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Meanwhile, Galstak is standing next to the horses, stroking their backs. "If you wish, I could drive the cart. I do have some experience with animals."
As you head out you get some stares from the other soldiers. A few comments can be heard from the mostly Cheliaxian grunts. Comments like, "Motley bunch they are" and "Looks like the misfit squard." Once you get out into the city proper, your unusually group quickly blends in with huge press of various humanoids going to and from their various businesses. In fact you pass even stranger folk than yourself on occassion (wealthy looking halfling with several armed hobgoblin bodyguards for example).
Once you pass the city gates though, you quickly find the press of humanoids disappearing. You still come across various merchants and travelers but mostly you see farm and graze lands to the sides of the road heading East.
Juko does not seem to be paying any attention to the jeers, but should any give him more than a moment glance, they realize he is gripping his quarter staff hard enough to turn his knuckles white. Once past the city gates though, Juko nearly leaps from the carriage to walk alongside it. He is obviously relieved to be out of the city.
Over the next few days, you travel farther East through the agricultural areas. Passing other travelers regular, that is until you turn off the road to Nybor and head North to Kirsvald. Despite the communities small size (it doesn't even show up on most maps), it had been a pretty busy trade route from Galduria to Magnimar. Yet the reports of the lack of trade going this way seemed to be accurate because once you took this road, you stopped seeing any other travelers on the road. In fact even the rare sheep herder disappeared as well.
As you close in on your destination you notice that the weather has been getting progressively worse. Dark storm clouds have been moving into the area all day and threaten to break at any time. You are just a couple of miles from the town and are continuing to press on in hopes to beat the storm. The storm clouds make what would still be fairly light time of day (6 PM-ish) into an increasing dark view.
Ilantes stands up rockily from her position beside the Shoanti and draws her sword holding it in the air. She closes her eyes and murmurs a few words, concentrating on the mental task as a flicker of arcane lightning rushes up the blade.
Concentration Check: Concentration Check (1d20+0=15)
I'm assuming the spell is successful.
Dancing Lights: Four lantern-sized globs of light appear at the four corners of the carriage, moving alongside it and hopefully lighting the road enough that Galstak can see it clearly enough to drive. Duration: 1 minute.
"Looks like we'll need to get out some torches or lanterns for Galstak to see here. These stormclouds aren't helping."
Juko walks faster so he is next to the mules. He tries to keep them calm while urging them to move just a bit faster, speaking to them as only a forest gnome can...
The hills surrounding Kirsvald make it harder to make out the town itself, but you do see on the top of one prominent hill there is what appears to be a keep or fort of some type. To the right of the road a wooded area exists.
A large drop of rain hits you. Just as streak of lightning goes across the sky and explosion of thunder can be heard. The mules jump a little at the sound and start walking a bit faster.
Ilantes laughs a little as rain starts falling on her.
"Of course. Never fails. Ah, well... no sense staying in the cart when half the group is lumbering along on the road."
Ilantes leaps down from the cart, waiting until Sergeant and Juco catch up.
Juko does not speed up when the mules do*, but he does move out of their way. He looks at the warforged called Sergeant, if worse comes to worse, he can find the city. When Ilantes leaves the cart he nods his greeting and begins to look about for any signs of shelter...
Ilantes waits until Juco and Sergeant catch up with her, then gestures to the carriage.
"Juco, thar limanis de minrare caldoth timlagar."
** spoiler omitted **
"I will walk with Sergeant. If we need to, we can run the rest of the distance."
"Decayth thoro.
Juko gets back into the cart.
As you crest a small hill with the warforge and elf about 20 ft behind, you hear sounds like a shout off to the right in the woods. A moment later you hear the scream of a horse. The rain coincidentally starts in earnest at the same moment.
Ilantes glances over at the warforged.
"Well, Sergeant. Should we pick up the pace a little? We've almost reached our destination, and the mules seem anxious to find a dry haven."
"I do not tire, I will catch up when the mules need to rest".
When Sergeant hears the scream he draws his greatsword and begins to charge towards the screeming is comming from.
Sergeant rushes into the forest, snapping branches in his way to get to the sound. Juco is right behind him with Ilantes right after. Galstak is able to climb down and don his shield and still catch up to the others due to his fleet feet. Ulm is a bit slower, having to climb down from the wagon his dwarven feet have a hard time keeping up (1 round behind).
As the group moves through the wooded area you burst onto a surprising scene. Dimly through the rain and darkness you make out an armored warrior on the back of a noble warhorse, fighting off three malformed creatures with only a dagger as his weapon.
"I may not care much for humans, but the fight should be fair..." Juco thinks to himself.
Init for rider and creatures: 1d20=3, 1d20=1
Initiative:
21 Galstak
13A Juco
13B Sergeant
10 Ilantes
3 Rider
1 Creatures
Round 1:
Galstak calls forth fire into his palm.
Juco moves up and tosses his staff towards the rider. The rider knocks it away casually with his shield, he clearly has no interest in wielding it.
Sergeant charges forward and hacks into one of the creatures. The creature looks badly injuried but still stands. Something about the creature made Sergeant think that his attack wasn't as effective as it should have been.
Ilantes does ...?
The rider uses his dagger to attack the one Sergeant hacked into
attack: 1d20+3=22
confirm crit: 1d20+3=14
miss chance (above 20% is hit): 1d100=11
the rider makes what looks like a good attack but then misses at the last minute, getting confused in the darkness.
The first creature attacks the rider:
Attacks:1d20+2=18, 1d20+2=3
1 Hit: 1d4=1
The second attacks Sergeant:
attacks: 1d20+2=13, 1d20+2=18
1 hit: 1d4=1 (doesn't get through DR)
The third makes one attack on the horse and one on Sergeant:
attacks: 1d20+2=12, 1d20+2=16 (no hits)
Ulm trots in a little behind everyone else. When he sees his companions fighting he slows a little and begins chanting a spell.
I'll move the dancing lights into the combat area.
With her free hand, Ilantes reaches into the pouch at her side and pulls out a pinch of white ash. She waves her blade over the powder as she mutters something under her breath, and the ashes glow as a tiny burning rock lifts out of the ash and shoots towards one of the small creatures.
Ref DC 14 halves damage.
Alright, that is all the actions for round 1.
Ilantes you notice that even though the creature does try to avoid most of the damage, the bit that gets through doesn't look like it made any effect.
Spellcasters can make a spellcraft check to determine the effect that occured.
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State 2nd round actions (Ulm, got yours already thanks).