Rosie is incredibly effective at extinguishing the flames on both wagons.
RedCircle continues their advance and throws a flask on BlueWagon, then draws another flask!
BlueSquare moves closer, draws and throws another flask at Yellow Wagon splashing Dr Tanglethorn and Saggiatore
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Ambush!! Round 2: Bold May Act
27 Yellow Circle
26 Roslyn Turin (-1)
- Blue Wagon (-6, on fire)
24 Red Circle
- Yellow Wagon (-10, on fire)
24 Blue Square
21 Seggiatore (-2)
18 Dr Tanglethorn (-1)
18 Blue Circle
18 Green Square
16 Green Circle
16 Red Square
14 Sir Reinhart (-2), shield -2
5 Gazard
- Red Wagon (-15)
- Green Wagon
Lastly, the wagon is AC 10? Sheesh.
Seggiator's glaive goes clean through the bandit, leaving him on the desert ground.
Dr. Tanglethorn's electric arc hits and severely damages both targets leaving them to question their life choices of taking on the adventurers.
RedSquare takes a moment to recover from the attack and decides to flee.
BlueCircle double moves and draws a flask.
GreenSquare continues their advance and throws a flask at Green Wagon. Green Wagon catches fire and takes some damage though the hull remains mostly intact.
Green Circle moves in close to Sir Reinhart and throws a flask at Red Wagon before drawing a short sword. Red Wagon catches fire and begins to show signs of trouble. The siding has burnt off and the flames are beginning to work on the structural hull.
Ambush!! Round 2: Bold May Act
27 Yellow Circle
26 Roslyn Turin (-1)
- Blue Wagon (-6, on fire)
- Yellow Wagon (-10, on fire)
24 Blue Square (-9)
21 Seggiatore (-2)
18 Dr Tanglethorn (-1)
18 Blue Circle
- Green Wagon (-11, on fire)
18 Green Square
- Red Wagon (-24, on fire)
16 Green Circle
16 Red Square (-9)
14 Sir Reinhart (-2), shield -2
5 Gazard
Sir Rinehart dispatches the green circle in one strike and severely wounds yellow circle with another. His attempt to put out the fire is unsuccessful.
Gazard's force bolt goes clean through the yellow circle bandit, killing him.
Ambush!! Round 3: Bold May Act
26 Roslyn Turin (-1)
- Blue Wagon (-6, on fire)
- Yellow Wagon (-10, on fire)
24 Blue Square (-9)
21 Seggiatore (-2)
18 Dr Tanglethorn (-1)
18 Blue Circle
- Green Wagon (-11, on fire)
18 Green Square
- Red Wagon (-24, on fire)
16 Red Square (-9)
14 Sir Reinhart (-2), shield -2
5 Gazard
Rosie is incredibly effective at putting out red's fire, saving it from sustaining more damage. She also reaches the yellow wagon just before the fire spread and was able to extinguish it.
Blue wagon's flames spread up the siding though the structural integrity seems largely intact.
Having been badly hurt, Bluesquare bandit flees the scene.
Ambush!! Round 3: Bold May Act
26 Roslyn Turin (-1)
- Blue Wagon (-12, on fire x2)
24 Blue Square (-9)
21 Seggiatore (-2)
18 Dr Tanglethorn (-1)
18 Blue Circle
- Green Wagon (-11, on fire)
18 Green Square
16 Red Square (-9)
14 Sir Reinhart (-2), shield -2
5 Gazard
- Yellow Wagon (-10)
- Red Wagon (-24)
Seggiatore's glaive rips apart the greensquare bandit into dozens of pieces beyond recognition. His efforts to put out the wagon at first seem in vein but eventually proof enough to lessen the fire.
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Dr. Tanglethorn surveys the battlefield and notices that their attackers are down to 1 combatant.
She thinks about talking this person down, but she doesn't think her voice will be heard over the battlefield's clamor, so she opts to try and slow him down by pushing him into the nearby pond.
"Everyone, let's try to keep this one alive. We need to know who is sending this people to attack the caravans!"
The BlueCircle bandit takes a brutal hit and finds themself in the lake! Realizing they are the only one left, the bandit begins run for their life.
The fire on the Green wagon spreads up the siding and begins to burn more fiercely.
RedSquare Bandit escapes while on the brink of death.
Ambush!! Round 3/4: Bold May Act
26 Roslyn Turin (-1)
- Blue Wagon (-12, on fire)
24 Blue Square (-9)
21 Seggiatore (-2)
18 Dr Tanglethorn (-1)
18 Blue Circle (-7)
- Green Wagon (-17, on fire x2)
14 Sir Reinhart (-2), shield -2
5 Gazard
Rosie puts out the fire in the blue wagon, and she is able to partially extinguish the fire in the green wagon.
BlueCircle Bandit turns around and looks at Gazard, "Lies! You killed my friends! Who is to say you won't do the same?" as he still clasps a flask in one hand. The bandit does not appear to be convinced.
Ambush!! Round 3/4: Bold May Act
26 Roslyn Turin (-1)
24 Blue Square (-9)
21 Seggiatore (-2)
18 Dr Tanglethorn (-1)
18 Blue Circle (-7)
- Green Wagon (-17, on fire)
14 Sir Reinhart (-2), shield -2
5 Gazard
Sir Reinhart extinguishes the remaining fire and one of the remaining bandits escapes.
The goblins begin to slowly approach the caravan but are not yet fully trusting the situation has been resolved so keep their distance from the bandit.
The group can now interact with the bandit and determine what to do with them.
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Seggiatore approaches the bandit as the last strains of his song echoes against distant hills. He smiles disarmingly and slaps his thigh.
"Well, wasn't that exciting! All of that rushing about and fire popping up everywhere? I have to say, turned a rather dull trip into something memorable. But if I'm going to put this down in song properly, I need some backstory. Whatdya say, pal, wanna fill in some blanks here? Who are you all mad at? Why attack these goblins like this and try to destroy everything?"
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Seeing how Seggiatore seems to have the negotiations under control at the moment, Dr. Tanglethorn instead focuses on assessing the damage done to the wagons. She is trying to determine which ones are still in usable conditions, and what repairs she might be able to perform on the ones that are not to ensure the wagons make it in as close to one piece to their destination as possible.
Once that is taken care of, she will go to Seggiatore with an Elixir of Life for himself and another for the bandit to try and help out with the negotiations as she can.
"Well, I've always wanted to be in a song!" the bandit starts as he slowly puts his flask away. "Though I was just following orders. Not mad at no one. Orders say stop any reinforcements from reaching the work camp. You're reinforcements, Goblins are reinforcements, so fire away! Nothing personal you see...Like I said, just following orders. How's that for a song?"
Meanwhile Dr Tanglethorn inspects the damage to the wagons. She surmises that none of the wagons took substantial damage to prevent their use, though she is able to make the red wagon like-new by repairing the siding that was scorched off.
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Seggiatore pulls out quill and parchment and sits down on a large rock near the bandit. He gestures broadly like they're on stage together as he speaks.
"Ooo, that's great. You know, not everyone gets excited about being in one of my songs. I don't know why, I'm quite good. So in order to do this right, I need to set the stage. What's your name and the name of your leader? I want to capture what it was like to get these orders, show my listeners how you went about gathering yourselves for the ambush, the tension of waiting for our approach, all of it!"
"Well then! I'm Tustor, and my leader was Marcus over there." He points to where Sir Reinhart and Gazard killed yellow circle. "No bother though, he was just lower management. Always getting orders from higher up but none of us ever spoke to the those leaders. You know how it is. About that song, how would some treasure be for it? We've got some in our cave nearby. I'll show you where it is if you let me go after! No hard feelings, yeah? I'd rather not stick around to see what the goblins will do to me." He seems to be getting more nervous as the goblins slowly return to the caravan and are glancing over at what is going on.
The bandit seems relieved to get away from the goblins and lead the Seggiatore, Rosie, and anyone else to a small hideout cave which is only a short walk from the trail.
"I'm sure I'll find some work somewhere. I doubt the higher-ups would come looking for me. I'm just bottom tier worker and they don't even know my name. Typical," Tustor scoffs. He then motions to a hidden weapon cache containing a bolas, khopesh, and a fighting fan. "Well, could've sold those for a pretty penny but I figure that's gotta make us square. Am I free to go?" he asks anxiously.
"I look forward to hearing the song of Tustor being sung across the land!!" the bandit cheerily replies as he sets off in opposite direction of the bridge, and avoid the goblin caravan as much as possible.
Once Seggiatore and company return to the Caravan Muckmuck greets them "I knew I could count on you. I was just challenging you before when I said we're all going to die. Good job on not dying!" He then inspects the wagons. "Looks like all are funcitonal, let's get moving!" With that he barks a few orders to the goblins and the caravan sets out shortly after.
The remainder of the trip to the bridge camp is uneventful save the goblins continuing to be high in spirits and all that entails with their reminiscing. A few try to reenact the battle as best they could with random cooking supplies around the wagons.
Once the caravan arrives to the bridge camp. The goblin workers all appear to be covered in mud and working on the bridge. The bridge itself seems rather simple, but sturdy and roughly 50% complete from the looks of it.
Muckmuck takes the party to the Command Outpost where he introduce the group to the camp leader, Zig. The party immediately recognizes Zig as Yigrig's son, either because they remember Yigrig boasted of his son, or because his voice is all-too similar to the impressions Dr Tanglethorn and Seggiatore gave of Yigrig.
“It is good to see you. They call me Zig. I’m glad my father asked you to come here to help.
“We have been building a very important bridge. But every night, the big cats attack our camp. We leave out meat for them and they saunter right past it. Instead, they seem bent on filling their bellies with goblin flesh. If we move camp across the river; they cross over it overnight. If we light fires around the camp to scare them away, the goblins workers burn themselves in the flames. It’s a lose-lose situation.
“Every few nights, the cats come back to hunt us. Everyone is terrified and that’s bad for business. With all this talk of some saber-toothed whatever coming for us in the night, we’re all too scared to finish our work. If someone doesn’t take these furballs out, I suspect the bridge isn’t ever gonna get built.
“These kitties aren’t natural. Whatever you need, you got it. I can give you workers to build fences. But fences alone aren’t going to be enough. Either the cats go, or this bridge is history. The only other answer is death.”
The camp has the following:
(Location, Description, notes)
1. North and South, Tents, where goblins sleep
2. West, Infirmary, where sick injured goblins are cared for. There is also a camp doctor, Pearlybones, who is Trained in Medicine and can attempt Treat Wounds with +7 bonus
3. North East, Cammand Outpost/Mess Hall, Where Zig works and food is stored.
4. South East, Supply Depot, where tools and materials are kept.
Rosie isn't able to distinguish any affiliation or markings on any of the bandits.
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Knowing that Seggiatore has the Diplomacy and information-gathering aspects under hand, Dr. Tanglethorn would like to first introduce herself to Doctor Pearlybones, offering to help with the wounded if needed. Roselyn's medicine is a bit unorthodox, but very effective! Just don't ask what's in her remedies. You don't want to know.
Gazard notices that the camp is clearly intended for building a bridge, but has shown signs of one-sided battles. For instance several of the tents have claw marks through the flaps. Gazard also notices that the workers seem particularly weak from the hard work and lack of sleep.
Zig responds to Sir Reinhart, "Well, haven't been knocking them down. So jump I guess? No one is too sure, they just they come in at night and take a few goblins. Might be sleeping right next to someone and in the morning they're gone. Not good for morale." Zig stands tall but shrugs at this. "Last attack was night before last. Lost several workers that night. This needs to be stopped!!" his voice stresses in a way similar to how his father Yigrig talks about money.
Muckmuck interrupts by handing Zig a supply manifest which Zig begins inspecting. "Until now we didn't have enough supplies to finish the bridge and properly defend ourselves. If you wish we can construct 16 additional fences and still have enough to finish the bridge. Otherwise we need the camp defended while we work on finishing the bridge."
In the infirmary...
Dr Pearlybones is soft-spoken and doesn't have much to say Dr Tanglethorn other than she recommends the make sure they're ready for whatever nightfall brings. She offers to help treat anyone who is in need. . While in the infirmary Dr Tanglethorn sees that several goblins sleep in there each night.
"Can't possibly say I'm afraid" Zig responds. "But we're not experts at such things. Maybe one of you society folk can figure that?"
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After coming back from her visit to the infirmary and reconvening with everyone else, Dr. Tanglethorn takes a few moments to take everything in.
"It is strange for big cats to so brazenly attack a camp this big and to ignore meat that is right in front of them. This combined with their rather mysterious way of coming and going makes me think we might be dealing with a less-mundane threat than it seems. Summoners, perhaps?" - Roselyn says as she paces around the camp, mulling on the ideas.
"Do any of you know if there is perhaps a druidic circle in the vicinity? This is somewhat reminiscent of what certain... particularly radical druidic organizations would think of as a reasonable approach to conflict resolution" - Dr. Tanglethorn says, addressing the group.
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"Given the attack that we suffered in combination with the incredible stealth these animals are demonstrating - I mean, not just in their approach, but in snatching their victims without the goblins nearby being alerted - I am fairly convinced we are dealing with people, at some level."
"Ooo, I like the spikes idea. And and maybe build some of the new fences inside the perimeter by several feet, so the beasts cannot jump clear over everything. That way we can stymie their approach, limit their ways of getting in. We could even dig some pits - hard to trap a strong, jumpy animal - but I think if we could just slow these things enough to engage them, we could stop 'em."
Seggiatore notices that there are no trees in the area. He applies his knowledge of architecture (+6) to determine what it might take to erect a watchtower that would provide a good vantage over the area. Perhaps on top of the infirmary.
Outside of acting as foreman for such a task, Seggiatore spends an hour or two chatting and helping the goblin workers. He raises their spirits a bit with songs or jokes, and assists their work by casting Guidance once on each of them each hour. He listens to what they have to say about the attacks, but doesn't share any of the group's thoughts about what might be happening.