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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 23, 2019 7:38:20 GMT
Gulken squared off against the four humans arrayed before him. His enormous, muscular bulk loomed over them, and that baleful eye of his swept over each in turn. His lip curled in a condescending sneer as he glared down at Kara, and shook his head slowly from side to side.
“This is a waste of time.” He growled, “I’m leaving.”
Every movement from him was a promise of violence as he turned, and simply shouldered his way through the crowd and across the square. The guards were left shaken in his wake. What were they supposed to do? They were no better prepared to restrain the furious orc than Kara was.
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 23, 2019 13:46:01 GMT
Gulken’s gaze swept over her again, and Kara felt his sneer rip through her as if she were no more substantial than the thinnest of gossamer fabrics.
Kara jerked forward this time, not back; finally - finally! - she felt angry instead of scared or sad. Finally, something in this last sneer flickered inside of her and caught, a faint red anger growing amidst the tinder that Gulken and his followers had left inside her. Anger was so cleansing; it swept away doubt as fear, and left behind focus. Not the extremity of battle-focus, the cold, white hot heat that kept Kara fighting through wounds that would have killed another, but something of that same clarity.
Kara had gotten the guards involved. Now she regretted it; it meant she couldn’t charge after Gulken and try to strike him down. At least, not if she didn’t want to end up in jail. It would be a small price to pay, really... but the hesitation was just enough that Kara missed her chance, and the crowds closed behind the orc.
Never mind it. Kara fixed her eyes on Gulken’s back, tracking him through the crowd. Better to provoke him to attack than to be the attacker herself anyway. She had no thoughts left for the guards or what they might meant for her new plans or any questions they might have for her; instead, with single-minded focus, foolishly and doggedly, Kara started after Gulken once more.
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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 23, 2019 18:48:37 GMT
Gulken made his way through the City streets, and whilst she wasn't completely familiar with the City's layout, it soon became clear that he was following the main thoroughfares, working to find the nearest exit from the City proper.
And he had looked back at her. For a brief moment, he had shared a glance with her, and his fury only grew. He didn't try and hide or lose her; he didn't try to hide that he knew she was following him. Now, he just wanted to lead her outside the gates of the City.
The question was, would she follow?
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 23, 2019 19:05:45 GMT
He meant to kill her.
Kara could see it in the fury on Gulken’s face; she had annoyed him, and he meant to take it from her in blood. When he was finished with her he would pluck the eyes from her face and burn her alive; Kara thought she could almost feel the flames licking at her skin, if she thought about it enough.
Worse, he was smart about it; if he killed her outside the city then there would be nothing the guards could do about it, even if they wanted to. Crimes outside the city weren’t the jurisdiction of the guards of Waterdeep.
Could she take him? Kara wanted to, desperately, but she didn’t know. She didn’t know. She was strong - if she had never seen Gulken before, she might have thought - she had seen too much of him, of how other orcs deferred to him, to think him weak.
She couldn’t risk it. If she fought and died, the guard could do nothing and he would be free, unimpeded, to carry out whatever plans he intended.
What could she do? Kara thought furiously, trying to clear her head over the rage pumping in her veins. And - she stopped. She stopped at the edge of the city, the last possible step of Waterdeep, and she held there, glaive gripped in her hand, sure now that her hatred of Gulken was writ clear on her face. Kara held there, not worried about being called a coward or tainted by Gulken; did he want her badly enough to break the laws? She would hope he did. She wouldn’t mind dying so much if at least it would be something the guards could deal with; it was only a useless death she feared.
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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 24, 2019 8:06:15 GMT
Gulken left through the gate, the guards stationed there nodding to him as he went, and he paused, turning, to look at Kara.
His lip curled into an unpleasant sneer as he saw that she had stopped. Clearly, he did see her hesitation as cowardice. He did mean to kill her if she followed him away from the City. But he paused to fold his arms across his chest, and address the woman directly, across the threshold between civilisation, law, order… and his domain. Barbarism. Savagery. The rule of might and might alone.
“Well?” He boomed. “What’s the matter, little woman? Lost your taste for following me?”
He spat on the ground, disgust writ large in his features.
“Pathetic. Hide behind your city walls. Cower behind your guards. For as long as they last.”
The guards shared a glance at that, clearly unimpressed by the words, but Gulken had made his threat, and now he was simply going to walk away – to carry on whatever dark work it was he had set in motion, where the hand of Waterdeep’s law could not reach him, and whatever dark powers he was allying with would be free to aid him unhindered.
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 24, 2019 13:28:44 GMT
The words meant much more to Kara than they did to the guards.
Sundabar had had walls too. The dwarves had built it, and they knew how to make fortresses; they had ringed it with two massive walls, and a moat besides. None of that had stopped Gulken and the army he had fought with. None of that had mattered.
Kara didn’t want to die. She was of the belief that she had work to do. Not the sort of work that paid in coin and kept her clothed and fed and sheltered; that was only for survival. No, Kara had a mission to defend those in need of it, inspired by the words of Helm. To die pointlessly, to throw herself at Gulken and risk shattering against an unknown foe when there was no one immediate to protect, no danger in the moment - Kara had to decide about that.
It would have been better to have had this fight inside the city. Kara would have preferred that; then, if she lost - and the part of her that remembered Gulken in Sundabar couldn’t believe but that she would lose - at least the guard would do something about it. But Gulken had left the walls, and Kara could see he would walk away; his dark purpose was worth more to him than any petty revenge. He had shaped her misery and he didn’t even know her.
Kara’s hand tightened on the glaive. If she threw herself at him and lost nothing would change. When had that ever stopped her before? No, he wasn’t threatening anyone in particular at this moment - he was threatening everyone. She could stand here like a sentinel at the gates, to try and block his return, but he was smart; if he hadn’t already intended to, he would simply re-enter the city from elsewhere.
And when he did, when that suffering happened, how could Kara live with the knowledge that she hadn’t even tried to stop him? That was an easy one. She couldn’t.
Kara stepped forward across the threshold. Anger still thrummed in her veins, and she felt a joyous surge of calm, the same one she felt whenever she made a choice that she knew to be morally right - no matter how dangerous. She could not let Gulken walk away without trying to stop him. If that made her a wave crashing against a solid cliff, well - with enough waves, even cliffs crumbled into sand. If not her, then another, but she would not be the one to shy away.
“You burned Sundabar,” it was almost a different voice, strong and calm and clear. Even the name Sundabar didn’t make her quiver or quail; her voice was smooth through it. Kara locked her gaze onto Gulken, taking another step forward, leaving law and order behind. Gulken and her other tormentors had beaten savagery into her; she knew it like her own skin. “Leave Waterdeep alone.”
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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 24, 2019 19:33:36 GMT
Of course, for all his sneering and hate and condescension, beneath it all? Gulken was a coward.
He didn’t stay and fight and die when the tide turned against them. He didn’t face down the armies of his enemies when the rout began. He fled, convinced himself of the fact that his death would achieve nothing, and licked his wounds. He wasn’t the sort to face his enemies with pride and honour. He wasn’t interested in a clean fight.
“Hartusk Keep.” The orc growled, “I haven’t thought about that in so long.”
Walking away, he led her further from the City walls. The Guards would probably intervene if she was struck down the moment she walked out of the gates, after all. They would probably intervene in sight of the City, for that matter; Waterdeep’s protection extended to some of the road and the surrounding landscape, and Gulken was no Hartusk, unwilling to face his enemy in open combat when support was so close at hand.
He didn’t have infinite patience, though. A quarter mile from the City, if that, and he turned back to face her, axe unslinging from his back to test in his hand.
“That place was a ruinous failure.” He sighed, as though the conversation hadn’t paused at all. “You’re one of the survivors, I suppose? Too many of you. But I can set that right today.”
(And we'll go to initiative!)
gyEpZxw11d20+11d20+1
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 24, 2019 19:41:26 GMT
Kara followed Gulken without flinching; once set on her course, she never paused for doubt or self-reflection, not even when it might have been the wiser course. Kara stopped when Gulken did, facing off from a short distance away. She flicked loose the leather cover from her glaive, revealing the long sharp blade attached to the heavy wood, meticulously oiled the night before, and grasped the shaft in her off-hand; with the other, she pulled out a javelin, gripping it tightly. Kara didn’t care for any more conversation; what she had said was all she needed to say. All her energy, all her focus, centered on the fight before her; there was no doubt, there was no fear, there was no panic, there was no pain. There was only Kara and Gulken, the fight between them; she would win or she would die.
Kara moved first, not physically - she kept a solid twenty feet between herself and Gulken - but with her weapon, hurling the javelin towards the orc with her full strength.
((Bonus action: Kara enters her rage. Attack: Kara throws a javelin at Gulken))
Initiative: cioYL58w1d20+1
Javelin attack: 1d20+5
If successful, damage: 1d6+5
1d20+1·1d20+5·1d6+5
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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 26, 2019 17:48:04 GMT
Gulken stepped forward with a single heavy pace, and the javelin splintered against his armour. He was everything that Kara remembered. Seemingly unstoppable, seemingly invincible, with no care or heed to her pitiful attempt to injure him.
He balanced the axe in his hand, but he didn't close on her - not right away. Instead, he spoke a few short, barked words in the Orcish tongue, rough and hateful on the ear, and brought his free hand down with a vicious slash.
When he did, red light burned from the clouds above, wreathing around Kara as he focused the spiteful attention of his God in this interloper; this woman who would dare to intervene as he sought to tear down the walls of Waterdeep as he had done so many others.
(Gulken casts Bane! DC 13 Charisma save!)
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 26, 2019 17:55:31 GMT
Charisma save: Dn4Egni11d20-11d20-1
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 26, 2019 18:46:25 GMT
A burst of red light shone from the clouds, enveloping Kara; she gritted her teeth, expecting pain – but none came. She felt, she thought, something, some – tingle in her muscles. She couldn’t explain it. All the same, it decided the issue for her; it had been hard enough to wait for Gulken to close before. Kara lunged forward this time, gripping the glaive in both hands, and closed ten feet to Gulken, close enough to swing the glaive at him. She did so, twice, recklessly: once with the blade of the weapon, slashing it across at him, then bringing the butt up in a second, quick attack. Regardless of whether either succeeded or failed, she’d pull back five feet to leave fifteen feet between them once more, quick and light on her feet.
On movement: Kara closes ten feet of the twenty feet between her and Gulken, attacks, then uses another five feet of movement back away from him.
Kara uses reckless attack: Glaive attack: jumP_3nN1d20+5 or 1d20+5 Minus bane penalty: 1d4If successful, damage: 1d10+5Butt of the weapon attack (PAM): 1d20+5 or 1d20+5Minus bane penalty: 1d4If successful, damage: 1d4+51d20+5·1d20+5·1d4·1d10+5·1d20+5·1d20+5·1d4·1d4+5
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Post by Dredka on Apr 26, 2019 20:45:17 GMT
(Gulken will close so you can make another attack - I'll roll concentration with his post)
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Post by moralhazard on Apr 26, 2019 20:49:26 GMT
Glaive attack (opportunity attack when Gulken closes): nf5UW|p01d20+5
Minus bane penalty: 1d4
If successful, damage: 1d10+51d20+5·1d4·1d10+5
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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 27, 2019 13:42:22 GMT
OnMelpaq1d20+3 1d20+31d20+3·1d20+3
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Post by Kai Wren on Apr 27, 2019 13:47:14 GMT
The glaive cut into Gulken's armour, drawing thin lines of blood, but failing to score a telling blow. The bites did seem to disrupt the attention of the malevolent magic, causing it to flicker out and die, restoring strength and vitality back to Kara's limbs.
That, more than the injuries, seemed to infuriate the massive orc. With a growl of anger, he strode forward, and his axe smashed through the attempt to drive him back, knocking her glaive to the side as twelve pounds of vaguely-sharpened metal was brought in a careening sweep to bisect the woman in a single blow.
To-Hit: gI9xal|w1d20+5 Damage: 1d12+1d8+31d20+5·1d12+1d8+3
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