The road is 15 ft. wide, running due east-west. Chantif is standing 5 ft. north of the road on the shoulder, which extends 20 ft. from the road in either direction. The kobolds are currently blocking the road in a diagonal formation that runs from NW to SE. The kobold at the SE end of the line is 15 ft. directly in front of Chantif. You have more than enough movement left this round; just tell me where you want to be in relation to Chantif and the kobolds..
The SE-most kobold, the one wielding a sword, replies to you in Draconic: "Because he is weak and scaleless, while we are strong and scaled, scaleless one. Wait your turn; we'll gut you too."
Drexel and Chantif:
You both see the NW-most kobold carefully move wide, around Chantif's reach, and attack him from the NW. He doesn't quite make it far enough around, though, and you manage to skewer him just before he can return the favor. His body slides off the end of your spear. You're up, Chantif.
He was 10 feet away from Chantif, so I think he would have provoked as soon as he left his space without using a 5ft. step.
Seeing Drexel approach, Chantif spits out his whistle, but his expression remains focused. He shuffles his feet to get closer to the sword-wielding Kobold, then runs it through with his Longspear. That's it for you, bugger! He bellows, then pulls his longspear out and turns to face the last remaining Kobold, ready to skewer him if he should move in any direction.
Male Human HP (5/6) | AC/Touch/Flat 13/13/10 | Fort/Ref/Will +0/+3/+3 | Init +3 | Percep +2
DM:
I am going to use prestidigitation to do really basic illusions as well as color my skin, let me know if it's not going to fly. I move up to within 30ft of the battle and cast prestidigitation I use the spell to color see-through scales on my skin of a similar color to the kobolds with what appears to be sharp teeth in my mouth and claws, calling in Draconic "Hold your actions foolish lizards, I am a Dragon in disguise, he is my human servant and does not know what I am, do not make me reveal myself and destroy you!"
Sorry, I meant you had enough movement to wind up near the battle if you spent the rest of your turn moving. If you only take one move action, so that you can spend a standard action casting a spell, you'll be too far away.
Chantif:
Sorry, yeah he should have. I got so caught up trying to figure out how to handle two diagonals that I forgot that he'd provoke before he ever got that far. Luckily, it didn't matter.
Chantif and Drexel:
Chantif's spear catches the sword-wielder with a solid blow. He looks severely wounded, but he remains standing. "You shall feel the wrath of the entire clan for this indignity!" he bellows. Then, he signals to the other remaining kobold who's still standing, and they retreat into the woods. with the withdraw action, so no AoOs.
Det and Rhona:
You've now covered 600 ft. towards Chantif and Drexel.
Umash:
You've covered 120 ft. towards Chantif and Drexel.
Award yourselves 100 XP apiece. You may choose to pursue, but you've defeated the encounter by driving them off.
If he can still see them as they retreat... Not if I can help it, he growls, dropping his spear, pulling out his bow, and firing off an arrow at the retreating sword-wielder, but it hits a tree.
Either way... Ah, that'll be a bloody nuisance, he says under his breath, then looks at Drexel. How soon will the others be here? Who has the mules? He leans on his spear, ignoring the blood running down it, and mutters to himself again. A right bloody nuisance indeed.
I just realized that the spear-wielder who escaped was limited to a standard action, so he could only do a partial withdraw, which puts him right at the treeline, so... You both see the fleeing spear-wielder topple to the ground just as he reaches the treeline.
Male Human HP (5/6) | AC/Touch/Flat 13/13/10 | Fort/Ref/Will +0/+3/+3 | Init +3 | Percep +2
DM & Chantif:
"The others are behind me, I do not know if someone stayed with the mules, I was moving pretty fast if you didn't notice." I move over to assist Chantif walking, "Lets head back."
Aye, I saw it. Chantif stands taller. I can walk fine, thank'ee. I'm a bit bloody, but I'm alive, and right delighted not to be dead. I will need to be bandaged up though. Can you fetch the mules? After a pause. What to do with these bodies...
This seems like a good point for a post to summarize where things are. The distance from the rest point to the battleground is roughly 1400 ft. The mules are back at camp. During the five rounds of combat, Umash made it 300 ft. towards the battle. Det and Rhona have made it 600 ft. Drexel and Chantif are at the battleground obviously. At 1200 ft. from your rest point is a hill that is currently blocking line of sight between Drexel/Chantif and the rest of the party. It will take Det and Rhona another 5 rounds to make it to the top of the hill, and about another two rounds (depending on how you go about it) to reach where Chantif and Drexel are. If Det is still running when he crests the hill, he has to make a Con check (DC 10) to keep running. If he fails, he can't run for 1 minute. If he passes, he can choose to run another round until he fails; each round the DC goes up by 1. Rhona's 14 Con means she'll have covered the distance before she needs to make checks.
Male Human HP (5/6) | AC/Touch/Flat 13/13/10 | Fort/Ref/Will +0/+3/+3 | Init +3 | Percep +2
"I will retrieve the mule and return. We can strike camp here or move on after we heal you."
With that I start running back to our original camp. I shout, "Chantif is alive and waiting for you. as I blow past the rest of the party on my way to our animals and equipment. Due to the animals not being able to move as fast as my I slowly make my way back to the rest of the group on my return trip.
We're jumping to seven rounds after the end of combat. Rhona is just arriving at Chantif's location; Det is still about 60 ft. out. He passed his Con check, though, so he can start running again, if need be.
Dice Rolls:
Det's Con check:1d20 ⇒ 18
Rhona/Det/Chantif:
As Rhona reaches Chantif, he is inspecting the carcass of one of the kobolds he killed.
You find: leather armor, spear, sling (all Small-sized). Let the conversation commence!
Drexel:
You use the last of your superhuman speed to gather the mules' reins and start heading back towards the rest of the party. How fast do you want to head back to the rest of the party? If you run, you'll have to start making Con checks.
"Hey!" Rhona shouts as she spots Chantif, slowing to a jog. "You all right?" Glancing down at the fallen kobold, she raises an eyebrow. "Where'd these guys come from? Are there any more?"
Keeping her shield and sword handy, Rhona circles the area, keeping an eye out for any other attackers or anything suspicious.
How many dead kobolds are there? Two, right? If so, I'll check on the other one.
You see a second corpse at the edge of the treeline 30 ft. away. Just pointing out that it's right against the heavy underbrush that provides concealment in case you want to reconsider going over there alone.
I am not going to make the Donkeys run, I will just walk a normal pace back.
OK. It's worth noting, however, that the mules are faster than you, since your spell has worn off. I'll count you as moving at 60 ft. a round (i.e. a double move) until you tell me differently. At that rate, it will take you 2 minutes and 10 seconds or so to reach Chantif.
Aye, there's another one. They ambushed me as I was returning to the shade. We had a right pretty dance of it, we did. I took these two down but the leader got away, took off through those trees half a minute ago, 'spite I gave him two good jabs. He said somethin' 'bout the fury of his clan or somesuch. He'll be a bloody nuisance to us if we don't kill or evade him, I'm sure. He pauses for a swig of his waterskin, which he had pulled out as they approached. I would have given chase if not for this damned heatstroke. He did give me a few wounds, but I'll be right as rain with some bandaging up or one of Umash's healing potions. After another pause, if they have not started moving yet he says, Better move quick if you want any chance of catching him. As they move off he'll shout If he has friends, lure them back here.
Chantif's shortbow is still in his left hand, and his longspear is resting in the crook of his right arm--he leans on it whenever he is not drinking water. Drinking the potion will also heal him of his nonlethal damage, so once Umash arrives he should theoretically be able to go with her if she wants to follow Rhona and Det, presuming Rhona and Det take the course of action they've been describing in the discussion thread.
"Took two of 'em, did you?" Rhona says, nodding, impressed at Chantif's skills. "Well done. And to think I was worried. Yeah, unless Det has any opposition, I think chasing down that guy is probably our best course of action. Hang tight until Umash gets here." She looks up at Det with a raised eyebrow. "What do you think? Track him?"
Waiting to see if Det agrees to accompany me. If so, I'd like to try to catch up to the last kobold and see if we can stop him from reporting this to his inevitable buddies.
Det already said he was willing to fight anything that couldn't eat him in one bite, so I say we keep going. You need to tell me how you want to go about tracking. You move at half speed while tracking unless you take a pretty hefty penalty on the DC. Stealthing also makes you move half speed, so I'd rule that if you're tracking and trying to be quiet about it, you move at 1/4 speed. Also it's worth noting that the forest is difficult terrain, so no running or charging.
Male Half-Orc Ranger-1 | HP: 9/11| AC:18 (TCH:13/FF:15) | Fort:2/Ref:5/Will:2| Int +3| Perception +5
With an excited grin, Det said to Rhona "Ready when you are " Are we going to bother with armor? Because I would like to be protected, but it might be tough to fight while having a heat stroke.
"Don't get over-eager. We take our time and keep our wits about us. Look for any kind of trail we can follow. Keep an eye open for traps. If we can't catch up to him, we head back and regroup with the others. We get spotted, we double back like Chantif said. That said..." She returns Detskiye's grin. "We catch this scaly little creep, we take him apart."
Why don't we take a look and see if there are any tracks? I'd like to see how fast this thing's moving. It's injured, right? Any chance we can spot a trail of blood?
I have Survival. Det and I have the same bonus (+5), but with Track his should be a +6 if this thing left any tracks. I'm guessing Aid Another would probably be a good option.
We'll be moving slowly enough as it is; let's wait and see what we're working with before we throw the scale mail on.
The following assumes that you are doing normal tracking. If you were trying to track at full speed, you missed the DC; if you were going to track quietly, don't bother because there's no way you'll catch him at quarter speed.
Chantif points out the place where the kobold crossed the treeline, and Rhona and Det move over there and begin searching for tracks. There are nice, easy to follow footprints and a blood trail for about 30 ft. Then, the blood trail dries up and the prints are harder to notice.
He's actively hiding his back trail, and y'all are tracking; this means you are effectively moving at the same speed, since the terrain limits you to hustling (i.e. a double move), and the base speeds are equal. If y'all decide to continue the pursuit, we'll expedite the chase with the rules I'm about to post in the discussion thread.
Let's do this thing! It's all going to come down to those opposed Dexterity checks; with a 16 Dex, I'm feeling pretty confident. I assume you'll do the rolling for us, sarpadian?
Rhona nods to Detskiye and begins moving through the foliage.
Yep. Actually, his Dex is better than yours, though not by enough to matter :). I'll roll. But first, the Fort save for weather, because failing imposes a penalty to Dex.
Rhona grunts as she realizes the kobold is getting further and further away. "Ugh. We're losing him. Let's head back... we're just going to get ourselves cut off from the rest of the group. Sorry, Det. I know you wanted to crack a skull or two."
After Rhona and Det move into the forest, Chantif arranges the Kobold spears so they point into the forest. Then he pulls out his 1-pound bag of of flour.
As Umash approaches he puts his shortbow away. Umash, I am glad to see you. I was ambushed my a gang of kobolds. I killed those two there but the leader went into the woods there. Rhona and Det gave chase. I intend to follow them but I must have a little patching up; they nearly did me in, you see. Care to let me drain one of the healing potions?
Assuming she does so...
Chantif moves into the forest, seeking his companions, after downing the potion. He walks with his Longspear as a staff. He leaves little piles of flour as far apart as he thinks will help Drexel follow after them. If the bag of flour should run out, he'll tie the bag to a branch via twine and then leave bits of twine tied in conspicuous places, hoping to make the trail easier to follow.
If given the potion, 4 HP and 1 nonlethal damage recovered. Chantif is no longer fatigued.
Aye, that we do. But he has threatened to bring his entire clan after us. Rhona and Det have already left to give chase a minute or so ago. I don't intend to leave them to the hunt alone--he may lead them into another Ambush. Come, we must aid them!
Chantif walks over to the treeline, finds the body of the second fallen kobold, and walks about 30 ft. past the treeline before realizing that he can't find the tracks.
"Gone to chase an overconfident lizard.", Umash points at the trail left behind by Chantif, "Chantif left that so you could track him and join the fun. I'm afraid the heat did a number on me, so I will just rest some more and wait it out."
Male Half-Orc Ranger-1 | HP: 9/11| AC:18 (TCH:13/FF:15) | Fort:2/Ref:5/Will:2| Int +3| Perception +5
Rhona:
Yeah, you're right. The only thing we're doing is making it a longer walk back. Then with a sigh he added "Looks like we'll just have to wait for something else to cross our path."
When Chantif cannot find the tracks he returns to Umash. I lost their tracks just inside the treeline. I might be able to find them again, but it may take me a while.
he'll spend an hour to retry the check, assuming Rhona and Det do not return in that time or he does not hear a signal whistle or any other interruption occurs. Don't forget his +1 to Track from being a Ranger.
Chantif, I think I included it. Your normal bonus is +5, and Track brings it to +6, correct? At any rate, you weren't even close to the DC; you rolled a 4.
As Drexel and Umash are discussing Chantif's whereabouts, he emerges from the treeline empty-handed. About ten minutes later, Det and Rhona emerge--also empty-handed.
What do y'all want to do now? Also, Chantif, could I get you to update the equipment spreadsheet? As far as I can tell, Umash has crafted both of the potions for which she had raw materials, and you have consumed one. That should leave one CLW potion (presumably Umash is carrying it). Also, if you guys are going to keep the loot--you could decide it's too much work ;)--the following need to be added to the spreadsheet:
Leather armor (Small) x2 7.5 lbs. apiece
Spear (Small) x2 3 lbs. apiece (House rule: This is a shortspear for y'all, no penalty for inappropriately sized weapon)
Sling (Small) x2 --
Dagger (Small) .5 lb (If you can find a Medium light weapon that deals 1d3 damage with a 19-20 crit range, you can count the dagger as that weapon, but I didn't see one.)
Ah, of course. I don't know why I thought you only did +5. I saw the roll of 4 and the result of 10 and still thought you forgot it somehow. Brain fart, I guess.
Rhona and Det find Chantif stooping over the dry ground a few feet inside the foliage by the road. Did you find him? Chantif asks hopefully?
I would suggest that you cast it tonight with the bonus slot your arcane bond object gives you. The duration is 24 hours, so as long as you cast it after 6 PM, it will last all day tomorrow, and you'll still have all your slots available.
