Miralda takes advantage of the gap in the line of defenders and fires a bolt of force at Keak:
She correctly deduces his location, but misses anyway.
The dwarves, realing from the attack, quickly close their line, taking 5-ft. steps to interpose themselves between Keak and the party; Wyvurn, already engaging Keak in melee, ends up behind their defensive line.
Keak, terrified, grabs a pendant he's wearing and attempts to cast defensively:
The hobgoblin's aggressive attacks keep him off-balance, and he loses the spell.
Two of the dwarves use immediate actions to grant each other flanking bonuses, and attempt to kill Wyvurn:
One barely succeeds in nicking him, but the wound isn't noticeable .
The other two dwarves hold their attacks, waiting to see what happens.
Caspain suddenly decides that the best course of action is to cast suggestion upon the easily hypnotized dwarves....
"The people you are fighting against are capable and wealthy, if you were to switch sides you could save your own life, and possibly get paid for your trouble!"
"Not so cocky now, are you Keak?"
With Wyvern interposing, Kelgan's not willing to risk shooting his ally in the back. Instead, he looks over the battlefield and sees the bandit's fighting style, though effective in an ambush, is vulnerable to a fair fight. He also prepares to defend Caspian, who was near him questioning their captive.
"Strike them swiftly and decisively! They're unprepared for a real fight."
Wyvurn in an attempt to keep the elf off balance, goes for a stunning blow
Daze DC 16
He will then step around the (hopefully) dazed elf, placing him between himself and the dwarves.
Save:
The freakish elf, although wounded and reeling from Wyvurn's powerful blow, is resistant enough to retain his senses.
23 - Jaegr (I assume he demolishes another bandit?)
20 - Kelgan (made plan)
16 - Wyvurn (hit Keak)
15 - Caspian, Cricket, Miralda
Caspian attempted a suggestion spell one of the two dwarves who are holding their attacks....
Jaegr pounds another bandit in the middle in between him and Keak, then moves in between the available hole made. (trying to get as close to Keak as possible)
Cricket than casts bull's strength upon Wolvie and himself.
Get 'em, Wolvie!
Wolvie charges the nearest foe.
Sorry, guys -- I'll be offline for a week or so. To be continued!
Back from Iceland and ready to rock!
Save (DC 15):
Caspian stares intently at the waiting bandit he'd addressed. Nodding, that bandit steps towards your group, leaving a gap in the line, and says to Caspian, "I think you're right, coniglio. I'm your man."
Meanwhile, Jaegr off-handedly slays another bandit and steps smartly forward. With the other waiting bandit having switched sides (albeit temporarily), Jaegr's movement, although not balletic by any stretch of the imagination, is quick enough not to invite an immediate attack on him.
Cricket's spell takes effect, but even with its resulting increase in strength, Wolvie's charge on the remaining bandit is foiled by the target's brigandine armor.
Seeing an opening created by Caspian's victim and Jaegr's attack, Miralda steps to the side so as to avoid shooting Jaegr and fires her wand at Keak:
She correctly gauges his actual location, but even wounded, the skinny elf is agile enough to avoid her bolt of force. Wyvurn is pleased to note that Miralda's marksmanship is practiced enough to ensure that he runs no risk of being struck by an errant bolt from her wand.
The two combatant bandits see that intercepting attacks against Keak is doomed to failure; they again provide flanking to one another, and attack Jaegr, thinking that he is the greatest immediate threat to their cause. This is in marked contrast to their prior fleeing, and suggests that Obmi might have made a convincing demonstration that further cowardice would be tantamount to death.
Confirm:
One of the bandits gets lucky, his pick finding the gap between two of the plates in Jaegr's armor. Even reduced by the linkage underneath, the blow smarts. Luckily, the location isn't over any vital spot, and the blow is unsufficient to diable or kill the mighty dwarf.
Keak realized he is about to die. Still clutching his pendant, he chants a spell in a voice that sounds almost sane: .
Just between him and the party, centered on Jaegr, a ball of fire erupts and explodes into a burst that envelops all of the combatants -- Keak himself included.
Bandits:
"Fire! Now were cooking!"
Reflex save
@suggestible bandit
"Come over here, I need a hand."
Kelgan squints at the dweomered elf, mind racing as he tries to discern his true location. He grits his teeth and prepares to fire another deadly bolt when the inferno erupts around him. Singed and seared, he blasts away.
As Keak's body falls to the ground, it's impossible to tell whether it was his own fireball, or Kelgan's bolt striking a half-second later, that killed him.
Miralda dives for cover, which is all that saves her from instant incineration. As it is, she's heavily wounded by the blast.
Summary of damage taken so far:
"Anyone else switching sides?"
Begins an inspiration....
"Keak keak he was a freak, I prefer Cricket he's our creep...."
Wyvurn is barely singed (6 points after save and fire resistance), his fire resistance mitigating a good deal of what he could not twist away from.
He then step up and attempt to finish off on of the dwarven thugs, stabbing with the wand and punching with his fist.
If able after these rolls, Cricket says
Thank you, Caspian, that is very kind.
Jaegr takes the pick blow before starting to look for vengeance on the wound. Seeing Keak begin to cast, Jaegr pulls inside his armor best he can as the fire engulfs him. After the smoke clears, Jaegr's armor almost has the red glow of the forge it once had, though it still remains cool to the touch.
Jaegr takes a moment to recover
Status HP 38/42
Keak's blast doesn't even slow down Wyvurn the Fire-Blessed. In a blur of motion, he jams Keak's wand into the throat of one bandit, knocking him cold. WithIn the same motion, he follows through with a whiplash fist to the temple of the second, dropping him as well. There are no further antagonists at the moment, and Caspian's suggestible "friend" is standing next to him, awaiting instructions.
It occurs to you that the detonation of a fireball in front of Town Hall is likely to draw a large crowd -- and any additional bandits in Obmi's army -- within a couple of rounds.
At the cessation of the hostilities, Kelgan once again barks out orders in a commander's voice.
"Catch your breath, everyone. That mage nearly took out Miralda. The Duke will skin me alive if I let any more harm come to his family. Wyvern, can you take Lyssa inside the town hall and bring my shield back to me? Caspian, pass these out to anyone who's still hurt while I tend to Miralda. Cricket, scout about and see if you and Wolvie can see anyone coming, and give us a warning if you do. Take your new friend, he'll know what to look for. Jaegr, you know what to do."
Kelgan pulls out several potions and his healing kit from his backpack. He tosses the potions to Caspian and sets to work on the elf.
"Keep that bandage on, wizard, and that burn will heal just fine. Won't even have a scar or mark to blemish your skin. Best you stick close to me. You know how to load a steelbow? It's not hard. I'm going to have my shield arm busy, so I'd appreciate it greatly if you'd load for me between your own shots with that wand you carry."
Caspian puts the potions away and pulls out his wand of CLW
"Ok Jaegr and Wyvern take a breather, and set any defenses, I am going to heal up myself and Cricket and Wolvie so you have support....and Miranda."
Caspian begins using the wand on whomever.
DM
** spoiler omitted **
Good thought; rolling that many dice can get to be pointless and tiresome, unless you're just really into typing in "1d8+1" over and over. For the sake of simplicity, you can assume every charge heals 5.5 hp of damage.
Wyvurn will nod to Kelgan and cradle the girl in his arms. As he makes his way to the town hall, nudging the trussed up dwarven bandit somewhat roughly with his boot on the way by.
"You still breathing or did the fireball do you in?"
Wyvurn's former captive seems to have succombed to the blast.
Cricket gets atop Wolvie and rides around looking for other foes to vanquish before his spells wear off.
Kirth's Summary of damage taken so far:
Jaegr: 9 hp (33 left; unwounded)
Kelgan: 16 hp (26 left; unwounded)
Caspian: 6 hp (18 left; unwounded)
Miralda: 11 hp (4 left; heavily wounded)
Remaining Bandits: 11 hp (3 left; heavily wounded)
Wyvurn: TBD
Cricket: TBD
Wolvie: TBD
Kirth:
And assuming the take a breather and other things, I am assuming 1 or 2 charge on Jeagr; 2 or 3 on Kelgan, and 1 on Caspian, and 2 on Miralda.
Assuming cricket, wolvie and wyvern each could use 1....
Kelgan and I both took a breather healing our damage, I am still down, so you can give me one charge if you want, Kelgan is at full withhis breather
Cricket rounds the corner, wheels Wolvie in a tight cicrle, and trots back the the group, based on what he sees.
Cricket, highly excited, babbles in a language you (probably) don't understand. He catches himself after a bit and says,
Dwarves! Dozens and dozens of dwarves! And a gnome! And... Cricket gulps dramatically ...Obmi!
Cricket then proceeds to hurriedly spill all of the information related in the spoilered box above.
Ulp!!! Cricket finishes.
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"Finally I get to use some magic, if you guys can keep fires near the enemies I can finally give that long overdue pyrotechnics display!"
Wyvurn lays Lyssa's body back down and cracks his knuckles and smiles.
"I am not sure that they realize who they are messing with."
Caspian, always fascinated with maps, has wisely requested one for the Village of Wolvishton. Graphics don't work well in posts, but I'm envisioning a big town hall, with the main street (such as it is) running E-W in front of it; the sewer manhole is in the space in between them. To the west are some shops, then the church and cemetery. To the east are some shops, and, if you go out of town that way, Victor's farmhouse. If you head east and then immediately turn left (north), that puts you near the tavern, on the dirt street you came in on. That's where Cricket just went and came back from.
...................|
.........HH.....|T...
.........HH.....|S...
...SS.....X.....|S...
---------------|----
...CSSS.....S|S...
C = Church
H = Town Hall
S = Shops
T = Tavern
X = Manhole
-| = streets
Assume something like 20 a ft. square per pixel. You guys are in the street right below the "X."
"Aye Caspian, I've still got plenty of firebombs. You let me know where to toss them and I'll set the stage for your show. I'll give a few to Cricket, as he's a lot more mobile and can get them out far."
"We need tha fires burning and ourselves either 120 feet away or 30 feet away, 120 for the fireworks and 30 for the smoke. Either one can help us to win...so pretty much need a fire at the town hall.."
"Suggest we use the bombs to divide and conquer. If we can separate some from the main group, or at least slow some down, our chances look a lot better"
"So are going through them, over them, or away from them? I've had enough of hill dwarves for one day, present one excluded."
When the action is ready to begin, Jaegr will devise a battle plan.
Cricket snaps to attention on Wolvie's back, like he used to see the Tuelvi Longriders do.
My mind isn't made for tactics and strategy; tell me what to do and I'll do it.
"Then I shall begin a song to help guide your aims and see if we can get fires burning where we need them or I can help each of you in turn to get the right target."
Jaegr, heeding Wyvurn's comments, realizes that if you stay still, a coordinated volley of crossbow fire from behind barricades and down from windows will act like an area-affect attack rather than a series of individual shots. Jaegr and Kelgan might weather it for a few rounds with their heavy armor, but the others would be killed within a round or two, pincushioned by the withering barrage.
However, using the firebombs, you might be able to break loose...