[IC] Mike's Campaign, Part I: Into the Mists (Inactive)

Game Master Mike Kimmel

Mo'butu and Bwenge try to stealthily follow the group to get out of sight.

Mo'butu Stealth check 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13
Bwenge Stealth Check 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (15) + 12 = 27

"Ku'ada, I'm going to whisper what to make the ape-ess say", says Ceer.

Hello boys...can you help me with something?

Ku'ada steers the illusion towards the apes at the camp, and together with Ceer, creates the illusion of her saying, "Hello boys... can you help me with something?"

The apes move closer, and the one nearest her says, "What happen out there? What you see?"

"Let's try to lure them away now" says Ceer. "Can you make her run off into the woods on the east side of the path? Maybe the apes will follow her."

Please help us...our group was just attacked! We need to catch them before they bring help to finish us off!

The illusory ape-ess calls out to the ape guards for help, then turns and runs into the jungle on the east side of the path.

GM rolls a die: 1d20 ⇒ 5

The ape in front turns and says something to the other apes, pointing to a few of them and then pointing into the jungle in the direction of the ape-ess. Then, he and three other apes head off after her. The others take up guard stances, looking around for signs of trouble.

Nu'mara moves north into the center of the group and whispers: "Are we going over the wall and attacking from behind? We don't really know how many are deeper in the camp."

"We have to liberate those people in the camp!" Ceer whispers to Nu'mara. "We can't just leave them in there."

"Do you remember how many were in there before you escaped from the camp, Nu'mara?"

Good question Ceer. Mike, how many were there?

"That we do," Rheed agrees with Ceer's sentiment. "Climbing over the wall would allow us to better assess their numbers, but we'll have to deal with them head on eventually–" he stops speaking as a thought occurs to him, "is there another entrance to the camp?" he asks Nu'mara.

Corvus points at the three departing apes. Whispering, she says quietly, "Stating the obvious, but those three will come back sooner or later."

"Should we go deal with those three to keep them from coming back? Then we can decide whether to look for other entrances or climb the wall." Mo'butu asks in response to Corvus's statement.

Corvus whispers. "Divide and conquer is a well known saying for a good reason. On their own, they can be dealt with. If they return when we're in the camp?..." Corvus leaves her words trailing.

Good question Ceer. Mike, how many were there?

You recall that there were fifteen others in the camp, including Malgri and three permanent guards, four other permanent camp members, and seven temporary camp members (people either heading to, or coming from, Nantambu.)

"Alright then," Rheed says, starting to move further away from the camp where it would be possible to cross the trail without being seen, "in that case we should move quickly before they realise that the she-ape isn't all she seems."

Ku'ada, still concentrating on his spell, follows Rheed...

Ceer follows Rheed and Ku'ada.

Nu'mara follows behind Ceer.

Stealth 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (13) + 9 = 22

I'm going to assume you all try heading over to the east side of the path. If anyone wants to do something different, let me know and I'll move you back. GM rolls: 1d20 ⇒ 4

Ku'ada directs the illusion to move further into the undergrowth.

"I can try to send a message to the people in the camp, but my illusion will need to disappear shortly after."

"OK Ku'ada. Let's wait until we are close enough to attack them before you drop it. Can you make the ape-ess move south, so we can draw them farther away from the camp?"

Ceer checks his crossbow to make sure it is still loaded. He looks around at his comrades and whispers, "Ready?"

Rheed sheathes his weapons and readies his shortbow with a silent nod.

Nu'mara knocks an arrow, also nodding to Ceer.

Ready? Go! I've updated the map. Trying something new for initiative- we'll just go by straight mods, without rolling.
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Initiative Order:

18 Ceer
16 Corvus & Mo'butu
14 Ku'ada & Nu'mara
12 Rheed & Apes

"I'm going to try putting them asleep again. Can you all get ready to charge if some of them resist?" asks Ceer. "I don't want them to get away and warn the other apes in the camp."

"I will shoot any who stand."

I can charge next round if needed.

"Get ready for nightmares, apes." Ceer speaks an incantation and gestures towards the apes.

Ceer casts Sleep (DC 17) and targets the intersection of U,V x 34,35

Here we go again. Stupid apes.

Will saves:

1d20 ⇒ 12
1d20 ⇒ 12
1d20 ⇒ 8
1d20 ⇒ 7

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz..............

All four of the apes fall down into the underbrush, presumably asleep.

GM rolls a die: 1d20 ⇒ 19

One of the apes at the camp seems to have noticed that something is wrong, but they certainly haven't spotted you yet. They start yelling frantically about being under attack by monsters and magic...

Nice work. Break initiative again. We'll keep that order for the future though.

Ceer lets out a deep breath as he watches the apes fall. He feels very tired and think he might have just enough strength for one more spell today.

"Okay, 4 more down. How many more apes do you think there are in the camp, Nu'mara?"

I bow down at the foot of the mighty Sleep spell!

Mo'butu whispers to the others, "Let's finish these quickly. Looks like the game may be up, and it might be time for the real fight!"

It is effective. I hope I'm not stealing the show too much.

All it would take would be for one ape to see you and warn the others, but it hasn't happened yet! Nice job folks. :) Sleep is awesome. Don't trust all of your foes to so easily fall to its might, though...

You have slain or put to sleep 18 apes (correct me if my count is wrong) total, leaving only about a dozen left at the camp.

A large amount of shouting and hollering erupts from the camp. A deep voice booms out over the others, commanding the remaining apes to guard the prisoners.

You distinctly hear some of the apes start chanting, "Garboko, Garboko! Kill, kill, kill!!"

I am guessing we are putting an end to the sleeping one's lives quickly. Do we rush in from here then?

"Nice work Ceer. What is the plan from here?"

"Is there a back entrance to the camp?" Ceer asks.

"Rheed, did you ever pass through this camp before you made your way to Nantambu? I'm sorry to bring up a bitter memory. I'm just hoping we can liberate some of those people in the camp. Maybe we can force the apes to stand down."

"Is there a back entrance to the camp?" Ceer asks.

"Rheed, did you ever pass through this camp before you made your way to Nantambu? I'm sorry to bring up a bitter memory. I'm just hoping we can liberate some of those people in the camp. Maybe we can force the apes to stand down."

Did I? Knowledge(Local) if necessary 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

"Could we set up some sort of choke point and let the apes come to us?" Mo'butu asks, clearly respecting the decisions as to strategy made by the group so far. "That might be better than charging the camp, and endangering all the civilians."

Corvus has not, you notice, killed any of the sleeping apes - allowing her companions to do so. She hasn't voiced any complaint, but neither has she slain any of them.

"Garboko?" she asks of the group. "The kill, kill, kill bit I understand. Or at least I think I do. At least at one of the prisoners looks to be fighting someone - or something - called Garboko. I'm not sure we have time for fancy plans any more. And that's usually where I come into the reckoning."

Corvus looks around the group for guidance, her sword held firmly in both hands.

Rheed: There is a back entrance to the camp. In fact, there is also an entrance to the east. Nu'mara knows this as well.

You quickly dispatch the sleeping apes, and, looking towards the camp, it is not difficult to see why the apes have started chanting: Garboko, the ape leader mentioned by the ape you interrogated on the road, has emerged from his tent to see what has disrupted the camp. He now stands at the entrance to the camp, surveying the jungle...

Unlike his smaller cousins, Garboko resembles a gorilla more than an ape: however, he is much larger even than a normal gorilla, standing nearly ten feet tall. His body is covered in black fur and countless scars from claws, arrows, and spears, and his eyes betray both his cunning and rage, even at this distance. Garboko barks an order at the few apes remaining under his command- "Kill prisoners if they run!"- and then sniffs the air and peers out into the jungle.

1d20 ⇒ 18

After a few moments, Garboko spots your group. With a mighty call of rage that causes countless birds and nearby animals to take flight, he thunders towards you, his long arms and vicious claws breaking and shredding the low branches with ease.

Garboko is the big dark thing on the map. Resume initiative order. If you want to be standing at a slightly different spot at the moment he spots you (before initiative order starts) just say so, since I just placed you where I thought it would make sense. Good luck. Oh, and Ku'ada spent the time while you were dispatching the sleeping apes casting a message spell and speaking to one of the humans in the camp.

Since you are keeping the initiative, does that that mean big bad Garboko goes last?

Nu'mara sees the giant gorilla thundering towards them and lets her knocked arrow fly toward the charging behemoth. She then drops her bow and draws both her axes.

Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (11) + 8 = 19 Damage 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Garboko will act on initiative count 14, after the PCs on that count.
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18 Ceer
16 Corvus & Mo'butu
14 Ku'ada & Nu'mara, Garboko
12 Rheed

Garboko looks very scary!

Mo'butu and Bwenge hold their place, hoping their friends might be able to whittle the large ape down with arrows and spells before it gets to them. "Not likely," he thinks to himself, looking at the massive creature moving in their direction. He grips his scimitar and schield tightly, knowing this was going to hurt.

Is it my turn? I thought you meant that we reset the initiative order to the top. If so, then this is what I do. If not, then I'll wait for my turn.

Ceer turns sharply at the sudden approach of the huge ape. I don't know if I can put this one to sleep. he thinks. Maybe this will slow him down. He then speaks an incantation and points to the ape.

Ceer casts Grease (DC 15) at the intersection of 26,27 x Q,R.

@Ceer: Correct.

Reflex save: 1d20 ⇒ 12

Garboko manages not to fall as his feet land heavily on the greased earth. It is hard to say whether he will stumble and fall as he continues to power his way through the jungle, or whether he will simply run straight through the spell...

... and we'll find out on his turn!

Mo'butu's action is just for he and Bwenge to wait until the monster gets to melee, as described in my last post. FYI.

Corvus calls upon her inner reserves of strength and ferocity - entering her 'zone.'

In the 'zone'. Corvus is acutely aware of the primitive nature of all animals. Pride and standing count for a lot in their world. As she holds her sword in both hands, she stares deeply into Garboko's eyes. Her intention is to demoralize the beast and if he back down, the apes may choose to disown him as their leader.

Rage Power - Intimidating Glare - Standard Action
Intimidate roll 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27

Rage round 1 of 9 rounds today
Temporarily STR = 20, CON = 20, AC = 12, HP = 31

Nice. Intimidating glare is only a move action, by the way.

Garboko seems troubled by the cool, hard-eyed warrior facing him down, and though he continues moving forward to attack, he is unable to meet Corvus' eyes. (He is shaken.)

1d4 ⇒ 3

Ku'ada moves to Y33, drawing his longbow, and fires: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11 (miss)

Sorry everyone, busy day yesterday.

Nu'mara fires an arrow at Garboko, which grazes his shoulder, but he continues barreling towards the party. By jumping and swinging on a low-hanging branch (which cracks beneath his weight), Garboko manages to avoid slipping on the spell cast by Ceer. Rushing headlong into the group, Garboko attempts to tear through Nu'mara's armor with his mighty jaws filled with razor-sharp teeth. However, her finely-made shirt of chain mail is too tough- for now...

Acrobatics check to move at half speed through grease spell: 1d20 ⇒ 4+? = success. Attack roll: 1d20 ⇒ 5+? vs AC 18 = miss. Notes on the map: Garboko has 10 ft reach. Also, the brown area is the grease spell.

Quite alright Mike. Rheed's turn, then start of new round, correct?

Quite alright Mike. Rheed's turn, then start of new round, correct?

Yep!

Rheed drops his bow as the massive ape charges forward. Ducking forwards in an attempt to avoid Garboko's powerful arms, the em-mercenary draws his sword and axe.

Acrobatics (tumble) 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15 (to U31)

Letting our a low grunt of exertion, he swings his sword towards the beast's side.

Longsword 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21, 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7