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"We risk our lives to save another with right on our side! How can we fail?" When Chandra judges the carriage to be close enough, she lobs an alchemist fire flask onto the bridge. [ooc][/ooc] "Stand and deliver!" she yells. Always wanted to say that, she thought, her heart racing.
Since we can see the carriage coming, I'm going to assume that one round prior to the surprise round, Chandra could begin her inspire courage so that it will be in place during the surprise round and she can light the bridge on fire.
Chandra hid under the bridge at the edge of the water, gripping an alchemist's flask, ready to jump out and light the oil on fire when the carriage reached about 50 feet from the near edge of the bridge. This would give the other more martial members of the team a jump on the attack phase.
So is the wagon on the same side of the bridge as we are, approaching from the bottom of the map? I'm assuming we want to prevent the wagon from crossing the bridge.
Five is fine with me also.
Your health comes first, so do what needs to be done and get well soon.
Someone with disable device will need to be available to unlock anything keeping Arael inside the carriage or chained to the carriage. Chandra will start things off with inspire courage and will do what she can from behind whoever is fighting the hellknight guards to keep them on their heels, whether it be a stun spell or tripping them with her whip. If needed, she can step up and attack or use chord of shards to do damage to the enemy.
Chandra is ready. She has a rapier, dagger, whip, and sling. She has the offensive spell Chord of Shards which can do area effect damage in a 15' cone. She has one potion of CLW. As for equipment, we should have oil we can splash on the road and a source of fire to light it such as a lamp or torch. Simpler would be some flasks of alchemical fire, so we don't have to worry about lighting it. We should have enough to cover the width of the bridge, probably one per five foot square.
Chandra placed a testing hand on her rapier, her buckler, her dagger, and whip and nodded. "Fortune favors the brave!"
"Maybe slosh oil on the bridge and set it alight before the horses get to it. Maybe throw some thunderstones down to further spook the horses. Fireworks would create a dazzling display that would probably stop even well trained horses. We would need to visit a shop on the way to the ambush site for that, I guess. I don't have much money, unfortunately."
"Do we have some caltrops? If we hide by the bridge and have the ambush come from behind the wagon on its way toward the bridge," Chandra points to spots on the map with the bridge, "the rest of us could be hiding at the edge of the bridge and jump up to throw caltrops on the road, keeping the horses hauling the carriage from crossing the bridge. By that point, most of the other guards will have left to attack the ambushers. If they melt into the woods, the chasers will be further distracted and may not notice that the carriage is under attack and unable to move to safety."
"Maybe, but if it causes them to shift their attention it may give us an opening, catch them by surprise."
"I can create phantom sounds, like of a couple of horses galloping or the sound of a small group of soldiers."
"I'm not the best fighter by a long shot, but I'm willing to aid either effort. I'm a good support fighter and can cure wounds if needed. I also have some useful spells and other bardic tricks." As the plans are firmed up, Chandra begins to root through her pack for her spare disguise props. She mainly just puts on a short black hair wig and a floppy hat and covers her leather armor with a loose shirt. She adds a little nose wax to change the line of her nose.
Chandra wanders down after waking and dressing for the day. She still wears her black leather armor, buckler, rapier and dagger, plus her light pack with other useful items. She finds some coffee, looks about for some cinnamon to add but settled for black. She gravitates, cup in hand, to the strategy table and quietly sips her coffee and considers what others are proposing. "I make my living fooling others into thinking I'm something I'm not. Perhaps a fair damsel in distress along the road might cause them to pause in their mission."
Chandra excuses herself, washes up, has something to eat and drink, and then finds a corner and mentally rehearses her lines until she gets sleepy and then finds a bed. Hoping her parents don't worry too much when she misses rehearsal and is out all night, as she's dropping off to sleep she thinks about possible excuses she can give to account for her absence.
"As for yourself, what would convince such a talented actress to join?" Chandra thought about this a moment. "My family, I suppose. They've taught me things about the true history of Cheliax and what life was like before. I play the parts of heroes on stage, but I know there are better roles for heroes down here on ... and under the streets. I'm hoping, of course, to keep my involvement with the movement secret, so I can mingle with the wealthy 'devil-infatuated nobility' and learn their plans, to be 'eyes and ears' of the movement as it were."
As things begin to settle down, Chandra approaches Tassira and says, "It's nice to see I'm not the only woman in the recruits. Why should the boys have all the fun? What brings you to the fight? Or if that's too personal, ... got any hobbies?" While Chandra engages in such talk, she watches attentively to body language and other indications of what's behind the words, admittedly, not something she is especially good at, but anything that helps her understand others helps her in her craft.
Chandra asks Janiven, "Were the Hellknights killed in the sewers below the same ones who attacked us initially? Did any survive who could possibly identify us?" Then to the others, "As much as I would hate to go back down into those sewers, we probably should make sure none of the bodies remain so near the entrance to this safe house.... When it is safe to do so, that is."
When Daniel rouses, Chandra moves to his side and says, "I'm here. I was wearing a wig earlier. I wanted to make sure no one recognized me at the meeting. It got rather ... soiled, so I took it off. You need to rest. These others are people like us who want to help Ariel and Janiven. Apparently Ariel has been captured, so we're trying to decide what to do next, but we'll probably bed down here for the night...." Chandra again looks around for a window to look through, but again finds nothing helpful. "... wherever here is."
Chandra gives a soft sob of relief as she sees signs of life returning to Daniel's limp body. She looks up at Janiven, smiles broadly, tears brimming in her eyes and helps the others lift Daniel up into the safe house. While waiting for her turn to climb up, she finds herself wanting to break into tears, but she steels herself and holds her emotions in check a little longer. When she emerges into the room of the safe house, she is overjoyed to be back into something resembling normal life. She stepped away from the trap door and helped those coming up, giving each a hug or a kiss to express her joy and gratitude. Then she looked around and made eye contact for the first time with all the other people in the group, smiling and nodding as they acknowledged her and greeted her. She saw an empty chair and started for it. Her path to the chair took her past a mirror and she gasped as she saw herself in it. Her leather jumpsuit was coated with muck and blood. Her red wig looked more like a drowned muskrat on her head. She dragged it off and dropped it on the floor, revealing a head of strawberry blonde hair cut relatively short, the better to fit under whatever wig her current stage role required her to wear. Finally, she collapsed into the chair, covered her face with her hands, and concentrated on composing herself for the next act. When Chandra hears Viktyr declare he would be leaving the group, she looks up at him, confused. Her reaction to all the fighting had been just the opposite. As terrifying as it was, it convinced her this was the right thing to do and she felt a strong bond with all the others already. She resolved to talk with him before he left, to wish him well, but knew it could wait until things settled down.
Hearing Janiven mention the streets not being safe, she looks around to see if she can see outside. "What time is it?" she asks those near her. "I have to get to rehearsal!" She catches herself before saying anything else. She was supposed to be traveling incognito. It would not do to give too much away about herself, not until she learned more about the people she was allying with. She realized she would have to miss the rehearsal. She would have to come up with some good excuse to explain her absence all evening. Her family would be worried when she did not return. This is really going to complicate my life, she realized inwardly. But then she shrugged and knew it was for the best. She looked around at those nearby and said, "My name is Chandra." As she learned the names of those nearby, she thought, Evalina will be pleased at the chance to prove herself a worthy understudy. The ungrateful wretch will probably try to convince the director I should be the understudy. We'll see about that.
Chandra pulled a potion from her pocket and force fed it to Daniel, pouring it carefully into his mouth. She watched breathlessly for signs of renewed life.
She places her hands over his wounds as if willing them to close, hoping to see the potion begin to take effect.
Welcome to the revolution! We have quite the interesting mix of classes and races.
Chandra shudders at the violence around her and cringes as she sees Blast slide down to the floor. In anger she repeats the spell she had just cast, this time pointing at the one who just hit her new friend. "Stostezsh"
After casting the spell, she squeezes past Janiven and kneels by the fallen Daniel, digging her in pocket for one of her two remaining potions of healing.
Chandra tries to think of more inspirational encouragement, but finds her mind reeling from yet another fight and nothing comes. So instead she threads between Aristaios and Viktyr. From there, she points an accusing finger at the Armiger facing Viktyr and snarls an arcane word to initiate a Daze spell at him. "Stostezsh!"
Blast: Cool sequence of moves. It looks awesome in my mind's eye. Jon: for what it's worth, I cannot move my figure on the map.
I only saw three actual submissions. Don't much care for the kobold but the urban ranger and the sorceress looked fine to me.
"Fortune favors the brave!" Chandra yells, infusing her words with arcane resonance that inspires the very courage of which she speaks. While she talks, she draws her rapier, but does not move forward, giving way to the more experienced fighter to get to the front.
"There is a saying in the theater: It's not over 'til the fat lady sings. Someone survived this fight and lived to help another move toward safety. Let's pray it was Janiven, perhaps dragging Daniel. And if anybody sees a fat lady about to sing, let me know. I've got a sling." She tries to sound confident that a happy ending is in the script, but she has been ad libbing for so long, she's not sure what to expect any more.
Chandra slumps against a wall and fishes in her pocket for one of her potions of healing. She gulps one down and relaxes as the magic knits her cuts and eases the pain. Before she knows it, the only evidence of the wound is the damage done to her leather armor. She stands up straight, sheaths her rapier, and prepares to follow Morosino to the exit. "Is everyone all right?" She breaths a silent prayer of thanks to Milani for watching over them.
Chandra continues shouting out encouraging words to inspire courage in battle. She waits until she can see the effectiveness of Viktyr's and Blast's attacks. If either goblin is still alive, she will attack one with her rapier. MWK rapier +4 (1d6+3/18-20)
Take care Abraham/JamZilla. I've been getting frustrated with the pace as well. I'm hanging in for now, but it takes some of the excitement out of an encounter when we barely get through a round in a week. Hope this is temporary and that things will pick up.
My work schedule is changing. For the next five weeks, I'll be working in the evening (EST US), so I'll post in the morning and check again in the early afternoon, but may not post again until very late or the next morning. This is mainly M-TH.
"A true knight is fuller of bravery in the midst, than in the beginning of danger. Fight on, and they will melt like ice before the furnace!" She takes advantage of the temporary magical daze of the goblin to her south, steps back out of reach of the goblin attacking her and tries the same spell as Abraham .
If anyone is interested in adding another adventure path to their roster of campaigns, I'm recruiting for characters for a Wrath of the Righteous game.
Chandra stiffles a cry of pain, leans against the wall for stability a moment, and looks for a spot from which she can attempt a spell but sees nowhere safe from the little blades. She draws her rapier but decides to focus on blocking any attacks that come her way rather than trying to attack. She does continue her inspiring oratory with a quote of a famous general when asked his advice for dealing with a seemingly hopeless situation, Never surrender! Never surrender! Never surrender! Nev...
Chandra steps NW so her back is to the wall, draws her rapier, and says, "If the crusaders at the Worldwound can defeat demons, surely we can fell these tiny minions of the drains!" Her words boost the group's moral a tiny bit.
a Gameplay post will be up right after I put up this post. Still not seeing anything new in the Gameplay thread.
By my reading of the gameplay thread, we are waiting on the actions of the Goblins, who are next in the initiative. Jon mentioned something about re-rolling the initiative, but I only see one order listed. If that is not correct, please post the new initiative order. Thanks.
Runge: Hope you are feeling better soon.
I will be away from the Internet for a camping trip. Should be posting again on Sunday afternoon or evening. For the next 4 weeks, I'll be working in the morning. I may post early in the morning and then not again until the afternoon (M-Th).
Was there something posted after this? Who's up next?
Chandra says little as the group makes its way along the sewer lines. She focuses on her map, trying to keep a record of branches encountered and not taken, turns made, and significant other landmarks, like the goblin hideout. During the straight sections, she counts steps and estimates distances She too is worried about Janiven. She is worried as well about all the horrible things that the smelly shadows might be hiding. She also knows that sunset cannot be far away up above the sewers and with the failing of the light comes the shadow beasts that have terrorized the streets since she was a little girl. But she knows that fortune favors the brave, so she tries to keep her spirits up, grateful for the others.
Chandra digs in her small pack and pulls out a small notebook and pencil. She sits near Morosino and then begins to sketch what she can remember of the tunnel the group is in and any branches they passed prior to this point. She asks for input from the group. On another page, she sketches what she can recall of the intersection where the fight occurred and the path they took away from that point. Then she says, "The great adventurer Marcello de Bene was once asked if he had ever been lost in the wild. You know what he replied? He said, 'No, but I have been a mite bewildered for several days.' We're not lost, we're just bewildered. The cure is to use our brains. From this point forward we mark every branch and identifiable feature. We can leave pebbles at intersections with our own code that reminds us we've been this way and which way we went, in case we find ourselves retracing our steps. Anytime we encounter something that could give us an idea of what is above us, we think about where in the city we might be. Sooner or later, we will find our way to a way out of the sewers. You ready?"
"The history of Cheliax is being rewritten, so I expect this will not be the last revelation of the sewers and streets. I've lived a sheltered life up to now."
Chandra looks around the cramped space, her nose wrinkling at the smell and squalor. "Goblins exist? I always thought they were just imaginary creatures parents use to scare children into staying off the streets at night. I agree with Abraham; let's keep moving."
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