[IC Thread] Expedition to Castle Ravenloft

[Paramour Pink]

“Bevonte, try your long sword! The favoured weapon of Heironeous has to count for something.”

The girl gave a quick yet practised glance over everyone in the group, judging their stances, resources, and anyway that might improve their circumstances. She smiled at the defensive spread everyone had already arranged themselves in.

“Eldant,” the brunette spoke calmly to the scholar, “can you shift the mist out of sight with a wind spell? It would give you and Segovia a clear shot at anything that runs through the open space. A fireball or anything that produces intense heat would break up the mist as well.”

She tried counting how many shadows rushed around, and attempted to pick out if there was a particularly powerful appearing creature among them. That would be the leader.

“Otherwise, everyone, let them come to us. They've already gone to the trouble of waking us up, so they probably know what order they want a black eye in. ”

After that, the girl held her shield sternly in front of her, ducking low and trying to keep only the naked edge of her long sword exposed. Her strategy for now was total defense.

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Total Defense. Armour class increases from 13 to 17 for this round.

[Rathgar]

Bereter
38/38 HP, Initiative 4
AC 18, Touch 13, Flat Footed 16

"I'll go ahead and start launching volleys into them. Those of you with a limited amount of firepower might want to wait till you can get a clear view of them. However, I can keep bowling these at them all night long." Saying that, a small turquoise ball formed in his hand, which he proceeded to throw at one of the shadowy figures with an underhanded toss.

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Attacking the shadowy figure in 7-17? Or is it 17-7? I never can remember.
Attack with Eldritch Blast: (1d20+6)[20]
Damage with Eldritch Blast: (2d6)[3]
Miss Chance (1-50 is a miss): (1d%)[50]

[ixious]

OOC:

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just holding my action for now, nothing has really happened that would elicit a response

[ZeroNumerous]

Werewolves

More and more werewolves ebb and flow out of the mists. Those who were already visible move closer to the edge while others appear out of the mist to join the already growing pack. The group collectively howls a howl of anger that reverberates throughout the small clearing and sends chills down the spines of even the most hardened among you.

DM

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A - Alexia
B - Bereter
C - Celia
E - Eldant
G - Gr'Ark
P - Peter

Peach: Muddy Road
Light Brown: Mud
Dark Brown: Trees
Light Gray: Mist
Dark Gray: Werewolf shapes

Initiative: Everyone above a 4 - Werewolves: 4.

Everyone but Peter and Celia succeed on their Will Saves. Celia and Peter are Shaken for 3 rounds.

The party is back up.

[Paramour Pink]

Celia Kristina

Celia swallowed hard, no longer able to keep track of many they faced, and unwilling to guess how few werewolves it might have taken to have made this a fair fight. Her seemingly stalwart shield started to shake. As though her mercenary mindset had taken a small step into insanity, she took her eyes off of her swift, mounting enemies, and looked hopefully for a single glimmer of gold in the sky. She tried to discern how long it would be until dawn was benevolently born again.


Actions this round:

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Because I don't have any ranks in Knowledge: Nature, here's an Intelligence check to see how long until dawn comes. (1d20)[5]

I'm guessing the wolves surrounding us even more, and using a fear attack, was round 1. For round 2, standard action again for Total Defence, so AC is still 17. Not going to use my move action.

Celia's status:

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HP: 52/52.
Initiative: 16.
AC: 17.
Status: Shaken.
Auras: Demand Fortitude and Hardy Soldiers.

[Daimbert]

Alexia

OOC - I'm going to assume that they are still too far into the mist for me to get a good shot at them, so my actions will stay the same except that definitely I have the prepared action to pop the first one I can get a reasonably clear shot at.

IC -

The additional shapes moving towards her and the frightening howl pretty much indicated that once the werewolves attacked, it would only be a matter of time before they all went down. She intended to give them a good scrap before that, though ...

"Well, guys, it was nice knowing you ..."

[Holocron Coder]

HP: 14/14; Init: 14
AC: 18; Touch: 13; Flat-footed: 16

"I've nothing that can do that, as of yet. I can perhaps close off a few avenues of approach, however," the mage states, pulling a small amount of greasy yellow in a jar from her pouch and spreading it across a few fingers. A few muttered words later and a blanket of slipper black substance appears between the tent and the close-by tree.

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Move - Step to (10, 8)
Standard - Casting Grease as a 10-ft square, covering (7, 5) to (8, 6). Reflex DC 14 or fall for any in the squares. Balance DC 10 to move half speed. Lasts 4 rounds.

[Inspectre]

Peter Bevonte
HP: 34/34
AC 10, Fort +8(+10), +4(+2), +9(+7)
DR 1/- vs. weapon attacks
Shaken (Penalties already included)

Stooping to snatch his longsword out of his pack, Peter feels a chill crawl across his spine at the joint werewolf howl. Standing back up and holding his weapon nervously at the ready, Peter shifts back towards the others.

"I'm only going to say this once, but I *told* you it was a better idea to barricade ourselves in a house instead of camp out in the open at night." Peter grunts, annoyed at himself for the slight quaver that had appeared in his voice.

Looking around at the very increasing numbers of dark shapes moving through the trees around the camp, a sudden idea comes to Peter. "Hey, anyone know if werewolves can climb trees?" He whispers, lowering his voice in the vain hope that the werewolves keen ears wouldn't pick up what he was asking, and likewise understand it.

Readying himself for the onslaught to come, Peter waits for the first werewolf to appear, a prayer on his lips.

Previous Round's Standard: Draw silver longsword from Handy Haversack

Move: Stand Ground

Standard: Ready the casting of Aid. Trigger: First werewolf becoming clearly visible, due to charging in and attacking.

[Paramour Pink]

Celia Kristina

Celia cringed, guilt now mixing with fear. She pouted but kept her retort shackled and concentrated on her enemies. Now was not a time for bickering, but she couldn't help but bitterly remember he had no complaints about camping when he fell asleep first.

“Try a little gratitude,” she responded in an oddly amiable way, as though this was no worse than anything seen before in her life. The girl wanted to believe the illusion was convincing, if not for the fact that the blonde man appeared older than her, and her voice was undercut by a shaken quality.

“You wanted retribution for the murders, and these fools are lining up for it. Evil this stupid can't be much of a threat.”


Rolls:

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Bluff: (1d20+13)[26]

[Daimbert]

Alexia

Alexia privately agreed with Peter; the conversation after they had returned from searching had been rushed, and she'd only gone along without undue protest just so that they'd do SOMETHING ...

"With these numbers, and the advantage that they probably don't care how many of them die killing us, I wouldn't judge them to be that stupid. After all, they did manage to surround us.", she commented.

"I wouldn't be disappointed, though, if someone with magic wanted to wipe out a whole bunch of 'em with something like a fireball"

[Paramour Pink]

Celia Kristina

Celia took a five foot side step to minimize the space that the werewolves would have to get past her and attack the halfling now adjacent to her or the mage that was roughly behind her.

“Eldant, you're going to have the best overall view of how well we're doing, and who needs the most help. Hold on to this for now,” never once daring to drop her shield, Celia placed her sword into her left hand whilst using her right to quickly unfasten a belt with three moon crests across it, each softly glowing blue. Without turning, she handed it to the other girl.

“A healing belt. It has anywhere from three charges, to only one, depending on how bad the wound you want to heal is. You probably have more experience with magic items than anyone else so I'll trust your judgement with it.”



Actions:

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5 foot step to move to 9,9 on the map.

Move action to hand off the healing belt. I used my standard action in this post. So I'm out of anything but free actions or a swift action for this round. But I'm done.

And about the Healing Belt, it can heal 2d8 points of damage with one charge, 3d8 with two charges combined, or 4d8 charges if you use all three on one person.

[ZeroNumerous]

Werewolves

A few more humanoid shapes appear in the mist, but they are much further away than the immediate threats. The mist rolls in closer to the camp grounds with a harsh sigh.

DM

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A - Alexia
B - Bereter
C - Celia
E - Eldant
G - Gr'Ark
P - Peter

Peach: Muddy Road
Light Brown: Mud
Dark Brown: Trees
Light Gray: Mist
Dark Gray: Werewolf shapes

Initiative: Everyone above a 4 - Werewolves: 4.

The werewolves do nothing.

The party is back up.

And might I suggest everyone make an INT or WIS check, depending on which modifier is higher?

[ixious]

Carefully looking at the shapes in the mist, muttering "This is getting tiresome..why do they not advance!"

WIS: (d20+3)[12]
Dark-Vision Spot: (d20+8)[16]

OOC:
Spending the full round attempting a spot check

[Inspectre]

Peter Bevonte
HP: 34/34
AC 10, Fort +8(+10), +4(+2), +9(+7)
DR 1/- vs. weapon attacks
Shaken (Round 2/3) (Penalties already included)

Peter grunts in agreement with the gnoll.

"Indeed. I find it most strange given their numbers."

Despite his heart hammering in his chest, begging him not to do this, Peter forces his legs to move towards the edge of the mist.

"Come on you filthy beasts! You want to eat us? I've got your appetizer right here!"

Peter menacingly waves his silver longsword about at the dark shapes in the mist nearest to him.

Move: Diagonal down to 10,13 (15' of movement)
Standard: Ready to strike the first dark shape that moves adjacent
Free: Offer himself up on the menu.

[Holocron Coder]

HP: 14/14; Init: 14
AC: 18; Touch: 13; Flat-footed: 16

Eldant nods and takes the belt, draping it over one arm for the moment. Another gesture with a bottle of oily liquid causes another area to become slick with liquid. "If they just wait it out, all this will be useless," she mutters so only those nearby can hear. What's going on?

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Int Check - (1d20+4)[12]

Move - Take Belt of Healing
Standard - Casting Grease as a 10-ft square, covering (11, 11) to (12, 12). Reflex DC 14 or fall for any in the squares. Balance DC 10 to move half speed. Lasts 4 rounds.

Grease (7,5 - 8,6): 3 rounds
Grease (11,11 - 12,12): 4 rounds

[Daimbert]

Alexia

"Yeah, I was wondering that, too."

OOC - Actions: same as last time ...

[Paramour Pink]

Celia Kristina

Celia's eyes went wide with disturbed surprise when she heard the blonde Bevonte offering himself up as a sacrifice.

Of all the people to crack under pressure! If that idiot gets himself killed before limping back to us, we'll have a huge gap in our defences, and no chance at holding out.

“Okay, this isn't going to work. We need some kind of peace offering. Maybe they intended to eat those bodies we burned earlier,” she thought aloud. “Alexia, you're the one most worried about what you ate last night being your last meal, so you should start thinking about handing over whatever that backpack of yours holds to them. It has enough food in there to sate a small town. Maybe it's all we need to try and barter our way out of this.”



Action:

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Total Defence.

[Daimbert]

Alexia

"Yeah, I can see it now. 'Here Mister Nice Warewolf, you can take all this nice food if you'll let us go. Oh, you prefer freshly killed meat? Never mind, then'".

Alexia put as much sarcasm as she could muster into her reply to Celia. There just seemed to be too many of them for conventional tactics to work, but she couldn't think of anything else to try. She furtively wished that this could be all a dream ...

[Rathgar]

Bereter

Bererter looked heard speak of the wolves being a mere illusion, and that made the halfling think. "I have an idea." Bereter then used his ability to see magic in order to see it the wolves truly were illusory.

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Casting Detect Magic as a Spell-Like Ability and pointing towards the wolves to see if they radiate any kind of magic. Also, Spellcraft (1d20+7)[15] to determine school of magic if it is a magical effect.

On an unrelated note, I'd like to apologize for the long delay since my last post. Having to move back in with your folks after over a year of independence can be tough.

[ZeroNumerous]

Werewolves

The wolves growl and move to encircle Peter. Peter soon finds himself facing a semi-circle of howling monstrosities, and their constant growls force the brave warrior back.

DM

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A - Alexia
B - Bereter
C - Celia
E - Eldant
G - Gr'Ark
P - Peter

Peach: Muddy Road
Light Brown: Mud
Dark Brown: Trees
Light Gray: Mist
Dark Gray: Werewolf shapes

Initiative: Everyone above a 4 - Werewolves: 4.

The werewolves move closer. Growl at Peter.

The party is back up.

[Paramour Pink]

Celia Kristina

“So you'd rather wait until they gnaw off your arm, and then eat whatever remains in your backpack?” Celia snapped. “Excellent idea.”

Celia chewed on her lip, knowing the idiocy of snapping at each other's throats when they all had at least three wolves willing to do that for each of them. Sighting the wolves now surrounding Bevonte, her grip on her shield tightened in anxiety. Although the holy man sounded like he was one sword short of an armoury only seconds before, anger bubbled in her.

“Move closer to Sir Bevonte! We'd invite the wolves on the far side of us to come out of the fog, and into a clear shot. If they don't, we can arrange into another defensive position without getting harried, and can entertain ourselves by cleaving through the fog-breathers on the side we're pressing down on. That, or you can stay in the centre.

“Watch the fog get closer, the holy man get chewed, and all those arrows and spells you have fall into disuse until the wolves are so close that it's too late to make a difference. That's my last idea, I'm not debating it, and luck to anyone that doesn't see the merit in it.”

Celia marched out ten feet forwards, put her shield out prominently, and then rushed at the werewolf directly south of her. Giving little regard for defence, she shoved her sword and shield in front of her and the girl of little over five feet tried to barge the abomination backwards with all the strength her quivering muscles would offer. Pushing the creature back would mean her gaining some concealment against inevitable attacks.



Movement and Actions: (I actually do something this round )

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Move action to go up to the wolf at 7, 12.

Standard action to make a Bullrush attempt to push him backwards by five feet.

Strength check: (1d20+1)[12]

Status:

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HP: 52/52.
Initiative: 16.
AC: 13.
Status: Shaken.
Auras: Demand Fortitude and Hardy Soldiers.

[Rathgar]

Bereter

After standing around stunned for a few moments, Bereter shook his head to clear out the cobwebs. "Those buggers aren't werewolves at all. My arcane eyes can pick up enchantments, illusions, and necomancy, so much so that it knocked the sense out of me for a moment. 'Twould appear that we've been afraid of nothing all along."

[ZeroNumerous]

DM

As Bereter remarks about the illusions, each of you come to realize that the dark shapes in the mist are just denser mist shaped to appear like werewolves. The mist thickens all around the party causing the shapes to disappear amidst a wave of all-consuming mist. For some reason, despite knowing that the werewolves weren't real you all feel very ill at ease. It's almost as if the surroundings have become more hostile without the werewolves around. The hostile air is made worse by the lack of sound from anything but your own companions. Not even a single cricket chirps in the mist.

[Daimbert]

Alexia

After Bereter's comment and the mist thickened where the werewolves used to be, Alexia switched from her bow to her blades. "So, someone was shaping the mist using spells to make it look like werewolves? Why doesn't that make me feel better?"

If someone could do that, maybe they didn't need werewolves to take care of the party. And what else was in the mist, waiting to get them?

But, then again, why the deception in the first place if the person could do all that?

Thinking about it made her head hurt. Right now, she was just waiting to see what she could hit.

[Paramour Pink]

“Good work, Bereter,” Celia said quietly.

Backing towards the group uneasily, she looked worriedly about her environment. The death of sound was disturbing, and the shifting of shadows and smoke from foes into fog was disorientating.

“This is just tedious,” she growled in growing annoyance. “Lots of smoke, no real fire! Were those illusions so tacky that you're embarrassed to show yourself, or did you conjure those images only to show what a coward you are?”

[Inspectre]

"Pathetic." Peter sneers as the "wolves" are revealed to be nothing more than illusions, tricks of the mist.

"If you want a fight, send something physical next time! Otherwise let us sleep in peace!" He shouts out into the mist, then turns back towards his belongings and bedding.

"I'm going back to sleep. Some cowardly wizard that knows a few parlor tricks isn't going to deprieve me of my sleep." Peter growls to the others as he passes them, moving back over to his bedding. He bends down to return his longsword to his haversack, briefly checking over all of his belongings to ensure that they are all still there. Despite his bravado, the night's events so far were still unnerving to him, and his silently wondered if he would even be able to return to sleep.

[Holocron Coder]

The mage peers into the remaining fog, attempting to get a glance of the distant figures now that the immediate danger seems to have passed. Aloud, she asks, "Any idea what the purpose behind all of that could have been?"

[Rathgar]

Bereter

"I don't know, to scare the Dickens out of us? I'd say he did quite a good job of that."

[ixious]

huffing and shaking slightly I am sick of these illusions, I say we find who is causing them and gut them. Since we are all quite awake, should we begin again on our way to the village?

Ark arranges his belongings together, putting the silver chain back around his neck and getting his pack ready to depart immediately.

[Holocron Coder]

Shaking her head in confusion, the mage asks aloud, "So, moving on, or continuing our sleep? This is obvious an unsafe place. At the very least, someone is watching us."

She shudders. "I, for one, do not enjoy the notion."