Fall of the Empire - IC

[Sxoa]

Jayanti once again lets loose with a wave of fire, washing over her enemies and their mounts.

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Init : 20
HP : 20/34
AC : 13/10
Fort +5 Ref +6 Will +6

5' step back and torch 'em!
(1d4)[3] fire damage. DC 15 reflex save for half. On fire even if they save.

[Jael_Darkwood]

Seth

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Sorry about not posting, dunno how I missed it yesterday.

Init : 22
HP : 18/23
AC : 17 (13 touch, 14 flat)
Fort +2 Ref +8 Will +2

Continuing to engage the remaining soldier, Seth first feints towards his face with his rapier, then stabs for his face again, attempting to catch him off guard. Guiding his horse, he maneuvers to square 11/9.

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Move action : Feint against remaining opponent (defend against a face stabbing! Fake!) bluff (1d20+9)[24], Attack with rapier (1d20+5)[10] (crit 18-20 possible confirm(1d20+5)[12]), rapier damage (1d6+1)[6], Sneak attack damage (4d6)[14].

[Bandededed]

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{table]Matias |Ranger 6
HP 37/42: 0 nonlethal |Speed: 40
AC/T/FF |19/13/16
Melee Atk |Arascid Blade: +10/+5 / 1d6 + 2/1
Ranged |Longbow: +10/+5 / 1d8+2
Saves |Fort +7 Ref +8 Will +2[/table]

Deciding that Seth could handle his quarry, Matias quick steps towards his fallen enemy and launches a hail of arrows at the arabs attacking Jayanti

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Okay, 5 ft move south, aiming for the arab on the right first (of course). Rapidshot, you know the drill
Attacks - (3d20)[8][19][14](41) (+8, +8, +3)
Totals - 16, 27, 17
Damage - (3d8)[6][2][5](13) (+2 each)
Totals - 8, 4, 7

[CGCL_Andy]

Combat Round 5

Matias - Init 22

Matias's arrows fly true, the first one brings down one of the arab, the next two pierce the other riders body. He looks burned and badly injured by now.

Seth - Init 22

Seth's stab is again bounces of the riders armor.

Jayanti - Init 20

With another wave of fire, both horses and the last rider engaging Jayanti collapse.


Pedram -Init 16

Pedram continues riding after the rider. He is also hard to see at this point, disappearing behind the could of dust that his galloping horse kicks up.


Ista - Init 9

Ista keeps close to remo, while still looking at the battle carefully to see if anyone needs his help.

Arab Soldier - Fighting - Init 5

Only one rider is left, as his last ally fall he turns his horse and starts running away as well. (Seth, you get an attack of opportunity against him.)

[Jael_Darkwood]

Seth

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Init : 22
HP : 18/23
AC : 17 (13 touch, 14 flat)
Fort +2 Ref +8 Will +2

Making a stab at the rider with his rapier as he flees, Seth hesitates less than a second before charging his opponent.

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Attack with rapier (1d20+5)[21] (crit 18-20 possible confirm(1d20+5)[10]), rapier damage (1d6+1)[5], then charge (1d20+7)[26] (crit 18-20 possible confirm(1d20+7)[22]), rapier damage (1d6+1)[7]

[Sxoa]

Jayanti steps away from the flaming corpses and attempts to fire another shot with her crossbow. This time she aims at the nearer fleeing soldier.

She curses again as the crossbow's action malfunctions and explodes the bolt in a shower of splinters once again. She resolves to have one of her more martially minded companions have a look at it before she accidentally kills herself.
I payed damn good money for this thing. If that merchant cheated me I'm going to track him down and flay his flesh from his bones...

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Init : 20
HP : 20/34
AC : 13/10
Fort +5 Ref +6 Will +6

attack: (1d20+5)[6]
damage: (1d8)[7]

not having so much luck with this crossbow

[CGCL_Andy]

Seth doesn't give the rider a chance to run, stabbing him as he starts and then staying close and finishing him off with a second hit.

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End of combat, unless someone wants to run after Pedram and the last rider.

Please post your actions immediately after the end of combat.

[Sxoa]

Jayanti runs off to retrieve her camel.

[Bandededed]

Matias stows his bow and retrieves his blades, trusting Pedram to catch the runner.

[CGCL_Andy]

It takes about 10 minutes to round up all the mounts and gather the corpses. There are 4 light war horses and 1 heavy war horse alive.

Meanwhile Pedram has not returned from chasing down the last rider yet and the party starts getting a bit nervous about him.

[IAmNotJeff]

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I meant to post yesterday saying Ista wanted to give chase within a minute, but I guess I forgot to click post or the servers at my post. Sorry.

"Pedram has been gone too long. This failure has put us in a dire situation. Either Pedram has been overpowered by a serious foe, or he has become lost. Either way, he may well be captured and be forced to reveal our plan. Probably the Arabs will soon be aware that their patrol is missing, and possibly they already know. "

Ista pauses.

"I see no good plan from this situation.

We must be exceedingly careful at this point. I think we should take everything here, including the bodies, and backtrack a little. Hopefully, they will mistake us for horse thieves. After concealing our tracks, we can then try to move through the swamps. Since we have failed to pass through here by trickery, I think we should simply travel through the swamps. It will take longer though.

Once we are in the swamps, we can check that the captured horses are loyal and replace our hoses by warhorses. Probably, we should kill the extra horses. "

[spoiler]I'm giving up on Pedram fairly easily, since he seems to have lost contact with the giantitp server anyway, and this is an easy way for Andy to remove the character. [\spoiler]

[CGCL_Andy]

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Please don't take how I will deal with removing the character and whether Unholier is playing or not into account.

Act as in character as you can, I will deal with Pedram. If Ista's instincts are to go search for Pedram and help him. I think you should do that instead of thinking well it will help the DM. (the DM does have a plan for removing Pedram. Which will work regardless of your actions.)

[Jael_Darkwood]

Seth

Seth considers Ista's words for a few moments, then replies;
"I agree that we should linger here only as long as it takes to bury these bodies, but I disagree as to our course. We now have a change of horses. If we push hard, we can make quite a lot of distance, and with a fresh change of horses we can push quite a lot further."

Seth grimaces.

"As much as I hate the idea of not waiting around for Pedram, I think there is just too much risk in either waiting for him or setting off in pursuit of him. I hope he remembers where we are travelling to, hopefully he will make his own way there."

He pauses.

"Hopefully, Pedram will return before we finish looting and concealing these soldiers, rendering this conversation moot."

Seth begins to turn out the pockets of the corpses, efficiently gathering their goods. He looks expectantly at Ista (detect magic plz).

[Jael_Darkwood]

Seth

Seth considers Ista's words for a few moments, then replies;
"I agree that we should linger here only as long as it takes to bury these bodies, but I disagree as to our course. We now have a change of horses. If we push hard, we can make quite a lot of distance, and with a fresh change of horses we can push quite a lot further."

Seth grimaces.

"As much as I hate the idea of not waiting around for Pedram, I think there is just too much risk in either waiting for him or setting off in pursuit of him. I hope he remembers where we are travelling to, hopefully he will make his own way there."

He pauses.

"Hopefully, Pedram will return before we finish looting and concealing these soldiers, rendering this conversation moot."

Seth begins to turn out the pockets of the corpses, efficiently gathering their goods. He looks expectantly at Ista (detect magic plz).

[Sxoa]

"Waiting here is absolutely out of the question. If we have not given him up for lost we can perhaps send Matias or Seth to go scout after him. We can remain on course and our scout can ride hard to catch up with us. I am not worried about the holy warrior being tortured though. His faith in your god has made him fearless.

I do not think we should kill the horses. Having a change of horses is valuable, and if worst comes to worse we an convert the beasts into hard currency. As to what path we take I am more partial to the rode, but I admit that this desire comes more from my dislike of sleeping in the swamps. With Matias's excellent skill in finding dry ground though the swamps have not been unbearable and I will do whatever the group thinks is best.

Incidentally can one of you take a look at my crossbow? I think there is something terribly wrong with it."

Jayanti moves over to the pile of gear Seth has assembled and chants a prayer of knowledge and perception to the flame and the shadow.

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detect magic

[Bandededed]

Matias frowns slightly with worry over his lost ally.

"I dislike leaving him, but following him could lead us straight into a trap. If he is captured, or even if he did not manage to catch the runner, and we are still waiting here, they will know exactly where we are. We must move forward. I'm sure he can find us again if he needs to. I believe we should take to the swamps, though. Continuing on the road would be substantially more dangerous, especially if the runner has warned any other nearby groups," he says.

"And I agree with Jayanti about the horses. If we tie them to the saddles of the ones we are riding, we can switch on and off, making ourselves less of a burden on the beasts."

Matias sighs at Jayanti's mention of her crossbow. "I noticed you had a problem with it," he explains, "But I have no real knowledge of the weapon. I can examine it, but I don't know if it will help or not,"

[CGCL_Andy]

The arab riders are all wearing chain-shirt armor, and have food and water-skins with them. Searching them reveals a few coins here and there and a couple of gems.

Bakr is much better dressed, wearing what looks like a very expensive outfit not quite fit for riding a horse and scouting and at the moment soaked in blood gushed from the wound on his neck. Underneath is a finely woven silverish chainmail, with motives of leaves and wind blowing them in a seemingly random pattern. Looking at it, is like looking at a piece of art, as if the armor doesn't belong in a battle but is made to be displayed in nobles house.

He also has a some money on him, and a piece of torn cloth with gold and silver thread woven into it and gems attached to the surface.

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Loot(nothing magical):
the horses (4 light warhorses, 1 heavy warhorse)
coins (87 gp 56 silver and 12 coper pieces)
assorted gems (I notice nobody has ranks in appraise! so you really
don't know how much they are worth. I can give you visual
descriptions if you want)
6 sets of masterwork chainmail
1 exotic chainmail made of a silverish metal you don't recognize
1 set of fancy clothing, slightly worn and beaten. But nothing that can't
be fixed with a little work.
1 piece of cloth, with silver and gold threads and gems worked on
the surface. It appears to be torn from a larger piece.
7 scimitars, 7 composite longbows, 120 arrows.

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Although much different from how you've seen it, most of you recognize the piece of cloth as a piece of the Derafsh-e Kaviani. The flag of the empire from the Palace of Kasra. You had heard rumors that it was cut up as spoil of war for the fighters who entered the Palace first. Now you see it by your own eyes.

So Pedram is being abandoned. Reading the posts I'm still unsure which route you are taking. Are you backtracking and going through the swamps? or trying to cut through the swamps from right here? or moving forward on the road?

[IAmNotJeff]

"I'm willing to accept the group's decision that we should push forward. I think Matias is right that we should travel through the swamps. It will be much safer. That was our original plan. Our brief encounter on the road has demonstrated that we will likely draw attention to ourselves continuing this way. I also agree we should bring the horses with us. I'd suggest we bring the bodies with us. I don't want to leave much evidence, on the off chance that Pedram has killed the runner.

I agree with Jiyanti that the Arabs will not break Pedram's will. If he is captured, he will reveal nothing. If he is lost, then we can hope that he will rendezvous with us in Ctesiphon or return safely to Persia. Either way, I will pray for his safety.

Let us take the road to the end of this particularly difficult part of the swamp, and then travel through the swamp from there. For the few miles it takes to pass this difficult piece of swamp, we can track Pedram.

By not travelling close to the road, we should be able to avoid further difficult patches. "

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At some point on the weekend, I'll set up a file on my computer where I'll keep a record of the loot we've gained. I'll post it every weekend (in a spoiler) so we all know where things stand.

[CGCL_Andy]

After about a half hour of work the bodies are buries and all signs of conflict is cleared from the road. The party assembles again each with one or two extra horses in tow and continues riding along the road to clear the rough patch of swamps before moving away from the road again.

After 20 minutes or so of riding the party arrives at the site of another battle. Three human bodies and two horses have fallen on the road. they are the arab rider who got away, another man dressed in the arab riders garb and Pedram. Pedram's mount is standing close to his body and is badly wounded.

Ista runs up to Peram, a quick look by the experienced healer reveals that Pedram is not dead, but is completely paralyzed. The warrior is however badly beaten and seems to have lost a lot of blood as well.

[Sxoa]

"Matias, can you tell if anyone left this fray?

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Tracks and the like

[Bandededed]

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Sorry, I had a really busy day yesterday

Matias

Distracted by the plight of his companion, Matias jumps at Jayanti's voice. Chiding himself for not doing so earlier, he moves about the site, trying to determine if any of the battling parties survived to flee, and anything else that may be important.

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Survival - (1d20+9)[24] Let's see what happened here...

[CGCL_Andy]

Matias studies the road, but it is a road and one that's used fairly often. So it's full of tracks of horses and people on foot coming and going. As soon as Jayanti asks the question though, Pedram's horse starts kicking its hooves on the ground.

Most of you recall how Pedram talked about his horse as if it was as intelligent as a person and how he mentioned he can communicate with the horse mentally even when they are apart.

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This is when you left the horses behind and left the city in hiding. and when you were waiting for the mounts in your rendezvous location.

Ista also remembers that the victims of Paralyzation are still capable of performing purly mental actions, and their senses are also intact.

[IAmNotJeff]

Ista rushes over to Pedram to inspect and treat his wounds.

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If there's injuries other than the paralysis, then he'll cast cure light or cure moderate wounds to heal those. He'll also use a detect magic spell to see if there's any magical effects on Pedram. It's a long shot, but I'm hoping that this is just a temporary magical effect.

"Brother Pedram, if these injuries are not the result of sorcery, I think it is beyond my power to treat them. I'm very sorry.

If you can here us and still communicate with your horse, we have a few important questions. I'm sure your determination to aid us in our quest is undiminished by your injuries, so I hope you will be able to answer us. Can you have your horse give us two foot stomps for 'yes' and three for 'no'?

Can you hear and understand us?

Did any other riders manage to carry away a warning that we are coming?

Your horse might be able to still carry you. I'm going to ask if you'd rather travel with us or try to return to Persian territory.

Would you like to stay with us?

Would you like for your horse to carry you back to Persia now?
"

[Jael_Darkwood]

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just wanted to say im still here, just dont see a point where I need to input a comment atm. had a busy weekend :)

[CGCL_Andy]

Both Peram and his mount or seriously injured, so a lot of healing is needed to bring them both back to full hit-points. Pedram's Paralysis seems to be the effect of a poison, and Ista detects no unfamiliar magical auras around.

With the help of the mount Pedram and Ista manage to start communicating and the mount patiently stomps his hoof to answer the questions for Pedram.

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Can you hear and understand us?
Yes

Did any other riders manage to carry away a warning that we are coming?
No

Your horse might be able to still carry you. I'm going to ask if you'd rather travel with us or try to return to Persian territory.

Would you like to stay with us?
Yes

Would you like for your horse to carry you back to Persia now?
No

Pedrams reluctance to leave on his mount and go back is understandable, the road being at the border of two waring nations is not safe for a helpless person to travel on.

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May I remind you that Seth knows (From his conversation with Kavuus) of the merchant in Ctesiphon who has kept his underground network of thieves and spies, he might be able to send pedram back to Persia.

[IAmNotJeff]

"I'm glad to have you travel with us, Pedram. I hope we will be able to restore your health, but it is beyond my prayers at the moment. If you ever want to try to tell us something, have your horse stomp four times, and then we will try to discuss it with you."

Ista will carefully secure Pedram to his horse. He then proposes

"We should continue to the end of this difficult part of the swamp, and then continue through the swamp. "

[Jael_Darkwood]

Seth

"I propose we make all possible haste to Ctesiphon... our contact there may have experience with this poison, or someone that can help.... And if all else fails, he may be able to arrange safe passage for Pedram." He looks at Pedram. "Well. The majority wish to venture the swamps, so that is our path, I suppose. "

[Jael_Darkwood]

Seth

"I propose we make all possible haste to Ctesiphon... our contact there may have experience with this poison, or someone that can help.... And if all else fails, he may be able to arrange safe passage for Pedram." He looks at Pedram. "Well. The majority wish to venture the swamps, so that is our path, I suppose. "

[Sxoa]

Jayanti watches the happenings with interest but interjects nothing. She nods in agreement at Seth's latest comments and falls in line with the group.

[CGCL_Andy]

Ista and Jayanti secure Pedram to his mount and the party moves through the swamps and makes it way to Ctesiphon. The rest of the trip goes without any major incidents, sleeping in less than desirable conditions and fighting the bugs aside.

In the afternoon of the second day the party arrives within sight of the Ctesiphon's gate.

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How are you getting inside? Are you staying off the road, or are you coming back on the road once you are really close to the city?

Also unless you do something about it, at the moment you look like you have been traveling through the swamps for at least 2 days!!

Last, can someone tell me why you didn't loot the riders pedram had killed?