Drow War Team 2

Game Master Tarlane

As the party and the hobgoblins both advance towards each other through the deep water they finally meet near a bend in the tunnel. Sumak, moving ahead on the fast wolf is the first to see two hobgoblins who are clearly startled as he comes into view and immediately start to cry out shouting back down the tunnel in alarm.

Tenoch, the water is really brackish and dark so you can't see through it. You'll have to take a moment to inspect and it doesn't sound like you guys are going to be doing that til things settle.

Battle Map

Initiative order=
Rusigari
Hobgoblins
Selene
Sumak
Saradel
Morton
Tenoch

Woot! High initiative actually counts this time!

Rusigari moves up to just behind Sumak's wolf and readies an action to zap an Electricity Ray at any enemy that enters his LoS. Should be square 8O for 25 feet of movement.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Rats again. =/ I think that's the highest I've rolled on an attack roll so far.

Remember that because of the water everything is effectively difficult terrain so you are moving at half speed. Without double moving the closest you can get is O-10 next to Saradel. That would give you line of sight to part of the hallway, so I am going to place you there for now and let me know if you would have gone elsewhere.

Rusigari advances as far as he can down the hallway, sloshing through the water while keeping his eyes alert and ready for whatever is coming the other way.

It doesn't take long as two hobgoblin's turn the corner, ducking under the jolt of energy that flies at him with a cry and a curse.

Stopping just around the corner long enough for both to hurl the javelins they have in their hands at Sumak out in front, though neither come anywhere near close to hitting. Everything about the creatures body language shows them ready to inch backwards down where they came from.

We are back around to you guys, Selene, Sumak and Saradel are all up.

Saradel moves forward and hurls a vial at one of the hobgoblins.

Move to O7 and Bomb ranged touch attack on H1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
Damage: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Damage to H2 is 8 unless he succeeds at a DC 17 reflex save

Selene will move to O9 and sling an acid glob at H1..

Glob: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22 Ranged Touch
Sizzle: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Confirm Crit!

Glob: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Sizzle: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Lol DAm!

Well now, right now it is looking like the majority of people are interested in the critical hit and fumbles, so I'm going to run with that while we see how it works. If it doesn't, then its easy enough to drop for the future.

Selene flings a pile of acid from her hands, splattering the chest of the hobgoblin and causing him to stagger back slightly from the force of the blow. It steams from him, forming a cloud just behind him. The cloud almost seems to have a shape to it, and you see the hobgoblin glancing back over his shoulder at the form.

The hobgoblin is considered flanked for 2 rounds.

Just waiting for Sumak's action and then Saradel's will go off too.

Round 1

Fred will move up and will bite the damaged Hobgoblin

Bite: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 121d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3 add plus +2 as it is considered flanked ?

Trip: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21 if bite hits

Round 1

Sumak will hit the wounded hobgoblin is he isn't dead and the other one if he is.

Heavy Mace: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (12) + 3 = 151d6 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7

i did not add the modifiers for flank or is he is tripped

Moving forward, Fred snaps at the injured hobgoblin, narrowly missing, but still functioning as an effective team, Sumak smashes down onto the creature with his mace, leaving it looking dazed.

The one hobgoblin was considered flanked due to Selene's crit. Currently H1 is staggered but still on his feet.

Saradel, right now if you throw directly at the hobgoblin it will do splash damage on Sumak and his wolf. From your previous combats, it seems that when an ally is within melee you prefer to throw behind the enemies and have them take the splash damage instead. Should I use that as an assumption for the future? I'm going to run with that right now to keep moving forward, but if you would do something else we can backtrack a bit.

Saradel steps forward, lobbing one of her bombs towards the hobgoblins, the blast sending a wave of water down the hallway and knocking one of the hobgoblins down into the pool as the other is burned with the blast.

Morton advances forward, sloshing through the water before taking a shot at the last remaining hobgoblin with his short bow, but in the confusion of the fight with sumak the arrow bounces off the wall.

Tenoch you and Rusigari are up now.

Rusigari sloshes through the water to the back wall for a better view. Moves from his current position, diagonally to N9, then up to N7. Should be 30 feet of movement.

He decides to save the rest of his somewhat more potent lightning bolts for when he has time for target practice. He snaps a smaller lightning bolt at the Hobgoblin and hopes for the best.

It's an Acid Splash, but lightning.

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

I think that's actually a hit. If so, woohoo for first hit!

I'm going to hurt your feelings when I point out that he's in melee combat, so there is a -4 on it aren't I?

I thought it was only a -2, canceled out by the flanking bonus (though TBH I'm not sure what the magical flanking thing even entails anyway, if it's regular flanking so you need melee or he's just flanked for everybody). *sobs*

This is why I don't play ranged characters. =/ Should stick with my strengths, like Orc Barbarians, and Brawler Monks.

Why did my crit cause him to be flanked? Houserule?

The enemy was simply counted as flanking, making it powerful for even ranged characters. However, the hobgoblin that took that penalty is now unconscious and under water. You do take a -4 when using a ranged attack on an enemy who is in melee. This is canceled out if you ever picked up precise shot.

We're apparently using the Crit/Fumble decks now. Though now I think of it, what did you toss at him that does 1d6+1?

Rusigari looks at the ground in shame, moping over his own feelings of inadequacy.

Selene, I mentioned that it looked like more people wanted to at least try the crit hit decks so I pulled a card for you. For magic it was something akin to 'illusory form causes creature to count as flanked for 1d6 rounds in addition to double damage'. I mentioned it in my post, but I think it was probably buried in there, that was why I sort of described smoke rising up and taking form from the acid on him.

My concern about this being too confusing may be valid after all! I'm trying to slip them in as description and details for it and making note of the effects in a mechanical way, but again if they aren't working we can simply stop using them. I try and not house rule too much stuff on here unless its stated very clearly(like the lack of resurrection magic) so we all are on the same ground.

Rusigari, she's using Acid Dart, which is her conjurer class abilty. Usable a number of times a day.

Oh its ok i missed than.. Im fine with u using the deck.. I think it creates a certain random element.. As far as my acid glob its actually called Acid Dart.. Its the conjuration spec use/day ability..

Aaah. For some reason I thought she was an Admixture specialist. And Tarlane, if you wanna make them less confusing, just put an OOC description next to it explaining which card was drawn, and put it in a spoiler or something.

Saradel grits her teeth and says If we survive this, we really need to discuss not stepping where the angry grimspawn is about to throw an explosive.

Tarlane, thats fine. that's what I would have done and is a good rule of thumb going forward.

Hearing the battle engaged behind him, Tenoch takes one last glance at a the water in the shaft before turning and heading towards the enemy.

Double move to M7.

Hmmm, I need to get better initiative. There's not going to be any hobgoblin left for me! lol

i am fine with the crit deck :)

You might get a taste of one yet!

As the half-orc arrives and the jolt of energy narrowly misses him, the burned and wounded hobgoblin can clearly see that the battle is not going to go in his favor, especially with the fallen ally beside him.

In his moment of panic he cries out a warning back down the tunnel from which he came, and flees as best he can moving north down the tunnel and pulling his longsword as he goes.

Hobgoblin takes a withdraw action which brings up Selene, Sumak, and Saradel.

Saradel moves to follow him, hoping to get in one more bomb before he gets all the way away.

Move to L7 and hurl bomb at Hobgoblin including ranged penalties: 1d20 + 5 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 5 - 2 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12

Selene pulls a scroll.. Reading it casts Ear Piercing Scream..

1d6 ⇒ 1 plus Daze.. DC 15 1/2 damage and negate daze

Selene lets out a loud burst of sound that echoes down the tunnel after the fleeing hobgobling, and though he grabs at his ears for a moment he doesn't seem to slow down.

Just a heads up noone but him hears the spell.. It doesnt make a loud external noise..

Spell Here

No problem. It was basically just fluff anyway since anyone who would be aware of you was already aware of you, but I will make sure to account for that with the spell in the future.

Fred will double move (if he can't charge) since he can move faster then the hobgoblin assuming he has 30ft move and not 20ft due to mediam armor...

if he can charge

Bite: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 3 + 2 = 201d6 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 if it hits Trip: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

Current AC 12

Sumak will take a swing at his new target

Heavy Mace: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 191d6 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

add +2 to hit if Fred Charged and AC 22

Can't charge in difficult terrain and you didn't have a straight line anyway since it retreated past the corner where you encountered it. Fred's double move will get you there though.

The wolf splashes through the water as quickly as it can after the fleeing hobgoblin, for as fast as the animal is, being low to the ground leaves it swimming in places so the chase is difficult, but it does manage to catch up in time for Sumak to bring his mace down on his foe again, a blow that brings an angry hiss from it.

Saradel's bomb comes sailing in much more quickly however, landing just before the fleeing hobgoblin, the blast launching him backwards into the water unconscious.

Out of fight initiative again. I was again assuming you weren't going to blast Sumak along with the hobgoblin so hit the square next to him, Saradel, but even your splash damage was enough to put him down at that point.

Up ahead the water slopes down to the point where the wolf is truly having to dog paddle for a little bit, and all the others are needing to stretch up to keep their heads easily above water, but not far ahead you can see that the tunnel opens into a larger cavern and at least part of it is raised higher than the mine track you have been following and is all the way out of water. You can't see into the cavern clearly from where you are, but you can hear quite a bit of commotion from within.

Whispering Well that should it the big fight boys and girls. Casting a Shield of Faith on fred as he moves in the cavern

Time to make my Grand Wolf entry fred moves forward

Rusigari splashes forward as fast as he can while staying in the middle of the pack.

Maybe I'll find something I can actually hit. he thinks to himself.

"It is likely they will be prepared for us, so ready yourself for what may be to come. If the children are there, we need to protect them from further harm." Tenoch moves ahead down the passage.

Just to give a heads up, I am going to try and get a post up in the morning, but I'm having a bit of a family emergency that is going to slow my responses for a few days.

Gotcha.

When you reach the area where the tunnel widens, the cart tracks you are following continue forward along a thick channel of water, disappearing again into a mostly submerged tunnel. On one side of the cavern, the level of the ground is raised, high enough to be fully out of the water. A small campfire burns and smokes in the damp air there, surrounded by a handful of tents clustered together close in the dry area.

Four hobgoblins sit out in the open, the one who is clearly the leader holding a small child close against him, the edge of a longsword resting across the kids throat. Peeking out from within the tents are a few younger hobgoblins.

Clearly ready and expecting an attack, the leader snarls a bit, snapping out.

"You have attacked my people and come into my home. We are not without our own defenses. Surrender yourselves or the little piglet will be forfeit. It isn't as if we don't have another bargaining chip, so don't test me."

How close are we to the leader?

whispering if anyone can daze him, now is the time.

Well then we are having a problem here. If you kill him and the others there is nothing preventing us to come and kill you. And if we leave now there is nothing preventing you to kill him. While i am concerned about the child. Fred here pointing to the wolf, The tiefling Witch and the Half-Orc Barbarian Brute over there, don't really care about human babies. And they would like nothing better for you to kill the child so that they have an even better excuse just to wipe you all.

So i understand you guys need a place to live. I know that your group wasn't able to join the other pack on the other side of the human town.The way i see things is thus: Release the children. Don't interfere in human affairs. And they can let you life here in this old mine. After all the humans know its abandoned. Think on it, but not too long. These guys are savages

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19

Grrrrr ! Wouf ! Grrrrr !

can we charge the leader?

I can color spray him if we're within 15'.. I can cast grease on his weapon if we're within 25'.. Or if i can move and get within range.. I suppose that leaves it up to initiative though..

The dry ground is about 30ft across, the leader is back towards the wall. When everyone comes into view of each other, you all would still be in the water which limits an actual charge. Distance in a straight line to the leader would be about 40ft, through a bit of water and then up onto the raised level.

great sumak could make it and fred too with a single move...

i know you don't realize it you big hobgoby but i can totally get in your face !

Wouf ! Wouf !

Waiting to hear the Hobgob's response to Sumak before figuring out what to do.. Regardless moving/casting and slitting throats will go on initiative right?

it is a generous offer on my part but i think he is too stupid to take it. So sumak will go with plan B

Ruisgari fidgets a bit.

Well I suppose I could fry them all with a fan of lightning but that wouldn't really help the baby...

Moving up 30 feet and then Color Spraying him might be our best option. If we win Initiative at least a little bit we could delay for Selene to move up.