Trouble at Mount Cerena IC

[HempRope]

Ah, I've re-read the mass of posts that were made while I was asleep and I have a stronger grasp of what the actual plan is. Had I had the time to read it carefully earlier Nevan would have insisted we at least talk to the conductor first.

I still don't understand where the caravan doors are, though.

Nevan

"Are they attacking immediately?" Nevan whispers to Astasi. "It would be better to know what's happening for sure, they've clearly booked passage on this caravan..."

[Tormsskull]

Gana doesn't hear much of anything from inside the wagon.

Noftur works the lock; it easily pops open. As it does, the door is shoved forcefully open from the inside. Standing at the ready, ears perked up, are three short and green goblins. Their faces are contorted in anger, and they all hold light crossbows.

Passed the goblins, standing over a wriggling body, is a hideous goblin-like creature. Its eyes are pitch black, and it is much taller than the others. It wields a long sword, which at the moment it has pointed forward towards Noftur.

"Kill them."

Battle Map

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OOC

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana is happy to have the opportunity to distract the goblins from the far door. She does her best to make what she imagines an orcish war cry, her mouth opening wide to reveal sharp, jagged teeth.

Gr-RARGH!


Hoping that if she can drop an opponent, the field to the nasty sort-of-goblin behind will be clearer for the archers, Gana slips the hook of the guisarme behind the centre goblin, hoping to trip him up.

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Initiative: (1d20+2)[20]

Entering rage. Taking a 5' step back (and south, putting her next to Thanos) in order to bring G1 into threatening distance of her reach weapon. If someone else takes out G1 first, she will move as needed to attack another opponent through the doorway (you pick, Tormsskull), trying not to block the doorway if she can avoid it.

Gana is making a trip attack, and following it up with a regular attack if it's successful.

Melee touch attack: (1d20+11)[14]
Opposed Strength check: (1d20+11)[20]
Follow-up regular attack: (1d20+15)[31]
Crit confirmation on a 20: (1d20+15)[35]
Damage: (2d4+10)[16]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

The smokestick between Noftur's teeth and the lockpick in his hands drop to the ground as steps back and reaches across his body with his right hand, snatching the axe there and lobbing it into the fray toward the nearest goblinoid.

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Taking a five foot step to the Northwest (top left of battle map), drawing MW axe and throwing it at the closest goblin in LOS, even if they are engaged in melee with another character. Before his count on initiative he lets Daen or Gana past if they attempt to push through the area.

Ranged attack (MW throwing axe): (1d20+6)[23]
Crit Confirmation on 20: (1d20+6)[15]
Damage: (1d6+1)[5]
Additional damage on crit: [roll]1d6+1[/roll]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Hearing that the battle has begun, Adtasi quickly picks up the necessary tools and begins picking the lock.

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Initiative: (1d20+3)[12] (Adtasi will delay his action until he hears the battle begin if necessary, I.E. When the first person attacks.
Open Lock (1d20+9)[16]

[esorscher]

Thanos

As soon as the door is opened, Thanos sees and smells the offending goblin and smirks. It's almost not fair. The poor guy never had a chance. He lets his notched arrow fly through the air, whizzing piercingly through the air. Before he can tell if it his its mark or not, though fairly confident that it had--after all, he was Thanos--he drew and fired another arrow at the same target.

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Thanos uses a full-round action to Rapid Shot (-2 to attack rolls) G2. He fires pointblank (+1 to attack and damage) with his Mastercraft Composite Longbow.

First Attack - (1d20+7)[25]
Crit Confirmation on 20 - (1d20+7)[11]
First Attack Damage - (1d8+3)[4]
Second Attack - (1d20+7)[24]
Crit Confirmation on 20 - (1d20+7)[13]
Second Attack Damage - (1d8+3)[11]

I think I did that right. If I need any more rolls I'll roll them in the OOC.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Seeing his companions rain death upon the goblins, Daen grimaces and takes a step forward to the door, where the dwarf was. Brandishing his sword, he addresses the remaining goblin(s) and the other humanoid.

"Lay down your weapons and surrender! As you can see," he points to the other goblins who are probably out of commission, "...you're outnumbered and outmatched. But you don't need to die here."

Depending on their answer, Daen would either strike the remaining goblin with the flat of his blade, or go inside to apprehend them.

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Taking a -4 for nonlethal attack.
Attack - (1d20+4)[12]
Damage - (1d8+4)[5]

Daen's AC is 22, by the way, if they'd attack.

[Tormsskull]

Gana hops black, slashing out with her guisarme, causing the goblin in front to fall to his back. In an instant she follow that up with a downward strike, piercing the goblins chest through his leather armor. The sound of bones breaking can be heard as the weapon makes impact. The goblin moves no more.

Adtasi, hearing the sound of combat from the other side of the wagon, begins to pick the lock on his side. It pops open after some working with it.

OOC

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Sorry guys. Been having a lot of trouble posting on the site again. Hopefully this goes through.

[HempRope]

Nevan

The door opens on a scene rather different from the smoke-filled room of frightened goblins Nevan was expecting. Gana has already killed one goblin, but the rest seem very much ready for his new comrades' attack. So while Nevan had hoped to not to turn this into an all-out fight, he decides in a split second to press the advantage he has catching them off guard.

Twang, twang.

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[OOC]
Using Rapid Shot to fire two arrows. Presumably both directed at the ?, unless it falls from the first one, in which case you can pick a goblin.
Attack - (1d20+6)[18] Damage - (1d8+5)[12]
Attack - (1d20+6)[25] Damage - (1d8+5)[8]
AC: 18 HP: 21
[/OOC]

[Rettu Skcollob]

Dropping his picks, Adtasi eases the door open quietly, and inwardly curses when he finds the room devoid of smoke and his companions engaging the enemy. Maybe he should've given them more time... Oh well. And there was a goblin blocking the way to the noble too... Well, he would be easily taken care of.

Snatching his loaded crossbow from the floor, he takes steady aim and fires at [?], hoping to catch him off guard.

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Move Action: Pick Up Crossbow
Standard Action: Attack ?
-Attack: (1d20+7)[22]
-Damage: (1d8+2)[9]
-Sneak Attack Damage (If applicable) (2d6)[4]

[Tormsskull]

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1. (21) Nevan
2. (17) Gana
3. (16) Adtasi
4. (16) Goblin2
5. (14) Thanos
6. (13) Goblin1
7. (12) ?????
8. (8) Goblin3
9. (7) Noftur
10. (3) Daen

Nevan & Adtasi. Open Lock is a full round action. Opening a door is a move action. Adtasi picked the lock, that's his entire turn. If didn't seem as if Nevan wants to get into melee range, so I didn't move him up to open the door.

The northernmost goblin shrieks, jumping back before letting a bolt loose at Noftur.

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Goblin 2 takes a five-foot step east, and attacks Noftur with his light crossbow.
(d20+3)[11] To hit
(d20+3)[15] Crit Confirm
(d6)[5] Damage
(d6)[1] Crit damage

As soon as the bolt is loosed, two expertly-fired arrows strike the goblin in the chest, and he crumples from the impact.

The strange humanoid roars in defiance, stepping forward and slashing out with its long sword wielded in two hands at Noftur.

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????? takes a five-foot step forward and attack Noftur
(d20+6)[15] To hit
(d20+6)[23] Crit Confirm
(d8+6)[12] Damage
(d8+6)[14] Crit Damage

The southernmost goblin braces himself in the corner defensively.

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Goblin3 takes Full Defense

Noftur steps back and throws his throwing axe straight at the weird looking humanoid, striking him in the chest, drawing a thin trickle of blood.

Daen jumps forward, shouting. Based on the flat look of death the strange humanoid is giving off, he strikes forth, but the humanoid parries the attack with a strong upward motion with his sword.

Updated Battle Map

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[HempRope]

Nevan

Nevan's brow furrows as he hears the shouts and clashes of steel from the other side of the cart.

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Um, this turn Nevan will do what I meant him to do last turn. Unless last turn he could elect to ready the action to fire at the first enemy he sees when the door opens.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Eager to take advantage of the strange creature's aggressiveness, Gana tries using the same reverse-and sweep motion on him as had felled the previous goblin. Although her throat was getting a bit sore, she felt obligated to maintain the war cry.

Gr-uuugh!

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Standard action to try to trip the strange thing.

Touch Attack: (1d20+11)[25]
Opposed Check to trip: (1d20+11)[23]
Follow-up regular attack, if successful: (1d20+15)[32]
Crit confirmation, on a 20: (1d20+15)[27]
Damage: (2d4+10)[14]

And, if it's prone and tries to get up on its action, Gana will take an attack of opportunity:
Follow-up regular attack: (1d20+15)[27]
Crit confirmation, on a 20: (1d20+15)[30]
Damage: (2d4+10)[14]

[esorscher]

Thanos

Spotting Gana engage the bizarre humanoid inspires Thanos to do the same. Stepping behind Noftur, he rapidly draws and fires two arrows over the dwarf's head, focusing intently on the wicked looking humanoid.

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5 foot step to behind Noftur, Point Blank, Rapid Shot the ??

Attack 1 - (1d20+7)[18]
Confirm Crit on 20 - (1d20+7)[24]
Damage 1 - (1d8+2)[10]
[roll=Crit (x2)]1d8+2[/roll]
[roll=Crit (x3)]1d8+2[/roll]

Attack 2 - (1d20+7)[12]
Confirm Crit on 20 - (1d20+7)[9]
Damage 2 - (1d8+2)[7]
[roll=Crit (x2)]1d8+2[/roll]
[roll=Crit (x3)]1d8+2[/roll]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Cespenar]

Daen

His offer refused, an annoyed Daen swings his sword at the creature in a diagonal slash, now with nothing held back.

"Try not to kill the goblin," he growls to his companions in mid-attack.

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Attack - (1d20+8)[27]
Damage - (1d8+4)[6]

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Screaming in pain, Noftur yanks the dagger from out of his boot, takes aim at the nearest enemy still standing and throws it. Those who do not speak goblin hear a nasty snarling and gurgling erupt from his lips as he lets the dagger loose.

In Goblin:

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May your gonads be stripped from you by way of your lower intestines!

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Ranged Attack(1d20+6)[10]
Crit threat on 19-20(1d20+6)[26]
Damage(1d4+1)[3]
Crit damage(1d4+1)[3]

[Rettu Skcollob]

As Nevan opens the door, (OOC: That was what you meant him to do, yes? I think you said in the OOC Thread. I don't have time to check again, sorry.) Adtasi, seeing the battle already underway and no smoke to cover his progress, sighs and picks up his crossbow, firing it at the first enemy he sees, which happens to be the strange humanoid.

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Is using the rolls from last time possible? If not

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Attack (1d20+7)[14]
Damage (1d8+2)[10]
Sneak Attack Damage (2d6)[6]

[Tormsskull]

Nevan drops back, lets loose two arrows, and looks on as both plunge into the strange humanoid's back.

The weird humanoid gets tangled up with Gana's weapon, and tries to avoid being tripped.

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(1d20+11)[14]

Failing, he falls to the ground and immediately suffers from Gana's might. With a last hate filled roar, the humanoid crumbles to the ground, almost trying to fight off death its self.

The last remaining goblin, seeing the humanoid fall, immediately drops his crossbow and puts his hands into the air.

In goblin, he says

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"No kill! No kill!"

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi strides into the room, sighing. He kneels down beside the captive and turns his head to Noftur, clearly fairly unamused. "Guess that plan didn't quite pan out. Luckily for us, it looks like our friend here is unharmed. You deal with the Goblin, then. Since you evidently know their language."

Gods damn it, he put this man's life in unnecessary danger just now... I guess he's just more mercenary scum. Too bad. I misjudged him.

He begins to untie the man on the floor, his mouth set in a hard line. He ignores the Goblin entirely.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Shoving the unthrown dagger back into his boot, Noftur grimaces as he jumps up into the wagon car. Picking up the crossbow at the surviving goblin's feet, he turns to Adtasi.
'It would've worked. How was I supposed to know they would be waiting for us?' As he says this, he turns back to the goblin, crossbow in hand.

In Goblin:

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'You know, you really should take better care of your weapons.'

As he speaks to the goblin, he turns the crossbow over in his hands almost casually, inspecting it and clearly not approving of what he sees. There is something about the look in his eyes, and the direction the crossbow is pointing, that says this might not be a good situation.

In Goblin:

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'This piece here, for instance, could break, and-'

As he says this, his finger points to a piece of metal in the trigger mechanism, brushes against it ever so quickly and THUNK! the crossbow fires into the floor near the goblin's feet.

In Goblin:

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'See?'

As he says this, he shoves the empty crossbow into the goblin's hands, then turns around, planting a foot on the weird humanoid's corpse and yanking out his axe. Ignoring the squelching, sucking sound as the axe comes loose, he wipes off the gore on the body. Heading outside, he collapses against one of the wheels groaning and looking absolutely miserable.

[HempRope]

Nevan

"No one's hurt, right?" Nevan asks, hopping up into the cart. He looks out over the others, checking for wounds he might not have heard, but they appear unscathed.

Dropping his gaze to his feet, he looks over the creature with his arrows in its back with a mixture of apprehension and interest.

"What race is this?" he asks. "Not any type of goblin I've ever seen."

Nevan crouches, checking the crerature's wounds but trying not to bloody his gloves.

"Sorry we were late," he adds. "Door took a minute."

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Checking to see if he's alive.
Heal - (1d20+7)[25]
If so, will stabilize.
Heal - (1d20+7)[26]

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana takes a deep breath, clearing her head from the blood-rage. She kneels by the strange goblin-like creature, feeling for a pulse of life. When Noftur steps on it, she hisses.

Careful! I'm not sure it's dead yet.

She pushes its sword out of the wagon, out of its reach. She sets her polearm down to unsling her pack, drawing out a coil of slender rope.

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I'm going on Tormsskull's "almost trying to fight off death itself." and being a bit paranoid. Heal check as needed [rol]1d20[/roll] to determine if it's mostly dead, or all dead.

[Cespenar]

Daen

Seeing his companions quickly attend to the matters at hand, Daen sheathes his sword and looks around if the brief "battle" caught anyone's attention.

A moment later, he turns his eyes on Noftur.

"Aren't you going to interrogate him? I doubt if anyone else can speak that foul language."

Just as he finishes his words, he realizes the wound he got from the creature.

"Uh... never mind." He looks expectantly at the others. "Could any of you attend to his wound?" he asks, pointing at the dwarf.

[HempRope]

Nevan

The twang of the crossbow going off next to his ear brings Xander's head up with a jerk. He opens his mouth to admonish Noftur, but catches sight of the dwarf's wounds and shelves his criticism.

"Damn," he says instead. "That's a bad gash you've got. Here, put some pressure on it."

Nevan rips more clothing from the creature at his feet, passing them to Noftur to use as a makeshift bandage.

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Can't actually do anything useful. I wish there were a shrugging smiley.

[Tormsskull]

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All attempts at determining if the creature is dead are conclusive, it is dead. Dead with a capital D.

The goblin stares at Noftur incredibly as the dwarf is inspecting the weapon. It looks terrified.

The man on the floor stands in a hurry after Adtasi unties him. He rubs at his wrists with a look of pain to his face. He is dressed in a long red formal garnment, trimmed in yellow. He is a human, middle-aged, with pale blue eyes and a balding head. He wears a golden armlet on his right hand with a scintillating red gem set in its middle.

"Thank the Flame Walker you are here. These creatures..."

The man shudders as he recollects his recent experience. He looks from the remaining goblin, who avoids the man's eyes, towards the corpse of the weird humanoid. Moving towards the corpse, he lowers his hand and inspects the creature.

"I don't believe it. I don't..."

The man looks around, glaring out each doorway.

"If there is one of these, there are more."

The man now turns his attention back to the prisoner goblin.

[Rettu Skcollob]

Adtasi raises his hands in an attempt to calm the man. Must be a Cleric of some sort. "Calm down, friend. There's no more Goblins about. And even then, they're not exactly hard to deal with."

[Toliudar]

Gana

Must be a southern thing.

Gana, now convinced that the nasty creature is dead, yanks the body out of the wagon so that the blood and guts don't foul the floor more than they already have. She moves over to the goblin and delicately removes the crossbow from its hands. She speaks softly in the common tongue.

"This won't hurt if we both do it right. If you could lie down on the floor with your hands at your sides. I'm going to tie you up, and then we're going to have a nice chat about that strange thing. All right?"

She smiles at the goblin, clear that she's not expecting any trouble. Once it complies, she'll do her best to hogtie it.

[OrigamiSamurai]

Noftur

Taking the 'bandages' from Nevan, Noftur does his best to stop the bleeding.

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Heal Check(1d20+1)[10]

As he wraps the rags around himself, he begins muttering something to himself that forms itself into a horrendous rhythm of grunts and phlegm and hisses.

Singing In Goblin:

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'dwarves they come they make us run away
kills us mash us stick us til we dead
crunch us smash us kick us in the head

what we gonna do now they coming down the tunnels
wes gonna die soon drink the blood and eat the gore
feed wolves on our corpses until there bes no more

no one comes to help us dying in the dark
mush us slash us scrape us bleed us
punch us hammer us pierce us beat us

theys will never stop until they leaves us all to rot
our blood will run down to the center of the rock
kill us til wes all dead and give our heads the knocks...'

(OOC): Noftur has strategically switched the lyrics of this goblin war chant specifically to disconcert the surviving goblin.

As he mutters in time to himself, Noftur occasionally glares at the surviving goblin, sending a horrific grin its way. He all but ignores the noble as he focuses on tormenting the goblin. He seems incredibly agitated and not at all like the morbidly cheery dwarf he was back inside the capital.

[esorscher]

Thanos

Thanos stands in the doorway of the cart, looking out on the surroundings, keeping an eye out for any more of the goblinoids, or for the train conductor. Either would be an unwanted intrusion.

"We should probably not stay here for long," Thanos suggests, "Last I checked, murder was a capital crime."

He twangs the string of his bow absentmindedly as he watches the scene unfold.

[Toliudar]

Gana

Gana shrugs.

True, but we have to stay with the wagons, yes? For job. Maybe this nice man will help explain what happened to others.

She pauses, a new thought filtering in. Gana looks up at the man.

Um. What did happen?