Heroic Death

I'm knocked to the stone floor of the cavern by the clacking claws. My bow is broken, so is my leg, and my shoulder is torn. I'd really prefer to just lay down and wait -- the creature is already beginning to turn away from me,  I could crawl away, they could....rebind me... but I see its attention now on Nia and Tilbert, who are backing the other Thrixl into the fire in a desperate deadly dance.

Their backs are exposed. And honestly I never really wanted to go through rebinding. I don't think my mother would have approved of it.

I sigh and lash out with my good leg, sweeping the spindly chitinous legs of my foe on the smooth floor, and forcing its eyes back to me. With my good hand I grab my last remaining weapon. I always keep my whittling knife sharp. Sharper than my arrowheads, sometimes. Ha.

One chance, as it stoops over me. I flop my bad left arm right onto it's face, and it grabs the bait hard. I almost lost it right then, from the pain. But I always liked Tilbert. Nia's a decent girl too. left shoulder pull down, right arm thrust up, up through its neck with my knife. A good stroke.

Then it thrashes my arm off in its death spasm. That ought to hurt, I think, but I just lay my head down so I can watch Nia and Tillbert chop and burn, chop and burn. They look pretty good together. My vision fades as they finish and turn, because I don't want to see their faces when they see my body.

Not the way I expected to go, but I'm proud all the same. Shows ol' Luric. And the mission's done. I can hear them singing my song now, back in the hall. A proper hero.

~

Out of Character: death is something we want to be present in Legacy. Here it's offered as a choice: you can flop, feign death, and take a curse or consequence, (rebinding, maiming, etc.), or, you can take a heroic death and accomplish one more thing. In this case, a counter-attack on the monster that slew you. Mechanically that can be advantageous because you lose one guy to preserve two others. In this case the two remaining heroes would likely face additional injuries or deaths if surrounded by the remaining Thrixl. Making death feel heroic, and not just like a punishment is the goal.