The twin-fireball barrage kills the two worse-equipped bugbears, but the one with the fancier bow manages to survive in spite of being caught in both of them.
Mo, meanwhile, throws a rock at one of the other bugbears.
Said bugbear catches the rock with his face. He no longer has a face.
The remaining bugbears fire on you!
One arrow sticks in Hothead's neck, but the others rattle off your scales.
With Ziphora's lightning surging in your blood, you charge forward full-speed! The bugbears watch with dawning horror as you don't even slow when reaching the stockade, rather plowing chest-first into it!
Your heavy impact doesn't quite knock the logs of the stockade over... but several of them are now leaning far inward, far enough that you could probably just walk up them and into the inner part of the stockade. Your chest is also rather sore, but it'll heal quickly.
Within, there are a few crude shelters (the circles), and a total of 13 Bugbears--one of whom (the G) is clearly the leader, given that he's now pointing at you and shouting, "Idiots! It's a hydra! Use the acid and fire!"
"Eat lightning, Bugbear!" Ziphora fires a supercharged lightning bolt at the bugbear with with a fancier bow that has been scorched by the fireball.
"Ow!" Getting hit by an arrow hurts, but not as much as getting burned by fire hurts. Given that the Bugbear leader is suggesting his subordinates to do exactly that, Hothead decides to make an example of him with an extraordinarily vicious fireball.
Vote to move into fort to go mano a mano with bugbear leader
As the body draws closer Tomorbataar holds his head out, slightly coiled, ready to strike when he draws close. The crash into the fence causes Tomorbataar to jerk forwards slightly, but his balance is maintained and he juts his head straight out, bashing at the Bugbear that was left standing.
Vote to press towards the leader.
"Take out the leader!!!"
Waving around and chanting arcane words a surge of darkness begins to invade the leader's eyes.
Beachhead votes to press on towards the leader.
The bugbear that was near you is very, very dead after Ziphora's lightning blast and Tomorbataar's battering.
Hothead's fireball badly burns the bugbear on the left, but the leader twists away, managing to get only mild burns.
Said leader growls as Hungry's magic tries to take hold, but manages to shake it off without ill effects.
The bugbears obey their leader's orders. They close in around you, reaching into pouches and pulling out flasks to throw at you.
Various flasks hit heads, spilling fire and acid about, while a few manage to fly through between all of your necks without hitting anything.
"No, you idiots!" The bugbear leader snarls. "First you kill the heads, then you use the fire!"
He fires two arrows at Hungry, angry about the whole trying-to-cast-some-nasty-spell-on-him thing.
His first shot glances off Hungry's magical defenses, but the second sticks in his neck.
You lumber forward, your weight finishing bringing a couple of the stockade logs to the ground as you step on them. You get right in the middle of the camp, towering over the bugbears around you... many of whom seem rather nervous about this situation.
You do notice a couple other things about the camp, now that you're in it. On your right is a fire pit, with a spit over it which has some meat roasting on it. A partially-butchered horse is on the ground near the fire pit. In the far corner is a crude paddock, in which another horse is desperately looking for a way to escape the terrifying thing that just got near it. An empty wagon sits not far from the paddock.
Beachhead shrieks as he reveals himself and lashes out at the bugbear leader.
Whether he hits or not, he looks at the bugbear leader and hisses.
"Hoi! Thats really mean of you!"Ziphora yelps as she is pelted by the flasks.
"Die, you bully of a Bugbear!"She screams at their leader, then manifests a pair of lightning horns and starts goring him with it.
"How dare you refuse my gift of darkness!" Hungry waves for the somatic gestures with dark words. Shadowy energy wreaths his head as he lunges towards the Bugbear Leader.
"Take this!"
Beachhead shrieks as he reveals himself and lashes out at the bugbear leader.
sneak attack: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
damage assuming that hits: 2d6 + 1 + 3d6 + 1 ⇒ (2, 6) + 1 + (2, 3, 3) + 1 = 18Whether he hits or not, he looks at the bugbear leader and hisses.
Surrender or die, and then watch your camp be ravaged. Tomorbataar finishes bashing the corpse to their left and flicks him off the wall, trying to make him visible as possible for all the others as he swings round to the leader. We'd rather he live long enough to order a ceasefire. Tomorbataar thinks to the others, reaching out and trying to help the bugbear do a flip.
Hothead shrieks in terror as the burning flas crashes into him...
"Eeeeek!"
...and then realises that the horrible weapon was neutralized by his magical protections before it could do any damage. "I mean... Uh... Your puny weapons can't damage a mighty hydrahead like me! Eat frosty death!"
Beachhead's first attack fails to penetrate the bugbear's tough hide and armor, but with his second he sinks his teeth into the bugbear's liver briefly. Ziphora's lightning, however, has no such trouble, scorching him quite effectively. He manages to dodge aside from Hungry's life-draining chin, but is still looking rather badly burned and bitten.
Tomorbataar then 'trips' the bugbear leader... mostly by bashing him so hard he falls over. Meanwhile, Hothead sprays ice around at the nearby bugbear.
He dives to one side, avoiding the brunt of the ice.
"Hah! We'll get you... we know your weakness," the bugbear leader wheezes. "Get 'em!"
He seems to realize, however, that standing up just now might be a bad idea. Instead he rolls aside, and only then stands up.
The rest of the bugbears, still obedient to their leader's commands, though clearly getting rather nervous about the whole situation, close in. Those in melee range attack with morningstars or scimitars, while those still too far away fire their bows again.
One of them manages to clonk Dru-Head square in his nose with a morningstar... but the rest of their attacks simply skip harmlessly off of your hardy scales.
This hardly helps the current morale situation amongst the bugbears.
Seeing an opportunity, Hothead tries to bite the bugbear leader, even though physical combat isn't really his thing, before going back to burning stuff.
Tomorbataar hovers over the leader after tripping him, waiting for him to pop back up like a mole.
You really should give up now, if you do, you might even survive this next onslaught.
Tomorbataar votes to step on the leader.
Leaning forward already, trying to push the body at the leader, Tomorbataar swings another few whacks, moving at magically blurred speed.
"Bugbears! We have slain your chief!"Ziphora trumpets, her voice carrying the power of a summer squall."Will you surrender to us now, or foolishly continue to face total "She then throws an empowered lightning bolt to blast a crater next to one of the remaining bugbears, to emphasise her point.
Dru-head still attacks the B closest to him if it yet lives, if not, the H.
Beachhead's first attack fails to penetrate the bugbear's tough hide and armor
Beachhead uses his Assault Leader talent to give Tomorbataar an immediate attack.
Beachhead lashes out at the bugbear closest to him (on the right of the hydra).
He then sways back and forth at his target (or the next closest living one) while Ziphora is shouting, saying, "Oooooh! Whatcha gonna do?"
Well thanks, I suppose you're quite useful. Tomorbataar says, preparing to negotiate in the middle of combat. What say you do that again, every chance you get, and just keep letting me bash them to bits?
"I don't want to cast myself into a niche role. You understand."
The bugbear chieftain's armor manages to save him from the opportunistic attacks of the hydra heads above him... but they do not save him from Tomorbataar's subsequent pummeling. Said head feels the bugbear's skull crack beneath his chin at his last blow, and the chief drops to the ground, quite dead.
Beachhead, meanwhile, tears his target apart, while Dru-Head shreds not one but two of those facing him. Faced with this dreadful carnage and Ziphora's pronouncement, it's clear there's only one logical course of action.
"Run away!" one of the bugbears shouts, and soon they all start doing exactly that. Some run for the river, others for the entrance, others for the hole you made in their wall, while those already on the wall just jump over it.
Mo, standing outside, looks over to you, looking a bit confused, as if uncertain whether or not to toss a rock at someone.
"That's what we wanted to happen, I think."
Hungry moves up next to Hothead and tries to reach the bugbear near him with a boop. "BAD TOUCH TIME!
"Stop, guys, they've already seen the error of their ways!" Ziphora tries to convince the rest of the hydraheads.
Hothead yells at the fleeing bugbears.
"Well, now that that's done, I think we should go back to the lizards, tell them the job's done, don't you agree?"
"Well, did the bugbears bring anything interesting with them? Let's search the place. They're bugs, so they lay eggs, right? Maybe we can hatch the eggs and raise the bugbear larvae as our own!"
"True. Lets search the place. Spoils of war, you know. But I wouldn't hatch bugbear eggs if I were you. They dont seem to be nice people, all grumpy like."Ziphora sticks her hydrahead into every nook and cranny, upturning things here and there.
Hungry manages to touch one of the fleeing bugbears before it gets out of reach, draining some of its tasty life force. It... well, it seems to fill him in a different way than normal food, though hardly to satiation.
The bugbears keep running, the ones to the south of you giving Mo a wide berth as he walks over towards you. "I coming!" he shouts to you.
You don't find any eggs, but sticking your heads in the various buildings you see quite a few things that could be of interest.
*The northeast building has a fancy bed and a large chest.
*The long, low building directly to the north is apparently a smokehouse. Numerous sides of meat hang from the rafters, and the whole building smells smoky.
*The northwest building has a number of crates in it. Two of them are open, with a few carefully-packed vials still in them.
*The southern buildings just have a bunch of smelly beds in them.
In addition, there's still part of a horse cooking over the fire to the east, with the rest waiting to be butchered laying by the stream. Your stomach rumbles at the sight of all of the meat--you haven't eaten since this morning.
Ziphora pulls out the part of the horse cooking on the fire. "Hey hey hey! Look what I found!" She proudly proclaims her discovery, as she lays it out for her brothers.
She then sears the rest of the horse lying by the stream on the flame.
She takes a little mouthful for taste, then winces. "Bleh, horse isn't my specialty, either." She remarks, crestfallen.
I think we can all agree it would be best if we ate the eggs, for science and all.
Tomorbataar looks in the chests, hoping for valuables or books, and peers closely inside each cranny of the houses.
When they get to the fancy bed, Tomorbataar bites at one of the legs, dragging it out of the house, trying to lift it up onto their body. He doesn't have much leverage, however, and comes dangerously close to flipping the whole thing over. Finally, however, after much work he is able to get it stably onto their back, without ever having asking for help.
Hothead, not being the most perspective Hydrahead, doesn't find anything very intresting as they rummage through the camp, expect for one very intersting arrow. Which would appear to be stuck in his neck.
After the arrow is out of his body and the hole it made mostly closed, Hothead generously offers: "Anyone else want a bit of healing? I've still got lots."
Dru-head raises a foreleg (Arm?) in response.
Dru-head votes to take the large chest out.
Tomorbataar suspects the chest and possibly some of the crates might have something valuable in them. He also notices that the bugbear leader, in addition to his nice armor and weapons, was wearing an amulet and a ring.
Mo catches up to you, and is now standing about a bit awkwardly, like he's not quite sure what to do right now.
Hungry focuses his arcane might and casts detect magic focusing on the Leader for now.
Hungry can tell that the leader's chain shirt, sword, and bow are all +1. His amulet is an amulet of natural armor +1, and his ring a ring of protection +1.
Hothead gives Dru a few positively energised pokes. "Here you go!"
With the bed now firmly in place on their back, Tomorbataar inspects the sheets closely to determine how thoroughly they must be washed. We should check these chests out, open up all the containers and search everything, then trade it all to the humans and lizards.
Oh, and Hothead, I could use some healing. I've still got tooth and burn marks from various foes...and friends.
Tomorbataar votes to keep searching long enough to take 20 on all necissary perception checks.
Dru-head also votes to wait for Tomorbataar to take 20.
You search the camp thoroughly--something you can do without moving that much, actually, given the length of your necks. The chest, once you command Mo to get it out, has a variety of valuables--coins, gems, a painting, some fine linen, a tapestry, and some silver tableware. In spite of Ziphora's burning it, the horse meat still smells good, though the smoked meats in the smokehouse may smell better now.
The crates have a variety of goods in them--rope, cloth, leather, nails, that sort of thing. None of it seems particularly valuable, except for the remaining vials of acid and alchemist's fire. Between the crates and the dead bugbears, there are fifteen of each.
The horse in the northwest corner of the camp is still terrified of you, but still can't find a way out.
Other than that, you find nothing of particular interest.
"Mo, could you please get a sack and help us bring all these back to bugbear camp?" She points her head at all those alchemist fires, acids, and the leader's gear. "Also, get another sack to bring along the smoked meat, and the charred horse, in case Hungry gets hungry. He'll eat anything."Ziphora makes a grimmace.