Bal's javelin takes the bullywug in the shoulder, and immediately blood begins to appear in the water. He's not totally out of the fight, but he won't be much of a hindrance to Uro with only one arm.
Ixotl continues to watch the fray, waiting for his opening.
Two of the frog-people are now out of sight, presumably entering the basement -- Bal seems to have anticipated that and rushes past Jym and Elebrin, who are prudently staying with Lady Vanderboren.
Once it's Uro's turn:
As the frogman's teeth scrape off ot the orcs armor, uro pushes him off with the haft of his axe, making enough room for a horizontal slash.
After a quick, efficient slash, there is nothing in the stream outside except Uro, standing amidst three corpses (one missing a head and two chopped mostly in half) and a lot of blood. The supervisor is long gone back downstream. Turning around you see the arched entrance to the cellar that the stream flows through, and your darkvision enables you to make out the remaining two frog-people, crawling up out of the stream and onto the cellar floor -- it looks like a MUCH easier swim than leaving the tunnels under Parrot Island!
Bal should be just about in time to meet them.
Uro looks up to Ixotl and yells. "A couple of them made it into the basement. I'm going to follow."
The orc dives into the stream in pursuit.
Jym turns to Elebrin and Lady V with an apologetic expression.
"I'm nearly out of tricks for the day, and the ones that I still have will do nothing to help me protect you if we're attacked. But I can still help Uro and Bal, which may have them return sooner."
Jym casts message on Elebrin, and then darts after Bal towards the basement.
Frog-men in basement:
Uro can keep his or reroll, at your choice.
Bal hasn't rolled yet, so now is the time!
Jym will arrive 1 round later, but can keep his count if desired.
i can't find my original roll for some reason, this is easier, lol.
Uro climbs from the stream and launches himself into a frogman, axe swinging wildly!
Elebrin will ensure that her armor is on (I think I activated the ring earlier in the day) and will pull her sword and wait....
After Uro's chop, the two invaders in the basement are suddenly one invader and one unconscious body-soon-to-be-a-corpse.
With Jym and Bal arriving soon thereafter, the lone surviving invader is likely to join his friend.
Ixotl:
The seventh figure is the supervisor that swam away; he apparently found a sheltered spot our of view, emerged, and signaled somehow. The others appear to be bullywugs as well. Four of them are holding a log and seem like they're about to use it on the door.
Bal bursts into the basement longsword in hand, and takes in the scene of carnage with grim approval. Processing Uros bloodstained axe and the corpse lying motionless beneath it in an instant, he moves to attack the surviving invader.
More enthusiasm than skill it seems...
Jym is up.
"Hi!"
Jym gets within whippin' distance, and then waits.
Ixotl watches the couryard, studying the supervisor and marking him as his quarry. He will try to strike from surprise before the others reach the door, but he will not reveal himself before he can see the whites of their eyes.
Ix: In this case, clustered in front of the door, and with you on the roof, the angle makes a clear shot very difficult -- you remember that the supervisor saw what happened to Drevoraz, and has taken steps to prevent the same fate befalling her by crossing the open area as quickly as possible.
The supervisor isn't caught off-guard; she knows you're up there, and apparently she can hear the whirring of the sling. Motioning the others to hurry up with the door, she crouches on the step, hoping the eave of the roof provides enough cover to deflect your shot. It also looks like she's physically shaking in anger at being caught this way.
Even with improved cover, she misjudges the acuity of your aim. Ixlotl leans out and releases, bullet whizzing down at a seemingly impossible angle, to come within bare inches of striking her; only her quick burst of rage has saved her from instant death.
Jym pops into the basement unexpectedly, comedically flailing his whip around like a 3-year-old pretending to use a jumprope, but it distracts the frog guy just when he doesn't need it, with Bal and Uro already ganged up on him.
He makes a feeble effort to save himself by attacking the strongest opponent:
But that fails miserably, and he cringes as he realizes there's no way he can recover fast enough, and waits for death.
Uro nearly grants the bullywug his early entrance to the afterlife, but shows mercy and leads with the side of his axe.
So, 51 non lethal damage.. Ha ha, this Bullywug is going to be asleep for a while.
Ixotl feels the hungry pull of Miclantecuhtli through the owlish avatar that leads him to those who have wronged his tribe. The unforgiving god of death nudges his aim minutely, eager for a sacrifice.
An errant gust of cold wind blows Ixotl's sling ball slightly off-course, causing it to veer into its intended target, striking her in the chest. The frog-thing croaks in rage; there is a note of superstitious dread in the sound that Ixotl can't help but relish.
The supervisor is bruised but not killed, and frantically motions the others to batter down the door.
One of the rammers stumbles slightly, impeding the overall effort and enabling the door to withstand the first blow. . The supervisor, still shaking, slaps the stumbler across the back of the head and angrily hisses something that, if you spoke Draconic, would probably mean something along the lines of "Focus, you idiot!"
One of the watching bullywugs thoughtfully lifts a piece of what looks like rotten wood, and croaks something. The night itself above the roof seems to darken, and a wave of entropy washes over the wood elf.
After that display of raw unholy power, the supervisor and the last bullywug refrain from futilely trying to throw hand axes at you, and instead content themselves with yelling for the gate-batterers to try harder.
For those inside:
The last bullywug in the basement drops like a sack of potatoes under the flat of Uro's blade, and it seems like the invasion has been totally routed. Just when you're about to start congratulating yourselves, there is a very loud pounding sound that echoes through the house -- it sounds like a battering ram. Elebrin and Lady V, who are on the main floor, immediately realize the sound is coming from the front gate.
”I have a message spell going with Elebrin, but it won’t reach all the way down here. Let’s go!” Jym exclaims excitedly before running to the staircase up, pulling up short, and then frantically waving for Uro to go first.
"Yeah, yeah." The orc wipes slimy frog stuff from his axe as he trots over to the stairs.
Ixotl throws himself flat on the roof, but the dark energy still saps his strength. Now aware of the spellcaster, he rolls along the roof and tries to reposition while he loads another ceramic bullet.
Ixotl lies flat on the roof and rolls soundlessly to the side; he's now out of sight from the front doors.
1. In a humid, tropical climate with a lot of rain, you won't have a flat roof where water can pool; some slope is needed to carry it off. But you don't want a really steep slope (like in the Alps, to reduce snow load), because tropical storm winds will rip that off because of the extra surface area. So a shallow pitched roof makes the most sense.
2. If the roof is flush with the walls, water runs down them in sheets, getting in the windows, etc. So a series of overhanging eaves with gutters and waterspouts would seem obligatory.
Jym, Uro, and Bal reach the ground floor in time to hear another tremendous crash:
Dazzled by the display of magic they just witnessed, the leader on the ram fails to direct properly, and the same bullywug that slipped before does so again. The supervisor pulls the latter off the ram (giving him a savage cuff to the head), moves the former leader to that spot, and takes the lead in operating the ram.
Uro will start wedging furniture against the door. If we hold them up here, maybe we can sneak around behind them somehow."
Bal joins Uro shifting tables chairs and anything else to hand - judging by the dust exposed, these items may not have been moved in decades.
"Once we have this door barricaded, we could lower out of an upper window and flank the portico from either side - If Ixotl keeps distracting them that might be just enough to cover our approach"
"If you do that, I can make them think that you're still in here," Jym offers, using ghost sound to continue the sound of furniture being moved around.
You suspect they didn't fall for the illusion, but they do redouble their efforts at bashing open the door.
The supervisor's close brush with death seems to have left her unable to properly man a ram, and the doors stay closed. With a disgusted gesture, she drops the log, and they all start murmuring together, obviously coming up with a Plan B.
Ixotl waits patiently, sliding slowly across the roof and down the adjacent side of the manor as his quarry throws herself angrily at the door.
He looks to the trees and shrubs of the grounds for cover, plotting his approach and stalks closer, mimicking the jaguars of his homeland.
He can see her fury drain away as she huddles with the others, whispering and plotting. He watches carefully for the perfect shot.
Ixotl glides around the side of the manor, swinging wide to stay with cover and get a clear shot without coming too close. The supervisor is fatigued, the recent tension followed by frustration leaving her oblivious to your presence. The heavy-set bullywug that you take to be a chieftain of some kind is too busy bellowing orders to his underlings to notice you, and they are too busy obeying -- they grab the ram, take a running start, and try and run it through one of the big windows:
There is a loud, almost metallic peal of sound, as if of wood striking steel, and the log bounces off the big window, its end blunted. The window fails to break, and indeed appears to be undamaged.
The spell-user only half-watches the antics of the others. He is staring straight at Ixotl, and almost idly starts incanting a spell -- but it almost seems that he's slowing it down, politely (?) waiting for you to loose your shot.
This time Ixotl's missile strikes true; the supervisor's head disappears, and her body slumps to the ground.
The spellcasters nods to you, then finishes his spell.
A pair of large crocodiles appear. The first immediately begins to sprint towards Ixotl at a seemingly absurd speed, covering easily ten yards a second. The other quickly follows once the first makes up its mind.
Alerted by all this activity, the others will be able to act soon.
Uro waits for to time the frogmen's battering ram swing and flings open the window before it is struck. He will then grab on to the side of the log and pull it into the house, hoping to over extend the Bullywugs momentum.
Uro will instead rush upstairs, smash the window with his axe and leap through, screaming madly as he does!
Waaaaaagggghhh! Rage!
Seeing the shaman conjure the crocodiles, Ix feels the cold death that the shaman used upon him earlier and freezes momentarily. He assesses the trees in the garden, seeking one that will give him a stable, crocodile-free firing platform. He sprits for safety just as the scaly death closes and scurries upward.
Page 8.
The door to the basement is at #6.
The bullywugs are outside (west of) #1.
Ixotl is among the trees north of there.
Whoops should have included
Also, if it's an option, Uro will try to slam his axe down on any bullywug unfortunate enough to be near his landing spot. The orc will target the chief if he's in range.
His composure momentarily broken, Ix's ascent isn't attempted with the same calculated competence as his rooftop descent. His frantic antics propel him from branch to branch in a spiraling upward arc, culminating in a spinning flip atop the crest.
He howls in exuberant excitement, his confidence restored as his gaze locks with the shaman's.
Jym turns to Lady V (and Bal?). "I just thought of this very obvious idea: If they're out there, trying to break the door down, let's move away from the door!"
He'll lead her (them?) upstairs, to watch the battle from the window Uro just defenestrated himself from. Not Lady V, though; she has to stay out of sight of the window. Jym will pull out his new wand of fear as he runs.
The chieftain easily evades Uro's leaping smite, and quickly steps in, swinging a huge reinforced club two-handed and trying to follow up with a vicious bite:
The bullywug foot-soldiers hop over to Ixotl's tree; the first two make fantastic leaping attacks in an effort to reach him:
Their frog-like legs propel them 8 feet into the air, but even an extra 5 feet reach from their weapons isn't enough to reach the treed elf. The other four hurl hand axes instead:
The shaman snaps a command and gestures for the crocodiles to return and attack Uro; they spend their turn coming back.
Annoyed at the inability of his pets to maul Ixotl, he tries to play it cool, pulling what looks like a small bottle of rum from his pack and sipping it, and waddling over towards the tree.
This leaves only the chieftain and two crocodiles next to the manor.
Jym fires off a shot of cause fear from the wand at the orc chieftan, trying to hold himself out of sight from the shaman.
"Elebrin! New guy! Uro is getting attacked by an orc warrior and crocodiles! Or maybe it's alligators! I'm not sure how to tell the difference, really. I know that snout shape has something to do with it, but I forget which one has the more angular snout. I bet Uro would know.
"Oh! Right! Uro! He's also dealing with a lackadaisical but effective shaman! He needs help!"