AmyRoberts
Experienced
- Joined
- Dec 21, 2016
- Posts
- 324
Before the fighting begins:
Sharla cannot believe how nervous she is. This is different than that first fight, when she rode into Riverbend on the back of a horse and only really knew one spell, magic that made mud. She has become a Sorceress, or perhaps, still is becoming one. The last week has been like nothing she could have ever imagined, what with the Tome of Magic opening up to her ... and Meena opening up to her as well.
Meena, she thinks for a moment. Sharla could never have imagined being so deeply in love with another woman. Or is it lust? Does it matter? Sharla is so new to love or lust both that she doesn't really know how to tell the difference between them. What she does know is that each morning when she wakes, her first thought is to pull the naked body of the beautiful, vivacious, young redhead up tightly against her own naked form; her last thought at night is of how no one deserves to feel such euphoria after having spent minutes or hours making love to such a creature.
And their relationship isn't just sex, sex, sex. Meena is central to Sharla's understanding and advances in her magical training. The girl -- Meena is 4 years junior to the 22 year old Sorceress -- has been the driving force behind Sharla discovering what the Tome of Magic has to offer. She has helped Sharla interpret the runes and understand the spells. Without Meena, what is about to happen now on the East Road would be much, much different.
"They're coming," a swordsman a bit lower on the west deer trail calls up softly before ascending to his position with the others. "There coming. And Count Turan's banner is out front. I thought he was supposed to be in the middle?"
Sharla considers that fact for a moment, then dismisses it as momentarily moot. She gathers the swordsmen together, telling them to link hands, which she does with the two men flanking her as well. She begins softly chanting the words from the "Power of the Earth" spell, and both she and the others can feel a tingle rising up through their feet and legs, then out out through their hands to those beside them.
"Good luck," she says when she finishes.
They move to their positions, hiding in the bushes, as Sharla moves up the trail to a middle position between the next group of combatants to be her concern. Rachel has been training with the 12 mostly female archers, and everyone is genuinely impressed.
Sharla hears, then sees the scout who she'd seen riding west earlier return. He skids his horse to a stop on the road near Count Turan; he waves to the west while warning about hoof and boot prints. Sharla whispers to the right, the left, "Light them up!"
As the archers use flint and stone to spark their oil soaked fire arrows to life, Sharla presses one hand to the dirt at her side while stretching another hand out toward their primary target. She has spent a lot of time at the Magic Pool with Meena over the past week, and during that time they have spoken a great deal about the men, women, and children Count Turan kidnapped and sold into slavery. By this point, Sharla is so furious at the Lord that she would gladly descend this rise and try to beat him to death with her staff.
Fortunately, Sharla is a Sorceress and has another alternative: she concentrates deeply on Turan and the ground beneath him, then casts the "Mud" spell. Suddenly, there is absolute mayhem under and around him. His horse sinks and flails, as if it a bog of quick sand, and the Lord is off his mount and flailing as well in the thick mud.
All around Turan, Elite Bodyguards are falling from stumbling horses or being thrown by unsettled beasts. Sharla can't help but smile with delight at the success of the spell. She looks up and down the line of archers and calls out, "Reign down fiery hell!"
As the archers stand to loose their fire tipped arrows, Sharla casts a third spell. The "Flames" incantation turns the smallish burning tips into most significant fireballs. The effect is worth the mental and spiritual energy drained from Sharla, but really she would have expected a more dramatic result, as she'd seen in her practice sessions for this very battle.
Nonetheless, most of the horses -- the real targets -- panic as flames and sparks dance around the road beneath their hooves. Men are thrown and those that aren't are desperately hanging on to remain mounted. Some of them recover by the time the spell-encouraged swordsmen reach their position.
Rolled 1 D20: 13, 10, 1, 3, 13, 18 (add +9 for PofE spell; subtract -6 for the Elite Bodyguards' To Hit; add +3 for the Flames spell)
The first stage of battle between Riverbend swordsmen and Count Turan's Elite Bodyguard begins. As she watches, Sharla sees two of her spell enhanced men quickly and easily take down two of the would be attackers. She quickly begins to believe this is going to easily be a victory.
But then a Bodyguard slashes a sword through the air and cuts down one novice swordsman. Her heart jumps in fear. A second Riverbend farmer-turned-soldier is stabbed and falls to the ground, which is solid to him but muddy to the rider who is barely keeping his mount on all four feet.
Then, the fight turns back their way, and two more of Turan's Elite are taken down to the ground and killed. All about her, a second volley of fiery arrows are loosed from the ridge down upon the Greenhill soldiers. They are not affected by Sharla's Flames spell, but they still cause panic and mayhem throughout their targets...
Rolled 1 D20: 11, 1, 12, 17, 6, 6, 6, 2, 6, 4, 15, 17
3 of Turan's soldiers are killed outright, while an equal number are injured.
Sharla casts one last spell, "Hiss", and all about the column of soldiers -- particularly amongst the less than enthusiastic conscripts -- there is panic. 10 of the men flee without facing the enemy at all, most of them down over the side of the hill through which the road is cut.
Sharla literally collapses back onto her haunches, spent. She will watch the fight from here without any further involvement. And all the while, her mind will be on how badly she wishes Meena was here to hold her and tell her that she had done well and that things would be alright.
A couple of dozen yards beyond the east end of the archers, Rachel -- unable to see Sharla -- sees instead the mayhem of the Mud spell as men and horses begin to fall all about. She looks to Wendy, saying, "I hope you're right about this."
The this about which she's talking is, of course, Captain William Warton and his soldiers. As Rachel kicks her horse into action and descends to the road to attack the Greenhill soldiers to her right, she is about to put her back to Warton's men to her left. If this is some sort of betrayal, she'll never see the arrow that penetrates her from behind.
Before she even gets to the road, Rachel is already loosing her first arrow. Then another, and more. She chooses for her targets not the nearest men to her but the 4 men who are still mounted. A warrior on a horse is typically worth 3 on the ground, and Rachel intends to see that they are eliminated before they can use their advantage.
She rides through the foot soldiers, knocking many of them to the ground as her missiles fly...
Rolled 1 D20: 19, 2, 13, 3, 11, 16 (add 11 to each)
The damage she does is phenomenal: her first arrow entirely penetrates and then exits one soldier's torso before sinking into a second man's body. Her last arrow does the same. In between, she downs two men and kills another pair.
Behind Rachel, Wendy descends the hill, with Matthew and others also on horseback. They reach the road and turn right, but not before the Lady of Riverbrook looks to her prospective lover with concern. What are the chances that he will betray her? What are the chances that as she and her Riverbend force are destroying the army from Greenhill, Warton's men won't come in behind her men and ambush them as well.
The worry causes her performance to initially be decreased...
Rolled 1 D20: 13, 6, 3, 15, 14, 14, 9
She easily cuts down her first target, but the next two are only injured and barely even struck. She looks behind her once again for some sign from Warton...
Wendy -- Warrior
Sharla -- Sorcerer
Rachel -- Elven Ranger
Riverbend Defenders:
Other Riverbend Residents:
Bad Guys:
The Greenhill army:
Sharla cannot believe how nervous she is. This is different than that first fight, when she rode into Riverbend on the back of a horse and only really knew one spell, magic that made mud. She has become a Sorceress, or perhaps, still is becoming one. The last week has been like nothing she could have ever imagined, what with the Tome of Magic opening up to her ... and Meena opening up to her as well.
Meena, she thinks for a moment. Sharla could never have imagined being so deeply in love with another woman. Or is it lust? Does it matter? Sharla is so new to love or lust both that she doesn't really know how to tell the difference between them. What she does know is that each morning when she wakes, her first thought is to pull the naked body of the beautiful, vivacious, young redhead up tightly against her own naked form; her last thought at night is of how no one deserves to feel such euphoria after having spent minutes or hours making love to such a creature.
And their relationship isn't just sex, sex, sex. Meena is central to Sharla's understanding and advances in her magical training. The girl -- Meena is 4 years junior to the 22 year old Sorceress -- has been the driving force behind Sharla discovering what the Tome of Magic has to offer. She has helped Sharla interpret the runes and understand the spells. Without Meena, what is about to happen now on the East Road would be much, much different.
"They're coming," a swordsman a bit lower on the west deer trail calls up softly before ascending to his position with the others. "There coming. And Count Turan's banner is out front. I thought he was supposed to be in the middle?"
Sharla considers that fact for a moment, then dismisses it as momentarily moot. She gathers the swordsmen together, telling them to link hands, which she does with the two men flanking her as well. She begins softly chanting the words from the "Power of the Earth" spell, and both she and the others can feel a tingle rising up through their feet and legs, then out out through their hands to those beside them.
"Good luck," she says when she finishes.
They move to their positions, hiding in the bushes, as Sharla moves up the trail to a middle position between the next group of combatants to be her concern. Rachel has been training with the 12 mostly female archers, and everyone is genuinely impressed.
Sharla hears, then sees the scout who she'd seen riding west earlier return. He skids his horse to a stop on the road near Count Turan; he waves to the west while warning about hoof and boot prints. Sharla whispers to the right, the left, "Light them up!"
As the archers use flint and stone to spark their oil soaked fire arrows to life, Sharla presses one hand to the dirt at her side while stretching another hand out toward their primary target. She has spent a lot of time at the Magic Pool with Meena over the past week, and during that time they have spoken a great deal about the men, women, and children Count Turan kidnapped and sold into slavery. By this point, Sharla is so furious at the Lord that she would gladly descend this rise and try to beat him to death with her staff.
Fortunately, Sharla is a Sorceress and has another alternative: she concentrates deeply on Turan and the ground beneath him, then casts the "Mud" spell. Suddenly, there is absolute mayhem under and around him. His horse sinks and flails, as if it a bog of quick sand, and the Lord is off his mount and flailing as well in the thick mud.
All around Turan, Elite Bodyguards are falling from stumbling horses or being thrown by unsettled beasts. Sharla can't help but smile with delight at the success of the spell. She looks up and down the line of archers and calls out, "Reign down fiery hell!"
As the archers stand to loose their fire tipped arrows, Sharla casts a third spell. The "Flames" incantation turns the smallish burning tips into most significant fireballs. The effect is worth the mental and spiritual energy drained from Sharla, but really she would have expected a more dramatic result, as she'd seen in her practice sessions for this very battle.
Nonetheless, most of the horses -- the real targets -- panic as flames and sparks dance around the road beneath their hooves. Men are thrown and those that aren't are desperately hanging on to remain mounted. Some of them recover by the time the spell-encouraged swordsmen reach their position.
Rolled 1 D20: 13, 10, 1, 3, 13, 18 (add +9 for PofE spell; subtract -6 for the Elite Bodyguards' To Hit; add +3 for the Flames spell)
The first stage of battle between Riverbend swordsmen and Count Turan's Elite Bodyguard begins. As she watches, Sharla sees two of her spell enhanced men quickly and easily take down two of the would be attackers. She quickly begins to believe this is going to easily be a victory.
But then a Bodyguard slashes a sword through the air and cuts down one novice swordsman. Her heart jumps in fear. A second Riverbend farmer-turned-soldier is stabbed and falls to the ground, which is solid to him but muddy to the rider who is barely keeping his mount on all four feet.
Then, the fight turns back their way, and two more of Turan's Elite are taken down to the ground and killed. All about her, a second volley of fiery arrows are loosed from the ridge down upon the Greenhill soldiers. They are not affected by Sharla's Flames spell, but they still cause panic and mayhem throughout their targets...
Rolled 1 D20: 11, 1, 12, 17, 6, 6, 6, 2, 6, 4, 15, 17
3 of Turan's soldiers are killed outright, while an equal number are injured.
Sharla casts one last spell, "Hiss", and all about the column of soldiers -- particularly amongst the less than enthusiastic conscripts -- there is panic. 10 of the men flee without facing the enemy at all, most of them down over the side of the hill through which the road is cut.
Sharla literally collapses back onto her haunches, spent. She will watch the fight from here without any further involvement. And all the while, her mind will be on how badly she wishes Meena was here to hold her and tell her that she had done well and that things would be alright.
<> <> <> <> <>
A couple of dozen yards beyond the east end of the archers, Rachel -- unable to see Sharla -- sees instead the mayhem of the Mud spell as men and horses begin to fall all about. She looks to Wendy, saying, "I hope you're right about this."
The this about which she's talking is, of course, Captain William Warton and his soldiers. As Rachel kicks her horse into action and descends to the road to attack the Greenhill soldiers to her right, she is about to put her back to Warton's men to her left. If this is some sort of betrayal, she'll never see the arrow that penetrates her from behind.
Before she even gets to the road, Rachel is already loosing her first arrow. Then another, and more. She chooses for her targets not the nearest men to her but the 4 men who are still mounted. A warrior on a horse is typically worth 3 on the ground, and Rachel intends to see that they are eliminated before they can use their advantage.
She rides through the foot soldiers, knocking many of them to the ground as her missiles fly...
Rolled 1 D20: 19, 2, 13, 3, 11, 16 (add 11 to each)
The damage she does is phenomenal: her first arrow entirely penetrates and then exits one soldier's torso before sinking into a second man's body. Her last arrow does the same. In between, she downs two men and kills another pair.
<> <> <> <> <>
Behind Rachel, Wendy descends the hill, with Matthew and others also on horseback. They reach the road and turn right, but not before the Lady of Riverbrook looks to her prospective lover with concern. What are the chances that he will betray her? What are the chances that as she and her Riverbend force are destroying the army from Greenhill, Warton's men won't come in behind her men and ambush them as well.
The worry causes her performance to initially be decreased...
Rolled 1 D20: 13, 6, 3, 15, 14, 14, 9
She easily cuts down her first target, but the next two are only injured and barely even struck. She looks behind her once again for some sign from Warton...
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Wendy -- Warrior
- Picture, Profile
- Weapons: long sword, daggers, and steel shield.
- Hit Bonus:
- Blade weapons: +7
- On horseback: +9
Sharla -- Sorcerer
- Picture, Profile
- Weapons: Staff, daggers (2), and magic book.
- Hit bonus:
- Staff: she is yet to practice with it, so right now it is Zero.
- Daggers: again, unpracticed.
- Magic Book: Spells include:
- "Mud" (+5)
- "Shine" (+5)
- "Flames" (+4)
- "Hiss" (+3)
- "Power of the Earth" (+5)
- "Heal" (+9)
- "Tweet, Tweet" +4 (+6 if a flock of birds is within sight).
- "Courage" and "Fright" +3 (+6 if she herself has successfully attacked enemies within sight of the subjects of this spell).
- "Fertility"http://forum.literotica.com/showpost.php?p=93906861&postcount=17 +3.
Rachel -- Elven Ranger
- Picture, Profile
- Recurve bow.
- Hit bonus +6 on the ground
- Hit bonus +11 on horseback
- Hit bonuses increase +1 with each battle including multiple, successive, successful hits.
- Short sword and daggers (2): +2
Riverbend Defenders:
- Matthew: swordsman, +6
- 12 archers: +5 (average, to make it simple)
- 7 swordsmen: +3 (average, to make it simple)
Other Riverbend Residents:
- Michelle -- a villager; Marcus's sister.
- Marcus -- a villager; Michelle's brother. (Note: he is a swordsman (+3) but his is still healing from a chest wound.)
- Martha -- Apothecary Healer.
- ~21 other villagers: 7 women, 28 children
- Notes about Riverbend residents:
- Count Quinn's conquest resulted in the kidnapping of 6 men, 12 women, and 16 children were taken away as slaves. (No more about these people is known at the time of this posting.)
Bad Guys:
- Riverbend:
- Deceased -- Count Quinn: local despot of the village of Riverbend.
- Deceased -- ~20 violent ruffians (occupying and controlling Riverbend under Quinn)
- Greenhill: controlled by Quinn's brother, the self-appointed Count Turan.
- Count Turan: the now-deceased Count Quinn's brother.
- Captain Warton: Turan's Captain of his Guard.
- Turan's army: 17 men.
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The Greenhill army:
- Count Turan (+4)
- 4 Dead -- 6 elite bodyguards (+6)
- 4 Dead -- 8 swordsmen (+4)
- 2 Dead -- 4 archers (+2)
- 6 Dead, 12 fleeing down hill -- 22 conscripted villagers (No bonuses; odds of flight +2)
- Captain Warton (+7 blades; +5 bow/other)
- 4 bodyguard (+6)
- 8 swordsmen (+4)
- 4 archers (+2)
