OEPT11a

[greentongue]

Lord Captain Kureshu had a guard roster established and asked Kumahl to have his two remaining clan soldiers to join the roster.

Kumahl was invited to stay in one of the tents that looked like it might have originally been intended for the Lord Seer.
The clansmen said that since Lord Seer would be away, Kumahl was welcome to join them.

They also asked if he wished to share in their supplies.

Kumahl
Assigning the remaining two guardsmen to the duty roster. Kumahl checked the provisions of the porters and to the general well being of all the soldiers and men in the camp not on duty. After gathering stock of provisions available, Kumahl agrees to share in the provisions that Lord Captain is willing to share, making sure that his clansmen are looked after first before he sups and relaxes.

Once he has eaten and taken time for prayers and meditation he rejoins the camp.

Lord Captain Kureshu
"Priest Kumahl, do you have any idea from the tracks you have seen how many invisible ones are out there?"

"I have passed the orders to form up into a square if a contingent of Hlyss do arrive."
"You will need to muster in the rear rank unless you have skills better used else where."

"I'm sure that most Hlyss are not invisible from the stories I have heard."
"My sources say that they are horrible to look upon and I believe that by the reluctance of my fighters to even approach the one we killed."

"Raised the hair on my arms just looking at it."
"Glad we killed it."

[greentongue]

Kumahl
"Lord Captain, the ones that we killed and the one that you killed after you arrived were just drones, the workers. Figure the invisible Hlyss is one for every ten drones. What I saw, spoke of only one. My brother Chodo said the same thing, only one. Kind of like you, there is only one Captain, there is only would Hlyss in charge."

Lord Captain Kureshu
"I do hope that holds true as many invisible ones will be difficult to defend against."

"Do you have abilities learned from your temple, as Lord Seer does, that I should know about?"

Kumahl
"Lord Captain, I am first and foremost a craftsman. I build and design solutions to problems and use magic and whatnot second."

"The only thing I can think of doing magic wise is using Telepathy to communicate or "see" the Hlyss through its own eyes."

Lord Captain Kureshu
"Well, Craftsman Kamuhl, can you think of a way to make some alarm to alert us if this invisible Hylss enters our area?"

"I have stationed a sentry on top of this ruin to see if any other enemies approach."

Blazoned Cresent Soldier
A soldier ran up while the Lord Captain was speaking to Kumahl.
He nervously awaited a chance to speak and when given it, stated:
"Lord Captain Kureshu, a large group of creatures approach from the east!"

"I counted around twenty but the ground cover makes it hard to get an exact count."
"From their speed I think we have fifteen minutes till they reach us."
"My replacement is watching them still and will signal when they arrive."

[greentongue]

Kumahl
His fishing staff in hand and his skinning knife secured to his left calf, Kumahl goes to check on his clan's porters safety.

OOC: From which direction did the sentry come?

---
The sentry came down from on top of the large ruin, with the entrance.
The right side of the map is "east".

Kumahl
"Soldier, how far out can you see? How fast are they moving?

"Lord Captain, the first thing, if we have time is to create a kill zone. We block off all other entrances to this ruin. Force who ever is approaching to do so strictly by the entrance between those groups of trees." Kumahl points directly east of the ruin entrance at two groups of trees.

"Preferably deadfall and stones to create barricades. Cover the deadfall in lamp oil." Pausing Kumahl checks the wind direction.

"Next, I would dig a shallow hole between those two groups of trees. No more than a foot or two deep and about as wide as it will be long."

"I have a couple of other things I can do but I need to be undisturbed for about ten minutes."

Blazoned Cresent Soldier
"Craftsman, I could see a good distance but only between the trees."
"They are not moving in a marching order but as the terrain allows."
"They seem to be staying near a clump of bigger ones as I saw some of the smaller ones rush forward then fall back again to the big ones."

---
Lord Captain Kureshu commanded the bearers to get to work dragging brush and rock to block off access to the south (left from the ruins entrance).

He also had a few of the soldiers chop stakes and stick them in the ground best they could to the north.

Kureshu told Kumahl that they had not brought proper tools for digging any trenches and just piling up dead wood would have to do.

Kumahl could tell from the description that ten minutes would be all the time they had before the Hlyss scouts arrived, with the main group close behind.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
His fishing staff in hand and his skinning knife secured to his left calf, Kumahl goes to check on his clan's porters safety.

"Soldier, how far out can you see? How fast are they moving?

"Lord Captain, the first thing, if we have time is to create a kill zone. We block off all other entrances to this ruin. Force who ever is approaching to do so strictly by the entrance between those groups of trees." Kumahl points directly east of the ruin entrance at two groups of trees.

"Preferably deadfall and stones to create barricades. Cover the deadfall in lamp oil." Pausing Kumahl checks the wind direction.

"Next, I would dig a shallow hole between those two groups of trees. No more than a foot or two deep and about as wide as it will be long."

"I have a couple of other things I can do but I need to be undisturbed for about ten minutes."

Blazoned Cresent Soldier
"Craftsman, I could see a good distance but only between the trees."
"They are not moving in a marching order but as the terrain allows."
"They seem to be staying near a clump of bigger ones as I saw some of the smaller ones rush forward then fall back again to the big ones."

---
Lord Captain Kureshu commanded the bearers to get to work dragging brush and rock to block off access to the south (left from the ruins entrance).

He also had a few of the soldiers chop stakes and stick them in the ground best they could to the north.

Kureshu told Kumahl that they had not brought proper tools for digging any trenches and just piling up dead wood would have to do.

Kumahl could tell from the description that ten minutes would be all the time they had before the Hlyss scouts arrived, with the main group close behind.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
"Lord Captain, your man's description leads me to believe we have Hlyss marching this way and only ten minutes before we are engaged. When they come, keep them centered on the access to the ruins."

Kumahl takes a careful spot on top of the ruins, looks out on the approaching Hlyss.

OOC: Using Telepathy, Kumahl will attempt to touch every viable mind in an effort to locate the one unseen Hlyss.

---
Using Telepathy, Kumahl feels the presence of a Hlyss circling to the north of the ruins.
As best as he can tell, there rest are to the west.

From the top of the ruin Kumahl can see around twenty Hlyss moving towards them from the east.
The ground cover makes it hard to get an exact count but Kumahl can tell there are a mix of shapes among the Hlyss.

A core of around a half dozen of the Hlyss are larger and look heaver as they push through the brush instead of going around like the smaller ones.
They must have been barely able to fit through one of the gates.

Most of the other have long blade like hands at the ends of their arms.
These blades scythe effortlessly through brush, occasionally, as their wielder decides not to go around.
Towards the back there are a few that look like the "boss bugs" Kumahl saw before.
Kumahl can see none of the "worker bugs" in this group.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
"Lord Captain, our invisible foe is coming from the north. I would advise spears and arrows and keep them at a distance if at all possible. Any with blades, strike for the arms and hands, then the legs."

Looking to the barricades and pointing to a half dozen soldiers, "Douse the dry timber in lamp oil and have torches ready to light the barricades."

Focusing again to the North, Kumahl attempts to pinpoint the invisible bug.

---
As the group of Hlyss neared the waiting clansmen they heard a loud buzzing and what looked like a large bug flew a pass around the camp and headed back the way it came.

Kumahl saw a moving distortion near the north side of the ruin he was standing on.
It was almost impossible to spot when it stopped moving.
Kumahl winced from the pain of his previous injury as he quickly twisted to try and keep track of all the Hlyss at once.

With a surprisingly quick scurry a couple of Hlyss, with what looked like short swords for hands, dashed in and out from the brush on the other side of the clearing.
They were directly across from the ruins (the west/left side of the map).

A couple of soldiers stationed on that side loosed arrows at them with no effect.
It may have been from the hair raising experience of seeing such large bugs that horror stories are told about.

Yelling the servants ran back to the tents for shelter.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
Wishing he had some more of the activated spores or some red mud, Kumahl searches the ground for loose gravel and stones to throw in the way of the invisible Hlyss as an early warning and possibly to slow him down.

Shouting Kumahl begins speaking to the soldiers gathered, "Two things are certain in life. We are born and we die. We didn't choose when the first happens but we certainly can decide when the second happens. Choose your fate and make your destiny."

Kumahl finds a flat open location on top of the ruin and brandishes his hooked fishing staff and checks his belt for a flask of oil. Finding none, he shouts to one of his clan's guardsmen to grab the remaining lamp oil and lit torches and to bring him some as well.

---
The top of the ruin was covered with the dust and debris of ages.
Kumahl could scrape together handfuls of dirt and stunted weeds with a little effort.

Hearing the call from above, Guardsman Ssiyor trotted up the side of the ruin with a lit torch and a partially empty container of lamp oil.

The Blazoned Cresent soldiers formed up behind Lord Captain Kureshu between the rough piles of brush and the scattering of sharpened stakes.

At the end of the line of brush on one side was the pavilion teaming with cowering servants.
On the other side the stakes ended at the tents with their door flaps pulled shut.
Behind both the pavilion and the tents were the ruins itself.

From what Kumahl could see, the Hlyss were not forming into traditional ranks.
While the heavier ones did form a clump in the center, the others moved remarkably quickly towards the brush on the left.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
"Lord Captain, they come for the undefended. The servants." Catching the Captain's attention he points towards the tents.

Taking the lamp oil and the torch from SSivor after strapping his staff to his back, Kumahl thanks the guardsman and tells him to keep an eye on the defenseless porters from the clan.

Kumahl knows that he and the "Hidden One" will eventually face off and he is intently listening for the sounds of his approach.

---
While Kumahl's attention is focused on warning the Lord Captain, he hears a rapid scrabbling up the side of the ruin to his right rear.

Kumahl
Kumahl hearing the scrabbling makes a quick 180 degree turn and faces the sounds of movement. Tossing the lamp oil in front of himself three feet, Kumahl then tosses the torch on to the spreading oil, hopefully catching the "Hidden One" in the sudden conflagaration of dried grass and oil.

---
Some of Kumahl's lamp oil impacted something just above the ground and the hanging oil moved towards him.

The following torch throw ricocheted off of the leg of a moving distortion and deflected away from the oil.

The distortion was half again the size of a man and closed in rapidly.

In a flash Kumahl realized that the invisible Hylss was upon him.
This realization was followed by a sharp pain as one of its claws struck him in the chest.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
Kumahl attempts to roll with the claw punch and rolling to the ground in the process. He will do his best to find the underbelly of the Hlyss and stay beneath it or reach for his torch.

---
There was a whoosh in the air that Kumahl had just occupied and a few tiny drops of some liquid splattered his arm.

Huruyan's voice rang out from the entrance below, "Lord Captain, I bring reinforcements from below. Where do you need us?"
After a pause, "And, where is Kumahl?"

The sound from the Hlyss skittered back slightly, to the north side, and paused.

Kumahl
Making a calculated guess at to the Hlyss's last identifiable location, Kumahl grabs a set of Bolas from his belt, and whirls them in the northly direction the Hlyss just moved to.

From atop of the ruins that he just heard his brother's voice, Kumahl shouts "North side of the ruin, brother."

---
Kumahl's throw of his bola caused his unseen foe to skitter aside instead of closing on him.

* The bola is small animal catching size not human catching size.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
Gauging where the last bola made contact, Kumahl uses his second bola to push the Hlyss back and down the ruin.

Once releasing the bola, Kumahl regains his staff but will hold position trying to separate the sounds of combat below with those on top of the ruin.

OOC: Did Kumahl's torch and oil catch the sparse scrub on top of the ruin on fire?

---
Your torch missed the oil when you threw it because it ricocheted off of the leg of the quickly closing Hlyss.
A small patch of dried weeds have burned and the torch is still lit.

You rolled 8 using 1d20, your bola throw was a miss.
It didn't make contact but it did cause the Hlyss to move giving you an idea where it is.
Its distortion is noticeable when it moves quickly.

Even as it skitters sideways, Kumahl's second bola throw wraps itself around one of the invisible Hlyss's legs.
The small bola becomes a clear marker for where it's leg is.

Kumahl
OOC: Contains excitement, barely.

Kumahl retreats a bit until he locates his still lit torch. With torch in hand and staff in the other, Kumahl watches for the bolas to move and then begins lighting the tender and dried grasses atop of the ruin.

---
As the bola jiggled from an attempt to unwrap it was made, Kumahl kept forcing the Hlyss to avoid standing in flame.

After a few times of this fire dodging, the Hlyss sped down the north side of the ruin.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
"Fear not. They crush like the bugs we found growing up."

Kumahl assures himself a safe descent and lights the rest of the tinder atop the ruin. He will try and find a space to fight along his brother.

How far are our clan porters from the ruins?

---
The porters are huddled in the tent and pavilion at the foot of the ruin.

[greentongue]

Kumahl
Kumahl heads towards the porters and the tents, instead of down towards Huruyan.
Kumahl believes he can get the porters and direct them towards the ruin entrance for better protection and safety. Maybe he will even catch sight of the Hidden One.