Spidre walks away.
Thyra picks up a couple of mundane items from the general store, a crowbar, some candles, a glass bottle, a blanket and an hourglass. She overpays, giving the shopkeep 35 gold, "Treat yer family ta somethin' nice, maybe pass alon' tha charity ta someone who needs it, in Torm's name,"
She'll then wait around by the East? gate for the rest of her group to arrive, reading from her holy book some Torm scripture.
I haven't been keeping up to well on my reading, how'll I ever become a paladin!"
Once you're dismissed from Stefan Manor and have finished gearing up for your expedition, you trek out toward the woods in search of the Iron Ring's hideout.
It takes a couple of hours to get into the thick of the woods, and you begin searching for signs of a camp.
Soon, Halsere and Mirrel both notice something: the flicker of a campfire some 200 feet deeper into the woods, and the faint smell of roasting meat. Seems someone's cooking lunch up ahead...
Thyra, trudging through the woods, trying to be as quiet as possible still crunches every leaf and stick in her patch. Wincing and whispering to the group, "Sorry guys, anyone find something yet?"
Mirrel motions for quiet, lowering his voice.
"There's a camp up ahead. Maybe someone should scout it out? Presuming their watch isn't too rigorous, we should be able to get the drop on them."
He looks to Halsere at the last, seeking confirmation or further suggestion.
Spidre cocks his head and speaks in a strange tongue to his spider. The creature climbs its way to the ground and begins creeping forward into the trees.
Agreed. I am no master of stealth but lets see what I can do.
He joins Spidre in his reconnoiter of the area ahead.
A spider and a wizard walk into a bar creep ahead through the woods. As you suspected, these are no vacation campers: a total of four well-armed humanoids are here. A human and a dwarf, both in full plate, sit on a fallen log, weapons in hand (the human has a greatsword, the dwarf a greataxe). An elf is cooking, and looks to be wearing lighter armor, with a rapier at his hip.
The fourth humanoid was barely noticed by Spidre's spider: someone of unknown race, covered head-to-toe in dark clothing, is perched on a branch above the camp, seemingly keeping watch. This one has a bow in hand.
Not far from the campfire are a pair of modest tents.
You creep back to your group, spotting no signs of your targets having noticed you.
"I could try to creep forward and catch them all with magic," offers Mirrel. "No guarantees, of course. But for those I can affect, they'll sit quietly whilst the rest of you take the unaffected ones out."
"Do we even know they are enemies? Perhaps they are travelers, taking reasonable precautions. I think it would be rash of us to simply attack."
"If my spell succeeds, nobody will be hurt. If they are the bandits we're looking for, I think approaching them openly could be dangerous."
"And if they are well-armed innocents, enchanting them immediately could turn an otherwise friendly encounter sour."
"Well, the magic takes care of that too. They'll be friendly...though admittedly it probably won't last once the spell wears off."
Mirrel shrugs slightly. "You're right that it's a risk, of course. Anything we do could be dangerous if we approach things wrongly."
From his vantage point ahead of the party Halsere waits in concealment, not game to move and waiting for the party to act.
Thyra will step forward, "They could just be hunters, don't know that these are tha Iron Ring Bandits, maybe we should talk ta 'em first," She kind of shrugs, seeking opinion. "They probably are tha bandits, so we can just charge in but let's take 'em alive just in case,"
Spidre draws his bow and points to Mirrel, gesturing broadly with his hand and grunting for him to move towards the camp. He then taps his bow and draws a circle in the air before creeping off to one side in the general direction of the camp.
Watching Spidre with some bemusement, Mirrel replies to Thyra.
"Agreed. Hopefully my spell will render them dazed and easily subdued. We can question them in the name of the duke. Should they turn out to be innocent travellers, I'll explain the stakes to them and hopefully they'll see the need for this approach," turning to Pietro he looks for permission, if not approval. "Agreed? I'll start with a harmless, dazing spell and hopefully we can subdue them quickly. Whatever happens, we make sure not to kill anyone...although I'm not entirely clear on how to explain that to Spidre."
Presuming Pietro is willing to go ahead with it, I'll sneak around the camp in the opposite direction to Spidre, move in as close as necessary to be able to catch all of the presumed bandits (the spell affects all within 30 feet of a point I can see within 120 feet - I'll definitely want to include the guard overlooking the branch but will hope to get the other three as well).
I'd suggest Pietro and Thyra remain here until the spell goes off.
= 6!
Thyra will move forward with Peitro.
Whispering, "Ai hope it goes well fer 'em"
Spidre sneaks within 80ft, looking for line of sight to the watcher perched above.
-Posted with Wayfinder
You all approach the camp: Thyra, Pietro and Halsere directly; and Mirrel and Spidre pincering it from the sides.
About the time you're just about into position, the people in the camp all look up and the one in the tree shouts, "Spies! We're surrounded!"
Reacting quickly, the elf darts into the woods in the direction of Spidre and casts a spell at him, before casting another spell and vanishing into nothing!
Pietro rushes 30 feet closer to the camp, and casts a spell to conjure a storm cloud over his head. A bolt of lightning strikes down in between the human and dwarf.
The two armor-wearers suffer a heavy jolt!
Spidre fires his bow at the archer, taking mental note to feed dirt to that invisible elf.
,
,
But Spidre, as it turns out, is actually a terrible archer himself.
Spidre brutally murders a tree trunk... twice!
The archer fires an arrow at Mirrel!
=24,
He shoots Mirrel square in the gut, then starts hopping tree-to-tree toward the unfortunate bard!
You lose track of him somewhere in the branches! Except Mirrel, who can barely see him.
The human and the dwarf, both badly injured, get pumped up against their wounds!
They then drink potions as well:
The pair of fighters then advance toward Pietro, careful to put a little distance between each other in case of another bolt.
Thyra will barrel through the brush, drawing out her battleaxe as she goes, clanging it against her shield, trying to draw attention to herself.
Surrender and we'll spare ya!"
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Halsere throws a fireball into the centre of their camp, hoping to catch the wounded along with the invisible elf.
Fireball vs DC15 for half
Halsere sends an explosive streaking past Pietro and Thyra and blasts the campsite area!
Casting Time: 1 action; Range: 150 feet; Components: V, S, M (a tiny ball of bat guano and sulfur); Duration: Instantaneous
A bright streak flashes from your pointing finger to a point you choose within range and then blossoms with a low roar into an explosion of flame. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on that point must make a Dexterity saving throw. A target takes 8d6 fire damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Cursing his clumsiness, Mirrel releases his spell and hurries back in the direction of Pietro and Thyra.
"Stay strong, Thyra. This will be a quick fight."
Mirrel's spell seems to have no effect on his target!
The elf... maybe does something?
You notice footsteps coming in your direction! You think the elf is moving closer to you and is probably now within 30ft or less. And if you got at least a 23, you're pretty sure you know the spot to attack (but would still have disadvantage on attack rolls there).
Pietro calls down another bolt of lightning at the human. "Thyra, I'll let you handle your fellow dwarf there."
The human collapses!