As noted previously the night passes without incident...Morning dawns still with clear skies and you hitch up...the lame horse has responded well to treatment and will make normal speed today.
Temperatures are in the 60 s this morning..not as hot as yesterday and Holgur is more than comfortable as you ride on.
After only two hours March however Layjiani sends up a signal arrow and rushes back to the party.
"There's raiders about a half mile ahead...two strange creatures the likes of which I have never seen before, some sort of red serpent men...they have slaughtered the guards and animals of a wagon that was travelling ahead of us..theres no easy cover up ahead if we try and bypass they will see us"
Let's go !
There might still be people alive !
"I agree - if we cannot avoid them then tactically, our best chance is to take the offensive with the element of surprise," Eltariel nods agreement. "Lets try and get as close as we can without being observed, if there's enough undergrowth I can snare them as we did the skeletons yet not harm any survivors."
Gashelle nods in grim agreement.
Layjiani nods as she agrees with the plan but adds "Those who can move quietly, come with me to the front while perhaps those of us mounted" She points to Elterial and Holgur "be ready to charge in upon our attack"
She will then lead whoever is coming with her to a vantage point where they can observe the raiders without being seen themselves in preparation for the surprise attack.
Layjiani leads you to a point where you have to belly down and crawl through the tall grass and brush ..that brings you safely to a point about 200 feet from the wagon.
As your scout has noted the raiders are small redskinned snakemen with a mottled pattern running along their spines and a frill of scales around their faces and along their arms.There does not seem to be any other sign of life
Any closer movement will need a sneak roll
"No need ... I can get them from here," I whisper.
Focussing on the grass and undergrowth, Eltariel whispers words that draw forth nature's wrath upon the raiders.
The druid whispers the words and the grasses reach for the snakecreatures only to shrivel and scorch as they touch your opponents. They hiss and look around for you then spot you (Aude and Avinar both rolled 1's on their sneak checks)
They slither towards you.Thankfully they are quite slow
Snakeman 1 gets initiative of 20.
Gashelle gets initiative of 16.
Eltariel gets initiative of 11
Avinar gets initiative of 7.
Layjiani gets initiative of 6.
Aude Cooper gets initiative of 4.
Holgur gets initiative of 4.
Snakeman 2 gets initiative of 4.
Eltariel swears fluently in elvish.
"They're flamebrothers - don't let them touch you!" she warns, probably unnecessarily.
While the creatures are still distant, Layjiani send as many arrows into them as she can (starting with her 10 MW arrows, then her 10 normal arrows if she runs out), sticking with one target until it goes down.
At the same time she says "Whoever can't harm them from a distance, run and warn Gashelle and Holgur to ware their mounts should they charge!"
Avinar will pull out Mother's Kiss and ready an action to strike at any snake man in range. I am a bit daft, I forgot I have Insightful strike now add 4 points to my gamage roll for a total of 10
Madhyarati (the horse):
She double-moves towards the red snakemen, passing within 10 feet of the one furtherest to the right.
Gashelle:
Swift action She casts Blade of Blood, taking 5 hp damage to empower it.
Move Action Her glaive in her left hand, Gashelle rides Madhyarati to the right of one of the "flame brothers" and rolls out of her saddle to the ground. Her intent is to roll to her feet within striking distance to the creature, and to keep her horse well away from the danger.
Standard action Gashelle casts Shocking Grasp, as part of her Arcane Channelling ability.
Since the creatures don't seem to have closed the distance yet :
Aude move behind Avinar and casts Shield of Faith
Her hand hovers near Avinar ready to be touched or to touch him next round
Ok for sheer audacity Gashelle deserves to get this...
The first snake man slithers forward rapidly (at a run...quadruple move of 80 feet)
Gashelle spurs her horse into action and pulls of an incredibly daring maneuvre which drops the creature stone dead in its tracks(-11)
The second creature advances upon her more circumspectly (Closes 40 feet)
Layjianis first arrow will Miss
Getting to her feet, Eltariel holds her action as the remaining Flamebrother approaches ...
Situation..Holgur and Gashelle are about 120 feet from the rest of the party...the remaining Flamebrother Salamander is 40 feet beyond them.
Correction, Eltariel will advance toward Gashelle and Holgar's position!
As always Avinar advances protecting Eltariel with every step.
'Avinar , wait for me to touch you !'
Aude advances , her shield of faith spell is still on her hand .
Eltariel looks quizzically at Avinar and Aude.
"Is there something I should know about?" she asks mischievously.
Not to interrupt two ladies making Avinar awkward, but ...
Gashelle shouts back "They're very hot! The f- frost mace might be a g- good idea."
Eltariel , in touch spells there is the word touch .
Layjiani continues with her long range arrow attacks
Layjiani's second arrow Misses
The main body of the party are now 60 feet apart with the Salamander 40 feet beyond Gashelle and Holgur(who I take it are readying attack actions in case it closes)
Welland, the opponent moved after Gashelle did her little acrobatic strike, so I'm presuming that Gashelle will have the opportunity to act before the remaining salamander.
She'll hold until Holgur is ready, then ask him, "F-flank the thing, do you th- think? You to the l- left, and I'll go r-right."
And we'd attack together.
If you delay to initiative 4..Holgur acts just before the Salamander does so you could both charge it..but you couldn't flank without one of you being subject to an AoO
Avinar hurls a slender dagger at the firey snakeman
to hit 15; to damage 7.
The dagger spirals towards a snakeman on target Avinar waits on baited breath to see if it penetrates the scales of this abomination.
Avinar you are 100 feet from the target. I'm going to asume you save that attack for a range where you might feasibly hit the target(you'd be on a -10 range penalty at this distance)
Layjiani keeps firing while her friends move closer 3rd Arrow Attack (1d20+6=8)
and again shoots way wide of the mark, even with her MW arrows (at least she'll be able to recoup some of them :P )
If you delay to initiative 4..Holgur acts just before the Salamander does so you could both charge it..but you couldn't flank without one of you being subject to an AoO
Not on a charge, no. "Holgur, w- wait. Advance a c- couple of paces and let it come t- to us."
(If we advance a little (Holgur 10 feet, and Gashelle, 15) Holgur can advance next round, and Gashelle can move behind it. Since Gashelle is using her glaive, that should keep us both sufficiently far from its heat.)
If Holgur is amenable to this plan, then Gashelle will advance the 15' and then cast Ray of Frost, hitting touch AC 24 for 3 points of cold damage.
If Holgur is amenable to this plan, then Gashelle will advance the 15' and then cast Ray of Frost, hitting touch AC 24 for 3 points of cold damage.
"Aye. There is not need for niceties fighting such as these."
Gashelle advances cautiously intoning an incantation and an ice blue ray springs from her hand hitting the Fiery Outsider square on the chest..it hisses in pain as the frost bites into it.Indeed it seems to suffer more from the sudden cooling than you had thought possible(you actually do 5 points of damage due to it's vulnerability to cold)
It slithers towards her at it's fastest speed attemting to, it believes, get inside the reach of the glaive.
Gashelles attempt to strike it as it closes misses wildly and it lunges at her with its spear. Thankfully the strike scrapes along her chainmail and does not penetrate though she feels the heat of it through the armour
Next round..Gashelle is up again. After their moves the main body will be 40 feet from the combat with Layjiani 60 feet behind them
Gashelle takes a step away from the flamebrother to keep at glaive range (Does that require an acrobatics check to avoid an Attack of Opportunity? 22.)
She does not cast blade of blood again, because she might need her swift action to choke up on the glaive's haft. She attacks, channelling shocking grasp again. (She hits AC 19 for 7 + 10 = 17 points of damage.)
Holgur, it's up to you.
On her turn, Layjiani takes a moment to steady herself with a breath and get her bearings again. When ready, she sends another arrow (1d20+6=23) sailing true as she finally hits her enemy,piercing the flamebrothers hide for (1d8+1=3) only though as it's armour turn the shaft slightly from being a more damage one.
Gashelle backs up twisting to avoid the thrust of the Salamanders spear and counterstriking to carve deeply into its flesh. Layjiani sends a shaft into it for a minor wound and then Holgurs axe crashes down on its head ending its existence on this plane
End of combat 266XP each
Eltariel runs right past the combat and makes directly for the wagon, releasing the entangle as she goes. Swiftly she works along the bodies of the fallen, checking for signs of life ...
"With only two attackers, some of the defenders most certainly had a chance to flee," she calls back to the others. "Get Layjiani to circle and see if she can find any tracks leading away, they may be injured and in need of healing."
Unable to call to Layjiani, Gashelle whistles to the scout and gestures her to come.
Theer are 3 bodies here..one a merchant by his dress the others obviously guards. All three have been stabbed and burnt and are quite dead.
The wagon is a small one not in good repair and the two horses were not in good condition..yet the wagon seems to be well loaded.Add to that the fact that the merchant is roughly dressed and the guards poorly equipped and you can put the scenario together easily enough.
"Aude?"
"And Ensor, wh- what are the l- laws regarding this m- man's wares?"
"I'm guessing this poor soul invested all he had in one last trip, the guards may have been friends or relatives. With their livelihoods hanging on this one wagon, they would not abandon it easily," I say sadly. "Foolish, to be so desperate, life cannot be measure by gold alone. The Flamebrothers must have set upon the horses first from ambush to immobilise the wagon, even heavily laden it would otherwise be able to outpace them."
Eltariel climbs onto the wagon to examine the contents, wondering what could be so valuable that the merchant and his guards both were prepared to die rather than forsake it, and having her own suspicions.
"Aude, you spoke of funeral rites earlier. It seems that these poor souls will need your service now."
"If these flamebrothers are as slow afoot as you say then they probably are based nearby here. I am not a tracker. Can any of you find signs of where they might have come from? If so, do we hunt them down in their lair or put distance between ourselves and them?"