Card 7: Logroller (Bugbears)
Them logs keep rollin...
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The first bugbear manages to dodge the obstacle, reach the shore, and climb the bank near Kiley and Shaggar! The second bugbear is getting kicked around in the rapids!
Card 5b: Whirlpool (B-Bear #1 & #2) ... And the bugbears dog-paddle and claw themselves out of the whirlpool!
Card 5b: Whirlpool (B-Bear #1 & #2) Can they escape without drowning? NOPE!
Card 5b: Whirlpool (B-Bear #1) The first bugbear survives the waterfall and bellyflops into a large turbulent pool. Can he make it to shore without drowning? Unfortunately, he learns what it feels like to be in the spin cycle...
==================================== Card 4b: Take the Low Road (B-Bear #2) The second bugbear rolls down the washout and winds up on the lower path that Kiley used. Will he be able to ford the rapids and avoid the waterfall? And he falls screaming down the waterfall and into the whirlpool, nearly landing on his partner!
Card 4b: Take the Low Road (B-Bear #1) As you clear the hedge, you hear a bugbear curse, a splash of a body hitting water and then a scream as 'someone' tumbles down a waterfall.
==================================== Card 2: The Washout (B-Bear #2) Further away, you hear another bugbear scream amid the sounds of loose rock coming down a hillside…
The first bugbear successfully navigates their own traps... while pushing his ersatz ally into one of them.
Card 1: Race Bait Watching their meals flee, the bugbears decide to put their greed aside long enough to begin the chase in earnest!
Card 1: Race Bait The bugbears purge themselves of the rancid human meat… you don’t want the details. And they struggle to pull their pants up and begin the chase in earnest.
In their competition to be the first one to get the delicious-smelling Kiley, the bugbears manage to trip each other up!
Kiley and Shaggar continue on towards Nimeton. They quickly realise that Sally is ahead of them! It seems the evil woman’s stay in the small village behind them has come to a forced end. Not wanting to pass up the chance at vengeance against the woman who planned to kill, sell, or exploit them in some way… they give chase. A day later they catch up with Sally but it is a good news/bad news situation: The good news… They find Sally. In an example of karma-at-work, the evil woman is quite dead. She was captured in a trap set by a pair of bugbear highwaymen. She was delicious and is, even now, being digested. The bad news… The bugbears are still hungry and they are keen to try a gnoll/tiefling/half-digested human version of turducken. Our heroes, unwilling to participate in the culinary experiment and knowing that the bridge to Nimeton is no more than a mile away, decide to RUN FOR IT! They just need to follow the trail, head down an escarpment and hillside, then cross the bridge. What could possibly go wrong? Card 1: Race Bait! Can you zoom past the burping bugbears with the jaws that bite and the claws that catch?
Rules Changes, etc.:
I’ve updated the Faerun Trash Map with a graphic of the Cards and your positions. You don’t get to see the rolls necessary until you arrive on a card and get a description of the scene. I’m trying to keep it exciting.
OK, the basic chase rules are the same, with a couple exceptions: 1. With a full round action you can try to advance 2, not 3, cards.
The demon spits out a curse in irritation at the cooling body of the chief bugbear. He looks at the heroes, committing their faces to memory. ”Another time.” He flies a short way from Xing then conjures and vanishes through an extraplanar gate. It closes with the stench of brimstone. Seeing his warleader bleed out and the demon escape… is more than enough for the archer. He flees, hauling ass down the southern corridor until he vanishes around the corner.
Xing rushes over to the Yash and attempts to heal him.
HPs
Xing’s fur is matted with more blood as the demon sinks fangs and claws into her again. It is a death by a thousand cuts. It looks to Cookie like her misfortune may have worked because the warleader’s blow twists as he attempts to decapitate Sable. The side of the blade slaps her throat doing no damage but knocking the blade from his hand. The warleader dives to catch the blade before it hits the floor. His reaction leaves him open to a counter-attack from Sable’s rapier and Cookie’s Dread Skillet! In the fracas, the bugbear archer fires at the old halfling. The first arrow punches into her gut, knocking the wind from the old lady. Thankfully the second arrow misses. All of our heroes are bloody and bruised, hanging on by a thread...
Round 8
HPs
The bugbear and demon again move to flank Xing and attack. Claws and a Morningstar batter the battlecat. The warleader slashes at Sable… coming perilously close to gutting the swordswoman but Cookie’s distracting spear stab saves Sable’s skin. The bugbear archer fires two arrows, sinking one into Senna’s ribs, nearly taking her out of the fight.
HPs
Xing’s opponent offers a pathetic swing that misses the battle cat by a foot. The warleader slides toward Sable and Cookie, looking to end them both with a single treacherous swing. Between Cookie’s waving spear and Sable’s innate cat-like reflexes, the kukri is batted aside damaging neither woman. Onto the body of the dead dire wolf, climbs a strongly built female bugbear wielding a fine and heavy bow. Cookie’s spear slashes towards her but she kicks the bladed head aside. She perches on the wolf’s bloody head and looks for a ripe target. Seeing Senna, she knocks an arrow and sends it speeding toward the other archer. The arrow whips past her head and shatters against a wall. The demon, feeling secure in the disposition of troops and more than a little irritated with the useless bugbear battling Xing, enters the fray. It flies past the combatants to flank Xing and slash her with a claw from behind. The blow does little damage. The demon stares at its claw as if something is wrong with it.
Round 6
HPs
The bugbears continue their relentless assault on the invaders – to great effect. Sable’s opponent slips past her guard and smashes through her parry to drive his morningstar into her shoulder. Xing’s opponent slams his weapon into a wall, dropping it… giving the battle cat a chance to retaliate as he retrieves it. With Yash down, the wolf lunges at Cookie, intent on making her a meal. It’s jaw snap shut on her abdomen and then it shakes her like a rag-doll before casting her down to the floor. She sprawls prone, next to the unconscious half-orc. The warleader adds insult to injury… slashing across Sable’s back before burying his kukri in Senna’s belly, roaring ”My blade drinks your flesh!”
Round 5
HPs
The sound of clashing weapons rings off the stone walls as the battle intensifies. Sable deflects an attack. Xing dodges one attack, only to step into another blow that smacks her in the spine. Even with Cookie’s spear slapping the wolf’s muzzle – the beast bites into Yash’s shoulder. Blood sprays and the half-orc quickly slides to the floor, unconscious. The kukri-wielding bugbear slides around the edge of the team, bringing his blade to bear on both Senna and Sable… but the blood-slicked blade slides from his hand. He quickly picks it up, momentarily dropping his defenses. The winged demon rolls its sickly yellow eyes.
Round 4
HPs
All Hell breaks loose… Another bugbear comes another the corner of the northern corridor as his nearest ally closes and attacks Xing from behind. A blank wall in the room slides open. Emerging from it is a large bugbear in banded mail wielding a blackly-glowing kukri. Flapping out of the same secret door is some tiny bat-winged, blood-red, vaguely-humanoid creature. The attacks come fast and furious. Distracted briefly by the new threats, Sable’s enemy manages to barrel through her defenses to land a bone-splintering morningstar blow to her ribs. Xing blocks the swing from the bugbear on her flank. Yash easily sidesteps the snapping jaws of the massive wolf, even as the demonic flyer flaps a short distance away, enjoying the show. Its sickly yellow eyes – filled with delight and malice – relish in the bloodletting. The kukri-wielding bugbear whispers a quick incantation (girding itself in a grey light) while it advances on Yash and Senna. It whips the kukri with clear expertise, carving a deep bloody gash below Yash’s ribs and nearly slicing into Senna on his follow-through. The tiny demon’s squeaky laugh is unnerving and irritating. The warleader raises the blood-smeared kukri and growls in the common tongue, ”Blood and flesh for my Lord Andirifkhu!”
Round 3
HPs
The bugbears’ call for help yield results as you all hear the jingle of armor, the clatter of weapons, the scratching of claws, and an unearthly howl that sets your teeth on edge. A bugbear running at full speed, bounces off a wall as it rounds the corner of the northern corridor. Approaching from behind Xing. More metal clatter is heard from that direction as well. Cookie is vaguely aware of a hulking, dark, presence coming from the southern corridor . She turns around fully to see the corridor blocked by the largest and blackest wolf imaginable. It is fully the size of a great steed and its fangs are long as daggers. It skids to a stop and looms over the halfling, long runnels of saliva dripping alarmingly close to Cookie. Then it howls, alerting everyone else to its presence. A calculating look flares across the bugbear’s mug as it faces off against Sable. It swings its morningstar but even the change in circumstances doesn’t prevent Sable’s body from responding on instinct. She leans away, avoiding the blow.
Round 2
HPs
Dragging his cloven arm, the grievously injured bugbear launches a feeble and useless counter-attack on Yash. The other bugbear throws himself across the table at Sable, scattering plates and ‘food’ in his wake. She negligently slaps aside his heavier weapon. Given their luck so far, both bugbears start yelling - presumably for help.
Round 1
HPs
The bugbear struggles (and fails) to free himself from Xing's vice-like grip.
Round 5
HPs
Xing leaps on the remaining bugbear and locks her claws on him as he clubs her with his morningstar. The blow isn’t enough to force the cat to lose her grip.
Round 4
HPs
After throwing his javelin, the bugbear draws his morningstar, anticipating the fight to come.
Xing’s opponent tries to break free from the battle-cat’s hold... but fails again.
The javelin-wielding bugbear debates which of the open targets to attack. He decides the tiger is the largest threat. His spear glances off Xing’s shoulder, leaving a bloody crease in her fur.
Round 3
HPs
Xing rushes forward and grapples with one of the bugbears! Xing’s opponent tries (without success) to break free from the battle-cat’s hold...
The sneaky bugbear yells something which echoes off the walls then moves warily through the goods littering the floor. It smashes its Morningstar into Xing’s back, hoping to liberate its ally for the fight with all the enemies they are facing.
Heeding the call for help, a third bugbear lumbers into the light from around the corner of the long corridor. Its fists bristle with a trio of javelins along with a morningstar in its belt. It assesses the scene for only a moment before sending a javelin hurtling at Lady Sable. Sable easily side-steps the blow. The force of the throw causes the javelin to shatter against the wall by Sable’s head spraying our heroes with a cloud of splinters.
Round 2
HPs
Sable begins searching the body while Xing pursues their fleeing enemy and attempts to stay his progress.
In the Yard… Cookie rallies the troops as Lady proves a yipping distraction. The last bugbear embraces the simplest of calculations: Five and a half on one are really bad odds. Decision made, he turns and flees back towards the building on the north side of the yard, yelling in his foul tongue.
Round 7
HPs
At the Gate… One bugbear snatches his morningstar off the ground and then moves to flank Xing with his cohort. With the numbers turned against them, they need a kill quick. Unfortunately, Xing ducks beneath the whistling spiked iron head of the weapon.
By the Cliff…
Round 6
HPs
At the Gate…
By the Cliff…
Round 5
HPs
At the Gate…
By the Cliff…
From the Keep…
Round 4
HPs
The distant bugbears close the distance while yelling in their fell tongue. The nearer bugbears roar their battle cries and charge! An earless bugbear slams into Yash and Cookie, sweeping his rusty morningstar like a scythe. Even Yash’s mystic defenses cannot deflect the spiked iron ball that cracks the bones in his shoulder. In the shadows of the fallen gates, Xing faces the charge of two bugbears looking to kill her where she stands. She dodges the first blow but the second spiked head smashes into her hip with so much force, her rear leg goes numb and nearly buckles. BOOM:
Round 3
HPs
Yash and Cookie gird themselves and others in magic, while teetering at the edge of the cliff. The bugbear caught with his pants down, bellows an alarm, and drops his junk in favor swinging his morning star. The pants around his knees throws his aim off. His blow misses by a foot. The sentry near Sabelina notes the group of intruders, shouts to his comrades on the east side of the compound, then slowly circles around the lone bladeswoman in an attempt to isolate and kill her. Surprise at the intruders in their midst steals the wind from his attack and Sable easily dodges the blow. Hearing the warnings from their allies, a horde of bugbears race towards the heroes from multiple angles. BOOM:
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Round 2
The light-headed Ettin considers the many threats around him, and focuses on the shiny object with the swishy tail… He grumbles loudly, takes his flail in two meaty hands and brings it straight down on the battle-cat's spine, trying to drive Xing's broken body 15’ into the ground. The blow misses... by a whisker.
Round 5
HPs
In his simple mind, the giant debates pounding the battle-cat into a fine paste… and had he a flail in hand, he probably would have. But with no weapon in hand at the moment, he settles for scruffing the cat, peeling her off him and tossing her down… before pulling the flail from his belt.
BOOM:
Round 4
The monster's prodigious body odor blunts the effects of hexes, even grandmotherly disappointment hexes.
One of the giant’s heads watches the melee combatants distrustfully. The other head – on the side of the body stuck with arrows – glares at the small archer, then decides to return the favor. He reaches into a quiver slung across his back and pulls out a crude javelin whittled from an entire a poplar tree. He hurls the massive sharpened tree trunk at Senna. The tree-javelin misses by a dozen feet and buries itself 5’ into the earth. The blow would have been devastating had it hit. Both heads roar their frustration as the giant moves roughly in a direction between Sable and Senna. Sable judges the distance well between herself and the lumbering beast, then weaves an eldritch spell. Oil pools up from the ground beneath the giant’s massive feet. The monster slides, slips, and sidesteps… somehow managing to stay on his feet. He toddler-walks forward, nearly falling again, but somehow maintains his balance until once again getting firm ground beneath his feet. He wipes his feet like a dog on fresh grass.
BOOM:
Round 3
The giant continues striding toward your group, heads swinging warily in all directions, eyes alert for more dangers than a wagon full of tasty morsels. The earth shakes with each step. He’s got to be 13’ tall and must weigh in at over 5000 lbs.
Round 2
The creature lopes toward you, drool dribbling from one of his mouths.
INIT:
The beast lumbers towards you, continuing his disharmonious roaring. Possibly the jutting orc-like fangs are affecting his singing voice? He is covered in a patchwork of grime-slick and rotting leather armors and his fists are filled with very large flails.
INIT: Sable, Senna, BAD, Yash, Cookie, Xing
After the first half of the day is filled with their own activities around town, our heroes assemble at the Slattern in the afternoon. They climb into the rugged wagon and – with some clucking at the oxen – set off on an adventure! The wagon rattles up the High Street. At High Gate, the crew turns the wagon toward the surrounding wall and exits the city through one of the numerous arched gates. It’s a warm and pleasant day with an invigorating breeze off the Inner Sea. After navigating out of the hills surrounding Threshold, our heroes find themselves traveling roughly West-Northwest along a grass-covered series of bluffs that look down upon the sea. What could possibly go wrong in this tranquil setting?
Our heroes receive the answer to that very question as the sun hits the horizon and they debate the camping arrangements for the evening. In the distance , a lone traveler appears out of the twilight, coming your way. He’s a lumbering fellow and big… quite big. Nearly as tall as some of the trees he is pushing out of his way, snapping them like twigs. He roars from both his heads as they spot you.
The wobbly skulker lunges at Sable in desperation. Her parrying rapier skitters off the blood-slicked dagger instead of deflecting it. Whether through skill, dumb luck, or fate, the grey hilts the dagger in the swordswoman’s chest. She backhands him away with the basket hilt of her rapier then razors his head from his shoulders with the full length of the honed edge.
Xing manages to pin her opponent briefly only to feel his sweaty body slither from her grasp like an eel. He bolts down the hallway.
BOOM:
Round 4
CURRENT HP:
One of the greys weaves through Sabelina’s defenses and drags his blade across her belly. Seeing the change in his crew’s fortunes, he begins yelling phrases in a strange dark, hissing tongue none of you understand. His voice echoes loudly in the cavernous hall. The other grey tries to break Xing’s hold, but fails. The two remain locked in combat. BOOM:
Round 3
CURRENT HP:
With two swift punches, Xing breaks the neck of the first skulker. The other three attack their principal targets. Having lost the element of surprise, only the skulker on Sable is able to deliver a slash to his opponent. Sable takes a cut across her forearm blocking the blow. Xing's timing is perfect as she narrowly sidesteps an attempt to gut her. And Yash's opponent seems rattled by the raging half-orc's warcry. BOOM:
Round 2
CURRENT HP:
Xing hammers the skulking creature twice, leaving it bloody and battered… but it doesn’t drop. All four of the gangly creatures strike. Sabelina narrowly avoids another eviscerating strike. The one that struck Xing initially pursues, but cannot flank her. His blow is easily batted aside. Senna tries to respond to Xing's question but only blood pours from her mouth as the gangrel man drives the blade into her a second time. His blow is weak, due to the beating he took from the monk. Nevertheless, it is enough. Senna drops into the muck of the sewer, well on her way to death.
BOOM:
Round 1
CURRENT HP:
The rapidly weakening grey feebly attempts to stab Xing who is literally squeezing the life out of him. Sabelina draws blood from the downed grey who briefly debates pulling something from a thong wrapped around his waist before instead lashing out with his knife in a desperate attempt to hamstring the half-orc. His blade slices open Yash’s ankle. BOOM:
Round 3
CURRENT HP:
One of the creatures staggers due to Cookie’s ensorcelment but stays on his feet. The creature struggling with Xing makes a credible attempt at stabbing the monk again. Xing deflects that blow with an elbow smash. Yash avoids one dagger but catches the second in the back! BOOM:
Round 2 ORDER
CURRENT HP:
Before our heroes can blink, two more of the creatures materialize from the walls and sprint among the team with daggers gleaming. The first gangly creature gives Xing a matching wound to her belly, while the other two surround and attempt to cut down the perceived threat of the large half-orc. Whether by the grace of his grandfather, or his armor, their treacherous blades are turned aside. BOOM:
Round 1
CURRENT HP:
Senna is about to translate Yash’s words when… … Xing’s walk around the pool is interrupted by a dagger shoved into her gut. She almost doesn’t see the hand bearing the blade. The gangly and hairless grey creature with bland, emotionless eyes almost perfectly blends into the stone wall, muddy joints and all. Only when it attacks does its camouflage shift enough for her see it. It pulls the blade from her stomach. Now it has a blade in each hand - one bloody - the other clean… for the moment.
CURRENT HP:
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