Gathering your possessions and in a thoughtful frame of mind, you prepare to move out of the glade. The Rune Stone still lies where it fell, imperturbable and ancient.
Baldrech moves ahead of you scouting the land, although you can all plainly see the path taken by the fleeing kobolds. At least one of them was badly injured, testified by the blood trail marking the ground.
The ground ahead is steep, with the path clearly marked leading straight up the hill ahead of you. The surrounding trees make good cover but you can see through them well enough.
Baldrech returns to the group.
"No obvious traps, and to me that means an ambush. The ground opens up not far from here and then there's a narrow passage through thick trees. The obvious place for them - it's just below the top of the hill. What's the plan?"
"Any of you have some magical trickery or some such thing? We should check to see if we can lure them out.. if anyone is there."
Gobi looks to the rest of his party
"If not, I'm just as happy to march in there with Anarak to test the waters."
Moving like a silent shadow, Baldrech shifts through the trees and returns once more to the group.
"At least six kobolds and another duergar. We can't surprise them, but we might be able to lure them out of the trees. Pick them off."
The ranger never takes his eyes from the ground ahead, watching for any sudden movement.
"We know where they are. Let's charge them, attack them where they wait." Direct and to the point is the gnoll's advice, and after offering it she lifts her flail once more, checking it over like a craftsman would check tools before a job.
"Any of you have some magical trickery or some such thing? We should check to see if we can lure them out.. if anyone is there."
"I can cast a sound, such as you heard before or any other. I can manage 50 feet or so from where I stand."
"If Baldrech can point out their locations, I like Whiteclaw's plan. They already know we're here, so there's not much point in sneaking around. What's the terrain like? Are they hiding deep in the woods?"
You have breasted the hill and the terrain is well enough trodden to cause you no difficulties. There are a lot of tracks here, among them marks which have most likely been made by a heavy object being dragged. Interestingly, there are two sets of such marks, one considerably fresher than the other.
The shifter offers some more details to the group.
"It's like this. The path widens a good bit before you arrive in a central clearing. I didn't see much, but the stone circle is there. Just before you reach the central clearing is a small pool. I think that's where they'll attack us. Good cover for them. Except we know they're there." concludes Baldrech grimly.
"Some of them have good reason to fear us already."
He loads his crossbow and prepares to move out.
"So we'll have to find another stolen stone. I wonder what they want with them," Vel muses.
On Baldrech's report, "Well, we're not getting anything accomplished this way. We may as well trip the ambush."
"How should we trigger the ambush? I don't really want to walk to the pool only to draw their missile fire. I'm also not that keen to try and find them in the woods. The buggers are too small and the Duergar can go invisible..."
"Hmmm. Maybe if some of us charge past the pool directly to the stones, they'll be forced to break cover. I don't think they'll just sit there and let us examine the runes...then when they emerge the others could attack them from behind, cutting off the obvious escape path. Thoughts?"
"If we can somehow lure them so that the duergar is exposed, we should be able to pick him off first, particularly if I can get near him without being burned or shot too much. Maybe Anarak, Baldrech and me with Whiteclaw and Vel helping to keep the kobolds off our backs. We need to be wary of the quills and, if this one can go invisible we should detail a couple of our party to mark him and point out where he is.
"If we guard the exits, we should also be able to stop any of the kobolds escaping".
"If we can somehow lure them so that the duergar is exposed, we should be able to pick him off first, particularly if I can get near him without being burned or shot too much. Maybe Anarak, Baldrech and me with Whiteclaw and Vel helping to keep the kobolds off our backs. We need to be wary of the quills and, if this one can go invisible we should detail a couple of our party to mark him and point out where he is.
"If we guard the exits, we should also be able to stop any of the kobolds escaping".
"Works for me. If the Duergar is anything like the last one, he'll join the fight pretty quickly on his own. All we really have to do is attack."
Although he's probably too far to detect anything, Anarak scans the forest near the pool for signs of movement.
Kia will most likely be in the second row, or, if this is single file, number three from the front. She has her crossbow at the ready against the chance of the enemy stumbling into range.
Whiteclaw's stayed quiet on the walk and in the strategy talks, the gnoll not being much of a strategist, and that comes out when when the group finds more kobolds. She grins a hyena like grin and races up the hill, flail ready.
Gobi readies his shield and warhammer and moves forward on the kobolds.
"Right, let's have it then."
As Gobi and Whiteclaw advance, the kobolds flinch back. For a moment it looks as if they might all turn and flee but they stand their ground, even in the face of a six foot bloodstained gnoll and an enraged dwarf.
The duergar leader hisses, his eyes aflame with fanaticism.
"Defilers. They must not come near the stones."
Either emboldened or terrified, the kobold slinger takes a chance as the gnoll roars past him and slashes at her with his dagger. The weapon scores over her thigh, dappling her with more blood.
Overcome by his own audacity, the dagger wielding kobold steps back into the trees, giggles madly and hurls a firepot at the oncoming dwarf. It strikes and once again, Gobi loses facial hair. Chortling at his own success, the little beast ducks away.
Hampered by the trees, Kobold 1 shoots at Whiteclaw with a firepot and misses, the clay pot fizzling uselessly as it hits the ground. Cackling, the kobold shifts position to get a better shot next time.
The third slinger takes aim at Gobi and screams with unholy joy as the evil pot hits the paladin, pouring sticky flame over his arms.
"Holy flame for holy pain" he mocks, darting away.
Vel follows Gobi forward and grasps her orb on its chain, watching the duergar, readying to attack its senses.
Baldrech sidles up the edge of the path and aims his shortbow at the duergar. The shot goes wide and he bares his teeth, drawing his longsword and dagger, ready for close combat.
Kia moves up to J6 and takes a shot at the Kobold K6 with her crossbow.
Shooting kobold K6 (1d20 4=23, 1d6=3)
A gives a grunt of satisfaction as her bolt flies true.
Kobold 6 only has time to gurgle once before Kia arrow blasts through its throat and it drops dead to the ground.
"Let defilers fall before the wrath of Zemeboh. Make his strength yours, let him guide your hands to victory!"
The duergar leader raises his arms and intones something in a language that Gobi recognises as a distorted form of very ancient dwarven. Flames flicker around the heads of his allies and he bares his teeth triumphantly.
As the spell does its work, he reaches to his beard for a handful of now familiar and (to Vel at least) worrying quills. He moves and hefts his warhammer.
"Die little fools. You meet the wrath of ancient beings."
Kobold 4 darts towards Whiteclaw and stabs at her with its spear. The blade sinks home and the little beast jumps out of range again.
Kobold 5 attacks Whiteclaw, stabbing at the gnoll before withdrawing out of easy range.
Kobold 7 follows suit, but the spear glances off Whiteclaw's armour. Hissing, the kobold withdraws.
Kobold 8 darts forward, eager to take further chunks out of the gnoll and hits. The wound is glancing and does little damage. As before the kobold retreats a step.
BLOCK 3 - in the form of Anarak as the kobolds are dealt with
As the duergar steps forward, Vel unleashes her spell. His head comes up and he sneers at the mage.
"Zemeboh clears my sight. Your trickery means nothing to me."
Anarak?
Anarak grunts and quietly scolds himself for letting the kobolds get the jump on him. Hefting his axe, he strides towards the pool. At an opportune moment, he breaks into a full-blown charge and heads straight for Kobold 4, lowering his great axe into the creature's skull.
Charge: 1d20+8 = 25
Damage: 1d12+4 = 9
"This fight can only end badly for you, Duergar."
If K4 somehow survives the blow, he is marked, and has an axe in his head.
The kobold is cleft in twain. The remaining kobolds look aghast at the rampaging dragonborn.
EDIT
"That's right, run!" the gnoll sneers as the kobolds fade back into the trees. They're annoyances, however, the duergar is the main danger, and so she moves towards him, dealing with kobolds in the way as she goes.
Whiteclaw's flail glides through the air, slicing hard into the first kobold. She steps contemptuously to the side and uses the momentum of her blow to do even more damage to the second enemy.
Gobi attempts to keep himself as calm as possible while trying to put out the flames that burn on his armor.
Under Gobi's frantic slapping, the fire goes out.
The kobold slingers glance at each other and prepare to launch their attacks. With a swift exchange of glances, kobolds 1 and 3 concentrate their fire on Anarak. Both shots do their work well, searing the dragonborn's scales with liquid flame. Then both of them sidle away, chortling with pleasure at their own success.
Kobold 2 takes a shot at Whiteclaw missing completely before similarly easing out of the way.
Rev:
Vel swears loudly at the failure of her illusion, but does not directly reply to the duergar. Instead, she gestures near him and another column of yellow flames emerges near two kobolds, engulfing one of them.
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Vel
Thanks for that. Edited previous post.
Vel's arcing flames miss kobold 2 who jumps nimbly aside. His companion is less fortunate and the luckless creature is temporarily engulfed. For a moment he looks as if he'd like to flee, but a snarled command from the duergar halts him in his tracks.
Edging round the side of the glade, Baldrech loads his bow again and aims at the duergar's head.
The shot flies true, but the duergar brushes it aside and steps forward, hefting his warhammer and confronting Whiteclaw.
"You toy with things you cannot understand. But you will understand this. The wrath of Zemeboh will smite you where you stand."
The warhammer thuds into Whiteclaw's chest and bursts into flame, leaving the gnoll gaping at the appalling wound and scarcely able to stand.
Seeing the danger Whiteclaw is in, Kia moves to K10.
"Come on Whiteclaw, you get get through this!" she shout with her Inspiring Word power (minor action). "Have another go at that kobold, he deserves it!" Exercising her Commander's Strike power for Whiteclaw to hit K8 again.
Kia's words inspire Whiteclaw. With a further blow of her fail, Kobold 8 crumples into an unlovely mush. The action revives her and she looks less bedraggled and stronger than before.
Whiteclaw
Kia
Inspiring word adds the +3 bonus to the damage, not the attack. I rolled it this way round.
Kobold 5 grits his teeth and emerges from the trees, jabbing futilely at the engraged gnoll with his spear.
Finally Kobold 7, looking completely demoralised attempts to stab Whiteclaw before retreating rapidly to the other side of the grove.