Battle Thread 1: Rough & Tumble on the road to Milbourne

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Okay folks, it looks like those three woodsmen weren't as nice as they seemed (or at least Kleggy definately wasn't). You've been marched right into an ambush and they've got bows and arrows as well!

Okay, so present and (hopefuly) participating in this little scrud* are:

Godric, half elven cleric
Hasta, dwarven apprentice spellslinger
Amras Tarsatir, elven magician's apprentice
Shenaistos Morningmist, elven warrior
Kharis of Sheldomar, human holy warrior
Garrick, elven ne'er do well
Sir Throgrin Deepslayer, dwarven noble knight

Opposing them are:

Garlan (ringleader with a well made two handed club)
Kleggy, vindictive scoundrel without a conscience (possibly an old associate of Garlan's)
Brud, biggood natured guy who "just got talked into it"
Aldred, frightened teenager

Kerrig & Lentarn, bandit bowmen and long time associates of Garlan

I'll get a map up in a bit and roll initiative for people but for now, suffice it to say that the two bowmen are somewhere nearby in the woods, Garlan and the brawlers are out on the road on the other side of the cart. The woodsmen's "clubs" will be giving them attack penalties (improvised weapons, although how can you get an improvised club as that's basicaly what it is anyway?). Garlan and the archers won't have any such problems. Also, obviously the bowmen won't be able to do ranged subdual damage because arrows sort of do real damage and it wouldn't be easy to "just bruise and knock people out" with arrows unless they had large rubber heads or something :p.

So anyway, I'll get initiative and a map sorted and then we shall let battle commence :).

Hmm, I still need to find portraits for Godric, Amras & Garrick. We might have to make do with some temporary ones for now but hopefuly it'll all get sorted out in the long run.

[PaulH]

If I've got the space I'll move* to get many as I can in 15' cone & cast Colour Spray (will save DC 15).

* If necessary I'll just take 5' move. If I've got space I'll cast then go defensive.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Okay, well here's some initiative rolls for now:

Group 1:
Shenaistos 22
Garlan 20
Kerrig 18
Lentarn 10

Group 2:
Brud 9
Garrick 8
Hasta 8
Kharsis & Thorgrin 7 (exactly simultaneous)

Group 3:
Amras 4
Godric 4
Aldred 4
Kleggy 1

Wow, how low can these dice go?

In theory we could do this one without a map but since there are 13 combatants I think I'll use a map. I haven't really got one prepared so we'll use a premade one of some ruins beside a river and pretend that the river's the forest.

Here's a map. I'll put the other party members on in a bit (just looking for portraits). Then I'll add the initiative order down the side in nice easy recognisable terms.

[PaulH]

Looking at the map I'll change my spell to sleep if they're that far away. Either way I'm casting

[Woojitsu]

Shen smiles grimly and calls, "You'll regret tangling with us, I promise you.  Leave now, and mayhap we will forget about this incident."  He then draws his bow back and lets fly an arrow at Garlan, thinking that drawing first blood from the group's leader may be enough to frighten them off.  To be on the safe side, however, he sidesteps to put the bulk of the cart between himself and the enemy archers.

If this move would put me within 10' of an enemy (hard to tell exactly where the cart is on the map), I'll drop my bow before moving and draw my sword during the move.

[Chrysalis]

Kharsis' horse makes some kind of volte-face so that he now faces the group around the cart. The young man then locks the pole of his spear under his arms, and throws a warning while troting in the direction of the foes:

"Shen is right! Go away now and we might forget about the little wrong you comitted. Otherwise, you should see that justice as well as number is on our side!"

Intimidate seems appropriate.

[Rod the Worm]

While privately gratified that she's been picked out as special for some reason, Hasta is less impressed by the bandits' preference for attempting to murder her companions.

"Brud, Aldred!" she calls out.  "I thought we were getting on well!  What are you doing with this bunch of bandits?  You can't be serious, attacking well-armed and armoured knights with logs?  What do you think attacking a cleric of Pelor and a paladin of Allitur will do to your souls?"

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Okay, here's a starting map.

Group 1: Shenaistos lets loose an arrow (total attack roll 6). He manages to hit the cart.
Garlan curses, urging his minions on, clearly that shot had him worried for a minute.
Kerrig takes a shot at Shenaistos (hoping to put down a potential troublemaker). Attack roll 8: he misses.
Lentarn takes a pot shot at Thorgrin because he's near the front and he looks tough (so he wants to try and take him out early). Attack roll 11. I think that just skims the dwarf's armour or clips his cloak or something.

Okay then, time for group 2:
Brud advances cautiously, he doesn't want to hurt anyone if he doesn't have to.
Garrick walks up to the near side of the cart and speaks some magic words. Crazy clashing colours spring from his hands and engulfe Kleggy, Aldred and quite possibly Garlan as well.

Saves at 15:
Kleggy 16
Aldred 10
Garlan 16

Aldred is unconscious for 5 rounds, after which he shall remain blinded and stunend for a further 4 rounds and then he'll be stunend for another 1.

Kleggy was looking at Aldred and Garlan saw something magic was going to happen and turned away (he didn't want to get burned in the face, or whatever it is these wizards do).

Given Garrick's spell I'm offering Kharsis the chance to change his action (since there's a man with a club standing shortly in front of his horse). Does he want to advance or stay put?

Of course there's a chance the man'll get out of the horse's way even at a walk but there's no knowing.

[Woojitsu]

Wow.  I thought the cart would be a little larger than that.  I'd like to change my move if possible.  I'll move toward the forest (and the archers  :icon_evil:) to eliminate Garlan's cover from the cart.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Okay, I'll move you (the attack roll was still too low to hit). Those npc saves were a bit godly but I reckon old Kleggy's going to lay into Aldred while he's down ('cause he's kind of vindictive like that). I'm not happy with the cart. I was thinking of making it a 2 by 1 cart but didn't get round to it (so I might tweak it's size).

[Chrysalis]

Given Garrick's spell I'm offering Kharsis the chance to change his action (since there's a man with a club standing shortly in front of his horse). Does he want to advance or stay put?

Of course there's a chance the man'll get out of the horse's way even at a walk but there's no knowing.

Kharsis will still give him his chance. The plan is quite the same, but more focused on Brud.
The young man will make his horse rear up when Brud comes closer, then pointing his spear at the woods man:

"This fight is obviously not yours Brud! Walk away now and let's end this quickly!"

If this man was talked into this, maybe he can be talked out...

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Well I'm currently waiting for squigface & Mike to post. I might need to 3 day rule them in a bit. Brud'll react to that on his own initiative.

Once I've got actions for Thorgrin, Amras & Godric I'll be able to conclude the round & move on to round 2 (which should prove interesting considering the way things are currently looking :)).

[Squigface]

"Come Thorgrin, let us take the fight to this godless enemy!"

I move towards Kleggy and co, seeing as I have no ranged weps or magic missiles

[Balgin Stondraeg]

Hey Squigface, you haven't selected your spells for today yet. Would you like to do that now before people start moshing into one another?

[Squigface]

I did actually, in the OOC thread. Would you like me to put my days spell lists in the respective thread from now on (i.e the one where the actual roleplaying is going on)?

Squig