"BOSS uh SIR uh you better tell the boys to drop their weapons, this sword looks... urk... FEELS really really sharp!"
The sheriff glares at the party. "Men, step away from the madwoman and form a line. We all love Private... er, Jones, private first class Jones, that's you over there, right? If he dies, he dies for Riddleport and all honor to him and a pension to his wife."
The eight soldiers--er, the seven soldiers--scamper across the clearing in front of the demon's mouth cave, that site of so many battles. They are heading in the direction of the horsemen on the far side of the 100 ft field.
You fought mother nature's wolves. You fought the outlaws of the depths.
And now, you have to deal with the sheriff.
You may begin combat at any point, or you can let them form up and try to negotiate with them.
Anzath keeps Kritfisher pressed against the man's throat. "Riddleport is s&&~ ding to die for," she informs him.
She'll let negotiations commence, but at the moment, she'd love nothing more than to spit in their faces, kill them, and let them rise as zombies so that she can kill them again. Anyone who puts children in chains is as despicable as the Drow.
Looking back and forth, noting the half corpse holding a blade to one of the soldiers. Grimacing at the sharp peck to her neck. Putting her scimitar and walking into the middle of the mess. Looking at the one in charge, "So best I can tell you are the highest ranked one here. And you don't even know the name of the man you are ready to sacrifice."
Crossing her arm, "So I am from a little further north. The Dawnflower sent me." Waving a hand over the scimitar and the tugging a gilded holy symbol, "And you, with your authority, want to put a child in chains. I don't think I can abide this happening"
Letting one hand hang free and the other rest on the pommel of her scimitar, "I have a higher authority than you so I need a really good reason for why I am letting you do something so reprehensible. "
Tilting her head towards Anzath, "Tell me why I am not helping her."
Bedlam lazily kicks a rock (soccer style) aimlessly around; keeping the soldiers within 20'.
Aurora stalks after Vael, still using her stave as a walking stick and all but stabbing her quarterstaff into the ground each time it comes down. "And I have been sent to this place by Nethys, the All-Seeing Eye, sworn to protect my wards and fulfill the wishes of the faith. Tell me, who do you serve? Some noble eager for their own selfish gain in hopes that they'll feed you scraps from their table?"
She is perhaps coming off as more 'aggressive' than 'carefully diplomatic.'
Vael's attempt at diplomacy gives the sheriff a moment's pause. No sense offending the Temple of Sarenrae. But the law's the law, and he's being paid to uphold it, not to interpret its moral standing.
"Kill all these rebels. The gods will save any of them who deserve it."
The one with the scimitar to his neck mutters to Anzath, "Lady, I'll do anything, I'll serve you for life, don't kill me, I want to live!"
Everyone else springs into motion....
Aurora has a very brief but intense internal debate before shouting, "Dibs on a horse!"
Before his friends scatter and engage, Tragershen casts his most powerful spell on them.
Casting Haste. Targeting Vael, Anzath, Bedlam, Aurora and Tal.
Then he steps back a pace, trying to make sure none of the mounted men have a direct line to him.
Anzath stares at her captive intently.
"Prove it."
Bedlam grins.
One of the knights lowers her visor and poises her lance. She clicks to her warhorse, but she does not move.
Offering a twisted grin, "Then the Gods shall decide and I am very certain you all will be found wanting. The Dawnflower has never looked kindly on wanton cruelty or preying on those weaker than you."
Shifting from standing still to running toward her current foe with her scimitar out.
Vael sprints across the field, Tragershen's magic making her feet blurry underneath her. She leaps up towards the sheriff, who likely thought he was safe back there across the field, and rips her blade into an exposed section of his armor.
But, all is not well. In a flash, the sheriff's bodyguard, the knight who had delayed her action executed a charge behind Vael's back, leaning her lance out and across the front of her horse in order to attempt a drive-by:
Despite the lance stabbing into her, Vael holds her footing.
Talathel darts forward, interposing his body and his spear between himself and the soldiers threatening Anzath.
Now, the foot soldiers spring into motion.
Three move into the center of the field and arrange their longspears into a phalanx. They are positioned to obstruct any attempt to reach Vael. They leave Jones to his fate, as ordered.
Two others pull light crossbows and move behind the phalanx, shooting around their friends:
One hits Tragershen, but damage is minimal (1 pt).
Jones, still with a scimitar to his throat, says, "PROVE IT? HOW? I... uh, I'll just sit here instead of struggling?"
He delays his action.
Flying up over the fight and starting to circle while keeping an eye on the edge of the fight. Making sure no one else is on their way.
The cleric has a brief internal debate on the merits of buffing up more before charging a phalanx line. Charging is tempting. Not dying is also tempting.
...
Aurora begrudgingly puts common sense first and, with that lovely-haste enhanced movement speed, she marches along to take a position near Talathel; ideally next to the spear-wielding elf. Once besides him, she casts shield of faith on herself, causing a faintly visible shimmering white residue to appear against her exposed skin. A spark of magic flares in the air around her.
Bedlam has a wicked grin on his bearded face.
Another of the footmen takes his position in the line. You now have four abreast with longspears at the ready.
The next knight ride-by charges Vael, too.
His lance strikes home, and suddenly Vael is having trouble maintaining her footing.
The born-to-fight knights criss-cross their charges and wheel at opposite edges of the clearing, positioned for either another pass on Vael or to attack anyone engaging the phalanx of footmen.
Anzath orders Jones to stand up and fight, then orders Ippolit to let Gelver loose and protect the refugees. Then she moves to the nearest soldier and puts Kritfisher to work.
Anzath rips Kritfisher into the nearest soldier of the first group. She does have to move more than 5 ft to get there, so no "dice."
The footman she attacks immediately responds--he ditches his longspear and quick-draws his longsword.
Anzath easily parries.
Jones breathes a big sigh of relief and screams at his fellow soldiers, "WHAT WERE YOU JUST GONNA LET ME DIE! But I don't hate all of you... only... YOU!"
He cocks his light crossbow and loops a long shot at the sheriff
The guy doesn't do his finest work. But he's feeling very emotional.
The happily whistling Alchemist tosses a Bomb at the phalanx.
Talathel is *greatly* irked.
He and his (mostly) trustworthy companions are infected with plague, in an effort to purge said plague.
And now?
Now, fools are attempting to kidnap people that the group rescued earlier.
This will not stand.
I will.
And as he thought, he had moved forward without consciously realising it.
Bedlam's grenade detonates on one of the men of the phalanx. Two others are in the blast zone.
The guy in the center gets thoroughly injured and gooped, but he holds his ground. One of his phlaxmates is scorched and gooped, but the other only takes some damage. The line wavers, but it holds.
Ippolit darts over to the last flat-footed footman (oh the irony) and yells, "Get down and stay down, you're under arrest in the name of... of... Rivenrake's Renegades!"
He flips the guy on his back with one deft twist of the guisarme.
The footman at his feet drops his spear and raises his hands in surrender. "I don' wanna fight ye, mate, ye've already arrested me twice back home an' treated me decent both times tho' I deserved less, let's make it three times an' no stabby-stabby, eh?" He delays.
The sheriff looks wickedly down on the badly wounded paladin. He jams his spurs into his horse:
The warhorse tramples down the noble, overextended paladin.
Gelver wails.
He rushes to the surrendering foot soldier and starts trying to stab him to death:
This inspires said soldier to come out of delay. Betrayed!
Ippolit grimaces as the ex-criminal surges to his feet. and Gelver doth lash out again:
Gelver and the footman fence pointlessly, but Ippolit deals a crushing blow.
Tragershen grimaces when the sheriff tramps down on the paladin. We need to even these odds... he thinks.
With a gesture and a word, he literally causes some of the ground to fall out under his foes!
Casting Create Pit. It sounds like there is a block of footmen that are four to a 10'x10' space; two spearmen of the phalanx with two crossbowmen right behind them. I want to try and sink that group. If the other spearmen that formed up end their next turn next to the pit, they may be affected too.
DC16 reflex save or fall 20' and be pitted for six rounds.
One of the spearmen and one of the crossbowmen plummet into the pit. One spearman leaps to freedom.
The first knight takes a keen look around the battlefield. The phalanx is wavering under the magical onslaught. The one with the magic sword has advanced into hand-to-hand. The one withe spear and the one casting defensive spells are just behind her. The foolish paladin is down. The flunkies are wrestling with a footman. The traitor lurks behind the lines. Ah. The wizard is exposed. Time to even the odds. All this flashes through her mind in an instant.
Sir Alexandretta's entire life was spent in preparation for moments like these. It's a shame she blew it. Tragershen can't quite process what just happened--the horse and knight haul up short right in front of him, but he is miraculously unperforated (while still in extreme danger--the lance is waving just above his head).
Vael draws in a labored breath:
...and silently coughs blood into the tall grass.
Idiot just has to keep trying to die! Diving down and trying to avoid hooves and weapons. Dawnflower surely I deserve a better mortal.
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The sheriff laughs at Vael, "The carrion birds are hungry, my friend. I've never seen one arrive so quickly, but I've also never seen a pigeon eat a corpse. Where is your god now?"
Talathel's spear flashes. He prioritises slaying any cavalry within immediate reach, then any infantry within immediate reach, then cavalry or infantry that he has to run to slay. He would protect Tragershen and Anzath first, if someone asked and he were willing to answer.
With this policy in mind, he aims to slay the foe, and swiftly!
Two blurred flashes of the branched spear leave the footman who had been dueling Anzath with a surprised look on his face, a look that remains fixed after the spirit leaves for the boneyard.
The phalanx is shattered by the combination of AOE attacks.
Two of them try to climb out of the hole they're in.
Two try to bust out of their goop:
The splashed footman scrapes off his goop. The others are still in their various plights.
The final footman preps his spear and gulps.
Aurora may act.
The final footman is spared Aurora's awe-inspiring wrath by the fact that the wizard is under attack. With the ludicrously-enhanced quickness bestowed upon her by haste, she charges across the battlefield to Tragershen's defense.
Quarterstaff a-swinging for the chevaleresse, Aurora even goes so far as to offer a taunt, "It seems that luck is keen on abandoning you!"
Benefit: A creature that takes a direct hit from a tanglefoot bomb must save against the bomb’s DC or be entangled and glued to the floor as if it had failed its save against a tanglefoot bag. Creatures in the splash area that fail their saves are entangled but not glued to the floor; those who make this save are not entangled at all.
Section 15: Copyright Notice – Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Magic
Pathfinder Roleplaying Game Ultimate Magic. © 2011, Paizo Publishing, LLC; Authors: Jason Bulmahn, Tim Hitchcock, Colin McComb, Rob McCreary, Jason Nelson, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Sean K Reynolds, Owen K.C. Stephens, and Russ Taylor.
The knight misses Aurora as she ducks in under the lance and clocks her on the head. "You might have a point, cleric, but alas, it's not my lancetip!" she mutters, valiantly, frustrated.
The second knight decides a long, sweeping charge on the elven spearman would be a good challenge for his valor. Plus, it will set him up to counter-charge the magic-users currently pinning his knightly counterpart.
He guides his steed on a path that avoids the blades of the half-drow, stabs Talathel, and ends up in front of the demon mouth.
Anzath slips a vail from her inner jacket pocket and chugs it down. She vanishes from sight.
As his bolt deflects off the sherrif's armor, Private Jones swears under his breath. All his companions are being slaughtered. But he owes his life to that strange woman... best to try to kill the real problem. He yells, "Lads, the bloody infantry is getting slaughtered! Do ye want to die for the lords, or live for yourselves?"
The phalanx calls back, "Traitor!"... but somewhat halfheartedly.
Ippolit grits his teeth and rushes forward to support Talathel, who is suddenly looking exposed and wounded. He readies his guisarme to stab anyone who enters his reach.
Grinning wickedly, the dwarf charges the sheriff.
Bedlam navigates the phalanx, finding a clear lane through the chaos of his bomb and Tragershen's pit. He leaps up and picks on the sheriff.
The lawman responds by yanking on his horse's reins, sending a flurry of kicks into the dwarf. One of these connects. The sheriff aims his sword for Bedlam, and as the horse comes crashing down, so does the edge... but whether due to his armor or the preternatural swiftness of Haste, Bedlam escapes a close shave by a whisker.
Despite his insane fury, Gelver realizes that Jones is on our side for now. Instead of attacking him, Gelver runs towards the other footmen, sword drawn:
They trade blows, but nobody gets hurt in this corner of the battlefield.
You can double up, but you'd have to move away to Web the one currently fighting you and Aurora without webbing yourself. And you'd still web Aurora.
The knights are pretty far from the pit. You definitely can't Web both knights and the rest of the phalanx, but you could web any two of the above (with friendlies potentially tangled in all cases except that of the male knight by the demon gate).
He will web the knight by the entrance. If he can catch any still hostile footmen as well, he will. He won't snare the knight closest to Aurora; he doesn't want to catch her up in it.
If he can 5' step back from the knight to avoid an AoO when attacking, he will do so. If he still risks a AoO, he'll cast defensively.
If he has to cast defensively:
Prescience
Concentration
The knight and his bucking bronco are spared the worst of the Web, but they are enveloped in its strands. The only other purchase for the spell is offered by the pit--which is now sealed off with a layer of magical adhesive.
The other knight clicks to her horse, which kicks at Aurora:
...but Aurora's buffs protect her from the equine fury!
Pecking at the half dead paladin again. Pushing more of the meager divine magic she has access to in this form into her disobedient charge. Glaring down at Vael and then taking off. Away from the dangers of being so small in the middle of a battle.