Madness, Blood and Thunder in Ravens Bluff IC

[Jeff the Green]

"Gods damn it!" Mirielle grunts as the arrow slices a gash in her hip. Seeing the two goblins pulling out axes, she raises her morning star and shouts out a challenge. "Behold!" she cries. "I am the ambassador of Kelemvor, here to shuttle your souls to the Crystal Spire!"

A flash suddenly obscures her form, and then the light coalesces into a brilliant suit of armor, bearing the holy symbol of Kelemvor on the breastplate.

Somewhat ostentatious, Mirielle thinks, but then, these are goblins. It takes a bit of pomp to get through to them

She strides forward toward Jorran and the wolves.

Spoiler

Casting luminous armor. AC now 16; -4 penalty to melee attacks on her; shed light as daylight. Move to K10.

Spiritual weapon attack on leader: (1d20+5)[18] (1d8+1)[9]

[TheFallenOne]

Keeva's massive bolt skewers the lone goblin firing at Mirielle, and Aya's arrows unerringly find the goblin leader, the alchemical substance setting his clothes on fire. The black-furred beast begins to fidget, and the rider dismounts in a panic, seeming to fear his mount's reaction as much as the fire. He shoots another two arrows at Aya to end the archers' duel, and Magnus, having readied himself for this, quickly interposes himself in the path of the arrows, covering the elf with his shield.

Another riderless wolf joins the assault on Jorran, and the riders give commands in their jarring tongue, coordinating to surround the lone warrior. The wolves' black brother meanwhile bounds forward with impressive speed, jumping at Keeva with a terrifying howl, the worg's red glowing eyes promising pain and suffering.

Spoiler

edit: missed Mirielle's move, she's supposed to be in K10

Wolves on Jorran
attack - (1d20+5)[14] damage - (1d6+1)[7] trip if hit - (1d20+1)[20]
attack - (1d20+5)[14] damage - (1d6+1)[6] trip if hit - (1d20+1)[9]
attack - (1d20+5)[9] damage - (1d6+1)[4] trip if hit - (1d20+1)[13]
attack - (1d20+5)[6] damage - (1d6+1)[2] trip if hit - (1d20+1)[11]

goblins on Jorran
attack - (1d20+4)[14] damage - (1d6)[4]
attack - (1d20+4)[12] damage - (1d6)[3]

Shots on Aya, Magnus gives cover
(1d20+7)[26] (1d6+2)[4] +1E
(1d20+7)[15] (1d6+2)[4] +1E

Worg on Keeva
attack - (1d20+10)[28] damage - (1d6+6)[11] trip if hit - (1d20+4)[23]

Keeva used a charge of her wand to kill the goblin
Jorran's maneuver was prevented by Mounted Combat.

[Sallera]

Aya grunts as the arrow finds her arm; her drawing arm, too. This was going to come down to the last exchange. Breathing twice, shortly and evenly, to banish the pain, she returns one more volley of arrows, managing not to wince on the second draw.

Spoiler

Down to 2hp, so let's hope this hits. Another Rapid Shot at the leader.
Attack 1: (1d20+7)[14]
Damage: (1d8+3)[8]
Attack 2: (1d20+7)[20]
Damage: (1d8+3)[7]

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle glances back at Keeva and Aya, then back at the wolves on either side of her. Damn. Nothing I can do for them now. She hefts her morningstar and swings it at one of the wolves, then steps back.

Spoiler

Attack whichever wolf looks more injured. 5-foot step to 11-J. If Aya dropped the leader, move action to redirect the spiritual weapon to the worg.

[Cardea]

Keeva
WOLVES HELP

"Oh f-" Keeva is cut off as one of the worg slams her into the ground. Her panic subsides quickly, turning into calm. She slams the butt of her crossbow, tossing the energy to Aya. She curls up, arms in front of her torso, and legs up. "Aya? Little help here."

Spoiler

Instant of Power on Aya. +4 to next Attack, Damage or Save roll. Her choice.
Standard action: Total defense action. AC is now 19.

[candycorn]

Magnus

Magnus, seeing the situation developing with Keeva, moves to engage.

Spoiler

Shift essentia.
Spellward 1, Astral 2, Weapon 2

Attack (worg): (1d20+7)[9]
Damage: (1d8+5)[13]

[Frog Dragon]

Seeing his first maneuver fail, Jorran takes the simple route and swings his sword at a wolf, trying to kill it and topple its rider.

Spoiler

Attack Wolf in L8

(1d20+9)[25]
(2d6+7)[14]

HP 43/46
AC: 20 (22 vs ranged).
3 Rounds of Ferocity left.

[TheFallenOne]

The party's attacks prove fruitless, as Aya's arrows miss their target, as do the hasty swings of Magnus and Mirielle. Jorran's cut comes straight at the wolf, but in the last moment the rider makes his mount rear and the axe passes underneath.
The goblins and wolves keep attacking Jorran from all sides, though so far they had little success getting past his whirling blade. The worg gives the prone Keeva an evil glare, but decides that Magnus is a more pressing target, biting at his calf. Their leader breathes a sigh of relief when the fire on his clothes winks out, and he decides not to gamble on a hit on Aya, retreating from the dangerously close Mirielle and fiddling with his belt, whereupon two oval stones begin to glow faintly, making some of his wounds close.

Spoiler

well, I knew this would be a tough fight, and not a single hit this turn doesn't help. uh-oh.
Mounted Combat countered Jorran's attack.


Leader in C2
Worg in G23
riderless wolves in K9 and L10
ridden wolves in L8 and M9

Jorran L9
Mirielle J11
Magnus H22
Keeva H24(prone)
Aya J25

Wolves on Jorran
attack - (1d20+5)[11] damage - (1d6+1)[4] trip - (1d20+1)[12]
attack - (1d20+5)[20] damage - (1d6+1)[3] trip - (1d20+1)[16]
attack - (1d20+5)[20] damage - (1d6+1)[4] trip - (1d20+1)[9]
attack - (1d20+5)[19] damage - (1d6+1)[3] trip - (1d20+1)[5]

Goblins on Jorran
attack - (1d20+4)[22] damage - (1d6)[6]
attack - (1d20+4)[7] damage - (1d6)[2]

Worg on Magnus
attack - (1d20+8)[11] damage - (1d6+6)[12] trip - (1d20+4)[13]

Healing on leader
(3d8)[10]

[Frog Dragon]

One of the wolves catches Jorran by the leg and hauls him down as the other wolves and goblins swing and scratch at him, causing some injury.

He immediately bounds back up, heedless of the numerous openings he leaves as he does so, attempting to drive his sword into the riderless wolf behind him.

Finally, he leaps out of reach of the other goblins and wolves.

Spoiler

Tripped, and took 13 damage there. Down to 30 HP.

Move action: Getting back up, and eating the AoO:s.
Stabbing the wolf in L10
Attack: (1d20+9)[21]
Damage: (2d6+7)[15]

Swift Action: Sudden Leaping to L11 over the wolf's corpse.

Wish I had taken Flashing Sun...

[Sallera]

Damn. Can't bring him down fast enough now. Darting forward, Aya drops to one knee next to Keeva, steadying herself and using the burst of power to pull the bow back far enough that it crackles audibly as static discharges into her hands. Releasing the first arrow at the worg with enough speed to break through plate, she quickly follows up with a second, less impressive shot.

Spoiler

Taking the Instant of Power on damage for the first shot.
5ft step to I24, kneel.
Rapid Shot at the worg.
Attack 1: (1d20+8)[15]
Damage: (1d8+8)[16]
Attack 2: (1d20+8)[14]
Damage: (1d8+4)[9]

[Jeff the Green]

Realizing that the image of Fatal Touch is about to disappear, Mirielle redirects it to attack the nearest wolf. Simultaneously she steps forward and brings her morningstar crashing towards a goblin's skull.

Spoiler

Move action to redirect the spiritual weapon to the Wolf on K9 (heh). It gets one attack, then disappears.

Attack: (1d20+5)[24]
Damage: (1d8+1)[9]

Swift action move to K10 K8, then attack the wolf at K9 Goblin at L8.

Attack: (1d20+6)[22]
Damage: (1d8+3)[6]

Edit: Forgot Knowledge devotion. Not that it matters much, but 2 extra damage on Mirielle's attack

[candycorn]

Magnus

Magnus smiles, glad that his attacks have taken a bit of pressure off, and renews his offensive.

Spoiler

5 foot step to the west, attack the worg.

Crusader Strike:(1d20+7)[16]
Damage:(1d8+5)[10]

If Hit, heal Keeva (1d6+4)[6] + 2hp.

[Cardea]

Keeva

Keeva stands back up, taking out a bolt. She charges up the wand inside again, this time throwing the charge into Magnus.

Spoiler

Instant of Power on Magnus.

[TheFallenOne]

Jorran's and Mirielle's combined efforts quickly take down two wolves, and another goblin has his ribcage cracked by the morningstar, the points leaving a profusely bleeding wound, and the goblin clutches his chest to stem the flow. His colleague attacks Mirielle, but after his wolf gets one last bite in the wounded goblin turns his mount around to retreat, causing cries of outrage from his companion.
Aya and Magnus dispose of the worg with impressive skill, two arrows burrying themselves deep in throat and chest, with a crushing hammer strike on the side of the head dealing the finishing blow to the beast. Moments later, two more arrows fly out of the dark, striking at the group's archer after her attention was focused on the worg.

Spoiler

wow, I certainly didn't expected the worg to go down that suddenly


attacks on Mirielle
Wolves
(1d20+3)[23] (1d6+1)[3] trip - (1d20+1)[8]
(1d20+3)[20] (1d6+1)[3] trip - (1d20+1)[2]

gobbo
(1d20+2)[3] (1d6)[5]

cover riding attempt - (1d20+12)[32] DC 15
on failure, goblin and wolf provoke AoO from Mirielle. On success, only the wolf does

attacks on Aya
(1d20+7)[12] (1d6+2)[5] +1E
(1d20+7)[8] (1d6+2)[8] +1E

if the first shot puts Aya down, second goes on Jorran. +2 on attack for lack of distance penalty

[Sallera]

"Could use some healing, if either of you can manage it," Aya mutters, before turning her attention to the escaping goblin. Not if I can help it. I didn't drag you all down here for nothing. Reaching back to her dwindling supply of arrows, she releases another two at the runner.

Spoiler

Rapid Shot at the fleeing goblin.
Attack 1: (1d20+7)[9]
Damage: (1d8+3)[6]
Attack 2: (1d20+7)[22]
Damage: (1d8+3)[7]

[Frog Dragon]

Jorran glances at the goblin leader near the bushes, and judges him to be a suitable target for his fury. As he swings his sword over his shoulder, the blade catches fire. Then, taking a step forward, he quickly shifts into a full charge, swinging the flaming sword at the goblin's head.

Spoiler

Swift Action: Initiate Burning Blade
Full Round Action: Charge goblin leader in C2

Attack: (1d20+11)[21]
Damage: (2d6+7)[10]
Fire Damage: (1d6+3)[6]

This is my second to last round on ferocity (so I still have it next round, but it ends before my turn on the round following the next round).

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle barely avoids being tripped by the retreating wolf, and its rider manages to steer it out of the way of her retaliation. Huffing a bit, she swings her morningstar at the remaining goblin.

Spoiler

Attack goblin at L9

Attack: (1d20+8)[21]
Damage: (1d8+5)[7]

5-foot step to J7

[candycorn]

Magnus

Magnus grunts in satisfaction as the Worg goes down, and glances at the field. He sees allies beset by wolves and further harassed by arrows from the leader, and decides to move to assist.

Spoiler

Full Run to J7, which should give cover to the others. Add on my lost dex penalty, and hopefully, I'm the most attractive target.

[Cardea]

Keeva

Keeva loads up the weighty bolt into her crossbow, cursing at her choice of weaponry. If she was going to keep using this thing, she'd need to find a way to reload the blasted thing faster.

Spoiler

So yeah. Full-round action to reload.

[TheFallenOne]

The goblin's leader finds himself unable to block Jorran's sudden charge without a blade in hand, and while he manages to twist his head out of the burning sword's way, the blow cutting through hs left shoulder is still fatal. The fleeing goblin is brought down by Aya's arrows, and the last of the troup quickly shares his comrades' fate along with his wolf when Mirielle breaks his weapon arm, with Jorran and Magnus moving in to seal his fate. Once again silence falls over the landscape, now clearly illuminated by Mirielle's shining armor.

Spoiler

looty time

you got
MW Mighty +2 composite longbow on the leader
Least Crystal of Energy Assault(Electricity)
chain shirt +1
MW scimitar
buckler
Healing Belt

5 longbows
2 hide, 3 studded leather
5 battleaxes
5 bucklers

and a good number of arrows

gold - (2d200)[358] which is a mix of gold(on the leader) and copper and silver(on the others)

[Sallera]

Plucking the crystal from the goblin's bow, Aya affixes it to the guard of her own, nodding shortly. "This harmonizes nicely. I'll take it as part of my share. Now, the patrol's a good sign we're getting close; let's take the valuables, and you can bury the rest while I go ahead and take a look around. But drag them out of sight, first, and find a place to hide yourselves; they might be on a circular rotation for extra security."

Aya glances at Mirielle. "Also, some healing would be appreciated."

Spoiler

Rolling to recover arrows: (5d2)[2][1][2][2][1](8)
Aya will scout ahead as agreed, taking 10 on Hide and MS for 20. She'll try to find a good vantage point within sight of the dam where she can scan the place for defenses and possible triggers.

[TheFallenOne]

Spoiler

keep in mind, you're still over an hour's travel from the dam. We're still at the beginning of sunset, and you'd arrive during twilight.

[Sallera]

Spoiler

Aya's got low-light vision (and a spyglass); goblins don't. Twilight seems an advantageous time for scouting to me. ^^

Edit: Also, did we get all the wolves? Aya'd have finished them off if there were any alive, so they didn't wander back home and spoil the surprise.

[TheFallenOne]

Spoiler

there was the one of the fleeing goblin left, but with your attack range... Consider him finished.

Scouting

Spoiler

the dam is a little after the foot of the mountain. It is about 40 feet wide and 20 high. At a height of 15 ft there's a gangway featuring a winch connected to a floodgate at the bottom. On the gangway you see three goblins and a bugbear. Another two bugbears lie in hammocks.

Knowledge Architecture may reveal more.


The apparent entrance to their cave is about 200 feet southeast of the dam, a bit higher in elevation on the mountainedge. Wooden barricades block the entrance except a small opening. Two goblins are on lookout on top of the barricade.

[Sallera]

Fallen:

Spoiler

Aya scans the dam and its surroundings, looking for an advantageous point to fire from should it come to that. Taking out the spyglass, she gets a closer look at the gangway, hoping for some insight into how best to safely remove the dam's operators.

Spoiler

Knowledge: Architecture: (1d20+3)[10]

What are the dam and gangway made of? Stone or wood?

[TheFallenOne]

Aya

Spoiler

wood.

There is no advantageous position to fire from. The gangway as the height advantage, giving the goblins there cover. Firing angles from positions at a higher elevating than the dam are either odd or impossible.

The gangway is connected to natural rock on the right. From there it would be possible to shoot without cover, but you'd be practically standing next to them.
There's also a ladder as second accesspoint to the gangway.

[Sallera]

Fallen:

Spoiler

What's the gangway's construction like? Is it planks attached directly to the dam, or a bridge?

...basically, how sturdy is it? If one were to judiciously apply a pair of dragonsbreath arrows to the bottom, would it be possible to collapse it, or would one need to burn the whole thing down to have any effect?

[TheFallenOne]

Aya

Spoiler

it mostly looks like this, only on one side is the dam instead of a railing. It's also a little wider, maybe 7 feet you can walk on. Below it are diagonal support beams every 10 feet.

Knowledge 10 isn't enough to properly evaluate the sturdiness of the structure. It looks better than you'd have expected from goblins though.

[Jeff the Green]

Mirielle quietly makes her rounds, sacrificing the last remnants of her power for the day to ease her companions' pain.

Spoiler

Let's see... I've got 4 cure light wounds and 5 cure minor wounds.
(1d8+4)[7] <= Aya
(1d8+4)[10] <= Aya
(1d8+4)[11] <= Jorran
(1d8+4)[6] <= Jorran
And the 5 points from cure minor wounds <= Jorran

Okay, everybody's going to have to confirm this for me, but I think that completely heals Jorran, and Aya and Keeva are left with 11 damage. Each of them get a charge from the wand of lesser vigor, completely healing them. Mirielle also gets a charge, leaving her at 28/30 HP. And I think Magnus never got injured.

Judging the angle of the sun, she takes the few minutes she has before her nightly devotions to clean off herself and her armor as best she can. As the last sliver of light dips beyond the horizon, she feels herself renewed. Even though her shoulders sag a little as she dismisses her glowing armor, she gets up and begins the familiar task of preparing the dead for burial. Even enemies deserve that much.

[Sallera]

Retreating as the sun dips below the horizon, Aya climbs a tree, hiding amongst the foliage to perform her daily meditations, and listening to the rustle of the leaves as she asks her mistress for a means of aiding their assault. By the time she finds her way back to the rest, night has fallen, although she makes her way without a lantern so long as there is starlight enough to see by.

"Alright, I think we can pull this off. There are three goblins and three bugbears on the dam itself; there's a gangway near the top, and it looks like they take shifts of four there. There's a single winch and floodgate; they'll probably go for that as soon as they see us, so we'll have to approach in darkness. Since you're all night-blind, if one of you can do anything to fix that, you can lead the others into position; if not, I guess I'll have to do it myself. They've got a stronghold in a cave around two hundred feet from the dam; two lookouts on duty, so I couldn't get close, but I can probably keep them holed up in there while you secure the dam, as long as you're not too slow, then we can finish the job once there's no longer a threat of flooding the villages."

Taking a blunt arrow from her pack, Aya examines it critically. "I might be able to do something about the light situation, too..."

Spoiler

Would it be possible to hollow out the head of a blunt arrow and fill it with a measure of lit hearthfire (since hearthfire 'burns' cold)? The idea would be to have the arrow remain dark until impact, and then create a small torch at that point for a few minutes as the shell cracks.

Anyway, if we go with this plan, Aya would pick a spot ~230-240 feet from both the dam and the cave, and cast Hawkeye before we get too close. That'll put them both within the first range increment.