With the heart of the Stolen Lands explored and the bandits who ruled there scattered, the long-contested realm finally lies open for pioneers and settlers to stake their claims.:
Amid the rush of opportunistic travelers, the PCs find themselves stewards over a new domain, tasked with the responsibility of guiding and guarding a fledgling nation struggling to grow upon a treacherous borderland. Yet the threats to this new nation quickly prove themselves greater than mere bandits and wild beasts, as the monstrous natives of the hills and forests rampage forth to slaughter all who have trespassed upon their territory. Can the PCs hold the land they’ve fought so hard to explore and tame? Or will their legend be just one more lost to the fangs of the Stolen Lands?
Illthir briefly considers her options as she tries to avoid the annoying head snapping at her. Recalling the fable of the dog, his reflection and a chunk of meat she decides to make sure they get at least something.
So she quite simply steps back and grabs a hold of the annoying flying thing. With a bit of luck this might help them find the Necromancer again? Or at least annoy him!
5-foot step out of reach, laugh at tiny critters AoO options then standard to initiate grapple.
Alia rushes after Salzarus and his summoned Horse, her Estoc ready and empowered with magic-
I figure he moved from the grease at half speed, then one regular move? That should sum up to 75 feet, so with 60 feet I should be able to catch up based on start position and his choosen direction-...but since I can't charge, that only gives me the option to threaten the horsie...
Salzarus shrieks as the fireworks hit him but the horse plows onward.
A quick note, the dancing lights are not actually positioned in Sal or his horse's square.
Illthir Winlowe wrote:
So she quite simply steps back and grabs a hold of the annoying flying thing. With a bit of luck this might help them find the Necromancer again? Or at least annoy him!
5-foot step out of reach, laugh at tiny critters AoO options then standard to initiate grapple.
Illthir catches hold of the woman's head by her hair!
Alia of the Blade wrote:
Alia rushes after Salzarus and his summoned Horse, her Estoc ready and empowered with magic-
...but since I can't charge, that only gives me the option to threaten the horsie...
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
Scarlet wonders what the heck Illthir's plan is. Still, she has something under control. Scarlet squeezes through the trees and moves up to the back of Ayles's horse.
Miss chance 20%:1d100 ⇒ 93 Composite Longbow:1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 6 + 1 = 18Damage:1d8 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 = 11
In a last ditch effort Alia moves after Salzarus, retrieving the bow from her back as she does - coming to a stand, she drops her Estoc next to her Feet, drawing an arrow in a fluid motion, taking aim at the horse, and letting it fly.
Move to move+draw bow, free to drop Estoc, swift to empower bow, standard to fire.
Gnome Sorcerer 4 | AC: 15, TAC: 13, FAC: 13, CMD: 11 | HP 7/23 | Fort +2, Ref +3, Will +6 | Init +5 | Perception +9, Sense Motive +2, Darkvision 60' |
Resources:
Spell Slots available: 1st: 5/8 2nd: 3/4 Claws: 8/8 rounds left SLAs: Dancing Lights, Prestidigitation, Flare, Produce Flame
Sadly the damage boost for enlarge person doesn't apply to missile weapons unless those weapons are already large, since once an enlarged item leaves your person it reverts to normal size.
Apparently Salzarus will be in sight one more round, so let's make it count.
"Dammit, he's getting away!"
Numalar shoots another firework at the fleeing figure, and then conjures up yet another and shoots it.
Move action to fling the second firework at Salzarus, and then standard action to cast the spell again. Reflex DC 16 for half damage.
Firework #1:1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 Firework #2:1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2... huzzah! That's the best I can do at this range.
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
Scarlet watches the horse run off into the night. She stows her longbow and grabs her swords. She stomps her way back in to the false camp where Illthir is holding a floating head.
"Can I put her to rest now? We need to burn her and this guy so they don't come back."
Illthir sighs and holds up the grisly thing. Floating head - really? Eww! Stirred by some morbid curiosity she pokes the head with her free hand. "Hmph. I was sort of hoping that the head might be able to lead us to the rest of the problem. A scrying spell maybe?"
"Eh." She wasn't really sure what to do. "But I think we should hold on to it a little longer, just in case it knows *something*. I mean it's a head - that ought to be the smartest part of the undead right? *uuuuh* Also, Scarlet, could you hold on to it? I really need to check how poor Walter is doing - I just saw him going down in that stream..."
Actually Walter (the horse that couldn't double move at full speed in the dark) continued fleeing with the magical horse who had all the magical ground-effects lighting going on, to get away from the fire.
Illthir, Getting A Head:
Beheaded are floating skulls or severed heads whose bodies have long since abandoned them, either in the moment of death or long after. Reanimated via dark magic, these horrors are usually created as mindless undead sentinels for dungeons or lairs. Beheaded silently hover at about eye-level, often making them the last thing a casual wanderer or careless villager in an infested area ever sees. They have undead traits, and fly perfectly, they come in a number of variations (belching, burning, grabbing, screaming), and are on their own mindless like zombies.
"Illthir attempts to call her mount but its exhaustion, fear of fire, blindness, and her own nausea spoil the attempt. It attempts to run blindly like the others but trips and falls along the rocky edge of a stream."
But maybe he'll had some time after that to leave?
"Hmm. Hmmmmm. I've heard of plenty sorts of undead heads... And maybe they aren't really so smart after all. Maybe?"
I assume Zokon can't see him anymore? as he would need a light source and he is still way inside Zokons bow range.. Zokon isn't able to move and fire at all? I only need to hit the horse and it's already damaged, i'll take it out.
I assume Zokon can't see him anymore? as he would need a light source and he is still way inside Zokons bow range.. Zokon isn't able to move and fire at all? I only need to hit the horse and it's already damaged, i'll take it out.
The problem would be moving without light yourself to get somewhere where you could see and shoot him from. As you have seen, spotting light sources (especially approaching ones) in darkness from an advantageous high spot and then laying an intricate ambush is relatively easy. Levitation would be your best bet.
There aren't any straight paths beyond the edge of the map and the terrain is hilly enough to spoil sightlines. I just don't have a wiggly enough arrow to represent it. With some light and a horse you could continue to track him. His summoned mount does leave tracks. Otherwise, if you get to spot high enough and clear enough you should be able to see his and Ayles' lights when they get to the base of the rise you guys are on (a half mile or so--the map as a whole depicts a local high point).
When you say them do you mean Ayles and Sal? Because they went in different directions.
Regardless, the next minute and six seconds would run like this. Zokon takes a move action to retrieve the sunrod, and a standard action to activate it, foe (either) moves another 100 ft. away. Then Zokon, hustles to move around corners and difficult terrain for 60 ft. Foe moves another 100 ft. Rinse and repeat for a minute (10 rounds). Zokon ends up what he might guess to be about 500 ft behind his foe (maybe), and about 600 ft away from the party with nary a sighting of either (though he probably catches a glimpse of their lights early on). Is that what you're going for?
It is about a round longer to get started if Numalar has to cast a spell, and then jog toward Zokon.
Illthir looks around, but can't seem to find her horse. Apparently they didn't like to stick around after surprise skirmishes/forest fires. Who knew? She made a note to teach Walker 2.0 some cool tricks - preferably before they were needed. But she hadn't given up on 1.0 yet! Maybe in about a minute or two, but not yet!
Okey now maybe. She sighed, hoped that the horse would be okay, and went over to the bandit horses. Hopefully they were friendly despite being bandits! If horses can tell?
"Hmm Scarlet I don't know. But at least, if we are actually not killing them yet, we should find a bag and some rope respectively. Maybe we'll need chains? Oh well. Or decide to simply end them here and now?"
Anyone else have any thoughts regarding the prisoners?
Alia kneels down in the dirt, picking up her Estoc again and watching the light vanish in the distance.
"Damn."
Breathe in.
Breathe out.
"DAMN!"
Standing up, Alia forms a funnel with her hands and shouts: "You will pay. You can run, but you can't hide!"
Technically, his horse should be staggered, so he shouldn't really get away from Zokon...but oh well, with our luck so far... No strong feelings on the others...I had hoped we would get the Caster for his role in the terror bombing. I'm good cleaning up and heading for an intercept course with Makdoon to fetch Mercenaries...
At present, the conjured horse does not seem staggered.
An intercept course to Mivon involves heading straight-ish down and bit to the left of your position on the regional map. The city of Mivon is located where the Narlmarches run out.
"Well, you don't have to worry about this one." Jhod says rising from Auch's side. The dead man has a big goofy grin on his pallid face. "Looks like he was dead before he hit the ground."
"We could ... drop it into the latrine before stuffy-von-lazyass needs it?" Illthir suggests as she continues to try and take inventory of whatever things the bandits left by their horses. By the general mood (and some elven curses) she could tell that the party wasn't overly thrilled by the success of the bandit hunt. But all Illthir really wanted right now was if she would have to walk or not. Preferably not.
Alia returns to the campsite:"After all that..."
Thinking for a bit, as the others prepare to burn Auchs, Alia suddenly jumps up, tells Scarlet to stop, and rushes at Jhod with a sudden renewed vigor:"I know some of your vocation are able to force the dead to answer questions...are you capable of doing that? They split up...and must have agreed on some meeting place! If we could rush there tomorrow..."
She holds, staring at the Shepherd with a mixture of excitement and expectation.
I know, he's Level 4, and Speak with Dead is Level 5 stuff. But that's abstract stuff and Alia has no concept of levels. Go ahead, crush her hopes and dreams, then we can be on our way.
With no one else supporting him, Zokon figures he shouldn't follow as this elfs spellbook seems to contain too nasty an array of spells for him to be assured to get the jump on him.
| Bloodrage 12/12 | Fire Strikes 3/3 | HP 43/43 | AC 18 T 14 F 14(Uncanny Dodge) | CMD 19 | Saves 6/4/0 (+1 Will vs Mind Affecting) | Init 3 | Perception 3 | 4 Female Ifrit Bloodrager (elemental, fire) | Spells 2 |
Scarlet watches the smoke rise into the night sky. As far as she's concerned, this was a waste of time. They should have been on the way to the Company with Makdoon, taking the easy way there. Now they have to go the long way.
Not only that, but now the enemy got to see them first hand. If they overheard the party's plans, the Company could be running into a trap.
"Always keep a cool head." Scarlet mumbles.
"So. Are we now ready to follow the original plan? We can't run off half-cocked like that again. Let's find somewhere a bit less... smelly to rest, and then go in the morning."
After listening to speaking and seeing the mood of all his companions Zokon speaks so all can hear
"Ok Lets get what horses we can, camp and then go get the mercenaries, so we can do for this Stag Lord with a fighting chance. All in agreement say Aye."
