Right, Fleshy has +260 to hit with spears, Xochi has a minimum of +220 to dodge. We have a dodge of +250.
I'm not sure Xochi can do anything else if she doesn't have Positioning, as -50 from Improvised Weapon makes her more or less useless. Even if fleshy only has +180 to defend, Xochi has only +180 to hit with her improvised arrow for 4.5 damage. She needs a whopping 8.5 successes to do one damage.
Supposing we attack as planned, and roll average, dealing 8 wounds. Fleshy has +220 to hit with spears and +140 to evade. The situation looks much better, as we have +240 to attack with daggers and +250 to evade.
Or it would, if we hadn't this fucking webbing crippling our rolls.
This comes down to rolls. We sort of have to attack right now, or we'd waste our Positioning bonus.
Funnily enough, our max damage is 15. Exactly what we need to get it down to a -2 wound track, where it'd attack at +180 and evade at +100 (if Xochi helps).
1. Masterwork Spear, so 2d8 base damage.
2. She has 7 constitution.
3. No. To remove the webbing, you have to attack it like a creature. Can't defend itself, but doubles the penalty against such attacks. Every point of damage it takes removes one step of the penalty. It has DR 1 / Magic.
Woah boy. Those rolls were brutal. Though the situation as a whole has the air of "damned if you do, damned if you don't" when it came to decision making.
1. Masterwork Spear, so 2d8 base damage.
2. She has 7 constitution.
3. No. To remove the webbing, you have to attack it like a creature. Can't defend itself, but doubles the penalty against such attacks. Every point of damage it takes removes one step of the penalty. It has DR 1 / Magic.
1. Yes.
2. Effectively yes. Positioning is "use it or loose it". Any action that stops you from attacking the Fleshweaver now wastes the bonus.
3. Nope. Not her style.
An offer of Salt, that it may not flow here.
An offer of Blood, that that of our enemies may be spilled.
An offer of Dice, that they may roll in our favor.
Have mercy on us, great RNGesus and spare us the pain of secondary character creation, now and forever.
Amen.
[X] Strike as planned (+220 from Positioning for the attack, -50 from Webbing)
1.6.17.10.9.17 - 17th of the Green Storm
Without hesitation you propel yourself forward. With Xochi sitting on the Fleshweaver's back, you still have a chance to seize this opportunity. The tumble you make to get under the beast's belly lacks any grace, for disgusting sludge encasing your left arm and torso hinders you far more than you would have hoped. It is a dangerous game you are playing. As you kneel beneath armor-plated abomination, it is the first time that you truly comprehend the sheer size of the thing. Neither can you ignore the razor-sharp spikes on the legs thrashing around you in an attempt to dislodge your companion. Yet you know that this is perhaps your only chance to survive this and you take a single heartbeat to look at plates of bone above you. A single gap between the plates, easily spotted through the blood-red flesh shining through, is a bit wider then the others.
You brace yourself on your left knee and grip your blade tight, waiting for a single moment of stillness from the spirit. As Xochi's legs come into view, she's finally shaken loose from her perch, you worry for her for the briefest instant. Then a leg comes up, not stabbing her, but swatting into her back, driving the barbs deep into her flesh. With a motion like lightning, the leg is flicked away from the Fleshweaver's body, the hooked barbs dragging her away from the spirit before her momentum tears her free. Blood flies from her wounds as she is tossed aside and tumbles into the darkness. Yet for the briefest instant, the beast is still again and unaware of where you are. The opening is all too short, but you are ready and with all your might you launch yourself upwards, thrusting the blade with all your strength into your foe.
Xochi: Do the sane thing? 1d4 = 1 -> Yes. Full Defense
Xochi 18/35
Bleeding Wound sustained
Wound Penalty: -2 on all Attributes and Skills
Xochi can't attack, due to Full Defense.
Yaxkin: Attack with Black-Gold Dagger
98 + 60 (Strength) + 80 (Dexterity) + 80 (Bladed Weapons) + 20 (Knife Fighter) + 220 (Positioning) = 558
vs.
Fleshweaver: Evasion
10 + 60 (Dexterity) + 60 (Dexterity) + 80 (Evasion) = 210
35 Degrees of Success
1d10 + 35 = 45 Damage
DR 12 reduces to 33 damage.
Damage halved due to armor quality: 17 damage
Fleshweaver 22 / 40 Wounds
Bleeding Wound sustained
Wound Penalty: -2 on all Attributes and Skills
The blade finds its mark and you trust it into the soft flesh right until the hilt. The monstrous creature screams in agony and thrashes wildly and you nearly lose your grip on your weapon. Yet its fitful movements do it more harm than good as the dagger remains firmly in its body and tears a wide gash through the gap in its armor. Disgusting ichor reeking of stale blood coats you from head to toe while you concentrate on keeping your weapon in the wound as long as possible. As it finally comes free again, you immediately roll between the spirit's hind legs and out of harm's way for it immediately starts to stab blindly beneath itself while twisting around to find its enemies.
You spit out a glob of the Fleshweaver's blood as you settle into your combat stance again. Keeping your balance with your left arm stuck in the surprisingly heavy sludge, by now caked with dirt and grime, is difficult, but the spirit is reeling far more. The ichor still freely flows out of the grievous wound it took. Its movements look unsteady and the head swivels widely, probably searching for the still missing Xochi. Only a single leg is thrust at you as it resumes its attacks and this time it is easy to evade, for it strains to even keep its body steady. Still, you see the hind legs going up again, retrieving another package of molten flesh to spit at you. This is it. This time, it won't hit you and then another thrust of your blade will finish this.
Fleshweaver: Attack Yaxkin with Legs
Auto-Fail
Fleshweaver gathers Webbing.
Yaxkin can't attack due to Full Defense.
Xochi: ???
Xochi takes 1 point of damage due to a Bleeding Wound.
Fleshweaver takes 1 point of damage due to a Bleeding Wound.
The arrow coming out of the darkness is a welcome surprise. Not only does it dig deeply into the flank of the spirit, it also means your ally is still alive, despite her wounds. But your attention is entirely on the Fleshweaver's maw that hungrily swallows the red mass to spit it back at you. You dart forward in a zigzag pattern to throw off his aim, though when the maw opens, it proves for naught. It does not open it a bit like last time, but tears it open impossibly wide. Wickedly curved teeth a strewn haphazardly through its throat as you can now see where it is opened as if to swallow you whole, yet what strikes fear into your heart is the red glow shining from the depth and growing brighter. Desperately your throw yourself to the other side again, hoping to dodge whatever it is doing.
Then the glow cuts off and forth comes a spray of red mist. Involuntarily, you draw it in with your breath and it feels as if your lungs are filled with shards of bone. Your flesh itches where ever the spray touched it and a strange numbness comes over you. You still feel the dirt beneath your feet, the blade in your hand and your heart beating so furiously that it seems to want to escape your chest, yet all of it feels suddenly so far away. A thought comes to you that your body feeling as if it was no longer yours, as if the feeling of sweat running down your neck was a story that you were told, should horrify you, yet that emotion too feels muted and inconsequential.
Xochi: Attack with Longbow
82 + 40 (Strength) + 50 (Dexterity) + 40 (Archery) = 212
vs.
Flesh Weaver: Evasion
16 + 40 (Dexterity) + 40 (Dexterity) + 40 (Evasion) = 136
8 Degrees of Success
2d6 + 8 = 20 damage
DR 12 reduces damage to 8
Damage halved to 4
Fleshweaver 17/40 - WP -2
Yaxkin doesn't attack.
Fleshweaver: Spit Webbing???
28 + 80 (???) + 70 (???) + 80 (???) = 258
vs.
Yaxkin: ???
85 + 50 (???) + 60 (???) = 196
7 Degrees of Success
???
???
Yaxkin takes -2 on all mental attributes and skills. (Only -1 in skills that have one mental and one physical attribute associated.)
Xochi takes 1 point of damage due to a Bleeding Wound.
Fleshweaver takes 1 point of damage due to a Bleeding Wound.
It still obey you, though. Even if it feel strange to spur a body into motion that seems no longer your own, the movements are just as fluid as before. And you are close. At the price of being hit by the Fleshweaver's latest trick, you came close to it. You are nearly face to face with it and can see even the smallest details in its misshapen face. The eight sunken eyes, shining with malice like pure red gemstones, arranged to give the monster an oddly human face. The claws around its maw, that remind you even more of fingers now that you are close, red poison still dripping from them. The metallic stench of blood fills your nostrils from all the vileness spilled and spat upon you. In this moment, you are both glad for the numbness and despise it. It takes the fear from you, which any sane woman would feel when standing so close to a being that so obviously should never have been. Yet it also takes so much of the exhilarating joy as you see the tip of you dagger inside that maw, emerging through the throat you have jammed it into.
Xochi: Do the sane thing? 1d4 = 1 -> Yes. Full Defense
Fleshweaver: Attack Yaxkin with Legs
Automatic Failure
Yaxkin: Attack with Black-Gold Dagger
91 + 60 (Strength) + 80 (Dexterity) + 80 (Bladed Weapons) + 20 (Knife Fighter) + 220 (Positioning) = 551
vs.
Fleshweaver: Evasion
78 + 30 (Dexterity) + 30 (Dexterity) + 20 (Evasion) = 158
40 Degrees of Success
1d10 + 40 = 46 Damage
DR 12 reduces to 34 damage.
Damage halved due to armor quality: 17 damage
Fleshweaver killed
Xochi takes 1 point of damage due to a Bleeding Wound.
Yaxkin 30/30
Xochi 15/35 - WP -2
The last breath of the Fleshweaver washes over you as it screams for one last time. If it is in futile defiance, rage, despair or if it even can comprehend such emotion, you do not know. Neither do you truly care. You take a quick step back, twisting your dagger to wrench it free from the foul flesh, and then it is over. The legs that tried and nearly succeeded to kill you go slack and with a mighty thud, the body drops to the ground. The head of the spirit lolls listless to the side as ichor still freely flows from its wound, drenching the earth in red.
It is over. You have won.
AN: Congratulations. You killed the thing. Seems the dice just wanted to be extra dramatic, for the most important rolls went tremendously well for you.
Next up is Yaxkin going find Xochi and patching her up, but this felt like a good moment to close the chapter.
If you have specific plans for how to heal her, what to say to her or general post-battle directions, this would be the moment to make a Write-In.
Depends on what you want to take. Xochi will offer some opinions on that (and expect a fair cut since you can't haul the whole thing and she nearly died to aid you), but you can dig out whatever you like.
