DM Talomyr's Kingmaker

Game Master Talomyr

Tove unleashes a wave of much needed healing energy upon the area, certainly helping the party more so than their enemies, as the tide of the battle swings into the party's favor.

Razarak claws into the chest of one of the bandits, dropping his foe. Jacobus moves into position with Strauch as the pair gore and smash their foe, who somehow is still standing.

Torsten creates another spear and promptly launches in square into the chest of yet another bandit, killing the unfortunate man instantly.

Ivo pops up from behind his stump, but in his haste misses his target, while Theodore smacks the prone bandit near him upside the head, knocking the red-clad miscreant out cold.

With no other foes nearby, Theodore and Rufus move to aid Torsten. Arriving on the scene, Rufus bites at the bandit, latching onto his leg and dragging him to the ground.

Rufus Bite: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 23 (bless, flank)
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Trip?: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 19 (bless, flank)

Kressle returns to the battlefield, taking up a flanking position with one of her underlings. That same underling takes a swing a Jacobus, but fails to make contact.

The bandit in the tree-stand also takes aim at Jacobus with similiar results. A late-comer to the battle trains his bow on Theodore, but misses as well.

Finally the bandit being used as a chew toy by Rufus drops his weapon and begs for mercy. "Alright, I give! Just call off the wolf already!"

The party is up.

With his wounds almost healed, Jacobus once more swings his mace at the bandits.

Not liking that he is surrounded, he turns to hit the already injured man.

He smiled as he heard bones crunch under his weapon.

--------------
flank with goat and swing mace, if bandit already killed then swing at Kressle

mace to hit: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 2 = 18
damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10

I nod at the bandit who surrendered and move on to the next bandit, where I try the same tactic again.

Rufus Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 = 7

But Rufus fails to grab hold of the bandit, so I bring the flat of my sword against the bandits head.

Dueling Sword Attack (Non-Lethal): 1d20 + 5 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 - 4 + 1 = 19
Dueling Sword Damage (Non-Lethal): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

I hear the crunch of Jacobus' attack and notice his enemy fall to the floor in a slump, I shake my head in shame. "So much for not wanting to kill any of them. Next time I'll have to offer my terms first, there may have been chances to save lives here."

Raz starts casting again, this time when his spell is complete, one of his hands seems to be crackling with electricity.

Casts shocking grasp, then moves 10 feet towards Kressle

"Alright Jacobus, let's do this."

Get in there and make your attack, Razarak.

Moving the last five feet and touching kressle,

Melee touch attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Ivo darts out from behind his stump and navigates between two of the trees, heading in the direction of one of the archer blinds.

Double move.

Tove moves in toward the center of the camp, drawing an arrow while looking up toward the tree canopies. Once she has a clear view of the archer up in the treestand, she lets her arrow fly.
Longbow Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 2 + 1 = 23 Blessed
Longbow Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 5

Confirm Critical: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 2 + 1 = 18 Blessed
Critical Damage: 2d8 ⇒ (8, 7) = 15

Unbidden, Strauch darts around to Kressle's other side and attacks though with litte effect. Torsten puts his staff back in the straps on his pack and gets out a rope, ready to enchant it if necessary.

Strauch attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 6
damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Razarak joins the fray, reaching out an touching Kressle with an electrified hand.

Jacobus crushes the skull of the bandit caught between he and Strauch, with no one else to fight, Strauch moves into position to make an unsuccessful ram attempt against the bandit leader, Kressle.

Theodore smacks yet another bandit upside the head with the flat of his blade, rattling the man, but not dropping him while Torsten stands guard over the recently downed bandits and Ivo moves into a better position.

Tove moves into position to deal with the annoying bowman in the tree stand. Taking careful aim, she looses and arrow that finds its mark in the bandit bowman's throat and toppling him from his stand. With an unsavory crunch the bandit's body hits the forest floor.

Kressle steps to the side, out of the flank between Jacobus and Strauch, before unleashing a flurry of swings at the inquisitor, but misses with every strike.

The bandit who had surrendered, seeing no one directly around him stands up and makes a run for it to the northwest, while the remaining blue clad withdraws and runs away from Theodore and Rufus.

The party is up.

Kressle steps to the side, out of the flank between Jacobus and Strauch, before unleashing a flurry of swings at the inquisitor, but misses with every strike.

Feeling the healing energy of Abadar on his side, made the inquisitor redouble his efforts in bringing down the leader.

"You're not so tough now. Your bandit days are over!"

He swung with enough force to brain her but remembered the halfling and added, "Lay down your weapon and you may yet live."

---------
5' step and attack
mace to hit: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 + 2 = 18
damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

I let the fleeing bandits go for now, knowing that they have nowhere else to run to. Rufus rushes to the remaining bandit and I wait to hear her response. If she doesn't drop her weapon I shall attack with the flat of my blade.

Dueling Sword Attack (Non-Lethal): 1d20 + 5 - 4 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 5 - 4 + 1 + 2 = 18
Dueling Sword Damage (Non-Lethal): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Raz casts shocking grasp, takes a 5' step, while his claws sprout from his fingers, and swings Kressle

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19
damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 21d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3

Tove smiles to herself. Ol' Deadeye is with me today, a fine shot.
She looks back down from the trees to her allies around her.
Reaching out, she lays a hand on Theodore's shoulder.
Spontaneous Casting, replace Burning Disarm with Cure Light Wounds.
"Erastil is with you too, friend."
Cure Light Wounds: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Or maybe he isn't so much.

Apparently Theo is on full HP, so I will heal Torsten instead.

Torsten nods his thanks to Tove as he murmurs odd words to the rope in his hands. He gestures to Strauch to move past him as he maneuvers for a clear shot at the bandit leader.

Torsten attack vs. touch AC: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (18) + 2 - 4 = 16
If it hits, then Kressle gets to make a Reflex save DC15 or be entangled

Strauch attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 1 + 2 = 12
damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Just waiting for Ivo to resolve the round.

Ivo rushes around the tree to join the gang-up.

Another double move.

The party begins to gather around the bandit leader, attempting to batter the woman into submission. Jacobus lands a thunderous blow to Kressle's side while Razarak rakes an electrified claw across her back.

Still unyielding, Theodore has little choice but to smack the woman across the shoulder with the flat of his blade, but yet she stands.

Ivo continues to move into position while Tove provide a minor amount of healing to Torsten.

Much to Torsten's dismay, Kressle is still spry enough to dance aside his enchanted rope and begin her attempt to escape.

Kressle withdraws from combat, with the blue line on the map indicating her route. Razarak gets an AoO vs. Kressle as she exits the square currently occupied by Red Bandit #1's body. Kressle's position on the map indicates where she will be if Raz can not drop her with his AoO.

Raz has an AoO. After that the party is up.

As kressle attempts to leave, Raz swings a clawed hand at her,

Attack of opportunity: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Damage: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
critical confirm?: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12

And manages to clip her as she passes him

Ivo lets out a slight squeak of annoyance and frustration, and moves to pursue for one last shot at the departing bandit woman.

Bless, point-blank shot.

Small shortbow attack: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
Small shortbow damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Razarak manages to tear into Kressle's flesh with his claw, but is unable stop her escape.

Like Ivo, as Raz fails to drop Kressel, Tove quickly chases after her until she gets a clear shot and fires an arrow at the Bandit's back.
Longbow Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 2 + 1 = 10 Blessed
Longbow Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1
The arrow whirrs past the fleeing bandit's head as Tove yells after her."Come back here, you coward!

Rufus rushes around so that he can get to the fleeing womans flank before I attempt to smack her with the flat if my blade again.

Dueling Sword Attack (Non-Lethal): 1d20 + 5 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 5 - 4 + 1 = 11

Torsten dashes forward, calls to his hand a spear and throws it. "Strauch, stop her getting away," he tells his familiar. The goat gets in front of Kressle and threatens the bandit with a toss of his horns.

Torsten attack, -2 range, -4 Theo in melee with her: 1d20 + 4 + 1 - 2 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 + 1 - 2 - 4 = 14
damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10 + 1 bleed

Torsten moves and uses Splintering Spear as a std action. Strauch double moves, there's too much in the way for him to charge. I need to prepare more than one sleep spell in future.

Raz joins the chase, firing off a jolt after Kressle;

Attack: 1d20 + 2 - 4 ⇒ (3) + 2 - 4 = 1
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

But wildly misses his mark...

"Oh no, you don't..."

Jacobus moves closer to the bandit leader and calls upon Abadar's might. His voice reverberates in the forest, "HALT!"

-----------
move and cast command-halt, Will save DC14 to negate

Ivo, Razarak, Tove, and Torsten each fire some sort of projectile at the fleeing bandit leader, but none manage to strike the woman.

Theodore's attempt to subdue Kressle is no more successful than his ranged counterparts.

Finally, Jacobus attempts to issue another command to Kressle, this time the bandit leader seems to ignore as she continues to flee.

Kressle withdraws again. The party is up.

Rufus charges after the fleeing bandit, snapping at her heels.

Rufus Bite Attack (Charge): 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 2 = 8

Upon Rufus lunging for the bandit I try to stay on his back as I swing my own blade again.

Ride (To fight in saddle DC : 10): 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16
Dueling Sword Attack (Non-Lethal): 1d20 + 5 - 4 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 - 4 + 1 = 19
Dueling Sword Damage (Non-Lethal): 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

I had been forgetting to roll to stay in the saddle when I fight. Do you want me to continue rolling it, I can't actually fail it but didn't know if you count a natural 1 on a skill as a fail.

Jacobus drops his mace and pulls out his crossbow.

"Give it up. Stand still!"

--------------
crossbow to hit: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16
damage: 1d8 ⇒ 1

Raz continues in the chase..
Double move

As Kressel continues to flee, Tove pursues her with a righteous fury, firing another arrow at the woman.
Longbow Attack: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 2 + 1 = 12 Blessed
Longbow Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 7

If I count correctly, Tove's Bless spell will wear off after 3 more rounds.

Ivo waits.

I can't move fast enough to keep up with her.

Seeing Kressle vanish into the trees, Torsten decides to collect the weapons of the fallen and surrendered bandits, and check to see which are still alive rather than try to chase her into the forest. "Back Strauch" he calls but the goat chases on.

Strauch can't charge through allies so just a double move again.

Tove fires her bow but the shot is wide of the fleeing bandit leader. Jacobus lines up a shot and just manages to clip Kressle, knocking her off balance just enough for Theodore and Rufus to charge up behind the the bandit leader and with a clang of the flat of his blade, knocks Kressle to the ground.

Kressle is out cold. Combat over.

Tove sighs with relief seeing Kressel fall to the flat of Theodore's blade.
"Need a hand carrying her back to the camp?" She calls out to Theo, gesturing back to where Torsten is taking care of the other bandits.
"If she's as important as Gavin claimed, I'm sure she'll have some very useful information when she comes 'round."

I nod at Tove, "A hand would be appreciated. Hopefully she'll know about any other bandits in the area or the location of this big base."

Jacobus just wanted to bash her skull in and be done with it. Memories of his sister being kidnapped and later killed by bandits obscured his good judgement.

But Abadar had done much to temper those thoughts and he had given his word to the halfling. And he was nothing if not true to his word.

He put away his weapons and neared Theo, "C'mn, I'll help you. Where are we going with her?"

I look torn as I turn to face Jacobus, a mixture of disgust and gratefulness. "I would like to take them all to Olegs, then we can send for a retrieval party and let the city folk deal with them. I'm sure Oleg has a few things he would like to say to this woman and we need to find out as much about the surrounding area as we can."

By time you drag Kressle's unconscious form back to the main camp, the sleeping bandit is beginning to come to. The recently awoken bandit begins to scramble to his feet before taking stock of the situation and sitting back down.

Taking note of Kressle's current condition, the now awake bandit says, "Kick that b@*~& another time for me, would ya?"

"Tell me, why follow someone you despise so?" Tove asks the bandit who just spoke up.
Do any of these bandits actually like the men and women they serve?

Once he has the loose weapons piled by the campfire Torsten moves on to check which of the bandits are dead, and which of the living need aid to stay that way.

"Not really much choice, fear, whatever you wanna call it." the bandit responds. "The Stag Lord is a real monster of a man."

The Stag Lord? That must be what the pendant was for.

"I'm sorry, who? The Stag Lord? Tove crouches down beside the man, who seems quite willing to divulge information on the rest of the bandits in the Greenbelt.

Jacobus keeps quiet but listens intently at what the bandits share, ready to speak up should their story sound untrue.

------------
sense motive: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

"So if we defeat this Stag Lord, then banditry in the region will dissolve mostly? Or are there multiple chiefs vying for power and territory?"

Ivo quietly retrieves his arrows and surveys the bandit camp in more detail.

While the interrogation continues, Raz searches the bodies of the bandits, deceased and otherwise, and the rest of the camp.

wonder what kind of stuff they got laying around here...

Answering Tove's question first the bandit says, "Our boss is a monster of a man. Calls himself the Stag Lord. He’s a deadeye with the bow, and I saw him crush a prisoner’s hand to mush in one fist. Come to think of it, I’ve never seen him without his creepy stag helmet on—
some of my friends think he ain’t got no face under it, but not me—I think that creepy helm is his face!"

Turning his attention to Theodore's question, he continues, "Hard to say. It’s hard keeping track of who’s working for the boss and who his current pack leaders are. Kressle's one of 'em. At different times I've seen four or five others. 'Cause it's such a pain in the ass to keep track of it all, we use a master phrase as a sort of password to get in to the fort on the northeast shore of the Tuskwater. Unless it’s been changed recently, the current phrase is, ‘By the Bloody Bones of St. Gilmorg, who wants to know?’ And before you ask, no, I have no idea who ‘St. Gilmorg’ is."

While the questioning continues, Razarak wanders around the camp looking for items of interest, pulling numerous weapons and gear from the bandits themselves and finding a stash of gear and goods under the closest archer platform.

I nod as I take in the information freely given, "Do you happen to remember what defenses this fort has and how many of the Stags men are usually within?"