Madness, Blood and Thunder in Ravens Bluff IC

[candycorn]

Twenty Fifth of Eleint

The Sanctuary

Magnus prepares his mind and body for battle, quietly, in his room. He thinks of magicks, and their ability to steal a man's nerve and will, or scorch a man alive. As he wills protection from such a fate, his conviction takes shape, into a loose blue tunic takes form atop his armor, draped artfully across it. Having meditated upon his chief concern, Magnus's mind drifts to more familiar thoughts, and quickly, he is prepared.

Having done this, Magnus withdraws all of his possessions from his room, and steps outside the Sanctuary, waiting for his comrades.

Melds for today:

Spoiler

Show

Spellward Shirt (expanded, 3 essentia)
Astral Vambraces (2 essentia)
Incarnate Weapon (0 essentia)

[Jeff the Green]

Twenty-fifth of Eleint, The Sanctuary

Mirielle wakes up early to gird up her loins for battle. Strange phrase, "girding one's loins." Sounds more like something Sharess's Celebrants would do. Or maybe one of Loviatar's servants.

She stuffs most of her equipment in her rucksack, but pulls her chain shirt over her head and stashes some equipment in her various belt pockets: her rust monster wand (I'm not going to be kidnapped and locked up without that again.); a curative wand she purchased from the temple of Lathander (I did not spend eight years studying the most obscure parts of theology and the incantations and fiddlybits of spellcasting to be a glorified medic.); and various alchemicals she picked up to use against the psionic foes she expects to face (I suppose alchemist's fire would have been cheaper. But... *shudder*.)

Fully girded, Mirielle heads to the lobby of the Sanctuary to meet her companions.

[Cardea]

Keeva
Twenty-fifth of Eleint, The Sanctuary

Keeva packs up all her scattered belongings from her room, checking and re-checking for her more important items. Not much progress these past couple of days, but at least she could visit The Quiet Mind just to view the oddities. She picks up her crossbow, hefting the thing into its holster, and exits The Sanctuary, waving at Magnus and Mirielle.

[Frog Dragon]

Twenty-Fifth of Eleint, The Sanctuary

Like Mirielle, Jorran is not a late sleeper this morning. He takes the time to put his wargear on properly, finally strapping the greatsword to his back. He rechecks the various items on his belt to make sure they are more easily accessible when needed. Finally, he throws on his cloak. The set looked cleaner than it had in what was probably a year.

Then he walked downstairs into the lobby to meet the others.

[Sallera]

The Sanctuary

Excellent, that's that dealt with, and no trouble at all. This ought to make a few things easier. Replacing her symbol as soon as she's out of sight, Aya returns to the Sanctuary to find the rest already assembled outside; with a cheery wave, she joins the group.

"All ready to go? Let's get outside the walls, and then you can fill in the rest of us on what you've got on our target."

[Jeff the Green]

Outside the City Gates
"I did some poking around," Mirielle says once the group gets started down the road. "Like I wrote in the note, the leaders of the group will probably be using psionics. You can tell who they are by their color. I don't know exactly what their powers are, but if you start getting strange notions, like that I'm an evil wizard, let me know. I've got some magic that might help block any mind control.

"The rest of them are just normal goblins, both the little ones and bugbears. Their extortion scheme must have been profitable, since they've been seen wearing good armor and wielding good weapons. We're likely to run into scouting parties once we get to the valley.

"I found out a little about the geography, but not enough to help. They might be based in caves in the mountains, but other than that I don't know."

[TheFallenOne]

Twentyseventh of Eleint

The Fire River almost hugs the Earthfast Mountains in places, but even with the steeply rising edge of the mountains mere miles away the road between the two thankfully remains mostly flat and easy to travel. Out in the wilderness, the signs of early autumn are clear and it won't be long until fallen leaves are strewn over the landscape.
The road you travel seems to be used relatively sparingly; few people live in the narrow strip of land between river and mountains, and the route likely is mostly used by groups of carts bringing supplies to the nearby mines and precious metals back to the city.
You're on your third day of the journey, and the sun starts touching the horizon in the west. Though close to sundown, you know you are very close to your destination and could reach either the villages or the goblin's lair by traveling through the evening twilight.
Suddenly, Aya spots riders on a small hill northeast of you, and manages to dive into some high-grown reed before being noticed in turn. She misjudges the distance at first, but on second glance she notices they're not that far away, they're just smaller than she assumed; for the riders are half a dozen goblins mounted on wolfs, one of them riding a black-furred beast noticably bigger than the others.

Spoiler

Show

distance about 400 feet. How much is the party behind the forward scout?

[Jeff the Green]

Spoiler

Show

I don't think we decided that, but Mirielle would have deferred to Aya, and strongly argued that the rest of the party do so to, since she has more experience in outdoor environments.

[candycorn]

Spoiler

Show

I don't think we decided that, but Mirielle would have deferred to Aya, and strongly argued that the rest of the party do so to, since she has more experience in outdoor environments.

Spoiler

Show

Ditto. I'd be comfortable leaving the scouting distance up to Aya.

[Sallera]

Crouching in the undergrowth, Aya gently runs a finger along the arms of her bow, trailing a faint red light that sinks quickly into the bone. There was no chance of getting out of this unnoticed, and that meant trying her best to finish it before the scouts realized they were outmatched. By her best judge of the distances... yes, they ought to reach her at around the same time the others did. And if they sacrificed defense for speed, they'd only be giving her what she wanted. Rising slowly to a standing position, she fits an arrow to the bow, takes a second to feel the wind, then takes in half a breath and sights on the least-armored goblin on the group. Hello.

As soon as it looks like the goblins have started to move toward her, she lets out a shrill whistle, signaling the rest of the party. Grabbing attention wasn't really her style, but this wasn't the best terrain for sniping, either.

Spoiler

Show

Attack: (1d20+8)[28] (swiftwing arrow, 2 range increments) Edit: Er, +7, rather. Not that it mattered.
Damage: (3d6+9)[24] (+ another 6 if said least-armoured goblin happens to be an arcanist)

[TheFallenOne]

Despite the distance, Aya's arrow catches the lefternmost goblin perfectly in the eye, and he is dead before his body hits the ground. The remaining goblins howl in surprise and shock, but their apparent leader soon silences them, pointing in the direction the arrow came from.

Spoiler

Show

Initiative order

Keeva
Goblins
Jorran
Aya
Mirielle
Magnus

Action from Keeva, then the goblins act

for clarification, rest of party hears Aya's signal, but doesn't yet fully grasp what happened

[Cardea]

Keeva

Keeva takes out her crossbow, moving forward. She slams the stock of her crossbow, feeling a small charge of power flow from the wand inside into her arms. She moves forward slowly, raising her crossbow up to her shoulder, and steadying herself to shoot. She closes her eyes briefly, letting the power surge to her eyes, and she opens them with a slowed breath.

Spoiler

Show

Move Action: Move forward 30 ft.. She stops if that takes her closer than 15 ft. to Aya.
Swift Action: Cast Instant of Power from wand inside Crossbow. Using it to give me +4 to next attack roll.
Ready Standard Action: Keeva will shoot the first goblin to get near Aya.
Attack Roll: (1d20+9)[22]
Damage Roll: (2d8)[10]

[TheFallenOne]

Spoiler

Show

per OOC, Aya was 250 ft ahead of the party

The wolfriders charge forward, spurring their beasts to quickly reach the seemingly lone enemy archer. Even in full gallop, they release a bunch of arrows on their target, though the rapid motion makes their aim more difficult. The riderless wolf trails behind, but still follows the rest of the pack.

Spoiler

Show

Goblins use Spur Mount, wolves run. Distance to Aya: 160 ft

Shots on Aya, need 20s
(1d20)[9] (1d6)[5]
(1d20)[5] (1d6)[6]
(1d20)[16] (1d6)[2]
(1d20)[7] (1d6)[4]

leader
(1d20+1)[12] (1d6+2)[6] +1 Electricity
(1d20+1)[7] (1d6+2)[5] +1 Electricity

goblins have longbows and wear either hide or studded leather, plus bucklers. Leader has chainshirt.

Whole party becomes aware of goblins when they charge forward. Keeva's readied misses with distance penalty.
Entire party can act.

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle had been paying attention to the sun and barely registers Aya's whistle, but on seeing the goblins she snaps to action. She whispers a spell and touches Jorran on the shoulder, then dashes off toward Aya. She says a small prayer to Kelemvor to speed her steps as she runs.

Spoiler

Show

Cast shield of faith on Jorran (+2 deflection), activate Travel Devotion, move 30 feet toward Aya. (If Jorran moves too far away e.g. double move, she'll cast luminous armor on herself.)

Now 220 ft. from Aya.

To identify the "black-furred beast":

• Knowledge (arcana) (1d20+7)[11]. If it's an animal, -5 from that for a total of +2.

Edit: Bleh.

Knowledge Devotion:

• Knowledge (local) (1d20+6)[16] --Goblins (+2)
• Knowledge (nature) (1d20+2)[16] --Wolves (+2)
• Knowledge (arcana) (1d20+7)[12] --The "black-furred beast," if it's a magical creature. (+1)

[Sallera]

Heh, got you now. Breaking out of the undergrowth, Aya sprints back toward the party, drawing the goblins as far from safety as she can and signalling for haste with a double whistle.

Spoiler

Show

Run action 120ft toward the party.

[Frog Dragon]

Jorran pauses for a second to take better stock of the situation before charging forth, receiving Mirielle's spell and sprinting off past her, drawing his greatsword as he started running, shielded from attack by the rapid pace of his movement. He had a crossbow, but witnessing Keeva's attempt in trying to shoot the wolf-riding goblins discouraged him from trying it himself.

Spoiler

Show

Delay until right after Mirielle, then activate Child of Shadows stance and double move towards the goblins, for 80ft of movement. Drawing greatsword.

[candycorn]

Magnus, Active Combat

Magnus hears the shrill whistle, and immediately looks up. Other members of his group make some motion, but he holds still, waiting for sight of the hostiles...

There! Moving towards Aya, who is just now turning towards the party. That's all Magnus needs, and he makes a dash towards Aya.

Spoiler

Show

Full run, trying to intercept the wolves, as quickly as possible. Should be 80 feet towards Aya and the wolves, keeping me more or less even with Jorran.

[TheFallenOne]

The goblins slow their pursuit, howling with laughter as they shoot arrows in the back of their running target. The riderless wolf overtakes them, coming straight at Aya now forming a line with Keeva.

Spoiler

Show

Keeva runs next to Aya
Distance to goblins after their move: 230(lone wolf 220)
Mirielle 100 behind
Jorran 50 behind
Magnus 50 behind

Shots at Aya vs FF AC(running)
(1d20+2)[13] (1d6)[6]
(1d20+2)[17] (1d6)[3]
(1d20+2)[4] (1d6)[4]
(1d20+2)[18] (1d6)[6]

(1d20+5)[12] (1d6+2)[8] +1 Electricity
(1d20+5)[6] (1d6+2)[6] +1 Electricity

[Sallera]

Two of the arrows slice shallow cuts in her flesh, and a third leaves a nasty bruise on her back through the chain, but Aya was trained long ago to push past such pain, and she simply turns with a hard smile to return fire, releasing two swift arrows at the easiest target. They were close enough now, confident and well away from the ridge; by the time they realized the trap, it would be far too late for them to escape out of her reach.

Spoiler

Show

5ft step back for style points, Rapid Shot with normal arrows at one of the lesser goblins that doesn't have cover.
Attack 1: (1d20+5)[8] (one range increment)
Damage: (1d8+3)[8]

Attack 2: (1d20+5)[11]
Damage: (1d8+3)[10]

[Jeff the Green]

Judging Magnus's and Jorran's speeds, Mirielle decides to get as far ahead of Aya and Keeva as possible. Hopefully she can give them a chance to pepper the goblins with arrows. She runs, her legs blurring slightly as her faith lends her speed.

Spoiler

Show

Run + swift action move for a total of 150 feet. 50 feet ahead of Keeva and 180 feet from the wolf-riders.

Such a thrilling turn, ain't it?

[candycorn]

Magnus, Active Combat

Magnus continues to run forward, silently cursing his lack of foresight in not purchasing a mount.

Spoiler

Show

A 50 foot run towards (and past) Aya. Now 5 feet ahead of Aya, and 220-230 feet from the wolves and goblins. Hopefully, my new position will give Aya soft cover vs any further arrows.

[TheFallenOne]

Aya's shots go wide, but she bought enough time to let the rest of the group reach her. Jorran and Magnus form a defensive line in front of the party's ranged fighters, and Keeva reloads her crossbow savely in the shadow of Jorran. Mirielle charges ahead on her own, and the goblins speed up again to strike at the isolated target, releasing a shower of arrows on her.

Spoiler

Show

Mirielle 50 ahead
goblins 110 ahead(leader 130, lone wolf 80)

Shots on Mirielle
(1d20+1)[15] (1d6)[4]
(1d20+1)[2] (1d6)[1]
(1d20+1)[14] (1d6)[4]
(1d20+1)[15] (1d6)[4]

(1d20+7)[25] (1d6+2)[7] +1 Electricity
(1d20+7)[26] (1d6+2)[8] +1 Electricity

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle grunts as the arrows pierce through her chainmail and lodge themselves in her gut, but the electricity from the leader's arrows dissipates harmlessly to the ground. She hastily says a prayer to Kelemvor, and a brilliant bastard sword appears and swings at the goblin leader. Then she hustles back, closer to the others, and whispers an incantation. She breathes a sigh of relief as the wounds close, and readies herself to face the wolf riders.

Spoiler

Show

Racial energy resistance negates the electricity damage, and her Ironward Diamond absorbs 1 point of damage per attack. Took a total of 19 damage, bringing her to 11/30 HP.

1. Cast DMM Quickened Spiritual Weapon on the leader.
   
   • Attack roll: (1d20+5)[21]
   • Damage: (1d8+1)[3]
2. Then move 30 feet toward the rest of the party, drawing morningstar. Now 20 feet from them, 90 feet from goblins (leader 110, lone wolf 60).
3. Finally, spontaneously cast cure moderate wounds (sacrificing augury) on myself.
   
   • HP recovered: (2d8+4)[15]. Now at 26/30 HP.

[Frog Dragon]

Jorran observed the lone wolf. It was running ahead of the goblins, and it was now running just close enough that he might intercept it before it managed to get to them. He broke off from the defensive line, charging at the wolf, entering the sort of adrenaline frenzy many inexperienced fighters succumbed to. Of course, he was in much better control of himself.

Still shielded by the inexplicable shadow over his motions as well as his own agility, armor and Mirielle's defensive spell, Jorran sprang up to the wolf, attempting the slice it in twain.

Spoiler

Show

Immediate action: Activate Ferocity
Full-Round Action: Charge the lone wolf, who seems to be just barely within my charge range, power attacking for 2 points.
Attack roll: (1d20+9)[20]
Damage roll: (2d6+11)[18]

HP: 46/46
AC: 18, 20 vs ranged (due to charge penalty). 20% Miss Chance from stance.

[candycorn]

Magnus, Active Combat

Magnus, recognizing the superior numbers arrayed against them, hangs back, protecting the less-armored archers from fire.

Mechanics:

Spoiler

Show

Move 10 feet forward.

Ready an action to move if a goblin or wolf approach to 25 feet away or closer.

[Cardea]

Keeva - Adventures in Reloading

Keeva finishes loading up her crossbow, and slaps the hilt, drawing on the wand inside. She breathes it in, and focuses it in on Aya, forcing the energy to sharpen her eyes.

Spoiler

Show

Swift Action: Instant of Power on Aya. Aya gets a +4 bonus to her next Attack or Damage Roll, or Saving Throw. Her choice.

[TheFallenOne]

Aya's arrow catches another goblin squarely in the chest, soon followed by the follow up shot hitting the now riderless wolf in the forepaw. Jorran's countercharge makes him collide with the lone wolf running ahead, and blade prevails over claw, impaling the beast when it jumps at him.

Two of the remaining goblins shift their bows to their shield hands and draw crude axes, a highpitched warcry heralding their charge at the exposed warrior with the now riderless wolf following suit. The two other riders swerve sideways to get a clear shot, their leader releasing another two arrows at Aya and the last rider shooting at the retreating Mirielle.

Spoiler

Show

speech color corresponds to map color. Light grey is riderless wolf, yellow leader. Darker green bushes(concealment and heavy terrain), 2x2 brown are trees

charge on Jorran
3 wolves
[1d20+5[/roll] (1d6+1)[3] if hit free trip (1d20+1)[8]
[1d20+5[/roll] (1d6+1)[4] if hit free trip (1d20+1)[17]
[1d20+5[/roll] (1d6+1)[7] if hit free trip (1d20+1)[13]

goblins on Jorran
[1d20+4[/roll] (1d6)[6]
[1d20+4[/roll] (1d6)[4]

Shot on Mirielle
[1d20+5[/roll] (1d6)[6]

Shots on Aya
[1d20+7[/roll] (1d6+2)[3] +1 E
[1d20+7[/roll] (1d6+2)[7] +1 E
no cover(shots occur at midpoint of mounted movement)

[TheFallenOne]

Spoiler

Show

damn

Jorran wolves
(1d20+5)[20]
(1d20+5)[15]
(1d20+5)[14]

Jorran gobbos
(1d20+4)[15]
(1d20+4)[10]

Mirielle
(1d20+5)[18]

Aya
(1d20+7)[14]
(1d20+7)[21]

[Frog Dragon]

Jorran tries to grab the wolf in front of him by the paw, getting a scratch from the riderless wolf for his efforts. Then, he attempts to toss the wolf over his shoulder, smashing it into the ground behind him.

Spoiler

Show

Initiating Mighty Throw on the wolf directly above me, in L8. Attempting to throw it through my own square into L10.
Melee Touch: (1d20+8)[11]
Opposed Ability Check: (1d20+9)[27]

[Sallera]

The leader was a better shot than she had expected; switching her target as another arrow slices open her leg, Aya sends a streak of flame his way, swiftly followed by a more mundane arrow.

Spoiler

Show

Rapid Shot at the leader, dragonsbreath and normal.
Attack: (1d20+7)[25]
Damage: (1d6+3)[9] + 1 fire, Reflex DC15 or catch fire and take (1d6)[1]
Attack: (1d20+7)[26]
Damage: (1d8+3)[7]