Ofelio's features go feral at the sight of the poor man's blood. If he hadn't been running before, he is now, clenching his glaive so hard his hands grow white.
Assuming he sees no source to the mastiffs, the paladin cries out to get their attention.
As Garim finishes climbing to the top of the wall he shouts and screams, trying to get the attention of the mastiffs. He then makes his way along the top of wall , sling beginning to whirl in his hand.
"I have been hunting with my father and brothers for as long as I can remember. Though, I wouldn't call myself a quest seeker by any means. Unless chasing off a pack of wolves to save ones cattle qualifies. To be honest, I have never really cared for the hills. I prefer to be in the city where one can live comfortably. Needless to say my family is beyond embarrassed of this fact."
He turns his head away from the Tiefling, hiding the pain in his eyes. It was never his intention to embarrass father, hopefully, one day he will understand.
Laya Init:
Mastiff Init:
Initiative Order: Zuran, Ofelio, Mastiffs, Garim, Laya
There will be a surprise round. Here's how I'm adjudicating "rounds".
Garim climbed up and starting his sling whirling. At the same time, Laya moved 20 feet towards the tree, and Ofelio 30 feet around the wall.
Actual surprise round: Garim attacks with his sling. Laya moves another 20 feet to Q-16 and Ofelio another 30 feet to L-14. Zuran can take two partial actions to get him up to this point, at which time, the dogs become aware of your presence and we enter normal rounds.
Once we enter "rounds", we start with "round 0", which includes Zuran and Ofelio. Afterwards, I move them to the "end" of the round and start "Round 1" with the mastiffs. While seeming a little confusing in the beginning, I've seen that this method works really well for helping keep track of round order. Baddies always start the "round", good guys end it.
Surprise round: Garim lets a stone fly. Assuming, he's taking care to avoid hitting the man (and doesn't have Precise Shot), it goes wide.
Initiative:
Zuran (waiting on pre-surprise round, surprise round, and Round 0 actions), Ofelio, Mastiffs (no action in surprise round), Garim, Laya
Zuran moves past Garim . With his bow already out, he lets his arrow fly towards .
With the range still great, the arrow goes wide causing the dogs to be aware of their presence
Knowing full well the capacity humor has to diffuse a situation, Ofelio emits a rumble of laughter. Unlike the last joke, this one doesn't seem as forced, though hopefully it wouldn't be a mistake to try to lighten the mood a bit.
"So we've an elf that dislikes the wilds and a demonic paladin. Now all we need is to pick up a gnome who always acts predictably, a beardless dwarf who braids flowers, and a potato dressed as a nun from a Varisian abbey, and we'll be the cast from Monathy Doroastar's next comedic epic."
He holds out a placating hand to Zuran, though he may not see it.
"Don't worry. You save the world and not even the most critical parent will be able to say anything about it, right?"
Ofelio continues to run forward until he is beside the peasant, screaming incoherently as the dogs in the attempt to convince them that he is far more threatening than any member of Monty Python's Flying Circus.
Ofelio is right of course. Though ultimately one can't act solely to please their father. Lest you give up your own will and freedom to choose. Perhaps, that is why I have started to have my doubts in Desna.
"I guess you are right, we are not your typical band of adventurers. And maybe that is exactly while we will succeed. Either that, or we will dead by the morning." said with a smile.
Zuran holds his position to take another shot.
Trying to control his nerves, his arrow sticks into the ground just beyond the mastiff.
Pre-combat rounds:
Zuran fires an arrow at the dogs while Garim slings a stone. Neither hit, but they do cause one of the dogs to look up and cease its attack on the man...for the moment.
Round 0: Zuran fires another arrow, which goes wide, then Ofelio moves through his field of fire, screaming at the dogs, which causes the other dog to release the man and turn on the paladin.
Round 1
The mastiffs both turn on Ofelio. Despite their appearance as mangy mongrels, they clearly have combat training, as they quickly move for a flank, one of them to E9, the other to E7 (Ofelio gets an AoO against this one).
HP: 13/13
AC: 13 (touch 12, FF 11)
CMD: 15 (19 vs trip)
F/R/W: +5/+5/+1
HP: 13/13
AC: 13 (touch 12, FF 11)
CMD: 15 (19 vs trip)
F/R/W: +5/+5/+1
Assuming Mastiff 2 is still up, the dogs attack simultaneously.
Mastiff 1 attack:
Damage:
Free trip:
Mastiff 2 attack:
Even without a flank, Mastiff 1 will get a grip on Ofelio's arm, its teeth sinking in slightly between the links of his chain shirt. As it tries to pull Ofelio to the ground, however, its teeth come loose.
Initiative:
Mastiffs, Garim, Laya, Zuran, Ofelio
Ofelio tries to use his glaive against the beast, but has one of those rare moments when one is quite certain that their weapon is pulling to the left just to mess with them.
Seeing both mastiffs turn to Ofelio Garim jumps down from the wall, running forward with sling twirling again.
His aim is clumsy though and fails to get the attention of either beast.
The wall is 10' high, though the next one on the map is just a small pile of rubble. It might hide somebody lying prone, but not hard to get over.
Initiative:
Mastiffs, Garim, Laya, Zuran, Ofelio
"Careful! Laya calls out while hurrying forward. "Dogs will always attempt to flank, but you can distract them by... She continues calling out specifics about dogs that help to fight against them.
Zuran, takes a deep breath focusing on the mastiff
Letting the arrow fly, scoring a hit near its back leg. Hearing the welp of the dog, pleases him. Zuran was never a true fan of animals, in particular he had a strong distaste for dogs.
The information from Laya is helpful, and Ofelio has a better idea of how to weave out of the way. Still, not having to avoid attacks from neutralized dogs would be better still.
Zuran's arrow is welcome, and Ofelio takes advantage of the thing's distraction to thrust Shelyn's sacred weapon through the creature's ribcage, dropping it into a messy heap as he retracts the glaive.
** spoiler omitted **
Glaive is a reach weapon, so he'll need to take a 5-foot step first. It's not a problem as it's easy for him to do. I took the liberty of putting him in F7.
Round 2
Mastiff 2 howls as his hunting partner goes down and lunges at the paladin.
Attack:
It lunges too low, however, and ends up with a mouthful of mud.
A whistling sound is all the warning Ofelio gets before arrows fly at him from the north and west towers. Arrows fly at Garim from the east tower.
Arrow at Ofelio:
Arrow at Ofelio:
Arrow at Ofelio:
Damage:
For whatever reason, the arrows don't fly very well, and it's only luck that the arrow hits him at all. Even so, he's hit more with the shaft than the arrow head, and the damage is just 1 point of non-lethal damage.
Arrow at Ofelio:
Arrow at Garim:
Damage:
This arrow has a similar flight path, but its head does find flesh and draws blood.
Arrow at Garim:
Initiative: Mastiffs, Snipers, Garim, Laya, Zuran, Ofelio
You can't see any obvious source of these arrows, but there are arrow slits high up on the four walls of each tower. Each tower has a single strong wooden door at the base on the "inner" walls of the "courtyard", and crude wooden steps leading to each.
F8 wouldn't have put him 10 feet away from the dog.
Garim sucks in a hiss of breath as the arrow cuts into him, the sting of the wound leaving him to lose focus for a moment.
Running forward, his thoughts spinning, memories of his time as a blacksmith coming to surface. The forge and the hammer. One sleeve of his shirt writhes and twists as though with a life of its own, elongating to a full 30' in length as Garim brings his arm arcing down in a hammering motion, the far end of the sleeve, now as hard as steel, slamming into the ground near the remaining mastiff. Clods of dirt fly into the air where the hammer strikes leaving an indentation in the earth. What... was that?
"Ofelio, grab the man and take cover."
Garim skids to a halt. Should take my own advice.
"Watch out for how the dog... Laya continues calling out advice about face the dogs, as she hurries across the ground.
Not ever one to seek out combat. He tried to calm his nerves.
What am I even doing here. I am not an adventurer. My life is on the line and for what? To get some artifact that nobody else has been able to get?
The arrow shaking in his hand as he knocks it on the bowstring. He tries to focus on the other mastiff.
The arrow goes wide again falling harmlessly to the ground.
"Soon, Garim, soon!" Ofelio practically roars, grinning madly at the oracle's odd ability.
Ofelio takes a step back with his dripping blade and ferociously hacks at the remaining mastiff.[ooc]Attack: HIT Damage:
"To cover, my good man! We will be right behind you!" the paladin assures, ready to discount the wounded dog.
Ofelio nearly kills the second mastiff. Before it can retaliate, a shrill whistle comes from the north tower, and the dog withdraws in that direction.
And so does the man!! He gets to the door and prepares to open it.
More arrows fly out, again four at Ofelio and two at Garim.
Arrow at Ofelio:
Damage:
Arrow at Ofelio:
Arrow at Ofelio:
Arrow at Ofelio:
Arrow at Garim:
Damage:
Arrow at Garim:
Crit confirm on Ofelio:
Crit confirm on Garim:
The first arrow flying at Ofelio starts out well wide, but it's flight path is so wild mid-arc, that it curves and hits him anyway! An archer in the east tower manages to put a decent arrow into the bizarre metal oracle.
Laya, was her double move towards the melee or one of the towers?
Initiative: Mastiff, Snipers, Garim, Laya, Zuran, Ofelio
Round 3!!
Laya, was her double move towards the melee or one of the towers?
Giving a yelp of pain from the second arrow Garim runs back towards the low rubble wall, diving over the side of it and taking cover.
Sorry for the delay. Laya is up. I moved Laya 35 feet, as she had to pause to scramble over the ramp leading up to the door of the west tower. I assumed she wanted to stay as close to it as possible to gain cover against the archers in that tower.
Laya stops yelling out instructions about the dog and pauses to look about. She points towards Ofelio and mutters something. Then she huddles by the stairs and tries to pinpoint the location of the archers.
"And what of the rest of you? Hm... Maybe I should go see if I can do something about the archers..."
The tiefling looks up at the towers briefly before barreling towards the entrance.
Zuran is up.
Looking for cover and his nerves frail from the combat. Zuran sprints over by Laya
Ofelio moves up after the man and dog, while Zuran takes cover next to Laya.
ROUND 4
Seeing Ofelio pursuing, the dog turns to attack him.
Bite:
Damage:
Trip:
Again, the dog latches on but loses its grip in its attempt to pull the tiefling down. It does manage to shred a bit of flesh in the process, however.
The archers in the side towers direct their fire at the tiefling as well.
Arrow:
Arrow:
Arrow:
Arrow:
All the arrows clatter off his armour or drop into the ground by his feet.
The archers in the centre tower fire at Zuran.
Arrow:
Arrow:
One arrow deflects off his armour, while the other spirals end over end and drops into the dirt at Laya's feet.
Meanwhile, the "victim" opens the door, steps inside, and closes it behind him. A moment later a shout comes from inside. "Idiot! You left him out there!"
"Ow. Also, he's gone inside and shut the door. Does not look good... oh, and someone's yelling inside..,"
Garim peers over the wall of rubble seeing his companions standing in the hail of arrows. "So much for cover" he mutters to himself.
From his position of cover he straps on his shield and stuffs his sling back into his belt where it hung before.
"Our only hope is to get inside one of these things," Laya says to Zuran, "preferably all in the same one, but Ofelio and Garim are so far apart." With her right hand, she points at Ofelio, and crossing over her arm with her left, she points at Garim, and whispers.
Initiative: Mastiff, Snipers, Garim, Laya, Zuran, Ofelio
He enters with his arrow knocked in his bow ready to fire. [ooc]readied action[/dice]
"Understood."
The tiefling looks much paler than he did at the start of his charging into the fray. Still, he looks to the wounded hound. As long as it was there, it could manage another attack. He wants to concede to Laya and Garim's wishes, but...
His parting shot meant to debilitate the dog didn't hit at all. Hoping for the best, Ofelio still moves to be closer to his comrades.
Hound bite:
The hound nips at air as Ofelio moves off.
Zuran opens the door and looks inside. It's empty of people (description to follow soon). He hears a clatter of falling bows and stomping of boots from the floor above him.
The north tower door opens and the dog ducks inside. The archers in the north and east towers attempt to prevent Zuran from gaining entrance.
Arrow:
Arrow:
Arrow:
Arrow:
Three of the arrows come close, but deflect off his armour.
Inside the west tower...
Inside the tower, rickety, free-standing wooden stairs lead to the snipers’ nests above. A few crates and barrels lie stacked against one wall.
ROUND 5
Initiative: Mastiff, Snipers, Garim, Laya, Zuran, Ofelio
Rising from his place of cover Garim gets up and runs for the open door of the tower.
No, Garim, you have to be inside the tower to make either check.
And no, no fighting defensively in this instance. You have to make an attack to fight defensively (or at least, that's how it should work). I suppose I could see an argument for burning a standard action to "fight defensively".
Right, whereas fighting defensively says it's something you can do while attacking, which to me suggests an attack roll needing to be involved.
Laya ducks around Zuran and into the tower.
Perception:
Survival:
Zuran and Ofelio to finish the round.