Rise of the Runelords, Part I: Burnt Offerings [IC]

[meemaas]

Rellin is interested in changing his veil loadout in order to be more effective next time around, while Rose has no major plans, although she'd certainly like to spar with Kurgol in her downtime.

[lostsole31]

Oooookay ... and that veil loadout would be?

[meemaas]

I'm thinking just swapping Sentinel's Helm for Mantle of Murderous Intent. That last fight showed Rellin that he's pretty much useless when there's a bunch of small threats, especially as Celiss has Hasting duties (hers is superior anyways).

[lostsole31]

Toilday, 23 Lamashan 4707 AR (Lamashan = October, so Autumn is in full swing.)

Caedmon and Shalelu return the fine horse Shadowmist to his rightful owner today. There is no monetary reward offered, but gratitude (and XP story award) is always good. They will be there working for the morning together. Celiss wants to make sure that Rellin understands that it appears that Nualia, believed to be the human (?) force behind the goblins, is a devotee of Lamashtu. Considering the name of this month, Celiss wants to make sure that the young vizier is up to snuff on his Lamashtan lore regarding the Mother of Insanity.

Spoiler

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Read that link fully, please.

Rose will spend part of the morning meditating on the mysteries of the Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. Kurgol is off doing his own thing.

Later that day, Shalelu will be going over goblin lore with the group (sans Kurgol).

When do you want to go out again? Tomorrow? or, do you want any more downtime?

[PSinger]

I say we get to getting. None of us are crafters (that I know of), and baseline training is good, but stopping and impending goblin invasion is better.

Anyone need anything while we're in town? Celiss is good to go.

[lostsole31]

Rellin and Rose? Input?

[meemaas]

Spoiler

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yea. Sleep.

Rellin and Rose agree that they should get back to work.

[lostsole31]

Wealday, 24 Lamashan 4707 AR

After two nights of on-the-house lodging and meals, the group gathers after breakfast and morning preparations and heads out again ... east along the Lost Coast Road. You peel off into the Nettlewoods to the north to Thistletop before ... all told, a brisk two-hour walk.

Spoiler: Sandpoint Hinterlands Map, sepia version

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You get to the rope bridge as before. You cross the rope bridge as before - one at a time - to get to the stockade. The gate has been shut again. What do you do?

[PSinger]

How long is the rope bridge? Regardless, Shalelu should be the last one across since she can cover from range and fight well in melee if left alone as well. Kurgol should be the first across since he's our shocktrooping engine of destruction, probably followed by Caedmon. Celiss/ Rellin/ Rose in any combo after that.

If Rellin can get us across with teleporting and no loss of spell power, that is preferred (if it's okay with him). Since we don't know what measures the goblins have taken since our last insurgence, I don't want one of our number to be stuck on a crappy bridge ... how far above the water/ rocks?

[meemaas]

Unfortunately, Rellin can only teleport a target out to 30 feet from his location. He can bring someone back if the bridge is trapped, but without expending resources, that's as far as he can go.

[PSinger]

That's fine. As above then.

[lostsole31]

Okay .... it's careful going, but everyone gets across safely and without incident. The stockade door is shut and (presumably) barred).

What now?

[PSinger]

"Here's what I'm thinking," says Celiss to the group once they are in front of the stockade door. "I would rather take the pains to destroy the entrance, if possible. I think stealth is an iffy proposition if we clamber on the roof and into the yard as before. If something bad were to happen to us, I want to know that a more committed force from Magnimar will have less work to do, whereas the goblin's would be mighty pressed to recover.

"Thoughts on this?"

[meemaas]

Rellin laughs. "We are NOT going to die. But a clear retreat would be ideal. However, it would be noisy. They'll know we're here and may set up traps or an ambush for us."

[lostsole31]

"I'm not worried about goblin traps," says Kurgol.

"Well, I would be wary," says Shalelu, "but blasting the stockade door would open our options for the future. And nothing stops us from destroying the door and then retreating if you're worried about alerting. Of course we'll alert them. Rose, what do you think?"

[PSinger]

"We're the invaders," states Celiss. "I am going to assume that even without their towers manned (apparently), we do not have stealth. As such, let's remove as much of their advantage as possible while aiding not only ourselves, but any that may come. Mind you, we are facing a possible military action from a large force of combined goblins. Not only do we want an easy escape exit, but we also want to diminish the goblins' time and energy shoring up defenses. If Sheriff Hemlock and a force from Magnimar come up, it is ridiculous for us to penetrate into an enemy military stockade when the number of the enemy is currently unknown. I doubt we should look at this as room-to-room CQB with everything on par as we desire and to our strengths; the goblins build to their strengths, and I am betting there is more underneath than this simple surface structure."

[lostsole31]

Alright, so I am sure someone is going to sport the obvious question ... how do you bring down the stockade door?

[PSinger]

Celiss can put bull's strength on Kurgol, and then use her enlarge person on Caedmon (or all on Kurgol, honestly).

[meemaas]

Rellin will apply Haste to Kurgol (concentration only) to hasten his efforts too. Rose isn't strong enough to really help.

[PSinger]

Sounds like a plan. The enlarge person won't last long at all, so Celiss will cast bull's strength on Kurgol first. He needs to have his weapons at the ready, and she will then cast enlarge person on him. Rellin can concentrate on speediness while Kurgol works.

Meanwhile, Shalelu will be all the way back by the bridge to cover both sides and to have better angular-height vision if anything pops up in the guard towers or on top of the stockade.

Celiss will be on one side of the stockade door, Rose on the other, and Caedmon should be standing 10' behind Kurgol, looking in, ready to charge (so just offline of Kurgol) if he needs to. He's our shocktrooper.

[lostsole31]

The spells are cast, with Kurgol manifesting force screen in that time as well while Shalelu cast shield on herself. At close to 11' tall, the giant half-orc takes his adamantine boarding axe and power attack/ rages the stockade door. One amazing blow and the stockade door is nearly wrecked. Another blow and the mighty man blasts what remains of the door into a cloud of beams, splinters, and shrapnel.

"Bree Yark!" comes a familiar goblin call from within.

Readied ...

A volley of goblin arrows, comes out at the big half-orc. One completely misses, one bounces off of his forcefield, but the other four hit true for a total of 14.

Begin Round One ...

R1T23: Shalelu darts inside and to the left along the southern internal wall of the entrance room. Since the gobbos only have bows out, she has no problem doing a spell on herself after taking stock of the situation.

R1T19: G1 fires at Kurgol, missing. He then drops his bow and readies his shield.

R1T17: Celiss, what do you do? You don't have LOS into the stockade. The bushes where you are hiding are difficult terrain.

Spoiler: Battle Map

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[PSinger]

Celiss goes in, passing several unprepared goblins to stand and face the eastern column. She drops an elbow on G5's melon.

Spoiler

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MA: 40' worth of movement to get to the square to the east of G5. Includes difficulty of clearing brush and doing some diagonal movements.
SA: Tony Dja Rules! (1d20+8)[17], damage (1d8+5)[12]

EDIT: I boo-booed, Boo-Boo. I put a damage mod of +5, but her mod is only +3.

[lostsole31]

R1T17: Celiss goes in, passing several unprepared goblins to stand and face the eastern column. She drops an elbow on G5's melon for 10. Amazingly, the goblin doesn't fall, but it might not realize yet that it should be dead.

R1T16-12: G2 shoots at Kurgol, its arrow skimming off his mental defense. G3 drops his bow draws his short sword and attacks Shalelu. G4, G5, and G6 do the same against Celiss. G4 fumbles and dazes himself. G5 hits a magical force effect not unlike a shield since it is a little further away from the body than a normal mage armor. G6 is parried.

R1T10: Kurgol continues his rage. He boots G3 for hard enough to drop him in a single kick. Kurgol then moves in some.

R1T8: Rose, Kurgol isn't blocking the entrance from moving into the stockade, but definitely from getting a good shot with any type of missile attack. What do you do?

Spoiler: Battle Map

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Rellin on deck, Caedmon in the hole ...

[meemaas]

Rose will tumble in beside Kurgol to get into a position to fight, drawing upon her power to strike quickly at one of the goblins with an impressive combo of punches.

Spoiler

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We neglected to mention what Maneuvers Rose has granted right now. I forgot to declare which two are granted at the start of combat, so I've asterisked them on her sheet. Her Animus pool is currently at 5 at the start of combat.

Move action: Move in to the closest spot where she can fight, tumbling if necessary.
Standard action: Flurry Strike Maneuver, spending 1 point of Animus on the Enhance Maneuver augment from her Mystic Class features. (+2 to hit on the first attack roll)
Attack 1 [roll]1d20+8[roll]
Damage (1d3)[2] + 4 Fire Damage

Attack 2 (1d20+6)[7]
Damage (1d3)[2] + 4 Fire Damage

Animus should be at 6 at the end of this turn.

Rellin stops focusing on his magic, but unlike normal, Kurgol continues to be enveloped in the light blue aura of his Haste Magic. With a quick and powerful gesture, Kurgol finds himself enveloped also in a white light, his wounds closing up as though they had never existed.

Spoiler

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Free action, Spend 1 Spell Point to allow my Haste to continue without Concentration.
Standard action: Cure (1d8+2)[10] on Kurgol, using Ranged Healing to avoid moving up to him.

That's two Spell Points spent this round.

[meemaas]

Spoiler: Attack Roll Flub

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Flubbed my attack roll code.

Attack 1 (1d20+8)[28]

[lostsole31]

R1T8: Rose tumbles in beside Kurgol to get into a position to fight, but she is thrown off enough that G6 still gets an attack on her. While Rose squeezes past Kurgol and the doorway, G6 crits Rose in the neck for 7. Rose comes out of her situation angrily, drawing upon her power to strike quickly at the goblin with an impressive combo of punches. She returns the favor of a critical by punching the goblin in its left arm, breaking its forearm for 7 + 4 fire. Unable to even pull out its shield to protect it now, Rose's second punch is poised to finish it off, but Rose slips and barely keeps her footing.

Spoiler: Notes for Rose

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They were noted with an "!", but it turns out that you asterisked those two maneuvers anyway. To get rid of some confusion, what I did was to put G next to granted maneuvers and W next to those that are withheld. Hunting Serpent Blow is now granted.

You have 5 Animus. You start your first round of battle with 5, you use 1 to bring it to 4. You initiated a maneuver this round, so at the end of the round your animus increases back to 5. Yes, it will be 6 by the time you start your next turn, but that's because you gain one Animus at the start of the turn. Effectively 6, but no ... technically only 5 until your turn.

R1T7: Rellin stops focusing on his magic, but unlike normal, Kurgol continues to be enveloped in the light blue aura of his Haste Magic. With a quick and powerful gesture, Kurgol finds himself enveloped also in a white light, his wounds closing up as though they had never existed.

R1T6: Caedmon double moves to get into position on the western side.

End Round One, Begin Round 2 ...

R2T23: The way paved, Shalelu now opens up her killing volley. Her first shot grazes G2's lower swordarm for 7. Her second shot to its right foot drops it. Her third shot to G1's left shoulder disables him for 11.

R2T19: Despite now being disabled, the warrior makes a suicidal charge at Shalelu, but Kurgol brains it before it can get to her.

R2T17: Celiss, what do you do?

Spoiler: Battle Map

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Goblins on deck and in the hole ...

[PSinger]

Celiss kicks once with a flurry at the one in front of her, and then to the disabled one to the south before side-stepping north.

Spoiler

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FAA: Flurry of blows.
* Attack 1 (1d20+8)[23], damage (1d8+3)[6]
* Attack 2 (1d20+8)[9], damage (1d8+3)[9]
FA: 5' free move one square north.

[PSinger]

Spoiler: 2nd Attack Fumble

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Fumble Save (1d20)[1]

[lostsole31]

R2T17: Celiss kicks once with a flurry at the one in front of her, nailing it in the head for 6 and dropping it. She continues against the disabled one to the south - keeping her foot extended too long. The goblin bites on her foot, but can't get through Celiss' protection. Celiss then side-steps to the north.

R2T14-12: G4 is dazed. G6, though disabled, tries to stab Rose (badly). It is overcome by its wounds and falls.

R2T10: Kurgol steps through and right in to straddle the four fallen goblins (1,2,5,6). He does a full power fist right on G4, the last remaining goblin, for 16 ... easily dropping it.

Combat Ends ...

I need to know now, where do R&R stand on the morality/ philosophy of ending the lives of the goblins? Are they morally opposed to the coup de grace ... yea or no?

[meemaas]

These goblins attempted to kill us. Rellin and especially Rose, don't have any moral issues to their being killed, especially as they are a threat to the town anyways, and unlikely to stop just because we spare them.