Beyond Rhonlen

[Vva70]

Nedbel

Nedbel begins to sift through his belongings, placing a wand from his backpack into his belt. "Yeah, sure, if that lazy pigeon ever actually gets here."

As if on cue, the bird becomes visible, having flown low over the tree line. It screeches shortly, circles around the group, and lands on the ground in front of Nedbel. The gnome engages in a short staring contest with bird, before shaking his head mournfully.

Between emotional contact and a bit of body language, Nedbel manages to communicate a desire for the hawk to fly around and provide a lookout. It soon flaps its way back into the air, seeking out nearby thermal air currents to glide on while on control.

Nedbel places his fist against his head in frustration. "I swear, I don't know if we just have communication issues or if that creature is intentionally trying to make me look ridiculous." Anyone paying attention can tell that Nedbel is pretty clearly referencing past events more than the ones at hand.

Shaking his head, he quickly seems to brighten a bit. "Okay, sounds like we have a plan. Let's get it set up."

[demonllama]

Raven

"Ah, hunting and protecting," Raven says, a satisfied smirk on his face. "New intel or not, they deserve death."

Noticing Nedbel acting like a man gone crazy, making faces and funny gestures at the hawk, Raven reserves his approving look to share between Jaime and Tessen. Nedbel gets a somewhat more blank expression. The type of expression donned, perhaps, when one is afraid the target will fly into a fit of some sort and hurt themselves.

[tonberryking]

Tessen

"It's so nice to see a plan come together," though Tessen's grin is anything but nice, Raven, I leave you to your work; likely you'll find the best place to strike from. Jaime, come with me; Federweather, get some of your able men to help us move the wagon and anything else that needs to be situated...

[The Tain]

Jaime

Jaime grinned in spite of the gravity of the situation and sketched a mock salute. "At your command, my captain."

They were, he felt, at a pivotal point; he felt as though he were standing with his few allies on the fulcrum of some great moment, upon which all of his future moments would depend.

Then again, perhaps that was every moment.

He followed Tessen.

[tonberryking]

Tessen

If Tessen has any thoughts of destiny or pivotal moments, he doesn't share them, applying his sense and thoughts to the task at hand. "My earlier offer stands, Jaime, the use of Thunder," he offers this aside while trying to organize a 'unit',"He doesn't take to hiding in the trees as I do, and I would be loathe to leave him out of the fight, he'll be angry afterward. You're probably the only man here who could stay in the saddle aside myself."

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Do we need to make any STR or CHA checks to lead and organize up these people?

[The Tain]

Jaime

Jaime looked to the great warhorse and then to the smoldering wreckage of the wagon. "Your offer honors me, Tessen -- but I do not think we can conceal Thunder behind the cart as effectively as ourselves, and if our quarry sees a horse of such quality left behind when the rest of the caravan was taken, they will wonder why."

[Vva70]

Nedbel

As his sturdier companions proceed to move the wagons, Nedbel applies his lesser strength to the task of moving small objects into position.

Hiding, ambushing. Really makes me wish I had gotten the hang of that invisibility spell. Could've been useful right about now.

[Berand]

Round 13

With a little bit of effort, you haul the burned wagon out of the way enough to get by. Bert and the other two take the reins and move the three remaining wagons forward, around the bend and about half a mile up. Each one loads a heavy crossbow and stashes it under the wagon bench, while pulling up hooded cloaks over themselves so they look as unthreatening as possible.

Nedbel:

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Your familiar flies back after a few minutes, and through a little mental sparring he's able to convey that he sees some men in the woods to the south-east, heading to where the original ambush was. He doesn't count very well, but he does think that if they were field mice and he was the predator, there would be enough for two good meals. From past experience, you know this usually seems to mean about 6. It's never meant more than ten anyway...

He also doesn't have a great grasp of time, but through various comparisons you're able to estimate no more than five to ten minutes before they're on the road where you just left, followed by however long it takes them to traverse the half mile you've moved.

Everyone:

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Give me an idea of where you want to be and what you want to be doing on the map below. Bert is on the lead wagon, and his guards you freed are in the last two wagons. The four captives are tightly bound and split up, two in the front and one each in the remaining wagons. They're laid flat and concealed under boxes of goods and blankets. One of the guards warns them that if they don't lay still and shut up, they get a crossbow bolt. Since, you know, you don't really need four captives. One would do just fine. The captives seem to get the message.

Also, if you have orders for Bert and his men, let them know what you want them to do. You don't need to roll leadership dice to get them to do what you want, unless you're asking them to do something really off-the-wall.

Map:

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[tonberryking]

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Tessen's going to give some simple but effective orders here. He's going to hide in the woods before the location of the wagons, Raven too, and when he feels the bad guys are in position everyone fires on his command (A primal roar). The first volley hits, and then he and Jaime will rush out and start fighting after that. After the initial volley of everyone shooting at the bandits, he specifies that once reloaded, half the troops fire, and then the roud after that, the other half fires while the first reloads, and keep that going until everyone is dead or surrendering.

[Vva70]

Nedbel

Trying to be just loud enough to communicate with the group, Nedbel says "About six incoming, maybe up to ten. They'll hit our old spot in five minutes."

Seated in the middle wagon, Nedbel tries to hide among the goods, and readies his crossbow.

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Nedbel is in the middle wagon.

Hide check: (1d20+6)[23]

[demonllama]

Raven

Positioning himself in the woods the way Tessen seems to think it should be done, Raven hunkers down and prepares to wait for the prey to arrive.

Keeping an eye out, of course; it wouldn't do to be complacent.

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Okay, so, I'm assuming I'm sorta slightly northeast of the bottom wagon, just inside the woods.

Sure hope the wizard doesn't beat me TOO badly with his Hide roll:P
[roll=Hide]1d20+8[/hide]

Also, just in case they don't come thundering around the corner, howling like madmen:
Spot - (1d20+6)[15]
Listen - (1d20+6)[7]

[demonllama]

Raven

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/facepalm
Okay, here's the actual Hide roll:
Hide - (1d20+8)[10]

[The Tain]

Jaime

Jaime took cover behind one of the wagons, rifling through his pack. Removing a couple of scrolls from it that he felt might be needful, he tucked them in his belt and slung his pack into the wagons, freeing him up for the fight.

Eyes fixed towards the ruin of the burnt wagon, he clutched at the sigil hung round his neck and began to pray, low and firm, his holy symbol beginning to glow faintly through his hand as he invokes the heart of the Brawler.

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Assuming the bandits approach up the road and are visible from his spot behind the wagon (the hex directly north of the southernmost one on the map, presuming that one's closest to their assumed approach), when the bandits are about a hundred yards (300ft.) away, he'll begin casting a selection of spells: bless, granting a +1 to attack rolls and saves against fear for everyone within 50ft. of his current position; bull's strength, granting himself a +4 enhancement bonus to Strength; shield of faith on himself, for a +2 deflection bonus to AC; and finally divine favor, granting himself a +1 luck bonus to attack and damage.

The two scrolls he removed from his pack are shatter and entropic shield.

[Berand]

Round 14

Everyone gets in position and readies their weapons, remaining quiet and still. The anticipation is overwhelming, as one of the guards gets out of the wagon and pretends to work on a wheel as a pretense for stopping. He makes sure his crossbow is not far from his hand though.

After a few minutes you hear the sounds of movement frown down the road, and three men come jogging around the bend. Each is dressed in chainmail, and each has a light crossbow readied in their hands. They all have shields slung over their shoulders, while the closest one has a battleaxe and the other two longswords strapped to their backs. They look like a different cut of bandit than the ones you took out in the original assault.

"You there, halt! Get away from those wagons, or you're dead," yells the bandit to the right, pointing his crossbow at the drivers.

The one next to him on his left turns his crossbow in Jaime's direction. "Get out from behind that wagon big man, hiding is for children."

Raven:

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A few seconds before the three bandits come running up the road, something across the road catches your eye. It causes you to jump slightly as you turn your head quickly to look. You can't pick it out now, but it seemed like there was some movement.

Summary:

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Everyone roll initiative with your actions now. Don't forget to roll your hide checks next time; for those of you who didn't, I did it for you. Only now you don't know what rolls you got, so you have no hint as to weather you succeeded or not. ;)

Map:

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[The Tain]

Jaime

Jaime began to laugh.

His laughter was a rich baritone, filled with a genuine amusement...and something else.

"'Hiding is for children'? You, who ambush men for the contents of their purses, would say that to me? Ah ha ha ha!"

It's a trap, murmured the subtle, tactical part of his mind, sitting under his mirth like a rock beneath water, of course it is -- I don't see anyone in the woods or down the road, but why else would they show so little of their strength?

...we must force them to spring their trap first, and so retain the advantage.

And who better for that than me?

"Very well, friend," he called aloud, his laughter fading, "we shall settle this as men."

With a prayer to the Brawler on his lips, he charged the brigand who had thought to mock him.

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Initiative -- (1d20+2)[20]

Attack (vs. Bandit 2) -- (1d20+11)[26] (+2 from bull's strength, +1 from bless, +1 from divine favor, +2 from charge, -3 from Power Attack)
Damage -- (2d6+14)[20] (+7 total with bull's strength, +1 from divine favor, +6 from Power Attack)

I admit to being a little confused by charging in the hex system, so if Jaime is technically unable to complete the above action, he will instead cast entropic shield on himself from the scroll he carries and move as far as he can towards the offending bandit.

[demonllama]

Raven

Apparently unseen by the others, Raven frowns thoughtfully across the way, trying to decipher any more unusual motion.

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Sorry for the long delay for such a short post. My internet went out at home, and it just now came back up. Hopefully it'll stay that way.

Anyhow, on to the rolls.
Initiative - (1d20+4)[8]
Spot - (1d20+6)[7]
Listen - (1d20+6)[10]

Since I'm not moving, I don't think I need to re-roll my Hide, but let me know if I do and I'll put one up real quick.

This round I'm concentrating on observing and (just in case) Total Defense, so... +4 Dodge AC. Well, rather, that would be +4 dodge bonus from the point in combat where my turn in the initiative order kicks in.

EDIT: You've got to be kidding me. These dice loathe me.

[Vva70]

Nedbel

Three? Out of about six? This has to be a ploy of some sort.

Nedbel remains in hiding, believing that his magic would best serve as their own surprise.

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Initiative: (1d20+2)[21]

Nedbel is still hiding, delaying his action until more bandits show themselves. After this happens, if he can hit the ground under at least two of them with a grease, he will. Otherwise, he will shatter the weapon of whoever looks the most situationally dangerous.

He tries to empathically communicate "find hidden men" to his hawk.

[Berand]

Round 14a

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Based on a conversation with Tessen, I rolled against all your spot and listen checks, since you can take them as a non-action then respond accordingly. So, here's what happens as sort of a between-round:

Just as Jaime is charging at the bandits up front, everyone hears a loud crash in the woods to the west, accompanied by the sound of clattering armor and a stifled curse. As everyone's attention snaps that way, you catch sight of at least one armored man pulling himself up off the ground in the woods, about ten or fifteen feet off the road, just north and west of the last wagon.

[tonberryking]

Tessen

From his perch up the hill, Tessen nearly too late hears the crash as he pulls back an arrow and swearing curses on Federweather, he quickly makes a change in plans and fires his arrow off at the fool who revealed himself, still giving the roaring yell as a signal for the others to attack.

"SKULKERS IN THE WOODS!!! STAND YOUR GROUND AND ATTACK!"

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Initiative: (1d20+3)[9]

Tessen is going to shoot the guy who crashed with his bow; he prepared for a charge originally so his naked sword and shield are right next to him against a tree for easy grabbing.

(1d20+8)[26] Attack (1d8)[4] damage.
Also, additional Spot for after to see how many more creeps are in the woods:(1d20)[6]