Black Tom's Serpent Skull

Game Master Black Tom

Hrakar chuckles:"We'll be hidden they will pass across the bridge and then they'll be trapped... Do you get it now. I admit you will do for a very good bait, though!"

Torch shakes his head, breaking in, "It's foolhardy to make any such plans until we have a way to talk to them. You keep forgetting that little detail, Orcbane. Capturing one we can't talk to is just going to leave us torturing the damned fool for nothing. We need to scout out their village, not try to lure them in for no purpose. We might not even need to deal with them at all."

The dwarf shakes his head at Torch's words:"We can't scout their village. There's a tribe of them and five of us, and most of us are not exactly stealthy...", so saying Hrakar nods towards the whistling gnome.
"If we send one of us and he gets cought our chances decrease dramatically. Better to take down a few of the savages before we start thinking about anything. Maybe we'll get lucky and we'll find a way to extract information from the cannibal. Otherwise it will be one less of them we'll have to deal with later on."

Gelik puts his fists on his hips and frowns. [b]"I will not take part in a plan that traps the cannibals on one side of the bridge with me, and everyone else is on the other side. That plan ends in gnome stew."[b]

He has no answer to Torch's comment. Mainly because he has no interest in capturing anyone.

Gelik will help build a fire to attract a cannibal patrol, but he will not do so alone. He stays on the same side of the bridge as the majority.

If I'm reading the map right, the bridge is the one at R12, right? Can we tell roughly which coordinates would hold the cannibal village/lighthouse?

"Master Gelik, can you fire the bonfire from this side of the bridge, for surely that would alleviate your fears?" says the concerned Aerys.

Ralf watches the vigorous discussion with concern on his face. "I hope you've got a good plan for dealing with this group of bloodthirsty savages; I don't think we can take them all on at once!"

The bridge is indeed in R12 while the lighthouse is in S3, so there is a fair bit of distance between them.

Gelik slaps his forehead in frustration, ignoring Ralf and addressing Aerys. He speaks slowly and carefully. "It isn't a matter of where I'm standing when I light the fire. I'm concerned about where all of you will be standing when the cannibals 'take the bait'. If I'm way over there, on the other side of the bridge with the cannibals, and you're over here watching, what is to stop them from killing and eating me?" He reiterates, "Come back over to the other side of the bridge with me, and I will happily light the fire and act as bait. The cannibals can then be ambushed as they cross the bridge toward us." The tactical advantage is so fundamental that the gnome can't understand where the communications disconnect is coming from. He tries to remain patient, but his face has turned an unnatural (for humans) crimson color.

Hrakar laughs:"They won't eat you on the spot! Everyone knows they like their meat cooked! But if you are so scared they'll just feast on you then I guess we can accomodate you. You are pretty demanding for a bait though!"

Smiling at the man, Aerys "Well, one side or the other doesn't matter too much. Just we'd have been able to block their retreat a bit better if they'd been across the other side. Never mind, we'll all come over and help with the fire and organise the ambush."

Gelik sticks out his tongue at Hrakar again, and says, "Nyah."

He then smiles at Aerys. "Thank you."

Let's build a fire, dammit!

We are all the way on the other side of the island, guys. The only way this is going to do anything is if Tom takes pity on us and decides to throw us a bone.

we need to know from him anyway. If it doesn't work we'll need to move on, but until we know for certain we need to wait. In other words: let's build a fire

Depending on the scale of the map and the topology, it may not be that far from one side of the island to the other. At least by path, I wouldn't expect the island to be that big?

Aerys leads the way one at a time back across the bridge to collect dry and damp foliage for the bonfire, enough to make thick enough smoke to rise up into the air.

Survival 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 to gather wood and debris for the fire.

As she looks around the area, she finds it decidedly difficult to find any suitable material.

At the very least, they might send a search party out (that we can ambush) to investigate a plume of smoke. You can see smoke from pretty far away, I think.

Very well, you build a fire on the far side of the bridge (I suppose). What then?

Very well, you build a fire on the far side of the bridge (I suppose). What then?

[ooc]We wait hidden, hoping some cannibals see the fire and check it out. After that.... you are the DM, you should be the one telling us! :D[ooc]

I just wanted to know how and where you proposed to hide.

Oh well, just roll for initiative.

Ok, sorry for that, I didn't get you wanted us to hide in any particular spot. My fault I guess.

Initiative roll:1d20 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Initiative 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 2 = 16

I would have no trouble with BT rolling the players initiative, if you wanted to speed up the game a bit? Saves us inits for a day or so, then starting the combat.

Initiative 1d20+2

I would have no trouble with BT rolling the players initiative, if you wanted to speed up the game a bit? Saves us inits for a day or so, then starting the combat.

Sure, good idea

Initiative 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

I dunno... the way's Tom's dice hate me... No, seriously, I'm fine with that too, if you decide to go for it, BT.

1d20 - 6 ⇒ (13) - 6 = 7

I also don't have a problem with someone rolling my init for me.

Well, I like to have you roll your own initiative. It gives me some time to set up the battle and also gives you opportunity to state your positions and preparations. Incidentally, I still don't understand how you expect to hide from the cannibals when half of you don't even have ranks in Stealth, unless you are hiding under something. Oh well.

You gather the materials of the enormous bonfire and light it in hope of attracting the cannibals. In the first hour nothing happens, and when trouble strikes it is from an entirely unexpected direction.

Out of the blue sky dives a monstrous creature, looking vaguely draconic with leathery bat-like wings and savage teeth and claws, the size of a large dog but much more frightening.

Knowledge (nature) 15:

It lands on Gelik and tears into him for 12 points of damage. Fortunately he manages to escape its grip.

I don't think I'll bother with a combat map for now. Let's just assume that you are within a single move of the creature, but none of you (except poor Gelik) is in range of the snarling monster (which is Medium and does not have reach.

You are up, all of you.

Incidentally, I still don't understand how you expect to hide from the cannibals when half of you don't even have ranks in Stealth, unless you are hiding under something. Oh well.

I assumed we were going to stand in some bushes or trees or something, but nobody jumped up to say that. :-)

I might be away for a couple of days, put this in correct order please

Hrakar slings his crossbow and shoots at the creature:

Attack roll:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22
Critical confirmation:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 2 = 18

Damage roll (if critical confirms):1d10 ⇒ 9+1d10 ⇒ 2

Not bad!

Initiative1d20 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 2 = 17

"Aaaaaahhhh!!! I've been disembowelled!"

Ralf gives Gelik a burst of healing.

1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Gelik!" cries Torch as he rushes forward, scimitar already moving. Knowledge (nature) roll: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26. Torch uses ranger's focus on the creature, then attacks it: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22, damage 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10. Can anybody give me a flank for next round?

Aerys shouts, "Gelik, run!" as she takes her bow and fires at the beast.

Shortbow attack 1d20 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 - 4 = 16 shooting into melee.
Shortbow damage 1d6 ⇒ 6

Torch if you hold you action, until someone gets into a flanking position, then Aerys or maybe someone else will move to attack with melee.

I doubt that'd be possible; I'm good with setting up for next round. We'll probably have to do some 5 ft shuffling to get lined up.

You might be flanking with Gelik. He has his longspear and should threaten even as he backs away.

Greatfully accepting the healing, Gelik takes a 5' step away from the vicious creature, prodding at it with his longspear as he does.

attack1d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4, +4 if it's a reptilian subtype creature
damage1d6 ⇒ 4

HP: 7/14

Ok, I'm back. I see we managed to hit the creature pretty hard. Revenge is yours Gelik!!! :D

In spite of my craptacular rolls.

Well, on the off chance that I was flanking, I can add 1d6 ⇒ 2 sneak attack damage to my rolls.

Under your assault the creature bellows in pain and surprise and flies off. Only Gelik gets an AoO, since you are not yet flanking.

You can take a shot at it but it's already 120 feet away, flying to the north-west.

"What was that?" asks a triumphant Aerys, smiles all over her face. She turns to Gelik, "Well done, you scared it off with your fight, Are you alright, it seemed to give you a bit of a nasty surprise?"

"Chupacabra," Torch answers Aerys. "Blood-drinking lizards. Pretty big specimen, though. Never heard of one that size before."

Hrakar nods wisely to Gelik:"You see? It worked perfectly. You were a great bait, problem is we didn't catch the fishes we wanted but something else. But no problem really, fishing requires patience after all..."
So saying the dwarf heals Gelik with a rather wide grin on his face though.

Cure light wounds:1d8 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

Aerys follows the beast as it flies off, noting the direction. "We best be careful if we journey that way." see points up and after the beast.

Can Aerys discern the direction on the map where the creature might lair. [ooc]Survival 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22[/ooc]

Btw do we get exp for this encounter? It wasn't much of a fight but the creature was clearly defeated... and I doubt we could have dropped it, considering it attacked, got slaughtered and limped away immediately... Don't wanna seem greedy, but it seems to me we defeated the monster.

Gelik stabs with his longspear as the creature flees.

AoO attack1d20 + 3 ⇒ (10) + 3 = 13+4 if it's a reptilian subtype creature
damage1d6 ⇒ 4

Spurred on by Aerys' tough talk, Gelik shakes his fist at the retreating figure. "Yeah, you'd better run!"

Just wanted to finish the battle, OK?

The monster takes flight to the north. It seems to have its lair somewhere on the mountain at QR12.

You get 320 xp for the battle. Will you go back to waiting for cannibals?

Ok, I wasn't aware we had the chance to attack it again since he withdrew (I guess that's what it did). And I suggest we try again... taking a stroll into the enemy village seems a tad suicidal to me...

Ralf watches the creature fly off and ponders a bit.

Know (nature): 1d20 + 5 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 20 = 42

"A giant goat-sucker...you don't see one of those every day! Are you all right, little fellow?"

Aerys is unsure that the creature will be easy to follow, as it can always fly off somewhere, it could be a fools errand. "I say we wait close by to take on any natives that come to investigate. After all there is now a nice pool of drying blood from both Gelik and the flying beast. When they stop and look, we come out of the undergrowth or let fly with arrows, try and take them out quickly. If there are some trees we could climb up into, with some foliage for cover, then we would have a real advantage." say the swashbuckling women, with a hard glint in her eye.

So are there any trees that fit the bill around here? Or some other similar natural cover.

Hrakar agrees vigorously with Aerys:"That's the kind of thinking I like! And when the cannibals come we'll give THEM the same welcome we gave to mr flying ugly lizard!"

Gelik screams in Gelik's face. "No! I'm not all right you doddering old geezer! I just almost got eviscerated by some kind of dragon! A goat-sucking dragon?! That's a thing? Do I look like a goat?"

He pauses for a second, calmer. "Don't answer that."

Apparently less enamored with being bait, he slumps around looking for a likely bush to hide in, stopping only to sheepishly thank Hrakar for the healing.

Ralf squints at Gelik. "I didn't quite catch what you said, but you look lively enough, so I think you'll live," he appraises sagely. He follows everyone else into the bushes passively enough.