Tyndal nods, readies his shield and flail and moves into the room.
"Ready as we'll ever be..." Ardan will follow Tyndal into the room, keeping an eye out for any other exits.
Terin bursts into the room, Ardan close at his heels, taking the half-dozen(ish) occupants by surprise, thickly padded mats squishing underfoot as they do so. In addition to the practicing guild members, a number of straw-stuffed target dummies occupy the spacious (roughly 20 by 30) L-shaped room. Grouped according to roguish specialty, some dummies bear locks, chains, and manacles, while others stand draped in bells and pocketed garments, and a few which have the look of having been mauled by a rabid cougar from behind.
At the far left corner of the room is an open door leading farther into the complex, while to the west is a low, raised wooden stage, in the middle of which is a comfortable but worn looking throne bordered by large potted ferns. Currently seated upon the throne is a heavily scarred elder man holding a willow branch. Tossing you a sour frown somewhere between resignation and constipated frustration, he shouts for the thieves to attack.
One guild thief, hand deep within a bell-strewn dummy wearing a trench coat, comments, “Oh b+@#!$#s. Adventurers.”
Group Initiative Roll (1d20=16)
This makes my initiative 18.
Tyndal charges the closest thief to him, trying to place himself where those that will flank him have to provoke attacks.
“Ah … oops,” mutters Eldin on realizing that they are facing more of the rogues than he had envisaged, and that the activity within the room was far less hedonistic than he had concluded.
“Fharlanghn bless and protect us, see that we do not falter, guide our feet and hands,” he begins chanting, grasping the holy symbol that hangs about his neck.
Terin is at init 19.
Terin moves into the room and attacks the closest thief, 1d20 4=16 to hit, 1d6 4=9 damage. He then shifts into Beast-form and lets out a rumbling growl.
Seann throws out his hand with a violent twisting motion. A spiraling disc of green energy shot with streaks of gold erupts from the air inches away from Seann's outstretched hand. Unerringly, it veers towards the scarred man in the chair.
Also Init 19 - Ardan moves to attack the nearest thief (Call it the same one Tyndal swung at if that's feasible) - 1d20+5=9; 2d6+1=12
Using the thieves’ brief bewilderment to maximum effect, Terin sprints into the gym, cutting down one of the thugs and morphing into animal form before the thief even has a chance to register the druid’s presence. Emboldened, Ardan repeats the maneuver, hewing the arm from a practice mannequin with reckless abandon.
Tyndal charges the nearest Lotus Dragon member, but the need to avoid overextending himself disrupts an otherwise perfect attack. In the end, he settles for wedging his body in the space between two training dummies to limit the thieves’ contact, tiny bells clanging uncontrollably against his armor as he does so.
Trailing twinkling emerald embers, Seann’s shot strikes the lithe leader , sending the elder man tumbling out of the chair and onto the stage.
As Eldin chants, you swear out of the corner of your eye you spy a middle-aged man in traveling garb pass by. With a smile, a nod, and a wink, the image fades, and your day suddenly seems a bit less harried. Non-nonplussed, Eldin backs into the corridor and sets about priming a crossbow bolt.
Two of the thieves attempt to cartwheel past the parties defenses, though only one is nimble enough to avoid potential strikes . Whirling on Ardan, they stab wildly with a pair of daggers , but neither guild member manages to connect.
Maximizing the positioning of their comrades, two of the Lotus Dragon members raise hand crossbows and discharge bolts at the former thief. Though the second shot is ill aimed, the first punctures Ardan’s lung, and the newest group member gasps for oxygen before dropping to the floor, out cold . The sucking chest wound fills the surrounding area with a sharp wheezing rasp as Ardan tenuously clings to life.
The fifth guild member attempts to attack Tyndal , but his hand is still hopelessly entangled within the trench coat pocket. Panicking, the man heaves his lunch onto his shoes and wets himself.
Nodding to the party, then shaking his head in dismay at the incompetent pickpocket, the elder thief scurries from the training room, headed out the east door.
Maximizing the positioning of their comrades, two of the Lotus Dragon members raise hand crossbows...
Nitpick:
Flanking
When making a melee attack, you get a +2 flanking bonus if your opponent is threatened by a character or creature friendly to you on the opponent’s opposite border or opposite corner.
When in doubt about whether two friendly characters flank an opponent in the middle, trace an imaginary line between the two friendly characters’ centers. If the line passes through opposite borders of the opponent’s space (including corners of those borders), then the opponent is flanked.
Exception: If a flanker takes up more than 1 square, it gets the flanking bonus if any square it occupies counts for flanking.
Only a creature or character that threatens the defender can help an attacker get a flanking bonus.
Even if the 2 thieves flank me in melee, it's not a global condition - I wouldn't be considered flanked by the crossbowmen.
AoO 21/5
AoO =16/9
The Beast lunges towards the closest thief and attempts to rip out it's throat. 1d20 6=20, 1d6 5=6 Vicious teeth close on the rogue's flesh.
Observing the situation within the room through the open doorway, Eldin points to the fleeing leader. “If that one escapes, this whole place will be on alert,” he warns. He raises his crossbow, about to fire, when he sees Ardan go down to a well aimed crossbow bolt in the chest.
If so, Eldin will try to take this one down with his crossbow (12+2+1 (bless) = 15, damage:7). If this one is taken out by the time Eldin acts, he will instead move to Ardan and cast a CLW from the wand: heal 4+1 hp[/ooc]
Not sure if you need it, but just in case:
Terin (attacking)
Ardan (uncon)
Tyndal (pending)
Seann (pending)
Eldin (Casting or ranged)
Thieves
"Son of a b!@+$!" Tyndal charges the Dragon standing over Ardan, trying to take him out so the healer can reach him.
Cleave roll if necessary: 1d20 4=22, 1d8 5=10
Seeing Ardan fall to the ground, Seann's eyes bulge from their sockets.
"Oh... darn."
Keeping one eye on the Lotus Dragon he sniped, Seann moves over towards his fallen companion. Closing his eyes, he spreads his hands over Ardan's wound.
"I hope this works..."
After a few seconds, green-gold light begins to pour from the mage's fingertips, filtering into the swashbuckler's bloody gashes.
Terin leaps upon the dagger-wielding thief, visciously mauling the man with bestial claws and teeth. Using the beast’s opening, Tyndal wades in behind, whirling his flail to the side. Barely registering the engaged rogue as he clouts the man with enough force to drive his face into his brain, Tyndal rams through to the second rogue, hand still stuck fast in the pocket of the trench coat when death comes calling. The man hangs limply in Tyndal’s wake, hugging the training dummy almost comically, apart from the missing rear of his head.
Free to retaliate following Seann’s healing of the wounded Ardan , Eldin snaps off a lucky shot, bolt connecting with one of the two remaining rogues and packing a wallop. Even if the rogues manage to turn the tide of combat, it’s unlikely the man will survive more than a few days, gut shot as he is.
Looking as if they’d much rather be somewhere, anywhere, else, the rogues grimly reload and return fire at Eldin. No longer in danger of hitting their comrades, one of the bolts scores Eldin’s right arm, leaving an odd prickly sensation in its wake.
In the wake of the escaped trainer, you hear the sound of a clattering chain from the next room.
The beast either continues to savage the thief in his grasp or if dead, move on to the next closest one.
1d20+5=16 to hit, 1d6+5=11 damage.
Ardan finishes (hopefully!) coughing up blood, and slowly regains his feet, glaring at the remaining thief.
Certain that this is the one who shot him, Ardan rushes him with a mighty swing, determined to repay the favor.
Tyndal rushes through the door after the fleeing leader.
Thanks to the renewed strength endowed by Seann, Ardan quickly finishes the remaining rogue.
Seeing the situation well in hand, Tyndal rushes headlong after the instructor, but pulls up short as a chittering, ten-legged, yellow-and-brown striped creature the size of a pony snaps viciously at him as he enters. The creature lunges for Tyndal, mandibles clacking with desire, but a large collar and chain, the other end of which links to a winch by the far door, hold the beast in place for now.
Also inside the tiny room is a naked human with a Lotus Dragon tattoo tied to a plush chair, mere inches away from the farthest reach of the straining creature. Apparently, he has displeased someone important.
As you watch, the tattoo on the man’s shoulder springs to life; flower blooming and dragon’s mouth working in a caricature of a roar.
Is Ardan still injured? If so, Eldin will move over and heal him with the wand, for 4 hp. If not, he’ll use that charge on himself, then move towards (but not into) the other room.
Is Ardan still injured?
Is Ardan still injured?
Physician, heal thyself! then.
Right now, Marius is concentrating on staying very still. Intellectually, he knows that the creature can't reach him. But the intellect takes something of a back seat when you've had a slavering arachnid lunging repeatedly at you for several hours.
Thus, he greets the arrival of intruders with barely contained relief. Granted, they might not have any particular reason to release him, but at the very least, they're unlikely to nudge his chair just to see how he'll react.
"Could somebody cut me loose? Please?" he asks, in a somewhat strained voice.
The Beast will move forward and slash through the prisoner's bindings with his claws.
...a chittering, ten-legged, yellow-and-brown striped creature the size of a pony...
Terin inches forward in beast form, mindful of staying beyond the unusual creatures reach. As sharp claws cut through the cable binding the man to the lounge chair, the aberration redoubles its efforts. Straining against the tether, a loud “clack” breaks the silence of its exertion, and the thing stumbles in surprise as the windlass turns once in an anticlockwise direction before the bumper reseats. Even with nonhuman features, you’re certain the creature smiles as it inches closer, hot, fetid breath leaving clammy patches on the naked man’s exposed skin.
Marius lets out an involuntary yelp at the sight of another beast entering the room, but at least this one proves willing to set him free, rather than eat him. Unfortunately, the real monster is now close enough to take a chunk out of him if he moves.
Several times during his ordeal, words of power have welled up in his throat, throttled down by sheer force of will and the knowledge that without the precise gestures required, they're worse than useless. Now, with escape almost in his grasp, Marius doesn't hesitate, snapping out the command words as his hands move swiftly and surely. A bolt of blue light takes shape before him and darts straight at the creature's all-too-close face.
Not pausing to see the results of his handiwork, Marius makes use of the distraction to scrabble his way right over the back of the chair, intent on putting it between him and the Thing that would devour his flesh.
Tyndal skids in his tracks, stopping before the monstrosity can reach him. He backs up, drops his flail and flings a trident at the beast.
Skittering backwards over the chair, the naked man produces a shimmering gold coin (best not to ask from where). The coin flares bright blue and streaks from his hand, striking the beast true and causing the creature to roar with pain and fury as the coin detonates in a burst of cobalt light. As the chair topples backwards, you see a small pile of gear hidden beneath the recliner.
The guardian beast heaves and bucks with rage fired madness, and the chain ratchets forward several more times before establishing a firm grip once more, now appearing in danger of tearing free of the wall altogether. Tyndal backs off from the creature to a safer position, casting his Trident at the monstrosity, but the monsters multiple flailing limbs bat it aside, more accidental panic than luck or skill.
Terin
Ardan
Tyndal
Marius
Seann
Eldin
Creature Init (1d20+1=13)
"Damn, damn, damn... If I'd only not wasted my damn missile..."
Seann dithers for a moment, then has a flash of insight. Almost instinctually, he rushes towards Tyndal, grasping the back of the fighter's head with one hand.
A whirling ring of ethereal, glowing Celestial script surrounds Tyndal, deflecting some of the creature's attacks.