Modern military vs. PF warband, round no. 2

[Metastachydium]

[OOC thread] (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?632011-Modern-military-vs-PF-warband-round-no-2)
Map:
https://i.ibb.co/LNPp1w2/winterstream-grid-lateral.jpg (https://ibb.co/1zn2TVw)
https://i.ibb.co/3BCgxCV/winterstream-grid-dt.jpg (https://ibb.co/0hGH0G1)
Areas fully enclosed by orange lines count as difficult terrain.
Areas within these enclosed by green lines do not count as difficult ground.

So, we are finally DOING THIS! Please do roll for initiative, to get that out of the way.

There was some light snow drizzling down earlier in the afternoon, but now, with dusk approaching the weather is all clear already and even the clouds above are slowly drifting apart, letting what sunlight still remains through.
The team has been following the frozen creek for a couple hours by now. It's been an easy trek, relatively speaking, among the groves and thickets of pine: the snow isn't too deep and the terrain is largely even. Everything is peaceful and quiet out here, and the patrol is yet to run into anything larger than what appeared to be a small clutch of blasé fieldfares and a lazy, loud jay.
Command's been nervous, very nervous all day and indeed ever since that patrol failed to report in last afternoon and at morning today and again around noon, when those PMCs were finally dispatched to see about it. But that's not the team's main concern right now. Aerial footage they got to inspect before they set out showed strange creatures moving along the creek and towards the camp. Unless they changed course in the meantime, at this point they should be close.


There was some light snow drizzling down earlier in the afternoon, but now, with dusk approaching the weather is all clear already and even the clouds above are slowly drifting apart, letting what sunlight still remains through.
The party has been following the frozen creek more or less closely for a couple hours by now. It's been an easy trek, relatively speaking, among the groves and thickets of pine: the snow isn't too deep and the terrain is largely even. The other party they've seen, the ones that turned south when they turned north must have it rough now among the rocks, but that's of little concern to the five. The birds have been talking to Yex and they all bhut confirmed that the band is on the right track. Another batch of the strange men is moving eastwards now and should not be far from here.

[Palanan]

Rolling initiative:

Chal: [roll0]
Daybreak [roll1]
Grathag: [roll2]
Hallax: [roll3]
Lucky: [roll4]
Shassax: [roll5]
Yex [roll6]

Also, one note on starting positions, with regard to companions. Shassax will be on Yex’s shoulder at all times, unless specified otherwise, and will be serving as aft lookout. Scuttlebutt will be clinging to Lucky’s person at all times, again unless specified otherwise.

By contrast, Daybreak has been left behind at camp, so as not to tire him out, and also to draw less attention. Grathag can spend a full-round action to call Daybreak to his side, so he’s planning to do that if the need arises. Until then, Daybreak is pacing eagerly back at camp.

So, let us know when the first round begins.

[Edreyn]

Roleplay

- Something is wrong here guys, - said Tyler, - I have a gut feeling that we are being watched.
- Yeah, we are, buy all those hares and birds, - answered Anna. - I am dying to put a bullet in some unlucky local's brain - let them just give me a reason. But so far I don't see even a predator animal, not even talking about someone sapient.
- What fun is to kill with just one bullet, - Liza started her favorite arguing, and as always, was stopped by Diego.
- Shush, Liza. I have this gut feeling too. We better prepare for a fight. Vladimir, do you still have this spy drone? Hope you didn't lose it on the way?
- No, commander. I have it right here, - the sniper replied.
- Then make sure we find them before they find us. And just in case they do see us first, everybody get your position, like we all did during training.


Initiative:

Vladimir [roll0]
Anna [roll1]
Diego [roll2]
Tyler [roll3]
Liza [roll4]

[Metastachydium]

Round one begins! Feel free to post your actions.

[Palanan]

Okay--I'm working on getting a small inset map for you, to show my starting positions. Once I have that done, I'll give you my actions for the first round.

I'll send you the inset map over email, hopefully not too much longer.



EDIT:

Now of all times, my computer is being excruciatingly slow and difficult.

...Just...a...little...longer....

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

UPDATE: Everyone starts standing.
Vladimir (Sniper 1): D2
Anna (Sniper 2): B2
Diego (Assault 1): C3
Tyler (Assault 2): B3
Liza (Heavy): D4


Roleplay

(Diego is the one who commands)
- Vladimir get closer to trees, before you send a drone, just in case. Okay if you are moving crouched and not prone. I'll cover you myself.
- Roger that Commander.
- Anna, quickly move to trees on the south. Run and climb.
- Got that boss.
- Tyler, advance with her to the south and cover her.
- Aye aye.
- Liza, you move just a little to South West.
- Okay


Actions

Vladimir: Move when crouching to H1. Release the drone.
Drone (should I roll initiative?): Fly to U2, altitude 65 feet.
Initiative for drone if required: posted below
Anna: Move to E10. Double move action.
Diego: Move to I4. Double move action.
Tyler: Move to F9. Double move action.
Liza: Move to H6. Ready action: attack hostiles on sight.

[Edreyn]

Roll for you know what:
[roll0]

[Palanan]

Okay, I’ve sent you the inset map showing starting positions. Yex is at 32-BO, Hallax at 32-BR, Lucky at 33-BQ, Chal at 34-BQ, and Grathag at 35-BR.

Round One:

Yex scents the sharply humid air. “Not far,” he murmurs; “birds say just to the west.”

Hallax gives a barely perceptible rumble, a pleased predator; Grathag merely bows his head. Lucky and Chal share a glance, and Lucky nods crisply. “Here goes,” he whispers.



Yex is looking and listening carefully, primarily to the west, northwest and southwest, senses on edge for any sight or sound of the strange intruders. On his shoulder, Shassax is looking behind to the east, and especially above, wary of an attack from the heights.

Perception:
Yex: [roll0]
Shassax: [roll1]

Hallax is looking and listening with equal care, in particular from the west to the north and behind them to the east.

Perception:
Hallax: [roll2]

Grathag is also looking and listening, especially to the west, south and southeast.

Perception:
Grathag: [roll3]

Within the protective triangle of the warriors, Chal and Lucky each begin casting a summon spell from a scroll. Chal is casting Summon Monster I, and Lucky is casting Summon Monster III, which will occupy them for the remainder of the round.

[Metastachydium]

The tem spreads out quickly, efficiently and without complications. The drone takes off and climbing fast, it buzzes away. For now, Vladimir doesn't see anything suspicious appear on the screen.

Yex may very well be right and the strangers may very well be close enough. Most of the party does not see or hear any sign of that, however. Grathag has the vague impression that his ears picked up something: a monotonous buzzing noise, but it is very faint. It could be wind. It could be anything.

OOC: tell me what those two are summoning and where they will appear.

[Palanan]

Grathag murmurs to the others about the dim, monotonous buzzing.

Lucky is summoning a lantern archon, which will appear in the square to his immediate left, which should be 33-BP. Chal is summoning an eagle (which will have the Celestial template) and which will appear to her immediate left, which should be 34-BP.

Let me know when we're at round two...

[Metastachydium]

Round two! Unleash the fury!

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: H1
Drone: U2, altitude 65 feet
Anna: E10
Diego: I4
Tyler: F9
Liza: H6


Roleplay

- See anything, Vladimir? - Diego asks.
- Negative, only white trees and even whiter snow.
- Continue searching. I am pretty sure we aren't alone.
- Roger that. Sending drone further to the east.
- Anna, remember your training? Get to one of the trees to the south and observe the surroundings.
- Will do, commander!
- Tyler, proceed a little to the east and cover Anna.
- Aye, commander.
- Liza you also advance to the east and...
- Let me just see them, I'll make sure they...
- Just obey, Liza
- (sigh) Yes, commander!


Actions

Vladimir: Don't move, control drone
Drone: move to AK5, same altitude
Diego: Don't move. Ready action: attack first hostile he sees.
Anna: Move to H11, climb and get position on a tree, height where can sit comfortably, see as far as possible and be able to actually fire. Look to the SE.
Tyler: Move to J9. Ready action: attack first hostile he sees.
Liza: Move to M7. Ready action: attack first hostile she sees.


Done this post

[Palanan]

Alerted by Grathag’s murmur, Yex will look carefully towards the west, straining to catch sight, sound or scent of the strange intruders. On his shoulder, Shassax will continue looking around, and especially behind and above them.

Perception:
Yex: [roll0]
Shassax: [roll1]

Yex will also use his wand of Camouflage on himself.

Hallax continues watching, listening and scenting as well, with an emphasis on the northwest and north.

Perception:
Hallax: [roll2]

Likewise Grathag continues keeping watch, especially to the south and behind them.

Perception:
Grathag: [roll3]

As the lantern archon appears at the end of the last round, Lucky commands it (in Celestial) to hold still. During this round, he will cast Invisibility on it with his wand, and then he will command the archon to rise up above the trees, survey the area, and return with news of anything unusual in 30 seconds.

The archon will be on the alert as it begins its ascent. The archon will take a double move action to rise invisibly above the trees, finishing at an altitude of 120 feet.

Perception:
Lantern Archon: [roll4]

This is the first of seven rounds the archon will be active.

Likewise, as the eagle appears next to Chal, she commands it (in Celestial) to rise to treetop level, fly towards a touch north of west, and search for one or more humans, and then to circle above them when it sees them.

The eagle will be eyeing its surroundings carefully from the moment it takes wing. The eagle will take a double move action, first to reach a height of 80’, and then to fly 80’ to the west, drifting slightly north and ending at 32-BA.

Perception:
Eagle: [roll5]

This is the first of five rounds the eagle will be active.

[Metastachydium]

As usual, Diego's gut was spot on. As the UAV sails eastward, a cluster of figures appear standing in the snow to the southeast. Vladimir can count five roughly humanoid figures as well as something thoroughly bizarre what appears to be a glowing ball of light hovering above the ground. The short creature with a strange, elongated snout standing next to thisÂ… thing then seems to touch the ball and it winks out, revealing a large bird, probably an eagle standing just south it in the snow. Shortly thereafter, the eagle spreads its wings and takes off rising above the treeline and beginning to fly westwards.

OOC: Vladimir sees 7 entities in total. Two human-looking armoured figures stand on BR35 and BQ34; a short creature with a prominent snout stands on BQ33, next to a ball of light on BP33. There's a less human-like armoured creature on BR32 and another similar creature with something on its shoulder on BO32. A large bird takes off from BP 34 and flies to BA32 (80' above ground).

Grathag got lucky moments ago, but the keen-eyed Yex and Shassax need no luck to find the source of the sound they are now also hearing, if faintly. A peculiar set of three white cilinders, barely visible against the clouds floats into view and begins to hover mid-air past the grove to their northwest, sixty feet or so above the ground by Yex's reckoning.
In the meantime, the archon and the eagle also rise up to survey the area. The archon doesn't see much, but the eagle has more luck and spots something that might be a human in a white-grey outfit holding something large and black in the distance.

OOC: Yex spots a flying contraption hovering above AK5, 65' up. The eagle spots something that might be a single human standing on M7.

Get ready for round three!

[Palanan]

Round Three

Yex murmurs to the others that he’s seen a strange device flying to the northwest. “Small and noisy, drifting in the air.”

Now that he knows the direction, Yex will continue looking carefully to the west and northwest, while Shassax—now that flying things are in play—will carefully scan the skies in all directions in case there are others.

Perception:
Yex: [roll0]
Shassax: [roll1]

A murmur between the catfolk and Hallax moves from 32-BR to 32-BP, adjacent to Yex, and Yex will take a moment to use his wand to cast Camouflage on Hallax.

As he does so, Hallax will continue looking and listening from northwest to north to northeast.

Perception:
Hallax: [roll2]

Grathag continues looking and listening, again to the west, south and southeast. Grathag will also take a moment to drink a potion of Bull’s Strength.

Perception:
Grathag: [roll3]

“Right then,” Lucky breathes to Chal, “slight change of plans.”

Lucky begins casting Summon Monster I from a scroll, to summon an eagle; when it appears at the start of the next round he will command it (in Celestial) to hold still a moment for him to cast a spell on it. It will appear in the same spot as the previous summons, 33-BP.

The invisible lantern archon, now at an altitude of 120’, continues scanning the area carefully.

Perception:
Archon: [roll4]

This is the second of seven rounds the invisible lantern archon will be active.

Meanwhile Chal is casting Barkskin on Grathag.

Following its instructions, Chal's eagle will fly towards the human at M7 with a double move action, searching for other humans as it does so. The eagle starts at 32-BA and flies 160’, finishing roughly at AB-19. If it spots any other humans it will stop and circle above them.

Perception:
Chal's Eagle: [roll5]

This is the second of five rounds the eagle will be active.

Since Lucky has Augment Summoning, his summoned creatures have a +4 to Strength and Constitution. I'll get you the modified stats for the lantern archon and air elemental later today if I can.

It looks like I slipped up--Lucky doesn't actually speak Auran. Given this, how much in the way of commands can he give to the air elemental when it appears?

If he's not able to, I'd like to change the summons if I could, since Lucky would know ahead of time that he doesn't speak that language. (Sorry, really wiped out from yesterday.)

EDIT: Thanks for the answer in the other thread. Changed Summon Monster II to Summon Monster I, for an eagle instead of an air elemental.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: H1
Drone: AK5, altitude 65 feet
Anna: H11
Diego: I4
Tyler: J9
Liza: M7


Roleplay

- Ah, hell, I knew it! - Vladimir started cursing, - We have visitors, to the south east from us.
- Report! - harshly demanded Diego.
- I got five... don't know who... not all of them even look like humans, but they all seem to be sapient. They wear some kind of medieval armor.
- I am not surprised, - Anna intervened, - eggheads expected we can find something like this. It's not our world, remember?
- Hush, - let Vladimir report! - Diego demanded.
- I also see a large bird, seemingly an eagle, though it might be of different eh... breed then we know. Who knows maybe he is capable of thinking too!
- Bad news, - that was coming from Anna, - those things have good eyes. Really good. Better then any of us, humans. He could already see our bad girl by now.
- WHO DID YOU DARE TO...
- Hush! Continue Anna.
- Roger. So, the eagle could spot Liza by now, but about others... He is looking from south east, and from that direction, trees cover the rest of us.
- Got that. Vladimir, anything else?
- Uh... positive. I see some kind of orb emitting light.No even slightest idea of what it is, and how it can be dangerous.
- What else?
- That's it. Commander, the eagle flies fast. He could see us any minute!
- Got that. So, the trees can hide us? So, let's use them! We will hide in the heavy bush to the south of our starting area. But we'll make them also swallow wrong lead.
- What do you mean boss? - Tyler asked.
- We carried those fake armors and helmets for a reason. We'll use them and make those knights-in-dented-armor believe that we are not in our real place. Liza, starting from you. Go to the south, and use your fake-stuff to pretend someone is lying on the ground, with his rifle looking eastward. Questions?
- Uh, we have helmets and armor, but where would I get rifle?
- Just get a thick stick you f... frail girl!
- Ah, got that!
- Anna, you position your dummy on your own place. Make it detectable, but pretend like the potential soldier would try to conceal his position. When done, descend and go deeper into dense area.
- Roger that boss!
- Vladimir, put your dummy on where you are, make it easily seen - but not recognizable. As if someone lying in the snow. Then run to the south. No, don't make it a straight line, go around, go in circle to the west first. Let the drone hover for now.
- Got that, commander.
- Tyler go just a little east, then place your decoy. Pretend you are hiding behind a tree.
- Roger that.
- I'll do same at my place and join you.


Actions

Vladimir: Position dummy on where he is now. Attempt to make it easily detectable (not recognizable!) as if person lies prone in the snow. After that move to D3.
Drone: hover at same position and altitude.
Diego: Build a decoy as if someone is looking and pointing a rifle towards south-east, then move to I9.
Anna: Position dummy on where she is now. Attempt to make it detectable (not recognizable!) but as if person tries to hide. After that move to I14.
Tyler: Move to K9, build a decoy as if someone is looking and pointing a rifle towards south-east.
Liza: Move to M12 (under a tree). Position dummy.

[Edreyn]

Forgot rolls:

Craft Mechanics
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Diego: [roll2]
Tyler: [roll3]
Liza: [roll4]

Disguise
Vladimir: [roll5]
Anna: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]
Tyler: [roll8]
Liza: [roll9]


Stealth (if needed)
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11]
Diego: [roll12]
Tyler: [roll13]
Liza: [roll14]

[Palanan]

Here are the basic stats for the summoned creatures via Lucky's Augmented Summons. At this level, the only real effects are a couple extra hp and a very slight increase to CMB, CMD and Fort saves.


Eagle (via Augmented Summoning)

AC 14
hp 7
Fort +5, Ref +4, Will +2

Speed 10 ft., fly 80 ft. (average)
Melee 2 talons +3 (1d4+2), bite +3 (1d4+2)

Str 14, Dex 15, Con 16, Int 2, Wis 15, Cha 7
Base Attack +0; CMB +1; CMD 13
Feats Weapon Finesse
Skills Fly +8, Perception +10


Lantern Archon (via Augmented Summoning)

AC 15
hp 17
Fort +6, Ref +3, Will +0
DR 10/evil; Immune electricity, petrification

Speed fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Ranged 2 light rays +3 ranged touch (1d6)
SLAs (CL 3rd) At Will: Aid, Continual Flame, Detect Evil

Str 5, Dex 11, Con 16, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 10
Base Attack +2; CMB -2; CMB 8
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills (partial) Fly +15, Perception +4

Standing by for Round Four!

.

[Metastachydium]

The team is a well-oiled macjóhine. In a matter of seconds, the decoys are deployed and everyone (even Liza) moves into position. The drone continues to hover above the trees, but there's little new to see. One of the armoured creatures takes a few steps towards the west and the one with the bird on their shoulder seems to poke him (her? it?) with something. Where the drone first saw the glowing sphere before, another large bird appears, as if from thin air. Meanwhile, the first eagle continues its flight westwards and it is getting close to the wooded area the team is now retreating into.

OOC: figure on BR32 moves to BP32. An eagle appears on BP33. First eagle is now 80' above AB19.

The flying contraptions continues to hang motionless in the sky where it was and neither Yex, nor Shassax senses any movement around or above the band. Some of the others, in the meantime, have a somewhat more difficult time staying on high alert than the ranger and his companion. The blazing whites all around them put something of a starin on Grathag's eyes and the archon finds the uniform landscape all around terribly confusing.
Chal's eagle, on the other hand, has more luck than these four. Although the human it first spotted moved out of sight towards the south, it now spots two more figures, lying prone and inert on the ground, seemingly graspingÂ… Sticks?

OOC: don't worry, nothing happened to G.'s eyes or the archon, I'm just being "artistic" about them making awfully bad Spot checks.
Meanwhile, flying thing stays where it was; human-looking figure moves south in straight line, disappears under trees; two prone figures become visible on H1 and I4.
Also, thanks for the augmented stats!

Round four!Do what needs doing!

[Palanan]

Round Four

“We need cover,” Yex whispers to Hallax, who nods. “See you flat-teeth later,” Hallax murmurs to the others.

Yex and Hallax will ever so quietly move through the nearest clump of trees—counting on their innate stealth and Camouflage to help keep them hidden—and will both continue looking, listening and scenting for the intruders. Yex moves from 32-BO to BJ-31, and Hallax from 32-BP to BJ-30.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]
Hallax: [roll1]

Perception:
Yex: [roll2]
Shassax: [roll3]
Hallax: [roll4]

“We should follow,” Grathag says quietly, and moves from BR-35 to BN-35. Once there, despite the slight snowglare, Grathag will continue looking and listening all around. Grathag will also take a moment to drink a potion of Bear’s Endurance. With Barkskin, Grathag’s AC is now 20; with Bull’s Strength, he now has a Strength of 22, and with Bear’s Endurance he now has a Constitution of 20, which brings him to 65 hit points.

Perception:
Grathag: [roll5]

Lucky finishes his summons and an eagle appears in 33-BP, seeming larger and stronger than Chal’s. In Celestial, Lucky commands it to hold still for a moment while he uses his wand of Shield on the eagle, after which he commands it to fly straight towards the flying device to the northwest. “Bring it down,” he breathes in Celestial, “down into the stream, and keep it there.” With that, Lucky takes cover in the lee of a different tree, moving from BQ-35 to BM-34. Lucky will also do his best to hide:

Stealth:
Lucky: [roll6]

The large eagle immediately flies off to the northwest, from 33-BP to approximately AS-16, on an intercept course with the flying device and scanning the entire area as it closes in.

Perception:
Large Eagle: [roll7]

With Shield, the large eagle has an AC of 18. This is the first of seven rounds the large eagle will be active.

Meanwhile, the invisible lantern archon continues scanning the area from its altitude of 120’.

Perception:
Invisible Lantern Archon: [roll8]

This is the third of seven rounds the invisible lantern archon will be active.

Chal follows Lucky into cover of the tree, moving from BQ-34 to BM-35, and casts Shield on herself, bringing her AC to 16. Chal is now also looking carefully all around, especially to the west and northwest.

Perception:
Chal: [roll9]

From AB-19, Chal’s eagle will continue flying towards the prone humans and will reach C-4, at which point it will begin circling above them. Chal’s eagle will be searching carefully for more humans as it does so.

Perception:
Chal’s Eagle: [roll10]

This is the third of five rounds Chal’s eagle will be active.


EDIT: When I originally made everyone's moves, I didn't take into account the difficult terrain beneath the trees. I've corrected for that as best I can, so Yex is at BJ-31, Hallax at BJ-30, Grathag at BN-35, Lucky at BM-34, and Chal at BM-35. I'll send an updated position map when I can.

Also, I'm at the furthest corner from both the numbers and letters, so it's very difficult for me to know which spaces I'm in. I've printed out the grid map and I'm marking positions, but please bear with me.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions


Vladimir: D3
Drone: AK5, altitude 65 feet
Anna: I14
Diego: I9
Tyler: K9
Liza: M12
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12


Roleplay

- Everybody retreat into the woods, - Diego ordered, - we don't want to be seen. With some luck the damn bird will see our decoys and its master will believe they are us. Vladimir you are still in the open, continue south, but don't run, move in stealth. Don't touch the drone for now.
- Roger that boss!
- Anna enter even deeply into woods.
- Yes, commander!
- Tyler, you and me will also continue south for now. Then I have a surprise for our friends...


Actions

So, moving through forests consumes two cell as one? I am asking again, just to make it clear. Even if I can move further, let's stay with this for now.

Vladimir: Stealth mode on. Move to to D9.
Drone: Remain in place.
Anna: Move to N15.
Diego: Move to I15. Stealth mode on (while in the open) - no penalty to speed because of feet.
Tyler: Move to K15. Stealth mode on (while in the open) - no penalty to speed because of feet.
Liza: Move to O16.

[Metastachydium]

The soldiers move deeper into the grove, leaving the dummies behind; even Vladimir reaches the treeline (albeit without disappearing under the branches) by the time the eagle swoops in and begins circling above the decoys, none the wiser – or so it appears. Vladimir does see more alarming news on the screen however: their enemies begin moving away towards the west, the drone losing sight of them as they reach the grove they stood by thus far and the second, more powerfully built eagle that appeared beside the short creature with the snout just a few seconds ago takes off and, apparently following some instruction from its master, starts flying straight towards the UAV.

OOC: That's right, each square counts as two squares in the difficult zones.
Meanwhile, eagle 1 is now above C4. Eagle 2 is now 80' above AS16 and heading towards the drone.
Anyone who moves in the next round, will have to make a new Stealth check.

Chal's eagle sails past the last trees and begins circling above the frozen creek. The terrain below is swarming with those strange, humanlike figures: now it can see three more compared to what it spotted previously: one sittong among the branches of a tree and two leaning against tree trunks. The eagle has the distinct impression that there is something off about one of these, but it is not sure how. Not that it is paid to think (or paid, for that matter).
Back in the southeast, the party begins to move into the patch of pines immediately to their west. Lucky, the last to follow releases his eagle before doing so, watching as the mighty bird flies off to intercept the strange device which continues to hang motionless in the sky, showing no intention of getting a closer look on the band.
Above, the lantern archon is just as confused as it was before. What is it even doing here? It hears nothing. It sees nothing. Mostly, it just wants to go home.

OOC: No problem. The important thing is that now everyone is someplace where they can be by the rules.
Meanwhile, the eagle spots three more figures: one perched on a tree above G11, ons leaning against another on M12 as does a third one (that looks off) on K9.
Please point out what the eagle's trajectory is going to be once it actually begins circling.

Here comes round five!

[Palanan]

Round Five

With a nod to his cousin, Yex takes a double move action to continue west, picking his way through the snow and debris and ending at BB-31. He is moving quietly, and both he and Shassax are on high alert for intruders anywhere around.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Confident in his natural stealth and enhanced Camouflage, Hallax moves north out of the difficult terrain and begins skirting the northern edge of this clump of trees, heading to the northwest, ending at BH-26. He is looking, listening and scenting as he goes.

Stealth:
Hallax: [roll3]

Perception:
Hallax: [roll4]

Grathag nods gravely to Lucky, looks and listens all around, and moves west to BK-35.

Perception:
Grathag: [roll5]

Lucky casts Invisibility on Chal with his wand. His wand of Invisibility now has eight charges left.

Staying low and quiet, Lucky will work his way west through the debris scattered beneath the trees, only managing to move from BM-34 to BK-34.

Stealth:
Lucky: [roll6]

Since the invisible lantern archon can see nothing, and was commanded to return after a brief period, it descends to the spot where it first appeared, and—attracted by Lucky’s discreet wave—begins heading back to Lucky. It should intercept Lucky in the following round. This is the fourth of seven rounds the invisible lantern archon will be active.

Meanwhile, Lucky’s large eagle is bearing down on the flying device, flying directly from AS-16 to intercept at AK-5. The large eagle will attempt to grapple the flying device:

Combat Maneuver: Grapple:
Large eagle: [roll7]

If successful, the large eagle will use the Grappled (Move) action to pull the flying device straight down 40 feet. This is the second of seven rounds the large eagle will be active.

Now invisible, Chal will establish a life link with Grathag and begin moving west, picking her way carefully through the fallen debris beneath the trees, moving from BM-35 to BJ-35.

Having just flown over a trio of strange figures, Chal’s eagle will begin circling them at treetop height. From C4 it will arc around to P4, then curve around south to P14, then veer west and fly to F14, and then turn again north, scanning the intruders and their surroundings all the while.

Perception:
Chal’s Eagle: [roll8]

This is the fourth of five rounds Chal’s eagle will be active.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: D9
Drone: AK5, altitude 65 feet
Anna: N15
Diego: I15
Tyler: K15
Liza: O16
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Eagle 1 (enemy): C4
Eagle 2 (enemy): AS16


Roleplay

- Prepare to start radio silence soon, - Diego orders, - for now everyone except Liza continue moving East. Then snipers will take positions, and me with Tyler try to set mines. Liza, you go to the south and expose yourself for a few moments. If they see you, with some luck they will believe we are all there. Don't confirm orders, just start moving. And prepare to act on your own, soon we'll have to shut communications.


Actions

Vladimir: Move to F13
Drone: Move to AL 24, same altitude 65 feet
Anna: Move to T15
Diego: N16
Tyler: P15
Liza: Move to P22 (Last two cells counts normally, I believe)

[Edreyn]

Rolls:


Only Vladimir is exposed, so rolling onlt for him. Other move normally.

Stealth (Vladimir): [roll0]

[Metastachydium]

Vladimir manages to follow his comrades unimpeded to under the cover of the branches, and he even has the time to veer the drone out of the larger eagle's way. The UAV has no success at locating the freshly disappeared hostiles, however.
In the meantime, Liza strides out of the forest with little regard to stealth. As she looks up, she can see the eagle move south before taking a sharp turn and beginning to glide westwards in a broad circle.

OOC: First eagle's now 80' above G14. Drone evades second eagle; second eagle ends its movement where drone previously was (AK5, 65' up). Drone surveys the area and sees nothing.



Most of the party pushes forward, deeper into the grove encountering no resistance, but not Hallax. The daring catfolk heads north to sneak a peek at their surroundings without all those pesky tree trunks blocking his vision only to find that there's not much left there to look at: the flying device is gone, nothing other than the faint buzzing his ears pick up indicating it was ever there. Lucky's eagle is all too aware of the resaon why: while it was descending on the contraption, it suddenly came to life and darted south, leaving the mighty bird's talons with little more than the thin air to grab.
Chal's eagle, on the other hand is doing somewhat better. As it begins to trace a broad circle on the sky, it can see that the figures below didn't go anywhere (although the one slumped against the small tree still looks off, as does, on closer inspection, the one leaning against a tree at the edge of the grove) and sailing further towards the south it manages to spot a sixth figure as well, standing at around the center of a large clearing.

OOC: I'm sorry to inform you that since the large eagle is acting on Lucky's iniative, it's very hard not to act before it, so the drone escapes this time.
Hallax only sees their own eagle. Chal's eagle sees the five figures it saw before, the one on K9 and M12 (still) looking off, as well as a sixth motionless figure on P22.


Moving on to round six!

[Palanan]

Round Six

Starting from BB-31, Yex takes another double move action to continue moving north, ending in BA-26.

As before, he is moving quietly, and he and Shassax are scanning and listening for intruders to the north and west, with Shassax paying particular attention to the skies above.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Starting from BH-26, Hallax skirts the difficult terrain and moves northwest to BA-23, again looking, listening and scenting carefully.

Stealth:
Hallax: [roll3]

Perception:
Hallax: [roll4]

At BK-35, Grathag delays his action—

…allowing Lucky to first give two quick orders to the invisible lantern archon as it reaches them: first, to suppress its natural light to candle-strength, and second, to cast Aid on Grathag.

Invisible Lantern Archon’s Aid:
[roll5]

Grathag now has 65 hit points. This is the fifth of seven rounds the invisible lantern archon will be active.

Lucky will then cling to Grathag’s thigh and cast Invisibility on the paladin with his wand. Lucky’s wand of Invisibility now has seven charges left.

Above the icy stream, Lucky’s eagle is stunned at the agility and speed of the flying device, but continues its attempts to follow Lucky’s command to “bring it down.” As the flying device speeds down to AL-24, Lucky’s eagle banks and wings after it, using a double move action from AK-5 to catch up to the flying device at AL-24 and circle it closely in preparation for another attack. This is the third of seven rounds that Lucky's eagle will be active.

Meanwhile, Chal—who has been standing invisibly right in front of Grathag—murmurs to the orc, allowing him to lift her easily in his arms. Once settled, Chal establishes a second life link with Yex.

With Chal in his arms, and with Lucky clinging to his leg, Grathag now takes his delayed action and begins moving west through the snow and debris beneath the clump of trees, from BK-35 to BH-35.

(This is assuming that lifting Chal into his arms counts as a move action, which seems reasonable.)

Finally, Chal’s eagle, convinced that something is terribly strange about the “invaders,” will make a quick pass over the stream and then double back heading south, scanning for additional intruders as it does so, ending at E-15 and looking carefully to the south. If it sees any intruders further south, it will let out a piercing scream.

Perception:
Chal’s Eagle: [roll6]

This is the fifth of five rounds Chal’s eagle will be active. Whether it spots any other intruders or not, it will vanish at the end of this round.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: F13
Drone: AL24, altitude 65 feet
Anna: T15
Diego: N16
Tyler: P15
Liza: P22
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Eagle 1 (enemy): G14
Eagle 2 (enemy): AS16


Roleplay

With the damn bird flying right above, the team members keep radio silence, and follow the last given orders.


Actions

Vladimir: Stealth, move to K14. Control drone.
Drone: Move to AT30. Go to altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Stealth, Move to W17.
Diego: Stealth, move to T16. Same speed in stealth.
Tyler: Stealth, move to T17. Same speed in stealth.
Liza: Move to R26.


Rolls

Stealth (Vladimir): [roll0]
Stealth (Anna): [roll1]
Stealth (Diego): [roll2]
Stealth (Tyler): [roll3]

[Metastachydium]

The bulk of the team moves quietly towards the eastern edge of the grove, Vladimir lagging somewhat behind and veering the drone out of the way of the large eagle pursuing it. On the screen, he sees nothing but trees and snow.
Liza, in turn, strays even further south into the grove. Nothing and no one tries to stop her.

OOC: Large eagle is now 65' above AL24. Everything else remains unchanged.

The two cats continue heading roughly westwards. Hallax looks around from outside the grove, but there's little else to see other than the glistening snow which gives him a slight headache. Yex and Shassax are in no better position to spot much either. With the trees blocking their line of sight, they can't quite see their own eagles anymore, let alone the Enemy.
To their southeast, the lantern archon, happy to see the only familiar face that is still visible catches up to the rest of the party just as they all pile up on poor Grathag. It finds the sight of Lucky clinging to something invisible that moves to boot mildly amusing, and so, now in a better mood it happily does as Lucky tells it, reducing the intensity of its light and bumping into the invisible paladin to cast a helpful little spell on him.
Up in the skies, Lucky's eagle makes another futile attempt at intercepting the drone, but it dances away from its talons with ease again, shooting towards the southeast and losing some altitude. Meanwhile, Chal's eagle turns south to scan the woods, but sees nothing other than the human it previously spotted trudging forward gracelessly and disappearing under the pines before the bird itself vanishes.

OOC: Drone, now 50' up, moves to AT30. Invader on P22 continues moving south, likely ending movement on R2?.

End of round six. Round seven is up.

[Palanan]

Round Seven

Hearing an eagle’s frustrated cry somewhere nearby, Yex pauses to look and listen carefully, paying special attention to the west and northwest.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Yex will also take this opportunity to cast Aspect of the Falcon.

From BA-23, Hallax will move quietly to AV-19 and scan carefully from west to northwest to north.

Stealth:
Hallax: [roll3]

Perception:
Hallax: [roll4]

Now invisible, carrying the invisible Chal in his arms, with Lucky clinging to his leg, Grathag takes a double move action to AW-34, and then will pause to look all around:

Perception:
Grathag: [roll5]

On Grathag’s leg, Lucky will command the lantern archon to suppress its light again, and he will also be looking all around:

Perception:
Lucky: [roll6]

If he spots or hears the flying device, or if someone else does, he will quietly tell the invisible lantern archon, “That thing is evil—burn it out of the sky.”

If the device remains unseen, he will command the invisible lantern archon to cast Aid on him.

Then Lucky will drop off Grathag’s leg and cast Invisibility on himself with his wand. Lucky’s wand of Invisibility now has six charges left.

The invisible lantern archon will either

a: rise to intercept and attack the flying device:

Invisible Lantern Archon
Ranged Attack: 2 light rays
[roll7]
[roll8]

or b: cast Aid on Lucky:
Aid:
[roll9]

Meanwhile, Lucky’s eagle will continue going after the flying device. From the eagle’s starting position at AL-24, the eagle takes a move action to catch up with the flying device at AT-30, and then angrily shrieks as it attacks.

Natural Attacks:
2 talons:
[roll10]
[roll11]
bite:
[roll12]

This is the fourth of seven rounds the large eagle will be active.

While she’s being carried, Chal will look and listen all around:

Perception:
Chal: [roll13]

If she spots the flying device, she will speak to the invisible lantern archon in Celestial and guide it to the flying device’s current position.

She will also take the opportunity to use a pearl of power to recall the Barkskin spell that she previously cast, and to cast it again on herself.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions


Vladimir: K14
Drone: AT30, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: W17
Diego: T16
Tyler: T17
Liza: R26
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Eagle 1 (enemy): G14
Eagle 2 (enemy): AS16


Actions

Vladimir: Move to L19. No stealth.
Drone: Move to AX18
Anna: Move to Z16, climb and get into sniper position. If can in the same turn inspect surrounding, check of Perception. No stealth.
Diego: Stealth, move to Z16, no speed loss.
Tyler: Stealth, move to Y18, no speed loss.
Liza: Move to R30. If sees someone: attack. If not: move to W29.


Rolls

I am not sure about some of those, please check OOC before resolving.

Stealth (Diego): [roll0]
Stealth (Tyler): [roll1]

If required (See OOC):
Perception (Anna): [roll2]
Sense motive (Vladimir): [roll3]
Knowledge nature (Vladimir): [roll4]

Sense motive (Anna): [roll5]
Knowledge nature (Anna): [roll6]

Sense motive (Diego): [roll7]
Knowledge nature (Diego): [roll8]

Sense motive (Tyler): [roll9]
Knowledge nature (Tyler): [roll10]

[Metastachydium]

Vladimir makes his way towards the south, splitting his attention between the screen and the ground beneath his feet. As the UAV hovers above the trees for a second before Vladimir gets it to shoot northwards, an interesting sight catches the soldier's attention: the small creature with the snout emerges from under the trees but it does not walk. It seems to be floating sideways slightly above the ground, swinging back and forth as it moves forward. But the drone has no time to observe it further, since the eagle chasing it is yet to give up.
While Vladimir is busy attending to his tasks, Diego, Tyler and Anna reach the eastern edge of the grove and the latter begins to climb a pine, not getting really far for now – much unlike Liza who ventures even farther from the others, ending up on a wide, crescent shape and so far empty clearing.

OOC: Drone spots small humanoid with snout on BH35. Large eagle is 50' above AT30. Drone doesn't see the other eagle anywhere.
Little comment: I assumed Anna took 10 on her Climb check (partly because the DC is 15 so she can comfortably do so). That said, character's can only climb at one quarter of their normal speed (or one half, but that's a +5 to the DC), so Anna is now just 7' up.

As Hallax darts northwest, stopping under the tree, he suddenly hears a familiar buzzing sound from above. Looking up, he sees the strange flying device again suspended mid-air to his northeast: much to the chagrin of Lucky's eagle, it escaped again.
A good way to the south, Grathag and those carried by him cross the clearing and Lucky hops off to tap himself with his wand, his disembodied voice instructing the archon to cast its spell again. The archon, its light still dim bumps into the apparent source of the sound, filling the ratfolk's body with a welcome warmth.

OOC: Drone's 50' above AX18, well out of range for the archon. Hallax sees it, but is too far away to tell Lucky.
Speaking of, could you give me the exact position of the archon and Lucky (now that latter's not on Grathag anymore)?


Sorry for the dealy, for some reason I thought Edreyn wanted to add some checks, but he really didn't.
Anyway, round eight's upon us.

[Palanan]

Round Eight

From BA-26, Yex will move due west to AU-26, and he and Shassax will continue looking and listening carefully:

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Hallax will glare at the flying device, then will slip under the trees and proceed west to AP-18, moving quietly and attentively, paying more attention to whatever might be waiting to the north, northwest or west.

Stealth:
Hallax: [roll3]

Perception:
Hallax: [roll4]

Meanwhile, Lucky watches with dismay as his eagle once again fails to come close to the impossibly fast flying device.

“Godsdammit,” Lucky mutters, “if you want it done right….”

“Language,” Chal murmurs.

“Yeah yeah.” In Celestial, Lucky calls to the eagle, “Forget the flying thing! Fly fast to the northwest and attack whoever you see there. Scream when you do, and keep screaming.”

To the invisible lantern archon, he tells it to cast Aid on Chal, who uses her invisible fingers to make a small X in the snow to mark her position.

With that, Lucky drinks his potion of Fly and rises 30 feet into the air above AX-34, straining his senses in an attempt to see or hear the flying device:

Perception:
Lucky: [roll5]

The invisible lantern archon drifts across to bump against Chal, and casts Aid on her:

Aid:
[roll6]

This is the seventh of seven rounds the invisible lantern archon will be active, so after casting Aid it winks out, still extremely puzzled as to what exactly was going on.

Lucky’s eagle, still angry at its failure, wheels and beats the air, flying hard from AT-30 to reach AA-13, scanning the terrain below and ahead, eagerly searching for a target to attack:

Perception:
Large Eagle: [roll7]

This is the fifth of seven rounds the large eagle will be active.

Chal—invisible at AV-34, where Grathag set her down—casts Weapon of Awe on Grathag, and then begins picking her way to the west, ending at AS-34.

Grathag, who delayed to allow Chal to cast the spell, grunts a muted thanks and takes a double move action due west, ending in AQ-34.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions


Vladimir: L19
Drone: AX18, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, during climbing.
Diego: Z16
Tyler: Y18
Liza: W29
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Eagle 1 (enemy): ???
Eagle 2 (enemy): AS30
------
Snout-creature: BH35


Roleplay

- See an enemy on the screen. Hiding in South-Eastern grove, - Vladimir reports.
- Roger that, - Diego replies, - we continue with decided tactics. Lead the drone further to the north so they think we still haven't seen them.

Nobody replies to this, obeying orders for radio silence and follow the decided tactics.


Actions


1) All characters attempt to inspect their surroundings all time from now. Won't say about each separately, since assume all of them do this. This includes analyzing eagles behavior, also if the char can use scope or whatever in his\her possession, he\she uses it.
2) For Liza, Diego and Tyler: if after exhausting one move action, can still move and suddenly sees an enemy (NOT eagles!) the char attacks this enemy.


Vladimir: Move to Q18
Drone: Move to BD8
Anna: Keep climbing until getting in position. If can still move, go into Stealth. DON'T attack if sees someone!
Diego: Stealth, Move to AF21. No speed loss.
Tyler: Stealth, move to AJ18. No speed loss.
Liza:Move to AD23.


Rolls

Climb
Anna (Climb): [roll0]

Stealth
Anna(Stealth): [roll1]
Diego (Stealth): [roll2]
Tyler (Stealth): [roll3]


Perception
Sorry here, apply mods as you see fit, don't know how to calculate them. Just mind that there can be natural 1 or 20.

Vladimir (Perception): [roll4]
Anna (Perception): [roll5]
Diego (Perception): [roll6]
Tyler (Perception): [roll7]
Liza (Perception): [roll8]

[Metastachydium]

Before the drone would whirr away towards the north, Vladimir sees a figure sneak across the stretch of snow between the small grove above which the UAV hovers and the one to the south, and stop almost straight below the device. Little does he know, however that mcuh of his team is about to get a closer look: as Anna reaches high enough on her tree and gets into position and as Tyler runs forward towards the central grove, they both spot – one through her scope, the other with his naked eyes – the same creature Vladimir did, standing a mere 30' from Tyler, frowning at the man. It is a hulking, bipedal cat (or some kind of feline creature, at any rate), wearing a sturdy studded leather armour and carrying a massive two-handed sword. Two smaller axes hang from its belt. It approached them with incredible stealth, but it looks just as surprised to meet the rifleman.
Without hesitation, Anna pulls the trigger, just as Diego bursts out of their grove and fires a short burst. The bullets tear into the cat, splattering blood about and tearing apart the armour on its chest.
Before Tyler could join in, however, a shrill cry is heard and the large eagle dives headlong at him, slashing about with its talons to little effect, but finding Tyler's exposed face to drive its sharp beak into, drawing blood.

OOC: I assumed those were meant to be readied attacks. Tyler couldn't get one because he went before the cat and used up all his actions.
Anna is now 22' up on her tree. Diego is on AF16. The cat is on AP 18. The eagle's on Tyler.
Tyler take 5 points of damage (make sure you mark it on the sheet).
The cat is dealt 60 points of damage, but remains standing.

Most of the party manages to push forward without incident, staying alert. Hallax is not so lucky. Not long after he watches the drone buzz on towards the northeast, he continues his silent trek through the grove… And runs straight into a strange figure, clad in a weirdly patterned white-grey garb, a thick vest of sorts and a hemispherical pot of a helmet on his head. The figure is holding a long, black stick with two – no, tree handles protruding from it.
Before either of them could act a flat clap is heard from the distance and something slams violently into Hallax's torso, tearing its way through his armour with ease, radiating white hot burning pain. Within seconds, another strange human erupts from under the trees to the west, his raised black stick flashing and emitting a thunderous noise. Strong as he is, Hallax is almost knocked over by the force of more invisible beads of pain.
Lucky's eagle, prompted by its master shoots northwards and descends upon the man standing before Hallax, its talons slashing their foe to no effect, but its beak finding its mark and drawing blood.

OOC: Hallax gets into trouble! The two invaders he sees are on AF16 and AJ18. Drone's 50' above BD8.
Eagle attacks invader on AJ18, dealing 5 points of damage (took the liberty to roll for it).
Hallax takes 60 points of damage. (But luckily for him, massive damage is an optional rule.)

First blood is drawn! Round nine!

[Palanan]

Round Nine

Hearing the explosion and thunderous fire, Yex will move to AR-26, and will cast Gravity Bow while looking and listening carefully, especially to the north and northwest. All the while he is fearing the worst for his cousin, and burning with fresh rage against humans.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Hallax is still on his feet, and although it’s a small comfort, 5 points of damage are transferred from Hallax to Chal through the life link she established earlier.

That leaves Hallax at 15 hit points, and he immediately rages, bringing his total to 30 hit points. Without hesitation he pulls his greatsword and charges directly at the invader at AJ-18, swinging a mighty blow.

Attack:
Hallax: [roll3]

damage (if successful):
[roll4]

Hearing the immense explosion, Grathag heads north and then west, ending at AP-32, and casts Divine Favor upon himself, looking and listening carefully for any sign of intruders to the north, northwest and west.

Perception:
Grathag: [roll5]

Flying invisibly at 30 feet above AX-34, Lucky hears the massive explosion and flies through the trees to AO-31. Lucky will scan carefully to the north and west in search of Hallax and any intruders.

Perception:
Lucky: [roll6]

If Lucky is able to see the intruders, he will cast Aggressive Thundercloud on top of the one at AJ-18. If he can’t see that intruder, he will cast it on top of the one at AF-16.

Aggressive Thundercloud
electricity: [roll7]
Reflex negates: DC 15

If he can’t see either intruder, he will instead cast Mage Armor on himself.

Lucky’s eagle, having found a target and drawn blood, continues attacking the intruder at AJ-18.

Natural Attacks:
2 talons:
[roll8]
[roll9]
bite:
[roll10]

damage (if successful):
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]

This is the sixth of seven rounds the large eagle will be active.

Chal will cast Air Step on herself and glide north above the difficult terrain, ending at AT-30. Having received 5 points of damage from Hallax, she is now at 33 hit points.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Q18
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AF16
Tyler: AJ18
Liza: AD23
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Eagle 1 (enemy): ???
Eagle 2 (enemy): AJ18
------
Snout-creature: BH35
Cat: AP18


Initiative (repeating same info, now ordered by results)

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Liza (1d20+3)[19]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Actions

First thing: my post was saying that Anna (specifically) won't attack at the same round. Not that I don't like the result, but still wanted to mention you did an error here.

Vladimir: If Vladimir can see the Cat, he attacks him\her\it. If not: Move to T18. Again, attack if possible. If not: move to X18. If makes one move action, and sees enemy except Cat or Eagles that can be hit: attack this target.
Anna: If Cat is alive attack him\her\it. If not ready action to attack next enemy she sees EXCEPT eagles.
Liza: If Cat is alive, move to AH20, then attack. If not move to AH26. If makes one move action and sees someone except cat or eagles: attack.
Tyler: If Cat is alive, attack him\her\it. If not: attack eagle that attacks him.
Diego: If Cat is alive, attack him\her\it. If sees enemy except eagles: attack. If no such enemy: attack Eagle attacking Tyler. If no living enemies nearby: move to AH22. If sees someone: attack. If not plant landmine.

Drone isn't controlled this turn.

Anna and Diego try Stealth if it applies in those conditions.
Everyone continues using Perception, always!


Rolls

Stealth
Anna (Stealth): [roll0] (natural 20)
Diego (Stealth): [roll1]

Perception
Vladimir (Perception): [roll2]
Anna (Perception): [roll3]
Diego (Perception): [roll4]
Tyler (Perception): [roll5]
Liza (Perception): [roll6]

Attack
Vladimir (Attack): [roll7]
Anna (Attack): [roll8]
Diego (Attack): [roll9]
Tyler (Attack): [roll10]
Liza (Attack): [roll11]

Damage if hits


Subsonic ammunition; using subsonic ammunition increases the Perception DC to hear the gunshot/determine its source to 18, but the range penalty increases to 33% and the penalty on damage to -2;

Vladimir (Damage): [roll12]
Anna (Damage): [roll13]
Diego (Damage): [roll14]
Tyler (Damage): [roll15]
Liza (Damage): [roll16]

[Metastachydium]

It has begun! Leaving the drone to its own devices, Vladimir rushes eastwards, heading for the sounds of battle, but from between the tree trunks, he doesn't yet see where the enemy is. Anna, Tyler and Liza, on the other hand can see the cat well enough, and while the latter ends up peppering the the air behind the beast in her excitement, Anna's bullet and Tyler's burst find their mark, just as the creature reaches for the hilt of its blade. The muscles on the cat flex and it seems to be trying to gather the last of its strength to launch its body forward, but to no avail. Its limp body collapses, staining the white of the ground with its blood.
HIs comrades having felled the creature, Diego can now focus on the eagle scratching its talons against Tyler's vest and then trying to take a bite out of his face again, thius time without success. HIs bullet hits and the eagle disappears, leaving no body and no blood behind.

OOC: Hot damn! Sorry for the blunder with Anna.
Anyhow, Vladimir's now on X18. The cat is down, as is the eagle. The team doesn't see anyone else.
Yex darts westwards, silent as a shadow only to see his bloodied cousin standing defiantly in front of two strangely clad humans holding long, black sticks. Before he could do anything, however, a flat clap is heard, and then a loud roaring noise as a third stranger rushes out of the western grove, followed by a flashing of the stick man in front of Hallax holds and another series of claps.
Hallax grabs the hilt of his greatsword, but he is too late. More beads of pain tear into his flesh, burning through his armour. He attempts to gather his strength for a last act of defiance, flexing his muscles but darkness takes him and he collapses bleeding, sending a chill through Chal's spine as her magic siphons away some of his pain into her body.
Grathag and Lucky, one on the ground and one in the air rush to the edge of the grove as well. All Grathag sees is the three humans holding their strange sticks, but Lucky sees a more horrible sight as well: Hallax's familiar form, lying prone on the ground. Steeling himself, the ratfolk casts a spell on himself and a barrier of force surrounds him.
While he's busy at that, his eagle descends upon the human again, but the creature's vest and helmet keep its talons and beak at bay. Another flat clap is then heard and the bird vanishes, struck through by some invisible force.

OOC: Hallax takes 31 points of damage (i.e. 36-5). He's down. Make a stabilization check.
Chal takes 5 points of damage. The eagle takes 8 and is dispatched. Lucky bumps his AC to 21.
Yex, Grathag and Lucky see three invaders, on AJ18, AF16 and AH20.
Round ten. We're making good progress!

[Palanan]

Round Ten

Selecting his arrows with deftness and cold rage, Yex will shoot two slow-burn arrows into the intruder at AF-16.

Attack:
Yex: [roll0]
Yex: [roll1]

damage if successful:

[roll2]
[roll3]

Slipping into unconsciousness, Hallax struggles to keep body and spirit together.

Stabilize:
Hallax: [roll4]

Still invisible, Grathag will begin calling Daybreak to his side. Daybreak will be ready for action at the start of Grathag’s next turn.

Hovering invisibly at 30’ above AO-31, Lucky casts Web on the invaders, centered on the point at the convergence of AG-17, AH-17, AH-18 and AG-18. Web has a 20-foot-radius spread and should extend to cover all three invaders, each of which needs to make a DC 15 Reflex save to avoid being grappled by the web.

Now that he is suddenly visible, Lucky flies across the gap to the clump of trees to the immediate west, ending at AC-31, where he will do his best to hide among the branches.

Stealth:
Lucky: [roll5]

Still invisible, Chal spends one of her cleric channels to heal herself as much as possible, and moves to the edge of the trees at AP-30, searching for the exact positions of the invaders.

Channel Energy:
Chal: [roll6]

Perception:
Chal: [roll7]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions


Vladimir: X18
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AF16
Tyler: AJ18
Liza: AH20
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Eagle 1 (enemy): ???
------
Snout-creature: BH35
Cat: AP18 (dead)


Initiative at correct order

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Liza (1d20+3)[19]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Roleplay

- One down, don't know how many more to go! - happily yelled Anna.
- I always dreamed of a Persian carpet... you know, those made from the fur of Persian cats. Maybe this one will do? Can I skin this kitty, commander?
- Silence, Liza!
- Pretty please!
- Keep radio silence. I might allow this, but first we must make sure we killed everyone.
- Oh!...
- How should we proceed commander?! - Tyler asked, - should we press to the south? They might be all hiding there.
- Let me think... negative. That is what they expect. We will retreat to the north east grove and wait for them there. But first leave them a few surprises.
- Surprises, commander? - asked Liza.
- Tyler, you go to this kitty and hide a mine under it. If its friends will try to revive it, or it will suddenly go back to life, make it go boom!
- Yes, commander!
- Liza, you make a smoke cover for us. Move a little to the east, then throw a smoke grenade right into the western side of that large bush, where we think they are hiding.
- I'd rather use frag grenades, commander.
- Obey orders Liza, or, by my beard, I'll make you clean all the toilets when we are back at our base!
- Ah, okay boss.
- Anna, stay where you are. Vladimir get yourself on a tree finally.
- Roger that!
- Yes, boss!
- I'll also press to the East.


Actions

Vladimir: Move to Z18, climb on a tree to a height where can sit stable and also fight. Attempt Stealth.
Anna: Ready action: attack any enemy she sees. Attempt stealth.
Liza: Move to AL22. If doesn't seem anyone, throw smoke grenade at AQ25. If sees enemy throw FRAG at him.
Tyler: Move to cell with dead Cat. If I am not mistaken it's AP18. Even if not, I think it's within one move action. Place landmine under the body. Attempt stealth. Also, when placing mine, try sleight of hand (if applies).
Diego: Move to AO15. Attempt stealth.

If ANYONE sees an enemy after one move action, he or she attacks. Liza uses frag grenades in this case.
Everyone uses Perception all the time.


Rolls


Stealth
Vladimir (Stealth): [roll0]
Anna (Stealth): [roll1]
Diego (Stealth): [roll2]
Tyler (Stealth): [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir (Perception): [roll4]
Anna (Perception): [roll5]
Diego (Perception): [roll6]
Tyler (Perception): [roll7]
Liza (Perception): [roll8]

Sleight of hand
Tyler (Tyler ): [roll9]

Attack if there is need
Vladimir (Attack): [roll10]
Anna (Attack): [roll11]
Diego (Attack): [roll12]
Tyler (Attack): [roll13]
Liza (Attack with machine gun): [roll14]
Liza (Attack with smoke or frag grenade): honestly don't know, please roll yourself

Damage if hits



Subsonic ammunition; using subsonic ammunition increases the Perception DC to hear the gunshot/determine its source to 18, but the range penalty increases to 33% and the penalty on damage to -2;


Vladimir (Damage): [roll15]
Anna (Damage): [roll16]
Diego (Damage): [roll17]
Tyler (Damage): [roll18]
Liza (Damage with machine gun): [roll19]
Liza (Damage with frag grenade):

damage: 4d6 (within 15'), 2d6 (within 15-45') slashing; range: 100' (no range increment);

[Edreyn]

Rolls at DM request:

Reflex

Diego: [roll0]
Tyler: [roll1]
Liza: [roll2]

[Metastachydium]

Diego's orders are briefly interrupted by a pained hiss as an arrow slams into his shoulder, followed closely by another that, in turn, bounces harmlessly off his armour. Spotting some movement about where the arrows must have come from, Liza rushes forward and tosses a grenade under the trees with a giddy grin on her face. The grenade goes off, but to her dismay, she thinks she sees a figure slip behind a tree trunk just in time. Just as Tyler reaches the body of the fallen cat (realizing that the creature is unconscious, but not yet dead), a small cloudlike orb appears around Liza discharging electricity into her body, singing it slightly. In the same instant, The figure of the snouted creature appears out of thin air, hanging in the air 30' above the ground; without hesitation, Anna and Tyler fire their weapons, and the creature falls, tumbling down and crashes into the snow inertly.
Lastly, Diego, his shoulder still aching runs up behind Tyler, holding his weapon ready.

OOC: Setting a mine is a full-round action, so Tyler couldn't have possibly done so in this round (luckily for you, I might add).
Liza takes 5 points of electricity damage. Diego takes 10 points of piercing damage. Make sure you update the sheets.
The archer saves against the grenade and takes 7 points of slashing damage.
The snouted creture is hit for 43 points of damage and is down.
The cat is not yet dead, but he's working on it.
Vladimir is 7' up. Make a Climb check next round if you want him to move faster.

The vengeful Yex fires two arrows in quick succession, but only the first hits its mark, embedding itself in the invader's shoulder; the other bounces off his vest. One of the invaders surges forward and tosses a little ball towards Yex. The catfolk instinctively dodges for cover behind a tree trunk and his gut turns out to have been right: the ball explodes into a tangled mass of fire and burning hot splinters cutting up Yex's side. Lucky is quick to retaliate: a thundercloud forms around the thrower and zaps them with cackling lightning. Before the now visible ratfolk could dart away safely, however, the stick of the invader now standing over Hallax's limp body flashes and two flat claps are heard. Within the same instant, a bead of pain and then a whole cluster of them shoot into Lucky's fragile body and the world goes black. When Chal, fully healed, reaches the edge of the grove, all she sees lying in the snow is his mangled, lifeless husk.

OOC: Yex hits invader for 10 points of piercing; make sure you include the fire damage in your next post. Invader moves to AO15.
Hallax fails his roll and is now at -2 hp, dying.
Yex gets a grenade in his face, but saves, taking 7 poinst of slashing damage.
Thundercloud singes invader for 5 points of electricity damage.
Chal is now fully healed.
Lucky gets hit twice, taking 43 points of piercing damage and dies before he hits the ground.

Round ten is over. Round eleven begins.

[Palanan]

Round Eleven

Yex will continue launching arrows, this time shooting two masterwork arrows at the invader at AL-22:

Attack:
Yex: [roll0]
Yex: [roll1]

damage if successful:

[roll2]
[roll3]

The slow-burn arrow from the previous round will activate and deal 1d6 fire damage to the invader on AF-16.

Slow Burn fire damage:
[roll4]

Up to the DM if this has any chance of catching the invader on fire.

Meanwhile, the dying Hallax will again attempt a stabilization check:

Stabilize:
Hallax: [roll5]

Grathag finishes calling Daybreak, and will attempt to mount Daybreak as a swift action, aiming for DC 20:

Ride:
Grathag: [roll6]

If he can mount as a swift action, he will make a charge attack on the invader at AL-22:

Charge Attack:
Grathag: [roll7]

EDIT: Note that with his bonuses from Divine Favor and Aid (+1/+1), the attack roll should be 19.

Damage if successful:

[roll8]

EDIT: Note that with his bonus from Weapon of Awe, the damage should be 17.

If not, he will ride as a move action towards the invader at AL-22 and allow Daybreak to make an attack:

Daybreak:
Natural Attacks:
bite:
[roll9]
hooves
[roll10]
[roll11]

Damage if successful:

[roll12]
[roll13]
[roll14]

Still invisible, Chal will channel energy as a cleric to heal Yex, and will pull back to her previous position at AT-30.

Channel Energy:
Chal: [roll15]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions:

Vladimir: Z18, climbing
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AO15
Tyler: AP18
Liza: AL22
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Enemies
Archer: AR26
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead or dying)


Initiative:

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Liza (1d20+3)[19]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Actions

Vladimir: Keep climbing. After getting to comfortable height, if sees not-downed enemy, shoots him\her. If not, ready action to attack first seen enemy (not downed).
Drone: who cares
Anna: Ready action to shoot first not-downed enemy she sees.
Liza: If an enemy moves before her and she sees him\her, usual attack.
If not, but she sees the one she saw earlier: attack him\her.
If sees no one: shoot wildly on the grove direction and wail like a banshee hungry for blood (Dazzling Display).
Tyler: Finish off the Cat (is it coup-de-grace?). Then move to AS18 in Stealth. No speed loss.
Diego: Move to AP20. If sees non-downed enemy shoot. If not: shoot grenade from launcher on downed snout creature.

Vladimir is climbing.
Tyler attempts stealth. Anna and Vladimir "reset" stealth if applies.
Everybody using Perception.


Rolls

Climbing
Vladimir (climbing): [roll0]

Stealth
Vladimir (stealth): [roll1]
Anna (stealth): [roll2]
Tyler (stealth): [roll3]

Dazzling Display (if applies)
Liza (Intimidate): [roll4]

Perception
Vladimir (Perception): [roll5]
Anna (Perception): [roll6]
Diego (Perception): [roll7]
Tyler (Perception): [roll8]
Liza (Perception): [roll9]

Attack (if applies)
Vladimir (Attack): [roll10]
Anna (Attack): [roll11]
Diego (Attack): [roll12]
Tyler (Attack): [roll13]
Liza (Attack): [roll14]

Damage (if applies)

Subsonic ammunition; using subsonic ammunition increases the Perception DC to hear the gunshot/determine its source to 18, but the range penalty increases to 33% and the penalty on damage to -2;

Vladimir (Damage): [roll15]
Anna (Damage): [roll16]
Diego (Damage if shooting usually): [roll17]
Diego (Damage if shooting grenade from launcher): 10' [roll18] 10'-40'[roll19]
Tyler (Damage): [roll20]
Liza (Damage): [roll21]

[Metastachydium]

Another two arrows slam into Liza, this time, but she barely seems to notice. Instead, she starts shrieking with fearsome glee as she peppers the forest with bullets, all of them missing the archer. Tyler, on the other hand doesn't take his chances. He unceremoniously lowers his rifle and sends a bullet through the cat's skull which messily explodes, killing the creature.
While much of the team is focuses elswhere, a mounted knight appears, again as if from thin air and charges straight for Liza. The snipers take aim and fire a bullet each into the huge horseman, but they fail to so much as slow the rider down who cleaves into Liza with a massive, two-handed waraxe. Liza, however is as tough as boiled leather: she remains standing and defiant. Late to the show, Diego moves in front of Tyler and fires a burst towards the horseman as well, but the searing pain of the arrow stuck in his shoulder somehow burning the wound from inside ruins his aim.

OOC: The cat is dead. Since coup de grace is a full-around action, Tyler remains where he was.
Horseman is hit for 25 points of damage.
Arrows hit Liza for 23 points of piercing damage; horseman hits Liza for 17 points of slashing damage. Liza has 14 hp remaining.
Diego takes 4 points of fire damage.
Horseman is now on AM-AN23-24.
Position of archer unchanged.
Yex switches targets and fires two arrows towards the stranger standing by the bush. Both of them manage to pierce the stranger's chest, drawing blood. The stranger lets out a mighty, malicious shriek in response and the end of their stick lights up with fire. Invisible projectiles tear up the tree trunks and branches around Yex, but none hits the catfolk – putting him in a good position to watch as the invader standing over his limp body aims his stick at Hallax and with a flash, crushes his skull into pieces.
To the south, Daybreak finally appears and Grathag mounts the horse with practiced ease, steering his noble steed towards the shrieking stranger. As his form becomes visible again, two flat claps are heard and burning pain fills Grathag's body – only to have his righteous fury burn even stronger than before as he brings down his axe on the shrieker. The strike connects, but his foe remains standing defiantly.

OOC: Hallax is dead.
The invader on AL22 is hit for 40 points of damage.
Grathag is hit for 25 points of piercing damage.
Third invader is now on AP20.
Yex is healed for 11 points.
Round twelve.

[Palanan]

Round Twelve

Yex will continue launching arrows, shooting two masterwork arrows at the invader at AP-22:

Attack:
Yex: [roll0]
Yex: [roll1]

damage if successful:

[roll2]
[roll3]

As a swift action, Grathag will use lay on hands on himself:

Lay on Hands:
Grathag: [roll4]

and Grathag will make another attack on the same invader:

Attack:
Grathag: [roll5]

Damage if successful:

[roll6]

Daybreak will also attack:

Daybreak:
Natural Attacks:
bite:
[roll7]
hooves
[roll8]
[roll9]

Damage if successful:

[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]

Still invisible, Chal will take a double move north and then west, stopping at AR-24.

[Palanan]

Rolling to Confirm Critical:
Grathag: [roll0]

Additional Damage if Successful:
[roll1]
[roll2]

[Edreyn]

Starting position

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AP20
Tyler: AP18
Liza: AL22
------
Dummy (Vladimir): H1
Dummy (Anna): H11
Dummy (Diego): I4
Dummy (Tyler): K9
Dummy (Liza): M12
------
Enemies
Archer: AR26
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AM-AN23-24


Initiative

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Liza (1d20+3)[19]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Actions

Vladimir: shoot Knight
Anna: If Knight is non-downed or dead, keep shooting on him. If he's downed or dead, ready action to attack next seen enemy.
Liza: Move to AK21 (is it attack-of-opportunity?)
If Knight not DEAD (even if downed) use SQUARE attack on him.

5d10 (autofire over a 10 by 10' square) piercing
If dead and sees someone else, except archer, shoot him or her.
In other cases, throw SMOKE grenade on archer.
Tyler: Move to AP24. If Knight isn't dead shoot him. If dead and sees someone else shoot him or her. In other cases, shoot smoke grenade on AS24. For now, ignore archer.
Diego: Move to AI19. If Knight isn't dead shoot him. If sees someone trying to move closer to snipers nest, shoot him. In other cases, shoot at downed Snout. For now, ignore archer.

Everyone is using Perception, all the time, snipers use Stealth if applies.

Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1] (natural 1)

Perception
Vladimir (Perception): [roll2]
Anna (Perception): [roll3] (natural 20)
Diego (Perception): [roll4]
Tyler (Perception): [roll5]
Liza (Perception): [roll6]

Not sure how to roll against attack of opportunity, if it is reflex:
Liza (Reflex): [roll7]

If something else, tell me what to roll.

Attack (if applies)
Vladimir (Attack): [roll8]
Anna (Attack): [roll9]
Diego (Attack): [roll10]
Tyler (Attack): [roll11]
Liza (Attack): [roll12]

Not sure about grenades, tell me if there are changes.

Damage (if applies):
Vladimir (Damage): [roll13]
Anna (Damage): [roll14]
Diego (Damage): [roll15]
Tyler (Damage): [roll16]
Liza (Damage if usual): [roll17]
Liza (Damage if Square): [roll18]

[Metastachydium]

Two further arrows sail out of theb grove to the south, slamming into Diego's chest. The situation is about to get bleaker than could be expected moments ago: both snipers miss the knight, as does Tyler, and while Liza manages to step back and hit their foe, it barely seems to faze the horseman who lunges forward in pursuit and swinging their huge axe, lops her head clean off. The gunner's headless body collapses.
Diego makes an attempt to retaliate, but it would appear that it is hard to land a clean shot when arrows stick out of one's chest: the bullets fly past the knight harmlessly.

OOC: Liza ate a crit and is dead.
Diego takes 23 points of piercing damage. He has 10 hp remaining.
It is a full-round action to set up, and another to fire the machine gun in full-auto mode, but before dying, Liza hits the knight for 9 points of damage.
Knight is now occupying AK-AL22-23.
The tide of the batlle seems to be turning at long last: Yex's arrows find their mark and while a series of familiar flat claps are heard again, no bead of pain tears into Grathag's flash – that is, until the woman in front of him steps back slightly, her stick spitting flames at him with a thunderous roar. Grathag however barely feels the pain (unlike Chal, who winces slightly as some of it is transferred into her body) and surges forward swinging his mighty axe, to deadly effect. The woman collapses to the ground, limp and headless.

OOC: Forgot about the life link. Grathag takes 4 points of piercing damage.
Chal takes 10 points for this round and the previous one. Grathag should now have 34 hp remaining.
The invader on AL22 took a 5' step to AK21. Grathag followed and is now on AK-AL22-23. The invader is very-very dead.
The invader on AP18 moves to AP24.
Round twelve concludes. Round thirteen is up.

[Palanan]

Round Thirteen

Yex will continue firing, this time sending two masterwork arrows into the invader at AP-24.

Attack:
Yex: [roll0]
Yex: [roll1]

damage if successful:

[roll2]
[roll3]

Grathag will use a swift action for Lay on Hands—

Lay on Hands:
Grathag: [roll4]

—and then ride Daybreak to AJ-20, and will attack the invader at AI-19.

Attack:
Grathag: [roll5]

Damage if successful:

[roll6]

Daybreak will also attack:

Daybreak:
Natural Attacks:
bite:
[roll7]
hooves
[roll8]
[roll9]

Damage if successful:

[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]

Chal will pull back to AV-24, and will spend an oracle slot to cast Cure Light Wounds on herself:

Cure Light Wounds
Cha: [roll13]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AI19
Tyler: AP24
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: AR26
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23


Initiative

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Roleplay

- Tyler, smoke screen and retreat into dense trees! - Diego shouts.
- Yes, - Tyler replies shortly.

Snipers are silent, they continue shooting at the knight.


Actions

Vladimir: Keep attacking the Knight
Anna: If Knight is still standing, attack him again.
Tyler: If Knight is still standing: shoot SMOKE grenade at AN23, one cell left. After that move to AU22. Attempt using stealth after making smoke screen.
If Knight is downed: shoot him again to be sure.
Diego: If Knight is still standing: move to AL15, then attack Knight. (Better not to use smoke screen if it can cause problems to Snipers)
If Knight is down: move to AP18, then launch smoke grenade on Archer.

Tyler attempts Stealth.
Everyone tries Perception.


Rolls

Stealth
Tyler: [roll0]

Perception
Vladimir (Perception): [roll1]
Anna (Perception): [roll2]
Diego (Perception): [roll3]
Tyler (Perception): [roll4] (natural 20)

Attack (if applies)
Vladimir (Attack): [roll5]
Anna (Attack): [roll6] (Natural 20! At last!)
Diego (Attack): [roll7]
Tyler (Attack): [roll8] (Natural 19, also possible crit)

Damage (if applies):
Vladimir (Damage): [roll9]
Anna (Damage): [roll10]
Diego (Damage): [roll11]
Tyler (Damage): [roll12]

[Edreyn]

More rolls:


Confirming Crits
Anna: [roll0]
Tyler: [roll1]

[Metastachydium]

Having gotten close enough, Tyler now sees that the archer, standing a mere ten feet or so from him is another cat. The creature meets Tyler's gaze,m fierce, vengeful hatred burning in their eyes and drawing their bow, fires two arrows in rapid succession. Pain flashes through the soldier's body as both sink into his chest, but he doesn't lose his calm and he raises his rifleÂ… To hear a loud clanging noise. Looking west, he he sees its source as well: Anna proved her worth again, sending a bullet straight through the knight's forehead. The large axe slips from the horseman's grip and their limp body quietly slides oout of the saddle, hitting the ground. Remembering the first cat's resilience, Tyler quickly fires a short burst into the fallen body. A gurgling sound is heard and the creature stops breathing.
Seeing that his team took care of the knight, Diego moves northeast, intent on dealing with the archer as well – at least temporarily. He throws a grenade and the cat disappears in a cloud of smoke in a matter of seconds. It all seems to have worked out well enough – but then, something unexpected happens. The knight's horse gallops up to him and with a strange, perplexingly human expression of sorrow mixed with wrath on its "face" it bites into Diego's shoulder.

OOC: Realized there was an if-if clause in your actions section and went with that after all (luckily for you, I might add). Anna and Tyler both hit the knight for a total of 76 points of damage. The knight is very obviously dead.
Meanwhile, Tyler is hit for 24 points of piercing damage.
Diego is bitten for 5 points of damage, and has 5 hp remaining.
Archer disappears in a cloud of smoke covering AQ-AR25-26.
Wit burning hatred in his eyes, Yex looks mint the face of the invader standing barely more than ten feet from him. This is the man who killed Hallax, and he is intent on avenging his fallen cousin. With fluid motions, he fires two arrows. Both sink into the invader's chest, but the human remains standing, much unlike poor Grathag: two flat claps are heard again and Yex sees something slamming into the orc's forehead, spraying blood as it exits on the other side. The paladin drops his mighty axe and slides out of the saddle, hitting the ground. Hallax's murderer is quick to react and turning towards his limp body with his black stick raised gets the strange weapon to emit a flash of fire and the all too familiar clapping noiseÂ… And Grathag is no more.
The other invader to the north runs eastwards and raising his hand throws a cylindrical object towards Yex. Upon impact, the cylinder cracks open and a thick, dark, rapidly expanding cloud of smoke bursts out of it, engulfing the catfolk, so he does not get to see as Daybreak rushes forward and galloping straight to the invader who throw the smokebox, bites them on the shoulder.

OOC: Man, that's harsh. Grathag eats a crit and then he's double tapped for 71 points of piercing damage (after factoring in the Life Link). He's dead.
Chal takes 5 points of damage from the (as of now defunct) Life Link; she gains a total of 2 hape after CLW.
Yex hits twice dealing 24 points of damage.
Smoke grenade goes off by Yex. Smoke cloud now occupies AQ-AR25-26 and will grow next round.
Invader on AI19 moves to AP18.
Daybreak follows and bites invader for 5 points of damage.
That's it for round thirteen. Round fourteen is up.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AI19
Tyler: AP24
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: AR26 (smoked)
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19


Initiative

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Actions

Vladimir: keep shooting at Horse
Anna: Keep shooting at Horse, even if it's down.
Tyler: If Horse is down AND Anna shot it after it was down as well: move to AH26, attempt Stealth.
Diego: If the damn Horse is still not dead or at least downed: Move to AR18, then shoot the beast. If dead, still move to AR18 and climb on a tree. Attempt Stealth.

Everyone uses Perception. If AoO can be evaded by Reflex, rolling it too.


Rolls

Stealth
Tyler: [roll0]
Diego: [roll1]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll2]
Anna: [roll3]
Tyler: [roll4]
Diego: [roll5]

Reflex
Diego: [roll6]

Attack (if applies)
Vladimir: [roll7]
Anna: [roll8]
Tyler: [roll9]
Diego: [roll10]

Damage (if applies)
Vladimir: [roll11]
Anna: [roll12]
Tyler: [roll13]
Diego: [roll14]

[Edreyn]

Forgot one case:


If by Tyler's move Horse is standing, move to AM22, then shoot it.

[Edreyn]

And a roll I also forgot about:


Climb (if applies)
Diego: [roll0]

[Palanan]

Round Fourteen

Shocked and disheartened by Grathag’s death, suddenly engulfed in acrid-smelling smoke, Yex is momentarily stunned and confused.

Chal casts Obscuring Mist, which just overlaps with the expanding blue smoke, and she whispers, “Over here, to me,” moving to AV-26; “quick, take this.”

Recovering, Yex moves towards her whispered voice to AU-26, and feels her press something into his hand: a potion of invisibility, which he drinks without question.

[Palanan]

Rolling to Confirm Critical:
Daybreak: [roll0]

Additional Damage if Successful:
[roll1]

[Metastachydium]

The snipers and Tyler are quick to notice that Diego is in trouble and they are quick to act as well. Vladimir's shot is the first to hit (large animals are a preferred target of his, after all) and Anna, deadly as ever, doesn't miss the weakened beast eitherAs the creature falls over with a pained grunt, Tyler runs up to beside the small tree just south of the horse and finishes the job with a well-aimed burst. This little victory is cold comfort for Diego, however. The leader of the team almost doubles over in pain as he tries to move his bitten arm. He stumbles eastwards a few steps and leans against a tree, breathing heavily.
Shortly thereafter, a strange mist rises under the trees in the southern grove, its edge mixing with the ever expanding thick smoke of Diego's grenade. What might hide in it remains to be seen.

OOC: You killed the horsy! Now I'm sad. (To stay professional for a second, the horse takes 71 points of damage from Vladimir, Anna and Tyler and is now dead. (Congratulations on the feat choices of Vladimir, by the way. He wouldn't have hit without Big Game Hunter.))
Tyler is now on AM22.
The bite attack of the horse last round was actually a crit. Diego takes 5 more points of damage and is now disabled. He can only take on move action or standard action per round, but taking a standard action or any other physically exerting action will cause him to lose 1 hp and fall unconscious. He is now on AR18.
The smoke now covers AP-AQ-AR24-25-26.
The mist covers AR-AY22 and the squares south of that. It's 20' high.

As Daybreak prepares to continue clobbering the wounded invader, flat claps are heard and intense pain bites into the back and then into the right flank of the noble steed. Daybreak collapses as the world slowly fades to back, but – a small joy in the great misfortune – they get to watch the invader they bit doubling down in pain as he tries to move and stumbling with difficulty to the nearest tree trunk to lean against it , obviously hurt. And the rest is darkness.
Meanwhile, having followed Chal's sound into the mist and having imbibed the potion handed to him, Yex's form blends into the fog. Until now, he was nigh impossible to spot. Now he's invisible.

OOC: Daybreak takes 71 points of damage. They are dead.
On the flip side, they all but incapacitated the invader they bit, so good job overall.
The smoke from the grenade now covers AP-AR24-26. (It is harmless, in case you wondered.)
This bloody round is over. We are heading over to round fifteen.

[Palanan]

Round Fifteen

“We need to go,” Chal breathes next to Yex; “we’re the only ones left.”

“We’re not done here,” Yex whispers back.

“Then take this,” and Chal hands him a second potion, “more.”

“South,” Yex tells her.

From AU-26, Yex takes a double move action due south to AU-32. Chal follows from AV-26 south to AV-34, and whispers, “I saw where Lucky fell. West.”

They are both keeping on high alert to see what has become of the invaders.

Perception:
Yex: [roll0]
Shassax: [roll1]

Perception:
Chal: [roll2]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AR18
Tyler: AM22
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Initiative

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Action

Vladimir: ready action: attack enemy if he sees him. If there are two enemies (or more), attack one closer to snipers nest.
Anna: ready action: attack enemy if he sees him. If there are two enemies (or more), attack one closer to snipers nest.
Tyler: Climb on a tree on current position. If enemy moves before Tyler and Tyler sees him, attack him. If climbed on a tree and can see enemy, shoot him. If not: shoot TEAR GAS at the center of FOG started by enemy. Attempt Stealth.
Diego: move to AT18 in Stealth. If enemy moves before Diego and Diego sees him, ONLY attack if enemy coming to his position, or if enemy tried to shoot him but missed.

Everyone also uses Perception.


Rolls

Stealth
Diego: [roll0]
Tyler: [roll1]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll2]
Anna: [roll3]
Diego: [roll4]
Tyler: [roll5]

Climb
Tyler: [roll6]

Attack (if applies):
Vladimir: [roll7]
Anna: [roll8]
Diego: [roll9]
Tyler: [roll10]

Damage (if applies):
Vladimir: [roll11]
Anna: [roll12]
Diego: [roll13]
Tyler: [roll14]

For a chance to miss with grenade, please roll it yourself.

[Metastachydium]

The team stays on high alert and opts to lay low for the most part. Diego faintly stumbles further towards the east in the small grove, but nothing other than his sorry state impedes his slow retreat.
Tyler, for his part, climbs the short tree he stood by thus far and taking in the scene from this vantage point, raises his rifle to his shoulder and fires a CS canister into the fog. The grenade sails straight into the mist and shortly afterwards Tyler sees the white cloud rising under the trees – what good it did is hard to tell, however.

OOC: As should be obvious from the map, the tree by Tyler is on the short side. Still, it's tall enough for the Butcher to climb as high as his check allows, i.e. 7' up. His position is otherwise unchanged.
No enemy is spotted this round.
The smoke now occupies AO-AT23-28.
The tear gas fills AT-AW21-23.
Before Chal could follow Yex, something impacts the ground some 15 fett to her north and a sizzling sound is heard. Chal freezes for a split second, but as nothing happens, she quickly catches up to Yex instead of investigating the source of the sound.
Yex and Shassax look around carefully in the meantime, but neither sees anything to their west and they find it is impossible to tell what's happening behind the still expanding cloud of smoke the invaders created.

OOC: The smoke now occupies AO-AT23-28.
Everything else is unchanged.
Well, that was a slow round. Let's see if round sixteen can spice things up!

[Palanan]

Round Sixteen

From a scroll, Yex will cast Underbrush Decoy. (Note there is no verbal component, only somatic, so the casting is silent.) He will center the spell’s effect on AU-25. Then he will take a move action from AU-32 west to AR-32.

Chal will take a move action west, from AV-34 to AR-34, and she will cast Bless on Yex and herself. They will both be straining their senses to see and hear what’s happening to the north and west.

Perception:
Yex: [roll0]
Shassax: [roll1]

Perception:
Chal: [roll2]

[Palanan]

Bluff
Yex: [roll0]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: BD8, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AT18
Tyler: AM22, on a tree
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Unknown (maybe spellcaster): ???
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

Tyler's voice on the radio.
- Vladimir, Anna, - that's Tyler. Commander is in a bad shape, so I am taking command. When we are done, we'll move him back to base, but for now, we must kill the remaining bandits. I'll try to smoke them out. You sit tight, and don't even think of trying to move closer. Vladimir, you can be of help though. The drone is still working, right? Let it fly above all the smoke and fog and see what those scoundrels are busy with.
- Roger that, Com... Tyler.


Actions

Vladimir: control drone. If can also take standard action and sees enemy, attack.
Anna: ready action: shoot the enemy who tries to leave the fog.
Drone: Move to BD35.
Tyler: If sees enemy: attack. If Drone detects someone, shoot FRAG to this location. If not: shoot TEAR GAS to AS25.
Diego: Don't do anything, unless someone appears out of the smoke\fog and either moves towards Diego, or shoots him and misses.

Tyler and Diego attempt Stealth, if applies. Everyone uses Perception.


Rolls:

Stealth
Tyler: [roll0]
Diego: [roll1]

Perception
Anna: [roll2]
Vladimir: [roll3]
Tyler: [roll4]
Diego: [roll5]

Attack (if applies)
Anna: [roll6]
Vladimir: [roll7]
Tyler: [roll8]
Diego: [roll9]

Damage (if applies)
Anna: [roll10]
Vladimir: [roll11]
Tyler: [roll12]
Diego: [roll13]

Frag grenade:

damage: 4d6 (within 10'), 2d6 (within 10-40') bludgeoning; range increment: 150'; weight: 3,1 lb. (loaded); single shot; move action to reload;

(within 10') [roll14]
(within 10-40') [roll15]

[Edreyn]

More to roll


Tyler got natural 19, rolling again.

Attack (Tyler): [roll0]

[Metastachydium]

Vladimir begins to fidget with the controller again and the drone darts south in a straight line. Nothing suspicious appears on the screen.
Tyler fires a second CS grenade which disappears in the smoke. A banging noise is heard: it hit a tree.

OOC: Nothing new.
The sad remains of the party keep moving, westwards for now. While there isn't much to see to the west and it is impossible to see anything to the north, their ears do pick up a few clues as to what is happening. Somewhere from behind, they can hear a faint buzzing noise which they recognize as the strange flying device. A few seconds later, a loud bang is heard from the north, of metal hitting wood, and then the same sizzling sound Chal has heard before.

OOC: Not much new. Drone's onto you.
A slow round again. Frankly, I expect much the same for round seventeen.

[Palanan]

Round Seventeen

Still invisible, Yex will take a double move action to the west, from to AR-32 to AJ-32. Also invisible, Chal will move west to AN-34 and cast Moment of Greatness on herself and Yex. They will both continue doing their utmost to spot the intruders—or anyone else around.

Perception:
Yex: [roll0]
Shassax: [roll1]

Perception:
Chal: [roll2]

From his current position, Yex should be able to see due north to the spot where Grathag and Daybreak fell, and where the critical-bitten invader was last seen. Yex should have a clear line of sight, well away from the smoke grenade, and he'll be searching hard for any invaders.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: BD35, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AT18
Tyler: AM22, on a tree
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Unknown (maybe spellcaster): ???
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

Anna is on the radio.
- Tyler, those creatures can be copying our own tactics. I mean you and Diego sneaking around. Don't be that sure they are still in smoked area, they could just use it the same way you did - to hide and move elsewhere. Don't barrage them with grenades, if that's what you were thinking!
- Ah, hell, you might be right Anna. Vladimir, I want you to take the drone and swipe, first to the west of the grove, then north of it.
- Got it, Tyler. If I see anyone, I'll try to target you on them.


Actions

Vladimir: command the drone. If detects someone, with eyes or drone AND able to shoot: attack. If finds more then one, attack one closest to snipers nest. In any case, if he detects someone, assume he does his best to explain others where.
Drone: It can move twice, just like chars, right? First move: AF34. Second: AU18.
Anna: Keep "scrying" the area. If sees enemy: attack. If Vladimir reports enemy location, try to visually locate enemy and attack.
Tyler: If sees someone of his own: attacks. If the drone finds someone, well that's more complex. If Vladimir reports nothing, neither does Anna, and Tyler himself can't see anyone, wait for Diego's turn, if he can see someone. If it's no to all: descend, move to AF22, always in Stealth.
If someone reports an enemy that Tyler can't see: I need to know the location to decide, so will post this after getting info from Vladimir, Anna, Diego and Drone.
Diego: same as before, don't do anything, unless someone moves on him or attacks and misses.

Everyone is using Stealth if applies, same about Perception.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Diego: [roll2]
Tyler: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]
Diego: [roll6] (natural 20)
Tyler: [roll7]

Climb:
Tyler: [roll8] (natural 20)

Attack:
Vladimir: [roll9]
Anna: [roll10]
Diego: [roll11]
Tyler: [roll12]

Damage:
Vladimir: [roll13]
Anna: [roll14]
Diego: [roll15]
Tyler: [roll16]

[Metastachydium]

The drone begins circling above the battlefield but nothing appears on the screen. The remaining two creatures should not be far away; however, no one succeeds in spotting them for now. Giving up his vantage point, Tyler swiftly slides off the branches, and landing softly on the ground, he takes it to the west.

OOC: Still nothing.
The first tear gas cloud now occupies (roughly) AR-AX19-25. It will not expand further, so Diego's safe.
Yex cautiously moves out of the grove and towards the west. The catfolk and his falcon see the flying contraption buzzing across the sky above them before it turns towards the northeast and darts away, out of view. They also spot an invader whom Yex recognizes as the man who killed Hallax and then Grathag, sitting atop a small tree. Shortly thereafter, however, the man hops off the tree and scurries off towards the west, disappearing from view.

OOC: Yex sees invader on AM22, on the tree. Invader then leaves towards the west.
Otherwise nothing.
Round eighteen.

[Palanan]

Round Eighteen

From AJ-32, Yex will take a double move action to head north to AJ-23, and then will carefully slip into cover at AI-23, taking extreme care despite being invisible. He will look and listen carefully all around, especially to the north and west.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

From AN-34, Chal will take a move action west to AJ-34, gliding invisibly a foot above the snow, and will cast Spiritual Squire, centered on AK-18, taking the form of an incorporeal warrior with sword raised and ready.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions:

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: AU18, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AT18
Tyler: AF22
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Unknown (maybe spellcaster): ???
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Tyler: Move to Y22, Sneak.
Drone: Move to BF21. Then move to AF24.
Everything is same for others.
Everyone using Perception.


Rolls

Sneak
Vladimir: [roll0]
Diego: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Diego: [roll5]
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

If there is a fight, I'll roll all I need.But for now game turned hide and seek.

[Metastachydium]

The drone makes another circle, but, again, nothing appears on Vladimir's screen. Tyler continues westward unopposed, likewise unable to figure out where the enemies might be.
And then, shortly after the team's interim leader gets into position, something happens at long last: a figure materializes on the ground roughly halfway between Vladimir and Diego. Human in appearance, the figure is holding a sword ready, but it does not move.

OOC: Figure with sword is on AK18.
Sneaking northwards, Yex carefully and noiselessly slips into the cover of a few shrubs and looks around, as does Shassax. And finally, the invaders are there; not all of them, but most of those that still live. The man who killed Hallax is standing a mere 15 feet to their northwest; behind him and farther away, two figures are visible hidden amog the branches of a large tree. A short second later, the buzzing sound of the flying device is heard and it soon appears, almost straight above the catfolk's head and then, the man who killed Hallax cautiously picks his way towards the west, walking out of sight.
If it weren't for the buzzing of the flying contraption, everything would be eerilyt quiet, and not even the sudden appearance of Chal's squire of force disrupts this calm before the storm – for now.

OOC: The man who killed Hallax starts the turn on AF22 and moves westwards out of sight.
One invader on the tree is roughly 20' up above Z16; the other 15' above Z18.
Drone hovers 50' above AF24.
And finally, the plot thickens! Round nineteen begins.

[Palanan]

Round Nineteen

Yex will take a careful double-move action from AI-23 to AA-23, positioning himself in cover at AA-23.

All the while he will continue looking and listening, senses at the utmost:

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Seeing no reaction to her Spiritual Squire, Chal begins casting Summon Monster II from a scroll. She is summoning a wolf, and it will appear at the start of her next round at AJ-25.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: AU18, altitude 50 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AT18
Tyler: AF22
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Unknown (maybe spellcaster): ???
Swordsman (possibly not-real): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay (pre-rolls)

- I see someone, com... Tyler. A guy with the sword, just in the open ground, between us and Diego, - Vladimir reports, - should we attack?
- Tyler, before you decide, - Anna interrupts, - I suggest being careful.
- What's on your mind, Anna? - Tyler asks.
- Remember who we saw and killed before? Neither of them were humans. Large cats, pig-like creatures, but not humans. The knight... well, we haven't seen his face. Maybe he's a bear or some other bipedal animal. I suggest being careful?
- What the hell, Anna? - Vladimir asks, - what are you talking about?
- We used dummies to cheat those guys. Maybe this swordsman, I don't know, is a painted balloon or something. Or some different kind of mannequin. Or a 3-d hologram, like from Star Wars movies. I am afraid they might be trying to cause us to reveal our presence somehow.
- Got that Anna! - hold your fire - for now. Try to inspect the figure carefully, like see if he breathes, or moves, even on same place or whatever. I'll get on a tree to, and also try to check that... guy.
- Tyler, if I may suggest. I can drive a drone right into him. That way we'll know if he is real.
- Good idea, Vladimir. Do that. And you Anna, while the drone is still moving, do try to analyze this lad visually.
- Got that Tyler.
- Roger sir.


Initiative

Vladimir (1d20+8)[26]
Anna (1d20+9)[26]
Tyler (1d20+5)[16]
Diego (1d20+5)[7]


Roleplay (if rolls confirm my suspicion)

- I knew it. It's just a dummy, - Vladimir hisses angrily.
- Commander, I have a suggestion.
- Speak, Anna.
- If it's a mannequin or balloon, or a holo, to hell with it, that it could only be placed by someone else. Maybe he's using top level camouflage, or crawling right upon the snow, or even somehow moves below the snow! Vladimir, put your drone an half-feat altitude and move around this dummy. Maybe the drone will hit it, if can't detect it!
- Good thinking Anna, do as she says Vladimir.
- Okay, let's do it, guys!

Diego suddenly begins moving west. But everyone is too busy to notice that.


Roleplay (if rolls DON'T confirm my suspicion)

- Boss, he IS real, I am sure!
- Then wax him!


Actions

I hope you accept my tactics, but if you find it non-fitting, like using my senses, and not senses of chars, say so, and I will fix it - if you allow.

Vladimir: Don't know if all this is possible in one turn, so sorting by importance.
1) Move the drone into the chest of swordsman. Altitude: 2 feet.
2) While drone moves roll Perception and Sense Motive to analyze the stranger.
3.1) If he's real: attack.
3.2) If not real and can still move drone: put drone to 1/2 feet, just above ground and move the drone to six square left of swordsman (see roleplay for case that my suspicion is confirmed).
3.3) If not real and can't move: just hold.

Anna:
While drone moves (Anna and Vladimir have same initiative), roll Perception and Sense Motive to analyze the stranger.
1) If swordsman is real: attack.
2) If not: hold and do nothing.

Tyler: Climb on a tree on current position - that he does in any case. By now snipers made a decision, so attack swordsman if he is real, and hold if he isn't.

Diego: Also do both rolls.
1) If swordsman is NOT real, then move to AQ18.
2) If real, keep hiding.

Also everyone is using Stealth.
AND if they suddenly see anyone else, another enemy except Swordsman, everyone attacks him.
Diego attacks if fired upon, or someone moves at him.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Climb
Tyler: [roll8]

Sense Motive
Vladimir: [roll9]
Anna: [roll10]
Tyler: [roll11]
Diego: [roll12]

Attack (if relevant)
Vladimir: [roll13]
Anna: [roll14]
Tyler: [roll15]
Diego: [roll16]


Damage (if relevant)
Vladimir: [roll17]
Anna: [roll18]
Tyler: [roll19]
Diego: [roll20]

[Metastachydium]

Vladimir puts the drone on collision course and has it make the dive. The small device speeds towards the swordsman buzzing indifferently and slams into the swordman's chest. Through the scopes of their rifles Vladimir and Anna stare intently at the scene, waiting for a reaction from the motionless figure's partÂ… But there is no reaction. It is certainly not a hologram: the snipers even hear the muffled, clanging noise of the UAV crashing against the figure. It is solid, perfectly solid. But it doesn't move. There's no hiss of pain or frustration. The swordsman doesn't step back or wince and doesn't swing the sword held ready. The two on the tree strain their eyes to catch any hint as to the figure's intentions, trying to read its body languageÂ… Only to realize that the figure has no body language whatsoever. Its very sight makes them feel somewhat uneasy.
While they are to busy to take note of these other developments, their teammates are by no means as inert as the swordsman is: Tyler all but runs up the tree beside him, only to be similarly baffled by the behaviour of the strange figure (or, rather the lack thereof) while Diego, figuring that the swordsman might not be a real threat makes a heroic (and ultimately succesful) effort to silence his heavy breathing and sneaks closer, reaching the western edge of the grove he was hiding in.

OOC: Swordsman's thus far been unreactive, so none of the attacks trigger.
Drone's now 4' above AJ18 (2' are roughly 60 cms and the swordsman's not that short).
Tyler made a good Climb check and is now 15' above Y22.
Yex continues to advance westwards, unseen and without noise. The invaders do not move at first, but he can hear Hallax's killer whisper words into the air before him in a foreign tongue the catfolk does not understand.
Yex then sees the flying device shoot downwards from the sky and slam into the chest of Chal's squire and more whispered words are heard as the man who killed Hallax climbs up the tree he stood by only to fall silent a mere moment later.

OOC: Flying device is 4' above AJ18.
Man who killed Hallax climbs tree on Y22, is now 15' up.
Everything else remains unchanged.

Round nineteen ends. Round twenty begins.

[Palanan]

Round Twenty

Yex continues ghosting west to V-23, where he positions himself behind a tree trunk relative to the invader at Y-22, and carefully looks, listens and scents all around.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

As the wolf materializes at AJ-25, Chal tells it in Celestial, “Run north and west, bring down the strange men.” Then she takes a double move action to AD-32, adjacent to Lucky’s body.

From AJ-25, Chal’s wolf runs to AJ-22 and turns west, moving to attack whatever it sees. If it sees no obvious targets, it will move west and try to pick up any scent it can.

The wolf’s first move action will take it to AC-22, within 20’ of the invader at Y-22. The Scent ability allows it to detect opponents within 30’, so it should pick up that invader and use its second move action to move to the base of the tree in that same square, Y-22, and begin snarling and lunging up towards the invader not far above.

Perception:
Wolf: [roll3]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions


Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AQ18
Tyler: AF22, on a tree.
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Unknown (maybe spellcaster): ???
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

- Argh, I KNEW that's a mannequin! - Anna hisses, being angry, but remembering not to shout, - it doesn't move or even reacts to the drone, it's a damn dummy!
- Great, Anna. Now we know that's a mannequin. Nice job, Vladimir!
- Thanks, Tyler - but Vladimir didn't stop on that phrase, but continued, - I have even a better idea. So someone might be crawling there in the snow? He might still be near that dummy. I'll put the drone on lowest altitude possible and send it flying in spirals around it. If it hits someone, it won't matter how camouflaged he is. We'll still catch the bastard.
- Wow, Vladimir, this idea is worth of a military genius! - said Tyler, - if we return alive, I will talk to the command and tell them you should be promoted, even before they promote me!
- Thanks Ty..., - he is interrupted by Anna.
- Hey, look at the commander! What on Earth he is doing?
- The fool is sacrificing himself, trying to cause this scum to attack him and reveal themselves! Commander, stop!
- Hush soldier! I am still in charge here!
- Vladimir send out the drone to prevent boss's death!


Actions

Vladimir: command the drone. I assume that so precise control will take a lot of effort and concentration, but if he finds someone new and can still shoot, he does it.
Drone: Altitude: 1 feet. Flying in spiral with moves below, but going around (or above) trees, bushes, roots and whatever, until finishes movement or bumps into someone.
Waypoints: To AJ19.To AL19. To AL17. To AI17. To AI20. To AM20. To AM16. To AH16. To AH21. To AN21. To AN15. To AG15. To AG22. To AP22. To AP14. To AG14.
Anna: If drone detects an enemy, or she notices one herself, attack. If not: sit tight. Attacks same enemy as Vladimir if there is more then one.
Tyler: If drone detects an enemy, or he notices one himself, attack. If not: sit tight. Attacks same enemy as Vladimir and Anna if there is more then one.
Diego: Move to AP18, still in Stealth. Only attack if fired upon or if charged.

Everyone uses Stealth and Perception.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Attack (if applies)
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]
Tyler: [roll10]
Diego: [roll11] (natural 1)

Damage (if applies)
Vladimir: [roll12]
Anna: [roll13]
Tyler: [roll14]
Diego: [roll15]

[Metastachydium]

The drone drops close to the ground and buzzing faintly, it begins to move around the swordsman, spiraling away from the still unmoving figure. It glides about unimpeded, failing to bump into anything. Not long after it completes its route, however, Anna and Diego have the impression that they've just heard a faint female voice shouting something from the south. Diego is the first one to notice the wolf appearing out of nothing and racing towards the northeast, but the snipers and Tyler are quick to spot the snarling beast as well as it forces its way through the brush, headed straight for Tyler's tree. They fire almost in unison and while Vladimir's shot only hits the snow behind the wolf, the other two make short work of the creature. Just like the eagle that attacked Tyler earlier, the wolf's carcass disappears before it could hit the ground.

OOC: Drone found nothing.
Anna thinks she hears someone shout from beyond the trees to her southeast; Diego thinks he hears the same from his southwest.
Wolf appears on AJ25, moves northwest to AC22. Takes 36 points of damage. It's dead.
Shassax loses sight of the intruders as Yex moves deeper into the grove, but the catfolk doesn't. Two of the invaders on the trees, the man who kille Hallax and the southernmost one on the tree to the north remain visible to him, and he can even hear them continue their whispered conversation. He also sees the flying contraption gliding close to the ground, spiraling in and out of view – and he sees the wolf Chal sent forth darting through the brush towards the tree the man who killed Hallax sits on and he hears the usual flat claps and he watches the wolf vanish as the invaders's strange beads of pain tear it asunder.

OOC: Wolf takes 36 points of piercing damage upon reaching AC22. It is dead.
Drone is now 1' above AG14.

Next round's round twenty-one.

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-One

Barely peeking out from behind the trunk, Yex will cast a scroll of Entangle, centered 20' up on Z-17, which should engulf the two invaders at Z-16 and Z-18. The DC of the spell is 15.

After casting the scroll, Yex will slip back to the other side of the trunk relative to the invader at Y-22, melting into the background and looking, listening and scenting carefully all around.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Chal will also look and listen carefully all around, and if she sees and hears nothing, she will quickly remove Lucky's potions (2 CLW, 1 CMW) and his pearl of power.

Also, the spiritual squire will have been unaffected by the drone’s attack, but will swing its incorporeal sword and gesticulate angrily.

[Palanan]

Forgot to roll Chal's Perception:

Perception:
Chal: [roll0]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AQ18
Tyler: Y22, on a tree (was writing wrong location before, thank you that you treated correct one).
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Druid: Around AJ25
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

- They are to the south-east, - Anna reports.
- Yes, I heard that too. And I even saw how this damn wolf appeared from nowhere. Screw that, there is no such this as magic. The hound owner must have released it, while remaining in stealth himself. Herself.
- I can send the drone there and repeat the trick, - Vladimir offers.
- Do it!

Diego keeps crawling to the south.


Actions

Vladimir: control drone. Attack if detects someone. If sees both new beasts AND the potential "tamer" of those beats, attack the tamer.
Drone: Same as in previous case.
Waypoints: AI24. AL24. AL26. AI26. AI25. AH25. AH27. AL27. AL23. AH23. AH25. AH28. AM22. AG22. AG29. AO29. AN29.
If the given speed is for one move action, and drone can still move, use the same way for more spiraling around.
AN21. AE21. AE30. AO30.
Change altitude if there are obstacles, or move around them if possible.
Anna: Attack if detects someone. If there are more that one, attack the one Vladimir attacked. If sees both new beasts AND the potential "tamer" of those beats, attack the tamer.
Tyler: same as above
Diego: Move to AQ 24.

Everyone uses Stealth and Perception


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2] (natural 20)
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Attack:
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]
Tyler: [roll10]
Diego: [roll11]

Damage:
Vladimir: [roll12]
Anna: [roll13]
Tyler: [roll14]
Diego: [roll15]

[Metastachydium]

Before Vladimir could direct the drone to continue its search, the branches around him and Anna suddenly swing into violent motion, attempting to wrap themselves around the two snipers and ensnare them. Anna is quick to react, worming out of the way of some branches and pushing some away with the barrel of her rifle. Vladimir is not fast enough for that and the squirming branches trap him briefly, but slippery as he is, he manages to slip free of his living bonds.
Tyler watches all this unfold from his own tree, unaffected but powerful to help his comrades. He could have seen this coming. He heard a faint whisper from somewhere below, somewhere close just before the trees began to move. He looks around in vain, however, unable to pinpoint the speaker.
Across the open snow, Diego continues moving southwards, stopping just short of the smokescreen still hanging in the air between the trees. He is aware of what's happening to his soldiers, but he can do little else other than carrying on with the task he undertook.
A split second after he stops moving to catch his breath, another unnerving sight catches his eye: the „mannequin” starts flailing about with its sword wildly and erratically, clobbering the air around itself.

OOC: From now on, anyone within 40' of W14 must make a Ref save at the beginning of each turn.
Vladimir fails his, but I rolled an Escape Artist check for him, so he's not entangled anymore.
I moved Diego to AQ22. AQ24 is inside a cloud of tear gas that he would know of.
Yex casts his spell and the trees begin to move, swinging about violently with their branches. They briefly ensnare the southern invader, but the stranger manages to wiggle free almost immediately. No longer invisible, the catfolk retreats into the shadow of the trees.
Having reached Lucky's body unimpeded, Chal looks around nervously, but no threat presents itself. She then leans closer to the body of poor Lucky and salvages a few potions and a pearl. Lucky has no use for them anymore, while the two of them will need any little advantage they can get their hands on here to prevail.

OOC: Drone stopped circling.
Chal succesfully loots Lucky's corpse.
Everything else remains unchanged.
And that was round twenty-one. Round twenty-two is on.

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Two

Recognizing his magic had virtually no effect, and that the odds are against him, Yex will drink his last potion of invisibility and continue ghosting to the west, ending at R-23.

Even though he is now invisible again, he will still be moving with utmost care and alertness.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Chal will take a double move action north and west to Z-28, and will continue to look and listen all around.

Perception:
Chal: [roll3]

The spiritual squire will continue swinging its blade and making angry gestures at the drone.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z18, on a tree
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AQ22
Tyler: Y22, on a tree
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Druid: Around AJ25
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

- Damn, what the hell is happening! - Anna curses.
- Should we fall back? - Vladimir asks.
- Negative, - replies Tyler after a few moments of thinking, - remember the training? What to do when under artillery barrage? Use covers, but proceed to the direction of the enemy as fast as you can - they won't shoot on their own positions. Everybody jump down from trees and run to the south - enemy is there. And when you see someone - KILL! Move, move!


Actions

Vladimir: Jump down, use acrobatics to reduce damage. Move to Z21.
Anna: Jump down, use acrobatics to reduce damage. Move to AA21.
Tyler: Jump down, use acrobatics to reduce damage. Move to AB23.
Diego: Move to AL23.

Guys can't attack, but with some luck they will find who is causing all this trouble.
Everyone is using Perception, also if Stealth can be used in those conditions, they try it.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0] (natural 1)
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]
Tyler: [roll10] (natural 20)
Diego: [roll11]

Acrobatics
Vladimir: [roll12]
Anna: [roll13]
Tyler: [roll14]

[Metastachydium]

Vladimir makes the jump and manages to avoid the swinging branches, slipping just out of their reach. Before Anna could follow, however, the branches gain hold of her and she fails to break free. There's little Vladimir and Tyler, who just landed beside the sniper can do about that.
Diego, in the meantime, continues his southbound march at an uneven pace, but making steady progress nonetheless. If the enemy took note of his advance already is hard to tell, but if they did, they are showing no sign of it yet. Only the swordsman keeps waving its sword towards the drone, making angry gestures with its free hand.

OOC: Anna failed the Ref save and the Escape check. She's now entangled. Being entangled impedes movement, but does not entirely prevent it unless the bonds are anchored to an immobile object [which, putting aside the fact that trees are not object, is the case here] or tethered by an opposing force. An entangled creature moves at half speed, cannot run or charge, and takes a –2 penalty on all attack rolls and a –4 penalty to Dexterity.
Vladimir and Tyler each take 2 points of nonlethal damage.

It turns out that Yex gave up hope that his spell will do its job: he hears more words, angry, demanding words from above and once the voice that speaks falls silent, he sees one of the invaders jump off the tree and darth southwards immmediately thereafter, moving out of the patch of hostile vegetation. If the soft thud that he hears next is anything to go by, the man who killed Hallax follows suit a second later.
Whuile the great tree the latter was sitting on by now obstructs the catfolk's vision, Chal could readily confirm his suspicion, if only she was a bit closer: she sees Hallax's killer emerge from amidst the trees, reaching the eastern edge of the grove with a few quick paces.

OOC: The invader previously on Z18 is now on Z21 at ground level.
The man who killed Hallax gets off his tree as well and is now on AB23.
And that would be it for round twenty-two. Get ready for round twenty-three!

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Z21
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree, entangled
Diego: AL23
Tyler: AB23
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Druid: Around AJ25
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Move to Y24. Ready action: attack if sees someone. If the distance is too short for sniper rifle, he uses pistol.
Anna: If Vladimir detected and attacked someone, and Anna now sees this enemy too, she also attacks same target. If not, she tries to CLIMB down carefully. If she can also make a standard action: ready to attack if sees someone. Same about range and choice of weapon.
Tyler: Move to Z27. Attack or ready action to attack if sees enemy. If Vladimir and\or Anna already attacked someone, and the someone isn't dead yet, he attacks same target.
Diego: Move to AJ27. If and only if someone charges at him, or shoots and misses, he attacks (without moving).

As usual: Perception, Stealth, Reflex, Escape for everyone if necessary, Climb for Anna.
Attack and Damage if required.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1] (DEX penalty applied) (Yay, still natural 20)
Tyler [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4] (Another natural 20)
Anna: [roll5]
Tyler [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]
Tyler [roll10]
Diego: [roll11]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll12] (Another natural 20)
Anna: [roll13] (DEX penalty applied)
Tyler [roll14]
Diego: [roll15] (Another natural 20)

Climb
Anna: [roll16] (DEX penalty applied)

Attack
Vladimir: [roll17]
Anna: [roll18] (Natural 19)
Tyler [roll19]
Diego: [roll20]

Damage
Vladimir (rifle): [roll21]
Vladimir (pistol): [roll22]
Anna (rifle): [roll23]
Anna (pistol): [roll24]
Tyler: [roll25]
Diego: [roll26]

[Edreyn]

More rolls


Anna, confirming critical: [roll0]

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Three

From R-23, Yex will continue proceeding silently and on high alert west through the small clearing and then north to M-18, looking and listening all around.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

From Z-28, Chal will carefully proceed due west to R-28, continuing to watch for invaders all around.

Perception:
Chal: [roll3]

As before, the spiritual squire continues angrily swinging its ghostly blade and making aggressive gestures.

[Palanan]

Stealth:
Chal: [roll0]

[Metastachydium]

Whoever turned the trees against them has already moved away or gone into hiding. At any rate, Vladimir, Tyler and Diego fail to locate them for the time being.
In the meantime, Anna is otherwise occupied. She manages to wrest free of the aggressive branches, but they block the easiest path back to the ground quite efficiently nevertheless. Unable to climb down (and not for a lack of trying), all she gets to do is look around and watch the swordsman continue to brandish its sword, slashing at the thin air around it.

OOC: Anna does not manage to climb down this round, but on the flip side, she is no longer entangled. (You should probably roll for Escape next round as well, though, just to be sure, and she'll definitely need a Ref save.)
Stealthy as ever, Yex walks on towards the northwest, losing sight of the invaders. Chal, on the other hand gets to examine one from closer than she'd like: before she could continue westwards, the man who killed Hallax emerges from among the trees with his black stick of death raised and ready. He comes to an abrupt stop just a few feet away from her, scanning his surroundings meticulously. Some ten feet behind the man, another invader moves into view, armed with a different, longer stick, heading southwards.
Chal freezes, holding her breath and doing her best not to make noise of any sort and for now, it seems to be working.

OOC: Chal sees two invaders: one on Z27, the other on Y24.
She does not move this round to avoid detection and remains on Z28.
Round twenty-four!

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Y24
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Z16, on a tree
Diego: AJ27
Tyler: Z27
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Druid: Around AJ25
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Move to Y26, and surprise - climb on a tree.
Anna: Jump down. Move to Z22.
Tyler: Stay. Don't want to move without being by both snipers. Ready action to attack if detects someone.
Diego: Move to AG27.

For Vladimir and Anna: if after one move action sees someone - shoot. Use pistol if the range is too short for rifle.
Tyler: just lay in ambush and wait to see someone
Diego: if sees enemy before moving, only attack if being charged or fired upon.

Everyone attempts Stealth, Perception, Reflex, Escape etc etc. Anna uses Acrobatics. Vladimir uses Climbing.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5] (natural 1)
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]
Tyler: [roll10]
Diego: [roll11]

Climbing
Vladimir: [roll12]

Acrobatics
Anna: [roll13]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll14]
Anna: [roll15]
Tyler: [roll16]
Diego: [roll17]

Damage
Vladimir (rifle): [roll18]
Vladimir (pistol): [roll19]
Anna (rifle): [roll20]
Anna (pistol): [roll21]
Tyler: [roll22]
Diego: [roll23]

[Edreyn]

Forgot those rolls:

Escape
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2] (natural 1)
Diego: [roll3]

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Four

From M-18, Yex will continue ghosting with utmost care and highest alert north to M-12, to the edge of this grove of trees. From M-12 he will pay special attention to the area to his immediate north and northwest.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

Chal will remain standing motionless at Z-28, still holding her breath, unless the invader moves toward her, in which case she will very carefully take a five-foot step to her immediate west.

In the meantime, terrified as she is, she will examine the invader right in front of her with extreme care, trying to note and memorize every detail.

Stealth:
Chal: [roll3]

Perception:
Chal: [roll4]

The spiritual squire will continue its pantomime of sword-swinging and angry gestures.

[Metastachydium]

Dodging the swinging branches, Anna jumps off the tree. The snow stops her fall alright, but she feels the impact nonetheless, even after she begins to move southwards, out of the crazed patch of frenzied trees. Looking back, she can see the swordsman still swinging around wildly where it was.
Vladimir doesn't do quite as well, in the meantime. This second tree proves more tricky than the previous one and none of the small branches he tries seem strong enough to support his weight, let alone the weight of his gear – but at least he can feel safe with the motionless Tyler watching his back.
For his part, Diego continues his arduous trek through the snow and the trees of the western grove, starting to doubt that the enemy is even there.

OOC: The area within 40' of W14 is difficult terrain and Anna had only one move action after the jump, so she's now on Z19 (still in the damn patch). She also take 5 points of nonlethal damage.
Vladimir fails to make progress on the climb this round.
Tyler and Diego neither see, nor hear anything.
Yex's grip on his weapon tightens for a second as he approaches the northern edge of the grove, but he's quick to realize that what he thought was an invader is really just a makeshift bundle of sticks with the white-grey patterned clothes of their foes draped across it and their strange, hemispherical helmet added on top. As he reaches the dummy, he spots another as well, leaning against the trunk of a small tree.
Chal, on the other hand, has to deal with the presence of a very real invader, straight in front of her: the man who killed Hallax doesn't bother to move. Instead, he continues to just stand there, with his weapon raised and ready, his eyes flicking back and forth. Behind him, Chal sees the other invader trying the lower branches of the tree they're standing under, ready to climb as it seems.

OOC: The man who killed Hallax stays where he is.
Yex finds two dummies, one on M12, another on K9.

So much for round twenty-four. Get ready for round twenty-five!

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Five

Yex had been positive there was something more here—but if the invaders aren’t here, he’ll have to bring them here.

Carefully avoiding the dummy at M-12, he loads his sling and sends a shot towards the base of the tree-trunk at P-7, hoping to make as loud a crack as possible--assuming this won't break his invisibility. He will also scream an inhuman battle cry.

Attack:
Yex: [roll0]

At Z-28, Chal will continue standing motionless and silent, still holding her breath, and doing her best to see how the invader holds his weapon. The front end is obviously like a wand, that discharges its effect, but she’s looking carefully to see where his hands are placed and how the weapon might be activated.

Stealth:
Chal: [roll1]

Perception:
Chal: [roll2]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: Y26
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Z19
Diego: AG27
Tyler: Z27
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: ???
Druid: ???
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Move to X27. Control the drone. If has standard action, ready action to shoot.
Anna: Move to Z25. I guess it exhausts both move actions and prevents Stealth. But if after one move she sees someone, she attacks. If Vladimir attacks someone, and the target is alive, she shoots on same target.
Tyler: Move to AA31. Ready action to attack, again finishing those already wounded if that applies.
Diego: Move to AK26 (if target cell not filled with gas). If sees someone charging or shooting him, attack.
Drone: Altitude 1 feet. Move to Liza remains at AL22. Start spiraling around it, with approach I already described, until exhausting all moves. But always stay at least 2 cells from Swordsman!

And make all rolls as usual.


Rolls

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: (not this time)
Tyler: [roll1]
Diego: [roll2]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll3]
Anna: [roll4]
Tyler: [roll5]
Diego: [roll6]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll7]
Anna: [roll8]
Tyler: [roll9]
Diego: [roll10]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll11]
Anna: [roll12]
Tyler: [roll13]
Diego: [roll14]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll15]
Anna: [roll16]
Tyler: [roll17]
Diego: [roll18]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll19]
Anna: [roll20]
Tyler: [roll21]
Diego: [roll22]

Pistols
Vladimir: [roll23]
Anna: [roll24]

[Palanan]

Yex will ghost back from M-12 to M-15.

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

[Edreyn]

Roleplay
- Tyler, how should we proce...
- RUARRRG!!!
- What the (beep) in all the (beep) (beep) (beep) was this (beep) (beeeeeeep)?!

No one even thinks of saying that Vladimir should watch his words. Tyler and Anna are shocked pretty much the same.

- It's coming from dummies! We should go back and!..
- No! That might be another trick. Vladimir, if you are done showing your surprise, send your flying friend beck to dummies position. And while you are doing this, try think if this roar is natural, or it can be some kind of recording!
- Roger that.
- Anna move a little west, even if you can see more of those living branches nearby. We can escape their grip if needed - we all did that. And also try to guess if that cry is real or some kind of bluff!
- Yes, Tyler.
- You are much faster then me, so I'll wait for your report.

Possibly alternate actions:
Tyler, Anna and Vladimir all try Sense Motive. While not familiar with magic, they might know similar scientific ways, like recording the shout, then activating the recorder with a remote or timer.
Also, they all know that one of attackers is a bipedal giant cat. One of them could maybe catch a glimpse on a second creature. They will try thinking if the scream is fitting to the potential body form and frame.

Drone moves to the dummy area to F9, then it enters the wooded area and inspects it square by square, between lines 10 and 20, moving from left to right, until spending all moves. Altitude 20 feet.

If drone finds nothing, and everyone is SURE that scream is not from natural source, they make same actions as I wanted before, except the drone.

If drone detects one of enemies:

Vladimir: Move to W26, shoot if can. If not: move to T26.
Tyler: If the enemy is on open ground to the north: move to AC24. If he is in woods: move to W27. If sees enemy: attack. If not: either AE19 or U25, depending on previous move. Using Stealth.
Anna: Move to W19, shoot if can. If not: move to T19. On SECOND move attempt Stealth.
Diego: Move to AG24.
Drone: descends to position right in front of enemy it detected - altitude of enemy's chest..

If drone finds nothing, but chars think that the cry IS real.

Vladimir: Move to W26, shoot if can. If not: ready action to attack.
Anna: Move to W19, shoot if can. If not: ready action to attack.
Tyler: Move to V29, shoot frag grenade to the estimated source of battle cry.
Diego: ready action to attack under same conditions as before.

New rolls
Sense motive
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego (?): [roll3]

[Metastachydium]

Before Tyler could relay a new round of orders, a blood-curdling warcry resounds from the northwest, most likely from around the area where they left the dummies. Whether they fooled an enemy who just detected them remains to be seen, but the team springs to action immediately regardless, following Tyler's instructions: at any rate, the cry sounded real enough, and a lot like something a beastman like those they encountered would emit. That the drone fails to locate the exact position of the shouter doesn't come as much of a surprise for anyone involved: the enemy is good at hiding, they know as much already. Anna moves west, deftly staying out of the way of the swinging branches and gets into position, as does Vladimir to his south.
Tyler shifts westwards as well, firing a grenade into the grove; the projectile sails straight between the trees, avoiding the trunks and branches and explodes in a roaring boom.

OOC: Drone found nothing.
Anna is now on W19, Vladimir on W26 and Tyler on V29. Diego didn't move. Drone's 20' above J10.
Yex lets out a loud scream and the invaders are quick to reply. First, the strange flying device buzzes into view, beginning to zip left and right, ever closer to the edge of the grove. And then, a soft popping noise is heard from behind Yex, followed by the soft thud of something hitting the ground some 15 feet west of Yex's position. Only his fast reflexes save the catfolk from the cloud of burning debris the object explodes into: he ducks behind cover fast enough to avoid the brunt of it, but a few pieces of hotÂ… Metal, perhaps do tear their way through his armour and the fire singes him somewhat.
Chal kjnows exactly what just happened: just as the man who killed Hallax finally turns and brushes past her, she gets to see the man raise the stick to his shoulder and fidget around the tube at its far end with his left. Instead of the usual flat cap, a softer sound is heardÂ… And then the roaring explosion from the north.

OOC: Yex takes 9 points of slashing damage (it was going to be 18, but he made his save (and how!)).
The flying device is now 20' above J10.
The man who killed Hallax is on V29.
The other invader Chal saw is on W26.
And, at long last, round twenty-five is over and done with. Round twenty-six is up.

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Six

Yex will move carefully to M-18, drink a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds, and position himself at the edge of the trees, ready to finally take his vengeance on whatever invader comes into view.

Cure Light Wounds [roll0]

Stealth:
Yex: [roll1]

Perception:
Yex: [roll2]
Shassax: [roll3]

Chal will remain standing in place, barely allowing herself to breathe, but taking no other actions other than to observe the invaders carefully.

Stealth:
Chal: [roll4]

Perception:
Chal: [roll5]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: W26
Drone: J10, altitude 20 feet.
Anna: W19
Diego: AG27
Tyler: V29
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: possibly snowy area at north-west
Druid: possibly snowy area at north-west
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Move to 23. Control drone. If finds enemy after 1 move, attack.
Drone: Altitude 3 feet. Go to A1, from there start making a sweep through North-Western snowy area without trees (my starting area). Like this: A1 to A9, then B9 to B1, and so on, from A to Z, as long as there are move points left.
Anna: Move to V17. Attack or ready action to attack. If Vladimir attacked and didn't kill, attack same enemy.
Tyler: Move to O26. Sneak. Even sees enemy before moving, or after one move, attack. If sees enemy, attack same one as Vladimir and Anna, if he is still holding up.
Diego: Move to AD27.

Only Tyler uses Stealth.
Everyone is using Perception.
Reflex and Escape if needed.


Rolls

Stealth
Tyler: [roll0]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll1]
Anna: [roll2]
Tyler: [roll3]
Diego: [roll4]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll5]
Anna: [roll6]
Tyler: [roll7]
Diego: [roll8]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll9]
Anna: [roll10]
Tyler: [roll11]
Diego: [roll12]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll13]
Anna: [roll14]
Tyler: [roll15]
Diego: [roll16]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll17]
Anna: [roll18]
Tyler: [roll19]
Diego: [roll20]

[Metastachydium]

Vladimir has the drone comb through the northwestern clearing methodically, but the first couple hundred square feet seem to be clear. The sniper than advances slowly as ordered, as does Anna, dodging the branches trying to grab her once again.
Tyler presses on as well and so does, lagging behind, Diego. For the time being, nothing jumps at them, however.

OOC: A-D1-9 are clear. Drone's 3' above E3.
Yex waits in silence, ready for what is to come. He hears the flying device buzzing somewhere behind him, sometimes from closer, sometimes from far, faintly. He hears footsteps approaching from the west and cautious footsteps, barely heard from the south. They are drawing near.
Â…and farther from Chal. She sees the man who killed Hallax make his way towards the west and then turning north, disappearing among the trees. Before she could resume breathing freely, however, a new arrival startles her: she hears heavy, uneven steps from the east and notices the silhouette of another invader twenty feet or so from her trudging through the grove, getting closer and closer.

OOC: New invader's on AD27. Poor Chal just can't, khm, catch her breath, khm!
We're done with round twenty-six. Round twenty-seven begins.

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Seven

Yex will step quietly to N-21, next to a tree trunk, and will wait ready to send a pair of arrows at whoever he sees appearing first. Until that moment he will be silent and wary:

Stealth:
Yex: [roll0]

Perception:
Yex: [roll1]
Shassax: [roll2]

If he sees someone at the edge of the trees to the south or southeast, he won’t hesitate to attack, calling on all the magic laid upon him:

Attack:
Yex: [roll3]
Yex: [roll4]

damage if successful:

[roll5]
[roll6]

Chal, meanwhile, will very carefully take a five-foot step to the south, to Z-29, and will once again hold her breath and remain still while this new enemy passes, even as she scrutinizes him for details of his weapons and gear.

Stealth:
Chal: [roll7]

Perception:
Chal: [roll8]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: W23
Drone: E3, altitude 3 feet.
Anna: V17
Diego: AD27
Tyler: O26
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: possibly snowy area at north-west
Druid: possibly snowy area at north-west
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Move to W16. Control drone.
Drone: Keep sweeping to the East.
Anna: Move to V14 in Stealth.
Tyler: Move to O29 in Stealth.
Diego: Move to AE20. NO Stealth.

If someone detects enemy before or after first move, they attack.
Making all relevant rolls.


Rolls

Stealth
Anna: [roll0]
Tyler: [roll1] (natural 1)

Perception
Vladimir: [roll2]
Anna: [roll3]
Tyler: [roll4]
Diego: [roll5]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll6]
Anna: [roll7]
Tyler: [roll8]
Diego: [roll9]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11] (natural 1)
Tyler: [roll12]
Diego: [roll13]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll14]
Anna: [roll15]
Tyler: [roll16]
Diego: [roll17]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll18]
Anna: [roll19]
Tyler: [roll20]
Diego: [roll21]

[Metastachydium]

Before Vladimir could continue using the drone to scan through the area of the northwest, all of a sudden the archer appears at the northern edge of the clearing, firing off a pair of arrows. The first disappears harmlessly among the branches, but the second thumps straight into Tyler's chest, drawing a groan of pain. Vladimir raises his rifle and fires a shot, to no effect. Anna tries to follow suit, but the branches wrap around her again and she can't worm her way out of their grasp. Annoyed, she takes aim all the same, but the twitching bonds ruin the shot.
Tyler, on the other hand, manages to steel himself and levelling his gun, he releases a short burst straight into the archer's torso who winces, clearly pained. Tyler then retreats, as hastily as his wounds allow towards the south.

OOC: Tyler is hit for 12 points of damage. He has 6 hp remaining.
The archer is hit for 22 points of damage.
Anna fails her save and is entangled.
I didn't move Vladimir after the shot. Tell me if I should have.
Carefully and quietly, Yex reaches the northern edge of the clearing – to see the man who killed Hallax stand opposite him among the trees. Immediately, he lets two arrows fly; the first does not find its mark, but the second does, drawing a pained groan from the invader. He then hears two flat claps from the west, their source easy to locate: two more invaders are standing under the trees, one of them struggling with the unrelenting branches of a tree attacking them. It would seem, however, that they are a lot less dangerous on the ground than they were on the trees: their weapons leave Yex unharmed – much unlike that of his cousin's killer. The black stick of the man flashes and beads of pain bury themselves into the catfolk's body. By the time he recovers somewhat, Hallax's murderer is already retreating southwards and out of view – for Yex: Chal can see the man hastily scamper back out into the clearing some fifty feet to her west, just as the other invader, closer to her stumbles away from the clearing, heading towards the north.

OOC: Yex is hit for 22 points of piercing damage.
The man who killed Hallax is hit for 12 points of piercing damage and retreats from O26 to O29.
Yex sees an invader on W23 and another (entangled) on V17.
Round twenty-eight!

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Eight

Yex doesn’t hesitate, pursuing the man who killed Hallax and moving south to N-25, and firing a single arrow with all of his might and skill:

Attack:
Yex: [roll0]

damage if successful:

[roll1]

Chal moves into the cover of trees at AD-28, gambles her life, and casts Burst of Radiance at the same invader on O-29.

The invader needs to make a DC 17 Reflex save to avoid being blinded for 1d4 rounds; if he succeeds he is dazzled for 1d4 rounds. If he is evil, he takes the following damage regardless of the save:

[roll]5d4/roll]

Now visible, Chal will do her best to hide, although she knows her chances are minimal

Stealth:
Chal: [roll2]

[Palanan]

Somehow I got Chal's last roll wrong, so trying to roll that again:

[roll0]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: W23
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: V17
Diego: AE20
Tyler: O29
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: N21
Druid: ???
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Try to make a short move and enter Stealth mode (if applies). Move to W22 and shoot at Archer.
Anna: Same about short move and Stealth. Move to V16 and shoot at Archer, unless he is already dead or downed and she sees new enemy. In this case shoot at new enemy.
Tyler: If Archer is still alive and Tyler can see him (after new Perception roll): move to L29, attempt Stealth and shoot archer.
If Archer is alive, but Tyler doesn't see him: shoot SMOKE on L27, then move to M30, attempt Stealth.
If Archer is dead or downed and Tyler sees new enemy: attack this enemy.
If Archer is dead or downed, but no new enemy seen: ready action to attack.
Diego: Move to Z19.

This time, if Archer is downed, but not dead, they DON'T finish him!
Everybody uses or try to: Stealth, Perception, Reflex, Escape.


Rolls

First rolling Reflex and Escape, especially for Anna.

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1] (DEX penalty included)
Tyler: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5] (DEX penalty included)
Tyler: [roll6]
Diego: [roll7]

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9] (DEX penalty included, add 2 for refreshed dex points if it's gone)
Tyler: [roll10]
Diego: [roll11]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll12]
Anna: [roll13]
Tyler: [roll14]
Diego: [roll15]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll16]
Anna: [roll17] (natural 1 in any case)
Tyler: [roll18] (natural 1)
Diego: [roll19]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll20]
Anna: [roll21]
Tyler: [roll22]
Diego: [roll23]

[Metastachydium]

Undeterred by Tyler's bullets, the archer bursts forward in pursuit, nocking another arrow. Once they reach about the middle of the grove, the cat creature draws their longbow and sends an arrow after Tyler which slams straight into the man's chest, not far from his throat. Tyler hears a strange gurgling sound coming from his own mouth and everything fades to black as he falls over, unconscious.
Freeing herself Anna takes a few steps towards the northwest and tries to land a hit on the archer, but the cat creature slips into the grove and her shot only glances the bark of a nearby tree. It is, thus, Vladimir who takes revenge for their (unbeknownst to him) freshly fallen interim commander: the sniper levels his rifle and taking aim, he fires at the archer just as the creature releases their bowstring. The bullet finds its mark, plunging into the archer straight under their raised arm and the creature falls over to their side, almost soundlessly.
Diego, in the meantime, tries to maneuver into the patch of land Anna grew to hate, but he's out of luck: just as he passes by a bush, its branches reach out and take hold of him. Weakened as he is, he remains trapped despite his best effort to break free. However, as he turns south while struggling, he catches sight of something miraculously strange: less than 50 feet from his current position, a strikingly beautiful young woman materializes and in the same instant, he sees a brilliant flash of light in the southwest, about where Vladimir (aware of both the woman and the light show) suspects Tyler should be.

OOC: Tyler takes 7 points of damage and is down, at -1 hp. Roll for stabilization.
Archer moves to N25, takes 21 points of damage and is likewise down.
Diego got entangled (and, accordingly, couldn't advance past AB19), but Anna broke free.
Woman is on AD28.
Boiling with vengeful wrath, Yex darts forward in pursuit of the man who killed his cousin, releasing an arrow the moment he catches sight of the invader. The arrow slams into the man's chest; a faint, gurgling sound is heard and he collapses. The catfolk cannot enjoy this victory for long, however: two flat claps are heard and a searing bout of pain tears into his side. He collapses without a sound.
Oblivious to Yex's fate, Chal attempts to finish the man lying to her west on the ground, but her light doesn't seem to burn him. Worse yet, she's visible again and she has the distinct impression that the invader trapped in a bush to her north is looking her wayÂ…

OOC: Yex takes 21 points of piercing damage and is down, at -3 hp. Roll for stabilization.
Yex hits the man who killed Hallax for 7 points of piercing damage. The man is down.
Chal casts her spell, to no visible effect. She sees an invader entangled on AB19 (the slow one).
So much for round twenty-eight; heading over to round twenty-nine.

[Palanan]

Stabilization for Yex:

Yex: [roll0]

[Palanan]

Round Twenty-Nine

Yex, having failed to stabilize, continues bleeding unconsciously into the snow.

Shassax, furious at her companion’s state, launches herself into the air and speeds towards the invader at W-23, attacking madly and heedless of her own safety. (If the invader has moved from W-23, she will fly to intercept him at wherever he ends up.)

Natural Attacks:
beak:
[roll0]
talons:
[roll1]
[roll2]

Damage if successful:

[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Chal casts Obscuring Mist and moves to AB-31.

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: W22
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: V16
Diego: AB19, entangled
Tyler: O29 (down)
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: N25 (down)
Druid: AD28
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

- Tyler, Tyler, do you hear me? - Ah damn! - Vladimir realizes Tyler is no longer in condition to answer, - Anna I see some kind of light near where the Tyler was until now.
- Yeah, I see it too, Anna answers.
- I think that's how they make animals appear out of nowhere. And I also see the one, who I think is behind this! Looks like a usual woman though.
- By now I am ready to believe in witches!
- What we do, Vladimir?
- Soldiers, I am not dead yet, and I am still in charge, - Diego speaks again on the radio, - Vladimir, climb up on a tree closest to you and shoot that bi... I mean witch. I suspect that if you distract her, even if you just wound her, she will lose control on pulling this creature from the... no idea where.
- Yes, commander.
- Anna, do you see her too?
- Negative, commander!
- You are very far from the light Vladimir spoke about. Even if a creature jumps out, it will take time until it reaches you. Forget about light, move east
a little and once you see her, shoot!
- Roger that!
- If you fail to distract her, I will do what I can to do it myself, even if that will be last thing I do in this life!
- God be with you, Commander.

And what of Tyler? The guy listens to the talk of his friends, and hopes that the bleeding will stop before he is dead.


Actions

Vladimir: Climb on a tree on his location. No matter if he succeeds or not, attack the Woman.
Anna: Move to X17. Shoot woman if can see her and she isn't down yet.
Diego: If woman is still standing, fire a FRAG on her location.


Rolls

Stabilize
Tyler: [roll0]

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll1] (natural 20)
Anna: [roll2]
Diego: [roll3]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]
Diego: [roll6] (including DEX penalty)

Stealth
(not this time)

Perception
Vladimir: [roll7]
Anna: [roll8]
Diego: [roll9]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11]
Diego: (I think you said shooting grenade on a cell doesn't require roll, if you need it, okay if you roll yourself)

Damage
Vladimir: [roll12]
Anna: [roll13]
Diego (10 feet): [roll14]
Diego (10-40 feet): [roll15]

[Edreyn]

Forgot this roll

Climb
Vladimir: [roll0]

[Metastachydium]

As Valdimir sets out to climb the tree beside him, a small, dark figure rises from behind the archer's inert body and spreading its wings, the falcon flies straight towards Vladimir, attacking the sniper with a flurry of talons and its sharp beak. Though unable to harm the soldier, the presence of the bird is distracting enough that Vladimir cannot quite focus on climbing, nor does he manage to hit the woman when giving up on ascending he turns around and fires a shot in her general direction. The streak of bad luck for the team continues: the raging trees ensnare Anna again, and while she is quick to break free, she doesn't get around to line up a clear shot.
Seeing his crew bumble around, Diego sighs and raising his rifle, he he sends a grenade flying at the woman. She is fast enough to duck behind a pine, but she seems somewhat singed nonetheless when she sails back into view, hovering a few inches above the ground and utters a few words, a cloud of mist bursting forth from her figure. HIs feet giving in, a dissatisfied grimace appears on Diego's face as he sinks back dazed by the exertion before he falls unconscious. The bush holding onto him breaks his fall gently.

OOC: Diego takes 1 point of damage. Roll to stabilize.
Tyler fails to stabilize and continues to bleed. He's at -2 hp.
Anna gets entangled again, but breaks free and moves to X17. No action left to shoot.
Vladimir fails to climb the tree.
Woman takes 7 points of damage.
Mist covers area within 20' of AD28.
A raging fury overtaking her, Shassax rises into the air and shoots forward, straight into the face of the invader who took down Yex, slashing away madly with her talons and beak – and with little success.
Chal feels gratitude regardless: the bird distracts the invader well enough that when his stick flashes followed by the usual clap, no bead of pain bites into her. The invaders have more in store for her, however: the one stuck in the bush raisis a stick and tapping the same tube the man who killed Hallax did before, sends a firebox flying towards Chal. The cleric ducks into cover just in time, but when she looks down on her left side, there is blood and a messy wound.
As she watches the invader that shot at her slowly fall back, landing in the bush behind them, she casts a quick spell and retreats into the grove.

OOC: Yex is still dying, at -4 hp.
Chal is hit for 7 points of slashing damage.
Shassax fails to do harm to the invader.
The invader on AB19 is apparently down.

Round twenty-nine is over. Round thirty's coming up.

[Palanan]

Round Thirty

Yex, still unconscious, will make another stabilization roll:

[roll0]

Shassax will continue attacking the invader at W-23 (or wherever he moved to) with every last ounce of feathery fury:

Natural Attacks:
beak:
[roll1]
talons:
[roll2]
[roll3]

Damage if successful:

[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]

Still moving with Air Step, Chal glides across to X-31 and casts Obscuring Mist again. This will overlap with the previous Obscuring Mist, and if the invader is still at W-23, the edge of this new Obscuring Mist will be just beyond his arm’s reach. (I.e., it will cover the squares adjacent to him to his south.)

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: W22
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: X17
Diego: AB19 (down)
Tyler: O29 (down)
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: N25 (down)
Druid: last seen at AD28
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: attack Eagle. If killed it in one turn move to W24.
Anna: Move to Y19. If can see woman now, attack. If not: Move to Y21. Ignore the eagle for now.

Tyler and Diego: try to stabilize.


Rolls

Stabilize
Tyler: [roll0]
Diego: [roll1]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll2]
Anna: [roll3]

As I understand no one is entangled, so rolling below without penalties.

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll6]
Anna: [roll7]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11]

[Metastachydium]

The falcon swoops down upon Vladimir again, its beak and talons harmlessly scratching against his armour and helmet. Vladimir steps back, firing a single shot and the bird falls down, sinking into the snow. Dodging the branches flailing around her, Anna slowly advances southwards. The woman they hunt remaining hidden in the cloud of mist, she continues, reaching the southern edge of the hostile patch.
Just then, the woman suddenly bursts out of the fog and glides westwards making a few strange gestures and muttering something. Another cloud of fog bursts forth to her north, hiding her figure from the invaders' eyes.

OOC: Tyler and Diego both stabilize.
Falcon takes 26 points of damage. It's down (and that makes me sad. (If you waste an action on coup de grace-ing it, I'll also be angry. Very angry.)
Anna moves to Y21.
Woman moves to X31.
New cloud of mist covers everything within 20' of X27.
Shassax descends on the invader again, her beak and talons harmlessly scratching against the man's armour and helmet. The invader takes a short step backwards and the end of his stick flashes, accompanied by a flat clap and Shassax falls down, sinking into the snow.
Chal, in the meantime, glides westwards, creating a new cloud of mist to hide her from the enemy.

OOC: They shot the birdy! She takes 26 points of piercing damage and is down at -9 hp. Roll for stabilization (and please do roll very high!)
Yex stabilizes.
The invader who shot the birdy stays on W22. The other one moves to Y21.
New fog cloud covers srea within 20' of X27 (do tell me if I misunderstood where it should appear).
Round thirty-one's next.

[Palanan]

Round Thirty-One

Yex, having made his stabilization roll, remains unconscious at -4 hp.

Shassax will try to stabilize:

[roll0]

At X-32, Chal will load a thunderstone into her sling, and sling it northeast through the fog towards the clump of trees at approximately AC-26. She’s not trying to hit any particular tree—she just wants it to hit a tree, in order to make the cracking effect.

Attack:
Chal: [roll1]

Then she will glide to T-31 and listen as hard as she can:

Perception:
Chal: [roll2]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions


Vladimir: W22
Drone: AJ18, altitude 4 feet.
Anna: Y21
Diego: AB19 (down and stabilized)
Tyler: O29 (down and stabilized)
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: N25 (down)
Druid: last seen at X31
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Roleplay

As Vladimir raises his rifle to finish of the wounded bird, Anna stops him.

- Stop it!
- Huh? Why?
- I have a feeling, that if we finish it off, some powerful entity looking on us from another dimension will be furious.
- What? Have you been touching Liza's stuff?
- Nah, just kidding. Save you bullets. And your time. Let's prepare an ambush for this... witch!
- Ha, I am for it!


Actions

Vladimir: Try using stealth. Move one cell south to W23. If sees woman - BOOM. If sees another enemy - BOOM. If not another stealth-ed step to west: V23. If can also use drone while first move, use it.
Anna: Try using stealth. Move one cell east to Z20. Attack if see enemy - attack. If not move to AB21 also in stealth.
Drone: Move to AA29.


Rolls

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll2] (natural 20)
Anna: [roll3] (natural 20)

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll6]
Anna: [roll7]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11]

[Edreyn]

Sorry forgot something

Altitude for drone 30 feet.

[Metastachydium]

With careful steps, Vladimir moves closer to the mist, stopping at its very northwestern edge. He can see the body of the archer between the trees as well as Tyler lying on the clearing to the south, but the woman is nowhere to be seen. Apparently, she's still close to the mist: the drone rises a few feet above the cloud in vain as well. Anna doesn't have better luck either: there's nothing to be seen or heard to the east either – right until the moment when she hears some hard object thump against a treetrunk to hear south, followed by a thunderous, deafening boom, not unlike the sound of a stun grenade going off.

OOC: Area within 20' of X27 and area within 20' of AD28 is still covered by mist.

Alone against the invaders, Chal glides westwards soundlessly and with great caution. She could hear an invader move somewhere to her north as well as the approaching noise of the ever-buzzing flying device from the east before she shifted away from her previous position, but where the other one could be remains a mystery for her. Undeterred, she loads a thunderstone into her sling and flings it into the mist. She can hear the stone thump against a tree to her northeast and then the thunderous, deafening boom of it going off – and then, there's silence.

OOC: Chal's still alive.
Area within 20' of X27 and area within 20' of AD28 is still covered by mist.

Round thirty-two's upon us.

[Edreyn]

Starting elements

Vladimir: V23
Anna: AB21
Drone: AA30, altitude 30 feet.
------
Diego: AB19 (down and stabilized)
Tyler: O29 (down and stabilized)
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: N25 (down)
Druid: last seen at X31
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Climb on a tree on current position. If from the height detects someone - shoot. If not - ready action to shoot. If can also control drone - do it. Use stealth if applies.
Anna: Use Stealth. Move to AD20. Attack if sees someone. If not - try to "guess" cell where the sound came from (is it Perception?) If can't guess - throw grenade on AF28.
Drone: Altitude 50 feet. Move to cell J30, then to cell AN31.


Rolls

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll0] (natural 1)
Anna: [roll1]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll2]
Anna: [roll3]

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll6]
Anna: [roll7]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11]

I don't remember the damage of hand frag grenades, please roll it yourself.

[Edreyn]

Again forgot roll.

Climb
Vladimir: [roll0]

[Palanan]

Round Thirty-Two

Yex and Shassax each lie on the snow, unconscious but—for the moment—still alive.

From T-31, Chal will glide to Q-29 and cast Obscuring Mist again.

[Metastachydium]

Anna fires a grenade into the cloud of fog. It explodes on impact, dispersing the mist and revealing no one hiding inside.
Once again, the tree proves a more difficult opponent than Vladimir would like. Cursing under his breath, he looks at the screenÂ… And sees the woman gliding westwards in the clearing, stopping just short of Tyler's prone figure. In a panicked hurry, Vladimir raises his rifle and shoots. The bullet punches straight through the woman's chest, leaving a messy wound. She appears to almost lose her balance, but ultimately remains standing. A new cloud of mist bursts forth from her body, shrouding her and Tyler alike.

OOC: Anna's grenade hits nothing, but the blastwave disperses the mist.
Vladimir hits the woman for 23 points of damage.
Woman is now on Q29.
New cloud of mist is covering everything within 20' of Q29.
Chal's plan seems to be working out fairly well at first: a thunderous, rumbling sound is heard from around where her thunderstone hit the tree, the same sound she heard when the slow invader launched the firebox on her. She failed to fool both of her opponents, however. Just as she stops, a mere five feet away from the man who killed Hallax, the usual flat clap echoes through the grove and a bead of pain tears itself through her chest, knocking the air out of her lungs. She very nearly falls over from the sudden force pushing her forward, but steeling herself, she manages to remain standing and she quickly shrouds the area around her.

OOC: Chal takes 23 points of piercing damage. She has 8 hp remaining.
New cloud of mist covers area within 20' of Q29.
Round thirty-three.

[Palanan]

Round Thirty-Three

While Yex and Shassax remain unconscious, Chal glides through the mist to Q-26, and channels for both herself and for Yex--and then listens as carefully as she can.

Channel:
Chal: [roll0]

Perception:
Chal: [roll1]

[Edreyn]

Starting positions

Vladimir: V23
Anna: AD20
Drone: Q29, altitude 50 feet.
------
Diego: AB19 (down and stabilized)
Tyler: O29 (down and stabilized)
Liza: AL22 (dead)
------
Enemies
Archer: N25 (down)
Druid: last seen at X31
Swordsman (mannequin): AK18
Snout-creature: AO31 (dead or dying)
Cat: AP18 (dead)
Knight: AK-AL22-23 (dead)
Horse: AM-AN18-19 (dead)


Actions

Vladimir: Control the drone. If drone finds anyone - attack. If not: move in Stealth to V22, then throw hand grenade on the center of the fog. Yeah, I know. Screw Tyler, there are no future roleplay consequences. :belkar:
Anna: Check if pig creature is still there: only if it's quick action. In any case: move to AD23 in Stealth. If knows where the enemy is - shoot. Otherwise ready attack.
Drone: Move to K30. Move to Y35.


Rolls

Reflex
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]
Tyler (if applies in his condition): [roll2]

Escape
Vladimir: [roll3]
Anna: [roll4]

Stealth
Vladimir: [roll5]
Anna: [roll6]

Perception
Vladimir: [roll7]
Anna: [roll8]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll9] (natural 1)
Anna: [roll10]

Damage
Vladimir: [roll11]
Anna: [roll12]

Grenade
I think those:


6. M69 grenades; damage: 4d6 (within 15'), 2d6 (within 15-45') slashing; range: 100' (no range increment); weight: 0,8 lb;

less then 15 feet: [roll13]
15-45 feet: [roll14]

[Metastachydium]

Looking through the scope of her rifle, Anna locates the broken body of the creature with a snout (an oversized rodent, perhaps?) with incredible ease. She sends a bullet flying towards their fallen foe; the shot finds its mark, but the snouted creature doesn't stir.
Vladimir, in the meantime, has the drone complete another flyover above the grove. Unable to find the woman anywhere else, he concludes that she must still be within the mist and tosses a grenade into the cloud. It does not prove to be the brightest of ideas. The explosive device goes off, blowing away the fog alright – but some of the sharp fragments fly all the way back to Vladimir who's almost too slow to swerve out of their way and the woman, standing just where he last saw her, looks barely worse for wear – much unlike poor Tyler – and manages to shift a bit further away, making the air ripple around her in an ever-spreading circle.

OOC: Snout is apparently more of a rat than a pig. Anna would also bet they are quite thoroughly dead.
Woman is hit for 6 points of damage. She's on Q26.
Archer is hit for 9 points of damage.
Vladimir is about to take damage, but evades.
Tyler takes 13 points of damage – only to be healed for 4 points of damage immediately afterwards. He's stable at -7 hp.
The mist is gone.
Before Chal can carry out her plan, a flat clap is heard in the distance, followed by the sound of the flying device buzzing past and a soft thud as a firebox lands beside her in the snow, going off in a thunderous burst of fire and pain, burning away her mist. When she opens her eyes she is surprised to find she's singed and blooded, but otherwise fine. Clealy, her god is smiling on her – but not on Yex. The catfolk was caught in the explosion as well, as did the man who killed Hallax, but – to add insult to injury – he appears to have survived as well.
Trying to hold what can be held, Chal glides a bit to the north and sends forth a burst of positive energy.

OOC: Chal takes 6 points of slashing damage and heals for 4; she now has 6 hp remaining.
Yex takes 9 points of slashing damage only to be healed for 4; he's stable at -9 hp.
The mist is gone.
Round thirty-four begins.

[Palanan]

Round Thirty-Four

Chal will move to Yex if she can, kneel in front of him with hands spread wide and head bowed, channeling energy one last time, and commending herself into the care of the Lady.

Channel:
Chal: [roll0]

[Edreyn]

Roleplay

- Wait, Anna. I feel something suspicious about this swirling air around the witch.
- Why, you feel that it can deflect bullets and send them back to us?
- I do, actually.
- Not gonna laugh at you. With all we saw here...
- Listen, I'll send a drone to ram the witch. If the drone will bypass this swirling air around her, I'll shoot myself. If the bullet won't fly back into my face, join the party.
- Thanks for chivalry man!


Actions

Comment first: I think everyone used one grenade, so both have one left. Also, I believe the woman uses some kind of area healing spell, but want to check if it isn't deflection spell, just in case.

Vladimir: Control drone. If drone passes the swirling wind (even if woman dodges), Vladimir shoots. If not, there goes a grenade, one cell to the right of woman. Don't move.
Drone: Try to move drone 10 cells away, then get it to woman's face altitude and ram it into woman. (Can it distract from casting spells)?
Anna: Only and only if Vladimir's bullet was deflected back into him, throw a grenade one cell to the right of woman. In all other cases: shoot. Don't move.


Question

Do you check if Tyler's grenades and landmines can explode when another grenade explodes nearby?


Rolls

Reflex (should I keep rolling it?)
Vladimir: [roll0]
Anna: [roll1]

Escape (should I keep rolling it?)
Vladimir: [roll2]
Anna: [roll3] (natural 1)

Stealth
(useless here)

Perception
Vladimir: [roll4]
Anna: [roll5]

Attack
Vladimir: [roll6]
Anna: [roll7]

Damage (rifles)
Vladimir: [roll8]
Anna: [roll9]

Damage (grenades)
Below 15 feet
Vladimir: [roll10]
Anna: [roll11]

Between 15 and 45
Vladimir: [roll12]
Anna: [roll13]

[Metastachydium]

On Vladimir's command, the drone draws closer to the woman and slams into her face. Seeing that no strange field of deflection pushes it away, Vladimir shoulders his rifle one last time and pulls the trigger. The shot connects, diving into the woman's torso and she collapses. Anna appears behind him, firing a shot of her own. The woman's head bursts, spilling blood all over the snow.
The two snipers stiffen for a moment, looking around and listening intently, but the woods are empty and quiet. It's over and they live and they won.

OOC: Woman takes 40 points of damage. No one could survive that.
Moved Anna to W22 to deliver the killing shot. Vladimir KOd Chal anyway and she didn't have line of sight from where she was.
Having failed to get Yex back on his feet, Chal turns to try again, heading for the unconscious ranger. She doesn't get far: first, the flying device darts into view, slamming into her face. It hardly leaves a bruise, but as she looks at it flustered, two clapping sounds are heard and beads of pain sink into her flesh. She understands that it's over. She'll never reach Yex.
And the rest is darkness.

OOC: Chal takes 40 points of damage. She is dead.

The battle is over. Team INvaders has won.

[Palanan]

Very definitively.

Thanks to Edreyn for the excellent match, and to Metastachydium for going above and beyond as DM. I'll have some more detailed after-action comments in the OOC thread.

[Edreyn]

What a great game! Thank you both, I greatly enjoyed it!
I will also give more detail in OOC.

Last roleplay post:

As the witch collapses on the snow, obviously dead, a great silence falls on this part of the forest. Both snipers breath heavily, only now understanding how tough the battle truly was. Drone still buzzes to the south, but except this, the forest is silent. Deadly silent.

- Is... that the last one? - Anna asks.
- Yes... I think so. We killed the witch.

Anna, while a soldier, is still a woman, and she now begins to shake.

- What kind of place is this damn world?! Something like an Animal Farm, with sapient animals? The witch was the only woman among those we fought, everything else were animals!
- I read about worlds with sapient animals too, but never expected to really meat those... cats walking on two legs and those damn over-grown rats! Even the horse seemed to have mind of it's own! And that robot that appeared out of nowhere. Well, at least it didn't cause us any harm!
- They butchered Liza. Damn them! Vladimir, you are the only one who I am confessing to, and hope you won't say it to anyone, ever. I dreamed to kill Liza myself. I hated her from the very first day. Dreams of shooting on her from behind, in a middle of an operation made me smile even in most ugly situations.
- Well, better be thankful that the bear in knight armor, or whoever is he really, did this for you. I don't want to lose you to court-martial.
- Speaking of court-martial, what about Tyler? My grenade exploded somewhere near him. Or it was yours. If he survived, he'd be mad. He'll eagerly have us placed against the wall!
- Victors are not to be judged, remember this saying? It was a commander of our home country who said this. And Diego especially likes this phrase too!
- Speaking of Diego, is he alive?
- Damn, I hope he is! If he made it, it's our chance to be rewarded and not executed - even if Tyler reports that we threw a grenade on him!
- Then we better check...
---
Diego feels that someone is bandaging his wounds. What are they using, they didn't bring any bandages... huh? Did they tear his own uniform? Well, why bother, at least he is alive. It must his guys helping him, natives wouldn't bother. Before his consciousness slips again, Diego promises himself to reward his brave soldiers.
---
- You damn bastards, - Tyler hisses, when waking from warm hands rubbing his face, while another pair is stretching something over his chest, - your damn grenade almost finished me off.
- Almost doesn't count, pal, - a female voice answers, but the buzzing in Tyler's head bothers him to concentrate.
- Did you kill those remaining? - he asks, still barely concentrating and trying to keep awake.
- Yes, don't worry, - another voice, this time belonging to a male answers.
- Good... they didn't kill you, so I'll do it myse... and conscience slips. The last words he still hears are: "Good that Diego..."
---
- Look, Vladimir, the cat is breathing!
- Wow! It really must have a willpower to live. No one would survive that damage.
- Well, not for long, let me just...
- Stop!
- Huh?
- If we bring a living specimen for interrogation and maybe also scientific examination they will surely promote us, and even tell Tyler to go sleep with himself.
- Oh, you are right. Didn't have this in mind. Let me just search and take all his weapons, and you tie his paws behind back, and just in case put something in his mouth.
- Okay.
---
- My back is breaking.
- We had to drag all three back to portal. If we would leave our guys they could freeze to death, and the cat could escape. Now guys from the base will help us... here they are coming.

[Metastachydium]

A few hours later

This is the place. The place with the creek and the trees and the disturbed snow that the Voice showed him. From up close, it looks even more macabre than it did in the vision. The tengu picking his way through the snow shudders. He doesn't need Deathwatch to tell that most of these are dead. One has practically no face remaining. Another, in strange, alien garbs, is lying headless in the snow, marred here and there by large circles of soot.
He has to remind himself that he has a mission here to be able to press on, towards the grove further to the west. And there it is, among the trees: a small, barely visible spot that screams "alive". Alive, but fragile. Very fragile. He approaches the body with great care. He would have difficulty telling that there still is life in the small body of the bird if he didn't knew. He touches the falcon, letting magic flow into her body, to stave off death and protect her from the cold.
Shassax wakes up, feeling weak, but alive. The beaked head of another bird is looking down at her with sympathy in his beady eyes.
"Come, little one." he says at last. "We have to go."