The Mouth of Doom (Inactive)

Game Master Grimmy

Raziel, no need to bluff as you started from concealment. So no -10, meaning stealth succeeded. You hit the grappled gnolls flat-footed AC of 8 even with +4 for soft cover.

8 damage. The gnoll dies.

Which leaves Hound once again swinging at a dead gnoll!!!

Hound you want to move to L12 and kill the one in K12 instead?

Sure

Raziel, no need to bluff as you started from concealment. So no -10, meaning stealth succeeded. You hit the grappled gnolls flat-footed AC of 8 even with +4 for soft cover.

8 damage. The gnoll dies.

Which leaves Hound once again swinging at a dead gnoll!!!

Hound you want to move to L12 and kill the one in K12 instead?

Wohoooo!!!

Move my attacks/rolls to the next nearest gnolls. I thought that we were already on the next round.

R4 Init 13
Ridley draws her sword and goes to work on the gnoll infront of Q.

Move Action: Draw rapier (AoO on me correct?)
Standard Action: Attack gnoll at J12 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Damage 1d4 - 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 = 1

No AoO's when you draw actually, my whole group used to think that for the longest time.

Ghaelja's Shillelagh takes down the one next to Q. Ridley and Trangles miss.

Q-Bot

Q delays.

Round 4 Init 9:
The last gnoll in melee backs away warily.

Total Defense +4 AC

From the encampment you see a pillar of black smoke arising.

Round 4 Init 9:

Hyena gets up and walks carefully across the grease. Beyond the greases edge it continues taking comical delicate little steps as it approaches Eli.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

Move: H14

Round 4:
Gnolls - 9
Hyena's - 8
Q - 11 <<<<
Ogrim - 7 <<<<
Eli - 6 <<<<
Round 5:
Raziel - 16 <<<<
Ghaelja - 14 <<<<
Hound - 13 <<<<
Ridley - 13 <<<<

Go!!!

Rd 4

Hounds drops his sword, draws his bow and fires at the gnoll
Longbow: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 81d8 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8

Round 4 - Init 16

Noticing with a grin that the combat seems to be completely under control, Raziel is more worried about the black smoke arising from the encampment, and the state of Krull, who seems to be at least unconscious.

Dashing forward to take a better look at both what seems to be going on at the gnoll camp, he seizes the opportunity to move closer to the half-orc prone form.

Not sure exactly where they droped Krull, but Raziel is moving forward to Q:14 with a double move, all the while with an eye on the camp and another on the fallen half-orc.

A signal to other tribes? - he ponders while moving, looking at the smoke.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (19) + 7 = 26

Round 5

Ghae
Seeing the hyena moving out of the grease, the half-elf charges forward and swings her nature enhanced club once more.

Move to I15.
Attack-charge-club @ H16: 1d20 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 16
Damage: 2d6 + 3 ⇒ (4, 1) + 3 = 8

Trangles
At the same time, Trangles charges toward the remaining gnoll attempting to take it down.

Attack-charge-slam: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 3 + 2 = 23
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Grab: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23

Thinking that he might as well go three for three, Eli takes the invitation offered by the approaching hyena to quickly lash out with his sword, intending to completely disembowel the creature with a low, powerful thrust.

Attack: 1d20 + 7 - 1 ⇒ (11) + 7 - 1 = 17
Damage: 1d10 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 2 = 9
-1/+2 from Power Attack
FYI Ghae you wouldn't have been able to charge. The hyena moved to H14 and both I and a dead body are in the way of a charge from your spot (I'm assuming the dead body makes that square difficult terrain).

I think that I can still charge to the same place. I believe that you have to be able to make the charge attack into any adjacent square. H14 will still be adjacent to me if I am in I15. And, I do not need to move across the dead body to get there I do not think.

Of course, I could be completely wrong.

I always assumed (or read somewhere long since forgotten) that a charge had to be a direct line and thus to the nearest adjacent square. But I just had three people from home tell me I'm crazy, all for different reasons so take that with a grain of salt ;)

In rereading the description, I would have to charge to I13 where you are. Perhaps someone will move to G13 to give me flanking.

The rule says that you have to move to the closest spot from which you can make the attack, if that space is blocked, then you cannot charge.

Ghaelja's shillelagh strikes a thundering blow and Eli's nodachi thrust guts the beast.

Didn't need charge bonus anyway.

Double move to K18

Q continues to delay, growing worried about his dwindling collection of arrows.

Glad to hear you are tracking arrows, my players forget sometimes.

Q can see that 3 of the slain gnolls had longbows with 20 arrows each in the quivers.4

Q collects from the one nearest to him. How many arros can a quiver hold? I also need to go back and check my numbers again, i think I started this fight with 32 standard arrows.

*Lurks*

Seeing her friends drop the hyena-men and their flea bitten pets Ridley jumps up with a cheer. Now we can get moving and save that woman... But then she noticed some of her friends still battling with the last few survivors. Best not get too ahead of yourself there girl, a few more crumbs to wipe up before we push our plates away.

R5 Init 15
Ridley rushes up and thrusts her blade to the hyena Eli and their newest companion were fighting, hoping to end the creature swiftly.

Move Action: Move to G13
Standard: Attack hyena at H14, flanking 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 2 = 26
Crit Confirmation: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22
Damage(including Dirty Fighting): 1d4 - 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) - 1 + 1 = 2 x2

The last 3 gnolls in the encampment flee after lighting what looks like a signal fire. Raziel is able to notice them throwing leaves and herbs in the fire before they leave, which seems to give the fire it's billowing inky black smoke.

Krull the half-orc is in Q16 on the battle map.

Let us get Krull and then get out of here, that smoke could be signaling a larger force.

Hound will help get Krull ready to go.

535 XP

Dm Grimmy, is that 535xp each? :D

There is still some stuff that Raziel wants to do before leaving - I'll post them, and leave it up to the group to accept or not: 1)Make sure Krul is alive, and perhaps try to get him on his feet; 2) Search the defeated gnolls; 3)Also give a search to the gnoll encampment, while keeping a watch for approaching enemies

What say you all?

"They all sound like swell enough ideas Raz, but I'm worried about the signal fire, particularly the possibility that they are either somehow connected with the cultists at the shack...or there's more gnolls out there. In either case I'd like to get a move on it sooner rather than later."

"Maybe a few of us keep an eye out while someone goes over the bodies and someone else goes over the camp real quick? I think I'd be better at keeping an eye out and have people with more in the leg area do the searching."

I'll so some searching

Hounds checks out the bodies of the fallen gnolls.[/b]

Yeah 535 each.

The fallen gnolls have nothing special. Spears, axes, bows, armor. From the plateau of the encampment you can make out a huge creepy idol in the distance with some kind of small compound at it's feet. Fires are burning there, possibly braziers or huge torches.

Krull is difficult to rouse but once his bonds are cut he stumbles to his feet.

Let us get going then, we arn't here to tangle with a larger camp.

Ready to beat feet.

"Not even a quick search?" - Raziel comments, already halfway towards the camp.

If you want to head out on your own, fine. Hound turns to Ridley.We are already late in trying to save that woman and getting more gnolls on us won't help anyone.

"We are running behind on our original timeline, but we'd still likely have to search for our goal once we get into the general vicinity. He should have a better idea of where to search and can minimize the time we spend. All in all, I'd say we've gained time through this, not lost it. If we keep bickering, though, then we've got no chance. I'm going to state the obvious, but it's dark. We don't know how much time we have to get to wherever she's being held, but Krull needs rest. The best compromise is that we stick him on a horse with someone to hold him upright, and let him hopefully sleep while we move. I'll go get the horses while you lot decide."

I can access the hexgrid at work but since we went east to get to Krull, I don't know exactly where we're at in relation to the yellow mark, so west is the best guess I have of where exactly we need to go right now. Also, what time is it? It was dusk when we got to the skull pile, an hour later we got to the gnoll encampment (totally should have used that to our advantage with sneaking around and whatnot and it should mean that the darkened smoke shouldn't be too visible, though the fire would be).

Everything that has happened so far has been within one hex on the hex map, the one detailed in the gridded map. You only went east for about a mile up into the hill to get Krull.

The night is very clear and moonlit, it seems the smoke pillar from the signal fire will be visible to those who know what to look for.

Krull thinks he can ride.

Ok, a couple of questions Grimmy - How far is Raziel from the encampment? Is there a clear path to reach it? Does he see any other creatures closeby? Let me know if I should roll anything.

Perception?: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22

Raziel headed for the encampment on the last turn of combat and went to check out the encampment after combat ended, but he also communicated with Hound since then from "halfway towards the camp", so he should be right at the incline where the gnolls and hyenas slid down to join the fray (around H26).

No other creatures, the remaining gnolls hi-tailed it towards the creepy idol.

The idol with the compound at it's feet is nearly a quarter mile away.

In that case, Raziel is gonna risk it. I don't think the map is linked at the top anymore Grimmy.

"Very well" - Raziel nods at Hound and Eli - "Leave my horse bound to a tree here - I'll check up on the camp, and meet up with you further ahead"

He then dashes into hiding, and finishes his approach of the camp. Once he is certain the area is empty of gnolls, he searches for valuables and/or clues of the gnoll's business in the area, mainly the reason why they are taking live captives instead of killing them outright.

Knowledge (Religion): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Stealth: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29

It looks like the gnolls were bandits. In the daytime it's probably possible to see clear down to the bridge from here, where you encountered the carrion crow. One of the huts has spices, probably captured, and a coffer of coin amounting to 145cp, 74 sp and 28 gp.

The only clue as to why they would take live prisoners is the looming idol.

Ok, I guess Raziel has already gotten all the information he could regarding the idol from his Religion roll so... He's bailing out with the cash, loading it on his horse, and get the heck out of dodge :D

Grimmy, is Raziel able to catch up with the others?

Oh yeah, everyone is together.

There was only a difference of a couple hundred feet between Raziel and the party, while the baphomet idol is a quarter mile from the party.

Plenty of time for Raziel's quick search of the encampment before everyone takes off together out of Laughing Dog hill and towards the river.

Previously, on Mouth of Doom...
Q goes about collecting arrows, taking at least two quivers from the fallen gnolls.

Presently

Q looks around to the surrounding areas to see if the signal fire has attracted unwanted attention. "Someone should put that out."

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23

From the encampment it does look as though forces may be stirring at the compound at the foot of the idol, however you can't pick out individual gnolls from such a distance so all you have to go by is lights winking out, lighting up or moving around. It could be routine or ceremonial.

At any rate, the pillar of black smoke is definitely going to be visible for over a mile in every direction, because it blots out the moon and stars.

Also remember, three gnolls escaped and headed towards the idol/compound.

Want to continue on the route Ghaelja planned? East bank of the tributary, past the haunted cabin?

Sounds good

I'm back. Ghae will follow the others and head on the previously decided route.