The Wight Album, part 2
Log Info
- Title: The Wight Album, part 2
- Emitter: Whirlpool
- Characters: Dalton, Jay, Kyria, Patch, Sherine
- Place: Alexandros Outpost
- Time: Sunday, July 24, 2022, 9:44 PM
- Summary: Following the trail, the party determines they are close by scent alone. Integrity, the bluejay lawyer, scouts ahead and finds two wights, a tattered human with a flute, and two dead owlbears. He reports his findings and Patch recognizes what they're doing as a ritual to create more wights. The party advances quickly and loudly, the jotun signalling their progress. They arrive to find the wights and the piper gone, and the owlbears rising. They immediately attack, and Integrity is badly mauled by one of the owlbears before the party manages to put them down. A rapidly vanishing tune moves through the woods and they must decide whether they follow it.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Appearing =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Dalton 7'1" 412 Lb Giantborn Male Huge man with stern features and demeanor. Jay 5'9" 145 Lb Eaglefolk Male A perky male Blue Jay with a discerning eye. Kyria 4'5" 95 Lb Dawn Elf Female Silvery blonde, petite Dawn Elf. Patch 4'8" 100 Lb Dawn Elf Female A blond sildanyari with a port-wine stained face. Sherine 5'2" 111 Lb Human Female Veyshanti sword dancer in blue and gold. -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--= -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= As the GM =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Whirlpool Otyugh I am stinky! -=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=--=
The guard seems surprised with how quickly the tracks were identified and simply states, "This is as far as I'm allowed to go. We'll wait for you to run down the lead at the outpost. If you need to run to a safe place, you know where to find us and don't be afraid to do so."
The tracks, then, are followable. Just when someone loses sight of whoever's passage this was, another person will find a broken branch, a different depression. It becomes clear that whoever did this *did* try to cover their tracks, to some degree, as it is also clear they did follow to the outpost at one point before doubling back, likely when the attack failed.
An hour passes. Two.
That's when you smell it.
...rot.
More rot. Intense. Best be on your guard, right.. Whatever's the source, you're getting *very* close.
"Uff! That stinks." Jay states the obvious, "Smells really bad. I think it's over there. Should we approach quietly?" Sherine makes a face at the smell. (She isn't very good at tracking and lets someone else handle that.)
"Probably," Sherine says, keeping her voice low-ish, "but I've never been very good at keeping it quiet." She does not jingle her chain shirt but she thinks about it. "Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained! If someone wants to sneak up, good luck!"
Patch looks to Jay and Sherine, sighing as they talk. "It might be... for the best." agreeing quietly as a hand reaches to tug the collar of her coat over her nose as the smell had sent it twitching. "At least it smells like we found the right place."
Dalton grunts lowly and also seems to be someone doomed to jingle jangle walk when he does. But he adds, "I will try to be quiet," because he will try! Settling onto boots again he sighs and just reaches under his armor to snag a corner of his shirt and draws it up over his nose. It's a comical look but at least he isn't gagging on the rot any more. Gross.
Sherine has an advantage in the face-covering department, because she can pull up her headwrap over her mouth and nose.
Which she did. Immediately.
Kyria follows along, doomed to either smell it or breathe through her mouth. Neither option is a pleasant one. She stays close to Dalton, staying as quiet as one can, even if she's walking next to the jangling Giantborn.
"Well I'll head out a little bit in front! I won't be far, a good charge distance. I think it's this way. I'll shout if I see something." The bluejay says, leaving his nostrils uncovered so he can more easily home in on the source of the stench. He coughs, "definitely this way."
<OOC> Jay says, "so, yes, try to sneak up while staying roughly 60' ahead of the party" GAME: Jay rolls stealth+2: (19)+11+2: 32 GAME: Jay rolls perception+2: (5)+14+2: 21
In the trees, a good sixty feet ahead of the others, the smell of rot is intense here, yes, incredibly so. It's here that there are two owlbear corpses on the ground. Seated, are a pair of wights, hunched over one of them. They're ignoring a third figure, a human man in raggedy, soiled clothing with a flute in his hands that he's twirling with a wild-eyed smile on his face. His own tatters look somewhat dragonieri.
Whirlpool pages: If you want to hurry back to the others, roll stealth :) GAME: Jay rolls stealth+2: (6)+11+2: 19 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+1: (16)+1: 17 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+1: (2)+1: 3 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+1: (9)+1: 10
A good sixty feet ahead of the others, the bluejay is in the pines. The smell of rot is intense, incredibly so. He sees something that makes gasp, a sound he quickly chokes in an attempt to go unnoticed.
So far, so good. He heads back.
He emerges from the underbrush near the party, "Okay, there's a small camp. There are two owlbear corpses on the ground. There are two wights, seated and hunched over the corpses. They're ignoring a third figure, a human in raggedy, soiled clothing."
"He's got a flute, which he's twirling with a wild-eyed expression. A really big smile. The rags of clothes look somewhat dragonieri." The egalrin shrugs his wings, "I could draw you a little map of the camp, but it's not far and not big. I didn't see anything else on the way there or back."
Sherine is not a great waiter, but she manages to be patient long enough.
"So what do you want to do about it?" she asks. "If it was up to *me*, I'd take out the wights and catch the human." Sherine rests her hand on her scimitar's hilt. "Bu~ut I don't think I can do that myself, so I am eager to hear your own ideas!"
Patch takes her bow from her shoulder, nodding to Sherine. "It sounds like a plan to me. Questions need answers, and I am fairly sure we won't get it from the wights." the description from Jay still causing the bard pause.
"We need to be wary of that flute. I don't know... the piper doesn't sound stable." Patch's hushed words coming with a frown. "I don't want to use magic or song until we've surprised them."
Kyria listens as the information is relayed, letting out a soft sigh. "It's a shame he's playing with it or I'd say pick his pockets then commence with the thumping. If he's controlling them would it not be wise to make him the focus before he can stir them to action?"
"He didn't look stable," Integrity C Truefeather, concurs, the 'C' is for confirms. "Something is protecting him from the wights' notice. It might be the flute. We could try taking him alive, so he can answer questions."
"Well, talking to him first might avoid a fight." The l-eagal egalrin speculates. "The wights are the bigger concern. I don't know his degree of control, if he could stop them attacking someone else."
"You don't want to be touched by them, and it would be best to hit them hard as a surprise." Jay glances at the giantborn," preferably from range, but up close works too. I can put bolas on the piper to stop him running."
"That's why I said 'catch' and not 'kill'. Why not ask him some questions? Even if he *is* controlling them, maybe we can make him stop if we just... stop him from playing," Sherine says. She's impatient; with even a basic plan she wants to rush in. She's obviously holding herself back.
She does touch the hilt of her scimitar again. "Don't worry. I won't get touched if I have anything to say about it."
"I will use my bow from the edge of camp. We can have some of us draw the wights as others... go for the weirdo?" Patch says, looking about as the group discusses, keeping an eye on their perimeter. "I don't care how we deal with this, other than we stop this perversion of song and magic."
GAME: Patch rolls 1d20+3: (15)+3: 18 (Bardic as Knowledge/Religion)
Patch sighs and shudders, something causing her ears to twitch. "Okay, so... I was reading tomes about the undead. I... damn." a hand bumping her forehead in thought. "There was a dumb passage I came by... it... there is some ritual or something they use to create more undead. Those corpses. They might soon rise." Sherine thinks about that.
For about two seconds. "Let's burn them," she suggests.
Dalton grunts, "If those corpses are gonna rise soon then we better get the piper and then deal with whatever came up. Waiting just makes for more work," he says in his simplistic farmer wisdom.
Kyria nods in agreement, "I would rather not fight blighted Owlbears on top of everything else. Asking him questions would be lovely, not dying would be even better. I'm all for taking him captive, but if it comes down to that and making it home, I'm going to set his creepy ass on fire."
<OOC> Whirlpool says, "If everyone wants to approach sneakily, roll stealth!" <OOC> Whirlpool says, "If you have pre-fight spells you want to cast, cast 'em now." GAME: Patch rolls stealth: (18)+7: 25 GAME: Jay rolls stealth+2: (12)+11+2: 25 GAME: Kyria rolls Stealth: (15)+3: 18 GAME: Sherine rolls Stealth: (8)+3: 11 GAME: Dalton rolls stealth: (5)+0: 5 <OOC> Whirlpool says, "Okay, everyoen pose being reasonably sneaky except for Dalton who is like JANGLE-BANGLE-BAM" <OOC> Dalton did warn EVERYONE.
"Okay, okay. Well let's go then." Jay says, immediately slipping back into the woods. He's knows the path, he's out ahead and moving quickly and quietly. A little louder than his earlier effort, but it's all good.
The huge JANGLE-BANGLE-GAM of the Jotun behind him covers all his potential noise.
Patch slips towards the camp's edge, following Jay as she falls silent and slips into the shadows despite her brightly colored coat. Dalton can be heard easily behind her, the development causing her to grin. Words are thought but not spoken, which is a shame to the bard, but perhaps when encroaching on undead foes isn't the best time to be joking.
Sherine is at least reasonably quiet. *She's* quiet, anyway; her chain shirt makes a bit of noise, but she's agile and light on her feet and she covers for it at least a little bit. She does keep her hand on her scimitar the whole way down, Just In Case. Dalton knows this story, it's as old as his adventuring career. Everyone wants to go in quiet and he is looking at them like they've grown second heads, they've seen his beer keg physique right? That armor? Sigh. He quietly draws blade and hefts shield onto arm because this is only going to go one way. Still, he tries. Heel to toe in a comically loud attempt at sneaking that is like a five year old being up too late and ABSOLUTELY waking their parents. Jangle.
Jinglejingle.
CLANK.
Kyria doesn't walk *away* from Dalton, but there's no point in sneaking if she shadows him directly for once. So she moves into the shadows and bushes, doing her best to approach as quietly as she can while keeping an eye on the one man band.
You come closer to the site that Jay identified, with Dalton lingering behind due to how noisy he is.
By the time you've gotten there, it appears that the wights and the mysterious bard with the flute have stepped away. There's just a pair of rotten, monstrous corpses laying on the ground. Perhaps they accomplished what they set out to do and have left it to 'unnature' to take its course? These things are thought to take some time.
Nobody's here.
"Great!" Sherine says, clapping her hands together. "We can burn them. Did anyone see something to burn? I have flint but I do not think the bodies will just... light." She has never burned a corpse before.
Kyria glances to the bodies then around at the now vacant camp. "Are there tracks? Footprints that will show us which way they went?" She gives the Owlbears a wide berth, searching the ground for clues.
GAME: Patch rolls perception: (16)+8: 24 GAME: Dalton rolls perception: (19)+6: 25
Patch tsks, stepping out of her cover from the edge of camp. She's already seeking and searching the ground. "Does anyone have any oil, or grease? That will get them going." suggesting as she listens for any stray notes or sounds the wind brings from the forest. "Where did they go?"
"I can get a fire going with flint and steel and about five minutes, allegedly." Jay says, also stepping from cover and looking at the group, "I think spells would be faster and more effective."
"I can check for tracks, but my rapier isn't going to do much." He demonstrates this by stabbing the nearest owlbear, "Decapitation works on a lot of things, allegedly. Does someone have a big sword or axe?"
There *are* foot prints leading away from the bodies. Naturally, as you're moving closer to search the area and to perhaps prepare to light the corpses *on fire*, that's when one of the two owlbears leaps to its fight with a mournful death rattling howl.
The horrible wight owlboar is just sitting up!
<OOC> Sherine says, "Since I was presumably nearby since I was trying to figure out how to light it on fire, I'm going to attack it! With a scimitar!" GAME: Sherine rolls 1d20+8: (12)+8+4: 24 (+4 prone) GAME: Sherine rolls 1d6+4: (3)+4: 7
Sherine had been considering if she wanted to get the goblin army knife out, because it sets fires, according to the goblin she bought it from. And if it didn't, they wouldn't have told her that, right?
But before she gets any further than thinking about it, the owlbear starts to rise! Her reactions are on point; she spins, carving a slash out of it before rising up into a more guarded position, blade raised. "Ah! No time for fire now!"
<OOC> Jay says, "It's prone, I'd like to move to flanking, so I can get a sneak attack in. Stab" GAME: Jay rolls weapon2+4+2: (11)+8+4+2: 25 (+4 for prone, +2 for flanking_ GAME: Jay rolls damage2+2d6: aliased to 1d6+1+2d6: (4)+1+(12): 17
"Ah! Ah! It's getting up! Up!" Jay squawks, jumping around, flustered and feathery. His rapier was out, he immediately stabs. The weapon plunges into the creatures spine, going deep. "Burn it! Hit it! They're getting up!"
<OOC> Kyria will shoot with her bow, saving spells for now. GAME: Kyria rolls 1d20 +3 +4: (2)+3+4: 9 <OOC> Kyria will show a tree whatfor.
Kryia shows a tree whatfor.
<OOC> Whirlpool says, "It stands up! Jay, Sherine: AOOs!" GAME: Sherine uses an AoO! 0 remaining. GAME: Sherine rolls 1d20+8: (15)+8+2: 25 (+2 Flanking with Jay) GAME: Sherine rolls 1d6+4: (3)+4: 7 GAME: Jay rolls weapon2+2: (9)+8+2: 19 (+2 Flanking with Sherine) GAME: Jay rolls damage2: aliased to 1d6+1: (2)+1: 3 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+7: (15)+7: 22 GAME: Whirlpool gave you 1 negative levels. 1 total negative levels. GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+4: (3)+4: 7 GAME: Whirlpool damaged you for 7 points. 22 HP remaining. GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+14: (2)+14: 16 (CMB - Fail)
As vulnerable as the flopped over owlbear was, it is not so vulnerable anymore now that its on its feed. Towering at nine feet in height and its hundreds and hundreds of pounds in weight, a single clawed arm snatches out at Jay, raking his wings and leaving him wounded. It tries to yank him to its body, but all it gets are a whole lotta feathers.
<OOC> Patch says, "Going to sing, and use Inspire Courage. Standard action because I have to start a performance. Also, put a little distance, stepping back 10 feet, and keeping that bow ready." (Bardic Performance Inspiration: +1 to Charm/Fear, and +1 to Attack/Damage)
Watching the battle begin, and currently rage causes Patch to wrinkle a nose, her words spit to an unheard rhythm, each one carrying a note of the song within her head.
- "Goodbye to our enemies, to our enemies!"
- "They try to beat us, but we won't surrender!"
- "Fear won't be the death of us, the death of me."
- "We won't go quietly, not into this night!"
The Bard's feet carrying her a tad away from the fight with song on her lips, bringing her bow up, and readying it for use.
<OOC> Dalton says, "Can I get a flanking bonus on the one they've already smacked and also smack it?" <OOC> Whirlpool says, "You can assuredly flank with one of them." <OOC> Whirlpool says, "Thankfully, despite their size, they only hve a five foot reach." <OOC> Dalton says, "Flank with Sherine and smack with sword and shield at -1 due to +2 flank and +1 bardic inspiration?" GAME: Dalton rolls 1d20+7-1: (18)+7+-1: 24 (Longsword attack) GAME: Dalton rolls 1d20+6-1: (9)+6+-1: 14 (Shield attack)
Dalton swings his sword, followed by his shield. His sword hits.
<OOC> Sherine says, "I'm going to take advantage of flanking to lay another (hopefully) big slash down." GAME: Sherine rolls 1d20+8+2+1: (3)+8+2+1: 14
The music helps focus her. Sherine hasn't actually fought an owlbear, living or dead - or any kind of undead - before, so while she's got the skills, you never know whether you've got the mindset until it happens.
Apparently she does, because she lays another slash into it as it rises, jukes to one side as Dalton comes in and the monster grabs for Jay - "Hands off!" she demands, as she slashes again. This one only ruffles feathers. (Whose feathers? Don't ask.)
GAME: Jay rolls weapon2+2: (5)+7+2: 14
Jay staggers back from the blow, injured and unsteady. So cold. "Ah... a little help? Thanks Sherine."
He thrusts, and his shaking hand is insufficient, the strike is turned.
GAME: Kyria rolls 1d20 +3 +1: (15)+3+1: 19 GAME: Kyria rolls 1d6: (4): 4
Kyria continues to stay back, away from grabby claws as she starts to plink away with her bow.
GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+7: (17)+7: 24 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+7: (13)+7: 20 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+4: (3)+4: 7 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d6+4: (4)+4: 8 GAME: Whirlpool rolls 1d20+14: (1)+14: 15 (EPIC FAIL) GAME: Whirlpool damaged you for 15 points. 7 HP remaining. GAME: Whirlpool gave you 2 negative levels. 3 total negative levels. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Name | CHP (T) | HP | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ | Dalton........| 21 | 21 | | Jay...........| -3 | 19 | | Kyria.........| 9 | 9 | | Patch.........| 16 | 16 | | Sherine.......| 20 | 20 | ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fortunately, the owlbear is starving and just roused, so it's weaker than it would be otherwise!
It's strong enough to pluck the bluejay however, slashing and draining him to the verge of collapse.
<OOC> Patch is going to dart, use free action to keep her song going, but I want to slap CLW on the poor Jay. :/ <OOC> Whirlpool says, "the neglevels are more danger, yeah." GAME: Patch casts Cure Light Wounds. Caster Level: 2 DC: 14 GAME: Patch rolls 1d8+2: (3)+2: 5 GAME: Whirlpool damaged you for -5 points. 2 HP remaining. <OOC> Whirlpool says, "Ah, I should've applied the negative levels first." GAME: Whirlpool damaged you for -8 points. 10 HP remaining. <OOC> Whirlpool says, "That's where you should be."
Patch goes wide-eyed as Jay is torn and thrashed, her feet already carrying her towards him in a hurried pace. She still spits lyrics, keeping some magic alive, but also conjuring others. "Pain will soon be a memory!" the rhythm unchanging. "Pour it over you like stormy weather!"
Soon she's there, the verbal and etching of her magic burning in her hand as she dips to touch Jay, finishing the spell and releasing healing energy into him with a huff. "Fight till the end, the end of me! Do you think this would be easy?!" carrying on the tune.
GAME: Dalton rolls 1d20+7-1: (3)+7+-1: 9 GAME: Dalton rolls 1d20+6-1: (1)+6+-1: 6 (EPIC FAIL)
Dalton has yet to be terribly effective, his first thwack got a chunk of flesh but that was about it. Then the second attempt sees him whiffing entirely with the sword and his shield just kinda bonks right into his other arm like this is the first time he's wielded two weapons at a time. A grunt comes and he keeps the shield up at least, ready to receive a claw in return eventually.
<OOC> Sherine says, "Well let's try for lucky threes before Jay gets eaten!" GAME: Sherine rolls 1d20+8+2+1: (8)+8+2+1: 19 GAME: Sherine rolls 1d6+4: (1)+4: 5
Sherine switches from spinning slashes to harder strikes to try to drive the owlbear away from Jay. While she's not successful in carving even chunkier pieces off like she was hoping, she does at least manage to strike again - and just in time to give Jay a shot, too! "Just one more - "
<OOC> Jay says, "I guess I didn't collapse, so keep attacking" GAME: Jay rolls weapon2+2: (13)+5+2: 20 GAME: Jay rolls damage2: aliased to 1d6+1+2d6: (2)+1+(8): 11 <OOC> Whirlpool says, "Still up, but barely."
It gets even colder for the bluejay. He is not a winter bird. The warmth of a healing spell bolsters him, but he's struggling further. It's just like that time in the sewers. "Fight to the end, fight to the end. Ok. ok."
He thrusts! Success, this time, a deep wound, but it does not bring the owlbear down.
GAME: Kyria rolls 1d20 +3 +1: (13)+3+1: 17 GAME: Kyria rolls 1d6: (3): 3 <OOC> Whirlpool says, "Kyria drops it."
Kyria plunks another arrow into the creature, watching it go down with a soft sigh of relief. And she managed to not get slimmed this time.
The owlbear reaches out towards Jay one more time before it collapses back to the ground.
... the other one has started to twitch.
"Oh, hells nah!" Patch shouts, interrupting her own song, a finger snapped to point the twitching corpse. Jay is close to her, her glance flicking back to him. "Truefeather, the storm isn't over. Let's regroup!" glancing to the others, and hoping to find consensus.
"It's not dead yet. The other one. It's moving." Jay says, swooning, and moving to stab at it. "We have to take it out now. If we stand still it'll stand up."
Dalton gives a resounding cheer for Kyria dealing the death blow, and he is quick to turn that into a yipping sound as the other one twitches. "On it!" he calls and rather takes a few large steps so that he can join the rest in coming down on it with the fury of a handful of adventurers.
Sherine is not inclined to wait around. "I see it is!" she says. "Let's stop it before it rises!"
She can't light it on fire fast enough to be useful, so she swings instead, delivering an overhead blow with an artful twist. Then another.
Kyria starts to draw another arrow as the second Owlbear starts to twitch and make sounds. She lowers it when the rest of the group proceeds with the curbstomping and chuckles softly as she goes back to searching out the path the others took away from the camp.
Dalton rather quickly jumps to start hacking at the owlbear's neck parts trying to maybe behead it before it gets the chance to go too far. The shield is also used to kind of pin the thing down while he does so, hopefully giving the others more time to also stab and cut into it until it doesn't have the strength to stand.
Patch watches as several of the others leap to take care of that second beast. She has not the muscle, nor the skill to contribute to this kind of butchering. She sighs and looking to Jay and Kyria with a shrug. "From now own I'll be keeping alchemist's fire. I thought people were joking when they said you should always have some."
When Sherine decided to be an adventurer, she assumed it would be more epic duels, possibly on a castle wall with thunder booming in the background, and less butchery.
"I haven't any either," she says, as regards alchemist's fire. "It might be worth remembering!"
Before long, the owlbear is reduced to butchered shreds. Rotten butchered shreds. It stops twitching.
The little glade you're in falls into silence...
...but then you hear it, close by, right amongst you. A low, sad melody on a flute that begins fading into the distance swiftly.
"That's the sound the awakened Owlbears would hear and be compelled to follow." Jay says, turning his head, orienting on the direction the sound is traveling. "Come on, we can track it."
Patch nods to Jay, taking a moment to take inventory of those notes being played, ear twitching before she speaks. "I'm reluctant, but willing to continue." looking back to the rest of the group. "Anyone need magics, or are we healthy enough to move?"
Kyria nods her readiness to move on, looking to Dalton to see if he is likewise in decent condition to pursue.
Dalton hefts his shield and sword and nods, "I've decided I don't like flutes," he says.
There's a wheezy, breath laugh on the wind as the last of the melody fades out.
As a look around is taken by Kyria, you find it -- footprints amongst the bushes. He was here. Watching you. Watching the whole time, but you couldn't see him. But he was definitely *here*.
"I've always been fond of the Oud," Sherine says, partway through cleaning her scimitar.
But it doesn't seem like she's going to get the chance to clean it all the way, judging by that flute...
The direction it's going does reveal more tracks, here and there, but it's getting darker and harder to follow them. It seems the piper might've flown away', or at least he's absolutely unwilling to engage with you. Probably not the last you've heard from him, but at least you ruined his plan to let loose the owlbears on the scouts, as seems likely.
Combatty
===================== Current Initiative Order - Round 1 =====================
---Init--Name------------AOO-Notes--------------------------------------------
>> 21 Sherine 1 <<
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18 Jay 1
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18 Kyria 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds remaining)
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11 Wight Owlbear
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10 Patch 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds remaining)
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6 Dalton 1 Flat-footed (0 rnds remaining)
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