"As much as I like that plan, we don't know how deep that den is if noone wants to go in and check it out. And I certainly don't."
Mornaura makes herself comfortable and starts sharpening some sticks.
As Bingo and Drispeera help Mornaura look around, Bingo can finally determine the freshest of all the tracks here. They lead AWAY from the den.
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Feeling a little bolder with that news, Drispeera squints into the den. Uh, guys... I'm pretty sure there's nothing in there. I don't think it goes back that far.
And... I just wanna make sure we all agree on what we're doing here. Are we just going to taunt the boar for awhile--see if we can make it mad, without it killing any of us? Are we just here practicing our tracking skills? Or are we gonna kill the big bastard?
I don't want to sound bloodthirsty or anything. It's just, if we're not going to kill it... we could just go somewhere else. I'm just saying...
"Iffen it's got the taste fer people, even jest kobolds, we'd best git rid of it. Wait here, I'll check the cave," Bingo says as he sheds his pack and enters the den, drawing his sword as he enters.
Kaeso dismounts and picks up his hammer, ready to come running if Bingo calls.
"If the cave is empty, it might be a good place to ambush the big one. Rather than meet it on its own terms, out in the open."
He paces a bit, nervously.
Bingo, getting closer can now see the the depth of this thing. The "den" is nothing more than a small cubby for the creature to live in and shelter from the rain. After the mouth of the "cave" it barely goes in more than 10 feet before it hits a wall. You can absolutely tell it is currently empty.
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Waiting here and surprising it is not a bad idea. I don't think I want to be squished in that small den with all of you, though. No offense. I would prefer to be on high ground. On top of the den, or up in a tree perhaps. Do any of you have skill at making traps? Otherwise we could hide and pounce on it. -- I'll see if I can make it go night-night first though.
With that Drispeera returns to the stew and eats, well, like a pig.
In case it matters to anyone, you estimate it is around 6 hours to nightfall.
He starts off the class with passionfruit, but the whole class complains that they've already done passionfruit, in addition to oranges, apples, grapefruit (whole and segmented), pomegranates, greengages, grapes, lemons, plums, mangoes in syrup, and cherries (red and black). The teacher then hits upon the fact he has yet to teach them about bananas. He tells them, to defend themselves against a man armed with a banana, first, he has to be forced to drop the banana, then the banana has to be eaten, thus disarming him and rendering him helpless. When another student (Michael Palin) asks about a man armed with a bunch of bananas, the teacher tells him to shut up. Idle again chimes in to ask about a man with a pointed stick, to which the teacher also tells him to shut up. He demonstrates by asking a student called Mr. Harrison (Graham Chapman, whom the teacher calls Mr. Apricot), to attack him with a banana, but just as Harrison is about to attack him, the teacher shoots him dead, and eats the banana. (The movie version ends here.)
Next, he asks a student named Thompson (Terry Jones, whom the teacher calls Mr. Tinned Peach), to attack him with a raspberry, but Thompson refuses, saying that the teacher will shoot him. The teacher says that he won't and throws away the gun, and Thompson is about to attack him, when a 16-ton weight comes down on him. The teacher then asks the remaining students to do the same, but they refuse until he promises not to kill them. As the students advance with baskets of raspberries, the teacher releases a tiger which attacks the remaining students while the teacher expounds on the great advantage of using a tiger against raspberry-laden foes; it not only eats them, but also the raspberries! ("The tiger, however, does not relish the peach! The peach assailant should be attacked with a crocodile!") The teacher warns imaginary other students that he's wired himself up to 200 tons of gelignite, and blows himself up.
Kaeso has never been attacked by fruit.
"It seems we could wait for the big beastie in two ways--we could hide in the den and surprise it, or we could hide until it comes back to the den, and attack it there. It would be limited in its movement then, wouldn't it? I'm afraid I'm not very good at hiding, or making traps. What do you think we should do?" He looks around the group, eager for someone to take charge.
"Sounds good Kaeso. We are not talking bandits here, just a big beast. I don't think we need to try to jump it. It can probably smell us anyway. I would just have us in formation, maybe you and I up front. We can have bingo behind us to shoot at it, and maybe the ladies in the back to display their ever useful... talents. We all brace for it to charge, and just unload when it gets close. Something like a Phalanx formation."
"Actually I say we do that, but have Bingo wait inside the den. Maybe he can get a surprise shot or backstab from there."
"Might we have anything that can confuse our scent?" Hermia inquired. "I believe the scent of horse urine and shat is fairly powerful, but cannot see that putting our mounts in danger will earn us anything."
"Uhm, I think I will be ok. Even with Drispeera's Prestidigitations, I would like to avoid that. Like I said, I don't think we need to over complicate this one. It's just a boar, right?"
Norn will help Drispeera up to the top of the boar's cave.
"You should have a high vantage point from up there. To be certain, you did say you only have one of your sleep spells left today, yes? So if he resists you, we are fine to step in and engage it in melee?"
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Yes, once I apply mage armor once more, I'll only have one sleep spell left. By all means hack away. I wouldn't want to deprive you of fun. Speaking of fun, its not too late to take Hermia's advice and hide your scent! I'd be happy to help.
Now that Drispeera's belly is full, she seems a little silly. Or maybe it was the radishs...
"Might we have anything that can confuse our scent?" Hermia inquired. "I believe the scent of horse urine and shat is fairly powerful, but cannot see that putting our mounts in danger will earn us anything."
"Heh, heh, she said shat," Bingo chortles as he ducks into the cave to find a hiding spot.
Stealth
Kaeso grins at the though of battle and methodically prepares himself. "Ladies, if you don't mind. . ." as he puts his scale mail back on. Then he picks a good spot in front of the den. The bow and arrows are readied, and the lance is propped up in easy reach. The handaxes, hammer, and shield are also set conveniently near.
"If all goes well, I'll get off a shot or two with the bow, then drop it and pick up the lance, which is long enough to hit the boar before it gets to us. After that, I'll grab what I can."
"If it doesn't go well, then, Hermia, I'll hope you can scrape my bits back together and heal me." Kaeso smiles at the young woman.
Hermia takes up a position beside Kaeso, returning his smile. "I've a spell that will bolster your defenses," she says, "but I need to remain close. For healing, too," she adds and flushes slightly.
Bingo sees Hermia flirting with Kaeso and grumbles under his breath.
"So what you want to do is more or less wait for the beast to show up and straight attack it rather than a real ambush...? Well in that case, I think I'll just hide with our horses. I can try to take the beast out for a moment with my slumber hex from over here, to buy you folks some time in case it resists Drispeera's spell or shows up unexpectedly. And if bad comes to worse, I can run over quickly and help with healing or knocking out the beast. Good luck to us all."
With a nod in the direction of the frontline fighters, Mornaura gets into position.
After a few hours of waiting for movement, some rustling is heard in the bushes nearby...
You see This guy pop out of the bushes, rushing madly at the party! He is a very LARGE boar.
Kaeso:
Drispeera:
Mornaura:
Bingo:
Norn:
Hermia:
BBEG:
Perceptions
Kaeso:
Drispeera:
Mornaura:
Bingo:
Norn:
Hermia:
Faron:
Surprise Round (DC15)
Hermia <--
Kaeso
Mornaura (Faron)
Round 1
Hermia
BBEG
Norn
Kaeso
Mornaura
Bingo
Drispeera
Uncertain what Kaeso's next move will be, Hermia reaches and touches him, and offers a short prayer to Erastil.
"Lord, in your goodness, lend this man your favor, and protect him from harm."
"That's just so neat! I love spellcasters."
Kaeso draws back the composite bow, takes careful aim, and shoots at the eye of the boar.
To hit:
Damage:
Then, he drops the bow and grabs the lance. It's a reach weapon, so he should be able to get another attack in before Piggy gets close enough to attack.
Seeing that Kaeso misses the beast and that most of her companions aren't ready yet, the witch decides to try buying them - and especially Kaeso - a few seconds of time, raises her hands and casts her slumber hex on the beast.
Kaeso, you only get a standard in the surprise round, so can't switch to lance after shooting at it.
Will save:
Round 1:
Hermia <--
BBEG
Norn
Kaeso
Mornaura
Bingo
Drispeera
Hermia moves behind Kaeso and hopes that her instruction will aide him in his struggle against the beast.
The boar, who has been running his hoof to the ground, lets out a large squeal and charges with all it's might!
ATK:
DMG:
Norn takes the gore to his chest, and drops to the ground.
Round 1:
Hermia
BBEG
Norn <--
Kaeso
Mornaura
Bingo
Drispeera
Stabilize (DC15):
Stable.
Round 1:
Hermia
BBEG (-2 AC)
Norn (stable)
Kaeso <--
Mornaura
Bingo
Drispeera
The boar, who has been running his hoof to the ground, lets out a large squeal and charges with all it's might!
ATK: 1d20+8+2
DMG: 2d6+9Norn takes the gore to his chest, and drops to the ground.
Kaeso grabs the lance (move action) and steps 5' towards the boar, skewering its hide with the steel point.
Attack! (Taking into account Hermia's aid).
Damage:
Damn, this thing is fast!
The boar squeals from the pain of Kaeso's lance impaling it!
Round 1:
Hermia
BBEG (-2 AC, -10 hp)
Norn (stable)
Kaeso
Mornaura <--
Bingo
Drispeera
"This better doesn't become a habit, and you better thank me for it" the witch mutters under her breath while she rushes over to Norn's mangled body, and falls down on one knee right beside him. Slapping one hand on the first uncovered piece of skin she can find (probably his face), she focuses on letting some part of her spiritual power flow into him, trying to at least prevent any further bleeding.
Round 1:
Hermia
BBEG (-2 AC, -10 hp)
Norn (stable)
Kaeso
Mornaura
Bingo <--
Drispeera
Bingo pales a little at the size of the beast (it must outweigh him by a 6 to 1 margin, at least) but, seeing Norn's broken body and Mornaura putting herself in harm's way, he leaps into action.
He draws his sword and runs to get behind the boar, hoping to be able to hamstring it.
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The cries of danger finally clear Drispeera's head from her turnip stupor. Seeing Norn down, Kaeso's brave but incremental charge, and Bingo's bold run she reconsiders her position on invoking deities. Wha...? If anybody's listening, we could use a hand here.
Summoning her last arcane energy for the day, Drispeera casts Sleep on the charging beast. She centers it on E10 trying to get the boar, but none of her teammates. The already unconscious Norn at least will be unaffected.
6HD instead of 4HD
10' radius
18DC
Drispeera begins to cast a spell!
Round 2:
Hermia <--
BBEG (-2 AC, -10 hp)
Norn (stable)
Kaeso
Mornaura
Bingo
Drispeera (casting sleep)
Having seen the devastation the boar visited upon Norn in a single hit, Hermia holds her action until after its and Kaeso's so that she can make the most of her healing abilities.
Hermia Channel Energy 01 heals damage.
The boar turns to face the foe who stabbed it, sneering and growling at Kaeso before attempting to gore him.
ATK:
dmg:
Kaeso is badly hurt and staggeres
Ugh, stupid floor. We meet again, my mighty foe...
Norn is now conscious, but looking up he sees a large boar still lumbering above him.
He will delay for now.
Round 2:
Hermia
BBEG (-10 hp)
Kaeso (-6 hp) <--
Mornaura
Bingo
Drispeera (casting sleep)
On delay:
Norn (-11 hp)