This is a placeholder post until I figure out how to link all my threads together. Don't worry, a campaign will be here very soon.
Oh hey that was pretty painless.
"Of course I don't literally mean pheasant, friend," the thuggish man says to Evard. He reaches up to the Tengu woman's hood and jerks it down, revealing the avian's beaked face. "I mean we have ourselves a dirty TENGU in our midst, boys!" he shouts, a disturbingly crazed expression coming over his face. The other thugs sitting around his table stand up now, counting at about 7 total. They walk toward the bar, cracking their knuckles and drawing knives.
"We don't like your kind around here, little birdy, not at all. We like to pluck your kind clean and then gut ya and skin ya!" the man brandishes a dagger now, waving it in front of the Tengu woman's face. She is visibly shaking, and her eyes dart between Barphami and Evard as if frantically begging for help.
Evard recollects historical things.
You recall that in the initial rise of the evil wizard Ordalian, the Tengu were the first of the barbarian races to pledge allegeance to him. Tengu were also responsible for conquering the country of Ruedin which became the foothold Ordalian needed to begin his rule over the continent.
That was 50 years ago, though, and this Tengu in front of you is clearly less than 30 years old - she wasn't born yet in the time of Ordalian.
"Can't get a shot in edgewise," Barbacoa says to the ceiling as a small bearded dragon pops out from under his robe. "Divine retribution for spending the morning sober."
I personally have never been a proponent of punishing a child for the sins of the father. Is that not a barbaric behavior? Are you not a man? Now behave as such and sit back down. Have a drink on me. Evard says, monotone voice never wavering, piercing eyes boring into the man. Everd takes a swig of his drink and places it on the table, palms open, ready for a fight.
Barbacoa finishes his leisurely waddle over to the ruffian. "Now see here, boy." He lifts his cane so that it is still perpendicular to the ground, with the tip a foot or two off of it. "All the threats in the air are making it hard to see my glass," he says. "Thick words from a thick head." As he says this, he taps the ruffian's head with the tip of his cane.
"All this bandying about of tough words, boy. Affects the skin, y'see. That's how I keep this youthful complexion. Knowing when to keep my mouth shut, that's my creed, yes, never a spare word from old Barbacoa Sharel." He taps the ruffian's arm with his cane. "Listen here, you," he says.
"Threatening a lady like that. It's not a good look for you. A funny looking lady, don't get me wrong. Never complained about a harmless peck on the cheek, but a peck from a beak, maybe not so harmless. One look and chances are you'll see I'm not made of corn. Are you listening, boy? Not a particularly bright boy, are you." He taps the ruffian's knee with his cane. "Barmaid, whiskey sour, minus the sour, and on second thought minus the whiskey too, and replace it with bourbon. Keep the glass, though, sweetheart. Oh right. You guys. You're still here."
Barphami stands and offers her palms to the crowd, showing she is unarmed and completely harmless, at least at first glance.
"Fellow tavern dwellers, what has this one Tengu done to deserve your wrath? A sin of the father, so says my friend. Of you among you, has your father committed sin against a living creature? Or his father? This one is clearly too young, she knows not the taint of the sins of her ancestors. Spare her and I am sure she will leave without fuss."
The thug stands dumbfounded as Barbacoa mouths him off and the other two talk him down. Whatever the others' attempt to calm the situation, the thug is absolutely enraged by Barbacoa's antics. "BOYS!" the thug shouts to the other tavern goers who are looking on, sneering, and cracking knuckles. Eight men stand up and surround the party.
"Hold up just a minute!" the barmaid shouts, whipping a washrag back and forth above her head. "Take this garbage outside. I want none of it in my bar or so help me none of you will ever drink here again!"
The head thug grumbles and grabs the tengu by the scruff of her neck, dragging her toward the door. The others pair off and grab each party by the arms and attempt to usher them outside as well.
Evard easily sidesteps and blocks the attempt to move him. . . CMD is 21
and attempts to break the grab on the Tengu.
"Unhand the female" Evard says, even though he follows the men outside.
As much as Barphami tries to snake her way out of their grasp, the eventually get a good grip on her and drag her outside (CMD=17), Barphami hissing and struggling the entire way.
The ruffians throw the tengu, Barphami, and Barbacoa roughly to the ground outside the bar. It has begun to rain, and the three of them collide with a soft thud against the wet sand beneath them. The men surround them, ignoring Evard since the guy who tried to grab him decided it wasn't worth the effort to grapple a slippery martial artist.
Battlefield map: http://imgur.com/qHx3x2q
orange: Evard
light blue: Barphami
dark blue: Barbacoa
green: tengu
dark red: thugs
light red: head thug
turn order: Barphami, Evard, Barbacoa, tengu and thugs.
Barphami is up first.
Evard uses fuse Style to add Dragon to his Tiger Style, and takes a 5' step to the Southeast.
He then attacks with a powerful double-palm strike.
for Slashing Damage
The monk unleashes a devastating strike smashing his hands into the chest of the man, fingers digging into the man's chest, slashing the man.
Barphami glares at the drunkard to the upper-left of her and speaks in irritated, threatening growl. She says something about the nature of her bloodline and something about ice dragons coming to eat his family.
She also draws an icicle dagger from her bangle, pointing it at the drunk.
Um, Evard uses Non-lethal damage. So not slashing but non-lethal. Lets not start with murdering people. . . Yeah, that fits alignment better
Back down you drunken imbeciles. Evard says, voice flat, dusgusted by the thugs.
Intimidating while drawing a weapon is fine and easily counts as one standard action.
Evard: everyone has their backs turned to you, so you actually slam that guy in the back, knocking the wind out of him and cracking his back like an overzealous chiropractor. He falls over in pain and starts twitching on the ground trying to find a position that stops the horrid back pain. The two thugs adjacent to him turn to face Evard.
Barphami: a couple of the thugs take a step back when you draw a weapon, and all of them reach into their sleeves and draw their own daggers. "Boss...?" one of the thugs says, turning to the loudmouth who started this. He glowers at his underling, who uneasily turns back to face Barphami.
Barbacoa slips between the other two, taking one step to the southwest. "Heard just about enough outta you," he hums nasally to the head ruffian, while the air before his prestigious nose distorts and swirls. "Getting so that a man can't enjoy the company of a beautiful toucan."
"That is what you are, right, sweetheart? I never took up birdwatching as a hobby before today, you see. But I've since learned to follow my nose, you might say. Hmmyess."
Barbacoa: the thug lifts a finger as if he's about to make a point, but finds himself instead rubbing his eyes. They flutter shut and do not open again. His knees give out and he collapses to the ground. The rest of the gang eye each other nervously, not quite sure what to do next.
The tengu stands and brushes off the sleeves of her robe, shaking her head to un-ruffle her feathers. "I'm a tengu. We're more related to crows or ravens, actually. But we're quite a bit more refined than simple animals." she squawks. "At any rate, I'm sorry you lot got dragged into this unpleasantness with me. My name is Nowele, by the way."
"Oi, enough chatter out of you! what you done to our boss?!" one of the thugs shouts at Barbacoa. "Tell us old man or we'll gut your bird friend here!" the thug attempts to grab Nowele by the cloak and hold a dagger to her throat:
Nowele deftly dodges around the flailing grapple, causing the scoundrel to tumble past her. She and the southernmost thug switch squares.
Seeing their leader pass out and one of their fellows fail so utterly, the rest of them break formation and start attacking without organization. The two northwest thugs turn to face Evard and thrust their daggers at him.
The two to the northeast rush down Barphami.
the southeastern-most thug sheathes his dagger, shrugs and drunkenly staggers off.
updated map: http://imgur.com/Nw2gTto
it is now the party's turn.
We wish you no harm, but you mist back down. he says, again, delivering a brutal double-palm strike with a loud
For
Free doubt it
Stepping over to the unconcious man one step SE
Evard: you drop the guy southeast of you and step into his square. The rogue to your west swipes at you as you break from him, but misses.
Evard took a 5'step and is in the downed guy's space. No AoO for a 5' step
EDIT: yeah i looked it up, 5 foot steps are immune to AoO's. I don't like that rule.
"Your friend's attention span is shorter than his wick," says Barbacoa casually as he turns around to face the thug behind him (to the east).
Barbacoa glances toward Barphami. "More like this, y'see? Stand up straight, boy. Combat is no time for slouching."