of the reinforcements enter the clearing. You can hear someone screaming obscenities up at you. The higher you go, the more you can see. Troops are gathering in the fortress, heading down towards the port areas. There are a lot more enemies than you realized. You can see at least 20 orcs and half again as many goblins in the relief force. There are at least 30 scro coming down from the fortress, and that's not including the ones who went hunting for you ship! They've got a few bigger things with them as well. Ogres, maybe? You're not sure. There's a decent sized force of hobgoblins as well, and they seem more elite and trained than the orcs or goblins, most of them equipped like the scro captain's bodyguard. Concentrating on not clipping the trees means Drakk isn't totally aware of his surroundings aboard the ship. Luckily for him, Izema is. You didn't have time to strip the half-dragon of his equipment, and as the wasp lifted off, he regained consciousness. Apparently, he's wearing some kind of magic items that removes bonds, as Izema turned to check on him just as his chains fell away! It was the work of a moment for the shark-man to step forward and administer a good-night strike to the half-dragon's head, dropping him back into unconsciousness again before anything happened. You're going to have to keep an eye on him until you have an hour or so to search him for magical items, especially seeing as how none of you can cast any spells now until tomorrow...
Just as The haze of battle, quick as ever, brutally descended onto the bloody blades of grass and splintered wooden planks of the dock, it too wormed its way into Ohmen’s mind and burning veins. Above as arrows slice first through the sky, and then into flesh and armour Ohmen clasps onto his staff, hand’s red from the pressure as he holds it. Pushing through the throbbing pain, and weight of an arrow in his side, he angles it upwards, toward the sky, toward space and all above. Taking a deep breath, feeling the air shove into his lungs, feeling another wave of pain and burning from the arrow, Ohmen fixes his gaze upon the trio of goblin archers as they let loose another hail of arrows upon Drew. Whilst Izema tusstles with the half-dragon behind, he begins to speak, begins to chant, begins to cast. Pointing the condemning skull atop his staff toward a singular goblin with a fluid, yet aggressive action. “mih hafr hizryv kfrl kruqmzyr zmil zmy wzirw ikajy. Byzrihid uw ul hafr idduyw yhyw! wiuz la dalqyr, okyh zmy frqy za wzrucy zmyp vasl kyoary uzw zaa dizy! kudd zmyp.” - “May your Hatred burn brighter than the stars above. Betrayal is in your allies eyes! Wait no longer, Obey the urge to strike them down before its too late! Kill them.” Hammering down his staff as the last twisted words echo out, Ohmens face fills with further intensity as he snaps away from the goblins, their barrages of fire being thoroughly interrupted. Meanwhile, Wisdom’s stare watches as one goblin charges the other, foaming at the mouth as it attacks, a fire burning in the birds eyes to match the pain as it whispers. "More blood soaks the soil, Feeding the evil therein." ---- Haste still in his bones, Ohmen darts from an incoming orc, closing the distance between him and the Scro. More specifically, him and the hobgoblin alongside it. With silence, yet a gaze that yelled more than a voice ever could, the Crystal embedded within his staff lights up. A harsh vibration travelling down the staff’s shaft an electric bolt claws its way forth. the energy released from its crystalline cage and into the air where it snakes out unhindered. Making contact with a hobgoblins body, the air suddenly lights as the energy is channelled toward it in a fraction of a second, no doubt singeing its internal organs and skin alike. Seconds later, After yet another one of Drakk’s pits tears open swallowing a hobgoblin, Izema shouts. His voice booming out, the group’s priorities instantly change. Attention snapped away from the stragglers of the previous force. An army was closing in, and fast. As Izema’s words still echoed, the group scrambled to loot the fallen before making a dash toward the ship’s. It was either find themselves outnumbered over ten to one.
Grabbing his sword, Shiro beat back both the Hobgoblin and Scro just as he caught Izema getting closer out of the corner of his eye. Shiro jumped, the forge in the distance EXPLODED with the force of a gunpowder factory, with the concussion reaching him even there. The Scro Lieutenant darted looks to both sides and, seeing his back-up fleeing and Izema approaching stepepd back and threw and explosive device to the floor. Shiro instinctively fell back, but when the light dissipated, the Scro was heading towards the treeline. Shiro caught his breath and hurridly wrapped bandages round his bleeding torso. At least they had a moment to... Suddenly, Shiro caught what Izema was saying. What he had first thought was a battle cry was an alarm... Turning towards the far fortress, Shiro could make out large numbers of troops coming to the edge of the treeline. He swallowed. They were in no state to confront this foe. Turning, he bellowed to his team mates. "CASTERS TO THE HELMS! ARCHIE? VINNIE?" Two heads popped up from under the deck. "You yelled?" "Did you a'see what I'a did with the'a forgino? Badda-BOOM! Heh Heh heh!" "It was magnificent! Really!!! But now you have about 3 minutes before the relief force gets here and we need that pig over there stuffed with extra spicy meatballs if you catch my drift..." The mercenaries looked at each other, smiled evil smiles that would have not looked out of place on a Daemonic torturer in the seventh level of hell, and disappeared in the direction of the large vessel. Shiro sprinted towards the far ship, somehow the Scorpion was calling to him and he was closer and faster than the other casters. "I'LL TAKE THE SCORPION! YOU TAKE THE OTHERS!" Spotting Big Bang jumping and trying to catch what looked like some kind of butterfly, Shiro catches him and slings him over the side of the scorpion ship. "Sorry, Big Bang. But have some fun sniping those bastards behind us, eh?" Running up the gangplank, Shiro slides down the main ladder and runs into the Bridge. Throwing himself into the chair, he grasps the chair arms and focuses. Thankfully even though physically tired his mana pool was still full. The ship was, as he predicted a proud lady, forced into dirty labour for enemies. After promising to clean her up and complimenting her gorgeous arches, she immediately powered up and launched joyfully into the sky. Perceiving around him, he saw just how close the reinforcements had been and was worrying about ballistics when the WarPig exploded, shrapnel spraying the new arrivals and many of them trying to beat out flames. Shiro relaxed, the new ship purring in his ear at strange odds with an... irritation feeling from Azaphor. Shiro smiled. Apparently even daemons can be jealous.
As you flee from the scene of destruction, you cannot help but wonder what will happen next... ...you are not wondering for long. Aboard the scorpion-ship, you focus on retreating back towards where you left Payback, on the other island, but you don't get very far. Vincenzo pops open the hatch from the top deck and calls down through the interior. "Ey, I know-a you're kind-a busy, what with, yanno, telling hunting stories anna flying dis ship an' all? But we got company! If-a you want, Archie an' me, we kin do something about dis? But you have-a to turn da ship around! We need-a da front-mounted catapult for-a dis!"
Bang peers around, observing his surroundings. He sees a ship full of scro (ew) and.... gardens be praised! A SHIP OF METAL! shaped like a mantis bang looks eagerly and turns to his companions "dibs on the mantis ship"
Hearing Big Bang's shouts, Shiro casts his awareness backwards through the helm. He see's the Mantis ship behind them and his blood begins to boil. He had been blooded by these Scro now... they have passed the threshold and he would not stop until they were crushed, until their blood flowed down across the broken husks of their ships, their lands salted to produce no further crops, their- Shiro shook his head. Apparently Azaphor felt pretty strongly about him being harmed. Well, his friends needed time to get the ships away and rescue their own ship. So... Shiro grinned evilly... "Archie? Vinnie? Whatever your plan is, get it ready now. Big Bang? Show me that your railgun is worth the time you put in." Shiro grasped the helm, the female spirit warming to his touch and the idea of retribution to her previous oppressors. Shiro liked that. Retribution. It was appropriate. Commanding the vessel, he banked round towards the Mantis ship. "Okay boys, STRAFING RUN!"
As Shiro turns the scorpion-ship about, Vincenzo and Arkhanides get to work on the heavy ballista mounted on the forecastle over the helm room. It takes them a bit to crank the big winch mechanism back while Bigbang climbs to the topdeck and preps his railgun. It is hard to tell, as you're trying to focus on flying a ship that doesn't want to respond to your controls well - a side effect of not really having a crew helping you with the ship - but they appear to have removed the head from a ballista bolt and are tying something... small, and kind of boring-looking... in its place...? Bigbang's first shot is wildly inaccurate and he mumbles something about testing the range and windspeed. Second shot same as the first, little bit closer but not really worse. But his third shot hits a scro crewman in the shoulder, spinning him about and knocking it to the ground (11 damage)! A second after the rabbit's third shot, the ballista's string hums, the deck shakes and Archie and Vinnie's payload goes flying into the void between the ships. It strikes home, dead-center, on the scorpion's "head." A split-second later an explosion rocks the enemy ship! Whatever they attached to the ballista bolt was incredibly effective (41 damage)! The scorpion-ship shudders, but stays on course and keeps coming, smoke and flames pouring out of its helm-room!
Vincenzo starts to crank back the ballista's arms as Archie preps another round of whatever they shot at the enemy. Off to their left, Bigbang takes aim. Shot number 4 misses as the enemy ship jinks to the right a hair, but his fifth shot takes another crewman down. He doesn't seem to be killing the scro, but they're obviously wounded badly enough that they're not getting back up right away. His third shot glances off the railing of the enemy ship, and the ballista shakes again as the mercs lauch another bolt. Once again, they're dead on target and the enemy helm room explodes in a ball of flames and scrap-metal! But this time, the scorpion ship shudders, shakes, and noses downwards! As the mantis-ship moves into range, the scorpion-ship crashes into the water below, trailing a cloud of smoke and fire. Large sections of the ship fall apart as it hits the water, and you can see some of the scro attempting to swim to the nearest island...
Once again, Vinnie pulls back on the ballista's gigantic arms as Archie preps another package. Bigbang shifts his aim to the mantis-ship, but it is a much harder target. His first and third shots glance off the metal plating the mantis-ship's hull, but his second shot goes through one of the glass windows on the mantis' "head." He thinks he hit something inside the ship, but isn't sure what. The ballista shakes, but this time the bolt flies wide, glancing off of one of the enemy ship's "foreclaws," and spirals down into the ocean. It doesn't explode. Loading another of his custom rounds, the rabbit takes aim. As the mantis draws closer, his aim becomes much better! Three shots hit in quick succession, knocking one scro down, winging another, and injuring a third! Once again the ballista shakes, the bolt impacting on one of the mantis-ship's clawed appendages, but while it does explode and scraps of metal rain down into the water, the ship doesn't appear to have taken much damage. "We only gotta one shot left!" Vincenzo calls down into the hold as they start to reload one final time. Bigbang takes aim, his shots continuing to hold true now that the mantis is closing on his ship. His first shot wings a crewmember, his second hits one of the crew on an enemy weapon. His third shot, however, plugs one of the scro between the eyes, killing it instantly! As the mantis ship closes the distance, Archie and Vincenzo take aim one last time before letting fly. The impact strikes dead-center on the mantis-ship's hull, and the resulting explosion rips away a large chunk of armor plating! It keeps coming though, so Vincenzo preps to load a normal ballista bolt...
Bang cackles as his shots strike true, the rail gun is proving to be a wildly successful prototype. Already he is calculating in his head what he could use to improve this "recoil stabilization could use improvement and some sights would be nice" Bang is already loading and cranking the apparatus, readying another salvo to impale some unlucky scro