DM Sinvel's Tales of the Night Watchmen

Game Master Sinvel Menter

Malchius grabs at his equipment, holding it still in a vain attempt to will the sound to die away. Flushed crimson, he avoids Nathaniel's and Xarina's looks.

Reaching carefully into a pouch on his belt, Garret grabs the components he needs to cast a spell as he backs away toward his allies. With a low whistle, he holds the magic for a moment before letting it go.

The sound of four fully armored guardsmen approaching echoes towards the thieves as the spell takes shape. Or, more accurately, takes sound.

Move Action: Move 20ft away from the bad guys.
Standard Action: Cast ghost sound for the effect described above.

This is in an attempt to frighten the enemy, which hopefully causes them to make a mistake, while hopefully covering the sound of my allies approaching as well, or at least make it seem like there are more of us. The bad part is the DC 13 will save to disbelieve.

Garret attempts to frighten the people down in the sewer area. Although they are some distance from the rest of Garret's mates, yelling can be heard coming from their direction. "Someone's coming!"..."Hold them off!!", can be made out from all of the shouting back and forth.

Initiatives:
Malchius: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 1 = 18
Nathaniel: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Garret: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Xarina: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Round 1

Initiative order:
Malchius
Xarina
Garret
Nathaniel

The men down the way seem to be getting into position. Garret, please let me know what you are going to no with the lights.

Malchius dashes forward, making a double move to get closer, dropping prone and readying his crossbow.

(Unless my reading of things is wrong, this should put him still a ways back from the men down there.)

Are those of us in the back have line of sight to (whether or not we can actually see) the men down the hall, or do we need to move up?

Xarina has her great axe at the ready.
"Give the word." she says.

The spell is only one round a level, so to keep up the ruse I'll cast it again and move back toward my allies.

Repeating the spell and retreating again, Garret calls back to his friends in a low voice.

"They won't be expecting us, we can catch them by surprise if we go now!"

"What about sending the lights down the corridor so we can hit them at range before closing?"

Yes, there is a slight bend in the tunnel which keeps you and Xarina from having line of sight from where you're at now. Malchius moved up so he and Garret have line of sight. And this also helps shield Garret's lights from being seen from far off in the distance. I can make a map on Monday to help visualize things.

Sorry guys, haven't had time to make a map yet. Not sure if its 100% necessary, so if you'd like to post your action for the first round we can get this going. Once the map is up and you feel like your character would have done something different we can retcon that.

Nathaniel moves up and takes a position next to Xarina and in front of Malchius and Garrett, trying to leave them line of sight to our opponents while still being able to keep anyone from reaching them in melee.

If I can see the targets, I shoot them with my bow. If I cannot, then I ready my axe to slice the first person to step in front of me.

Both sides dig in and wait for the others to make the first move.

Everyone please give me perception rolls please.

Perception 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (13) + 7 = 20

Perception: 1d20 ⇒ 11

Perception:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (17) + 6 = 23

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (4) + 9 = 13

Garret and Nathaniel both spot someone hiding against the wall of the tunnel about 60' down.

Here is the Map. The blank spots on the map are unlit at the moment. All of the places shown are dim light at the moment. The blue is water flowing down the tunnel from the cave in further up. Count any squares with water flowing through as difficult terrain, only you can move full speed through it with a successful DC Acrobats check.

If you are having trouble with the resolution of the map then right click on it to view the full image, which may then cause scrolling.

This is not Malchius'' arena, so he waits and defers to the expertise of Garret and Xarina.

Nathaniel whispers to Xarina, "Look where I aim and get ready." He then draws a bead on the man hiding in the shadows, readying an action to shoot him, before calling out, "In the name of the Night Watchmen and the Great City of Azir, surrender and no harm will come to you!"

If the man in the shadows does anything other than surrender, I shoot (at) him.

Xarina nods at Nathanial's comment.

Having to choose between the sword or the whip, Garret readies the whip. He wasn't necessarily good at it, but he could trip up a person if he really tried.

Readied action to Trip the first enemy that comes in range.

As soon as Nathaniel issues his ultimatum, someone yells in the distance "What are you waiting for?! Shoot them!!". Nathaniel and Xarina can see two small objects flying towards them. One of the bolts hits the wall about 8' to the side of Nathaniel while the other hits Xarina in the side of her abdomen. As sharp sting of pain shoots through her side 8 points of damage!.

Can not believe one of them hit!

Xarina cries out in pain as the bolt hits her.

"Argh! He will pay for that."

She is looking pretty bad. Down to 1 hp

"Garrett, get those lights down there among them and away from us!" Malchius hisses.

He delays until he can see more.

Suddenly a figure becomes visible as one of the suspects lights a torch and then throws it towards Xarina and Nathaniel.

His aim is exceptional and Nathaniel is actually hit by the torch and takes 1 point of fire damage. The group suddenly finds themselves covered in bright light from the torch on the ground at Nathaniel's feet. The man who threw the torch is now standing at R4 on the map. They are in dim light you all are in light.

Round 2

Initiative order:
Malchius
Xarina
Garret
Nathaniel
Thieves

Berating himself for not thinking of it sooner, Garret moves the lights down the hall and away from his allies.

Move Action: Move the lights to all be 20ft from Garret and the others.
Standard: Readied action to trip.

Malchius grabs the torch off the ground and thrusts it into the water.

I'll assume Xarina waits until Garret sends the lights over the suspects. In which case, their area is in light and your area is in dim light with Malchius' action. So here is the new Map.

I had a readied action to shoot him if he did anything other than surrender. As soon as I hear someone yell out to attack, I shoot at the guy I can see, which I assume happens before all of this other stuff.

Shortbow 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 121d6 ⇒ 2

On my initiative-order turn, I shoot at the same guy again, if I hit him the first time; if I missed, I shoot at the nearest opponent.

Shortbow 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 61d6 ⇒ 6

Xarina does a full round heal for 4. Need some points there. She is now at 5. I will wait for the next round to do another action.

From off in the distance, possibly from beyond the entrance to the sewers, a voice can be heard yelling “I’m going to run for it, cover me.”

The man who lit and threw the torch then starts to run toward the Watchmen to M2. He pulls his light crossbow off from his belt and steadies it as he approaches. His aim is steady but the bolt flies in between Xarina's and Malchius' heads, missing both.

One of the thieves shots his crossbow in the area where he was able to see Nathaniel just a moment before when he was in torch light. His bolt flies true and hits Nathaniel for 4 points of damage.

The last thief decides to close in and rushes forward to J2, drawing his short sword, but unable to get close enough this round.

Sorry, I did not clarify before. The Acrobatics to move through the water at full speed is DC 12.

"I hope this works..."

"Abscondat, evanescunt a conspectu, quasi videre per ut solis..." Garret chants softly, almost singing under his breath, trying to get Xarina out of sight. "Go Xarina, they may be unable to see you."

Using Bardic Performance: Disappearing Act, to make Xarina invisible to everyone within 30ft that fails a DC 13 Will save. It works just like the invisibility spell.

For anyone wondering, Garret said "Hide away, disappear from sight, become as see through as sunlight...". Used Google Translate to turn English into Latin to make it more magical sounding.

For anyone wondering, Garret said "Hide away, disappear from sight, become as see through as sunlight...". Used Google Translate to turn English into Latin to make it more magical sounding.

Very cool; I will have to remember that for my tabletop game (although pronunciation may present a challenge)!

Except "quasi videre per ut solis" translates as "as see able as a sun", which is probably not what you were going for. :)

Malchius takes a bead on the closest thief and fires his crossbow, quickly reloading.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

I think Xarina did a healing surge last round and is up this round; given that I'm after her in initiative count, I'm going to wait to see what she does before acting. I don't want to run into her!

Xarina doesn't have a ranged weapon, so I'll say she will do total defense this round.

Nathaniel draws back on his bow and fires at the closest opponent with a ranged weapon.

Shortbow 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 131d6 ⇒ 1

If these are humans, my attacks and damage are +2 (meaning the above is a 15 to hit, 3 to damage, if they are human). Also, if they are human, is there any chance my first shot hit? It should have been a 13. (I accidentally added +3 to that roll, instead of +2, but if they are human it would have been +4.)

Many apologies for lack of posting. Been a hectic couple of weeks. How about some action huh?

When Xarina's next turn comes she does the following:

Full Rage

Xarina begins to tremble as she surges with adrenaline. As she becomes more focused she clenches her teeth together as she begins growling.

Suddenly, she yells out: "Raaaaaghhhh! CHAAAAAARGE!"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

Racing to the nearest enemy, she attacks with everything she has.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17

Damage: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Recognizing that he cannot target the bits and pieces of the poor fool that Xarina just sprayed all over the cave walls, Nathanile Directs his bow toward one of the other, unengaged targets.

That was awesome. Just awesome.

Wow! Bravo! I'll have to get to this tonight.

Near death, Xarina pulls up strength from deep inside of her and rushes their lead attacker. He barely has time to raise any sort of defense before she brings her greataxe across the man's body, nearly ripping it in two (His square J2 is now difficult terrain). As he falls to the floor Nathaniel nicks the next thief headed their way with an arrow.

The thief shrugs off his pain and draws his sword. He then brings it over his shoulder, ready to swing at anyone choosing to come near him. The other criminal, hugging the tunnel wall, lights a torch and throws it just past Xarina (into to H3).

Xarina, Intimidate is a standard action. Nathaniel, these people are humans, the 13 missed but 15 hit.

Round 3

Initiative order:
Malchius
Xarina
Garret
Nathaniel
Thieves

Here is the updated Map at the beginning of Round 3. Please remember that the moving full speed through the water requires a DC12 Acrobatics check.

Apologies. I will drop doing the intimidate. Just the attack then. Still, that is intimidating enough on its own. :-)

Malchius crossbow bolt:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

His bolt goes crazy wide. He curses and stands up

Moving up, Garret renews his song on Xarina, doing what he can to keep her out of harm while she attacks.

Moving to G-2 and using a standard action to start the Disappearing Act again. DC 13 Will save, as before, for the bandits withing in 30ft(which I think includes the one in O-4) to see her. Us too as well.

Moving to L2, Xarina will attack the next fool.

"RAAAAAAAGGGHHH!"

Attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

1d12 + 7 ⇒ (11) + 7 = 18

For some reason, I keep thinking of this bugle call.

Xarina just takes the movement through the body on the ground. Even with the difficult terrain she still makes it with movement to spare.

Apologies. I will drop doing the intimidate. Just the attack then. Still, that is intimidating enough on its own. :-)

Yes I wish it could have all worked together. It was awesome how it worked out. In the end, it wasn't needed. The guy is almost in two pieces!

Nathaniel follows Xarina's advance and moves into position in front of the cleaved corpse of the fallen thug (I2). Watching another criminal fall under Xarina's now-dripping great axe, Nathaniel takes aim at the remaining bandit and fires.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 91d6 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

As what surely would have been a powerful shot shatters against the cave wall near the bandit, Nathaniel yells out, "That was your final warning, surrender or die!"

To the extent required, and assuming it's permitted:

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Sadly, Nathaniel's certain knowledge that Xarina will likely kill him even if he surrenders comes through somehow.

The remaining thief turns and starts to flee. He is able to reach the entrance of the sewers (Y6 on the map). He yells out to someone in the sewers beyond. "Kyrmar, wait!! I don't know the way!"