Homecomings

[Daryk]

Aldamir acknowledged the dwarf and human in turn, briefly introduced himself and Roac, then lagged back as the cart headed away from the city. As suited his trail position, he kept a close watch over his shoulder, and an ear out for approaching trouble.

[Seffbasilisk]

Bram Leafgarbed

Swooping down on Jacob, Bram lets Nas know with "Three bogies on the side of the road a while down. Big 'uns. Bit too far off to know for sure, flyby for clarification, or maintain airspace?" When he gets his response, he pulls Jacob up again.

[Shadowofdeus]

Nas

Get a closer look if you can, but don't do anything aggressive unless provoked.

As Bram pulls back up, the monk calls out to Salos.

Expecting three more on this trek, friend?

[Shademan]

Kabrakhan drew his double-blade and gripped it hard.
"finally!" he muttered under his breath.

[Hades' Watchdog]

"No, we have all we're going to. Make sure they're enemies before killing them." Salos takes out a crossbow and lays it on the seat next to him. None of the other smugglers react.

[Shademan]

Kabrakhan gave Salos one of his "excuse-me" smiles. That was a sight that would put a eldery dog with heart problems out of its misery.
"off course, mein heirr. i just like to be prepared."

[Daryk]

Aldamir saw Bram swoop low over the cart, and the mixed reactions of the party. Unlimbering his bow, he told his familiar, "Go find out what's going on, Roac."

"Yes, Master," the raven replied flippantly before flapping off. Gliding into a landing on Tom's shoulder, Roac croaked, "What's up Tom?"

[CGCL_Andy]

Tom

Tom jumps up as Roac surprises him, and say "Roac! you ARE into this game, aren't you? Well next time will be my turn to surprise you." He then answers the question, "I think Bram has spotted a few rather large creatures close to the road some distance away and is checking them out to see if they pose a threat."

[Daryk]

"Your turn? You're still one up on me by my count," replied the raven mischievously before flapping off again. Over his shoulder Roac said, "And thanks, Tom."

Flying back to his master, Roac reported, "Bram saw something. He's going to find out if it's dangerous."

Aldamir nodded, and began closing the distance to the wagon, arrow nocked, but not drawn.

[Hades' Watchdog]

Bram:

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After several minutes of flying, Bram begins to be able to make out the unknown forms more clearly. One is clearly an ettin. In each of his huge hands, the giant holds a rope leash wrapped around the neck of another large, less familiar creature. They appear to be sorts of large wingless insects, closely resembling beetles with two large prongs mounted on their faces. All three seem to be resting, or waiting.

OOC

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Bram can make a Knowledge (Nature) check to know what these are.

[Seffbasilisk]

Bram Leafgarbed

Doing a small flyby at about a hundred feet above the trio, Bram lead Jacob to slowly curl off to the left, and once obscured by trees, he began putting the giant bat through his paces, eking every last bit of speed he could out of little wind currents and thermals. Whooshing over to circle low over the wagon, Bram leans out to the side and calls down "Three up ahead. There's an ettin with two nasty beetles. These buggers can launch the little horns on thier head a good javalin's throw, stab you with them, and draw you in. Their claws are coated in a poison that causes muscles to seize up, and with enough of it...paralyzes you. So whatcha thinkin' boss? Preemptive air-strike? I could call lightning down upon them, and hurl flames at them, all while staying out of reach....or do you want to try to sneak the whole gang forward? I'd advise keeping a good distance out of thier launching range, so they can't scuttle forward and nail one o' you."

[Hades' Watchdog]

"I'm not much for fair fights," Salos hollers back, "so I'll stay out of it. Anyone who wants to go kill things is welcome to run on ahead, though."

Grant thinks for a few seconds, as though pondering his reply. "I think that I'll avoid the fight as well." He speaks quietly. After another short pause, he produces, "As Salos said before, I can fight some, but on the whole, I'm really not much good."

[Daryk]

As Aldamir neared the cart, he heard the shouted exchange between Salos and Bram, and began wondering where exactly these things were. If they didn't need be fought, why fight them at all? He smoothly caught up to Nas, and spoke to him quietly:
"So there's an ettin and two giant bugs ahead? Do we know if they're blocking the road? Why not just go around? Don't get me wrong... if we need to fight them, then we should do it smart, but I'm not seeing the need quite yet."

[thevorpalbunny]

Fashai
"We could have someone go up the side of the road and look them over from the ground. See if they're talking, hear what they're saying if possible. Be ready to attack if necessary, preferably from behind."

[CGCL_Andy]

Tom

"I can do that part!" Tom offers. Pausing a short while to collect his thoughts, he continues "Something else to consider is to have a couple of the quicker warriors try to draw them away from the road so the rest of us can pass unnoticed. You know, shoot an arrow and move away a little at a time. They are bound to follow and we should be able to continue on the road without much trouble."

[Shademan]

Kabrakhan shook his head slowly. "we finally come upon some creatures we can blugg without beeing arrested and you want to avoid them... how boring."
The lizardman was sulking.

[Seffbasilisk]

Bram Leafgarbed

Keeping Jacob moving in tight circles above the wagon, Bram listens intently to the others, then throws in an idea of his own. "Why doesn't Tom take Kabrakhan and Fashai up the road a bit ahead of the wagon. I'll buzz them a few times, a few slingstones should get them moving, and if not, I'll start hurling fire. Once they're off the road, the three of them can lay an ambush, the rest of the group stays with the wagon. I'll chase them off as far as I can keep an eye on them, and if they try to double back, we'll have a trap set. If they have allies in the woods, well, we still have guards on the caravan. What say you to that, Nas?" All the while he keeps Jacob circling, to keep the winds somewhat spiraling around and the conversation from carrying, as well as to keep his momentum up.

[Shademan]

Kabrakhan imidietly straightened up. "I second that!" the said with a sly smile. well, it would be sly if he was human! to the others it looked like he was planning to get them all, and their little dog too!

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please excuse my crappy humor...

[Shadowofdeus]

Nas

After listening to everyone's opinion Nas makes up his mind and starts talking, first off to Aldamir.

Because this is an Ettin. You know as well as I that if we don't remove it from the road in a permanent fashion, then it will be a lethal hazard for any innocents coming in our out of the city. Do you want that on your hands?

Then he calls to the rest.

Modify that plan. You and I will get their attention, see if we can't make em waste those harpoon things. I want to draw them INTO the road. Isolate them from possible reinforcements. Then Tom and Fashai will close from the left, and Kabrakhan will close from the right. The rest of us will attack from the front. The cart will keep moving just so they can catch up to us in a hurry in case this is a trap.

This last was addressed to Salos as an order, and didn't sound like there would be any negotiation about it.

All right folks... move out.

[Shademan]

Kabrakhan started to spin his dual-blade slowly. "right you are cheif!" he hissed gleefully and walked abit faster.

[Daryk]

"Good point, but wouldn't it be a better idea to find out if they had reinforcements before we try to isolate them?" Aldamir asked, even as he picked up the pace to keep up with Nas. "And aren't you just a little bit curious as to what they're doing this close to town?"

[Seffbasilisk]

Bram Leafgarbed

Circling tighter, Bram calls down "Eh...boss? The 'harpoon things' are part of them. They reel 'em in after each shot. They can't be 'wasted.' If we had someone readying themselves to cut the web-like cord they're connected with we might get rid of 'em, but they each got two, and there are two of them. Also, I can help hold'm in place if they're near plants, but not so much out on the hard-packed and partially paved road."

[Shadowofdeus]

Nas

To aldamir, the monk replies, Honestly, pulling them out into the road is probably the best chance we've got regardless. As to what it's doing here... I don't speak Ettin. Do you? If it speaks common, it'll probably let us know before we engage, at which point I'll call it off long enough to figure out what's going on.

The monk then starts moving forward at a nice jog to get into position himself, calling to bram, Save your tangling plants in case he has other friends.

[Seffbasilisk]

Bram Leafgarbed

Guiding Jacob with his knees to break the tight spiral, Bram took him up into the air, and began lazily winging his way towards thier percieved foes. As he guided Jacob with his knees, he pulled forth his sling, and placing a lead bullet within, readied himself to launch it downward.

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Readying sling, loading sling. Going to altitude 70ft, and approaching, trying to keep ~20ft in the lead of Nas.

[CGCL_Andy]

Tom

"Wait up Bram, give me a lift closer to them, will you? with my short legs by the time I get there the battle will be over!" Tom yells after the other halfling.

OOC:

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If Bram lets him ride jacob to the closest point on the road to the bad guys he will use the time he saves to search around for good ambushing positions. Once Farishi and Kabrakhan arrive he will help them hide if they want to, then will hide himself very carefully as well (taking 20, assuming there is enough time and staying completely immobile until there are signals from Nas/Bram or the bad guys are close.)

[Seffbasilisk]

Bram Leafgarbed

At Tom's call, Bram has Jacob bank around, and swoop to scoop up Tom. He then starts winging to drop Tom off a good hundred feet from the beasties before fighting for altitude again.

[tumble check]

Dvurr

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For the record...

Dvurr, having heard bits of the conversations taking place, hustles up to
the front of the caravan near Nas in a humorous dwarven trot.

Without breaking his gaze from the trail ahead, he slowly raises his hand
and grasps a wooden charm around his neck. With the other hand, he gently
nudges the small frog sitting on his shoulder, which then slowly finds its
way to Dvurr's pack.

He subvocalizes some sort of prayer in an obscure dwarven dialect.
"I'm half tempted to weave round them, Nas, to
their back side. Regardless, I shall heed your order."

[Daryk]

As Aldamir passed the cart, he cast a cautious eye to the left and right, looking for other ambushers. He kept his bow at the ready, waiting for the known creatures to be flushed into the open.

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Spot and Listen Checks:
Spot: (1d20+11)[26]
Listen: (1d20+11)[31]

If needed:
Initiative: (1d20+5)[7]
First Shot: (1d20+10)[27]
Second Shot: (1d20+10)[12]
If a second shot isn't possible, add +2 to the first.

If the ettin and its pets aren't flushed out by the time he gets to the point where Bram dropped off Tom, Aldamir will find a convenient spot of cover from which to provide covering fire to those in melee. For the time being, he's good with short range vice point blank. He's moving at his "normal" speed of 50 feet, and so should arrive at this point with time to spare.

[Shademan]

"give the order and i'l charge..." Kabrakhan hissed to Nas.

[thevorpalbunny]

Fashai hustles toward Tom's position, running through his mental list of the maneuvers he readied in the morning.

{{for DM reference}}

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Maneuvers Readied:
Bonecrusher: +4d6, get +10 to confirm crit (SD)
Cloak of Deception: invisible until the end of his turn (SH)
Fire Riposte: counter for 4d6 fire w/ touch attack (DW)
Drain Vitality deal +2 Con damage (SH)
Shadow Garrote: 5d6 w/ ranged touch attack (SH)
Strength-Draining Strike: deal +4 Str damage (SH)

Others that could be readied with Adaptive Style:
Burning Blade: attacks deal +1d6+1/level fire (DW)
Sapphire Nightmare Blade: attack for +1d6, and the opponent is flat-footed (DM)
Stone Bones: Gain DR 5/adamant w/ attack (SD)
Wolf Fang Strike attack with 2 weapons at -2 to each attack, standard action (TC)

Stances:
Child of Shadow: gain concealment if move at least 10 ft, but cannot hide in plain sight
Island of Blades: two adjacent allies flank all enemies adjacent to them
Currently active: Assassin's Stance: Sneak Attack +2d6

Other Notes:
+Wis to damage on Shadow Hand Strikes from Insightful Strike