Gallath's Vignette

[JadedDM]

Taking aim, Gallath looses his arrow and it flies up toward the man in the black robes. In its flight, it is joined by dozens of additional arrows and bolts, a few ballistae bolts and a couple of loads from catapults. This massive barrage of projectiles fills the night sky, heading right for the dragon. But it doesn't balk or even change course. The men riding it don't even flinch. The reason becomes evident when the artillery fire reaches the dragon and then simply falls away, as if hitting an invisible shield.

"What happened?" demands the captain.

"They must be mages. They have defensive spells around the dragon, possibly Protection from Normal Missiles," Thaddeus speculates.

The dragon swoops in, and despite having no lungs, manages to breath a gout of flame that envelops the main mast and the sails of the ship. The person up in the crow's nest screams only for a moment before their burning corpse is knocked out into the sea with a loud splash and hiss. At the same time, most of the zombies drop off of the skeletal dragon's back and land on various parts of the deck.

The man in red robes also starts chanting and a circle of red light appears in the middle of the deck. Some kind of portal opens and a creature steps forward. It walks upright like a man, but has red skin and has frog-like features. Its claws are long and dagger like and unlike a real frog, it has very sharp teeth. It's clear that this creature, whatever it is, is not of this world.



Its work apparently done, the dragon banks and starts to fly off, further to the south. One of the mages, the one in red, starts cackling maniacally as if this was the most fun he had ever had.

"Get these things off my ship!" the captain barks. "And get that fire out, now!"

Looking around, there is plenty for Gallath to do. He spots Naishe fighting off three of the zombies by herself. He could go help her. Then again, there's that large red skinned frog thing he could try and fight.

[spyguy1503]

I send my falcon to attack one of them, and stab another in the head.

[JadedDM]

Gallath sends his bird into the air to strike at one zombie, while he goes for another. He stabs at the walking corpse with his dagger in the face, but the zombie barely reacts to it. He doesn't scream or cover the wound with his hands or even flinch, for that matter. No blood comes out, even. The zombie moans and swings at Gallath, but he easily steps back to avoid it.

Thrax flies at the second zombie, pecking at its eyeballs with his claws and talon. Again, the zombie doesn't seem to react much to this. Instead, it just swings a meaty fist at the bird, hitting it and knocking it to the deck.

Naishe turns her attention to the third zombie, drawing two daggers--one in each hand. She stabs forward, but seems surprised by how ineffective her blades turn out to be. "What are these things?" she asks aloud. The zombie grabs at her, but she manages to drop into a backward roll to avoid it.

=============

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+2): 5
Thrax (1d10+3): 10
Naishe (1d10+2): 12
Zombies (last)

Round 1!

Gallath stabs Zombie 01 with his dagger (1d20): 12, hit for (1d4): 1 damage.
Thrax attacks Zombie 02 with his beak and talon (1d20): 13, hit for 3 damage.
Naishe attacks Zombie 03 with her primary dagger (1d20): 2, miss. She then attacks with her secondary dagger (1d20): 11, hit for (1d4): 1 damage.
Zombie 01 attacks Gallath (1d20): 4, miss.
Zombie 02 attacks Thrax (1d20): 17, hit for (1d8): 2 damage.
Zombie 03 attacks Naishe (1d20): 12, miss.

(OOC: You said you were attacking 'them' so I'm assuming you meant the zombies fighting Naishe.

Anyway, take this as a basic combat tutorial. Invisible Castle is down at the moment, otherwise I'd post my rolls there.

First, there's initiative. This is a 1d10, modified by the action you are taking--some actions are faster than others--that determines who goes first. As luck would have it, zombies are really slow, and so always lose initiative no matter what. Anyway, the lower the roll, the sooner you act.

Attacks are resolved with a 1d20. Every character has a THAC0 score that improves as you level up. Gallath has a score of 18. Every character also has an armor class score (AC) that determines their defense. Zombies have an AC of 8. You take your THAC0 and subtract the opponent's AC to get your 'to hit number' which is the number you need, or higher, to hit. Since 18-8 is 10, Gallath needs to roll a 10 or higher to hit a zombie. He basically has a 50/50 chance to hit or miss then.

Luckily both Gallath and Naishe dodged, but your falcon got hit for 2 damage. He only has 7 HP total, so now he's down to 5. If he reaches 0, he'll die.)

[spyguy1503]

I send Thrax to circle up above, and then slash at Zombie 1 again. I aim for the head

[JadedDM]

The fighting all over the ship continues, with zombies moaning and people yelling. The crew bravely fights on, though.

Gallath stabs his opponent again with his dagger, right in the head. But again, while this would have severely wounded or even outright killed a living man, the zombie seems almost unphased by it. Gallath whistles to his falcon, who quickly takes flight and starts to circle the ship.

Naishe, likewise, continues to dance and weave about with her daggers, slashing and cutting at the zombie, but it appears rather unimpressed. She seems unsure how to respond to an opponent who is so lacking in fear or any emotion at all.

The zombies retaliate, the one that had attacked Thrax now attacks Gallath. However, the elf and Naishe are able to easily evade their clumsy blows this time.

==========

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+2): 4
Thrax (1d10+3): 9
Naishe (1d10+2): 12
Zombies (last)

Round 2!

Gallath attacks Zombie 01 with his dagger (1d20): 11, hit for (1d4): 3 damage.
Thrax flies up into the air and circles the ship.
Naishe attacks Zombie 03 with her primary dagger (1d20): 16, hit for (1d4): 3 damage. She then attacks with her secondary dagger (1d20): 18, hit for (1d4): 1 damage.
Zombie 01 attacks Gallath (1d20): 8, miss.
Zombie 02 attacks Gallath (1d20): 9, miss.
Zombie 03 attacks Naishe (1d20): 7, miss.

[spyguy1503]

"Try to cut the head off" I yell to Naishe, and do the same. I have Thrax circle just out of reach of the zombies.

[JadedDM]

"I would, if I had an axe or a sword," Naishe replies. Instead she jabs one of her daggers into her opponent's eye socket and it finally goes down, dropping to the deck and twitching a bit before going still. Naishe pants a bit, catching her breath. "Well, at least they can die!" she exclaims, a bit more hopeful now.

Gallath still has two zombies attacking him, though. He cannot cut off a head with a simple dagger, so instead he stabs at the first opponent, in the chest. It has little effect, however. The zombies retaliate. Gallath dodges one attack, but then gets punched across the chin by another. His face stings, and it might leave a bruise, but otherwise he's okay for now.

==========

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+2): 7
Thrax (1d10+3): 4
Naishe (1d10+2): 6
Zombies (last)

Round 3!

Thrax continues to circle overhead.
Naishe attacks Zombie 03 with her primary dagger (1d20): 6, miss. She then attacks with her secondary dagger (1d20): 20, critical hit! for (2d4): 6 damage. Zombie 03 re-dies.
Gallath attacks Zombie 01 with his dagger (1d20): 16, hit for (1d4): 1 damage.
Zombie 01 attacks Gallath (1d20): 13, hit for (1d8): 2 damage. Gallath is now lightly wounded.
Zombie 02 attacks Gallath (1d20): 2, miss.
Zombie 03 is re-dead.

[spyguy1503]

He attempts to trip the zombie, and stabs it.

[JadedDM]

Naishe comes up behind the second zombie and stabs at it with her daggers. Gallath meanwhile, drops down and then does a sweeping kick at the first zombie, knocking it over.

The second zombie punches Gallath right in the face before turning around to face Naishe instead. The world spins around Gallath and nearly goes black, but he just barely is able to hold on to consciousness.

While Naishe has now distracted the second zombie, the first one remains prone on the ground. But he is not sure how much more punishment his body can take.

===========

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+2): 11
Thrax (N/A)
Naishe (1d10+2): 7
Zombies (last)

Round 4!

Thrax continues to circle overhead.
Naishe attacks Zombie 02 from behind (+2) with her primary dagger (1d20+2): 9, miss. She then attacks from behind (+2) with her secondary dagger (1d20+2): 20, hit for (1d4): 2 damage.
Gallath attempts to trip Zombie 01 (1d20): 17, success. Zombie 01 makes a DEX check while not moving (+6) [14] (1d20): 19, fail. He falls over.
Zombie 01 is prone.
Zombie 02 attacks Gallath (1d20): 20, critical hit! for (2d8): 12 damage. Gallath is now near death.

(OOC: The first zombie is prone, which means he can be attacked with a +4 bonus to hit. Also, Gallath is now down to 2 HP.)

[spyguy1503]

I look for Thaddeus and retreat form the battle to get healed

[JadedDM]

Naishe continues to fight with the second zombie, having drawn its attention away from Gallath. Gallath uses his window of opportunity to run off, leaving Naishe to fend off both zombies now.

There is still considerable fighting going on all over the ship. He spots Thaddeus fighting off three zombies. The wizard chants something in a strange and spidery language, then holds up his hands. A blast of flame emerges from his fingertips, consuming the three zombies. They fall to the deck, incinerated.

==========

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+2): 8
Naishe (1d10+2): 5
Zombies (last)

Round 5!

Naishe attacks Zombie 02 with her primary dagger (1d20): 4, miss. She then attacks with her secondary dagger (1d20): 7, miss.
Gallath approaches Thaddeus.
Zombie 01 gets up.
Zombie 02 attacks Naishe (1d20): 9, miss.

[spyguy1503]

"Thaddeus! Heal me please!" He shoots an arrow at the zombie attacking Naishe (1).

[JadedDM]

"Heal you?" asks Thaddeus, flabbergasted. "I'm a wizard, not a cleric. Oh, wait," he adds, as if remembering something. "I do have this." He digs around in his pack and pulls out a glass vial filled with a blue liquid. "A healing potion. Here, drink this, it should help." He hands it to Gallath.

Meanwhile, Gallath takes aim and fires an arrow at the first zombie, hitting it in the back. Naishe then cuts down the second zombie with her daggers, stabbing it in the eye socket until it finally drops. This leaves one zombie remaining still fighting her. It swings at her, but she easily ducks.

===========

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+7): 8
Naishe (1d10+2): 12
Zombies (last)

Round 6!

Gallath fires a sheaf arrow from his short bow at Zombie 01 at point blank range (+2) with elven grace (+1) (1d20+3): 11, hit for (1d8): 4 damage.
Naishe attacks Zombie 02 with her primary dagger (1d20): 20, critical hit! for (2d4): 5 damage. She then attacks with her secondary dagger (1d20): 11, hit for (1d4): 4 damage. Zombie 02 re-dies.
Zombie 01 attacks Naishe (1d20): 11, miss.
Zombie 02 is re-dead.

[spyguy1503]

"Thanks" I say, drinking the potion. I fire an arrow at the frog-beast

[JadedDM]

Gallath drinks down the potion in one gulp. It tastes sweet and has a strange aftertaste. But within moments, his injuries start to mend by themselves. Although he is not yet fully healed, he does feel better than he did a minute ago.

He then turns his attention to the red frog thing, but he's too late. He watches as the captain and first mate cut it down before he can even nock his next arrow.

Naishe cuts down her last zombie, too. Looking around, it seems the fighting has stopped. All of the zombies have been killed, and things are starting to calm down again.

"Everyone okay?" asks the captain. "Damage report. Everyone check and make sure we got them all!" she says.

========

Initiative
Gallath (1d10+4): 8
Naishe (1d10+2): 9
Zombie (last)

Round 7!

Gallath drinks a Potion of Healing, restoring (2d4+2): 8 HP. Gallath's condition improves from Near Death (10% HP or less) to Seriously Wounded (~50% HP).
Naishe attacks Zombie 01 with her primary dagger (1d20): 19, hit for (1d4): 2 damage. She then attacks with her secondary dagger (1d20): 15, hit for (1d4): 3 damage. Zombie 01 re-dies.
Zombie 01 is re-dead.

(OOC: End combat)