Red Hand of Doom: Team 2 (IC)

[Powerfamiliar]

Round2

Mi'lassk: You move behind blinded goblin #3 and claw at him.

Rider #1: Continues following the erratic pattern of #2 , and fires an off target arrow towards the vulture.

Rider #2: The worg regains his bearing using his scent, and charges the closest foreign smell, this being the large vulture, It bites a rather defenseles area near its wing creating an enormous amount of pain. Mi'lassk takes [14] damage. ((crit))

Rider #3: Still blind, tries to take a defensive position atop his wild animal.

Rider #4: Manages to once again keep the blind beast from moving and fire towards Maor, dealing [3] point of damage.

Dalton: Your bolt goes wide of goblin #2.


Jathrax: Your sudden and graceful swings manage to cut the blind goblin to pieces, he still hang no unconscious or possibly dead from the worg.

Maor: You manage to shift ((it is a free action, also changed your target to worg number 3 since the rider died.)) Your attack pierces though the enrage worg, staggering and ultimately dropping him, blood drips from his wound and the smell of acid brunt flesh fills immediate area.

Talorian: Successfully stays put!

Initiative: (Changed do to readied actions)

Mi'lassk
Huukec
Enemies
Dalton
Jathrax
Maor
Tolarian



Terrain details

Brown = the road
Light Green: Light undergrowth. A space covered with light undergrowth costs 2 squares of movement to move into, and it provides concealment. Undergrowth increases the DC of Tumble and Move Silently checks by 2 because the leaves and branches get in the way.
Dark Green: Heavy undergrowth costs 4 squares of movement to move into, and it provides concealment with a 30% miss chance (instead of the usual 20%). It increases the DC of Tumble and Move Silently checks by 5. Heavy undergrowth is easy to hide in, granting a +5 circumstance bonus on Hide checks. Running and charging are impossible.

[Random NPC]

Maor Moonclaw

Angered by the damage, Maor moves closer to the Rider, ignoring Huukec while being aware of his position. He then draws another arrow and throws it at the Worg, trying to throw the rider off it.

Spoiler

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Moved to T4

Attack Roll: (1d20+10)[14]
Damage roll: (1d8+3)[4] + Acid Damage (1d6)[5] + Sniper Shot (1d6)[3]

[Randel]

Dalton

Dalton takes a five foot step west and takes another shot, this time at Rider#4's mount. Trying to spook the creature and disrupt its rider.


Attack:(1d20+5)[8]
Damage:(1d8+1)[2]

[Blue_C.]

Mi'lassk

Reeling from the bite just taken out of his rear, Mi'lassk abandons his vulture form. He seems to fall straight down, but just before hitting the ground his wings have grown fur, and tucked up underneath his body.

With dripping jaws, he turns on the worg that bite him.

Spoiler

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Swift change to predator form.
Rat bite.
(1d20+8)[13]
(1d6+7)[11]

[Neftren]

Jathrax

Using the last of his abilities, Jathrax dashes next to the nearest worg and hurls strands of dark shadow, attempting to strangle him and hopefully stun him.

Spoiler

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Targeting the rider of Worg 2, I will burn my last maneuver by dashing to X8, flanking him. Will then use Shadow Garrote against him by making a ranged touch attack for (1d20+5)[19] to hit, in order to deal (8d6)[25] damage in addition to (2d6)[10] damage. If he is hit, he must make a Fortitude Save of 15 or be stunned for one round.

[kpenguin]

Huukec

Huukec pulls out a ball of animal fat and summons a pool of grease under the feet of the goblins being attacked by M'lassk. As he turns visible, Huukec calls out:

"You are defeated! Drop your weapons and surrender!"

[Powerfamiliar]

Round 3

Mi'lassk: The worg is partly surprised, partly frightened as you transform. You manage to bite the it, mostly thanks to its poor defensive position after its reckless charge.

Huukec: Riders 1 and 4 seems to listen to your offer. A grease forms under worg number 2, who slips and falls. ((I'll post their reaction on their turn.))

Rider #1: "I do not surrender, you will not capture me!" He notches another arrow and fires at the crossbow wielding human, It bounces off Dalton's armor but causes some bruises. Dalton takes [1] damage. He then orders his worg and heads for the forest.

Rider #2: The worg stands up, dragging its rider with it, and drawing attacks from Mi'lassk. The druid clamps down on the beasts neck, making it fall once more, filling the floor with a blood and grease mixture. ((Nat 20 followed by nat 17 for a total of [23] damage by Mi'lassk))

Rider #4: His face is filled his fear as he sees his companions either flee or die, and as he hears Huukec speak he jumps off his mount, throws his bow to one side and speaks. "Cease your fire, I surrender, just d-don't hurt me!" He moves his open hands forward in what is a traditional goblin way of surrendering.

His now master-less, and blind beast is not so civil, and charges the first thing it can sense, which in this case would be the wizard. The worg is not used fighting relying solely on his olfactory senses and misses the goblin badly.

Dalton: The blind worg is neither spooked nor hurt by your bolt.

Jathrax: A dark strand appears on your hands and wraps itself around the goblin's neck. It tries to hold the cord back unsuccessfully. He chokes and as far as you can tel dies from your attack.

Maor: Your arrow strikes the worg now engaged with what you belive to be your invisible companion. It growls in angers as it tries to pinpoint the source of the attack.

Talorian: ((NPCed for a round)) You move somewhat closer to the battle.

Initiative:

Mi'lassk
Huukec
Enemies
Dalton
Jathrax
Maor
Tolarian



Terrain details

Brown = the road
Light Green: Light undergrowth. A space covered with light undergrowth costs 2 squares of movement to move into, and it provides concealment. Undergrowth increases the DC of Tumble and Move Silently checks by 2 because the leaves and branches get in the way.
Dark Green: Heavy undergrowth costs 4 squares of movement to move into, and it provides concealment with a 30% miss chance (instead of the usual 20%). It increases the DC of Tumble and Move Silently checks by 5. Heavy undergrowth is easy to hide in, granting a +5 circumstance bonus on Hide checks. Running and charging are impossible.

[Random NPC]

Maor Moonclaw

Maor is now trying to figure out if he should go for the fleeing goblin or help Huukec.

"Damn it all..."

He grabs another arrow and shoots the Worg, aiming for a kill. "Get out of there, Wizard!" The arrow flies so precise, it seems his anger had guided it.

Spoiler

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Attack Roll: (1d20+10)[30]
Critical Confirmation: (1d20+10)[29]
Damage Roll: (1d8+3)[11] + (1d8+3)[4] + Acid Damage (1d6)[1] + Sniper Shot (1d6)[1] = 17 damage

EDIT: + (1d8+3)[4] = 21 damage!

Considered flanked by me

EDIT: I guess I pierced a main artery, so a Huukec should be bathed in blood and the Worg should be slowly dying.

[kpenguin]

Huukec

Huukec glares at Maor.

"I could have handled that worg myself, shifter, and I wouldn't have splattered my robes with blood. Ugh, it'll take weeks to get rid of the smell."

Huukec spots the goblin attempting run away.

"You there! Stop!"

Huukec makes some incantations and with a wave of his hand four balls of blood red light appear around the fleeing goblin.

OOC: Casting dancing lights

[Randel]

Dalton

Seeing the goblin flee, he quickly reaches into his pocket, grabs his eternal wand of magic missile, takes a five foot step west to get a better view and fires a missile at the fleeing goblin's mount.

Use Magic Device: (1d20+17)[30]
Damage: (1d4+1)[4]

[Blue_C.]

Mi'lassk

After hearing Huurek's attempt at diplomacy, MI'lassk held further attacks, choosing instead to move over and menace the lone survivor, leaving the worgs for his party members.

Spoiler

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Ready an action to attack Goblin 4 if he moves from surrender to attack

[Powerfamiliar]

Round 4

Mi'lassk: The goblin seems to be very scared of you in your current form, but doesn't attempt anything.

Huukec: A bunch of bright swirling lights appear near the fleeing rider. he barely seems to notice them, completely focused on running away, but the worge seems to stop and stare somewhat confused at the lights. The rider doesn't appreciate this.

Rider #1: Angered by his mounts disobedience #1 tries to beat it into moving one, the beast seems to respond with a sudden and unexpected move, which causes the rider to fall off. The worg takes this opportunity to display its anger with its master, biting half his face off.

His now master-less, and blind beast is not so civil, and charges the first thing it can sense, which in this case would be the wizard. The worg is not used fighting relying solely on his olfactory senses and misses the goblin badly.

Dalton: A charge of your wand unerringly strikes the still fleeing worg.

Jathrax: ((NPCed for a round)) Moves closer to the prisoner.

Maor: You fire an arrow at almost point blank range, at the worg trying to eat your goblin companion. The acid dripping arrow tears through the creatures head, leaving Huukec soaked in blood blood, brain bits, and the smell of melted flesh.

Talorian: ((NPCed for a round)) You move somewhat closer to the battle.




The encounter should now be over, unless you want to follow the still fleeing worg.

XP: 450
Loot: All their stuff is mundane, are you taking anything?

[Randel]

Dalton

Seeing the battle over, Dalton uses a charge of his healing belt to heal the wound he got.

Healing from belt: (2d8)[4] (5 damage taken during battle)

He turns to the others, "Anyone need some healing?"

While he waits, he checks the goblins bodies for loot. Collecting any items of value.

[Blue_C.]

Mi'lassk

Mi'lassk stands up, transforming into his own shape as he does. "I'm covered, thanks," he says in response to Dalton.

Spoiler

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Cast Cure Moderate wounds. (2d8+5)[16]

(In Orc) "Huukec, I know it is a lot to ask of you at the moment, but please try to find out any information this person might have. This close to our goal, he may know something useful even if he and his fellows were innocent. We may have done something very wrong here. Let us not compound that stupidity by wasting this opportunity."

With that, he begins walking to just out of sight of the path. "I will be meditating for a time. I will return shortly."

Spoiler

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Prepare 1st Cure Light Wounds, 2nd Soften Earth and Stone, 3rd Cure Moderate Wounds.

[Random NPC]

Maor Moonclaw

"It's done." Maor sighs and shifts back, looking less like a beasts. The wounds start to slowly heal, until no mark reside on his body. The red tattoos also move, returning to their almost unnoticeable state.

"Well," he looks at Huukec. "Are you going to question your kin, Goblin, or should I ease his future pain of enduring your presense?" He says in a cold voice, obviously angered by the "fight" they previously had.

Spoiler

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[roll=Hide Sarcasm check]1d20-2[/roll]

---

* post roll count doesn't match database

[Random NPC]

Spoiler

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Stupid forum roller

Hide Sarcasm check - (1d20-2)[5]

[Neftren]

Jathrax

Turning to the goblin, he intones in a low voice, "Don't do anything funny, or you'll be on the receiving end of one of them spiffy fireballs. I may not have managed to hit your compatriot the first time, but believe me, I have in the past reduced individuals to smoking cinders.

Now answer us, to whom do you serve?"

[Powerfamiliar]

Goblin #2

He speaks with a heavy accent. "I-I am no threat to you now. M-my name is Thalat, we are...were... scouts for Wyrmlord Koth. We-we are supposed to flee and report back if we found any resistance. It seems the worgs were making the decisions today." He stares gloomily at some of his dead friends. "I-i'm just a scout, I'll tell you whatever you ask of me as best as I can, just...just don't hurt me."

[Neftren]

Jathrax

"Well, first off, you can start by telling us who Warlord Koth is, and where your base is, in addition to it's distance. Second, what were you "scouting" for. We'll go slow, to get the answers we need."

[Powerfamiliar]

Thalat

"Koth...Koth is our leader. A filthy and weak bugbear, who is supposedly skilled with magic. I've rarely been addressed by him. He always has that brutish ogre Karkilan speak for him. I take it you have some business to settle with Koth." he smiles halfheartedly.

"Our "base" is an old ruined keep, it is very close, maybe an hour away on foot. If you could get above the treeline..." he stares at the not so long ago vulture half-orc. "you would have a clear view of it from here. It is about a mile north. It has almost no lookouts, Karkillan relies on us worg scouts and the keep's haunted reputation to keep intruders away."

"I guess scouting is a bad word, we are patrolling for intruders, this road is closed by order of Lord Koth and his red hand, any intruders are to be turned away or killed. We are the short range scouts, we were supposed to patrol during the night and report tomorrow. He has longer range patrols, some getting close to the ferry town, others as far as the bridge I've heard. Koth doesn't trust me or my brethren on the north patrols. He uses his own men for that. I believe those guys also serve as messengers between Koth and someone he has stationed up there. Sometime these patrols don't return, or new guys return in place of the ones that left." He seems very uneasy, as if he feels he shouldn't be saying this. It is also very clear he wants to leave.

Spoiler

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If Huukec want's to cast detect thoughts I'll retcon it to happening before Jathrax's questioning. It won't really add much.

[Random NPC]

Maor Moonclaw

Maor smiles at the Goblin. "If you know a safe way back to Drellin's Ferry, we can send you with a friend of us. You can tell him what happened here and he can give you work. We were sent here to deal with this Lord and I assure you, he will give troubles to this area no more. But first you need to help us. What is exactly this 'Red Hand'? Are you just plain robbers? An insurgent movement?" He looks back at Dalton. "Human, show the goblin our little symbol." Once Dalton shows the symbol, he asks, "Have you seen this before? What is it?"

[Powerfamiliar]

Thalat

"The ferry town? with the human loving goblins?" He spits on the ground. "I'd rather you strike me down." He takes a somewhat defiant stace. "We, my dead comrades and myself, are members of the Stonetooth clan. Our village lies a few days travel east, into the mountains. A few weeks ago Koth and his bodyguards came to our village and ordered fealty. Our elders refused, but after a few swing of the ogre's club Koth had his wish. He took every able bodied goblin, including those not yet adults by tradition, and the fittest of the elders. I don't know what Koth intends to do, we have done little more than patrols like this are since we arrived. He doesn't seem like a simple robber, but his numbers seems a little thin for an "insurgency". I doubt he has much more than a dozen warriors in the keep, including us and his other scouts. He's unlikely to have much more if further north. He does have that beastly ogre, and some other horrid creature that recently began to occupy a room in the keep."

As you show him the holy symbol. "I have seen those before. A few of the guys that come and go from the keep have them. Some sort of lucky trinket I'd say. Something to do with dragons. Koth is always mentioning dragons, like the fool has ever seen one." he rolls his eyes at the thought.

[Neftren]

Jathrax

Softening a bit, Jathrax stands up. "Can you provide us with a map? Perhaps we can help free your brothers... perhaps Koth is really keeping a dragon in there... you did mention a creature living in the castle... can you tell us any more about the number of soldiers in there? How strong is Karkilan?"

[Powerfamiliar]

Thalat

"A map? I don't think I draw anything detailed for you." He makes a crude picture on the ground. "I can tell you about it though. The main floor has 3 large rooms. 1 is for the worgs and a few warriors, another for the rest of the warriors and Karkilan, the last one has empty until this new beast moved in. We are not allowed in the tower, so I can't help you there."

Crude map:

Spoiler

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"My clan brothers are not Koth's "captives", there is no rescuing to be done. I despise him because I find him weak and because of his lack or respect towards out elders, but we are not held against our wills. We mostly scout by ourselves in the woods, if we really wanted to leave we would've long ago. I assume most have no problem with what Koth is doing, the pay is good, and for many of the men this is the first time they have been let loose."

"I assure you, Koth commands no dragons." He seems confident Koth could never do such a thing. "I have seen this beast, while I have never seen a dragon, this beast looks nothing like the dragons of tales I've heard. Try to imagine a large spiky worg with leathery wings, about as lazy as a worg too."

"There are no more than a dozen warriors in the keep at any given moment. All hobgoblin except for the rest of my clan's warrior. It's unlikely you'll find more than a handful of us in the keep at any moment, most patrol for days at a time. Karkilan I've been told is an ogre. I've never seen another, but he certainly looks like you would expect an ogre to. I've heard he is short for an ogre, but he seems big enough to me. He is by far the strongest most violent creature I have met, and I grew up training worgs."

[Blue_C.]

Mi'lassk

"So you are well acquainted with violence, indeed," Mi'lassk says, coming back to the group and catching the last bit.

"By the expression on your face Huukec, I guess we didn't interrupt a teenage camping trip. Let's tie this one up, and mvoe some distance away to discuss what to do with his information."

[Random NPC]

Maor Moonclaw

Tipical Goblin reaction. You give them your hand and they snarl at it. He thought.

Maor now looks away to the castle.

"I agree with our Druid here." He says, nodding at Mi'lassk. "We need to concider the options and so far I've thought of two. The fiirst one is heading there and kill everyone in there now. If we attack right now, we will get them by surprise. However, I wonder if our little wizard here has the arcane power to support our group..." He looks at Huukec with anger. "... Or if he's going to be a bothersome thorn in our boots."

If only we had not faced that plant monster.

"The second option is wait 'till dawn and camp close to the Castle. That is an option I would only take if our resourses cannot hold them. We will risk having our presence noticed." He sighs. "I can make sure we are ignored and if get deep inside the forest, I'm sure our Druid and me can provide food to the group. Keep in mind I find this option very dangerous."

He looks at the crude map.

"How many warriors are with the worgs? How many feet from the wall to the Worgs? We can use the chaos to take down Koth faster." He grins.

[Powerfamiliar]

Thalat

"I'm not sure on how many warriors and worgs there are since I don't know if any have left for or arrived from patrols, but when we left a few hours ago there were about 3 warrior with their mounts. I never took the time to measure the rooms, but it can't be more than 100 feet across, and no more than 30 or so wide."

DM

The keep is just over an hour away. If you leave for it now you will have the advantage/disadvantage of some darkness, you should arrive from 7-8 pm. As Thalat mentioned Koth and Karkilan don't really employ lookouts, and Thalat and his band were the shortest range patrols they had, it seems unlikely they would notice you during the night.

[Neftren]

Jathrax

"I'm fine if we're going for the element of surprise. Perhaps we should consult Huukec? If he can fight, then we may as well go ahead and use the element of surprise. If we need to rest, then we may as well find a safe place to rest."

[kpenguin]

Huukec, who has been silent all this while in contemplation, finally opens his mouth to speak.

"Listen... kid. This Koth is bad news. Real bad news.

Banditry is bad. Do you know what the old empire was? I am a scholar of history. I know the grand past of our people and if we want to recapture that glory, to bring it all back, we need order. We need law. Most importantly, we need respect.

Now, you might hate the people at Drelin's Ferry for being friendly with the humans, but they are helping to build our relations with the humans. The fact is, the humans would crush us if they ever truly wanted to. If we are ever able to be great once again, we need to be diplomatic. Dhaakan was destroyed because we were too damn arrogant to ask for help from the Valenar and the orcs. We can't afford to do that again.

Now, I don't agree entirely with Haruuc. I don't think that we should give up our culture and replace with that of the humans. But I do agree with his diplomatic overtures and I do agree with establishing law in our nation. Without order, we become a bunch of warring tribes again, as far from the empire as we could be.

Now, you say you are with him willingly, but bugbears like Koth, they will not accept failure. We won't kill you, but he will. I will ask my friends to let you go and I hope I convince them, but you must promise me one thing before I ask them. Promise me that you will leave here as swiftly as you can. You don't have to go to the town, but if you stay here, you will die."

OOC: Remember, lime is goblin.

[Blue_C.]

Mi'lassk

After gently pulling Huukec away from the prisoner, Mi'lassk tries to get the group to a quick decision.

"I think that, given our options, we should press on to the tower without delay. This will make the second group of goblins that we've taken out. He said there were few patrols, correct? Even so, one may wander across us, especially as we are so close already. This group might not be missed for a while, but if a third group goes missing, someone might notice. I don't want to take that kind of chance, myself."