Sarien takes a position next to Freya.
"I'm out of my element. There are no alleyways or barrels out here." he mutters with disgust and prepares a spear with his spear-thrower.
Sarien takes a position next to Freya.
"I'm out of my element. There are no alleyways or barrels out here." he mutters with disgust and prepares a spear with his spear-thrower.
Freya grunts in agreement. "You and me both would be more comfortable if this prisoner transport was going on in the dark. Nothing like presenting yourself as an obvious target."
The party rides to the ambush site, cold late afternoon air whipping against your faces. At the ambush site, the group hunkers down and awaits the carriage. After a fair amount of time - half an hour or so, plenty of time for Janiven's group to be in position - the carriage can be heard coming up the road, along with a band of about 10 men.
As the carriage moves into range (where it is depicted on the map), one of the men can be heard to call out, Oy, wha's this? Cocky idjits wavein' their weapons and standin' all exposed-like in the middle of the road? This is followed by the laughter of several men. Lower lance, 'n ready 't run 'em through, me boy-o's! the voice continues, followed by a deep authoritative voice, which carries on the following discussion with the first voice:
Hold, Armiger Dawson.
Wha' now, Shanwen?
I'll remind you that your responsibility here is to the safety of the prisoner.
Now the first voice responds again, rising in pitch and intensity.
And I'LL remind YOU, Shanwen, that though YOU be in charge of the transport o' this prisoner, I'M in charge o' the 'orsemen here. Now, MY lads 've been sorely chastised o'er the last day for not bringing further insurgents in for questioning, and it looks to me like this is their time t' do so. So NOW, MEN, LOWER LANCE N' READY TO RUN 'EM ThROUGH!! HAH!
The final exclamation is followed by the sound of horses accelerating to a gallop. The sound of their hooves can clearly be heard on the masonry of the bridge before they fade into the distance. Shanwen's voice can be heard, then.
Let's halt, men, and see what comes of this.
The wagon halts.
Just then, the faint sound of several horses in a frightened panic reaches the party's ears.
Idiots, Shanwen says. Turn it around, let's get ourselves a proper escort.
Initiative Order:
Freya: 19a
Rauno: 19b
Hardin: 12
Shanwen: 11
Tao: 9
Sarien: 6
Armigers: 2
Popping from behind the boulder, Freya releases her crossbow bolt at the carriage's driver.
Freya's bolt sails directly under the driver's nose. He cries, Ware, Men! Ambush!
|
Hardin moves to O-16 and casts Command on the armiger on the large crossbow on top of the wagon. (Save DC of 13). The command is "Flee!". With luck, this will cause the armiger to scramble off the back of the carriage and take him off his duty station for the rest of the fight.
Hardin's AC is 19 due to the enlargement. His reach is 10'. He cast Bless and Magic Weapon on his flail earlier since it lasts longer; the flail has an attack bonus of +1+2+1-2=+3, +7 if I'm disarming someone, and does 2d6+3 damage if it hits a person for damage.
Next up! Shanwen
Tao moves to Q-21
As Freya pops up and fires her crossbow, Sarien risks a glance around the boulder and nots how far away the enemy still were. Thinking quickly, he decides to wait and see how the men react before exposing his position anymore than Freya already has.
[ooc]Sarien will take no action during the surprise round except attempt to maintain his hidden position.
Freya opens combat with a near-miss from her crossbow, ensuring that the driver of the carriage will not need to shave for several weeks. Rauno begins muttering arcane incantations, and Hardin utters a few short words of power, bolstering his defences. Tao moves out to engage the enemy, and Sarien determines that discretion is the better part of valor and holds his ground, maintaining his concealment.
Initiative Order:
Freya: 19a
Rauno: 19b
Hardin: 12
Shanwen: 11
Tao: 9
Sarien: 6
Armigers: 2
Freya glances down at Sarien. "Can't do much from here," she tells him, as she moves off quickly toward the road and the rest of the party. Taking up position behind the boulder, she points at the nearest horse and speaks words of terror. "You dodged my bolt, driver; maybe this will keep you busy."
The horse, who, unbeknownst to Freya, claims as an ancestor a famous Taldanese Charger who was named "'Ol Ironshanks", simply narrows it's eyelid and peers back at Freya menacingly.
|
|
Hardin moves to O-16 and casts Command on the armiger on the large crossbow on top of the wagon. (Save DC of 13). The command is "Flee!". With luck, this will cause the armiger to scramble off the back of the carriage and take him off his duty station for the rest of the fight.
Hardin's AC is 19 due to the enlargement. His reach is 10'. He cast Bless and Magic Weapon on his flail earlier since it lasts longer; the flail has an attack bonus of +1+2+1-2=+3, +7 if I'm disarming someone, and does 2d6+3 damage if it hits a person for damage.
Next up! Shanwen
Yes.
As Hardin's divinely-weighted command washes over Shanwen, the Asmodean grits his teeth, clearly recognizing the spell for what it is.
Shanwen snarls, and responds with an obscene gesture, one particularly offensive to followers of Iomedae.
I'll show you how it's done, Iomedaen!, he growls, turning slowly and pointing at Tao.
Halt ,he says, the word clearly bearing the unholy taint of Asmodeus.
Tao does nothing
The wagon begins to turn ever so slowly back toward Westcrown, which appears to be a cumbersome process. Based on the rate of movement of the wagon in this round, you'd suspect it will take about a full minute for the wagon to get turned completely around. The armiger who is driving the team swears at and whips the horses furiously. The other four armigers jump off of the running boards and move to eliminate the threat. Two peel off in Tao's direction and flank him, although only one is able to attack with his longsword this round, missing the bewitched man horribly.
The other two armigers move in the direction of the enormous Iomedaen. One fires at Hardin with a light crossbow:
...While the other moves forward with his longsword drawn, hoping to skewer the lightly armored woman whom he saw giving his horse the stink-eye earlier.
Sarien: 1
-----Round 2-----
Freya: 19a
Rauno: 19b
Hardin: 12
Shanwen: 11
Tao: 9
Sarien: 6
Armigers: 2
Sarien shakes his head. Things had happened a little earlier than he would have preferred. Still, the Gods loved to make fools of people and their plans...
He shifted from behind the boulder and tossed a spear at the arminger approaching Freya.
Sarien's spear catches the young Hellknight in the flank, seriously wounding him. The Hellknight grits his teeth, though, and blocks out the pain, intent on his task.
Freya quickly sets another bolt into her crossbow, raises it, and fires, hoping to bury it in the armiger's skull.
Gritting her teeth, she shouts back to Rauno under the bridge, "Hey, elfy, you going to come out and do something or just hide down there soiling yourself?"
Hardin steps up to Q18, whirling his flail over his head and attacking the armiger in Q20, as the crossbow bolt he absorbed barely touches his skin.
With a sickening crunch, the elongated flail wraps around the armiger's weapon, the spiked ball hitting the back of his skull.
Next up, Shanwen.
Guys, don't forget the Bless spell cast before combat.
Guys, don't forget the Bless spell cast before combat.
As the colorful spell envelopes the two armigers, they fall down, unconcious.
Shanwen rolls over to the Large Heavy Crossbow mounted on the roof of the carriage and fires off a bolt at Hardin.
Move it, you lackwit! he cries to the driver.
Tao drops the longspear at his feet. He then sidesteps the flanking Armigers drawing his greatsword in the process. After calling upon the might of Erastil, he swings at the nearest Armiger (Q22).
Sarien finally moves out from behind the boulder and hurries across the dirt expanse toward the prisoner. Along the way, he pulls free his rapier and stabs down at one of the unmoving Armigers.
The armiger swings at Tao with his Longsword, abandoning all caution and throwing his full weight behind the blow.
Following through on his attempt, he 5-foot-steps to R-21.
Sarien moves up and heavily wounds dispatches one of the Armigers that Rauno had knocked out. He seems to still be breathing, however.
Next Up:
Freya: 19a
Rauno: 19b
Hardin: 12
Shanwen: 11
Tao: 9
Armiger(s): 2
Sarien: 1
Do I need to re-do the map? Shanwen is in P-24, there's an Armiger in R-21, and the Driver's in O-23. If you need a map, please let me know.
Edit: hardin killed the Armiger he attacked last round, who was in Q-20 on the previous map iteration.
"Nice job, foofy," Freya calls to Rauno as she moves up next to the prone armiger. Fixing her eyes on the Hellknight manning the large crossbow, she intones, "I'm your worst nightmare, Asmodean."
As he sees his men falling all around him, Shanwen's confidence melts into uncertainty. He attempts to jump off the back of the wagon, and unceremoniously twists his ankle.
Shanwen ends his turn prone in P-25, sputtering and cursing at his own clumsiness.