Ordinary Heroes II (Inactive)

Game Master Rhanloi Ehlyss

You are correct I mis-read the original post. Thanks for pointing that out.

If these briggands are within 30ft of us i would like to ready an action to cast blinding ray next time the poke up in an aggresive manner. I'm keeping my bow stowed on my back but do have my shortspear in hand.

Mike comforts his mount while he wonders if Aldras's bluff would work. Its a good bluff Mike thinks to himself but has concern if those fellows with the bows ask for proof. Mike takes action to give them a better chance of avoiding some fire if they decide not to play Aldras's game.

"Breggal, Ulan, Bryn. Would you three be so kind to bring your shields to the front.?" Mike asks the bettered armored members before starting to murmer an incantation.

I'll assume that Ulan's trip to the Temple was fruitless.
Ulan moves up in front of Mike to give him some protection. (If possible, aid other on Mike for +2AC).
Ulan stays silent for the time being though. He knew his modest social skills would likely do more harm than good.

Although the man does not stand back up, you here him moving further away from you, and after a few moments he calls out, "Just wait there for a moment..."

There is a discussion ahead of you - about 50 to 80 feet away behind the rocks. Finally, the man you saw before stands up down the way and says, "We weren't told of this, but this sounds like the baron's kind of plan. So what's your play? Hang out here for a day and then report back that you never saw the baron?"

"That was the idea. Maybe check out if any of the rumours about Laughing Hollow are true while we're waiting here anyway. But maybe we should first have some drinks."
He then turned to Mike saying loudly, "You still have one of those bottles of wine on you so we can share with our new comrades?"
bluff: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (15) + 11 = 26 not certain if still necessary, but I put the roll there just in case.

Breggel stands with his brother, waiting to either be accepted or attack by the brigands.

I thought we were supposed to meet up with the duke on the otherside of Laughing Hollow if we don't show up he may wonder what happened to us and come looking. Bryn says giving Aldras a sharp look.

weren't we trying to catch up with the baron. We need to get past them and continue the chase I think.

"Bryn lets turst Aldres with this." Mike retorts worrying that the wind might carry his words to the folks behind the rocks. "Just a second on that wine" Mike says dismounting form his horse to rummage through his pack. "I normally carry on with each of my rations incase I can't find fresh water." Working his way to one of the pre-packaged rations he breaks it open and pulls out the bottle of travel wine and decides it's as good a time as any to chew on some of the jerky before giving the bottle to Aldras. "I hope you know what your doing walking us into the lions den like this." Mike whispers before letting Aldras take possesion of the bottle.

Aldras whispered back to Mike while taking the bottle, "You also saw the amount of arrows that flew our way. I want to know what we're up against. If I start playing my lute, it's show time."

He then turned to the hill, bottle in hand shouting, "Let's crack this open shall we?"

More wine equals more inebriated briggands and hopfully a bonus to diplomacy/bluff checks.

Mike releases the bottle and looks at the arrows that were strewn across the terrain just in front of them. "We are going to need more than one bottle." Mike grunts knowing this is going to ruin all his trail food. Going back into his pack he opens the rest of his ration packs and hands a bottle to the two dwarfs, Bryn and keeps one one himself.

There were only six arrows...

The party advances up the path until they reach a spot where there are natural rock formations that shielded the baron's fighters. There are six in all, with short bows and long swords. They all wear chain shirts under brown surcoats. They welcome you to their improvised campsite and share the stew they had and happily help drink your two bottles of wine.

"So, I suppose we'll head off and return to the baron's castle and you folks can head back to Daggermark and report that you didn't see any trace of us." the leader says while everyone is eating.

Lambert, knowing well enough to keep his mouth shut in situations like this for the far more eloquent members of the party, nodded in reply to their offer. A fair enough deal, in theory.

"We'll wait here for a while and then head back to Daggermark. Don't want them to think we weren't thorough." Aldras said while laughing a bit.

I don't know how we are positioned at the campsite, but I suppose we sit on one side, while the 6 sit on the other, with a cooking/camp fire in between? If so, then the following would happen :

He then takes his lute and begins playing a small tune.

I hope Mike (and anyone else of our group who heard that me playing the lute was go time) can catch some of the baron's fighters off guard this way :) If the situation is different, Aldras would wait till the baron's fighters are making ready to leave.

Breggel, not very comfortable with this entire ruse, stays away from most of the brigands and examines the layout of the camp. He then positions himself to intercept any of the brigands that attempt to flee in the direction of the Baron.

Ulan also positions himself in a strategic location. He knew only too well that he was not fast enough to pursue a fleeing human, so he understood the importance of location.
I presume we're waiting for GM to prepare combat (battlegrid?).

That's what i have been waiting for. GM I would be sitting with Aldras around the cooking fire across from the guards. hopping we get a nice surprise round on these guys.

Sorry - business trip this week with less time than I expected to keep up! So you want to fight them, huh? And here I thought you were coming up with something different =) Let's see what I can come up with...

Honestly I thought we were just going to bluff our way past but everyone wants to stay and fight them and then chase the Baron some more. Seems like a waste of Aldras convincing them we were on their side.

Not so. Now we have them at a disadvantage and have effectively reversed the ambush. Ulan would prefer not to kill them all of course, but information would be useful. Simply passing them by would be a waste of a good opportunity.

the ruse was, like Ulan mentions, to flip the ambush or if they were with to much for us to handle, to have some time to find another way to deal with them and continue.

I understand that now. I still think just bluffing our way past them and continueing to chase the Baron would have worked out. We know the Baron went this way with his unwilling lady because he left guards to delay any pursuit. Now we are going to have to fight these guys when we didn't really need too. Not that Bryn has any problem with fighting

You do know they were going to go to the Baron. So we would have to fight them eventually. Don't want to fight them and the baron (+ whatever guards he still has with him)

Aldras is right we are better nutralizing these guys now. I'm not for killing the outright but it's going to be difficult to not kill 1 or 2 of them.

Mea culpa. Encounter Map is updated, and is also here.

initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 1 = 15

initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 5
Are we getting a surprise round?

[ooc]init: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

init: 1d20 ⇒ 14

So...to arms!

The thugs are not as inebriated, or inattentive, as you had hoped. As soon as Bryn stands and draws his weapon, everyone is on their feet with weapons drawn and ill intent in their eyes...

Round 1!
Bryn
Ulan
Aldras
Lambert
Thugs
Mike
Breggel

I don't know what you all were planning but it clearly didn't work as well as intented.

Seeing the game is over Bryn cuts at the nearest of the Baron's bullies with his bastard sword slashing him across the chest, then steps away from the fire manuevering for room to fight.

attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
damage: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11
5 foot step to L12

Ulan quickly grips his warhammer and assails the closest enemy. (Move east 10ft then north until diagonally adjacent to nearest foe)
Masterwork warhammer: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Neat. A threat!
Masterwork warhammer: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Holy crap!
Masterwork warhammer critical damage: 2d8 + 4 ⇒ (8, 4) + 4 = 16
Ulan smashes the man with a tremendous blow from his warhammer.
"Surrender now in the name of Daggermark and we will will spare you more of Torag's wrath!"
Damn. Breggel sure knows how to forge a fine warhammer.

Had expected us to have a surprise round due to the fact of them not knowing our intent. And seeing as I was just playing my instrument, but we'll roll with the punches :)

Round 1

That did not go as expected, Aldras thought while readying a spell in his mind.
Aldras stepped back and unleashed the arcane power from his mind making grease appear under some of the bandits' feet and near the campfire.

5ft step to N7, cast grease on the following area : K8-K9-L8-L9, which would be the 3 bandits on the left + one of the campfire square. DC 13 reflex save or fall for those bandits in the area.

I was going for the biggest amount of bandits in the grease, which is the main reason that the campfire square is in there. If the fire does something fun with the grease, that would be a bonus of course ;)

Question before I make a mess: how dense is vegetation in the area? Is it bare rock all around, or is there plant life?

My bad. Warhammers are x3 crit weapons.
Extra Warhammer damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5
The poor sap takes 21 damage.

Gosh do i know how to build them..lol.. You know this does not sit well with Breggel..I am glad they get to strike at him first, so he can see it as defensive..barely!! Might need some convincing from my brother

Yes... Ulan's feeling a bit guilty about it himself. He will (try) to heal any fallen foes and prevent their deaths once combat is over. The crit was a complete accident. That being said, Ulan is a cleric of Torag. Have you seen some of the tenets that a Paladin of Torag is expected to follow?

Against my people's enemies I will show no mercy. I will not allow their surrender, except to extract information. I will defeat them, and I will scatter their families. Yet even in the struggle against our enemies, I will act in a way that brings honor to Torag.

Mercy is not high up on the list of priorities for followers of Torag.

I think I might need to get that book!! lol

It's taken me this long to get over two natural 20s...which in my book has ALWAYS equaled instant death!!You could have just killed a dragon, there Ulan!! Nicely done =)

Round 1!
Bryn: Slashes the first thug with a mighty stroke, severly injuring but not incapacitating him.
Ulan: With a mighty blow, Ulan crushes the thug at the end of the arc, dropping him with a single blow!
Aldras: casts grease, causing one thug to fall down. The other manages to keep his feet...
Lambert: Decent amount of vegetation - this is more like the Blue Ridge mountains than the Smoky mountains. I will wait to post thug actions because I can see the wheels turning in your head... =)
Thugs
Mike
Breggel

Lambert remained in his spot, hurriedly casting a spell. The plants around began to writhe and twist, grasping at anyone who came into their reach.

Entangle, DC 14. Focal point is I-10.

To clarify, Entangle has a 40 ft radius (not diameter), so from the focal point 40 ft out, so I think you want to put the focal point around 15-20 feet further up. I found this link that provides the view of a 40 ft radius spell if you scroll down.

wow, despite 3 days out because my home computer's motherboard s#~# the bed i still haven't missed my turn. Eagerly awaiting to contribute to the combat.

I guess we are waiting on the thugs....

Whoop, make that E-10 then.

Round 1! (con't)
Lambert: calls the vines and roots to life, causing them to grow wildly and entangle two of the thugs...
Thugs: The three thugs on the far right of the campfire gang up on Bryn! He manages to parry two of their attacks, but can not block the thrust from the man he cut earlier, taking 6 points of damage...
Thug 4 attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12
Thug 5 attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10
Thug 6 attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 Damage: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Mike:
Breggel:

Round 2
Bryn:
Ulan:
Aldras:
Lambert:
Thugs
Mike
Breggel

oh this government computer and its updates. Yesterday I could view the map and now I can't. This is going to be a pain in the butt, but could someone email me the map? I will send my work address in a P.M. If thats too difficult I want to move to a position to get the best affect from color spray. Preferably hitting the 3 guys around Bryn.

"Throw down your arms, no more blood has to be spilt tonight!" Mike shouts after blasting the area with his spell. Mike grabs his spear and readies in the event the briggands don't back down.

if you 5ft step to N10 you will have 2from the right side and 1from the left. There's no way you can get the 3 on the right without hitting Bryn. @gm, I just read entangle. If you stay in the area you need to make a save at the end of your turn again. This is important as an entangled person has -2 to attack and -4 dex.

Breggel moves and strikes at one of the bandits with his hammer

Move to M-11 and hit bandit in L-11 (could not move my counter)

Attack-Melee: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

[/OOC]Thanks Aldras, that action sounds as good as any. I hope i won't be without a home computer for long so i don't have to keep doing this.[/ooc]

Round 2
Bryn:
Ulan:
Aldras:
Lambert:
Thugs:
Mike:
Breggel:

Bryn grunts as the thugs thrust goes home, and makes another cut at the first man he engaged knowing he needs to low the odds against him guickly. His blade again slips past the mans guard inflicting another wound. Bryn steps back further from the fire trying to open space for the others to engage the foe.

attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
damage: 1d10 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
5 foot step to M13