The dwarf-priest and the large-barian rain blows down onto the fleeing Lizardman caster, doing significant damage to his face and shoulders, but the resilient creature keeps moving undaunted.
Moving onto bigger prey, the pair move toward the main campfire circle where the drake is flying by. Gromff engages his ring causing him to be briefly surrounded by a bubble-shaped flash of white light. Roland leaps into the air in hopes of catching the drake with his extended reach of his hammer... his jump feels well timed...Roland is sure its going to miss by an inch...and BLAM!! The blow connects with the creature's wing as it downthrusts for altitude. The snapping of the enemy's bone is accompanied by the crackle of electric shock--- an arc of emerald lightning peels off of the drake and zaps Roland.
As the pair move on, chasing the dragon-thing, Miro goes to work ensuring their enemies do not rise.
DC 14 Fortitude save or the cultist dies.
The halfling draws forth his sword to end the life of his opponent. With a song of battle on his lips, his inner monologue is much less confident...Do I kill the sleeping man? Is this right? Finally he decides upon the inescapable conclusion that its either him or me! Miro kneels next to the figure and brings his blade down with all his might. The blow finds purchase, but he doesn't hit any vitals, and the clawed human awakes!
"Ouch! What the devil?" The man stands from his prone position.
Catcher nearby to Miro decides on a similar course of action and looks for a vital spot to stab on the body at her feet.
As the bard and the clawed man reengage their melee, the shuffling of leaves and a sound like stretching rope is heard coming from behind Miro. He turns just in time to see the bizarre plant reaching out toward him with its thorny appendages! It strikes!
The drake flies nearly 60' west northwest and lands in a high sturdy branch of a tree. It opens its toothy maw, green electricity dancing over its teeth. It speaks. "The all-father wants powerful warriors. You are powerful. You should join ussssss."
The lizardman runs near the wagon, and his remaining robed companions form a defensive wall in front of him. The lizardman casts a spell, but most of the party is far away.
-------
Round 5. Everyone may act. Tess, take 2 actions. Miro, i need a fort save.
Gomff had intended to insult the drake to goad it into landing to attack. Then Roland comes flying in and whacks it squarely in the shoulder with an audible crack. "Nice hit. Keep at him. I'll keep the others off o ye," he says heading back to engage the wounded lizardman, priest.
Miro mind-curses as he continues to sing, swinging wildly at the rising cultist.
Miro curses again, forgetting about the stupid plant! He steps away from the plant, swinging again at the cultist in front of him.
When Roland lands the drake was already moving away, out of reach, so it was just a matter of ignoring the dwarf's request and doing something else. In a booming voice he replied to the Drake, already on the move to do kill one more halfling. "Sure! If you can beat me!" He turned his head and found several cultists waiting to be butchered east of his position, and thus he moved there, keeping them at a distance so they couldn't swarm over him.
!
Catcher brings her dagger down with brutal efficiency on the sleeping victim. The snores turn to bloody gurgles when the knife is embedded in his throat. The man's eyes go wide, then his form goes limp as the life goes out of him.
Roland blasts the life out of a cultist with a single blow from his giant hammer. The body flies to the side, face down in the leaves and dirt.
Miro stabs at the wounded man, finishing the job. Warm blood gushes onto the halfling's arm when the final blow lands.
Just moments afterward, the poison coursing through Miro's veins causes him to become confused and babble incoherently.
Gromff moves, slowly but steadily, to engage.
Though Miro keeps singing his rousing song about Rorick the Rager, on the third verse he swaps out the lyrics for gibberish and muttered incoherent humming and sputtering. It is hilarious to behold.
Tessandriel laughs out loud at the ridiculous song, but it inspires her nonetheless. In quick succession she fires off a volley of her deadly arrows at the lightning-covered forest drake.
--------
The drake flinches as arrows zip by its position in the treetop. It wrenches a large rotting branch from an adjacent tree with one claw. It stays there in position looking over the party, standing on one foot, the other foot grasping a broken log. One of its wings is hanging lower than the other. It looks to Roland and says "Yessss, then we agree you will loooooz this battle."
The lizardman again points his scaly finger at the oversized barbarian's weapon, and utters a spell.
With a dramatic crack the trusty earthbreaker becomes wobbly and brittle in Roland's hands.
Two of the robed figures standing in front of the lizardman reach back and touch their guarded spell-casting companion. Each of them have scaled hands as well, and each cast a spell on the lizardman who just broke Roland's hammer.
The chained prisoners are yanking at their chains, trying to break them from the wagon.
A war horn again sounds in the east outside of camp. It is still distant, but sounds closer than it did the first time you heard it.
Round 6 actions now. Everyone may go.
Roland hears the crack, but it did not matter to him. Broken or not, it was still a large piece of metal on a pole, and along with his size could still make miracles. Also, it was still bigger than his Longsword, so it was still worth using. So he took a couple steps to the side, getting a better view of the tough cultist leader, and tried to send him flying too.
!
Just as Gromff reaches the cultists as they bunch together Roland comes roaring in and lays waste to one of them in one powerful blow. He is too stunned by the lads effectiveness to comment on the fact that he left the others defenseless against the Drake if it decided to naw on them. He decides against directing the idiot. Letting him tear through the enemy is probably the wisest thing to do at this point. However that war horn was getting too close for comfort they came here for a reason. Gromff charges through the melee heading for the prisoners and takes a swing at the chains with his mace.
If it does, "Run for the hills. There be an army to the south headed our way."
Roland swings his mighty partially-broken earthbreaker and connects with the lizardman leader. The blow clangs against whatever armor is underneath the robes and doesn't appear to have dealt damage.
Gromff runs to the wagon and without hesitation brings down his morningstar on the iron loop holding the prisoners' chains. The wood under the loop splinters and gives way under the blow, freeing the prisoners from being chained to the wagon.
Miro suddenly gets a determined look, and mid-song he thrusts his sword into his thigh.
Catcher is hesitant to leave Miro's side, makes no direct moves or attacks.
Tessandriel, less hesitant that the young mage, knocks another arrow and fires at the drake, wanting it dead sooner rather than later.
When the dwarf priest frees the prisoners, most of them don't hesitate to take his advice and run for the hills. One prisoner climbs the guard tower nearby. Two others climb into the wagon and shuffle around looking for gear.
Of the two in the wagon, one pulls out a fine looking earthbreaker--of excellent quality. The other grabs a shortsword and a shortbow.
The newly healed lizardman leader makes a sudden break for for the woods, nearly knocking down his companion who just healed him. The rest of his nearby robed companions lose their stomach for the fight as well, running northward into the woods.
The drake roars at the fleeing cultists. "Cowardsssss! I will conssssume your flesh!" With Tessandriel's arrow sticking out of its leg, it lifts into the air and flies east, then northeast, in pursuit of the robed men. It drops the broken branch that it held in its claw, and it falls at the base of a tree at the camp perimeter.
A single warhorn blow sounds again in the east, a little closer than before.
Roland will take an AoO against the cultist that was beside the leader, trying to identify if his earthbreaker is still useful since it did not do any harm to the leader. !
He waits until someone mentions what to do.
Roland whacks one of the fleeing enemies, dropping him to the ground. He lies there like a sack of potatoes.
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"Not south ye durned fools. That's the direction the army is comin from," Gromff says trying to warn the fleeing prisoners. "Bah. Grab what ye can and lets get out o hear afore the rest of that army shows up. Need to beat them to Sweetwater if'n we intend to get Walker out o here."
The blaring of the horn in the east seems to have stopped. Gromff hops up onto the wagon and begins to look for loot. There is clearly a decent cache here. At a glance you see:
-A small chest
-barrels, crates, marked as flour, salted beef, ale, wine
-quite a few weapons of various designs, a couple look like possible fine quality
-10 or more backpacks
-several loose cloaks and coats
-sets of chains and manacles
-coils of rope
-tools (axes, hammers, nails, twine, saws, wood planks)
-2 folded up tents
Before you can get a closer look, the two recently freed men stand jealously over the small chest, blocking any further examination.
"This belongs to us," says the man with the fine-quality earthbreaker in hand. He looks around hastily, grabs a dagger, a fur cloak, and a backpack. "You can have anything here you want, but the chest is mine!" He says this in a rather blunt nasty fashion, with teeth clenched toward the end of his speech.
The man in the tower seems to have found himself a shortbow, because he has an arrow knocked, ready to be drawn.
Suddenly, yet not unexpectedly, the horn blares again... closer.
A rather heavy flurry of snow begins to fall, leaving cottonball sized clumps of snowflakes on the camp floor.
is the animal that pulled the cart still alive and there?
It is an ox, and it stands a stoic vigil, awaiting command, knowing its role as a well trained beast of burden.
Gromff hops into the driver's seat and grabs the reins. "Take the chest and what ever else ye need. Tell the others we're headin for Sweetwater and Ashvale after that. Army o devil's headed this way so ye best make yerself scares or follow us."
To the others. "We got ourselves a ride. Grab anything that looks useful and hop on. Best be goin before that army catches up." Gromff waits until everyone is ready to move then guides the ox north and west if possible towards Sweetwater, hopefully with Tess's guidance.
After a bit, Miro snaps out of his confused state, looking around in quick alarm before relaxing. With a slight look of regret, he slides his sword through the sleeping man. One less to trouble them later or to catch the prisoners.
Miro shakes his head at the violence. This would definitely make for an interesting song, full of triumph and despair all in one. He runs for the wagon, hopping on with his companions.
Tessandriel points out that this forest is fairly rugged and unforgiving. Thus, it will be impossible to steer this wagon north or west. The only viable exit to this camp for the wagon appears to be on muddy the eastern path. This is presumably where it came in, based on the wagon ruts.
Miro slays the final sleeping cultist with a thrust of his shortsword.
Catcher goes back to their would-be camp sight a ways south of the larger camp where battle just took place. She finds the camouflaged elf child and old man precisely where they left them. They get up and follow Catcher.
Roland is catching his breath for a few seconds, enough to let the dwarf do whatever he wants, but then he realizes that they know nothing about these guys, and gets pissed up with Gromff. "What? Are we just gonna walk away without talking to them first? Do you know who they are and why were they attacked in the first place? If they stay here they got no chance! We just save them from a life of forced servitude and the looser is worried about a little chest! Something smells bad here, I can tell!"
The barbarian will check if is there any other finely made Earthbreaker in the lot on the cart, or if there isn't:
Miro approaches as the barbarian appears to get into another argument with the dwarf. Miro is less concerned this time around...this seemed like the way these two liked to interact. Instead, he approaches the man guarding the chest, smiling disarmingly.
"We are friends, please relax. You seem very steadfast fellows, to guard this chest instead of running off with the others. Your dedication is appreciated. Are the contents what you were being jailed and carted off for?"
Looking at the man who claimed the chest Tessandriel exclaims:
"Don't you threaten me little man. We were the ones who saved your butts so the spoils go to us. Don't like it? Say hello to that group about to be upon us. We are taking it and that's final." she says harshly.
"Now, we need to make haste. Grab what you can use and let's be leaving." she says to her compatriots.
She makes a reasonable search of the weapons to see if anything could be used by the party, let alone a bow for herself.
"I ain't gonna argue with ye lad cause ye can't ever seem ta grasp the situation," he says to Roland from the driver's seat. "We freed em. That's what counts. If they want to come with us and tell us what happened so be it. Safer headin for Sweetwater anyway. So what's it gonna be?" he says switching to the man guarding the chest. "Ye comin with or stayin here and trying yer luck against that armor and the ogre?"
During a break in the conversation a pulse of healing energy washes over the group.
Full health.
Gromff's waves of healing wash over his friends, erasing damage and soothing their aching muscles.
Miro's words were candied and friendly, but they were likely to fall on deaf ears. The bard notices a common brand scarring the hands of the two men in the wagon. These men are...or were...thieves. Bandits, most likely.
The man holding the earthbreaker scowls at Tessandriel, but his look softens soon after. "Of course you're right. We owe you our lives, you may keep our savings 'ere. We'll be going now."
If you can manage a Sense Motive DC 28, your heckles rise as you can sense the imminent attack coming from the man. You see he has sized up the party and can see that even after Gromff's healing, Roland is still wounded and exhausted.
If you can manage a Sense Motive DC 28, you may act in the surprise round.
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The earthbreaker-wielding bandit suddenly attacks Gromff from behind as he sits on the wagon facing forward.
Moradin must be looking over his servant however. The attack was poorly aimed and bounces harmlessly off of Gromff's helmet, slamming into the wooden bench on which the dwarf sits upon.
"Kill them all!!" yells the bandit to his two remaining comrades.
Initiative Rolls
Initiative order is:
-Everyone except Roland
-Bad guys
-Roland
Round 1, go!
Keep lighting in mind. There are no active light sources over here at this time. There is the last bit of daylight peeking through the treetops, the lighting is minimal. Concealment and 20% chance is currently in force.
Miro sighs at the wastefulness of this fight. Such a shame to squabble over mere 'things'. Then again, these men owed his companions their lives, and had repaid them with treachery and violence. He dons his shield while chanting magical words. Suddenly, the area around the two bandits attacking Gromff gets VERY slick.
The floor of the wagon is coated with Miro's magical grease, but both men don't move more than a wobble. Their years of treacherous deeds have paid off, as their well practiced balance keeps them upright for the time being.
The metal rod under the leather wraps of the fine earthbreaker handle light up to hot-orange, and the weapon is tossed aside as a knee-jerk reaction.
When the bandit missed Gromff on his sneak attack it took a bit of wind out of his sails, but it was not until Catcher cast her spell that fear returned to his eyes. He realized he has committed a grievous error in judgment.