Dungeons and Dragons (DnD) 3.5, anyone? : Time Difference/USA Morning Game : Go!

[Ghaigido]

DM: Yaiil is in a bar called the Shaggy Frog on the east side of Poppin Vil, a large city in southwest Valenwood.
----------
The bar was hot, humid, and stuffy. The smell of alchohol, blood, and sweat thick in the air. The feeling floating around was somber, as a small group of soldiers brought in more wounded to the makeshift medical center. Civilians and soldier alike lay everywhere. From the tables to the chairs to the floor, the wounded are given mundane medical aid, only the severe cases getting magical healing. Unfortunately, there were a lot of severe cases.
A loud crack from some caster's lighting, and screams fill the air outside. The inescapable sound of metal clashing with metal, the smell of burning buildings and burning bodies, the sight of magic smoke filling the sky, blotting out the sun and further worsening morale...
The Sload necromancers of the Coral Kingdom were pushing hard into Valenwood, and this city, Pobbin Vil, was the fourth major city to be attacked. Libbit Lo'op, Hilltop Shire, and Winger's Tree Villiage all fell in the first wave, and few survived. Those that did went to the trade center of Verma Fia'it, where it was still safe. However, it might not be much longer. The battle grew ever closer to the woods proper, and general concensus was that the outcome of the war would become clear once it did. After all, the Bosmer of Valenwood did not tolerate damage to their forest.
Yaiil's wandering had led her here... but she probably should have run in the other direction once she saw smoke. There was probably still time to leave before anyone realized she was trained for combat, if she so desired. Although, it was also a good place to hide from that wench in charge of Verma Fia'it, as no one was going to question why a woman was naked in the middle of half-burning city at war.

 

[Cherubian]

What a way to start the day... It had been pure chance that Yaiil had heard the faint telltale whistling sound of the tar soaked burning catapult rock a split second before it had crashed through the roof of her tavern. She had managed to vault through the first floor window in the nick of time, feeling small wooden splinters pricking her delicious but bare behind even as she did. Dropping to the street one story below and dampening the fall by rolling off elegantly had been an easy exercise, and almost immediately she had been back to her feet. On the plus side she was still alive, a fate not many patrons of the now burning ruin behind her shared. On the negative side she was wearing only her sleeping gown, which consisted of ... a bit of jewelry, and nothing else.

Immediately, almost instinctively her arms clutched over her bare body, her right lower arm forming a bar of visual obstruction at least able to cover the nipples of her impressively ample breasts, while her left hand shot between her legs to grant a modicum of modesty to her most intimate area. Only then did the noise and commotion of battle filter through to her, and the realization hit her that the town was under attack. And she would be better off being somewhere else. She had witnessed first hand what those necromancers could do, and it would take more than the defenses of this city to stop them. She did not mind fighting if she saw a chance of success, but that was not the case here.

With all her possessions gone up in flames what she needed now was some sort of garment. Naked and sexy as she was she would draw attention with every step. And so she rushed off the street and into the nearest building, the other tavern across the street. And as impossible as it seemed, those in there, the wounded and those tending to their wounds, had in fact something better to do that stare at the stark naked elf girl who just barged in. Which gave her enough time to sidle away into a corner of the room and stay on the lookout for something - anything - she could use to cover herself. A discarded cloak, maybe?

 

[Ghaigido]

DM: All the cloth in the room is being either being used to treat injuries or equip the soldiers with light injuries for further combat.
---------
As Yaiil looks around, she realizes the tablecloths, the curtains... Oblivion, even the cloth napkins were being used as scrap to wrap and treat injuries. The discarded clothes of the dead was being washed by hand or purified by magic to be used for more cloth to dress wounds. [Slight of Hand DC 25 to steal some clothes from either clean or dirty pile, if she attempts]
A few of the lightly injured soldiers had cloaks, but most just wore armor, even if it was broken. Better some protection than no protection, right?
A Knight runs in, shouting evacuation orders over the din. "The Coralites have breached the third line! We're evacuating the city! Everyone form up in two lines, women and children first! If you..."
As he shouts, the rest of the military men and women start gathering people together to leave via emergency exit in the city's north wall.

 

[Cherubian]

Yaiil uttered a few elven phrases under her breath that someone knowledgeable in that idiom would recognize as a curse. She was not about to steal from the wounded and dying, however that meant she would have to go naked for a while longer. Her hands dropped in resignation. She would not be able to keep covering herself forever, so why bother hiding what everyone would sooner or later get to see anyways.

She was desperate enough and about to approach one of the soldiers still in possession of armor and cloak to ask him for the latter, her smile already set and her lips parting to start speaking when the knight barged in. Those were bad news, and as she preferred to be alive and naked to being a well dressed corpse she did not hesitate and immediately moved to join one of the queues forming.

Getting out of the city asap sounded like a VERY good idea.

 

[Ghaigido]

DM: Ah.. war is kinda crazy. Sorry. ^.^;;
---------
As twenty or so of the soldiers begin to escort the women and children, the Knight and twelve other soldier stay.
As they walk along, the smell of the burning city makes some of the children cry. It makes other children, who were playing and laughing loudly only that morning, quiet. Others still themselves as much as possible in their mother or sister's arm, afraid to even move lest it draw the enemy toward them.
One of the soldiers wielding a crossbow, a black man with short, curly hair, plenty of battle scars and a big cigar, throws his cloak over Yaiil.
"Can't have the ladies go without protection, now can we?" he says, his accent... strange. [DC 20 recognition check at +6 for publicly saving multiple large cities, +2 for being a sergeant (rank is pinned to his arm)]

The wall of the city is in sight, and only 200 or so feet away, when.... [make sense checks (aka Spot, Listen)

 

[Cherubian]

[Recognition check: 13 +8 = 21, passed]
[Spot check: 18+18 = 36]

Yaiil grants the polite soldier a genuine smile as she pulls the cloak closer around her shoulders, wrapping herself into the comforting material as they make their way towards the exit in the wall.

 

[Ghaigido]

DM: Yes, he is the man.
------------
Yaiil recognizes the man. This wasn't just a soldier she was speaking to. This was a big damn hero! Sergeant A.J. Johnson, a Man among Men among men. General consensus was that he channeled his 'awesome' into his attacks to destroy his foes... but it was mostly conjecture as to how his aim was so completely accurate and unerring. For a human man in his late thirties, he could kick ass like it was no one's business. Experts would argue that it was someone's business, and that business belonged to Sergeant A.J. Johnson, who employed one Major Badass and an elite squad of HALO jumpers. Let's not forget how spectacularly he got along with the Dragon Brigade, either.

Sergeant Johnson suddenly whips up his crossbow and fires twice without reloading, firing three bolts with each pull of the trigger. His sweeping motion makes the each of the bolts fly at different trajectories ahead of the group... felling and killing 6 invisible enemies, whose corpses became visible upon death. From the clothes they wear, it appears that 4 of them were monks and the other two were spellcasters of some sort. An easy to move in monk's outfit would be beneficial, if Yaiil could nab one.

However, that wasn't the end of it. From what she could see... two of the bolts had gone through their target's head, flying onward to the top of the wall. The bolts struck deep in the necks of two red-clad invader's fullplate, slaying them instantly... and knocking them off the wall entirely, one corpse pushing his ally off the wall due to the weight of the armor.

The soldiers got into tight defensive formation after Johnson fired. As the troops and group pushed onward, Johnson turns to Yaiil a serious look on his face and in his eyes. "Look, we're gonna get you out of here safe and sound, no doubt about it," he assured. He then pulled out a small paper parcel with an important looking seal and held it out to her. "But I saw those muscles. You're a fighter. If I could help it I wouldn't be askin' this of you, but we need you to get this to the Emperor pronto. You fail and we're all fucked. Think you can handle that?"

 

[Cherubian]

"I can try..." Yaiil cautiously reached out for the parcel offered to her, her finger tips tentatively touching it as she looked back at Johnson. "May I know what's inside? Is it breakable?"

Waiting for the answer, the clamor of the battle seemingly receeding for a moment, she added "And how will I make the Emperor receive me in first place?"

 

[Ghaigido]

DM: Quest get!
-----------
"It's a deep crystal message recorder and a paper copy, just in case. Show the seal to any guard in the capital and you'll get an emergency audience," Johnson explained. He turned back to the group. "All right boys and girls! We're getting these civvies outta here if it's the last thing you ever do!"

One of the soldiers spoke spoke out. "Uh, Sir! Don't you mean 'the last thing we ever do, sir?"

"Not if you're as good with that sword as you are at questioning orders! Now tighten up that formation! Move it people!!" the sergeant rebuked, then proceeded to move to the front. The group moved with double the speed, hoping to get the women and children to safety before anything else happened.

As they pass the first monk's cooling body, the roar of combat picks up behind them. A large explosion goes of a moment later, shaking the solid earth and sending many to the ground. [Roll Balance DC 15] Multiple buildings can be heard collapsing in the background.

 

[Cherubian]

[Balance: Roll 8 + 6 = 14. Almost made it]

Yaiil was still eying the mysterious parcel - supposedly heavily laden with responsibility exceeding its actual weight - as she trotted behind the queue of women and children alike trying to flee the city turned battlefield, her thoughts heavy with concern over the mission suddenly thrust upon her. What had she done to be thrown into this turmoil out from the carefree live she had grown to like?

Letting the thoughts wander like this is a bad idea as she learned the moment the shaking ground took her by surprise, robbing her of her footing as she joined many of the troupe on the floor. Immediately she shook her head to clear up her thought processes, before her eyes fell on the monk corpse right next to her. Since she was already here ... might as well check out his garments - and other belongings. He certainly won't need them any more.

 

[Ghaigido]

DM: It's dangerous to go alone! Take this!
----------
Yaiil got a monk's outfit, two rubies and a sizable nugget of gold. Oh, and a pair of sai. Can't forget the weapons. The soldiers split themselves between helping the civilians up and keeping watch for enemies. When none came, they assumed it was safe to move. Johnson had them move forward, taking point himself... when the smell of sulfur filled the air, and a sickening miasma seeped into the lungs of everyone who could smell it. [roll save for nausiatia for 2 minutes, Fort negates, DC 10]
A black portal, a circle that looked like a charred ring of rosevines, comes into being next to the Sergeant. A black lightning crackles about it, and just when Johnson turns and fires, a Balor rips out, a thunderous noise trailing in its wake. It is hit by the bolts, but does not slow, bullrushing Sergeant Johnson and tackling him, carrying the human hero on its shoulder and into wall of a building... then through it. .. And the next few buildings.

The rest of the soldiers, now without the sergeant, began helping people move hurriedly, rushing them toward the gate that was only 50 feet away. Sometimes the woman or child would not move due to shock, so a soldier would pick them up and move them against their will. The sounds of battle were getting louder... and closer. The top of a nearby tower explodes into fire, filling the air with ash and cinders.

 

[Cherubian]

All the stuff was great, only where to stow it? Fortunately one advantage of your generic monk outfit is that it is very easy and quick to get into, so that is what Yaiil immediately did. It was rather loose in most places - except her chest - but it fulfilled its purpose. And it had pockets.

[Rolled a natural 20 on the Fort save]

The moment Johnson disappeared from view adrenaline kicked in in full force. The urgency to leave was now greater than ever before, so she fully ended her charade as someone needing to be escorted, and rather switched over to the guardsmen, trying her best to herd their little caravan towards the hole in the wall ... fast.

"Come on, girls. No time to waste ..."