Redemption in the Dragon's Lair (Inactive)

Game Master Terquem

Day 1, Turn: 7/73 (current turn/turn of the day)

Jacen meets the Ogre’s stare with icy conviction, and after a moment, the Ogre shuffles his shoulders uncomfortably, and looks away.

The young male Ogre turns to Azana and looks her up and down.

Azana – would you roll an Intuition Check for me, please?

And says, ”Are you a doctor?” His voice is quite, deep and low.

When the rest of the party emerges from the brush, following Kaleelah, the Ogres move away from the entrance. It seems as though they are giving you space, and trying to not crowd you in.

If you enter the building, please make that clear in a post, as I will need to tell you something as soon as you set foot on the steps, thanks

Intuition Roll: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14

The aasimar glanced up. "I know some healing spells, mostly. I'm still learning the full nature of healing. Hence why I want my friend to check for poison - healing the flesh won't do much good if she's poisoned." Did Ogres even suffer from poison? Azana wasn't sure, but these obviously weren't the usual ogres.

With that statement, Elise sets foot on the steps of the building.

Day 1, Turn: 7/73 (current turn/turn of the day)

Great, it's bad enough I'm getting physically younger, now I'm getting emotionally immature too! Elise tries stepping out of the building again to see if the sensation goes away.

After making a few quick gestures for Nala to follow, Kaleelah made her into the temple at the party's behest. The blonde, bandaged woman nodded at what Elise told her, an indication that she too saw the same apparitions. She could not help but worry that something similar would happen to her as she entered the temple.

I suppose something happens here, but for the sake of time, I will post Leelah's actions for afterward.

Once inside, the druid quickly joined Azana in examining the ogre's wound.

"What do you think? What caused the wound?" she asked carefully before taking her own chance to examine the injury.

Unless crunched for time, Kaleelah will take 10 with whatever necessary skill. 14 for Heal and 18 with intuition.

"From the description," Azana replied, "One of those things on the wall bit her. I'm worried about poison or venom, but we're going to have close up the wound soon regardless. You check for anything nasty and I'll slap a Cure Moderate Wounds on her - it should be enough to close up the wound, yeah?"

Syndir stood silently and watched while the ladies worked their healings arts.

Day 1, Turn: 7/73 (current turn/turn of the day)

A little bit startled by the wave of emotions that pass over her, Elise steps back down off of the step.

Kaleelah examines the wound with a critical eye. There is an unusual swelling of the tissue, though it is not discolored, and something about this reminds her of a kind of poison that causes stiffness, and a loss of dexterity. She is certain that the Ogre woman is poisoned, but it is not a life threatening poison. It is possible that an antidote can be derived from root plants in the area mixed with wine. The wound will not heal quickly without surgery, closed with supplies from a healer’s kit perhaps, but a minor healing spell could remove much of the pain and stop the oozing of fluids.

Elise can't seem to shake the feeling that she's reliving someone else's story. She discusses this with her nearby companions.

"Did any of the rest of you feel something when you entered this temple? I felt like a panicked little girl when I walked in. Azana, I swear I saw the spirit of an armored woman descend on you when you entered. And for you, Syndir, I saw a red dragon spirit envelop you."

Jacen smiled beneath the scarf still covering his face as the ogre looked away first. He waited as Elise also followed the others into the building, leaving him alone with Harland. The gunslinger had been extremely quietly of late and that worried Jacen. The man had never been the most vocal of the group, but never this quiet.

Jacen began to feel quiet exposed and decided he wanted to learn a little more of these ogres. He approached them slowly with a nod. "Tell me, what brings you all here to this temple?"

“A temple? Is that what you call this place?” The Ogre sniffs the air and looks off toward the distance. “We thought it was a prison, at first. When we saw it from a distance, that is. We came from the north, but we did not come here to find this place. Our job was to take the Woman Mahgroutth, and her children, to see Prince Almaras Pahteer. She is a scholar of some kind or another, I do not know, but the Prince sent the five of us, we are all from the palace guard, to bring this woman and her children to him. We travelled from the city of Drine to the village of Calpur. It is but a few days travel through farmland and fields along good roads. We gathered the woman, she left instructions with her household to pack her things and follow us when the house was left in order. She is a wealthy woman,” the Ogre leans over toward Jacen and lowers his voice, “it is said the prince desires her for a marriage of convenience as her husband has now been passed for the required mourning period, but this is just gossip.”

The Ogre takes a step toward the north, and raises his enormous hand to shade the sun from his eyes as he peers toward the northern wall.

“We had been travelling for only a few hours, we had a late start, a good celebratory meal was had, blessing were made for safety and the promise of good fortune, but something in the will of the gods was aimed at new horizons for our journey. A mist descended upon us, at first not unusual for this time of year, in our land, but this mist grew thicker in quick time, and when it lifted we were no longer on the road. There were no farms or fields, nothing we recognized, but to the south of us we saw this structure. We approached it cautiously. We circled to the west, and found an opening in the wall. F'Lagjorn was the one among us who had doubts about the nature of this place, but the woman insisted we enter and seek the inhabitants for help in finding our way. Almost immediately we were attacked by a huge lumbering reptilian beast that crawled on six legs. It has a large heavy head with a long snout filled with teeth. We were surprised by it as it charged out of the trees and before we could react it had taken the woman in its mouth and would have made off with her as a meal no doubt, but we fired several shots into the beast’s hide, and it dropped the woman and fled. We did not pursue, but instead came to this building to treat her injuries, but her wounds proved to be beyond our skill.”

He turns again toward Jacen, “We found some small creatures, much like you and your friends, here, and they initially attacked us, but they gave up and ran when they learned we would not be brought down with arrows fired from weak bows. They are out there somewhere, watching surely, and waiting for night to fall. This building,” he waves his arm back toward the structure, “is not easy to defend. It is too open, and they can come in from any direction. If the woman can be moved safely we intend to move to the roof. There is a stair leading up through a hole in the roof. There are some large guns on the roof. They are old and one of them appears to have been damaged in a misfire. We do not have powder or shot sufficient to waste on testing the remaining weapons, but there is only one way up to the roof and we can rest there for the night, before we explore this place more. Tell me, man creature, what do you know of this temple, as you call it? Is it an ancient ruin that your people avoid for reasons of taboo or are you, like us, strangers in this and brought her through magic and by forces unknown?”

Syndir almost hissed and bared his teeth at Elise when she revealed her viewings of the red dragon inside of him... you revealed yourself?... ssshe knowsss nothing... well keep quiet wyrm...

But years of noble breeeding instilled an instinctual ability to mask ones feelings at any given time. Instead he whispered back.

Perhaps now is not the time to discuss such things Elise.

Day 1, Turn: 9/75 (current turn/turn of the day)

Working carefully and methodically, Kaleelah and Azana are able to dress the injured Ogre’s wound, clean the poison and stop the bleeding. It appears that magical healing will not be necessary, nor will it, in this case without extremely powerful healing magic, speed the recovery time much. She will probably not be able to walk on the leg for at least a day, maybe two.

The young Ogres keeping a vigil over their mother thank the two healers and offer them payment in the form of a small bag of thirty small gold coins.

There is a sense of relief, after the wound is dressed and the tension in the building eases.

”We will be on our way as soon as the woman is healed,” the Ogre, F'Lagjorn says to Syndir as Kaleelah and Azana make one final check of the dressing on the wound. “We have provisions for a few days and can find food here in these trees, but tell me, do you know of a source of fresh water nearby?”

Letting Azana handle the money, Kaleelah nodded and said, "I know a spell that can... uh... how you say... create it from nothing. I would be happy to give you some."

Elise is befuddled at Syndir's harsh response. She whispers to him. "What do you mean? Right now is exactly when we should be talking about this. Something is really strange about this temple. And isn't it weird that the guns on this roof have misfired, when we had just been attacked by siege weapons not too long ago? Why are they now sitting there unmanned?"

Elise then responds to the ogres at large. "We're pretty new to this place, too. We don't know too much about this temple. You mentioned some guns on the roof - how about I secure the area while you figure out if we can get the woman on the roof?" Elise will then head over to the stairs and up to the roof, though she still tries to keep a low profile while she's up there. She tries to take in the view, to see if there's anything interesting, like other buildings, or these little creatures the Ogres keep complaining about.

Stealth: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (17) + 18 = 35

Jacen listens intently to the ogre's depiction on their reasons for being in the temple. The locations the ogre mentioned are not familiar to Jacen and he believes these lands are from another world... or at least another continent. "We do not know much of the temple either. We have... our own reasons for being here, unlike that of your own. We do know there is allegedly a dragon of some sort that calls this place home."

He pauses, unsure on how to proceed with his next statement. "I believe you and your fellows have been brought to our world from your own. I do not know anything of the places you've mentioned to me. I am unfamiliar of them at all, unless it is a land yet undiscovered... Are there no humans from your world?"

Syndir frowned at Elise for questioning him in front of the ogres and chose to not respond to the queery. The idea of scouting the rooftop did appeal to him though so nodded and made to follow the lithe woman up the stairs. Once there he brought up the subject again.

Elise, forgive me; I did mean to call you down for bringing up what you saw. Certainly what you and some of us saw is of some importance and should be discussed. I just think we should save that conversation for when we are not amongst strangers, you know?... see anything out there?

The monk eased himself up to the rooftop and peered around wary of being spotted himself.

Perception +9

Disturbed by the suggestion that there was another woman somewhere in her, Azana had been quiet. She had no idea what it could be. Somehow she had the frustrating feeling there was some truth to it, but she felt fine. She felt normal. Hell, she felt good. She didn't feel possessed. But then, what would that feel like? Still, she felt like Azana to herself at least. For now, that would have to do.

"You'll have to tell me what this lady looked like, too," the Thundercaller added. Turning to the creatures, she added, "Elise, as mentioned, can fill any receptacles you may have with her magic. And we haven't seen any running water yet, but if we find some we'd be happy to tell you when we come back this way." If we come back this way...

"That help at all?"

I assume you mean Kaleelah can provide water.

"I didn't get a good look at the spirit, Azana. Think I'm lucky I saw it a all. But didn't you get a weird feeling when you walked into this place?" Elise heads to the roof to survey the scene after this comment.

Day 1, Turn: 10/76 (current turn/turn of the day)

The Ogre, F’lagjorn, looks askance at Kaleelah when she mentions that she knows ‘magic’.

“Is this true?” The Ogre whispers. “I have never seen such a thing.”

When Azana confirms Kaleelah’s powers, the ogre bows deeply and says, “Let me give my thanks to you, small one called Kah Leelah,” he pronounces her name with profound reverence. “I will gather our water skins and make them available to you. This is a blessing. The gods favor us with your presence.”

Meanwhile, Elise and Syndir creep up the stairs toward the roof.
The stairs are interesting, and it is easy to see that a set of stone steps, built in the center of the building, shows signs that it has been damaged or dismantled over time and now only a foundation of stones remains, but a wooden stair, with no railings, has been erected over the stone remnants. The steps are wide and shallow.

Once they reach the wide hole in the roof, where the stairs access the surface of the roof, the two bend down and only peer over the roof line.
The roof is not occupied, but there are interesting features. Just ten feet away from the opening in the roof top, at the cardinal coordinates of North, South, East, and West, stand short statues of chubby winged demons. The backs of the statues face the opening in the ceiling, the statues face away from Elise and Syndir. The roof edge is lined by dozens of short stone columns. To the west, across the expanse of the roof, near the edge, between two columns is a built up fortification, made from what appear to be sacks filled with sand, and behind these sacks is a carriage mounted long barreled gun. The Gun is damaged. The barrel shows signs that it has exploded. To the east is a similar gun emplacement, but it shows no sign of damage.

Outside of the temple, Jacen asks the ogre he is talking with about the presence of Humans on his world.

“There are few people of your kind in our country. Few of your kind left in our world at all. It is a great mystery, one that has created many stories, but little truth. Once, it is said, there were thousands of humans living among us, among our people, we are called the Diendar, but a prophet rose up among the human kind and led the people to build massive ships and sail off to a promised land far to the east of our country. A few humans chose not to follow this prophet and remained, but their numbers are small.”

Elise heads over to the guns. Do they look like they were fired recently? Are there signs of who was up here doing the firing?

Rolling his eyes in the haughty way nobles are wont to do, Syndir thought perhaps the woman was just focused on checking out the tower...or shes blatantly ignoring me... The westerner had no interest or eye for the new age weaponry so paid it no mind. He did however want a closer look at the statues. So he made his way over to one and examined it.

Jacen listens thoughtfully to the ogre.... a country full of ogres with firearms. A terribly troubling thought. And yet, these ogres do not appear to have the same inclinations as the local bloodthirsty monsters of Jacen's world. "Your people sound to be good people, very much unlike those of our world. You appear quite cultured, which I must add is very refreshing considering." Jacen realizes he does not know the ogres name. He offers out his hand to shake with the ogre. "I realized I do not know your name. Nor you mine. I am called Jacen. What is your name?"

Jacen finds himself very intrigued by these ogres despite his purpose in being here in this temple.

Kaleelah gladly refilled their newfound acquaintances' waterskins. When she heard about how their world lacked magic, the druid found herself a bit stunned at the notion, "That is... strange. I cannot imagine a world without magic! Anyway, this is no problem; I am glad to help."

Day 1, Turn: 10/76 (current turn/turn of the day)

Taking Jacen’s hand the Ogre grunts, and says, ”My name is G’rafky Vornulson.” He shakes Jacen’s hand a few times with a strong, but not menacing grip. “I have a bad feeling about this place. My grandmother used to tell stories about portals and gates that opened between worlds and allowed demons and dragons to enter our world and cause terrible destruction. Naturally these stories all mentioned great heroes who fought these monsters, but they were just stories. Now here we are in a strange land with no reasonable explanation of how we came to be here, or how we are to get home.”

When Kaleelah has finished filling the skins that F’lagjorn makes available to her, he thanks her again. Tells the two children to stay with their mother, and then asks Kaleelah and Azana to allow him to be excused while he talks to the others outside. This leaves Kaleelah and Azana alone.

Just as this ogre is finishing his sentence, F’lagjorn comes down the stairs from within the structure and hears the words.

“Keep your eyes and ears open,” he says to all the other ogres and then turns to face G’rafky. “Their healers have done a lot to stabilize Mahgroutth. She will be fine. We will form hunting parties and gather supplies. If we can count on the kindness of these strangers perhaps after they have explored these buildings for their own reasons they will return with any information that will help us, and we can repay their kindness with food and protection while they rest. In the meantime look at this,” he shows the other Ogres his water skin.

“These people have access to powers beyond our understanding, magic that warps the very fabric of reality. Surely these people were summoned here for a great purpose. While we wait for Mahgroutth to heal we will do what we can to help them. They are checking the roof now, go up and see if there is anything you can do to help them. We will set up a camp on the roof as soon as it is secured.”

"Hey everyone. This was definitely the gun that was shooting at us earlier today. The barrel is still warm, and there's fresh blood from whoever got caught in the misfire. There's also a nest up here, made from large palm fronds. Anyone want some gun parts?" Can check out the spoiler for more details.

Elise will look for any sort of blood trail. She will also check out the nest, pinching her nose if the stench starts to get overwhelming.

Good to see that not everything here is hostile~ Kaleelah chirped happily in her head as she lightly gave Nala a soothing pet. After F’lagjorn announced his plans with the rest of the friendly ogres, the druid added her own comment, "You have my thanks. We'll be sure to look for stuff that can help you go home."

Jacen nods at G'rafky's words. "You would do well to maintain that ill feeling. This is a... dangerous and misleading place. Perhaps it is now you and your comrades that are the great heroes to your people."

'Don't forget why you're here, Jacen; Timothy.'

Jacen listens to F'lagjorn as he explains their plans to G'rafky and the other ogres. "You would have my thanks, F'lagjorn and G'rafky. I believe this agreement would be mutually beneficial. It will be nice to have somewhere safe for my companions and I to rest our heads every night." He shares a rare smile with the ogres. "But be ever on your guard in this place. Expect every strange sound or movement of leaf and grass to be a prelude to an attack. Beware the uncanny silence as well..."

He waits patiently while the rest continue to scout the roof and return with their report. 'What an odd encounter...'

Day 1, Turn: 10/76 (current turn/turn of the day)

Thank you," the ogre nods at the small dark man. "There is something, something that keeps nagging at the back of my mind,” F'lagjorn, says as he steps up on the stone steps and looks across toward Jacen. “Though I am sure I’ve never seen this place before, there is a feeling that something here calls to me. Something here calls like the voice of a Tegassith of the Sea, a voice I cannot hear, but, yet it seems to float on the mist. There is a feeling of destiny, purpose, and doom about this place. “

We’ve kind of hit a stall. I blame myself, and it is not the first time this has happened in a pbp game I am running. I suppose I don’t know, haven’t learned yet, how to get characters moving again once they have settled down into a seemingly pointless NPC encounter. There are a couple of interesting things on the roof, no treasure, and maybe just a little clue about the nature of the place, but it is time for the characters to either declare a rest, and work out the details of that, or move on, don’t you think?

I'm ready to move on. I can't speak for the others, but I suppose I thought there was more to this encounter (i.e. clues about what to expect further into the campaign or something).

Finding little else on this roof, Elise reminds herself of the skyline view, then heads back down to the ground floor. "Is our patient well again? There's not much else to see here, but there's another building further southeast of us."

Following Elise back down the stairs, Syndir shook his head at her assessment.

I beg to differ. Theres some interesting statues on the roof that appear to be tied to the elements and the cardinal points. Azana and Kaleelah, could you accompany me and see if they are as important as I think they might be? We might as well plan on staying here for the night and resting up.

Kaleelah nodded at Elise's question. "Given some rest, she'll be well again."

At Syndir's request, Kaleelah also gave a nod and said in her rough Common, "I would be glad to... how you say... assist! As for resting for the day, I think that might be wise; it seems like we have a safe location for now. Might as well use it."

"Fair enough, but we should keep shifts. No telling when some wild creature might come out of this jungle."

Resting sounds fine.

Day 1, Turn: 10/76 (current turn/turn of the day)

You have been adventuring for 100 minutes, a little over an hour and a half. It is 12:40 pm, and you decide that you will spend the rest of the day here with these Ogres. I imagine, oif the night is uneventful, that you will set out to explore the rest of the temple in the morning, but for the rest of the day nothing happens.

The party decides to camp in this building, with the Ogres for the day.
Apart from what has been said, the building does have some things in its defensive arrangement. The walls are solid, and eight feet high measured from the ground outside, though they are only three feet of solid stonework measured from the floor inside the building (remember there is a flight of steps leading up to the building from the ground outside). The wall is about five feet thick, and on the top of the wall are columns placed only a couple of feet apart. The columns are made of stone, and support the roof. If something or someone was determined to enter the building without using the stairs they would have to climb the eight feet of wall from the outside and then slip in between the columns. The building is 75’ east to west and 30’ north to south and there are stairs in the center of all four walls accessing the building from the outside, and a single stair inside the building going up to the roof.

The Ogres have little in the way of supplies, as they were traveling through farmlands with a good population and did not carry more than a few small loaves of bread and some fruits to snack on.

You can spend the rest of the day asking questions, discussing strategy (What will you do next?) and sharing what food you have with the Ogres.

During the night, I will roll for the possibility of an encounter every 12 turns, every 2 hours. The sun will set at around 9:00 pm, and rise in the morning around 5:30 am, giving you about 8 hours of dark, and 4 random encounter rolls. The roll will be a d6, and an encounter that is Dangerous, will occur on a roll of 1. Please talk among yourselves and determine if any of you will take a watch. One ogre will take a watch of 2 hours, starting at 8:00 pm. When a watch order is established I will make rolls for a possible encounter

Day 1, the remained of the day and the night

Syndir – I did not see your choice for watch, there is one PC and one ogre assigned to each watch period. Would you be alright with me placing you with Kaleelah, the watch just before sunrise?

Kaleelah is lead up to the roof, and Syndir shows her the strange statues. Kaleelah is unable to make anything of the representations, but the elemental nature of the statues is clear to her, and she even recognizes the materials that the statues are made from.

There can be more examination/discussion of the statues, but I am jumping ahead to the night, and the following post

Night seems to come quickly and an eerie darkness falls

Chance for Random Encounter#1: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Chance for Random Encounter#2: 1d6 ⇒ 1
Chance for Random Encounter#3: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Chance for Random Encounter#4: 1d6 ⇒ 4

As the darkness grows, Azana walks the perimeter of the roof of the building a few times, then when the sun has full set she moves down to the main floor. The Daughter of the Head Ogress of this expedition joins Azana in a slow walk around the walls keeping an eye out through the space between the columns for anything unusual. It is almost impossible to see. There is a faint amount of light from a partial moon and a cloudless sky reveals thousands upon thousands of stars, yet the light from these stars is eaten up by the dense vegetation around the building. There is a low and steady thrum of noise from the trees, animals that go about the natural process of living their lives during the nighttime hours give out a constant chirp, howl, murmur, or warble. Occasional there is a soft rustle in the trees, but nothing large stirs nearby.

Jacen rubbed the sleep from his eyes as he was awoken by Azana. He tried to recall the strange dream he was having; however, try as he might to snatch at any figment they disappeared all too quickly as they always seemed to. His eyes fell upon the sleeping form of Keelah nearby and he remembers a flash of her crying in his dream. That brought upon another strange feeling that perhaps he never made a wish back at the 'other' temple.

After another moment of reflection Jacen dragged himself from his bedroll and made his way to their perimeter. He spotted one of the ogre fellows sharing his watch, he was pacing and terribly quiet. Jacen took a deep breath as he looked out into the darkness of the night, trying to shake off the eerie feeling that was creeping down his spine.

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16

Day 1, night Encounter #3

It is dark, only a scant amount of moon and star light shines. Normal vision is limited to 15 feet, 30 feet for low light, and darkvision is unaffected. I will try very hard to post a map, tonight or tomorrow, as soon as I can

“Va! Kun!” the Ogre guard shouts.

When Jacen turns in the direction of the sound of the cry, he sees the Ogre pointing at the wall, just ten feet behind Jacen, then the Ogre looks left and right, and shouts again, “Va, Va!, abominations of the realm of nightmares are attacking us.” He takes two fast steps to the side and readies a two handed weapon resembling a staff with a small axe fixed, transverse style (pendulum style), to one end.

Ogre01 Initiative: 1d20 ⇒ 10

His loud call stirs everyone in the building.

The other Ogres will wake on round 1, and be delayed for -

Ogres enter the battle on round: 1d3 ⇒ 1 Round

The sleeping Player Characters may roll initiative, but they will not act in round 1. Round one will be a Surprise Round in which Jacen and the on guard Ogre will be attacked, unless modified by a class ability, Jacen and the Ogre are Flat Footed and cannot take any AOO. Other Player Characters suffer 1 to 3 rounds of Delay, as they are waking from disturbing dreams, and will not benefit from any normal Armor Bonuses (you were not sleeping in your armor, were you? There must be some kind of penalty for that). You can reduce the Delay by 1 round, for each +2 of Dexterity or Wisdom Bonus you have, to a minimum of 1 Full round of Delay. So to be clear, I hope, you wake during the Surprise round, a round in which only the monsters attacking will act, then you will be Delayed for 1 to 3 Rounds before you can act. Any questions?

As you wake from a disturbing dream you peer through the inky blackness of the night and see what at first appears as some kind of nightmare, but quickly you realize that it is not a nightmare at all, but only common Goblin Snakes, foul creatures with long snake bodies and heads that resemble fanged and emaciated Goblins. But, something is different. These Goblin Snakes are larger, and seem more fiendish than any of you remember.

I am going to assume that the party has had experience with common Goblin Snakes and no Knowledge Checks are required, each of you knows something, at least, about them, some of you, those who make Knowledge Skills a priority, will have taken the time to learn more about them after the experiences you had in the past fighting them, so, as a party, you know what you are dealing with. However, these Goblin Snakes ARE larger, being Medium Sized Creatures, and appear just different enough to raise suspicions that they are touched by the taint of the outer planes.

Goblin Snakes Initiative: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19

I will be trying to manage the Goblin Snakes as well as a few Ogre NPCs, so wish me luck, here we go!

as a bit of an aside, if the Ogre had not spotted the Goblin Snakes as they entered the building, each PC would be subjected to an attack while they were still sleeping.

The rules indicate you can sleep in light armor. You could sleep in medium armor if you happen to have the Endurace feat.

While dreaming

Elise reaches out in despair as Timothy runs away. "Timothy... no, why are you running away... I love you, why won't you even look at me..."

Elise hears the voice of Jacen in the distance, but as the dream changes, cannot tear her eyes from her two selves - the invalid and the demonic child. "No... that's not me... I'm not a demon...No!" Elise wakes up with a start and looks around. "Huh? We're under attack - to arms!"

Initiative: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18
Due to her dexterity modifier, Elise is guaranteed to be delayed at most 1 round.

Initiative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20

Delayed: 1d3 - 1 ⇒ (1) - 1 = 0 - Delayed one round

The ogre's deep. booming voice and Ellise's warnings woke Syndir from the distrurbing dream he had been having ...why would Harland turn on me?... and the others... so strange... Contemplations fled and the cold sweat chilled the heat from his feverish dreams at the sight of the goblin snakes. He knew he had to act and quickly but his body was slow to react to his demands.

Will send messages to Azana and Kaleela today, I think we've lost Harland, map is almost finished. Also, the Ogres will be represented as medium sized tokens on the map, as even though I described them as Ogre-like, and they are big, they do not occupy a full 10' x 10' area

Despite their frightening dreams, both Kaleelah and Nala seemed to be swiftly waking up from their fitful slumber, almost as if they would rather not be dreaming.

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Kaleelah Delay: 1d3 - 3 ⇒ (2) - 3 = -1

Nala Delay: 1d3 - 2 ⇒ (3) - 2 = 1

Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Jacen has Uncanny Dodge so he is not considered flat-footed. As far as AoO go, he is a little screwed due to the surprise round.

Jacen startles at the ogre's sudden shout and he turns quickly to see what the large fellow was shouting about. He spots one of the snakes and recognizes it as a goblin snake, though somewhat different from ones they had encountered in the past.

He hears something behind him and jerks his head back around to see another snake slithering towards him! His abilities at sneaking and skulking keep him from being completely unprepared; however, it did slow his response to the attack in general.

Also, my 7 month old son is quite sick and I'm staying home from work today and tomorrow. He's on nebulizer treatments every 4 hours so if I'm slow to post... feel free to NPC Jacen. Next round he'll draw his blade and attack the goblin snake. After that Jacen will feint to gain Sneak Attack on any snake he is not flanking.

Day 1, night

Azana Initiative: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24

Surprise Round
The Goblin Snake at E,2 moves to E,3 | G,14 moves to F,13 | -C,5 moves to A,6 | -C,13 attacks Ogre02 Orange | -A,19 moves to A,18

Suddenly there are Goblin Snakes all around and moving at you quickly. One of the monsters climbs over the wall and lunges at a sleeping Ogre

Melee Bite against AC 16: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
Damage if >16: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

Round 1 begins now

Everyone wakes at the shouts of the guards. They are weary from sleeping uncomfortably, and there is a moment of confusion as they take stock of what is going on before leaping into action

The Goblin Snakes go ow, round 1. Aqua01 attacks Jacen (lunge, reach) | Black01 breathes a noxious fume that catches Syndir and Azana | Blue01 breathes, catching The Ogre matron and Ogre02 Orange | Green01 attacks Ogre01Yellow | Pink01 attacks Ogre 05Green

A Goblin Snake closes in on Jacen and lunges at him with fangs wide
Melee Bite against Jacen: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Damage if >19: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

Another Snake moves toward Syndir and Azana, then breathes a greenish cloud that envelopes them

Fortitude Save, DC 15, nauseated for 1 round if failed

Another Snake breathes a similar cloud on the waking Ogre Matron
Matron Save: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
Ogre02Orange: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 = 11

The Matron coughs, and rolls away from the cloud, but the ogre lying next to her is over come and begins to gag

A Snake lunges at a rising Ogre at the other end of the building
Melee Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Damage if >16: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

And Finally another snake attacks another Ogre, the one who warned Jacen
Melee Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (11) + 6 = 17
Damage if >16: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

The Ogre swings a pole arm in a great arc attacking the worm that just bit him
Melee Attack Ogre01Yello: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14
Damage if >18: 2d6 + 7 ⇒ (1, 5) + 7 = 13

The rest of the Ogres Stand up this round

Jacen is up for tound 1, then we will be at the Top of Round 2 and everyone can act normally

Jacen dodges to one side as the goblin snake's mouth snaps shut mere inches from his arm. In a fluid moment Jacen draws his kukri and takes a step towards the snake. He slashes his blade at a retaliatory attack; however, like Jacen the snake dodges the attack.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Damage: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Move action to draw his kukri and then a 5-foot step to E4. And a miss.... next round for Feint! And with a DC of only 12... even with the -4 penalty I only need to roll a 6 for a successful Feint. Jacen can finally shine... About time! Yay!

Confused and disorientated following the strange nightmare, it took Azana several moments to collect herself and prepare for combat. She couldn't shake the images of hardland's acts, or her mother's fallen visage...

But she had to. Instead of attacking directly, she began to dance, reinforcing both her party and the ogres. With a little luck it would shorten the fight noticeably.

Inspire Courage - +2 to hit and damage, folks.

Fort Save DC 15: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

Syndir arose sinuously from his bedroll at the guards shouts and dismissed anymore thoughts on the dreams he'd been having. A dangerous enemy is close proximity had that effect on the disciplined. The Westerner stilled his breathing as the noxious fumes enveloped him and flowed into the fluid grace of his Snake Style. He took a few steps to remove himself from the cloud and spat some hasty, hissing words.

Swift action - Activate Snake Style. Standard action - Cast Mage Armor - AC 21

Day 1, night
Azana Fortitude Save, DC 15: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (11) + 1 = 12

Round 2

The light from a small campfire barely illuminates the area inside of the building. Though the walls are open to the outside, the scant starlight and faint moon do little more than cast long shadows in the flickering light.

Azana isn’t quite sure what is going on. She wakes to the sounds of shouting and then is enveloped in a cloud of noxious fumes. She gags, rolls across the floor and vomits the contents of her stomach

Azana is Nauseated , and cannot dance in round 2, sorry, she will be fine in round 3

Meanwhile, nearby Jacen is embroiled in a dance of his own as the

goblin-snake lunges at him again
Melee Bite, lunge: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Damage if >18: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

The Fangs bite deep into Jacen’s arm

SnakePink01 attacks OgreGreen_01
Melee Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13
Damage if >15: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5

a miss

SnakeBlue_01 attacks OgressMatron
Melee Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Damage if >13: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

The matron is bitten on the shoulder

SnakeBlack_01 attacks Syndir
Melee Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (15) + 6 = 21
Damageif >20: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8

Just as Syndir’s force armor coalesces around him the snake lunges and bites him on the leg

SnakeGreen_01 attack OgreYellow_01
Melee Bite: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 7
Damage if >15: 1d6 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10

another miss

Elise is up, then I will post Ogre Actions, sorry for the delays, this one is harder than any battle I've ever run on a PbP, thanks for sticking with me!

Sorry for the delay.

Elise moves to D2, attempting to set up a flank with Jacen! She draws her scimitar as she does so, then swings at the goblin snake!

Attack: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20; Damage: 1d4 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9