Balodek's Ironfang Invasion

Game Master Balodek

Round 2
SA: Fire heavy crossbow
MA: begin reloading
Elemental: attacks

Krowe takes a shot at a hobgoblin while elemental moves to another enemy.

Heavy Crossbow: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20 -4 if all hobgoblins are in melee
Damage: 1d10 ⇒ 7
Slam - PA/Earth Mastery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 11 ⇒ (1) + 11 = 12

Bor cracks a few ribs on the hobgoblin attacking Bazsil while Krowe and his elemental kill the other. The last hobgoblin goes down quickly beneath your assault and you stand victorious over the corpses and wagon.

Lirosa and Taidel run up quickly, eyes bright at the easy fight.

"That was amazing! There's no way we won't be able to retake Phaendar," Taidel says.

You quickly look over the wagon and decide what to do.

The wagon contains 40 Provision Points’ worth of dried meat, ale, and fruit, as well as two masterwork chain shirts, 300 feet of silk rope, a healer’s kit, and a crate containing 10 bottles of alchemist’s fire. A lockbox under the wagon seat has a tough looking lock on it.

The horses are ill-treated and underfed, and have no love for their current masters. They can be coaxed into service with a successful DC 15 Handle Animal check. A horse consumes 2 Provision Points per day, or 1 Provision Point per day if allowed to graze freely (generally, any day it is not working). Alternatively they can be turned into 4 Provision Points total at Bazsil's insistence.

Seeing the lockbox Bor grabs ahold of the lock. He places his feet against the frame, giving the lock a small twist as he slams back.

Str: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

He begins to feel elated as the adrenaline coarses through his body. "We can do this!" He repeats Taidel.

I could use a good horse steak. Who doesn't love horse steak?

Bazsil looks at the tired and broken nags and then begins to loot all the weapons, gear, and armor from the hobgoblins.

"Bor, help me out here. Even if we can't use all these weapons, our smithy might be able to re-use the metals," Bazsil encourages, adding all the weapons and armors to the wagon.

"Anyone find a key to that lockbox? Maybe those big gobbos have them?"

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 CLW @ Bazsil

Faolan laughs as the hobgoblins are brought low - and quickly, with few injuries. "That was bracing!"

He tries approaching the horses with food and water, and just tries to calm them for now.
Handle Animal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

He leaves them in the traces and searches the wagon and the bodies carefully for keys and other odds and ends. "Let's drag the bodies into the woods. Make 'em search to find out what happened to the wagon. Anything that confuses them or makes them waste time is a good thing for us."

When the bodies have been dragged out of the path, he'll try and rally the horses to pull the wagon. He'll go off the trail and a little ways into the woods before stopping and doubling back to help cover the trail.

Giving the lock his best shot Bor hops down and begins to gather up the equipment with Bazsil. He looks to the skinny horses. "We should feed them. They can be used to haul equipment and the sick or wounded as this is only going to get worse."

The lock on the strongbox proves resistant to your brute strength. When you eventually take it back to the cave and spend a few hours hacking away at the box you'll find it contains 550gp.

The horses will go with Faolan as he gently guides them.

Oops. My bonus on that roll should have been +0, not +2. I thought Handle Animal was wisdom there for a moment. Sorry. Made it either way...

Faolan reaches the cave gladly, and hands the horses over to someone better skilled... well at all skilled really. "Give 'em some extra rations over the next day or two so they thicken up. They scarcely had the strength to get us here. Might be they can help around the camp - or even with patrols - when they're healthier."

Later he beats on the strongbox with a vengeance. Sweaty and tired, he'll hold up the spoils... when eventually he gets to them.

He sleeps fitfully that night, pleased in what they accomplished that day. In the morning, he joins the group aside a little from the others.

"We should see what can be done to take the fight to them a little. I suggest, for the next few days, we scour the forest looking for hobgoblins and testing their strength. What do you say?!"

This was too easy.

Expecting another force of soldiers to spring a trap upon them at any second, Krowe stands at a distance, watching the Mercs loot the hobgoblin caravan. When nothing happens he circles the scene and detects for magic, and eventually draws near as Faolan calms the horses.

”Dragging the bodies a short distance won’t be enough. We need to make them disappear. Throw them in the wagon, and we’ll dispose of them far from here. Let’s clear that tree as well.”

Krowe makes sure to search the dead before they are buried or tossed in a gorge.

Back in their cave stronghold Krowe visits with the refugees and spreads the word of their victory. For the first time since the invasion of Phaendar he almost seems happy.

In the morning he joins the mercs and agrees with Faolan’s suggestion. ”For now the forest is our territory. Not only should we slay any hobgoblins within it, but we need to explore and understand it better then they do. We should have at least one other place to fall back on should the current site for our camp become compromised.”

Bazsil nods to Krowe to indicate some agreement, but also not too much.

"We just need to get them off the roads so they are not easy to find. The animals will have them soon enough," Bazsil says, thinking about a good crag or cliff upon which to toss the bodies.

Though he is pleased the horses can be recovered enough to pull the wagon back to camp, he also wishes for a horse steak and privately hopes for a slipped hoof leading to a broken leg leading to a nice piece of meat for him.

"Let's get back and share our score with the group. Good job on you Lisora and Taidel, the honor of this goes to you. You made this happen. Good job," Bazsil clap both Lisora and Taidel on the back. "When we get back and share the returns, everyone will know how you make this happen."

1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23 Diplomacy - increase morale@L&T

* * *
When the party returns, Bazsil will again tell the story of the wagon robbery with as much detail as he can. He credits the victory to Lisora and Taidel and to the entire group for making it possible. He deep rumbling and well-trained voice echoes to every ear. "This is possible because all of you are helping keep us fed while we go fight. We're all in this together...and together will drive the hobgobs out!"

1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31 Diplomacy - increase morale @ group

Returning to camp Bor dumps his bag out in the armor and sorts through the gear. Organizing everything while Bazsil makes his rousing and uplifting speech to try and increase the camp's morale

He sorts the dried meat, ale, fruit and coils the ropes, setting them in the corner.

Once everything is set in its place Bor leans against the wall, listening to the end of the tale. Once the cheers subside he approaches the group. "So just us scouting and striking tomorrow or do we want some more of the camp branching out in other directions?"

"Good idea Krowe, we should find a backup sight for us while we search the forest. Bor, we already have Lirosa and Taidel doing exactly that - if a little closer to the camp. I say we stick to that for now, and we be the advanced party searching deeper for now."

"I worry they may be spotted and tracked back to the camp. If we have too many teams out there doing the same thing, it just increases the odds. Those two have proved their mettle, and I hope we do as well."

Faolan enjoys the rumblings of their storyteller Bazsil. He finds it more exciting than the actual event!

He's eager to go scouting tomorrow, perhaps to the North a ways, then arc West and just search the forest to the logging camp, then south and see what we can see of the town from the forest, then curl back. Should take a few days and give us a sense of what's out there.

The refugees cheer at the end of Bazsil's speech, and morale seems quite high. The stone walls and hidden entrance of the caves give them a sense of security and your continued success against the Legion has given them hope.

You take your rest, sort your gear, and prepare to move back into the forest and strike at the Legion again.

Sounds like a large counterclockwise circle is the order of the day?

”Counterclockwise, you say?” Bazsil says, trying to place the landmarks in his mind. ”Yeah, I guess we could do that.” He packs a bit more dried trail jerky into his pack, getting ready for the day ahead.

”We also need to find a way to strike against the town. Too bad we don’t have a good spy or mole within.”

Bazsil is ready to move out, going east, then north, then west, finally south (towards town, I think)...unless someone has a better plan.

Faolan thinks about the last time he saw a clock. It's been some time, but he remembers it going around to the right and they wanted to go to the left. He nods. "Agreed. Hopefully our search and observation of the town will reveal something."

Faolan gears up and is ready to depart.

”That route seems logical.” Krowe agrees. Since his magical haversack holds more than any normal bag he loads it with all the alchemist fire they recently recovered from the hobgoblin caravan, and extra food and arrows for the mercs, just in case they find themselves out longer than expected.

Bor shrugs, he never really learned the mechanisms of a clock. More of a sun and stars position guy himself as he spent most of his life traveling.

"Sounds fine to me." He packs his bag with a couple days worth of food in case they get cut off for whatever reason.

"We should think of securing another storage place close buy. Someplace to store half the food and weapons in case we get overrun and have to retreat. That way we won't be as crippled."

You slip out of the cave entrance and spend some time securing it against discovery before beginning your journey. You move through the forest, the silence giving you time to wonder at the changes in your life in these last two weeks. It seems only a short time ago you were drinking in a tavern and looking for the next paying job.

After three hours of travel you begin carefully crossing a boulder strewn clearing, the after effects of a rockslide to the north. You can see where the face of the rocky bluff collapsed long ago. As you make your way past a clatter of rock draws your attention, preparing you for the hobgoblins who appear at the top of the bluff 50 feet away. Three female hobgoblins in leather armor with bows stand ready to fire while a dog launches itself down the slope of the slide.

The 3 hobgoblins are 50 feet away and up a rocky slope, it would take 2 move actions to go up once you reach the base 30 feet from you. Two have bows and one has a net.

Turn Tracker Round Surprise
Krowe
Leader
Dog
Bazsil
Scouts
Faolan
Bor

Bazsil, Faolan, and Bor have Surprise actions. The leader casts a spell on the dog and the dog moves down the slope. The two scouts will stand on their turn and prepare to fire.

Bor takes off at a run quickly climbing the slope. His boots dig into the dirt with ease as he grabs and any handhold in sight. "I'll try and knock them down here."

Round 1, Init 4

Free:
Move:Move behind tree.
Stnd: Shoot guard/scout.

”Bor, no! Wait! The dog is coming!” Bazsil cries, perhaps too late.

Magic longbow.
1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12 to hit; Might hit FF.
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 piercing damage.

Round: Surprise, Initiative: 5

Faolan sees Bor storm up the slope and shrugs, ”Do what you can from here Bazsil. I’ll try to make sure the dog doesn’t get past me.”

He readies his shield as he moves up the slope (singe move - surprise round).

Bor and Faolan move to the base of the slope, meeting the dog there.

Two move actions from here to the top.

Bazsil shoots at the dog before it is engaged.

Or you may move behind the tree and not shoot.

Turn Tracker Round 1
Krowe
Leader
Dog
Bazsil
Scouts
Faolan
Bor

Krowe to act in Round 1.

Round 1
SA: use arcane point to summon monster II
MA: move to cover
Elemental: attacks dog

Krowe moves to cover and calls for reinforcements.

”Tassalt!”

The small earth elemental heeds his call, rising from the ground before the goblin dog.

Slam PA/Earth Mastery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Damage: 1d6 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17

AC17
HP 17

Bazsil would shoot the guard and not step to cover.

Round 1, Init 4

”Come now. We fight.”

Free:
Move: After shooting, move behind tree.
Stnd: Shoot at scout.

Magic longbow.
1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14 to hit;
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9 piercing damage.

Krowe's elemental turns the dog to mush while Bazsil puts two arrows into one of the guards.

The leader and scouts return fire at Bazsil. Bazsil will have his cover bonus for these shots.

Leader@Bazsil: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 161d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Scout1@Bazsil: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 191d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
Scout2@Bazsil: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 161d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Turn Tracker Round 1
Krowe
Leader
Bazsil
Scouts
Faolan
Bor

Faolan and Bor to act in Round 1, Krowe Round 2 actions.

Bor hammers right past the dog and up the hill towards the real threat. He locks eyes with the mongrel as he kicks dirt into it's face.

Double move into melee with the leader and scout.

Round: 1, Initiative: 5

Faolan follows Bor in his charge to the top. He too double moves into melee. When he arrives, he helps cover his mate with his shield (+2 AC (trait) to Bor for one round - free action).

Round 2, Init 4

That was close, but don’t think any hit, esp not with vs. +2 AC trait.

Free:
Move: After shooting, cower behind tree.
Stnd: Shoot at scout.

”Geez!” Bazsil ducks behind a tree before taking aim at the wounded scout.

Magic longbow.
1d20 + 6 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 6 - 4 = 16 to hit; (-4 for cover or combat)
1d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8 piercing damage.

Round 2
SA: cast Magic Missile
MA: none
Elemental: double move toward nearest hobgoblin

”You ok Baz?!” Krowe calls over to the merc dodging arrows. Poking his own head out just enough to catch sight of the hobgoblin leader, he sends a couple magic missiles back to return the favor.

Magic Missile on Leader: 2d4 + 1 ⇒ (3, 3) + 1 = 7

Krowe moves to cover and calls for reinforcements.

His earth elemental glides up the hill towards the nearest enemy.

Elemental AC17 HP 17

Bor and Faolan move up the slope and prepare for melee. Krowe sends a magic missile into the leader while his elemental glides up the rocky face effortlessly. Snarling a curse the lead female drops her bow, snatches a net from her belt and throws it at Bor!

Leader@Bor: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21

When you throw a net, you make a ranged touch attack against your target. A net’s maximum range is 10 feet. If you hit, the target is entangled. An entangled creature takes a –2 penalty on attack rolls and a –4 penalty on Dexterity, can move at only half speed, and cannot charge or run.

Before the scouts can act one of them drops, Bazsil's arrow in her throat. The other drops her bow and draws her sword.

Turn Tracker Round 2
Krowe
Leader
Bazsil
Scouts
Faolan
Bor

Faolan and Bor Round 2, Krowe Round 3.

Sorry for the delay guys, had a hectic family weekend.

Bor's gets completely entangled as he punches at the leader.

CI Cestus: 1d20 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 4 - 2 = 5

His arm gets completely tangled up and he nearly falls flat on his face. "Dammit!"

”You ok Baz?!”

”Yeah, fine,” Bazsil replies, trying to think how he can help with his targets now in combat. He brushes from splinters from his face. ”A couple of those arrows came pretty close.”

Round 3
SA: cast Magic Missile
MA: none
Elemental: attacks nearest hobgoblin

Krowe sends another barrage of magic missiles up the hill.

Magic Missile on Leader: 2d4 + 1 ⇒ (4, 1) + 1 = 6

The earth elemental dives into the ground and rises beside a hobgoblin, smashing it with a rocky fist.

Slam PA/Earth Mastery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Damage: 1d6 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14
Elemental AC17 HP 17

Round: 2, Initiative: 5

Faolan frowns at the leader, and does what he can to shift the battle to the parties advantage by attacking him!
Shield Bash (cold iron): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 = 23 (flank?) damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Shield Bash (cold iron): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 5 + 2 = 12 (flank?) damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9

Krowe and his elemental smash the final scout into pieces, leaving only the leader. She takes a nasty blow from Faolan while dodging his other swing and Bor's cestus.

She draws her scimitar and slashes at Faolan.

Leader@Faolan: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 241d6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Turn Tracker Round 3
Krowe
Leader
Bazsil
Faolan
Bor

Bazsil, Faolan, and Bor Round 3; Krowe Round 4.

Round 2, Init 4

Free: Drop bow.
Move: Move behind Bor, drawing sword.
Stnd: Cut Bor out of net.

1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19 to hit;
1d10 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10 slashing damage.

Round: 3, Initiative: 5

”I don’t know your nasty foul language, but I doubt you’re going to live long enough to explain it to me with pantomime.” he shouts as he brings his shield down on the creature.
Shield Bash (cold iron): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 5 + 2 = 22 (flank?) damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Shield Bash (cold iron): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 5 + 2 = 8 (flank?) damage: 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Bor nods to Bazsil as he frees him from his worst enemy yet, himself. Bor reaches out for the hobgoblin leader's throat. "Enough of this. Drop your blade."

Vision of Madness Melee Touch Attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
Vision of Madness- For 3 rounds. +1 to all skill checks and -1 modifier to all attack and saving throw rolls.

Though he only seems to snatch air as his reach becomes shortened as he is still stuck on a small portion of the net before shaking it free.

Round 4
MA: double move
Elemental: attacks hobgoblin

Krowe comes out of cover and moves closer to the melee as his earth elemental continues making paste from hobgoblins.

Slam PA/Earth Mastery: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Elemental AC17 HP 17

Faolan and the elemental put paid to the leader before she is able to do further damage. Bazsil cuts Bor free and you prepare for any attack. After a while the forest sounds return to normal and you quickly check the dead.

potion of cure light wounds (4)
potion of cure moderate wounds
alchemist’s fire (4)
padded armor (2)
mwk studded leather
composite longbow (+2 Str) (2)
mwk composite shortbow (+2 Str)
38 arrows
handaxe (2)
dagger
mwk battleaxe (2)
mwk scimitar
cloak of resistance +1
nets (2)
backpack (2)
bedroll (3)
blanket (2)
mess kit (2)
small tent (2)
riding saddle
saddlebags
Provision Points (6)
14 gp

Looting and stripping the corpses you note they are all hobgoblin females, scarred in the fashion of the Legion. The scimitar wielder is more scarred to denote her leadership.

Faolan helps pack up the gear and looks for a convenient crevasse to hide the bodies. "We should make it hard for them to find what they lost. They'll either give up trying, or waste resources in the hunt."

He leaves behind more than he did before (like the padded armor) as it has little value to them and is overly bulky.

He holds up the cloak of resistance though, "Anyone mind if I wear this one?"

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Survival: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14

Knowing little, he's ready to head out once the bodies are hidden relatively well.

Bazsil adds the healing to the pile after cutting Bor free of the net.

"Nasty buggers to use nets. Those are the worst, almost worse than death because capture means slavery or being put in a cookpot...or both," Bazsil notes.

1d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 25 Know (local)

He doesn't need any of the other gear, save for replenishing his arrows.

"That was good. Let's keep going, we still have more ground to cover. But also, let's not get surprised again. Next time there might be more of them."

Knowledge Local: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12

Krowe notes that these hobgoblins are all female and makes a comment upon it.

”The Legion often employs female groups to scout. They are fast and vicious and this was a full squad here. My guess would be they were operating alone and at a distance from any other troops in the forest, but they had saddlebags, and I don’t see any mounts. I’m not sure what to make of that.”

As the spoils of the battle are decided, Krowe claims one potion of cure light wounds adds the other unused items to his haversack.

”Let’s keep moving.”

As the group heads out Krowe continues to keep and eye on the trail ahead for unusual tracks.

Survival: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26

Survival: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Just past the boulders Bor finds a set of tracks. he calls out to the others as they load up the equipment. "These are hours old. They appear to come from the northwest." Bor points in the direction they were headed. "Looks like they were trying to hide their trail. There might be more hobgoblins if we follow it."

”More hobgoblins? Is that good or bad? How many do we want to face? Or do we just wish to see how many their are?” Bazsil asks the air, knowing that they needed to know how many and how close they might be.

”Alright..let’s go that way. If you can track them, let’s do it.”

Bazsil retrieves his bow, finishes packing the gear, and is ready to move on.

You heal and loot, then head to the northwest following the trail. Several hours of tracking leads you to a concealed camp. The signs show they stayed in cover for the night, but too much time has passed for you to follow their trail with certainty after that.

Moving further through the forest and looking for signs of a main hobgoblin camp, Bor and Krowe see strange marks on some of the trees. Bark is missing in a strange circular pattern, as though a hard object was rubbed into the tree. You find one print of a wild boar, larger than any you've ever seen, directly under a rock with the same circular mark in it.

You've lost the direct hobgoblin trail for now. You can continue to search for a hobgoblin camp here, search for this mystery boar, or begin to cut south towards the old logging camp. You've several hours left in this day of travel, but you can also push through the night using the forced march rules.

"Seems like the trail's dried up. Should we spend the rest of the day checking out this region? It is what we're out here to do. No sense in rushing off to the logging camp, a place we've been before. I say we search around and see what we can find."

He munches on an apple by way of lunch and considers how tasty that boar may be...

Bor's stomach rumbles at the thought of the freshly cooked meat, but he knows better. "Might be better to scout out these Hobgoblins first. We don't want to accidentally stumble into the middle of a camp of them looking around. Or setting off some signal fire cooking that boar." His stomach groans again for juicy, delicious meat.

Not much of a tracker, Bazsil doesn’t help much with the tracking. He’ll try to keep an eye out, but pretty much lets the others decide if they can find the hobgobs.

”If we can find a way to scout and count them, that would be keen,” Bazsil offers.

Survival; Take 10: 10 + 7 = 17

Bor looks around to see if he can pick up the cold trail once again. At least to give them a direction.