Zeb's Crypt of the Everflame PbP

Game Master ZebulonXenos

Technically detect evil doesn't work on regular folks with an HD of less than 5; that said these folks are hardly hiding their intent, so I imagine Amadea will get the idea with or without divine help.

As soon as Amadea sets her gaze on the approaching boat, she doesn't feel any strong indication of their intent. However, the men are clearly wielding weapons - some of them appear to be crossbows - and three of the figures stand near the boat's edge, looking ready to spring.

Evil or not, their intent seems to be to do the inhabitants of this barge harm.

I'm waiting until I ge the sneak attack...round 0, I think.

I think round 0 is when the boats connect and crossing over is possible. I think y'all have rounds -3, -2, and -1 to take range shots, but only rounds -2 and -1 if everyone's waiting for Telperion to sneak attack with his first shot. Zeb, correct me if I misunderstood.

Well, I guess that gives me the choice of shooting earlier without sneak attack or shooting later with it. Since I called "wait" earlier, I'll stick with that. I'll put out the roll now, though, and Zeb can narrate the result when it applies.

Bow attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 (includes magic weapon)

I was going to post a day or two ago but then I realized that half my college assignments were due yesterday and those ended up taking priority.

"I doubt our crew here's worked up because we're about to be invited to tea," Bolkin muttered, "and I for one agree with them. Who tries to sneak up on a boat at night with good intentions?" Once Bolkin was sure he has a decent chance at hitting them, he let the first bolt fly. Even if it didn't hit, he was sure it'd help serve as a warning. He quickly loaded a second bolt into the crossbow as he prepared to fire again.

Bolkin uses a standard action to fire at one of the crossbow-wielders, and reloads his crossbow as a move action.

Well since we're stalling out here I'm gonna do the first round of attacks, then take rolls for the last round before they're alongside and reading to board. I'm assuming Raven and Drosk cast their spells on Round -2; everybody fires on Round -1 so that the enemies are flat-footed.

Raven's lights appear over the men's heads, giving them the first inkling that they've been spotted. Drosk gives a prayer to Torag that can scarcely be heard above the pelting rain. A few moments later, projectiles begin to fly from the barge, striking out at the men armed with crossbows.

Telperion stands up to take a shot, his arrow managing to find its way into one of the men's abdomen. Amadea follows this with an arrow of her own, and the man's shadowy form drops to the floor of the enemy's small boat.

Drosk catches a second figure in the gut with a Torag-guided stone from his sling. Bolkin notes his target and strikes the man in the shoulder with a bolt from his own crossbow.

Two of the men return fire, one bolt sending splinters into the lake in front of Morthos. Raven hears something whistle by her immediately after the muted twang of the second crossbow.

Telperion hits Crossbowman 1 for 7 sneak attack damage, followed by 9 more from Amadea (including point-blank bonuses). The man falls.

Drosk hits Crossbowman 2 for 6 damage, and Bolkin hits him for 5 damage.

The boats will be alongside each other on Initiative count 9 this round, meaning enemies will attempt to board.

For convenience's sake the map has the boat already pulled alongside; it won't actually be there until Initiative count 9.

Another note to new folks - I give the vital data for 'bit player' enemies to speed up combat resolution - hence the new data on the initiative chart.

Initiative Round 0:
> 25 Telperion
23 Raven
21 Morthos
18 Amadea
15 Drosk
9 Rudder-control-guy
8 Garik
8 Bolkin
8 Crossbowman (AC 15 / t 11 / ff 14) 1 - down 2 - 4/15 hp 3 - 15/15 hp, f +3, r +2, w +0
8 Privateer Captain

Seeing her arrow hit the lead man in the boat, and then seeing him fall, Amadea gasps and thinks, "Is he dead? Did I just kill a man?"
Her reaction is cut short when the quarrels from the crossbowman whistle past the boat on their way to her comrades. Stifling her instincts for the moment she draws another arrow, and looses towards those who would threaten them.

Attack aimed at one of the crossbowmen, or the leader if they are all down by her turn.
1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 6 + 1 = 15, 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 1 = 6

Round 0:

Morthos moves to where he thinks the leader-type will be, and then waits patiently for the boat to move along-side, before, with a roar, he rages, and takes a swing at L.

+1 Silversheen Greataxe: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 6 + 2 = 23, for 1d12 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 2 = 15 Magical Slashing damage.

Round 0: magic weapon; uninjured
Telperion tried his best to judge the speed of the approaching boat, and to gauge the time necessary to board the barge. I've never climbed from one ship to another, he thought, distressed that his calculations would be off.

One more arrow, I think, and then get ready to fence.

Telperion will fire one arrow at the privateer captain and then drop his bow as a free action and draw his shortsword as a move. Add a 5-ft step to g9, and I'm done.

Shortbow: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Round 0:

Amazed at the effectiveness of his initial attack, Drosk attempts to fire another blessed sling bullet at the crossbowman that he struck previously.

Standard action to fire sling bullet at crossbowman C2.

Attack: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 + 1 + 1 = 7 (magic stone, bless)
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Unfortunately, the dwarf priest's missile flies wide of its mark and sails harmlessly into the rain-filled darkness.

Reminder of the buffs currently in effect:

Magic Stone - Drosk's sling bullets (1 bullet remaining); +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage, and each bullet deals 1d6+1 damage (not including STR bonus).
Magic Weapon - Telp's bow; +1 enhancement bonus to attack and damage.
Bless - Entire party; +1 morale bonus to attack and saves vs. fear.

I didn't count the affect of the Bless spell, so my arrow should strike an AC 16, instead of 15.

With gusto, Bolkin quickly discarded his crossbow once he saw the boat pull up. He drew his flail as he rushed into the fray as quickly as he could. Once he was in position, he took a quick yet careful swipe at the legs of the apparent leader. As the flail seemed to connect with a solid blow, he started to boast, "So much for them having their sea legs, eh?"

Bolkin drops the crossbow as a Free Action, moves to G8 (or any other available square adjacent to the leader) while drawing his flail as a Move Action, and makes a single trip attempt with Combat Expertise against the Leader as a Standard Action.

If for whatever reason the Privateer Leader falls before Bolkin's turn comes up, the attack will be directed at the Helmsman.

Round 0, 17 HP, AC 14, Blessed +1 to attack

Raven watches the boat come closer, trying to get a feel for where she can help. She wonders if it'll be harder to board the barge if their ship's deck is covered with grease.

"arwyneb llithrig"

Delay until they come up close to the barge, then casts grease. If the helmsman is armed, the spell is targetted at the corner of F7 and E8, to catch the captain and helmsman, otherwise it's targetted at F6 and E7, to catch the captain and crossbowman 3. Reflex save vs DC15 to avoid falling. Then, "A creature can walk within or through the area of grease at half normal speed with a DC 10 Acrobatics check. Failure means it can't move that round (and must then make a Reflex save or fall), while failure by 5 or more means it falls (see the Acrobatics skill for details). Creatures that do not move on their turn do not need to make this check and are not considered flat-footed."

As the boat pulls up, Garik brings his weapons down on the nearest thug.

Telperion's quick shot glances off the leader's studded armor, the arrow sailing on into the night.

Amadea fares better, a second crossbowman falling as the boat makes its final approach.

The pirates, though clearly prepared to engage in a boarding action, are unprepared for the onslaught unleashed by Bolkin and the dwarves. The leader falls to the freshly grease-covered deck of his own vessel, Morthos' axe following him and hitting home in the man's side. Garik follows suit, cutting a bloody rent across the remaining crossbowman.

"Torch'a bloody bastards," yells the leader, moving to stand himself back up even as the party's weapons seek for an opening. This provokes an AoO from Bolkin, Morthos, and Garik - yikes. (AC 17, remaining HP 15 for ease of finishing this up

It becomes quickly apparent what he was talking about as the terrified crossbowman prepares to lob a flash. Apparently this provokes an AoO as well? Jeez.

Initiative Round 0: (awaiting AoO results)
25 Telperion
18 Amadea
15 Drosk
9 Rudder-control-guy
9 Raven (delayed to cast Grease)
9 Morthos (delayed to attack Leader)
8 Garik
8 Bolkin
> 8 Crossbowman (AC 15 / t 11 / ff 14) 1 - down 2 - 4/15 hp 3 - 15/15 hp, f +3, r +2, w +0
8 Privateer Captain

Bolkin quickly rose to attention as he heard the leader's words as he caught a glimpse of the man next to him preparing to throw something. Acting almost out of instinct, he lashed the head of his flail at the man's hand, hoping they would drop whatever they were holding before it caused him any more problems.

Bolkin will use the Disarm Maneuver against Crossbowman 3 as his Attack of Opportunity.

AoO

As Garik sees the crossowman attempt to torch their boat, he attempts to cut him down before he does so.

Mwk Waraxe, Dwarven: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

Crud. So close.

That would hit the crossbowman, Garik, since he only has 15 AC. In retrospect I probably shouldn't have been so worried about disarming him, but with a natural 5 it's not like the alternatives would have worked out anyway.

Okay, now I'm confused. In Zeb's post, he has it listed as a 17.(Check his ooc chatter) Wait a minute, looking at it again, I think that guy's the leader with the 17. Is he? Or was I suppose to be rolling an AoO for the crossbowman?

They both provoked, so you have to choose which one to attack unless you have Combat Reflexes. The crossbowman is listed as first in the initiative order so he'd probably be the first to provoke, though it'd hard to say for sure since they're so close on the initiative.

Morthos takes a swing at the Leader as he tries to stand up...

AoO:

+1 Silversheen Greataxe: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 2 = 27, for 1d12 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 2 = 14 Magical Slashing damage.

Oh I see. Intially I was going for the guy torching the boat. Which, is not the leader but the crossbowman who I thought was the one with the 17 AC. Stupid, stupid! Alright, I got it now. Bear with me, please. I have a tendency to make stupid mistakes like that. :P

Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13

Telperion flinched slightly as Bolkin, Morthos and Garik all jumped forward in a fury of blades and chains.

Zeb: Let me know when the new round starts and if there is anything but greased body-parts left in the boat.

Garik lays the flask-wielding pirate low. Morthos strikes a mighty blow to their leader, but the pirate manages to wedge his own blade into one of the dwarf's few weakspots, giving almost as good as he gets. Morthos takes 10 damage.

The captain, bleeding heavily, manages a curse-ridden and slightly slurred "Get's outta here!" to the helmsman.

That leaves the guy controlling the boat - currently unharmed - and his grease-and-blood covered commander.

Initiative Round 1:
> 25 Telperion
18 Amadea
15 Drosk
9 Rudder-control-guy
9 Raven (delayed to cast Grease)
9 Morthos (delayed to attack Leader)
8 Garik
8 Bolkin
8 Privateer Captain (1 HP remaining)

Amadea shifts slightly back and forth, looking for the best vantage point. She draws an arrow but holds it, not wanting to shoot at a fleeing enemy, unless someone poses a threat.

"Should we try to capture these criminals, or let them run?"

"Take them down! If we allow them to flee, they will just harry some other poor group, who are less able to defend themselves..."

Telperion stepped towards the helmsman, raising his sword, but with an apologetic look on his face.

"Please surrender, or we're going to have to kill you."

I'll ready an action to stab him if he does anything but surrender.

The helmsman ignores the pleas to surrender and the enemy vessel begins to maneuver away from the barge. Though their plan may be to escape, they no doubt have a few parting shots of alchemist's fire...

I leave it to Amadea and Telperion to confirm whether this triggers their actions - it surely does for Telperion. I'm ruling that Bolkin, Garik, and Morthos may all get a melee Attack of Opportunity on the targets of their choice as the enemy's boat pulls away. The helmsman has 16 AC and 21 HP (13 HP or 4 HP if Telperion and Amadea's actions go off) and the leader has 17 AC and 1 HP remaining.

If one of them moves to throw Alchemist's Fire, she would most certainly loose her arrow at him.

AoO:

Morthos does his best to behead the Helmsman...

+1 Silversheen Greataxe: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 6 + 2 = 28, for 1d12 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 5 + 2 = 13 Magical Slashing damage.

Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 6 + 2 = 20, for 2d12 + 10 + 4 ⇒ (4, 11) + 10 + 4 = 29 ADDITIONAL Magical Slashing damage.

Round 1, 17 HP, AC 14, Blessed +1 to attack

Raven drops her longspear and retrieves her crossbow and bolts from where Bolkin dropped them.

I don't think she has time to load it in this round, so next round she'll load and fire on the retreating leader if no one else takes him down first.

Taken aback by the beheading of the Helmsman, Garik nearly loses his opportunity to swing at the thugs.

AoO vs. leader

Mwk Waraxe, Dwarven: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Damage: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Bolkin took a brief moment from admiring Morthos' swing to make a quick, if ineffective strike at the leader.

I don't think I have any actions left this round, so I'm waiting for the next...

Round 1:

Heeding Morthos' warning, Drosk attempts to fire his last blessed sling bullet at the pirate leader.

Standard action to fire sling bullet at leader.

Attack: 1d20 + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 1 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 8 (magic stone, bless)
Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

Unfortunately, as with his previous shot, the dwarf priest's missile flies wide of its mark and sails harmlessly into the rain-filled darkness.

Likewise, Amadea is waiting for the next round.

As the helmsman's head parts his body, the rudder twists and slams the only-partly underway sailboat back into the barge. The crash, though jarring, seems to have caused no damage (at least to the larger vessel), though the captain of the other boat slips and falls on the well-greased deck.

Damnation!" he roars, for all purposes pinned between angry dwarves and the blood-slicked deck. For a tense moment he makes no move, until he finally yells "I surrender!" over the din of the rain.

Captain Walgren, who spent most of the battle on hand to perform damage control, gives a mirthless laugh. "There's a bounty on Molthuni pirates, or at least their papers," he remarks.

"Well then, let's haul them aboard, and commandeer their vessel!"

What do we find? :-)

As the helmsman's head parts his body, the rudder twists and slams the only-partly underway sailboat back into the barge. The crash, though jarring, seems to have caused no damage (at least to the larger vessel), though the captain of the other boat slips and falls on the well-greased deck.

Damnation!" he roars, for all purposes pinned between angry dwarves and the blood-slicked deck. For a tense moment he makes no move, until he finally yells "I surrender!" over the din of the rain.

Garik smirks, "Aye. And 'tis a good thing, too. Else ya would be ended up like your helmsman there." He motions toward the dead body as it leans lifelessly on the rudder. Shaking his head, "Aye. 'Tis a real good thing," he says as a matter of fact, smiling. He then turns to Morthos and winks, impressed with the display of destruction.

The battle seemingly over, Amadea moves quickly to the boat in order to examine the fallen crossbowmen. She will search for signs of life.
"Are they dead? Is any of them still breathing? Let me through, we need to see if they can be saved!"
In her haste and eagerness to attend the wounded men, she is able to ignore for the moment the headless corpse laying at the bottom the boat, and the gouts of blood likely still pumping forth from it.

If she finds signs of life, she will use Lay on Hands to stabilize each of them.

Telperion swallowed back the rising taste of bile in his mouth.

"That's a big, big mess. he thought grimly as he looked down into the smaller boat. I'm glad I don't have to clean that up.

He looked up and slightly to the left, pondering. How would you clean that out? Just slosh water over the side and then bucket it back out? His head twisted again, just a touch.
Can 'bucket' be used as a verb in common? It can in elvish, but you can pretty much do what you like in elvish. For instance I could say, 'That clean up belongs to my dearest enemy' and be thought rather clever. I don't think that'll work in common.

Amadea's concerns and moves to help broke his reverie. He followed to help the paladin, even though it seemed unlikely that any had survived.

"The captain of the pirates will not likely clean up this mess", he said, matter-of-factly.

"Here, lass. This should help any o' them that's still livin'. Secure their cap'n, though," Drosk says to Amadea, motioning to the pirate leader. With a quick prayer to Torag, the dwarf priest summons forth a burst of divine healing energy that washes over both boats.

Channel Energy (Healing): 1d6 ⇒ 3 hp healed, which should stabilize anyone unconscious.

Raven was dumbfounded by the reactions of Amadea and Drosk.

"Why are we trying to save them? They were trying to kill us!"

Amadea continues to work over the wounded men, not sparing Raven a glance.

"Right or wrong, they are still sentient beings. You do not know why they were doing what they were any better than I do. They may be ruthless criminals, or they may be trying to feed their children by the only means they know how. Either way, they deserve a trial to decide their fate, not to be left to bleed to death in the cold and rain!"

Bolkin scratched his head as he watched the group argue over the fate of the attackers. "I don't really care what happens to them in the end, but there's no thrill in killing someone who lacks the ability or will to fight back. Even I'm not that bloodthirsty."

He decided to make himself useful by helping to restrain the survivors with whatever materials he had handy as he continued, "Let's just let Amadea have her justice today. It won't bode well if we're at each other's throats before we even step off the boat. Who knows, we might even be able to extract some information from them."

Of the attackers, Amadea and Drosk's efforts are only able to reach one in time. One man was killed outright and another bled out during the fight... to say nothing of the beheading.

Walgren and his deckhand are quick to supply Bolkin with some rope. The enemy's own captain seems reluctant to talk, and his sole surviving lackey is plainly afraid.

After the bodies (living and dead) are secured, Morthos leads the boarding party to plunder the pirate's booty. There are portions of previous hauls - furs, now caked in grease and blood, sacks of grain. There's a sort of built in 'chest' at the boat's keel, containing some empty sacks, assorted supplies, a stack of ceramic dishes, and a few more sacks of commodities. Whatever raiding they've been doing seems to have been small-time.

The men's equipment consists of what they were wearing or wielding*, two flask's of alchemist fire, and a single potion.

"It's probably best if you scuttled that one," the captain remarks. "She's in poor condition, just slow us down, and none of you look like you'd know how to handle her, frankly. And we don't want to leave her for... others like them." The last bit is delivered along with a glare of contempt at the prisoners.

*Since this is all mundane equipment - leather armor, longswords, heavy shields - I'm assuming its value will be included in the reward for turning them into the authorities.

On a related note, if you do sink the boat, let me know if you intend to keep the bodies on board. The group is scheduled to arrive at the docks within a couple of hours.

Once the prisoners are secure aboard, Amadea steps back onto the ship, and notices that her hands and knees are shaking. When she looks down at her knees, she sees that her greaves and boots are red with blood.

"Erastil have mercy, the beheaded man... I kneeled in his blood when I went to check for survivors...

Her face turns white (or at least a paler green) and she sinks to her knees near a crate, looking like she is not sure whether to sick up or cry.

"We killed them. My arrows...Those men are dead!"

Feeling sorry for Amadea, Garik walks over to the paladin and pats her softly on her shoulder in hopes to comfort her.

Seeing Amadea rather distraught, Morthos gruffly attempts to comfort her.

"Lass, I take no pleasure in killing, but these men have undoubtedly done far worse in their time; at least we were able to offer them a relatively swift and clean death. Returned to civilization, they would undoubtedly have been hanged, which can be quite drawn-out and distressing.

If that does not bring ye comfort, consider: By stopping them now, we have untold dozens from the pain of their predations in the future..."

He is trying to help, but Diplomacy is not his strong suite ;-)

"Pfft! I don't see why it's our responsibility to think about all the reasons they might want to kill us! Why isn't it their responsibility to think of all the reasons we might not want to be killed?"

After a little more thought, Raven continues, "And if they do kill for their own survival, then that makes them just like wolves. That's just nature. But you better believe the deer would fight back if it could. And there wouldn't be any trials! Trial's not natural..."

"Bother! Now we have to keep watch on these jerks till we get to town!" She kneels down 10 feet away from the prisoners, with her loaded crossbow pointed towards them, but angled down toward the deck.