[D&D 3.5] Dark Storms Gather

[rhoenix]

Perking up, Sylvandor smiled in a manner that was almost arrogant. "Oh, well then. Yes," he said, examining what was evidently some sort of imperfection in one of his blades, "yes, let's remove such a threat from the region. If it's still alive, then it was obviously being a menace, and should therefore be put down like one."

He finished examining his blade, and sheathed it smoothly, facing the others when he was done with an almost regal smile.

[Rogue 9]

Gror slid the haft of his hammer back into its loop on his belt. "Well, we cannae jus' let it come fer us, but chargin' headlong inta 'er lair seems a bit daft. Mebbe we could get 'er t' come t' us?"

[Cynical Cat]

Saiden brushed some dirt off his tunic. "I don't have many principles," said the sorcerer, "but one I try to stick to is fight big scary monsters according to your schedule, not theirs. Let's kill it before it tries ambushing us or something similarly unpleasant."

[Haizu]

Seemingly materializing out of the bushes, Eddie safety'd his crossbow and holstered it on his back. Hearing what Saiden and Gror said he replied "Well we could always lure it out using one of them." Eddie nodded towards one of the bodies.

[Academia Nut]

Doran paused for a moment to consider the dead bodies before he grasped one of the foe's heads with his tentacles and bashed it against the ground until the skull split open, at which point he scooped out bit of the brains and tasted them.

Noticing everyone looking at him, he said, "Smarter animals have different textures to their brains than less intelligent ones, I'm just checking to see if I can guess roughly how intelligent these things really are so we can judge our tactics accordingly... stop looking at me like that!"

[OOC: Wisdom check to see if Doran can glean any information from his taste test]

[Cynical Cat]

"Oh fuck me. Fuck me with a rusty bardiche," said Saidin as he watched Doran's grisly display. "I'm not sure if I'm going to puke or set him on fire. Illithid shit is way the fuck over the line."

[Academia Nut]

Doran shrugged and swallowed, before he said, "They're not intelligent, about as smart as a large carnivorous mammal. I would have spit it out if I thought any different. Anyway, these juveniles aren't very smart, so while its possible the mother is a different life cycle with a radically different brain structure, we probably shouldn't be expecting sophisticated tactics. The one problem I can see is that our typical ambush tactics would not work on such a creature as it does not have the senses we do. Thus if we wish to surprise it, we must not seek to hide from it, but to decieve its preconceptions."

Doran then grinned and said, "Anyone else capable of shapeshifting might want to speak up now."

[Cynical Cat]

Saidin leaned over a bush. "Blaargh!" He spat the nasty taste out of his mouth and it didn't work. He grabbed a bottle of cheap wine from his backpack and washed his mouth out, spitting again to remove the vile taste from his mouth.

[Comrade Tortoise]

"While I am capable of it to a limited extent, but I lack the capacity for a transformation of the magnitude I think you are suggesting, nor do I have the spell prepared" Volans replied It was telling that he did not react at all to Doran's wierdness. He had not particular compunction about tasting a creatures brain once it was dead. In fact he thought the idea rather clever. he would have to ask him to teach the technique.

[rhoenix]

Though a few of the goblins stared at Doran open-mouthed, the leader managed to maintain his composure. "Yous is weird. Come, we see da momma, an' den you can eat her head too."

This set the other goblins to chuckling, and they prepared to depart, waiting for the travelers to follow them.

Off in the northwest, a loud, echoing, keening wail was heard, one that almost sounded questioning. Upon hearing it, the goblin leader Slek grinned, and chuckled roughly. "De big momma startin' ta wonder," he said. "Best we go now afore she wonders too much, an' all," he grinned more widely.

[Haizu]

Purposely not looking in Doran's direction, Eddie asked the group at large "So how should we approach this one? I'm all for anything that let's me sit back and shoot, we saw how effective that was in this encounter. Any ideas?"

[Comrade Tortoise]

"You sit outside of its earshot and do exactly that." said the wizard. His defenses were down he needed to rebuild them.

He called up the pattern for another spells and began speaking its initiators. His left hand touching his chest, his right hand held out in front of him as if he was trying to stop a rampaging bull

"Einleitung! schützt mich vor schädlichen Lärm"

A cube of light formed around him briefly before dissipating

[Haizu]

Giving a quick nod, Eddie swiftly melted into the bushes once more, his crossbow already leveled in the direction of the creatures calls.

[Cynical Cat]

Saidin took cover behind a tree.

[Academia Nut]

Leaning forward, Doran's form began to bend and twist, his gear disappearing into his flesh as he sprouted long, sleek fur and his limbs shortened up while his body lengthened and narrowed, becoming somewhat tubular.

In a few seconds he went from a creepy looking man to a somewhat unusual looking dire weasel that immediately bounded off into the bushes in the direction of the roar.

[Comrade Tortoise]

Once his spell was cast, the wizard stalked along the path toward the direction that keening wale came from.

[Haizu]

Eddie quietly followed Volans at a safe distance, ready to fire.

[rhoenix]

The travelers walked with the goblins carefully through the forest for several minutes, well off the beaten path by this point. They were headed roughly Northwest, directly toward where the echoing wailing noise had come from. So far, they hadn't encountered anything suspicious - or at least they hadn't, until they came across a small clearing in the forest.

Standing in the center of it was a much larger version of the previous creatures they'd been accosted by before. It howled into the air above in challenge as they approached, a keening, angry horn-like sound.

[Rogue 9]

"Oh, bloody Hell," Gror growled as he drew out his hammer.

[Academia Nut]

Come on big momma, ignore the happy, prancing little... err... large-ish dire weasel. I'm not a threat like those meany humanoids, I'm just snooping around, yes no threat at all. I'm just a regular dire weasel... with gills... and fins... and tentacles.

Awww screw it. Just wait for me to get my jaws around your throat before you notice me.

[rhoenix]

The large, angry creature only seemed to wait on the other side of the forest clearing, motionless for a moment, as it seemed to sightlessly gauge all its enemies. Very suddenly, the creature roared, an almost palpable blast of sound that whipped viciously into the interlopers.

The shallow cave behind it was visible, within which random items were visible behind it - but its blast of damaging sound waves were a distraction from such an odd sight.

[rhoenix]

The blast of sound hit the goblins first. The leader dove instinctively to the side, being spared the worst of the blast - but his three comrades were not as lucky. All three were ripped apart where they stood by the horrendous blast of sound, flesh and bone scattered backwards as they died.

A low, angry growl was audible from the goblin leader, his knuckles tightening around his sword. He said something, but it was inaudible over the blast of sound still making its way, like a calamity, across the clearing.

[Haizu]

Knocked flat by the blast of sound that issued from the sightless beast, Eddie simply rolled over and took a shot, hitting it in the shoulder. Trying to regain his hearing, Eddie slid another bolt into place and took aim.

[Rogue 9]

A white light briefly flashed around Gror as the shockwave swept over him, disappearing as quickly as it came when it passed. Growling, he hefted his hammer and charged in, swinging it around and landing a solid shot on the monster

[Comrade Tortoise]

Volans Dove out of the way of the shockwave and straight into flight. With the first downward beat of his wings, his left side caught the wave and in a flash of light, the extra protection afforded by his mastery of Abjuration effects flashed into existence, absorbing the entirety of the blast before it collapsed, leaving him defended by his protection from arrows and his protection from energy wards.

He beat his wings rapidly to gain altitude, all the while uttering the initiators of a spell. By the time his wing muscles needed to be locked into place and given a break from their frantic flapping and he transitioned to a glide just behind and well above the monster (30 feet forward, 20 feet up, as per trig) his spell was finished.

He thrust his claw downward sending three savage little balls of energy at Mother, which ripped into her flesh with the ferocity of a heavily armed man before dissipating