DougFungus' Rise of the RuneLords

Game Master pinvendor

"We might as well do this as a group." Zara says obliviously whilst waiting for the stealthy pair; "Who wants to go down first."

Davben surveys Thistletop from the eastern watchtower. He can clearly see the same a before regarding the fort proper.

The stockade is made of thick wood. Closer inspection reveals that most of the wood seems to have been scavenged from ships—a few nameplates remain affixed to some of the beams, while other timbers look like they might have once been masts.

But from this vantage he can also see an interior courtyard to the northwest. (Map visibility updated.)

This large courtyard is open to the sky. Tenacious clumps of partially trampled grass grow fitfully here and there in the hard-packed earth, in places stained with blood or scratched with furrows. To the north, what appear to be two dead goblins lie slumped at the entrance to an outbuilding.

"Well there's not a whole lot to see... I don't see any guards posted at doors or anything, the only two that look like they even could be guards look a lot more like they could be dead already... Why would there be dead goblins down there?" He asks curiously to Samara "Shouldn't we be the only ones leaving a path of deceased goblinoids?"

He shakes his head and goes for the stairs "Well either way we'd best be going, like you said Nicea's not known for her patience... she's not likely to wait for us."

Samara replies to Davben's question with a shrug. "The benefit of goblin minions might mean you get to kill them when you're mad." She considers the question more thoughtfully after she speaks, and she adds while walking down the stairs to rejoin the others, "Or because you can feed them to something."

The group suddenly has the feeling that the more time passes the more likely some bigger, badder, more deadly type of Nualia's henchmen may discover them. Best to make a decision and move on before some kind of random monster encounters them.

"About time you two got down here. Did you find anything or anybody? Did you have trouble? Are you hurt? Or were you up there playing cards?" Nicea grumps as Davben and Samara appear. "We didn't know if you were hurt or not or having trouble or not. We need some sort of a signal for you to use if you're dead."

She gestures down the stairs. "We were about to go down and check out the weird noises, but quiet people usually like to go first, without the rest of us stomping around. Want to go scout it out, or should we just charge down there?"

Red Mist's haft quivers in her palms, and she knows what its answer would be. Nevertheless, it wasn't a leader's role to kill everything herself, any more than it was a ship captain's role to steer and tend the sails and keep the lines taut and clean the deck. No, command was a solemn calling requiring patience and wisdom. It required somebody selfless and giving and restrained. Someone like Nicea.

She takes a deep breath and gazes off to the horizon, elevated and elated by her gift of leadership.

"We found two goblins which we killed. And a few silver. From the tower, we saw two dead goblins we had not net." She remarks to herself the tension in Nicea, and taps her lips thoughtfully. It seemed to the young elf that if Nicea were kept from violence for too long, she might explode. Thus, as an offering to avoid confrontation, Samara offers: "Let's go together."

She even opens the door, as is her duty.

Nicea comes back to reality with a start of surprise, having expected to wait for Dav and Samara again. "Oh... oh, sure. Sounds like fun." With the door open and no obstacle in sight, she charges down the stairs, weapon in hand.

Silva raises a finger in protest of Nicea's rat remark, but the words don't quite come out of his mouth. Fortunately, Davban and Samara show up just in time to save his bacon.

"Woo! There she goes!" Silva exclaims as their fearless leader takes the, well, lead. Before anyone else can go down, he catches Davben with an elbow bump. "Hold up, I almost forgot something..."

The sorcerer sorts through his wand collection, taking out the one they had specifically acquired for situations like these. "I know you naked punchy types don't like wearing armor, so this is the next best thing," he says, poking the monk and bestowing him with mage armor. After a moment, he jabs himself in the arm as well. "And well, I don't like getting stabbed, so I guess I'll do me too."

The troop heads down the stairs which wind down and open into a mostly empty room larger than they have seen so far.

A single lantern hangs from a hook on the wall next to where the stairs enter this room from the north. Several rickety doors open into this room, and a few discarded dog pelt rugs lie forgotten in the northeast corner.

Roll20 has been updated.

Nicea stops suddenly as she reaches the room below, inconsiderately leaving everyone else on the stairway.

"Oh man," she groans, "Whoever built this place must have had an uncle who manufactured doors."

She moves aside so the others can join her. "See what I mean? OK, everyone take a door and listen."

Nicea moves to the first door and presses her ear against it.

Taking the single door at 11 o'clock.
Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16

I'm assuming you mean the door at the upper left of the room and not Nicea's 11 o'clock as she faces south.

Nicea hears some more of the odd noises. She believes there may be disturbing whispers in strange languages on the other side.

Chance: 1d100 ⇒ 8

GM rolls: 5d20 ⇒ (8, 2, 6, 20, 6) = 42

'I'm not a naked punchy type...oh he means Davben.'

"Alright, Nicea." Zara moves to the three o'clock door and crouches down and listens.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
She opens her mouth in a wide O and points to the southern door, slipping off her scarf quietly.

Samara approaches the southern center middle door, keeping her weapons at the ready in case anything decides to surprise her.

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

Neither Zara nor Samara hear anything from the behind their respective doors...or it's being drowned out by the smattering of Goblin chatter and the rather heavy plodding sounds coming from the other door immediately adjacent to Samara.

To be 100% clear, you now have exactly one Standard action worth of time to do whatever is allowed in a Standard action RAW. So if you want to sneak or avoid combat, you need to make some choices now. I also expect you to be updating your positions on Roll20 yourselves. If you don't, whenever a combat, trap, or other encounter where your position on the map is in question, I will assume your token on the map is where you are unless there has been a clear post which describes your position prior to the start of the encounter.

Remember. Easy mode ended. :P

Initiativeless Surprise Round begins now.

Nicea readies Red Mist to hit anything unfriendly that comes within five feet of her. And I checked to be sure I could move Nicea, but I cannot.

That's irritating; I don't know why if I pull the token from the player journal it doesn't assume the same permissions. *sigh* Fixed now though.

Technology: wonderful when it works.

Samara's weapons already drawn, when the voices pick up she decides to hide in the corner to ambush anything who dares come between her and Red Mist.

Zara softly says a prayer to Sivanah to guide her hand in the forthcoming conflict. She grasps the hem of her scarf in readiance for the door to open.

Cast Guidance on self

Davben positions himself on the opposite side of the door where goblin sounds are being heard, so if anything emerges it will be pinned between Samara and himself. The monk readies his punchers should any threat come through the door.

Silva rolls up his sleeves a little further up his arms for dramatic effect, and then pulls his magic missile wand back out.

Dameika moves to a spot where she can shoot evenly towards whatever comes through the door, setting sights on her target and only her target which would be anything that can be nasty to them. She holds herself ready, waiting for a cue to act. She only glances to their leader once giving a basic nod then back to the door and whatever her quarry may be coming through it.

[ooc:] Hi all. I know I cannot fully dignify why I have not been here but I am now so I will do my best to make sure it stays that way.[/ooc]

Dameika! Click me!

A large bugbear with an annoyed expression jerks the door open, one arm still behind the door grasping the handle. The room behind him is dark, and some oddly high pitched goblin chittering can be heard. The male bugbear's beady eyes land on Nicea and for a split second he's frozen as a shocked snarl of jagged fangs is revealed.

Surprise Round readied actions

Samara, Davben, Silva, and Damieka are the only ones who have an action readied which can reach Bruthazmus who is in the room's doorway.

Surprise Round readied actions

Correction

I had forgotten a character can't attack across a diagonal if there is a wall, so apparently only Damieka and Silva have readied actions available, arrow and wand respectively.

Since I'm first in turn one, but don't have a readied action.

Zara nips forwards softly standing behind Davben, her scarf dangling in one hand whilst the other gestures like a Hindi dancer as she calls upon the Goddess Sivanah's favour.

Move: Behind Davben
Standard: Cast Guidance on Davben

Technically, you're second, Zara, after the bugbear. I'll allow you to retcon your action if you decide it would be different once the readied actions have been resolved and he takes his turn as needed.

Whoops I was reading that as 20 for Zara & 18 for the Bugbear d'oh

The sudden appearance of the bugbear is rather off-putting, but Silva was not about to let that slip him up.

"Aren't you a little tall for a goblin?" he asks as he flicks his wand at him.

Magic Missile: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 3) + 2 = 7

"That could become painful." Damieka exclaims with a slight smirk for adding to Silva's joke. She had no idea if anyone heard her or even put two and two together with her gutter joke but it did not matter.

Her action was timed along with Silva's as she released her arrow towards the bugbear and she hoped for a good, clean execution of attack.

Arrow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 121d8 ⇒ 4

The bolts of force from Silva's wand leap out and erringly strike the bugbear causing him to stagger a step back. As a result Damieka's arrow misses the creature. It sinks into the wood of the door with a loud thud!

The bugbear roars loudly in anger and pain. From the dark behind him, the higher pitched screeching of goblins increases and sounds more alarmed. He slams the door shut, and the sound of something scrapes on the wood. Most likely a bar lock.

The sounds seems to echo in the empty room. For a moment there seems to be just silence as the echoes fade.

But then shouting and other noise from behind the door near Davben indicate additional activity has begun to occur.

Zara, you're now up. You may change your previously announced actions if you wish.

To help expedite this scene a bit, you may post freely, but we're still in rounds. So as you post the other characters in the Initiative list are also taking actions "off-screen." If one of you posts super fast, the you will be taking actions into Round 2 and beyond if your actions wouldn't be possible in one round, so plan accordingly, but don't be shy.

"Do we try one of those doors? And go after him or prepare to barricade against the oncoming forces?" Zara asks hurriedly.

"Maybe barricade or fall back to a more defensible position. That may be a thing we should do," suggests Samara, gesturing towards the door they came from, but she looks to Nicea for the final decision.

"Barricading is probably best for a start." Damieka stated calmly as she stared at the door, "Then fall back. I agree with Samara."

She steels herself for their next action but doesn't even wait as she removes her arrow from the door, notices it is damaged so starts wedging it into the panel to cross in front of the door. It wasn't much but it was a start to at least jar the door from opening quickly.

"That should annoy them for half a minute at least."

Nicea scowls around the little room. "We won't be in the best shape if all these doors open. Stairway's narrow, though. We could defend it. Maybe after setting Mr. Ugly's door on fire? Anyone got a fire spell?"

She starts waving people back up the stairs. "I'll be rearguard and keep the stairway plugged. Blondie, you're with me. You gotta keep me on my feet if they manage to hit me. Which they won't. Because I'm the best."

Davben looks towards the stairs when Nicea suggests they retreat back up there. "Barricading the doors would be good, or trying to get through very quickly, though I doubt we'd be qiuck enough. We can't assume that this would be the only exit which means anyone who doesn't know we're here will soon. Retreating up the staircase isn't a bad idea, but we have to make sure we don't get stuck there, it's too tight quarters we'll need room to maneuver when the fight comes. You have some place in mind where you want to make a stand Nicea?"

"Good plan, let me give you strength." Zara says, gracefully moving over to Nicea whilst incanting to the Goddess for the power to overcome their evil foes when beset on all sides by them.

Move: Next to Nicea
Standard: Cast Bulls Strength on Nicea

"...You have some place in mind where you want to make a stand Nicea?"

"Well... I was thinking the stairway. They can only attack the person at the bottom - classic pinch point - then the folks on the stairs can shoot over the defender into the crowd below. But if that's not good, then where do you think we should go?" The scythe-wielder sounds humbler than usual.

"The stairwell is good for me." Damieka exclaimed as she moved to Davben's side, "There is cover and I'm able to startle them that way. I do so like startling others."

Damieka's grin widened just before she turned, pressed herself against Davben while taking his face between her hands and kissed him, hard and passionately. She slowly let him go and chuckled, "Not everyone gets to be startled like that." She winks at the monk.

"So my vote is stairwell."

"Yeah, just put me in the middle. I don't even have to aim with this thing," Silva remarks, twirling his wand in between his fingers while staring at the brief moment of intimacy between Damieka and Davben. He says nothing of the fact that his wand was actually running out of charges rather quickly...

I see a lot of discussion, but no movement of tokens on Roll20. At the moment, I'm assuming you are all literally standing in the room with the doors just talking this out.

Mm. I'm only seeing a black screen on Roll20 for whatever reason.

"In that case let's use the open area at mmmph" The monk's words are smothered by a sudden smooching. He pauses stunned for a moment "Errr... yes well, I'm not sure this is the best time for that."

The monk continues "Anyway let's use the opening at the top of the stairs rather than in the stairwell. Samara and I work well together, we could set up on either side of the entrance with Nicea in front, then any enemy coming up the stairs runs into a three prong attack. Damieka and Silva can set up where they have a good view to attack with arrows and magic, and Zara should have room to move around, and support anyone that needs it. We'll want to get them in a pinch while avoiding bottlenecking ourselves, but we should decide and get into position before they come back to find us." He turns to head up the stairs.

"It was for me." Damieka says about Davben's response as she goes up the stairs after Silva. Her amusement was done so now it was time for her to get back to work. She didn't even have to listen to Davben to know what he was going to say. As long as you knew basics about group fighting it was easy to determine the basic structure with their team.

"We're in place Boss." The ranger started counting her arrows to make sure she knew what she had and watching what else was going on from the side of her eyes.

Suddenly the door to the south next to the one the bugbear slammed shut is thrown open and a warrior in full gear is standing there, sword and shield in hand. An imposing visage is in relief on his large steel shield, stern disapproval of any opposing the man. His own face looks alarmed and simply becomes grim as his eyes sweep the room and discover two camps of enemies one to his left and the other near the stairs.

"Bruthazmus!" The warrior calls loudly calls. He readies his sword for battle.

Warrior Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7

In answer, a roar from behind the recently closed door occurs before it opens again, the bugbear now fully armored and ready for combat steps out.

"Interlopers, you have made a fatal error! Die now!" the bugbear bellows.

New Round 1

Bruthazmus steps out, a heavy flail gripped in his meaty hand. Seeing Samara immediately to his left, he gives a pleased bellow and brings the flail around in a great swing to strike.

Flail against Elf (favored): 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 7 + 2 = 28
damage: 1d10 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11
Critical confirm: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 7 + 2 = 17
damage: 1d10 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 = 17

Ugh. I promised you no more kid gloves, and the first attack kills Samara outright. Twenty-eight damage is exactly her HP + Con in negative HPs. I certainly never predicted it, and considering how quiet everyone has been lately, I'm afraid this will kill the game if she dies. I'd be willing to offer the chance for Zara to heal her before the end of the round, but I know if she casts a spell, she'll have to either chance the AoO from the bruiser Bruthazmus or succeed at defensive casting.

What can I do to maintain the fairness I promised and yet keep this from sapping all of your will to continue?

"Hurrying is a thing we should-" starts Samara contemplatively as she waits for a decision to be made for her, before she is cut off by a flail to the face, and she goes down like a sack of potatoes dropped down a cliff. Some of her teeth come loose, and she looks quite dead.

But she is not quite dead.

Taking the average HP on the level up.

Let's get back on the road to greatness! Zara, you're move.