Arian growls with frustration as she tries to inch toward the goat.
Full of spikes and thoroughly demoralized, she stops and says, "Lark, if we die here, let's make a pact to haunt every goat-herder that passes by this canyon."
Praying to her goddess Faffnyr lets out a burst of healing energies.
Okaris pushes through the dense cactus with the others, "Where is this creature you saw." He asks Isadriewen.
As he pushes through the cacti the spines dig deep into his flesh, drawing blood. Inheritor, if I die in a patch of cacti may my soul never find peace. Lark thinks to himself as rivers of blood begin to pool under his armor.
As he makes a final push a wave of healing energy comes over him, staunching the wounds and giving him the burst of strength necessary to make the final thrust out of the patch, flinging himself out into the dusty clearing. For a moment he lays there, taking in deep breaths and letting his heart settle.
"Thanks Faffnyr." He says, pulling himself up as he moves over to his sword and picks it up, locking his eyes on the gremlin. For a moment he contemplates issuing a challenge to the creature, but as he feels the steady thrumming of the Inheritors power run through him ready to smite his foe, he studies the creature.
The small rat like creature, all bones and wiry muscle, is a rather pathetic sight in the mage light. As the power running through him burns it's way into his mind, Lark can't help but feel ashamed at abusing the connection to his god, wasting the divine power on such a craven creature.
"Lets get this over with." He says, pointing at the gremlin with his sword.
Nope, you are not still in the cacti. You push forward and leave this 'forest of ouchie' at the cost of 5 HP. Think of it like paying the cover at the bar but instead of paying with cash they hit the doorman beats you repeatedly with a cactus a number of times before opening the door for entry. In other words, you paid the price in blood. However, keep an eye on the description of the land. You are now past the sharp things and close to Rombard. However, staying up on your feet will be hard and more damage is likely happening so make sure to stay close to your cleric! And that might be hard to do as well.
And...
It looks like you want some payback on a pugwampi. How about some initiative rolls and let's get this show started.
Okaris looks at the pugwampi with death in his eyes.
Arian murmurs, "We have to get that goat somehow. But probably not until the pugwampi is driven off."
Isadriwen struggles to keep her under garments from being pulled off by the cacti. "Pugwampi, release us from your infernal spell and we'll spare you're miserable life!"
Order
[19]Dashki - Pushes through the cacti, uncaring if it hurts.
[13]Arian <=Turn=
[9]Pugwampi Gremlin
[7]Okaris
[6]Faffnyr
[6]Lark
[3]Isa
The pugwampi clicks its teeth and growls at you. It sounds kind of cute considering its size. It's high=pitched. Remember, he is partially covered by some rocks but now that you've noticed him he might move, or not.
Faffnyr carefully gets closer.
Arian quietly whispers, "Someone see if you can get that thing. I have a feeling it would run away before I could get close enough to hit it."
Isadriewen will begin casting a sleep spell on her turn. "Yes, we must be wary of this creature's trickery."
Talking is a free action Arian, a sentence is just fine and it's your action. Unless you intend on holding your action.
And there isn't a map. Do you want a map?
It's probably not necessary
You know, I still have no idea what this means. And, I don't mean to sound mean about this because my intention of asking this question is purely for curiosity, but does my initiative list seem confusing?
"Bump" means there's no activity, but someone is waiting for someone else to post and they want the thread to continue to have visibility, so they are "bumping" the thread to make it show activity. It comes from how forums are usually threaded, so the thread with the most recent post is at the top, so posting on a thread "bumps" it back to the top of the page.
I think everyone is a little confused about what we should be doing right now.
I think your Initiative is a little confusing and can bog the game down.
The way I've seen Initiative done successfully is like this: The GM rolls initiative for both sides (PCs & Bad guys) one side wins initiative. Whichever side wins initiative post first. For example if the players win initiative all the players act then the bad guys act. The players don't have to wait for another player to post they just post their action when they are able. This speeds things up and if the party is in combat and a player hasn't posted in 24 hours the GM decides their actions.
I would be okay with being boted in combat if I haven't posted in 24 hours, it keeps things moving. As long as it's consistent with how Lark acts that's fine.
Personally I understood the Initiative order quite easily, though since I'm used to face to face combat I'm a little lost how to actually do combat on a post by post.
I think everyone is a little confused about what we should be doing right now.
Module-wise the goal is to find a pugwampi and bring it back to the camp, dead or alive. Dead is a lot easier. Rombard is sort of not so much a side quest but a perk. Think of it like this. You are in the world of Avatar the Last Airbender and you just rescued the cabbage dude's cart of cabbages. However, it isn't a cart of cabbages but a scared goat. Remember, one of you met with Rombard's owner and saw him weep huge rolling tears over his goat disappearing just like the Cabbage Man would have if his cart were taken by chihuahua looking gremlins.
As for the initiative I'll pst on the discussion forum.
If it is Faffnyrs turn she will cast divine favor.
Sure. alright. Let's just let you go first and then the pugwampi and let me put the pieces together.
Okaris moved up a with the grace of a dancer. He hesitated for a second and swung his scimitar at the creatures head.
Okaris' sword is lashed out at the pugwampi. And for a long awkward second, the gremlin just stared at the man with his large dark beady eyes and Okaris stared right back. Then, the pugwampi hiccuped and it's tongue flopped out of its sharp triangular mouth. And slowly the little creature fell apart in two pieces, its body still twitching. Slowly, its unlucky power fades away allowing you to enjoy the rest of your evening. It looks like Dashki was right, now what will you do?
Pugwampis have an Ac of 13, so your critical attack is confirmed and 14 damage is over twice its HP.
Spellcasters, you can keep your spells.
As he watches the gremlin fall to pieces Lark feels the divine wrath fade away. "Well done," He says, calling out to Okaris. "Let's get this thing to Almah and clear Dashiki's name."
With a smooth motion he sheath's his sword and goes over to the goat, knelling down and untying the poor creature.
"Well that was a horrible challenge for such a tiny ugly thing!"
Using her last channel Faffnyr tries to heal the rest of the wounds.
"Let's get the goat and get out of here," agrees Arian. "Anyone got a rope?"
Okaris looks abashed at forgetting to bring rope, A bit of rope always comes in handy. Aloud he admits, "No, I didn't think to bring any."
Untying her belt, and handing it to Arian, Faffnyr smiles."Will this... do?"
"Maybe... need to be able to get down into that gorge and get the goat back up somehow. Maybe tying the rope around it, or perhaps being able to hang onto it while everyone else pulls the goat and the person back up. That sound good, folks?"
Isadriewen pulls her clothes back on and helps Faffnyr with the goat. "Yes, the belt should do. Let's get him out of here."
She offers some food to the goat to coax him out.
Rombard a scared.
Dashki ashes skips over almost giddily to the dead pugwampi and is disappointed to find out that it's been dismembered and half.
"Now I can't make a trophy of it,"he grumbles as he tosses the gremlins remains into a small satchel hanging from his right side. "Now we're relieved of this pest at least, and I've proven my innocence." Dashki then smiled and nearly chuckled.
The goat is wide eyed and obviously still very sacred. He's covered in needles and he isn't being very still. A rope is a good idea, but he is tied already to post. However, it looks like you might need to roll Handle Animal.
Okaris nods his head as he replies to Dashki, "Looks like it." He stands guard while his companions coax the goat back to camp.
"C'mon, goat," says Arian. She tugs on the rope belt. "I'll find you a treat if you come back to camp."
"Why don't we just carry it back?" Lark asks.
"Why not leave it," Okaris suggests.
Isadriewen looks with exasperation at Okaris. "After all this? We're taking this bloody goat if it kills us."
Taking out some breadcrumbs and a little apple saved from the evening meal Faffnyr offers it to the goat."Come, come goati. Be a good goati!"
Faffnyr takes control and gives the goat an apple, and between her and Arian's comforting the duo manage to calm good ol' ROmbard down enough to take him by the leash. Otherwise, the alternative is a very painful plummet and you both have had enough of prickly things ruining your clothes.
When you return Almah is shocked but relieved that pugwampis do exist, and she examined the dismembered carcass carefully. Not wanting to touch it Garavel held it for her in his hands. It's innards dripped out of it like wet noodles. Satisfied, she asked him to remove it and bury its remains somewhere away. Dashki is then excused and he trudges off to have some more dinner. If interested you can roll perception.
"Now, I think you will do nicely and I'd like to hire you. I'm prepared to offer each of you 200 gold pieces." she said with a pretty smile. "And can I ask why you all look so disheveled?"
Lark bows slightly. While I would be honored to take up your cause, I have my own conditions that must be met first if you wish to employ me." He states looking Almah dead in the eye.
Isadriewen shrugs as she pulls the thorns from her dress, "I didn't come here to work for you Almah. I'm always happy to help out a friend, but I'm no mercenary. Why don't you start by telling us what's really going on here?"
Okaris nodded his head in agreement at Isadriewewn's remarks, "Answers first, would be nice."
"I could use the work," says Arian. "No sense being too picky." She pulls a cactus needle from her garments. "We had some trouble with the terrain."