Sunkensky to Redemption IC

[Smilex]

This is the new IC thread for the western path quest group.

OOC thread at
https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?624362-Sunkensky-to-Redemption-OOC&p=24856356#post24856356

[Smilex]

The group is made up of
Yaj'dak, the tortle barbarian
Zain, the sorcerer-cleric
Lucia, the diviner
Rikkan, the paladin
Coatell, the nerdy bookmerchant
Justius, the young bloodhunter

........

It was a cloudy morning. There was even a bit of rain.

The tension had been high throughout the week. Living at Norma'n'Eight's motel had been quite suspenseful. It was in a way, a delightful morning of fresh air and renewed strength.

The path was unclear. It had been a week since you stood on a hill looking at the distant farm of Sunkensky. Yet both Yaj'dak and Lucia had a head for navigation and Zain had been reminiscing. There were ancient half-formed memories, maybe real, maybe imagined based on the stories of others. A field of corn and a large house made of big logs ... sturdy ... safe ... home?

It seemed reasonable to agree to come back to Tearhill once each group had achieved it's objectives. There had been no threats from the undead after the first day.

The first choice was whether to cross the large river to the side of the gangs as soon as possible, or as late as possible. This side would have the threat of the Iron chain and mraow patrols. On the other side... gangs, gnolls, something else maybe? Where would you choose to go?

[WindStruck]

As their group deliberates on what route to take, Lucia says, gesturing vaguely, "The gangs might not necessarily be enemies, but they could still be hostile, like bandits, looters, or even taking their own slaves. And of course running into the Mraow and Iron Chain on this side may be possible, but I doubt they are after us at the moment. If they were, they should have already found us with their diviners by now."

"I think we should stay on this side for now but frequently look for opportunities to cross should something go awry here."

[Smilex]

You come near the river by midday. It quickly becomes apparent that the river would be easiest to cross here where it's smaller. Small streams join the river all the time and it rapidly gathers strength as it continues it's course lower into the valley. Here, in the upper parts, the crossing is a trivial thing.

Once on the river itself, you see that the river descends rapidly. You will have to descend carefully. The cliffs are steep at places.

Where the river is slower, there are plenty of flowers. Crabs seem to be a constant on this river but where the river is full of blooms you can also see frogs and wading birds, with long feet, hunting the frogs.

https://p1.pxfuel.com/preview/6/951/715/water-pond-flowers-in-water-flowers-summer.jpg

When you look further along the river you can make out a large stone bridge far in the distance, where the river has grown larger. There's a kind of a fortification on the souther side of this bridge.

At one point during the early hours of your trek you see a small flock of the bloodsucker owls near the corpse of a wild dog. They are not directly on your path so they ignore you and continue their meal.

Do you proceed as fast as you can or as stealthily as you can? Do you cross the river when you find the easy spot? And would you please give me survival or athletics rolls regarding the cliff descent.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak nods Better the demons we know. I suggest we move cautiously, especially with those birds about


Yaj'dak can hold a rope to help the others down first, if the drop isn't too steep for that. I'd also like to roll stealth to account for how well he's keeping a low profile (basically not immediately being an obvious biped to anyone who is quickly scanning the horizon)

Athletics [roll0]

Stealth [roll1]

[WindStruck]

"Right. Looks like the river only gets more difficult further along, and I don't like the look of that bridge..."

With Yaj'dak's help, Lucia descends with the aid of the rope. And trying to cross that opening where they may be visible at a distance at a healthy mix of stealth and not taking too long.

stealth: [roll0]

[Smilex]

The day passes as you work your way down from the higher parts of the valley into the lower ones. The rain allows you some cover but also makes the climb more difficult. Many times the group has to marvel at Yaj'dak's iron grip on the cliff wall when he manages to safely come down seemingly dangerous paths.

At one point during the day you can see a wagon caravan go down the valley on a road on the opposite side, the guards' side of the river.

The day passes without a mishap. Daylight is getting low when you come upon the burnt out ruins of what would have been a group of four wooden buildings. There'a s clearing and what would have been a small patch of farmed land. Small rock walls that were doubtless animal pens are still standing.
Number 4 on the map.

There doesn't seem to be anyone left here. You surmise that this place was burnt out in an attack on the same day that you escaped the slavers.

You can see some nuts left in a grouping of palms that look like they've been cultivated. You can also see a lone capybara running in the ruins.

[WindStruck]

Lucia sighs and says, "It's a shame seeing places like this, someone's livelihood destroyed.. I wonder who lived here or who might have done this..."

While assessing whether or not it might be safe to actually enter the buildings, Lucia still does some investigation on the outside, looking for tracks, footprints, maybe shards of broken things, arrowheads, blood, etc. Any clues.

survival: [roll0]
perception: [roll1]
investigation: [roll2]

[Smilex]

You found some arrowheads, some metal pans, a belt buckle, a bunch of nails, a couple of knives and even a set of needles. Various small items that have survived the fires.

There's a path to the southwest that seems to have been used regularly. It's also going in the direction where you're headed as it happens. The attackers didn't come on the path though. They came and apparently left through the southern woods. You actually find some gnoll footprints to ascertain the nature of the attackers.

You feel elated at not finding any corpses. It looks like the residents of the farm either escaped or were captured.

[Smilex]

Coatell looks around a bit and suggests
This place has stood here for quite a while before it was attacked. We saw the plumes of smoke when we first came here. I think the gnolls don't normally attack this region. There were alarm horns and troop movements soon after. We might have the gnolls to thank for having the mraow be so disinterested in our actions so far.

Then she wonders.
Do you think we should spend the night here or try to get as far as we can before having some sleep?

[WindStruck]

Lucia says, "There's not much in the way of shelter, and I feel it's too out in the open. On top of being near that guarded bridge. I think we should move on and hopefully find someplace more ideal to break camp."

[Luccan]

I agree, Lady Lucia. The trees would hide us better. I recommend we stick to dry rations if we're concerned about being spotted. Yaj'dak will gather the useful looking refuse they found.


Gonna pick up any of the items you mentioned that look to be in usable condition

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak picks up a number of items and then you continue southwest. You make good pace as you have a path to move on. The woods cover you on both sides and there's little reason to creep.

The rain stops. Soon after you find yourself tired. Evening is here and it's very late. It's midsummer and the days are longer. Walking through all of daylight makes you quite tired. Rikkan insists that he and Yaj'dak take the worst guardshifts in the middle of the night. Justius takes another of the worst shifts and Coatell asks to take the first shift suggesting Lucia would take the morning shift.

The ground is wet and uncomfortable but the weather isn't cold so it's not too difficult to find a minimal level of comfort. In no time at all, people are asleep. Weariness wins.

Coatell eventually wakes Yaj'dak up. It's dark and calm. She goes to sleep while Yaj'dak finds himself sitting in the blackness, listening, waiting. About thirty minutes later, there's the sound of a dog barking somewhere in the distance. A little while later there's more barking, it's coming from the east.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak takes up his maul and moves to the east side of the camp. He stands with this feet apart and his hands over his head, attempting to appear larger to any predators that might come snooping. If the sound retreats he'll resume his watch as normal. Otherwise he'll wake up Sir Rikkan.


Intimidation [roll0]

[Smilex]

As the baying of dogs continues to get closer Yaj'dak wakes up Rikkan.
By the time Rikkan's awake, the dogs are even closer and it's clear there's quite a number of them. Then you start hearing some growling speech amongst the barking.

Rikkan proceeds to wake the others.
I think someone is tracking us with dogs.

[WindStruck]

Lucia wakes up groggily at first but that began to wear off quickly as she realized the only reason this was happening was because they were in danger.

Hearing barking and growling speech, Lucia wakes up anyone else still sleeping and hurriedly tries to help them find their gear.

"It's the Gnolls!" she says.

[Smilex]

Rikkan says
I suggest we proceed on the path southwest. By the sounds of it there's a significant group of gnolls. This spot in the middle of the woods could hardly be worse for defence. If we find a hill, a ditch or a ford to protect we will already be better off.

[WindStruck]

Lucia curses under her breath.

"They'll be pursuing us then. And for how long..."

She asks as they continue gathering their things, "Can you all see okay? As soon as I make any light spells, they will know exactly where we are at."

[Smilex]

Coatell suggests
Lucia, can you guide those lights to fly under the fern cover. That will significantly decrease the light shed around.

Justius offers.
I can lead them to another direction, give the rest of you more time to escape.

[gryffydd65]

Zain apologizes for being under the weather.

I can cast some quick little spells that might get them to go in a different direction.

[WindStruck]

"But Justius, how will you find your way back to us?" Lucia asks. "I think we will need you more, when we can hopefully find a more defensible position.."

When everyone is ready to go, Lucia will cast dancing lights with the lights as low to the ground as possible, and spread out a bit to illuminate their path ahead.

[Smilex]

You start moving further west hoping to evade the pursuers. You make good time with Lucia's light showing you the way. Between the trees and the undergrowth the spread of the light is quite limited.

You're going up all the time but Rikkan insists that the hill is not steep enough to be considered a proper defensive position. Then you suddenly come out of the forest. It's another clearing, another settlement. This too has been attacked recently, burned down.

In your hurry you don't have time to really explore the settlement. There's similar small stone walls for animal pens as there were in the first settelement. The walls go up to waist-height. There's the remnants of three buildings, all burnt out husks at this point. Nothing remarkable.

Your attention is immediately drawn instead to something you see in the south. You have a high position allowing you to look over some shorter trees. Maybe a mile to the south there's a tower. The tower itself isn't burning but there's a fire inside, a torch maybe. In that light the structure is clearly visible against the dark background.

You realize you're close to Sunkensky and you wonder if the gnolls are actually looking for you or simply heading to the same place you are. The relative safety of the settlement feels welcoming.

[gryffydd65]

Let us hurry, maybe we reach the tower and warn the inhabitants before the gnolls get there. Zain said to the others as his steps increased like a man with a plan .

[Smilex]

The group picks up pace now that you have a goal in sight. Luckily, the path you have been walking on, is also heading to the same direction. As you move, you realize that the sounds following you have changed. You hear the sound of gnolls less but the dogs are getting nearer quickly. It sounds like they've released the hounds.

You get down the hill. You can see the end of the forest nearby and hear the sound of a river closeby. You can kind of make out the form of a bridge as there are a number of lights at a distance but there's still too many trees and too much distance to catch details.

At that time the dogs are starting to catch up to you. You realize there's a pack of hounds about 60' behind you, barking, hunting.

Coatell yells
Rikkan, try to hit the larges one first! It's the pack leader and the others will follow what it does!

About ten dogs run from behind you, they dash not straight at you but they run to the sides of your group, being 10'to20' to either direction.

Rikkan looks to the right and says
Everyone, defend Lucia and Zain!

Then he steps of the path and takes a swing at the largest dog in the pack. In the dark his weapon catches a branch and he completely misses.


I rolled some dice and got really great numbers
8 Yaj'dak
7 Justius
5 Lucia
3 Zain

End of round 1
Round 2

10 Coatell
9 Dogs (10?)
8 Rikkan

[WindStruck]

Lucia draws her dagger and she points at the largest dog that appeared to be the pack leader as Coatell called out.

"Look out, Sir Rikkan!" she calls out as she launches a fire bolt at the pack leader. Something about this seemed familiar. The attack wasn't going to connect, but as he moved out of the way, it left the perfect opening to sear the dog right in the face.

attack: [roll0]
replacing with one of those diviner dice: attack roll of 5 + 19 = 24

damage: [roll1]

(assuming she's also keeping some lights up)

[Smilex]

Lucia's firebolt turns the largest dog into a canine torch. The creature howls for a couple of seconds and then just burns on the ground, tallow catching fire. The dogs on your right are clearly shaken by the sight.

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak strikes the largest dog on the left side of the group. The maul breaks the creature's back.

Justius strikes another dog with an axe, silencing that one. He has another axe in the other hand which he tries to use to hit another dog, but this time he misses.

After Lucia torches one of the dogs, Zain grabs another dog and shocks it's paw slightly.

Coatell gives a suggestion to Yaj'dak about positioning, while using a maul in a forest, and then he continues to advance toward the tower.
+4 to Yaj'dak's next action

The dogs are alarmed. They disengage and withdraw deeper into the woods. They keep barking and you get the idea they might still pursue, possibly even attack again. But they're definitely frightened by the fire and losing their two leaders.

Rikkan tries to intimidate the dogs further by shouting but retreats toward the tower.

You can either keep fighting the dogs or retreat. Or you can of course do something to surprise me:smallsmile:

[WindStruck]

"Come on. Let's hurry to the tower now. And pray whoever may be there is remotely friendly," Lucia says, urging her companions onward.

"If they aren't, well.. maybe that gives us more time to run from our pursuers..."

[Smilex]

You continue advancing to the forest's edge and you see a fortified farm beyond a river.

Though you can't see all of the place immediately, here's a map to help you understand scale and shape.
https://i.ibb.co/P6cTcnv/Sunkensky.jpg

There's sounds of shouting beyond the river. Human noises and guttural warcries. There's flaming arrows flying in the air, but they're failing to set the farm alight.

The forest ends on the bank of a fast-flowing river spanned by a wooden bridge which leads to the gate of the palisaded homestead. The majority of the enemies seem to be assaulting it's left side.

You get closer and somebody yells at you from over the fences.
There's people beyond the bridge! They're running from more gnolls! Quick! The Gate! The gate!

You see at the other end of the bridge a large door starts opening.

Behind you you see gnolls carrying torches appear from between the trees.

[gryffydd65]

Protect the bridge. We will move a back slowly. Zain yells as he brings his axe up to defend the bridge.

[Smilex]

You can see six gnolls carrying torches behind you. Around them there's a vague number of others. They shift from light to shadow and back so it's difficult to gauge their number.

On the opposite side of the river there must be a dozen archers based on the number of the flaming arrows. You feel certain that there's more of them.

You make good pace and get to the bridge well ahead of the gnolls. You hear the dogs again. Clearly their masters have caught up to them.

As you come to the bridge, the gnolls on the opposite side of the river switch their targets to you. The first volley of arrows misses but it will not take them long to fire again. At the gate, you can see that a lone young woman is pushing it open for you.

Come fast.
They say in a peculiarly calm voice, given the situation.

Inside the fort someone is yelling.
The barn's caught fire. Quickly now! Buckets!

A man on the parapets is shooting at the approaching gnolls. Between firing he shouts to the yard
Take heart everyone! The newcomers have a wizard among them! I can see the magic lights!

[WindStruck]

Everyone in! We can help fend off the gnolls! Lucia says.

She turns to launch a fire bolt at one of the gnolls and then runs in through the gate.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

Would prefer to hit an archer, but if I can't, any of the other closer ones will do.

[Smilex]

Lucia shoots one of the archers on the other side with a river, hitting it's arm. The creature yelps and drops it's bow, only to pick it up again while making angry noises in gnollish.

Your group enters the yard through a wooden gatehouse. The lady who opened the door starts closing it with the same calm and determined way as when opening it. Rikkan helps her be a little bit faster.

An older man comes down a ladder from top of the gatehouse.
Welcome to Sunkensky. You come at a dire moment. The gnolls are now on three sides of the farm and we were already having trouble with two groups of attackers.

He points at the barn [3] and says.
They've just managed to light the roof. You seem armed and healthy. Can you help us foil the attackers.

There's an obvious facial resemblance between the older man and Uncle Zain.

17 on the map is a stable with a few llamas. 13 is a forge, looks well kept. There's another floor above the spaces marked 13 and 14.
The buildings are joined by 8 foot high log palisades.
The entrances to the homestead's main building have heavy, reinforced wood doors.
There are no ground-floor windows in the main house.
The tower is built of stone and has four floors if you count the partially open top.
The western side between two log walls has animal pens, but from the sounds of it, that side is already breached and there's people beating on the door to the interior courtyard.

[WindStruck]

"Is there water to put out the fire?" Lucia asks, quickly turning about to try to assess the situation.

perception: [roll0]

insight: [roll1]

"We have a few competent fighters. Just tell us where to go."

[Smilex]

The late middle age man says
Are you archers? Then you might want to go inside and get to the tower.

Two younger men are moving across the yard toward the barn.

The older man says to them
Let it burn. We can build it anew. They're not getting in through a burning roof.

The two look confused until the older man waves them to go back to the western gate.

The man turns to you again.
If you're better in hand to hand combat maybe you'll help us when they make a breach. Likely at the western gate or the bridge's gatehouse.

You hear the sound of feet on the bridge on the other side of the gatehouse.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak looks to Lucia for leave to head to one of the gates. He'll take whichever gate has fewer defenders

[WindStruck]

Lucia simply nods to Yaj'dak, wordlessly allowing him to take his own initiative.

She says, "The range on my magic is somewhat limited. I might not be able to strike one of their archers from all the way up there. But I think I at least know how to handle a crossbow.."

[gryffydd65]

Zain moves to the gatehouse at the bridge. He starts talking to any of the nearby defenders. Zain will try to inspire as many as he can for the ten minutes. I am sure we will be attacked before that but trying to keep in character.

[Smilex]

The gate house was previously only manned by the older fellow. Now that your group is here he actually moves in to help the two younger men on the west side.

Coatell says
If you could show me to the tower as well. I'm likely better with a crossbow too.

The young lady starts leading Lucian and Coatell into the house while Rikkan, Zain, Yaj'dak and Justius now form the defence of the gate house.

The actual gate of the gatehouse is held in place by three metal latches. Individually none of them look particularly strong, but together they might hold decently.

The second floor of the gatehouse is without a roof and a person standing there will be at the height of 10'. The walls of the second floor rise to about 4' allowing good protection.

Lucia, Coatell and their guide enter the main hall of the building. There's a long table, benches. There's a large chair that looks like a throne almost in comparison to the benches. Near the 'throne' there's mounted on the wall the heads of an eagle and that of a jaguar. On other walls there's two magnificent tapestries. One has llamas on it. The other is a geometric pattern. This one resembles very much a tapestry that is back in Ambrosia in the bedroom of the baroness.

The journey continues up to the tower.

[WindStruck]

Lucia spares the tapestry a quick glance.

Though this homestead under assault wasn't much.. it definitely felt like something worth defending.

She continues following the way up, and grabs a ranged weapon she can use if available.

[gryffydd65]

Zain stands ready having tried to inspire courage into those that hear him.[roll0] [roll1]

[Smilex]

On the yard, it takes a few minutes for Zain to finish his sermon. Everyone present feels more ready to face the coming attack.

As Zain preaches you hear the gnolls first bang the gate a couple of minutes. They try to hack at it with axes and maces and make little progress. Then they start to form a gnoll pyramid. Rikkan yells for Yaj'dak to join him over the gatehouse to repel the climbers.

The barn's roof is now fully ablaze. There's cheering of gnolls outside the eastern wall.

On the western side it sounds like something quite heavy is hitting the western gate.

...

Inside the homestead Lucia looks at the tapestry. It's not identical but it's definitely from the same creator as the one back home. The Baroness always used to say that it's precious and one should be careful with it.

Then Lucia and Coatell climb to the second floor of the tower. Here you find a pregnant woman sitting on the floor. She's about Lucia's age. She's singing an old traditional religious song that invokes the Dimvaran to protect the faithful.

The other woman greets her:
Don't worry. The Dimvaran granted us new allies.They just wandered out of the darkness. It must be one of them miracles.

You continue into the third floor. Here the woman grabs onto the floorboards to reveal a hidden armory. There's swords, bows, crossbows, leather armor.

Coatell grabs a crossbow and notes
You seem to be quite well stocked for being prisoners in this valley.

The woman seems taken back by this and just says
Ask Pyot about that.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak follows Rikkan and prepares to take a swing at the first gnoll to come over the gate house.


[roll0]

[roll1]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak surprises the first gnoll trying to rise up with a maul strike to the reaching hand. The gnoll yelps but doesn't fall down.

Meanwhile Lucian and Coatell rise up to the upmost level of the tower, where they find two other archers, trying to shoot at the fire archers. The enemy is mostly in the dark, only when they grab a fiery arrow and ready it, are they visible for a few seconds. Even then only barely. In the firelight Lucia does catch a momentary glimpse of someone riding a large wolf before they disappear into darkness again.

A group of javelineers appear on the bridge, ready to assault the gate's defenders.


20 Lucia
19 Yaj'dak
19 Justius
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
6 Gnoll archers
4 Gnolls at the gate
1 Coatell

[WindStruck]

"Ugh, more of them?" Lucia complains.

"I thought I saw one of them riding a large wolf. He might be the leader. Let's try to go for him."

Lucia will cast Dancing Lights nearly as far out as she can, trying to illuminate the area where she had seen the archers and their leader riding the wolf.

Also, she still manages to have time to load her crossbow.

guess that's right. Standard action: cast dancing lights. Move action: load crossbow. Bonus action: move the lights a bit if we don't find the gnolls.

[Smilex]

For a moment Lucia manages to catch sight of a particularly well dressed gnoll surrounded by a group of bloodsucker owls and riding wolf. Then the individual rides away from the clearing to between the trees. Now that the barn is burning it's actually looking like this group of gnolls is about to reposition.

For now though, they're continuing to shoot.

Coatell and the two archers in the tower thank Lucia for the added light. Two of their arrows hit gnoll archers.
The gnoll archers in turn fire arrows toward the tower. Most of the arrows hit the tower or fly over but one strikes Coatell. Coatell isn't a particularly healthy individual overall. She looks taken aback by the arrow in her shoulder.
I can do this.
She says while pushing the arrow through.
I can still shoot.

The two archers who were already in the tower, one male, one female exchange glances and the male says.
Thank you for your help strangers.

Loading a crossbow isn't a move action.The loading property is in rules as written kind of a modifier to the attack event itself. I interpret loading the crossbow to be your 1 'free item' action of the turn, similar to opening a door or readying a weapon.

[WindStruck]

Lucia says to the two archers, "We might not be such strangers as you think."

And looking with concern at Coatell she says, We need expose ourselves as little as possible to counterfire," as she loads her crossbow.

"On second thought, looks like they are moving. But the gate is under attack still."

She'll try to fire at one of the javeliners.

So light crossbow has a normal range of 80 and long range of 320 meaning beyond 80 feet is at a disadvantage.

For future reference, if I use my last diviner die replacement, how is that going to work with disadvantage? I assume one dice is 20, we still roll a disadvantage roll, and.. it's not a good use.

attack: [roll0]
disadvantage: [roll1]

damage: [roll2]

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak snarls at the gnoll as it continues trying its ascent. He strikes again with the maul, overhead and down at his target.


[roll0]

[roll1]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak crushes one of the gnolls who's trying to ascend while Justius shoves another off the pyramid and makes him fall into the river.

Rikkan wounds one of the gnolls that are actually standing in the pyramid.
Zain misses his electrical attack.

The javelineers throw five javelins. Three of them go wide while two of them hit Yaj'dak's tough shell without hurting him.

Another gnoll climbs up the pyramid and on top of the gatehouse. He doesn't have time to attack anyone.

You hear someone yell on the western gate's side
Grappling hooks!

Lucia tries to shoot one of the javelineers but her shot goes wide.



19 Yaj'dak
19 Justius
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
6 Gnoll archers
4 Gnolls at the gate
1 Coatell

Round 2 ends
Round 3 begins

20 Lucia

[Luccan]

These scrawny warriors are too weak and stupid to be much of a threat. But they're dividing us by being here He glances over the edge at the remaining gnolls Is there some way we can harm the lot of them at once? Then we could aid with the grappling hooks As he speaks he takes another swing at the gnolls attempting to climb their allies


[roll0]

[roll1]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak tries to hit the gnoll, but it steps deftly aside to dodge the blow.

Justius swings his axes twice at the creature and hits once. It's a minor blow in the creature's leg but a hit nevertheless.

Rikkan hits the gnoll as well with his sword, a slightly better blow, but the creature still stands.

Zain tries to cast shocking grasp on one of the gnolls standing in the pyramid, but it fails.

The archers up north loose one more volley before walking into the woods. Both the male and female archer Lucia just met are struck by an arrow. In turn, they manage to make one of the gnoll archers fall, struck twice.

Four javelins fly past the defenders of the gatehouse. The one gnoll that is up on the wall tries to hit Justius but misses. Another gnoll climbs onto the parapet. It's getting crowded on the gatehouse.

In the west three gnolls climb over the fence and drop to the yard. The waiting defenders strike them twice.

Coatell tries to shoot at the gnolls on the gatehouse but misses.

[WindStruck]

"Damn! Are you alright?" Lucia asks. Well, they just got shot with an arrow, so probably not. Perhaps what Lucia meant was, 'do you need some immediate medical attention?'

Lucia peeks out one of the windows and shoots at one of the gnolls that dropped into the yard.

attack: [roll0]

damage: [roll1]

if critical, extra damage: [roll2]


Maybe shooting at a gnoll over at the gatehouse was an option, but it seemed too crowded there for her liking. She could only trust the present defenders and allies would drive them off from their advantageous position.

[Smilex]

Lucia's arrow strikes one of the gnolls that just jumped in. As it happens this is enough to finish the gnoll that was already beaten up by the defenders on that front.

Justius hits the wounded gnoll on the gatehouse and that one dies as well.


19 Yaj'dak
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
6 Gnoll archers
4 Gnolls at the gate
1 Coatell

Round 3 ends
Round 4 begins

20 Lucia
19 Justius

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak notices Zain's target and nods to him Good idea Yaj'dak leaps down from the wall, on the side where the gnolls have formed their pyramid, and takes a swing for one of the bottom gnolls, letting out a bellowing roar.


If I understand, the wall is less than 10 ft, so I should land without taking damage and I'm not prone either. Hoping to take out one of these gnolls

Entering a Rage: Round 1 of 10

[roll0]

[roll1]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak tumbles down the gnoll pyramid and aims a whack at the gnolls at the base. Somehow the gnoll's hide armor protects him from Yaj'dak's maul.

Rikkan guts one of the gnolls that rose up to the parapet. He climbs down onto the bridge to join Yaj'dak.

Zain's guiding bolt misses too, again the hide armor protects the gnoll. For a moment you wonder if the armor is magical but no, he's just very lucky.

The gnoll archers in the east withdraw to the woods.

In the west two of the gnolls wound two of the defenders and three more gnolls climb over the fence. The fight is now five against two.

Defenders on the west side strike one of the attacking gnolls but the gnoll survives.

The gnoll on the parapet tries to strike uncle Zain but misses due to mage armor.

Down on the bridge the two gnolls who form the top of the pile climb down, pick up their weapons and try to strike Rikkan. Both of them miss.
Four gnolls charge Yaj'dak. One of them hits him with a spear. With his rage mitigating the strike, Yaj'dak takes 4.


Coatell shoots a bolt which strikes one of the attackers on the west side.

Justius wounds the gnoll on the parapet.
Seriously, what are fortifications for?
He mutters.


20 Lucia
19 Yaj'dak
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
6 Gnoll archers
4 Gnolls at the gate
1 Coatell

Round 4 ends
Round 5 begins

19 Justius

[gryffydd65]

Back to shocking grasp.

[roll0]

[roll1]

[WindStruck]

Lucia points at the western side and says, "They keep climbing over the wall. The defenders are in trouble.."

She shoots a fire bolt at the injured gnoll this time, then points to another and says, that one, it's off balance!

attack: 1d20+5
damage: [roll0]

I'm hoping to direct the archers' attentions to the west side that's under attack 5 vs 2.

And I'll give the roll of 20 on that diviner dice to the male archer, which should give him an automatic crit on his next shot.

[Smilex]

Lucia shoots at a wounded gnoll with firebolt. The gnoll falls.

Rikkan tries to push one of the gnolls off the bridge but fails.

Zain grabs the gnoll on the parapet with his electric touch. The gnoll seems bloodied doesn't die.

The archers at the tower shoot down one of the gnolls on the western gate with two arrows sticking out of the same gnoll.

19 Yaj'dak

4 Gnolls at the gates
3 defenders at the gate
1 Coatell

Round 4 ends
Round 5 begins

20 Lucia
19 Justius
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
7 archers at the tower

[Luccan]

Gah! The tortle takes the spear across the arm, but keeps the focus of his efforts on toppling the gnoll tower. His expression has turned to one of pure, fiery anger


Not sure if we still have advantage vs bottom gnolls, but if so

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]

Rage round 2 of 10

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak strikes one of the gnolls. They've dismantled the pyramid, but the strike hits one of the gnolls easily enough. It is a two against nine fight though. Certainly not fair.

The gnoll that has risen on the parapet strikes at Zain and tries to get past Zain and Justius to the other side of the gate to open it. Justius strikes it down with a reaction attack.

The gnolls that are attacking Yaj'dak all miss. One of the ones that is attacking Rikkan hits him for 7 hp.

On the west side one of the gnolls hit one of the defenders critically with a maul. The defender goes down. Three more gnolls drop down over the wall on that side.

The defenders on the west side strike down one of the gnolls. One of the defenders starts retreating while the other one stays to fight in an obvious losing fight.

Coatell shoots a bolt completely wide.

Justius dives down into the fray beyond the gate and kills the gnoll Yaj'dak wounded with a diving attack.
Open the gate for us Zain. We'll never get back otherwise.

Rikkan now manages to shove one of the gnolls off the bridge, evening the numbers on the bridge to seven against three.



Zain is now completely alone on the parapet so there's no enemy to shocking grasp.

20 Lucia
19 Yaj'dak
7 Zain
7 archers at the tower
4 Gnolls at the gates (7 north, 5 west)
3 defenders at the gate
1 Coatell
Round 5 ends
Round 6 begins

19 Justius
13 Rikkan

[WindStruck]

Well, this wasn't good. Lucia uttered a small prayer to the Dimvaran and just shot another fire bolt at one of the gnolls on the west side. It seemed to be effective, and she didn't know what else she could do.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

[Smilex]

At the top of the tower Lucia hits with another firebolt and hits one of the gnolls.

The male archer yells down
Taras! Close the central gate. Don't let them attack the gatehouse from behind!

The female archer says
Poin, just shoot anyone who's attacking our son. Well done ... firelady. ... Sorry, I thought for a moment I was looking at our daughter.

[gryffydd65]

Zain opens the gate to let them in.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak takes another swing before moving back through the gate.


[roll0]
Reckless Attack
[roll1]

[roll2]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak smashes his maul into the side of one of the gnoll's heads. The head actually detaches from the spine and flies toward the bridge's other end. He pushes toward the door a bit but at this point the door is still closed.

Zain climbs down the ladder and opens the latches of the door.

The archers at the top of the tower hit and finish the gnoll that Lucia hit with her firebolt.

At the north gate one of the gnolls manages to hit Rikkan for 5 points of damage.
Another gnoll strikes Yaj'dak in a weak spot of the shell. Yaj'dak's rage shelters him somewhat so he only takes 3 damage.
One of the gnolls gets a strong strike on Justius and he collapses unconscious.
One of the gnolls opens the gate wider and strikes Zain for 6 damage.
It's bloody on the north gate.

Seeing the gate open, someone yells on the other side of the bridge
Release the dogs!

On the western gate the gnolls cut down the old man who originally greeted you. They giggle and snicker and look for shelter from the arrows under the smithy's roof.

The younger man closes the middle gate between the yards. Then he sees the open gate of the gatehouse and yells in fear. Nevertheless he moves toward the gatehouse.

Coatell shoots toward the northgate and actually hits the gnoll that struck Zain. The arrow strike a thigh and the gnoll looks bloodied.


20 Lucia
19 Yaj'dak
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
7 archers at the tower
4 Gnolls at the gates (6 north, more in the west.)
3 defenders at the gate
1 Coatell

Round 7 begins

[gryffydd65]

Zain has four temporary hit points so only takes 2 real damage.
[roll0] shocking grasp [roll1] Zain reals from the pain once again tries to shock the gnoll.

[WindStruck]

Lucia doesn't like this situation around them. Under siege, people dying around them.. the north gate, for whatever reason, being opened. What were they thinking??

She shoots a bolt of flame at the gnoll that barreled through the north gate.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

[Smilex]

Lucia shoots the gnoll that wounded Zain to death.

Justius critically succeeds in his death saving throw. He gasps and rises to his feet.
Feel the fangs of the Silver Serpent!
he yells while swinging his axe into the side of a gnoll.

Rikkan kills that very same gnoll with a swift strike of his own.

Both the archers miss while shooting at the gnolls at the north gate.

The gnolls up north are starting to seem kind of panicked. They're still close enough to Rikkan and Yaj'dak to strike reactively should they just move in through the gate uncautiously.

Zain shocks the closest gnoll to where he's standing.


19 Yaj'dak
4 Gnolls at the gates (3 north, more in the west.)
3 defenders at the gate
1 Coatell

Round 7 begins
20 Lucia
19 Justius
13 Rikkan
7 Zain
7 archers at the tower

[Luccan]

Flee or die, you mangy beasts! Yaj'dak swings overhead at the nearest gnoll.


[roll0]
Reckless
[roll1]

[roll2]

Rage round 4 of 10

[Smilex]

The remaining gnolls disengage and move away on the bridge.

A number of dogs run toward them but not past them. A few of them stop to bite at the detached head.

You can now withdraw back through the gate and close the gatehouse. The gnolls on the other side stop trying to assault the gate. They choose to instead shoot fire arrows.

On the west side the gnolls open the outer gate and stamp out the torches. It's dark there now, no targets are visible.


The third defender from the west side turns out to be a fit-looking twentyish man. He approaches the group and says Hey, this is the worst attack we've ever had. Let's just go inside. It's easier to defend than this whole yard.


Meanwhile at the tower the man and woman take a moment to remove the arrows that hit them and patch Coatell's wound as well.

The male says to Lucia
I'm Poin. This is my farm. Thank you for your help so far...They killed our smith, Novannes and his son-in-law there. This could be a long night.

[gryffydd65]

I am Zain, this is my family's ancestral home. Zain holds out his hand. It's nice to meet you.

[Smilex]

The young man looks confused but grabs Zain's hand.
This place has always been in MY family...
Then a revelation
Oh... You kind of look like what Granpa looked like, when he was alive that is. Poin will want to meet you I'm sure. My name is Taras.

He then talks to Justius.
Are you my second cousin?

Justius answers
No, I work Uncle Zain.

Taras continues
So what does that make us...

Justius continues
Nothing. He's not my uncle, it's just what everyone in the castle calls him.

Rikkan intrudes in the discussion
Are you the heir to this Barony, sir Taras?

Taras seems a bit stumped
We're just farmers.

A fire arrow flies right past the discussion.

[WindStruck]

Assuming the North Gate crisis is averted for now, Lucia will cast dancing lights near the western gates where the gnolls had snuffed out torches to illuminate the buggers again.

[Smilex]

There's about ten gnolls in the western yard. They're kind of just looking around. Poin and his wife take shots at them and manage to hit one gnoll once. The gnolls go to cover in the smithy again.

The lady says
I'm Darya and this is my husband Poin. You're very talented. With your lights we might be able to protect the western yard through the night or at least until the mraow arrive.

[WindStruck]

Lucia nods and says, "I am Lucia.. wait. The Mraow? Coming here?"

[Smilex]

Darya nods
Yes. We pay lieutenant Fluffycheeks for protection and... for overlooking a lot of our things, like the smithy. We can probably decrease the bribes now that the smith's dead.

Poin says
Pleasant to meet you Lucia. And no we can't stop paying them. I'll start doing the smithing. We need to be able to repair things. We still have some stores we can use for bribes. If they take the anvil, it'll be difficult to create another.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak hisses as the arrow flies by With all due deference, we can talk later. Lets get inside He'll head in last, shielding the others as much as he can

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak and Taras lead the group into the main hall that Lucia went through previously. Taras closes t he door fortifies it with four metal bolts.

Rikkan asks:
Do you have better weaponry? I would like a sword if we have to fight them again. A shield would be good as well. And Justius should run to the tower. We can't keep you safe in melee but up there you can protect Lucia and use a bow. I'm sure you're a better shot than Coatell at least.

Taras says
I'll bring you shields and a sword. The armory is up the tower so you can follow me Justius.

In short order he brings back three shields and a blade that's just long enough to be called a longsword for Rikkan.

Justius arrives up in the tower. He looks almost dead, but ... eager.

[WindStruck]

Lucia sighs upon seeing Justius. She's both worried to see his wounds and yet somehow relieved he still is alive and has so much.. spunk? But maybe that was just adrenaline, and it wouldn't last.

"Darya, Poin, I'll try to concentrate on keeping the lights out there. If you can do anything to slow those gnolls down and keep them hiding for cover, that would be wonderful...

Then looking at Coatell, she says, "We should patch Justius up before he collapses."

(Lucia will help with the medicine check).

[Smilex]

Coatell tries to seal Justius' wounds. It's obvious she only has book knowledge on doing this but at least her actions seem to make sense.

Poin and Darya keep firing while this goes on. The barn is burning in high flames at this point. The gatehouse hasn't quite caught fire yet.

In a short while arrows start flying toward the tower from the smithy's second floor windows. Poin and Dary take cover then and simply hide behind the wall

As long as they're just blindly shooting at the tower, that's good for us.
says Poin grimly and continues
All we have to do is last a while. May the Dimvaran take care of Novannes' and Hakos' souls.

...

Meanwhile in the main hall

Taras takes Zain, Yaj'dak and Rikkan on a small tour while simultaneously inspecting the situation inside.

In room 6 you find the kitchen. An older lady is boiling water here.
There's a large table, some stools, lots of kitchenware such as pots, pans, utensils. There's a large hearth and a beautiful bread oven.

The old woman looks at your group
Taras. Would you introduce these people to your grandmother?

THe young man looks bothered
Kuzma, these are people who just wandered in but amazingly this is Zain and he's family.

Kuzma totters closer. She seems to have slightly bad eyesight.
She leans close to each of the party members. When looking at Zain she says
You are the very image of Xain. You must be his son. And you're hurt.
She casts cure wounds on Zain healing him completely.

[gryffydd65]

Thank you so much, I had heard so much about you and this side of our family. We have lost our home and we were thrown into slavery. We escaped and need to find out who did this to us. But meeting you and seeing this place is a flame in this darkness. Zain says with respect to his Aunt.

[WindStruck]

"As long as we can keep them busy. I hope you just don't get shot again.." Lucia says.

"Dang it. Is.. is everything just going to end up burning down? Then again, maybe if the fire grows, that will attract the aid we need."

[Smilex]

Poin answers Lucia
I doubt it. The wood's moist after the day's rain. They're not even trying to burn us down, just the fortifications. They want loot. What they'd really love is to capture us.

Arrows keep flying over the five people leaning against the low stone wall.


...

Meanwhile in the kitchen.

Rikkan intrudes in the conversation.
Wise old one. If you have the power to heal, I'd ask your help for my squire who valiantly defended your kin and your hold today.
Rikkan's own wounds are much deeper than Yaj'dak's but this is what he says.

Kuzma turns to Yaj'dak and casts a second spell to cure all of Yaj'dak's wounds.

Taras reacts more directly to Zain's words.
I bet it was the Iron Chain. They're a bunch of the worst miscreants the valley has. No evil is beyond them.

Kuzma continues
You need to tell my son Poin everything about it in the morning when we can laugh and have breakfast.
She gives Zain a kiss on both cheeks.

A young woman walks in. She looks rather plain in her long grey dress and yellow head-scarf. She's got an embroidered apron though. She seems worried, then relieved as she walks closer.
Taras.

Taras turns to her.
I haven't a scratch. Hakos and Novannes did not fare so well.
Then he says to the rest of the group.
This is Alfana, my wife. Harass her and I will toss you out the window.
He smiles with one side of his face.

[Luccan]

Sir Riikan I think your wounds- but the spell is already cast and he nods to the older woman as his wounds close... Thank you. I don't think it's right for me to wait here now that I'm back in full working order. Our lady is still outside with the other defenders. He nods to Taras' wife respectfully and addresses their hosts Where are they likely to assault next? I can take up defense there

[gryffydd65]

I must go as well, we will talk more when this is over. Zain heads out once more to where the battle is greatest and where his shocking grasp will do the most good.

[Smilex]

Taras leads Yaj'dak, Rikkan and Zain to the balcony of the main hall. There's windows here so you can peek outside...

There's a largeish group of gnolls on the western yard. They're looting the smithy and the second story above it.

That's where Novannes and Hakos lived.
Taras says.

There's many archers with the group. They're watching the main building and occasionally firing at the tower. A few gnolls are seemingly randomly digging holes on the yard.

They're trying to find the gold.
Taras whispers.

[WindStruck]

Meanwhile, up above, Lucia tries to time a counter-attack when and where she thinks the gnolls won't be attacking for a moment.

risk it for the biscuit, I guess, as long as it keeps them shooting. :smalltongue:

fire bolt
attack: [roll0]
disadvantage: [roll1]
damage: [roll2]

if it helps: insight: [roll3]

[Smilex]

Lucia pops out and shoots a firebolt at one of the gnoll archers on the yard. It singes their hair a little.

She observes that one of the gnolls has also sneakily managed to climb over the gatehouse and is looking at the northern gate's latches.

No arrows have time to reach Lucia as she pops down quickly behind the wall. Arrows do fly, but they come late. The ruse is successful for now.

There is another reaction though. A moment later the arrows stop coming as someone yells at the yard.

About ten seconds late a group of bloodsucker owls flies atop the tower.


21 Lucia
20 Owls (7)
19 Poin
14 Darya
13 Justius
13 Coatell

[Smilex]

Zain notices a large gnoll who releases a bunch of bloodsucking owls into the air toward the tower.

Taras apparently notices them too since he yelps
Oh no, that's Vlack! He's the most fearsome gnoll boss in the valley. He controls vampire owls. Let's rush to the tower. My mother is there.

And he starts toward the tower.

[WindStruck]

"Oh no! Get inside! They're attracted to blood!" Lucia cries. Well at least she wasn't all bloodied up or injured yet. Maybe Lucia would be kind of safe and unappealing?

She ran at the owls, yelling and flailing her arms trying to scare them off.

intimidation: [roll0]

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak spits a curse and follows Taras This whole valley is forsaken by the gods

[Smilex]

The owls don't seem to be perturbed by Lucia's threatening gesture. She does manage to distract them from the ones more wounded than her though. Three of the owls attach to Lucia and start drawing blood
combined six damage.
The other owls fly by, missing their attacks.

Poin rises up and swats one of the owls down with an axe.

There's a yelled command from the yard and you expect arrows to start flying any moment again.

Darya takes a shot with a bow but misses. Then she withdraws down the stairs and yells for Irina.

Justius rises up and tries to hit an owl but misses.

Coatell takes a shot at one of the owls and succeeds in dropping it with a crossbow bolt. Then she withdraws down the stairs.

There's loud noises down the stairs as people are running up the steps, though they don't appear quite yet.


21 Lucia
20 Owls (5)
19 Poin
14 Darya
13 Justius
13 Coatell

[WindStruck]

Lucia's bravado and confident yelling turns more like into panicked shrieking as the owls latch onto her and burrow their beaks into her flesh.

"Aieee!"

She flees downstairs while desperately trying to pull the owls off of her.

[Smilex]

Lucia manages to grab one of the owls loose and moves down the stairs to meet the rest of the group coming up.

The two other owls keep drawing blood though
That's 4 more damage.

Poin comes down the stairs and cuts an owl that's stuck on him in half.

Rikkan comes rushing in and tries to kill one of the owls stuck on Lucia but he misses completely, likely trying to be too cautious not to hit Lucia.



The stairway at the level of the third floor is starting to get crowded. Justius is still upstairs but the rest of the crew and 3 of the 4 remaining owls are all here.

15 Zain
14 Darya
13 Justius
13 Coatell
8 Yaj'dak
3 Taras

Round 2

21 Lucia
20 Owls (4)
19 Poin
18 Rikkan

[WindStruck]

"H-help..!" Lucia cries, but she succumbs to the remaining owls drawing blood from her and blearily flops on the ground, losing consciousness.

yeep... 0 hp now.

[Luccan]

No! Yaj'dak rushes to Lucia and attempts to swat the blood sucking creatures off her


Reckless Attack
[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]

[gryffydd65]

Zain notices a large gnoll who releases a bunch of bloodsucking owls into the air toward the tower.

Taras apparently notices them too since he yelps
Oh no, that's Vlack! He's the most fearsome gnoll boss in the valley. He controls vampire owls. Let's rush to the tower. My mother is there.

And he starts toward the tower. Lead the way. Maybe we can concentrate on firing arrows at the brute. Zain follows closely trying to come up with a plan. Did someone say that reinforcements were coming to help us. How long do you think we can hold on.

ok one more spell slot trying guiding bolt on Vlack. 1d20+3 4d6

[gryffydd65]

Guiding bolt [roll0] damage [roll1]

[Smilex]

THe gnoll boss on the yard doesn't have his shield up and the guiding bolt strikes him straight in the chest. This has a major effect. He gives a new command to his crew and he himself retreats out of the western yard.

As the group starts up the stairs you don't see what immediately follows.


A moment later at the stairwell the crew attacks the owls and destroys them
All of Darya, Taras and Yaj'dak hit an owl and destroy their target. They have very few hit points. If Zain wants to roll for shocking grasp, he of course gets first dibs due to initiative order.

Justius runs down the stairs and says.
The gnolls on the western yard, they're retreating. They're taking llamas from the shed next to the smithy but they're retreating! Zain, bless Dimvaran, I think you did it!

Coatell raises Lucia's legs to get blood back into her brain. This apparently stabilizes Lucia enough that she's no longer dying.

A moment later another woman comes into the stairwell from the floor below.

Taras says
Irina, can you help this woman.

Irina has a mauve dress and a blue apron that has the symbol of the Dimvaran. Her hair is tied down with a scarf. She's probably in her late teens. She looks quite a bit like Lucia.

She leans down and cures Lucia's wounds for 7 hp.

[WindStruck]

Lucia's eyes flutter open. Given that she seemed to be in the same place she passed out at, with most of the same people here, she didn't think much time had gone by yet.

"Th-thank you.. w-wait," Lucia says.

"Just before the owls came, I saw a gnoll fiddling with the north gate..." She looks pretty worried as she tries to get back to her feet.

But the resemblance to her and Irina was uncanny..

[Smilex]

Poin takes a few steps back up to look what's going on.

Meanwhile Irina casts cure wounds on her mother.

Poin yells from upstairsCome, we need archers, now!

Whoever goes back to the top of the tower sees that the gnolls in the west are still retreating, they've taken a number of llamas with them. On the north side there's seven gnolls and ten dogs that are just coming to the yard.

Poin is doing his best to shoot at them but it's clear he could use help. The gnolls on the north side have no archers.
Anyone joining the shooting has three rounds worth of shots before the gnolls are all at the north door of the main hall and the angle is so steep that it's impossible to hit them.

[WindStruck]

Lucia rushes up the stairs with others and, rather than spending time picking up an reloading a bulky crossbow repeatedly, she relies on her magic to hopefully down some of the gnolls before they get too close.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

attack: [roll2]
damage: [roll3]

attack: [roll4]
damage: [roll5]

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak pauses, seeing the others healed and ready and turns to Sir Riikan I'm no good with a bow. I'll defend the door incase they break through. So saying, he rushes towards the door as fast as his legs will carry him.

[Smilex]

Zain, Lucia, Poin, Justius and Daria shoot at the on-coming gnolls and manage to kill three of them, with Zain killing one all by himself. Coatell keeps giving archery advice to Justius.

That's it. It's up to melee now.
Coatell says.

Justius continues
Let's head downstairs, the others will need us.

Poin says
Daria, please stay here and keep watch. Send Irina to warn us if you see some new threat.

Meanwhile...

Rikkan, Taras and Yaj'dak head downstairs and listen to the blows of an axe hitting the door.

Rikkan suggests
Let's open the door immediately after an axe blow. You Taras open it. I will strike the invader mightily with the assistance of Yaj'dak. No use letting a good door come to ruin when we can simply kill them.

If Yaj'dak accepts the plan, Luccan can immediately proceed to attack roll against a dumbfounded gnoll who's axe is stuck in the door. Otherwise you can wait for reinforcements.

[WindStruck]

Lucia nods and says, "Good plan. You can still keep watch, and a few of us can try to help the others at the door."

She will start heading downstairs.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak nods to Riikan Let's bust some heads. He swings as the door opens


[roll0]

[roll1]

[Smilex]

Taras opens the door just after the axe strikes the door.

Rikkan is badly positioned and the door almost hits him in the nose. He misses his opportunity for a free hit at the gnoll wielding the axe.

Yaj'dak almost destroys the gnoll invader. The gnoll's barely hanging on to life.



Round 1
20 Yaj'dak
11 Rikkan (if Yaj'dak manages to kill the gnoll , he'll ready a strike for the next enemy to close in)
10 Gnolls (4)
7 Taras
6 Dogs (9)


Round 2
Round 3
Incoming others...
20 Justius
19 Zain
11 Coatell
3 Poin
2 Lucia

[Luccan]

RAAAAAAAGH! Yaj'dak's eyes bulge as the battle fury takes him again and he takes a follow up strike at the gnoll


Entering Rage again

[roll0]

[roll1]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak's maul swing is a bit too boisterous and it smashes the door frame.

Rikkan lunges with his longsword hitting the gnoll's throat.
A critical strike slightly overdestroying the gnoll's last couple of hit points.

The three other gnolls push their dogs to attack.

Taras readies a blow and then slays the first incoming dog with a blow from a battleaxe.

The second incoming hound bites Rikkan in the thigh.
before the fight Rikkan used lay on hands on himself so he's not quite dying yet.

Taras, Yaj'dak and Rikkan have grouped up in a way that only 2 attackers at most can face the trio.

Round 2
20 Yaj'dak
11 Rikkan (if Yaj'dak manages to kill the gnoll , he'll ready a strike for the next enemy to close in)
10 Gnolls (3)
7 Taras
6 Dogs (8)

Round 3
Incoming others...
20 Justius
19 Zain
11 Coatell
3 Poin
2 Lucia

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak turns his attention to the hound harrying the knight and lets loose


Reckless Attack

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak crushes the hound's spine.

Rikkan and Taras ready blows and when two more hounds attack...

They both miss, stumbling on the gathering blood and guts on the floor.

The next hounds both succeed in their attack. One bites Yaj'dak's wrist for 3 hp.resistance already accounted for

The other one bites Taras on his left shin, a minor wound it seems.

And then the others arrive!


Taras, Yaj'dak and Rikkan have grouped up in a way that only 2 attackers at most can face the trio.

Round 3
20 Yaj'dak
20 Justius
19 Zain
11 Coatell
11 Rikkan
10 Gnolls (3)
7 Taras
6 Dogs (7)
3 Poin
2 Lucia

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak swings at the dog that just bit him


[roll0]
[roll1]

[gryffydd65]

Zain gets ready for the battle.

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak's maul crushes one of the dogs into paste.

Justius shoots an arrow from the balcony over Rikkan's head
into one of the gnolls at the back.

Zain comes into the melee to shock the other dog but misses.

Coatell gives Rikkan a helpful suggestion which barely allows Rikkan to hit the other dog and cut off it's front leg.

The three gnolls at the back see their pets die fast and the sheer force of Yaj'dak's maul. The two who are yet unwounded choose to dash back over the corpses of their friends at the yard.

The last one seems panicked as well, but he looks at Justius' arrow in his thigh, possibly wondering if he can really run away fast enough...
He yells
Give up, mercy!
and tosses his weapon in the ground.

Taras readies a blow and when a another dog tries to attack him, he cuts it down. Another dog tries to jump at Yaj'dak's throat but lands short.

The three other dogs too run away.

Poin shoots an arrow into the dog that's attacking Yaj'dak and the dog, barely alive seems to lose the will to fight.

There seems to be no more enemies willing to offer a fight. Three dogs and two gnolls have just turned tail. A wounded dog and a wounded gnoll stand at the doorway.

If Lucia wants a shot at the escaping creatures, she has time to shoot them twice before they're out of range.

[WindStruck]

Lucia, having opened a window and about to fire off a shot, watches as the scene unfolds, with dogs getting butchered up in a pile, and more dogs and some gnolls fleeing.

One gnoll apparently surrendered. Lucia glowered a bit and took one spiteful shot at the fleeing gnolls in the distance, just to hammer into their stupid skulls that they had better keep running.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

also ready a fire bolt on the surrendering gnoll if it tries anything

"Blasted brute. Now you want mercy..." she spits. She's just pretty mad right now. And how much was a gnoll life worth, even to their own tribe? Not much.

[Smilex]

Poin says to his son
Tie that monster up. We need to interrogate him.

Taras goes as ordered. He binds the gnoll's arms together.

Justius executes the wounded dog.
No more suffering for you.
He then turns to ask the rest of the group.
What do you think, dog-soup?

[WindStruck]

Lucia shrugs at the suggestion.

Well if it's like many asian cultures that eat dogs...

"We'd have more than we could possibly eat, for sure."

[gryffydd65]

Zain looked at his new friends. Yes, let us roast a dog or two. We must celebrate this victory.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak takes a moment to steady his breathing
and wipes his maul off in the grass Are we sure they won't be back? Can we expect anymore trouble? his stomach grumbles at the discussion of food.

[Smilex]

The woman who first opened the gate to you appears from the kitchen with granny Kuzma. Justius helps them take the dogs to the kitchen.

Poin nods agreeably with Zain and Yaj'dak's comments.
A good meal is in order after the stress. It will help us sleep better later. Now though, we must find out the gnolls' plans.

He turns to the prisoner
You, hairyone! What's your name and which gang do you belong to?

The gnoll gives an immediate answer
I'm Gurash and I'm a part of the Red-blade gang. Our hideout was the Tearhill fort until recently.

[WindStruck]

Lucia asks, "What happened there? We found the owls and the pangolin, as well as the crazy lady. One of your own was left dead not far away."

[Smilex]

Gurash growls an answer
Was good hideout but tricky. Our shaman found a spellcircle on the hill. She tried it, it did something to her. We think it was a mraow trap. Chief...
At this point he points at one of the dead gnolls on the yard.
...decided that we better get rid of her and the hill. We thought a mraow patrol would come looking for us there so we left. And Korhal whacked the shaman, we left her behind, all her stuff too. Later Chief had second thoughts and killed Korhal. Too late then though.

While this gnoll isn't particularly loyal to other gnolls, I'd ask one of you to try a persuasion /intimidate roll to see how helpful you can get this girl to be. You get advantage on the roll.

[WindStruck]

Lucia makes her way down the stairs to the ground floor. "Hm. Maybe we can get more useful information out of this gnoll later. For now, I think we had better make sure the gates are closed so no one else gets in..."

[Smilex]

Lucia leaves to close the north gate, Rikkan joins her for protection.
As the two walk, Rikkan asks
Lucia, I'd like to ask your permission to knight my squire. He earned it today with his bravery.


... Meanwhile...
The gnoll talks a bit more...

This was an attack by three bands. Vlack of the Wolfskulls talked our chief Ghass to join it. Vlack, the owltamer is great leader. He conquered many farms already and they say he captured a countess to ransom too.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak pauses from where he was examining the dog for usable meat and stomps over The Wolfskulls, where are they? he places the blade of a handaxe casually against the gnoll's neck


Intimidate [roll0]

[gryffydd65]

Zain only half listened to what the gnoll was saying straightens up. Did you just say a countess? That has to be my sister. What kind of ransom are they looking for? Who do they think will pay it?

[WindStruck]

Lucia muses, "Hm. He was certainly brave.. But I think too foolish. I don't know what possessed him to ever think fighting outside the fortifications was a good idea..."

After they close the gates she stops and says to Sir Rikkan, "Valor, strength, wisdom: they are all attributes a knight of station needs. It would be a shame if your squire, after being promoted, died soon after due to reckless abandon."

"I believe you should mentor him more. He has much strength and valor, but his fury needs to be tempered so that he will not throw his life away. Or worse, such that he will not lead others to the same fate."

That last sentence may have really struck something. As she looked at Sir Rikkan, he was still pretty badly wounded. And Justius, who jumped down with them, came back a bloody mess, nearly dead as well.

[Smilex]

Gurash the gnoll answers
Wolf-skulls have hideout in southwest. At least used to be. Don't know if the morlocks drove them off.

Taras says
Southwest, that's near the mine!

Poin says angrily
Hush!
to his son.

Coatell asks
Morlocks? What are morlocks?

Gurash continues
They're pasty underground primitives. Look a little like human, but even uglier. They came in droves and pushed most gnoll gangs out of their hideouts. Is why gnolls are on the move in the valley. Red-blades were one of the first. We ran after the morlocks got a third of us.

...Meanwhile...

Rikkan first seems disappointed for a moment, then he starts beaming.
You think I could teach ... not just a regular knight but a knight of... station! I will... do it! Pathmaker will show me the way!

Rikkan and Lucia continue to the western yard to close the western gate.

[WindStruck]

Lucia shrugs a little as they walk and says, "Well, in my opinion all knights have station. Unless they are not really knights, but in name only.."

"I hope you don't take my.. reluctance too harshly. Your squire is almost there, and he can still learn much from a knight as fine as you. Was it your idea to open the door?"

[Smilex]

Gurash looks at Zain
I don't know what their intentions are but I think the only people to trade with are the mraow. Wolf-skull hideout is near the entrance to the valley though so maybe they have a way out, I don't know.

... meanwhile...

Rikkan says
Opening the door was the idea of Justius. Without opening it we would have been lost though.

He considers what to say for a moment, quite uncommon for him and continues
There are bad knights too though, evil ones. It's wartime. Many people carry the title simply for having the weapons and armor. They sell themselves as mercenaries. But I'll make Yaj'dak the best knight. We should probably rest for a while and then go after those gnolls. That will help us have many lessons.

[WindStruck]

"Justius..? That's impossible. He was up in the tower with me." She shakes her head.

"I wasn't talking about the northern gate. I meant the door at the ground level of the tower. We'd have lost the door if they kept chopping at it, but judging by gnoll corpse amid the pile of dead dogs, it seems that plan worked."

Lucia and Sir Rikkan return to the conversation with the captured gnoll.

[gryffydd65]

Do you think they will come back? We need to reach sister as soon as possible but I don't want to leave until you are safe. Zain said with a worry on his brow.

[Smilex]

Coatell says
I think everyone needs a rest before taking the gnolls on. Poin, sir, is there someone in your household that could track these gnolls while we have a rest. I believe removing the wolfskull gnoll would be to the benefit of your farm's safety.

Poin looks around and then says to his son
I'll be the one who goes. You stay here with our guests while they recuperate

Justius interrupts
I want to volunteer to go with you... Since your cleric healed me I don't need rest unlike many of us.

Poin nods
It's decided then. We will take this gnoll with us and go scouting...

Poin turns to Zain
You're family. Take care of Darya and the others while you're here. If the mraow visit, let Darya take care of it. We will find the wolfskull nest in the meanwhile.

This starts another week's long rest.

During this week's long rest Rikkan trains Yaj'dak intensely. Yaj'dak learns from Rikkan the Grappler feat. Coatell and Justius reach level 2 for the adventures they've shared with you so far. You also find out that there's suit of mail in the armory that fits Rikkan allowing him more safety in the future. During the week Lucian also finds out that grandma Kuzma's holy book has a version of the detect magic ritual that Lucia can cast. She can add it to her known spells.

We'll have a few events that happen during the week but what kind of things would you like to accomplish during the week?

[Smilex]

During the week that follows, Rikkan, Yaj'dak and Coatell are settled in the rooms above the smithy.

Darya invites Lucia to sleep in the same room with her now that her husband is travelling.

For Zain they try to make a decent bed either in the main hall or in the tower's armoury, whichever you prefer.

You also find out that there's two people living here who you haven't been actually introduced to yet.
Masha is the now dead smith's pregnant daughter. She will sleep with Coatell above the smithy. She's quite distraught by the situation and Coatell has to spend most of the week trying to help her out.

Finally there's Matvey, the younger brother of Taras and Irina. He's ten years old. He's very sad for losing the llamas, apparently they were his favourite playmates.

..............

The rest of the night passes without events.

It's later morning when Justius and Poin leave, taking Gurash with them.

Event 1.

In the evening a mraow patrol appears at the gate.

Darya asks you if the guards would be actively looking for you while Taras goes to greet the mraow at the gatehouse.

[WindStruck]

Lucia furtively whispers, "It's probably best if they don't know about us. I think they wouldn't be happy knowing we had escaped captivity from the iron chain..."

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak will take what time he has when not training to familiarize himself with the farmstead's defenses and layout, in case of further attack. He'll see if there's a good place to hide the party of escapees when the mraow arrive

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak suspects the best place to hide is the armoury. If the stories of bribes hold true this is the place that the mraow are likely to actively ignore and avoid. It also allows a nice view of what's happening outside while having little chance of being observed in return.

The mraow come to the yard and examine the damage done to the barn.

You watch them from up high. There's eight of them, a small patrol. But they seem well armed. Not that you feel too shabby any more either. Rikkan now has splint mail and a shield. With Yaj'dak they make a formidable defense line for the casters.

You see Taras and Alfana show the mraow around and talk to them. Matvey, the young kid is with you watching the action and says.
When I grow up I'll punch lieutenant Fluffycheeks in left cheek and the right one.

You see Taras offer the mraow a bag. They look in and bring out a bright nugget. Satisfied they pocket the loot. After this, to your amazement they start dealing with the wrecked barn and pitching up a new fence where the burned down barn has exposed the yard and left a hole in the defences.

Matvey continues
See. They're scavengers. They'll do anything to get dad's gold.

[gryffydd65]

Zain is thankful for a warm dry place to sleep. We need to get my sister the countess back. Any ideas onehen we can leave.

[WindStruck]

"Seems that gold is coming in handy, though. Is there a lot around here?" Lucia asks.

[Smilex]

Matvey says
There's a whole mine full of it.

You watch as the mraow build a fence and then leave.

Afterwards, on the next day Coatell brings up the question about the gold while everyone is having dinner.

Darya doesn't initially seem happy that her sons have spilled the beans regarding the gold. She sighs though and then starts talking
There is a gold mine. We've worked it for a long time. The reason the mraow haven't taken us out is that we've managed to keep the location a secret. We haven't heard anything about the people at the mine after the gnolls started getting more aggressive.


Taras comments
They had trouble before that though. A spider ate a miner.

Darya says
We're worried. If we lose the mine, we lose the farm too.

Kuzma mutters
The Dimvaran will protect them who are at the mine as Dimvaran protects us.

Masha starts crying.

Matvey moves out of his seat and goes to pat Masha.

[WindStruck]

Lucia looks over at Masha sadly. "Then we need to protect the mine as well. And rescue my mother.."

"So.. there's more people? At the mines?"

[Smilex]

Darya nods
Poin's cousin Stellios is there. A lot of my family too. A couple of dwarves that have been working for Poin's family for decades are there.

The rest of the dinner goes much without incident...

....

Event 3
Two people, a man and a catfolk, both dressed as woodsmen appear at the gate and Alfana lets them in.

Taras who happens to be with you explains
That's Gregor, a servant of the family. He hunts for food. He's managed to make some friends with the caitsith.

Gregor looks to be in his late thirties. He seems like a very calm person. Seeig your group he nods gently.

[Luccan]

Ah, woodsmen. Do you know what game is good around here? Yaj'dak will hunt some local game as a way to pay back for the shelter, if possible. He'll also look for a flute among possible equipment, using it to pass any leisure time he has



I'll take a pack, some rope, and some more general tools, like a hammer, crowbar, shovel, pitons, etc. Whatever they have where Yaj'dak might be able to put his physical strength to good use outside the relative comfort of the farm. If you know what would be available of that nature, you can let me know what I find if you like.

[Smilex]

Yaj'dak and Zain find all the items in your list. As for Yaj'dak's other stuff, I'd suggest a grappling hook. Taras also makes a flute for Yaj'dak. He seems to like Rikkan and Yaj'dak quite a lot and he trains with you often enough.

Gregor answers
Horned screamers, tinamou, seriemas, maybe a stork if you're lucky. Bushdogs are always there but they're crafty.

The caitsith shrugs and says
Try crabs. That hammer isn't going to get you birds.

Gregor comes to shake Yaj'dak's hand
I heard you saved the fort. Thank you. This is one of the last good places in the valley.

[WindStruck]

"Well met," Lucia says. "Have you heard any news on your travels?"

Of course there was a mine they wanted to check on and their baroness rescue, but it would be good to know if there was any other trouble brewing out there...

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak and Zain find all the items in your list. As for Yaj'dak's other stuff, I'd suggest a grappling hook. Taras also makes a flute for Yaj'dak. He seems to like Rikkan and Yaj'dak quite a lot and he trains with you often enough.

Gregor answers
Horned screamers, tinamou, seriemas, maybe a stork if you're lucky. Bushdogs are always there but they're crafty.

The caitsith shrugs and says
Try crabs. That hammer isn't going to get you birds.

Gregor comes to shake Yaj'dak's hand
I heard you saved the fort. Thank you. This is one of the last good places in the valley.

Yaj'dak grins Men I hunt with a hammer. For beasts I prefer a spear. he shakes Gregor's hand We did our best. Truly, we wouldn't have made it without the walls... I almost didn't anyway. he glances ruefully at Sir Rikkan and Lucia

[Smilex]

Gregor answers Lucia
Nino here...
he motions to the caitsith
he told me that there's great news at the neny-ha lands. The curse has been laid to rest. Lake of mists is once again safe though apparently it's lost its magic at the same time.

Nino the caitsith nods and continues
As for news... pale humanoids are prowling on the southern mountains. They come from underground and move in groups in areas where gnolls previously hid.

...

When Yaj'dak comments on the battle, Taras adds
He used that maul to swing the head off a gnoll and the head flew to the other end of the valley.

Rikkan says
I know the head was never found but I think it just dropped in the river.

Taras adds
As I said, end of the valley!

Nino mutters
Spear? Try a monkey then. Just be sure it's a hairy one.

[WindStruck]

"Ah, the lake? That sounds like it was the work of my sister. Hm.. I hope she'll come here next..."

She doesn't have anything else to comment at first, though she notes that apparently the news of the pale humanoids in the mountains meant that the gnoll they had taken prisoner hadn't been lying about that.

"Oh that reminds me. What would either of you would do with a gnoll taken prisoner?" Her eyes narrow a bit as she adds, "One that was part of a group that attacked you..."

[Smilex]

Gregor ponders a while...

Nino says
We trade them with the mraow guards.

Gregor comments
I'd take them here and ask Poin what to do.

Taras says
My father said that ten years ago there was a gnoll chief, Kloss with whom he could negotiate. Kloss allied with us against some other gnoll gangs. So I guess it depends.

Nino asks
Taras, I haven't seen your father...

Taras says
He should be back in a few days.

Nino
I'll wait here then...

If you want to, we can next jump to when the trip against the Wolfskulls begins or you can do more stuff at Sunkensky...

[gryffydd65]

I am fine with moving along.

[Smilex]

Justius and Poin come back on the eve of the fifth day.

The gnoll is no longer with them.
They tell you they spent a while observing the Whiteskull camp. They didn't see any prisoners but they couldn't actually get in.

They came back by way of the mine. They left the gnoll there. Poin has a bag of ore with him.

The group rests for a couple of days more. When you're leaving, Gregor the Hunter comes with you. Poin stays behind. Everyone wishes you good luck and blessings. When you've left, a couple of hours later you're surprised by Taras who runs after you to also join the mission.

You travel to the west, slightly south too. Weather is beautiful again. Soon enough you find out that your goal is not.

You come to a part of the forest that's petrified. It's eerily silent. Even the grass is made of stone. You wonder what strange magics did the work. The trees were transformed while in full leaf. Now a dense canopy of stone creates a shadowy twilight gloom on the forest floor. There's very little in the way of life here.

It's safe, sort of
Justius says.
We spent more than a day here and I couldn't notice anything strange in myself.

As you walk along, you find petrified animals as well, deer, birds, bushdogs and of course crabs. You end up walking on ferns rather than on the forest floor. It's rather difficult as terrain goes.

You come across a track. Pieces of stony leaves have been left as bridges to gap drops in the fern patches.
We're getting near...
Justius says

Then you start hearing the chatter. Gnolls. Talking. Approaching.

What do you do?

[gryffydd65]

Zain casts mage armor and gets his shield in place. He loosens his long sword from the scabbard and brings forth a spell.

[Smilex]

The voices come nearer. It sounds like a smallish group, probably a patrol.

Do you guys want to avoid the patrol, ambush, or maybe face them directly on the path?

[WindStruck]

Lucia motions for everyone to get off the trail and take up some hiding positions. At the very least, they were going to hide, and maybe ambush them.

[gryffydd65]

Zain follows to hide.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak does his best to get into cover

[
STEALTH

[roll0]

[Smilex]

The group: Lucia, Zain, Yaj'dak, Coatell, Justius, Rikkan, Taras and Gregor... All of you move behind some trees near the path.

Six gnolls who seem to be stronger, better armed than the ones that you were mostly facing back at Sunkensky come walking down the path. These ones have shields and bows along with their melee weapons.

You do your best to stay quiet. The gnolls are talking with each other in their language, having fun. They're not being alert and they move to where they're just in front of you. Only a couple of them seem to notice that something might be around but they choose to ignore their instincts and continue walking along.


It seems like the opponents would be surprised. Your initiatives are
21 Zain
21 Lucia
19 Justius
14 Gregor
11 Rikkan
10 Yaj'dak
10 Coatell
6 Taras

I'm not marking the opponents initiative on the list before you make your choice.

[WindStruck]

Lucia is unsure about what to do.. perhaps it would be best to just let the patrol pass? It's not like she had strong reservation about ambushing and killing them all, after the attack a week ago. The memories of Masha crying angered her. But still, attacking them was an additional risk, and she wasn't going to be a fool and just give away themselves and everyone else unless everyone was on board with this...

readying Fire Bolt if an ambush commences.

[gryffydd65]

[roll1][ Roll]1d4+1

[gryffydd65]

[roll0] last dart. Each at the last three gnolls that go past.

[WindStruck]

Guess this will be for a gnoll that was hit with one missile

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

[Luccan]

Let's make this quick Yaj'dak springs from cover and rushes the nearest gnoll


[roll0]
[roll1]

[Smilex]

The three magic missiles hit the last three gnolls.

Lucia's firebolt misses.

Justius rises on the path and tries to stab the last gnoll with a sword.

Gregor shoots an arrow into one of the last gnolls.

Rikkan rises to the path next to Justius and stabs a gnoll.

Yaj'dak joins Justius and Rikkan and hits the same gnoll that was already struck by Gregor and Rikkan and Zain. The gnoll finally dies and falls off the path.

Coatell gives Taras some archery suggestions and Taras still unfortunately misses.


And now we're back in normal initiative order

21 Zain
21 Lucia
19 Justius
14 Gregor
13 Gnolls
11 Rikkan
10 Yaj'dak
10 Coatell
6 Taras

[gryffydd65]

[roll0] [roll1] Zain casts guiding bolt going to hit one of the back gnolls and give advantage to the next person on his team.

[Smilex]

The guiding bolt barely misses. These gnolls with their shields are that little bit harder to hit.

Justius' sword lights up in flames and he hits one of the gnolls in the arm. It seems like Justius has learned some new tricks on his scouting mission.

Gregor's arrow misses this time.



21 Lucia
13 Gnolls
11 Rikkan
10 Yaj'dak
10 Coatell
6 Taras

Round 3
21 Zain

19 Justius
14 Gregor

[WindStruck]

Who would have thought these gnolls could effectively use their shields while taken by surprise? Lucia frowns and doesn't have much better option but to shoot the nearest gnoll with her fire bolt spell.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

[Smilex]

Lucia hits a gnoll with her fire bolt. The flames burn the creature well enough that Justius' strike was able to finish the gnoll.

With two of their number already down, the gnolls finally are able to mount resistance. Uselessly three of them aim to strike Rikkan and Yaj'dak. The new armor Rikkan found saves him twice. The fourth one is equally unsuccessful at targeting Lucia with his bow. The arrow strikes the tree she's hiding behind.

Both Rikkan and Taras are able to wound a gnoll but their blows are weak, barely drawing blood.

The gnolls look quite nervous, scared even.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak targets one of the wounded gnolls


[roll0]

[roll1]

[gryffydd65]

Zain tries once again to cast guiding bolt at one of the bowman gnoll.

[roll0] [roll1]

[Smilex]

Both Zain and Yaj'dak miss the gnomes by a significant margin.

Justius hits the wounded gnoll with a strike of his fiery sword straight into the neck and the strike kills them.

Gregor's arrow hits the gnoll that was firing arrows and does a minor wound.



21 Lucia
13 Gnolls
11 Rikkan
10 Yaj'dak
10 Coatell
6 Taras

Round 3
21 Zain

19 Justius
14 Gregor

[WindStruck]

Lucia attempts to shoot the gnoll with the bow.

Attack: [roll0]

Damage: [roll1]

[Smilex]

Lucia hits the archer severely and he looks bloodied.

One of the gnolls in melee and the archer turn tail and run.
Attacks of opportunity for Rikkan, Justius and Yaj'dak. Advantage if you shoot at the escapees.

One gnoll still fighting, but he swings wildly missing Justius completely.

Rikkan and Justius barely hit their attacks of opportunity and the other gnoll running away is bloodied too.

Rikkan also hits the only gnoll fighting. It's a strong blow but the gnoll isn't quite bloodied by a single blow.

Uh, feels like Zain's picking all the bad rolls for the whole group. At least it's working.

[Luccan]

Yaj'dak swipes at the fleeing gnoll and the last fighter


Fleeing gnoll OA [roll0]
[roll1]

Turn
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Smilex]

WHen the two start running away Coatell yells
Don't let them get away. Remember how Miranda was killed by hit and run archers.

Yaj'dak's attacks barely miss proving Zain's not the only one with bad luck today.

Despite Coatell's guidance and advantage Taras misses his shot at the fleeing gnolls.


Round 3
21 Zain
21 Lucia
19 Justius
14 Gregor
13 Gnolls
11 Rikkan
10 Yaj'dak
10 Coatell
6 Taras

[WindStruck]

Well, different situation, Lucia thought. It was some damn mroaw sorcerers, and they had initiated an ambush and fled... Still. Couldn't let these guys get back to the camp to warn the others!

Lucia shoots a fire bolt at one of the fleeing gnolls and starts to pursue them.

attack: [roll0]
damage: [roll1]

[Smilex]

You get advantage. They're dashing haphazardly into difficult terrain.

[Smilex]

Lucia's firebolt hits the archer and he goes down.

Gregor fires an arrow into the other escaping gnoll, but he keeps going.

Justius hits once more when striking the final gnoll that's still fighting but it's a weak blow.

Yaj'dak manages to take down the other escapee.