Another round of combat upon the party, some in melee, some using ranged attacks and one fired up Dwarf under the belly of the beast....

The first of the party to act this round was the Lady Althena her crossbow once again cocked and locked 2 bolts at the ready. A soft pull of the trigger and the quarrels did fly the first a miss the second a solid hit.

But yet again the Beetle paid her attacks no mind its attention focused on the human in its mouth. With a rending snap the beast did bite the Knight DeBeucamp in two. Screaming in sheer agony the Knight in separate pieces did fall to earth, somehow yet alive but soon to die....

Haila with a Wall of Thorns before her and no way to really attack this round did look for her horse only to find it out of reach its fear for the moment having moved it away. With no choice but to move on her feet she ran a full move and was once again clear of the wall. Unknown to her at that moment this movement would spare her the pain to come for some.
With the wall no longer before her she would be able to attack the next round once more....

The next of the party to act was the Dwarf Magma under, not in, the belly of the beast. Nellie still firmly in hand he attacked once again and this time did again score hits. The cry of the beast above him so very loud in pain the dwarf knew that he, as had Conall before, had gained the Beetles attention....

The next to act was the Beetle once again, having finally come to realize that an enemy lurked below it did act. With a fast movement of its body the Beetle did position itself with Conall the only enemy to its back and Magma, Cor, Ulthok and Af’til all to its front. With mouth open and the 4 party members before it, the Beetle breathed!!
A long cloud of acid poured forward engulfing the 4 warriors all, pain, the smell of blood, flesh and items frying in an acid cloud strong upon each. Yet with their saves made and only half damage taken they would still be able to attack this round....

Of the 6 yet able to attack, next was the Ranger/Cleric Af’til, though raked with pain he was yet determined to cause this creature finally some hurt. But once again to his dismay his luck seemingly all bad this combat and before his very eyes his +1 elfin bow began to crumble to dust the Mushroomed arrow falling to the ground unfired. His choice now to draw the +1 Longbow upon his back or into melee go....

Alasdair yet still on horseback knew that the beast before them was a very tough one indeed and with his passing attack last round of no value did look for a better place to strike. Lucky was the Cavalier that he found himself on its left side as the Beetle breathed and he was not touched by its breath but with its movement it did present a little of its belly to Alasdair’s sight.

But it was with a sense of irony that the Cavalier found that target too low to hit with the sword he held while on the horses back. But with two strikes available to him this round he would not hold back his attacks just for that reason and so pressed his attacks. The first swing a clean miss, the second as if perfect into the creatures eye did go, and with a scream of pain the Beetle lost its left eye, impaled on the Cavaliers sword greenish blood running down its blade....

Ulthok raked with pain still tried using his boots to leap to the attack but found that his desired height was not to be reached. Yet with his partial leap into melee he did still find himself and with both Longtooths striking down he was dismayed to see them both miss this round. But the Halfling found himself with his small size to now have the advantage as Magma had been before him to be under and somewhat to the rear of the creature itself....

Conall with his sword in hand found himself to the rear of Beetle and attacked. With also two attacks this round he hoped to score true as he had before and was gladdened when both strikes did ring true was again....

The last to act once again was the Cleric Cor who like the 3 others before was raked with pain yet still determined to attack. His Rod of Smiting to hand and the creature before now lacking an eye the Dwarf Cleric found himself in the Beetles blindside. Without a thought of hesitation Cor attacked and with the Rod hitting soundly, the beast once again screamed in more in more pain....

Round 4 for both party and Beetle over, both sides did find themselves with members hurt and in pain and some with mayhap items other then just the Ranger/Cleric’s bow gone.
Before them now a beast clearly hurt and in pain, what would it do next....

(OK good posting, Cailin I left a spot open so I could add an action for you this round as it was my boo boo in not thinking ahead and sending out the Dragon Forum address ahead of time. So you can send me a post by email or just in your next post put it down as round 3. But do it soon as what you do could change the Beetles actions for next round. For the 4 players hit by the Acid check your sheets and see what was lost and if you have any questions feel free to email me.)
DAMAGE THIS ROUND Af’til: 40
Cor: 40
Ulthok: 40
Magma: 40
DeBeucamp: Dying

Well it seems of late that everything Ulthok tries to do has the adverse effect on him.Seems he is having a run of bad luck.Thinking he might be able to use his two longtooths and the momentum from his boots to land a good blow on the beetle all he managed to do was put himself in perfect postion to get hammered by the creatures damnable
breath weapon.
Taking the mist of acid full force it was only his momentum that kept him from even more hurt.Even though every fiber of his body felt on fire he finished his charge and leap only to come up short with a total wiff.


The only good to come out of all this was he ended up in a much better position away from the front and under and to the side.However there was no way he was going to be able to take advantage of his new position right away for he had much more impotent problems to attend to first and that was keeping himself alive.So once again he removes a potion of extra healing from its storage place and drinks the entire thing down.

Her change of position thankfully keeps her out of harms way. She sees her companions get hit with a gruesome acid spray. Seeing as she can finally attack the monster she decides to put a hold on her hold monster spell, figuring the real size of the creature was larger than she had thought, and her spell wouldn’t be powerful enough to hold him. She decides to cast her spell Melf’s Acid Arrow. Seeing as it got a rise out of the creature last time she figures it must have hurt him a bit. She speaks the command words and hopes for the best...

OOC: Ok let me try this one more time.

IC:
Conall realizing the creature was paying him no mind and had turned its back to him gave out a shout, “If you will not face me then I will have to get your attention!” Conall once more raised his sword to hit the beast and hope to draw it’s attention toward himself.

Cor gasped at the pain he felt as his face was splashed by the vile liquid. Despite the burning sensation the dwarf's legs kept going, his heart kept beating, and a terrible, hoarse scream of rage erupted from his throat as he brought his weapon to bear against the abomination. The priest took heart when he saw that he'd managed to deliver a solid blow despite the anguish he'd felt.

"Odin'll see you once we're through!" His cry was immediately followed up by another smashing blow from his Rod of Smiting.

i will use my amulent of the cheetch and run so i can cast cause serious wounds on the beast hopefully cause 75% of his life in damage.

p.s. sorry about the little non descipted post long week...Very long week. Tinder

Pain coursed through Magma's body as the acidic breath of this beast hit him. He screamed in pain but was still up and fighting.

"You'll have to do more than that to take me out beastie!"

The fastest way to stop this creture from doing such damage was to bring it down to their level. So Magma turnes his attention to attacking on of the legs, in hopes of making it unstable.

Alasdair knew that the situation was bad. Several of his party were injured, the knight that originally was fighting along side Lord Conall had been wounded mortally. While mobility had served him well while on horseback, he was still unable to strike a mortal blow to the foul creature before him. With a quick action he vaulted from his saddle and strode forward seeking to stab the beast's unprotected underbelly. So he struck a mighty blow intending rip it open and spill its inards over the field.

The party, some wounded, others untouched braced themselves for a fifth round of combat. Surely the creature before them was low on life as the amount of damage done was in the hundreds for sure....

The first to act this round was the Paladin Conall, yet at the rear of the beast, and with only a single attack this round did make the most of it. His sword as if a part of him did sink deep and with a howl of Deeping angush the beetle started a turn to bring the Paladin to bear....

Haila at last beyond the sanctuary of Cynil’s Wall of Thorns returned to the attack. A Spell of Melf’s Acid Arrow once again spoken and cast she watched as the arrow hit true. With her spell successfully cast she watched as the beetle’s blood and the arrows acid intermingled into a sickly blackish green....

Af’til seeing his prized bow destroyed decided on a new attack and using his Cheetah boots made a fast move to the beetle’s side. A Cure Serious wounds reversed to cause them his hands on the beetles side did touch. A second loud cry of pain and the beetle had had enough and now wished only to flee back to its hole oh so very near....

Yet here it was that the dwarf Magma came into play. The beetle attempting to flee in desperation gave up any thought of attack or defense leaving itself very vulnerable to attack, and the dwarf was in the right place at the right time.
With a mighty swing the dwarves axe did ring true and a leg to the front of the beetle did Magma sheer totally off, causing for but a moment, seemingly only a few seconds in time, the creature to stumble, its head crashing into the ground, its momentum lost....

Alas this would be the end for the beetle as both Cor and Alasdair’s attacks, almost as one, did come crashing in right on target. Alasdair’s sword and Cor’s rod putting a fitting end to the Earthquakes Beetles life....

Ulthok hurt and having forgone any attacks to drink a Potion of Extra-Healing watched, as the healing of his body began, in satisfaction as the huge body of the beetle now nothing more then dead weight came crashing at last to the ground. The battle over....

(OOC: Ok good posting everyone. Cailin informed me that with the inn changing addresses again that he was unable to find the Trilogy thread and wanted to apologize to everyone for missing another week. Also from what Alasdair has told me Dark Autumn should be returning to the game soon lets hope it is quick as I for one do miss her posts.
Ok next post next Sunday.)

The battle over, Cor leaned against the corpse, dropped his head back so that it rested firmly on the great beast’s leg, and breathed in deeply against the pain the acid had caused. His nerves were all ajitter, and he wanted them calmed before he set his healing skills to work. It took but a moment, the smell of the dead thing almost overpowering his desire to calm himself, but eventually Cor Trollhammer was in decent enough shape to begin making his rounds, plying his healing magic where needed. On his way to heal the first of his companions, however, Cor bellows to Conall:

“Don’t be thinking that just because this beastie is dead you’re out of hot water with me, lad! I’ll be having a good, loooooong talk with you after I’m finished with these layabouts!”

(OOC: Cor will use all of his healing magic as necessary, healing himself last).

With the death fall of the beast before them, Alasdair did a quick survey to see who was in the need of healing the most. Seeing the knight laying on the ground dying, he raced forward, for if there was nothing he could do, perhaps he could use his powers to ease the man pain. With that in mind he rushed towards the dying knight intent on healling if it were possible, easing his suffering if it were not.

As he made his way to the knight's side, he looked about for signs of another attack, as well as, his lady Althena. Seeing that they were in no apparent danger and that his lady was safe, he focused on the tasks before him. With a gentle hand placed upon the man's forehead he sought to comfort him and said aloud, "Easy now.. the fighting is over, you have indeed helped destroy a powerful foe this day. I am Alasdair MacKenzie and you are safe now."

OOC: Alasdair will use his psionic powers to try and heal the man. If that is not possible, he'll use them to ease his suffering.

Having drunk down one of his healing potions he watched as the giant beetle crashed to the ground having been dealt it's death blows.Looking around he sees that Cor and Alaisdair are making the rounds seeing if everyone is okey.He starts to take an inventory of what he has lost due to the dam beetles acid breath.He finds he has lost his bow which has dissolved along with his ring of feather falling the metal kind of burnt into his finger slightly.His gloves are in tatters and he finds he has lost a few minor items.

He sees Alaisdair over with the knight that was with Conall when they first arrived here and he wonders what this knight and Conall where about to do when the beetle arrived.Making his way over to Conall he strikes up some conversation.Well old boy I am glad we managed to catch up with you, things just would not be the same without you.But I do have a question the knight who ended up fighting along side you when we first arrived it looked more to me like you two where facing each other and not in a so friendly manner, care to share what was going on when we arrived? As he waits either for an answer or to be told to mind his own business Ulthok will continue to clean himself up from the acid attack.

Watching the beetle go down, Cynil makes a face of distaste as the hot, acidic blood eats away at the grass and dirt. She dismisses the wall of thorns with a wave of her hand.

Looking around at her friends, Cynil finds that the wounded are being seen to, and the jokes and upbraidings are already beginning. This is a hardened bunch, long accustomed to pain and death. She sees also the wreckage of the tree which had answered her summons to mêlée, and closes her eyes a moment in mixed sorrow and apology. Laying her hands to the bruised trunk, she whispers a quiet, elven benediction. But Cynil, too, is a long-time adventurer: after only a moment she turns light-heartedly to Haila, and says, "Sorry for hedging you out, there. You looked to be drawing its temper."

Conall seems unsurprisingly to be the focus of the party's attention. Why had he gone ahead alone, any how? Cynil shakes her head. She may never know about the unfortunate knight, now halved and bleeding like a cut orange. She could ask the plants around them, she supposes, but elects not to. Conall will tell them what is needful.

One question does remain, though. The beetle's appearance was unlikely to be random; such a fearsome monster could hardly rampage this woods routinely without leaving evidence of devastation everywhere. So Cynil does cast the spell, after all (speak with plants). Kneeling on the ground, she sparks a small flame with her flint and begins a soft incantation.

She asks the bracken or undergrowth about the beetle, phrasing the questions in the simple yet strange way that plants require. Has it come here before? How often? Does it come alone? These are the questions she asks, hoping they will lead her to others, but knowing that the plants' simple minds almost certainly will remember nothing. Straightening, she asks the trees as well, knowing that with longer life comes greater wisdom. Perhaps the party need not continue forward entirely without consciousness of its enemy.

Conall turned to see Ulthok approach and strike up a conversation…

“Ulthok,” Conall said with a half smile, “I will answer your questions as soon as I tell Sir DeBeucamp his search and battle are complete and the death of his family have been avenged.” Conall arrives at the side of DeBeucamp, “Sir you have fought with honor and bravery your family will be proud to see you. Now go with honor and pride to the Halls of Valhalla and look for me some day.” Conall then stood and rendered a salute to Sir DeBeucamp.

Conall then walked by the Lady Cynil and in passing and with only a whisper he spoke to her, “I am sorry for your lose.”

It was then he turned to Ulthok, “Let us gather and make ready for you people to move out. The stench of this beast would turn the stomach of a rot grub from a troll dump.”

Magma sits down on the ground once the battle is over and pulls out a healing potion to deal with his wounds.

"Nice fight." he says outload to no one in particular, "too short, but still nice."

ooc: Pardon the short post but I have been sick with a bad cold all this weekend.