Initiative:
Rath
Tracant
Biter
Burnsten
Zombie 1
Gregor
Zombie Wolf
Elorin
Alexis
Abbas
Pete
Zombie 2
Burnsten casts his spell on Tracant's bite.
The lead zombie shuffles forwards. It doesn't seem to be picking up its pace any, nor does it seem to have noticed you.
Gregor casts a spell, and his right fist seems to burst into flame.
The zombie wolf advances, keeping pace with the other zombie.
Elorin fires a single shot with his bow, sinking the shaft deep into the wolf's fetid flesh. Now, the wolf takes notice of your group.
Alexis casts her spell and begins to glow with a soft light.
Abbas casts light on his holy symbol and waits for the undead to get closer.
Pete readies his throwing axe in hand and sneaks off into the undergrowth to the side, preparing to find some flanking positions.
The other zombie shuffles forward.
Rath delays until a zombie is in shuriken range.
Tracant to act...
Round 2
Roud 2
Tracant will hold his position he is just ready to attack the zombie wolf when is very close to let us attack the other 2 zombies
Tracant holds his position.
Biter to act...
Tracant holds his position.
Biter to act...
Nazard wrote:
Tracant holds his position.
Biter to act...
If people are just planning on waiting until the zombies get close, let me know. I'll resolve the ranged attacks and then get things moving to where you can actually engage the creatures if you choose.
I think that's exactly whats going to happen, we just buy time so our ranged attacks hit all they can before we jump to melee
As soon as a zombie comes into range, Rath flicks two shurikens at it to see if the piercing weapons will have any effect on its undead flesh.
This includes range penalties for 11-20' - since I figure that will be the rough distance of the zombie that first comes into range.
Biter and Burnsten continue to hold the line and wait.
The lead zombie advances another 30 feet.
Rath comes out of delay and flicks shuriken at the lead zombie. The first one hits. Very little of its damage seems to affect the monster.
Gregor to act... (I had Gregor cast a produce flame for ranged purposes while you were gone)
New Initiative:
Tracant (delaying)
Biter (delaying)
Burnsten (delaying)
Zombie 1
Rath
Gregor
Zombie Wolf
Elorin
Alexis
Abbas (delaying)
Pete (delaying)
Zombie 2
Round 2
Attack:
Damage:
"Damnit! How'd I miss something moving that damned slow."
Nazard, one last thing, I was only firing a single shot this round, I also wanted to drop my bow, draw my sword, move 30' to the NW to start to move around the zombies for the flank after they have all moved, can delay to make this happen. Thx!
Gregor moves up and flails at the zombie with a flaming fist. The zombie hadn't seemed to notice Gregor until he attacked it.
The zombie wolf, responding to the attack, picks up its speed and splashes through the surf to approach Rath.
Elorin fires an arrow at the wolf, but is surprised by its increase in speed and misses just behind the creature. He drops his bow, draws his sword and moves to follow Pete.
Alexis fires both beams of light at the front two creatures, her beams unerringly striking both undead and filling them with burning light.
Abbas continues to delay.
Pete delays until the last zombie is in position.
The final zombie advances forward along the beach.
Abbas comes off of delay and advances 20 feet forward to channel energy at all three creatures.
Zombie 1 will save;
Zombie 2 will save;
Zombie Wolf will save;
Zombie 1 takes as much positive energy as it can handle and collapses onto the beach.
Biter comes off of delay to help Rath with the wolf. He rages, easily summoning hatred for the canine undead, and slices it in two just behind the forelegs. The two pieces fall to the beach, finally at rest.
New Initiative:
Tracant (delaying)
Burnsten (delaying)
Rath
Gregor
Elorin
Alexis
Abbas
Pete (delaying)
Zombie 2
Biter
Tracant to act...
Biter's manic eyes swing to regard Friend Rath with an intense glee, pointing with his blade at the two halves of the wolf-corpse-thing, "FRIEND RATH DROP SOMETHING?! HAHAHAHAHAHA!!"
Otherwise, if the zombie is engaged in melee, she will move to the south side of the fire interposing it between the zombie and herself. Given that the zombies didn't seem to take notice of us until attacked, she will try and spot where they might have been heading if not for us. (Or at least see if anything else is blatantly approaching.)
Round 2
Tracant if he cans will charge the zombie that's left
Attack
Damage
** spoiler omitted **
Round 2
Will charge with Tracant against the last one
Attack
Damage
Tracant breaks for the bushes, slithering quickly across the beach. His bite fails to land on the slow-moving zombie (I put him due west of the zombie).
Burnsten attempts to charge across the beach after his eidolon, but unfortunately, Gregor is in the way. Burnsten is still able to get up next to the zombie for a swing, however; unfortunately, his attack is no more effective than his companion's.
Rath to act...
Realising his shurikens are doing virtually nothing, Rath pulls his kama and waits for the zombies to lumber into range, leaving the distance battle to teammates whose attacks are more effective.
He nods thanks as Biter's fells the zombie-wolf with a single blow. Rath is pleased. This goes well! We are acting as a coordinated unit. His pleasure is short-lived as teammates charge past the front-line to engage the remaining zombies. Well, there goes the plan again...
Rath holds position and looks for unknown targets on the flanks or coming from the rear since it looks like the known threats will be dispatched soon - unless the final zombie is a Uber-super-mega-zombie.
While scanning the perimeter (including the waterline) he shares a grim headshake with Alexis.
Round 3
Perception
Biter will move to a flanking position (tumbling any necessary squares to avoid AoO's. ) and make a devastating attack.
If the undead is down (and combat continues)… Biter will drop rage and take a closer look at the two zombies… seeing if they resemble the two people we saw dead earlier.
** spoiler omitted **
Rath delays.
Gregor to act...
Round 3
Round 3
Attack:
Damage:
Gregor steps forward to engage the zombie, searing its corrupted flesh with fire.
Elorin turns from the remains of the battle to retrieve his bow. He scans the trees, hunting for signs of movement, but sees none.
Alexis casts her cantrip, and a burning log whips out of the campfire to strike the zombie.
Abbas steps forward to attack the zombie, but is too far back and cannot attack this round.
Pete stays hidden, also looking for further threats, also failing to spot any.
The zombie swings its fist at (clockwise ) Abbas.
Attack: ; critical confirm: ; damage: A solid blow that causes Abbas' ears to ring.
Then Biter swings and juliennes the zombie. The one-armed undead falls to pieces onto the beach stones. No further movement or trouble assails you at this time.
Biter bends down to examine the zombie remains. Unless they took advantage of a significant wardrobe change, along with gender-reassignment surgery, these are not the natives who fell earlier today to the Beargle. One of the zombies is a woman, and both are wearing vastly the tattered remains of different clothing, much of it old and rotten.
Maybe we should try to track them back to their source as soon as daylight comes? It shouldn't be too hard to track three dead creatures back to their source unless their tracks are completely covered by the sea. Gregor appears to be our best tracker, maybe Biter and I should help him to track them?
Pete emerges from his hiding spot, and looks around him at the zombie remains without commenting. Starting at the night sky, he looks around him and rubs his eyes, before finally turning his attention to Elorin, and Gregor. "I t'ink we shoudna rush off 'n do anythin' foolish, 'though I do like trackin' these things down. We need ta wait fer sunrise afer we do anythin'. 'Lexis, what de ye t'ink?"
The rest of the night passes without incident.
Upon the morrow, you break your fast and then your camp. While going through morning preparations, Alexis receives another message from Brycen. "Animals on board ship acting strangely, almost like in a trance. Their legs move as if walking, even though they are in their slings."
Once camp is broken, you set out along the beach to the north, attempting to track the zombies. You see no signs of them on the beach stones themselves, but Gregor catches sight of where they arrived on the beach and can trace their trail into the brush. The trail leads back to the small pond, along its shore, and then southwest back into the brush. This trail heads down to meet the river, curving slightly back to the east before coming to the river itself.
Across the river, you see a jut of land. In the middle of the land is the largest oak tree you have seen yet. It measures over 100' feet high, with a trunk 10 feet thick. The zombies' trail leads straight into the river, although the crossing looks fairly treacherous. The rapids are strong, the rocks look slick. Unless the zombies waded or swam some distance, their trail would presumably come out on that spit of land with the uber-tree.
I have highlighted the tree for you.
"I don't think the zombies swim that great to cross this river and that tree has an eerie presence" with a worried face when looking at the tree "Well I'm not a great swimer, Tracant knows how to swim better then me tho, but before that what do you suggest we do?" shrugs his shoulders as he waits for the group to come up with ideas
"I t'ink we shoudna rush off 'n do anythin' foolish, 'though I do like trackin' these things down. We need ta wait fer sunrise afer we do anythin'. 'Lexis, what de ye t'ink?"
"I agree. Even elves and dwarves see better during the daylight and we would certainly stick out less than by wandering in the dark carrying torches."
"Animals on board ship acting strangely, almost like in a trance. Their legs move as if walking, even though they are in their slings."
Rolls to see if this behavior matches any magics with which Alexis is familiar.
After sending her message to Brycen, Alexis informs the rest of the group of the details of their conversation. "Gregor, are you familiar with any such animal behavior? First undead wandering along heedless of our presence until attacked now animals in a trance... Neither necromancy nor enchantments are fields I've studied in much depth. Any ideas?"
"I don't think the zombies swim that great to cross this river and that tree has an eerie presence. Well I'm not a great swimer, Tracant knows how to swim better then me tho, but before that what do you suggest we do?"
"Well, we can always head back to the beach and take the launch south to the other side of the river. Another option would be to cast a grapnel to the other side and have someone use it to steady themselves as they ford the river. Once across, they can tie it off to a tree and we can climb across hand-over hand. Another option, which I would rather conserve, would be to tie the rope off directly by using telekinesis. Although..."
She looks at Tracant. "Burnsten, can you summon Tracant at range? If so, you could summon him on the far bank and he could perhaps grasp the grapnel in his maw and then hook it behind a tree, root, or sturdy rock."
After sending her message to Brycen, Alexis informs the rest of the group of the details of their conversation. "Gregor, are you familiar with any such animal behavior? First undead wandering along heedless of our presence until attacked now animals in a trance... Neither necromancy nor enchantments are fields I've studied in much depth. Any ideas?"
Pete frowns at this, and thinks for a moment, and then he motions Alexis to one side, away from everyone. Once he has gotten a private moment, he whispers,
Alexis
Supah-Sekrit Spoilah'd Stuf
So what's the decision: brave the tumbling waters or wuss out and take your row boat around the mouth of the river?
After sending her message to Brycen, Alexis informs the rest of the group of the details of their conversation. "Gregor, are you familiar with any such animal behavior? First undead wandering along heedless of our presence until attacked now animals in a trance... Neither necromancy nor enchantments are fields I've studied in much depth. Any ideas?"
"The first thought that comes to mind is another druid controlling the animals, but the undead would seem to discount that."
"On second thought, this does seem in line with what the unseelie courts of the fae would do. Of course, that's just a guess on my part."
It is possible that evil fey would account for both the undead and the bewitched animals.
Naz, I think we're going to throw a grapnel with a line attached across and have Tracant hook it behind something sturdy so we can rope climb across without having to swim.
Failing that, Rath has the best swim check at +8.