Lantern's Hillcross Roundup (Inactive)

Game Master breithauptclan

"Do not fret, love - we'll bring the babe home safe and sound." Benji boofs in agreement and starts sniffing eagerly at anything nearby.

Xila nods and smiles at Gwendellyn and Benji. "Thank you. I wouldn't be able to handle this all on my own - that's for sure."

-----

You make pretty good time going through the woods. The trail isn't terribly hard to track. It appears that the small dinosaur wasn't to happy about being taken away from the herd and took out its frustration on any trees and shrubbery within its reach.

After about an hour of tracking you come to the base of a small hill. There is a bit of a track worn into the side of the hill leading up to the top.

And at the top of the hill, you see some evidence that someone has been making camp here for a while. Someone who isn't too keen on visitors. Or cleanliness. Discarded bones and even some more recognizable animal body parts are littered around the hillside. You can hear some shouting coming from the top of the hill, but can't make out what is being said.

Post how you are approaching the thief's lair. And if that will affect your exploration activity choice for initiative.

Harsk gestures for quiet, then begins sneaking up the hill toward the shouting.

Stealth +6

Noticing Harsk's gesture, Iput will attempt to maintain silence and use Stealth as she continues to Scout the surroundings while attempting to increase the number of approach vectors on the hilltop camp.

Ulfhild immediately stops when Harsk gestures. She follows Harsk and Iput up the hill while constantly looking for any signs of what or who is shouting.

Stealth +5

Gwendellyn humphs and crosses her arms crossly, but waits for her colleagues to take the lead before doing her best to follow quietly after. "Benji, hush. We're being quiet. That means no barking. Do you understand? No. Barking."

Gwendellyn has a +2 Stealth, while Benji has +5. Lol

Harsk: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
Iput: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11
Ulfhild: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Gwendellyn: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21

The path you are following winds around a small outcropping above you. When you near the top, you see that the ground at that area is mostly level. The scene that greets you on the hilltop is a concerning one. There is an opening to a cave directly ahead. The quantity of discarded bones steadily increases towards that entrance. You see the small stegosaurus leashed to a stake in the middle of that flat section. You also finally see the source of the noise that led you here. A bugbear stands there threatening and chastising the stegosaurus in a Goblin language.

The stegosaurus does not appear to be injured. It is, however, most unhappy at being tied up and yelled at, and is bellowing quite loudly itself in fear and frustration.

You also notice a rather small dinosaur standing near the Bugbear. It looks to be about the size of a chicken.

You don't have much time to take all of this in though. Once you arrive at the top of the hill, the ranting and pacing Bugbear turns enough to notice you. Perception roll beat all of your passive Stealth DC.

The Bugbear turns to you fully and switches into speaking in common. "What is this? Intruders on Gloria's hill. Come to see my latest catch?" She grins viciously. "More like, come to join my catch. This little one is just bait. Looks like it caught something for me already." Gloria reaches for her sword.

The ledge directly between you and Gloria is only passable by climbing. The ground going past the cave entrance is only mildly sloped and does not require checks to move along or fight on.

Map unveiled and tokens placed. Arrange to your liking in that general area where your characters start at. I placed them somewhat according to the narrative so far.

Bolded characters are up.

Round 1

Harsk
Gwendellyn
Gloria
Iput
Ulfhild
Dinosaur Chicken

"Hmph! You’re nothing but a bully! Harsk, get her!" Gwendellyn points at the bugbear, and Benji barks excitedly. The fairy then waves her hand to conjure an iridescent soap bubble around herself and urges her mount forward!

Casting stoke the heart on Harsk (+2 status bonus to damage rolls), which triggers Benji’s Familiar of Restored Spirit ability to give Harsk 2 temp hitpoints [A] and shield [A], then Command Mount to Stride [A].

@GM Lantern: How high is the ledge? (As in, how many climb checks would it take to scale it?)

Harsk is appalled at the cruelty of holding an herbivore in a place surrounded by so much death. The wee babe must be terrifed.

Heart thoroughly stoked by Gwendellyn's spell, Harsk draws his dwarven waraxe and sprints up the hill. "You'll be eating mush for the rest of yer life once we're done with you!"

◆ Interact, ◆ Stride, ◆ Stride

@GM Lantern: How high is the ledge? (As in, how many climb checks would it take to scale it?)

Uhh... *looks at map image* ... 10 feet, I guess. So two actions generally. Probably a farther drop off the other sides of the field.

Gloria finishes drawing her sword and moves to meet the approaching Dwarf. "I may turn you into mush, but you aren't big enough to feed me for all that long."

Sword swing: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (9) + 10 = 19
Damage (slashing): 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12

◆ Draw weapon, ◆Stride, ◆Strike

Round 1

Harsk: HP 10/22
Gwendellyn
Gloria
Iput
Ulfhild
Dinosaur Chicken

Ulfhild draws her sword and follows Harsk up the hill.

◆ Draw weapon, ◆Stride, ◆Stride

Iput will attempt to ◆climb the obstacle, ◆climb the obstacle, and then, if successfully up, ◆ interact to draw her bow.

Athletics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16 This is to climb the obstacle.
Athletics: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23 This is to continue climbing the obstacle.

Nice. So... DC for that... Probably 10 for untrained simple DC.

The tiny dinosaur looks nervously at Iput. Then looks even more nervously over at Gloria. Seeming to come to a decision, the little thing puffs itself up a bit and charges at Iput.

Bite attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27
piercing: 1d6 ⇒ 6 and DC 16 Fortitude save

It sinks its little fangs into Iput's calf, then runs off to let the venom do its work.

◆Stride, ◆Strike, ◆Stride

Round 2

Harsk: HP 12/22
Gwendellyn
Gloria
Iput: HP 7/19 : DC 16 Fortitude save vs affliction
Ulfhild
Dinosaur Chicken

"Ha!" Harsk barks as Gloria's blade sinks deeply into his side. He marks her as his prey as he grips his dwarven waraxe with both hands and shouts: "Kneecap!" He swings mightily.

Dwarven waraxe vs. Gloria, Two-handed: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 18
Slashing damage: 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

◆ Hunt Prey, ◆ Interact (change grip), ◆ Strike

Gloria pauses for a second trying to translate what type of insult 'kneecap' is. When Harsk's axe hits her in the leg it suddenly makes quite a bit more sense. "Funny," she says grimacing.

Gloria: Damage 8 - accounting for Stoke the Heart too.

"Iput love, don’t stray too far!" Gwendellyn restrains herself from making a joke about having to rescue two dinosaurs and instead urges Benji closer to the fray. "Harsk darling, you’re doing great. Ulfhild, be a dear and dispose of this rubbish, hmm?" Benji barks and yips excitedly.

Command Mount to Stride [A], Sustain (which activates Benji’s Restored Spirit ability to give Harsk 2 temp hitpoints) [A], and cast stoke the heart on Ulfhild (which again triggers Benji’s Restore Spirit to give Ulfhild 2 temp hitpoints) [A].

Gloria reaches out with her free hand and grabs at Harsk.

Grapple: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19

Then slashes a couple of times with the sword.

Strike (MAP1): 1d20 + 10 - 5 ⇒ (9) + 10 - 5 = 14

Strike (MAP2): 1d20 + 10 - 10 ⇒ (8) + 10 - 10 = 8

"Hold still, you," she grumbles as Harsk manages to twist and squirm enough to avoid being cut.

◆Grapple, ◆Strike, ◆Strike

Round 2

Harsk: HP 12/22 : Stoked : Temp HP 2
Gwendellyn
Gloria: Damage 8
Iput: HP 7/19 : DC 16 Fortitude save vs affliction
Ulfhild: Stoked
Dinosaur Chicken

Gloria reaches out with her free hand and grabs at Harsk. ...

"Hold still, you," she grumbles as Harsk manages to twist and squirm enough to avoid being cut.

"Ha! Horse plop! You first!" Harsk retorts, squirming like an eel out of water.

Fortitude: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (14) + 6 = 20 Fortitude save vs. affliction

◆ Iput fires her shortbow at the tiny dinosaur that bit her.

Strike: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 271d6 ⇒ 4 Shortbow attack at tiny dinosaur

◆Iput will then move to get a better angle to fire at Gloria

◆Iput will then fire her shortbow at Gloria

Strike: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 51d6 ⇒ 6 Shortbow attack at tiny dinosaur

Ulfhild moves around Gloria to flanking position with Harsk and attempts to hit Gloria twice with her longsword.

Attack #1: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 Damage: 2d8 + 6 ⇒ (6, 4) + 6 = 16
Attack #2: 1d20 + 8 - 5 ⇒ (17) + 8 - 5 = 20 Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Let's see... Adding in StH damage, that is 16 + 4 + 10 + 2 = 32 damage in one round. Not quite enough to one-shot, but she is down by 8 already.

Iput resists the poison from the little dinosaur. She retaliates against it and drops it with one arrow. Her second shot goes wide though - she seems to be mentally indecisive about shooting again at the dinosaur and shooting at Gloria and ends up splitting the shot right between the two.

Ulfhild moves to the space where the arrow passed by and sees that with Gloria holding Harsk, she is leaving a gaping hole in her armor near her armpit. No sooner is the weakness spotted than the longsword is moving.

"Hmrrrr..." Gloria grunts as the sword bites deep into her side. She turns to face Ulfhild more directly just in time to be run through again by the skilled human warrior.

Gloria stands there stunned for almost a second. Then crumples to the ground without another sound.

Combat finished.

If anyone wants to tend to the tiny dinosaur, they may do so. Medicine DC 17 or magic.

The stegosaurus is rather agitated. DC 15 Nature to calm. But is also still tied up rather securely.

Reminder, final goal is to get the stegosaurus back to Xila.

No magic and not trained in Medicine.

Harsk manages to avoid getting tangled up in Goria's limbs as she collapses, joining the littering of bones on the hilltop. "Ha! Well, she won't be abusin' animals ever again. Hey there, little buddy. Calm yerself down now. We're fixin' to bring you back to yer herd. Easy, there. Easy."

Nature to calm Steggy: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Iput, because she sensed that it was hesitant to attack her, will move to the tiny dinosaur and attempt to provide aid and tend its wounds.

Medicine: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7 Attempt to treat small dinosaurs wounds.

Ulfild has never learnt how to treat wounds, nor how to calm down animals. So she stands by watching out for more foes.

"Bravo, Ulfhild! Harsk, Iput, you were lovely!" Gwendellyn claps and scratches her mount’s neck affectionately. "You as well, Benji dear. Oh, but look at that poor… oh, Harsk is already there. Hmph." She crosses her arms and starts to sulk before spotting another potential recipient of her affections. "Oh, but look at you darling! You’re wounded! Come here, let me take a look at that."

Nature to Calm chicken dino: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

I'm not sure what spells Gwendellyn has prepared, but stabilize is on the list known. Since this is RP anyway, I'm fine with using it.

No more foes appear. Gloria was quite good at making sure that she was the dominant threat in the immediate area.

Harsk has a quick staring contest with the stegosaurus and it calms down noticeably.

Iput removes the arrow from the tiny dinosaur, but isn't sure how to stop the bleeding. Gwendellyn arrives and with a quick healing touch the dinosaur is breathing easier, though still unconscious.

Dinos secured and calmed, you head back to Xila's encampment. Some of you still a bit battered, but in much better shape than the bugbear who was left to join the bone pile on the slope of an unnamed hill in the wilderness of the Tusk Mountains.

The journey back to the encampment goes uneventfully. When you arrive, Xila comes over to greet you. "Oh, good. You found Babs. Sorry, I forgot to tell you her name earlier." Then she notices the injuries of Harsk and Iput and the tiny dinosaur that Iput is carrying. "So, what happened out there?"

"Ha! Some fool--called herself Gloria--was collecting prey. She thought to add us to the pile. Attacked us right off. Ha! She shoulda tried talking first. Then she wouldn't've joined her pile o' bones up on that there hill. You won't have to worry 'bout that 'un again."

"I guess, once Babs grows larger, she won't be kidnapped again."

"Hmm... Not the normal poacher type then. Good riddance."

"Yes, that's the hope," Xila says to Ulfhild. "Though even earlier than that if I can get these ones to join a herd of adults. I'm hoping to take care of that in the next couple of days. You can come along if you have the time and interest in it."

"Of course we’ll see Babs baby back home! And the rest of the little smoochums too," Gwendellyn quickly adds before any of the dinosaurs can give her the side-eye.

"Oh, thank you. I'd really like to see how you bring together the little ones with the herd. Maybe I can learn something."

Iput gracefully accepts the offer. **"I would love to follow along and see the country and your methods."**