"Right. Spread out and hunker down in the bushes. We'll see how the little buggers like being on the other side of an ambush."
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Garrun nods approvingly as the last kobold plummets from it's perch. Putting up her crossbow, the warpriest snaps his sword up from the end of it's cord and moves forward, ears straining to gauge the distance of the remaining drumbeats.
"Miserable little ankle-biters. On the ground they should prove far more manageable. I say we settle into the bushes and wait for them to come poking around. No doubt they expect to catch us still engaged with the others. They may break entirely in the face of coordinated opposition." "...where has Ichabod gone?"
Garrun pays the javelin little notice as it slices a gash in his outer thigh, a flesh wound at best, the gorumite's training had prepared him to ignore far worse. Focusing on his last visible target , Garrun reloads and advances to clear a branch from his line of sight before loosing another bolt.
"Bring down those drummers! We need to fortify our position before their reinforcements arrive!"
With his previous target disarmed, Garrun pivots to gain a better vantage against another of their yapping attackers. Reloading, he looses another bolt, "Keep firing! Their strength is waning!"
All the best Scranford. Maybe we'll see you elsewhere on the boards :)
Garrun laughs heartily as Nogrogomed vaults into the trees, "There's a man with some initiative! Toss the little blighter down! If the fall doesn't break his neck, you landing on it will! Loading a bolt, Garrun takes aim on the dazed kobold hit by Finn's sling and looses it at the creatures scaly throat.
Garrun curses, barely able to duck the heavy branch as it crashes past, he'd been too agressive, given up the advantage, "Little blighters." "Bows and incendiaries! They're naked up there!", breaking free of the bushes, the warpriest shoulders his shield and moves for a better vantage point. Finding a clear shot, he drops his sword to the end of it's cord and begins readying his crossbow.
A thousand apologies everyone. Cell service was even more limited than I'd expected over the holidays and I haven't had much chance to check on anything. That said I'm back now and will be posting shortly. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!
Growing increasingly weary of this stalemate, Garrun slides down to the hidden ambusher near Opalia's donkey.
With a careful eye out for more snares, he comes up alongside the bush, glinting with hidden metal and gives it a hard kick, "Right! Out of there little stalkers! Scatter or face our iron!"
Just a heads up. I am flying out to visit family for the holidays tomorrow. I should be able to post throughout the visit however it may be a little sparse on occasion over the next two weeks. Please accept my preemptive apology and don't hesitate to move things forward if needed.
Garrun scans the bushes from over the rim of his shield, sticking clear of the bushes, he makes himself as visible a target as possible, "Easy now. No one stray too far."
The anticipation coils around Garrun's throat. Any moment now...
Garrun nods, hairs on the back of his neck prickling as he scans the bushes, "Aye. If I wanted to roll us for our coins, this would be the place." Drawing hand to his breast, the warpriest call to his god, "May the blows of our enemies break upon our iron as water on rock."
Wrapped in divine protection, Garrun draws his sword and moves to stand at the head of the group, closest to the tangled thornbush, "If any of you have preparations to make, now is the time."
After a leisurely cup of coffee, Garrun gathers his gear and tosses some dirt over the coals of their campfire. Stretching, he looks to Lucian and Nog, "Right then. A gold piece to whoever keeps our friend's trail the surest." "Just take care not to wander into any booby traps. The little devil's are especially fond of them."
Garrun watches the kobold disappear into the trees, "Excellent. Now we finish our coffee, let the little bugger get comfortable and then see where the little rats have nested."
I seem to be missing from the list of those interested. I have however settled on submitting an investigator to the campaign. I hope to have him mostly completed sometime today so I can jump into the discussion thread!
Great to hear from you! I think we all understand that sometimes life intervenes. I'm just eager to get rolling again!
An unusual mission into unknown horrors?
This looks decidedly interesting and I think my current game just lost it's DM. I'll have to give it a shot. = 16
Well. I can certainly work with that! I'll see what I can cook up in the next couple days.
So...should I untie the little bugger then? Or are we waiting on something else?
Garrun shrugs, "We've known we might stumble into a tribe of goblins any moment since passing that grisly shrine. At least here we'd have something of the upper hand."
Garrun frowns at the unfamiliar tongue, "Afraid of that. Anyone here speak the dragon tongue? No? Well at least the damn thing survived the night." The warpriest turns back to address the others, "That raises the question of what to do with the dragonling? Hardly seems fair to rescue them just to kill 'em. I think I've a better idea though. We're looking for sources of trouble right? I'd say a kobold tribe counts. What if we let the little prick go. I'd wager Lucian and Nogrogomed can track it. Find out where it came from."
The coffee steams in the cold air as Garrun pours a cup, "That's a good question Opalia." Pushing himself to his feet, Garrun circles the fire to where the small form of the kobold lays. Peering curiously at the little dragonkin, he nudges it with his boot, his voice raised, "Well little dragon. Still with us?"
True to his training, Garrun wakes early to the dour morning. Grumbling about the chill, he finds what open space is available within the spider glade, nodding to Dia as the young monk begins his own rituals. Cutting back some of the undergrowth with his blade, the gorumite strips shirtless in the chill and launches into his morning sword forms. Roughly an hour later, he returns to the fireside, steam rising from his shirtless torso, "And how are we feeling this morning?", he inquires of the others. Pulling his shirt back on, the young warrior sets a pot of coffee brewing and digs a packet of rations from his gear. He smirks around a mouthful of dried jerky, "It's a shame man-sized spiders aren't better eating. Might have saved the rations..." "So with the new day here, what's our course? Forge deeper into apocalypse worshiping ankle-biter territory?"
Given that, aside from the 1 hp we gain resting, I had 2 uses of Fervor left and I believe Ichabod had at least one channel. I imagine we were able to finish patching everyone up before turning in for the night.
Actually the four shifts should definitely work now that I think about it. I was initially worried about us getting enough sleep/rest to prepare spells but all we really need to do is make the watches last about two and a half hours and everyone should get plenty of rest! With that in mind, I would instead suggest we adopt a watch order similar to this :
Agreed Ichabod.
As for watches, my personal philosophy has always been to concentrate those with darkvision and low light near the middle of the order when there will be the least light available. That said, with a party of seven plus Scruffles I think we have two main options here. We can each take a short watch of just over an hour, or we could double up some of the watches for a more traditional 5 sets of 2 hour watches. Personally, I would favor the second option heavily. By pairing up our least perceptive members (myself included) we greatly reduce the chance of getting caught unaware due to a bad roll. Tentatively I might suggest :
Now most can be moved around easily enough based on preference, the main points being that Ichabod and Nogrogomed are in the middle and Garrun, Opalia and Ichabod not be left alone. Thoughts, Suggestions?
Garrun downs the last of his coffee with a dubious expression, "Unless we can scrounge up a shovel somewhere among the remains, I think proper burial will have to wait. We'll be digging all night otherwise. We're not far off the path. I say we build a makeshift cairn of rocks and logs for the time being. Then we can either return or pass the location along to the Castellan's men." The young man turns to Nogrogomed, "First watch is well and good, but I'd sleep sounder knowing the eyes watching over me in the dead of night can see in the dark. Wouldn't you?" All that said, Garrun makes a last pass over the spider glade, hoping to find something resembling a shovel in the rusted offerings.
As the fire begins to roar, Garrun breaks out a battered coffee pot some might recognize as being military issue. Within twenty minutes the smell of hot coffee wafts through the small clearing. Smiling, the young Gorumite pours himself a cup and gestures to the others, "Come on now. Does wonders for the chill." Leaning over to Dia's pile of collected trinkets, Garrun grabs the half empty bottle. Pulling the cork with his teeth, he sniffs tentatively, considering for a moment before grinning, "Ha. The Lord in Iron is pleased with our performance. And rightly so. You all did admirably. I'm pleased to find myself in such capable company." Pouring a hearty measure of the scavenged brandy into his cup, Garrun downs half the cup in a swig before turning his attention to the foaming, shivering body of the spider's captive.
"I'm fine taking the woman back, what about this one though? Haven't heard any mention of Kobolds before. The little dragonlings are rarely found alone, to find one out here likely means there's a lot more dug in somewhere in the valley. Nasty little buggers on their own turf from my understanding."
With an approving nod to the now free Finn, Garrun rushes back down the path and hurles through the trees to engage the remaining spider. Reaching the frey, he bashes the hilt of his sword against his shield repeatedly to again try to draw the vermin's focus.
Glad to hear from you Ichabod, however the spider in range of you has been well taken care of already. You might want to edit your post if you see this in time :)
Should we consider botting dear Ichabod for this round?
Haha yeah, the spiders seem to be rolling as poorly as we are.
Getting frustrated, Garrun pushes the spider back with his shield before calling for Gorum's aid in hammering the spider with an overhead swing, "May the iron bite deep!"
Suitably impressed by Opalia stepping into the frey with naught but small knife, Garrun presses his attack on the spider, hoping to neutralize the threat before it can turn on the lesser defenses of his companions.
Unfortunately the forest has other ideas as a particularly sturdy branch fouls the warrior's swing. "Sh*t. Here you bastard! To me!, he roars, hoping to keep the spider focused on himself.
Hearing the mournful cries of Finn and his trusty steed, the young Gorumite pushes back through the group to come to the diminutive knight's aid. Roaring at the attacking vermin, Garrun slashes at it's many legs in an attempt to draw it's attention away from the struggling halfling.
Brushing aside the spider's attack with his shield, Garrun beseeches Gorum to guide his hand before ramming his blade into the overgrown vermin's vulnerable abdomen.
"Edges spread out, don't let them flank us!"
And moved. Here's hoping your laptop isn't completely bricked, that really sucks.
At Lucian's warning, Garrun moves toward the man, preparing to bestow the Lord in Iron's blessing.
I'm afraid I'm still uncertain so I'll elaborate. My plan before you posted about Nog seeing the spiders was to move to Lucian and grant him a blessing based on the suspicion of an immanent attack. Is it reasonable to do so before Nog sounds the alarm and we move to initiative or would there be too little time following Lucian's return?
Finn seems to be absent from the map, on my phone so I'm not able to add him myself. I'm compelled to ask, do we have time for any actions yet before we drop into init? Or are we just waiting for Nogrogomed to raise the alarm?
Garrun plants himself between the main group and the source of Ichabod's alarm, his stance wide and shield raised. The armoured warrior is tense as he watches Lucian slip into trees, hopefully the man had enough sense to pull any threats back to the group.
Not that it makes much difference given his rolls lately but Garrun's perception is actually +2 rather than +1 :)
The warpriest regards the nest with a sneer, "Typical goblin mess. We should be wary though. No doubt this one is on it's way back to whatever passes for a chieftain around here. I'd imagine there's an ambush in our future. Though if it's fellows are as clumsy as this one, hopefully we'll spot them before it's sprung."
Garrun ponders the grisly tree and it's macabre ornaments with a look of thoughtful consideration, "The end of the world then? Perhaps they mean to offer these souls and bring us a little closer? Fools. If I know anything, we mortals will be busy multiplying and fighting far beyond our own meager lifetimes.", he smirks at Opalia, "Even yours ma'am." At the warning of goblins around, Garrun raises his shield and hustles to catch up with Ichabod at the front of the group, "Wary now. From what we've seen, these might well be even more fanatical than the average gobs."
Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Canadian Thanksgiving has led straight into a nasty flue. I'll try to have a post up later today.
The warpriest snorts, "Have you really looked at the keep? With no crown to keep it supplied, I'd wager the taxes are the only think keeping it from becoming an empty ruin. Why do you think they still have goblins and bandits on their doorstep? If there were enough successful freeswords to bring in much real profit, you'd have to think the region would be a lot more under control, no? Now we manage to relieve some pressure, maybe the Castellan can be talked into looking at fixing bridges and roads. First things first though, yeah?" "That totem, looks religious maybe? Could be some Shaman has gained influence among the tribes. I don't know much of goblin gods, but most forces bend when the Lord in Iron pushes. I imagine these will be much the same."
"And who knows what we might fight next?! Exciting times and you're doing just fine Opalia. What do you think Garrun? She handled herself very well I think. By the way, those arrows are lovely and look greatly crafted. Are they special?." Fin says walking beside Mr Scruffles so as not to tire out the dog by carrying him unnecessarily. Garrun considers his response for a moment before replying, "Kept her nerve throughout. That's the difficult part. The rest is just experience and a healthy dose of paranoia...", the young man smiles, mostly to himself, "At least that's what I've been told by the experienced and paranoid." He leaves a respectful moment for Opalia to dwell on her brother's memory before speaking, "That settles out mission then. I will help you purge the goblin tribes here so no more brothers or sisters might be lost to them..."
Garrun rolls his eyes, it seemed some of his new companions might be a little...delicate for their chosen life. Still, they'd likely harden up, most did. "A lesson learned for another day I wager. Might be best to either tether the beast here for the time being or perhaps we leave the mud for another day and follow the road down towards the caves for today?"
In my experience, I've learned it's often invaluable to leave a few spots open in any marching order to both mitigate the damage of area attacks and to allow us to re-position much easier when trouble arises. I've moved the right hand group on the Borderlands ambush map to illustrate my thoughts. As a rogue, Lucian is best off having a small lead on the rest of us to scout things out. His AC is impressive enough to survive a surprise and the spacing gives him room to easily fall back behind myself and Nog if we find ourselves with limited space to maneuver. If a fight breaks out I'll attempt to leave space in my own advance for Finn to make a charge and if it's not possible, he can still attack from behind given his lance's reach. Let me know what you all think?
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