Operation: Graystone #25

[GM Mad]

Operation: Graystone #25

April 15th, CR 569

The Squads have encountered a supply caravan leaving the goblin lair! The wagons are being pulled by ogres in harness, with hobgoblins serving as guards and drivers. The Squads split up into three groups to deal with the caravan, hoping to deny the main enemy army food and supplies.

Butternut looks up at the mention of fuses for the vials they collected. "Ren told me that he found a fair bit of fuse cord when he was checking the bodies, so that should help." Turning, she waves the gnome over to join them. "Ren, can we see how much fuse you collected?"

“More than enough for what we need!” Ren answers with a wicked grin.


Vernar devises a plan to surprise the first wagon with a trio of Alchemist's Fire bombs. They'll be planted in the road and once the wagon is close enough, the fuses will be lit and hopefully they will all go off at the same time. Two are set to intercept the ogres pulling the lead wagon while the other one targets the wagon itself. While Vernar, Butternut and Ren, work to prepare their trap, Kaylessa returns to the main group to let them know of the plan.

Gerett leads one group up the right hand side of the road keeping to the trees for safety. Erisciana and those with her cross the road and move up the left hand side. Along the way, Gerett chats with those he is leading into battle.

Wimzy had always been polite to Gerett and had assisted him with healing powers before. She was an oddity to him, almost childlike in enthusiasm but not at all averse to violence. He did not pretend to try to understand the application of her powers, but simply reviewed with her what he had discussed with Erisciana. "We must fully commit to the attack once begun," he stated, "but be ready to retreat at a moment's notice. Even disabling one wagon will suffice if we can get away unscathed. Position yourself where you can work best with me and the other three in our group, and keep your ears open for a call to charge or retreat."

“I can only fight undead,” Wimzy tells Gerett, “But I'll keep my eyes open for any trouble while you boys are in the thick of things.”

"I'm afraid I haven't gotten to know you very well thus far," Gerett began as he reintroduced himself to the mage. "I'm no expert or even a novice in your glamour-craft, but I'd at least like to know what you've got on hand for this next fight."

“I have a few spells at the ready,” Sorvani reports. “I have a Color Spray and a Magic Missile in memory.”

"You know best how to apply your spells. It's my understanding that Sleep is more effective on little guys and your missiles can hurt the ogres we expect to see. In any case, we're going to try to bring down any ogres we see one at a time, as fast as possible. Any goblins would be best kept out of the fight while we do that. Use your judgment and stick as close to us as you can while staying out of danger. The caravan might have scouts riding out around at a distance."

“I'll cast my Magic Missile first,” Sorvani relays. “From there I'll use my bow, saving Color Spray in case I run into a bunch of the enemy.”

Lastly Gerett approached the historian. "I'm a bit ashamed to admit I know very little about ye, Sann. Aside from the fact that your knowledge o' the keep and its history has saved our collective necks a few times. Where do ye prefer to be in the fight? Vardra and I will be switching between range and melee as needed. Let me know where ye can fight best and we'll work on getting ye there."

“In the heart o' the action is where you'll find me!” Sann says with a laugh. “I be not as good as the rest o' you in tussle, but I can hold me own in a scrap.”

[GM Mad]

Butternut, Ren and Vernar get their traps ready and rush for cover as the first wagon gets closer. Clearly those on watch are not keeping as vigilant as they should be. While ogres are large and powerful creatures, even they pull the wagons at a slow, but steady pace. They advance at about walking speed.

Finally, Vernar gives the signal to lit the fuses! Vernar does so, as does Butternut while Ren takes a few extra tries to get his fuse lit. The flames dart out from the side of the road and towards the main track. One of the ogres notices the flame and looks at it, cocking his head to the side as if confused.

At nearly the same time, the two pots planted to take out the ogres explode shooting flaming oil upwards! Both ogres are covered and are burning! They both unleash the most horrible screams of pain as they try to escape, but their harnesses hold them fast. Thankfully, both go silent as the flames consume them. The hobgoblins guiding the wagon are also covered and die from the burning oil. The area of the wagon around the drivers starts to burn.

A few seconds later the third pot explodes underneath the wagon. The whole wagon is quickly engulfed in flames! The hobgoblins on the roof of the wagon are far enough away to not be harmed, but are alarmed to discover the wagon underneath them is on fire!

Kaylessa takes aim with her bow and drives two arrows into one of the hobgoblins, killing him. Butternut takes aim at the other hobgoblin and wounds him with a crossbow bolt. This hobgoblin tries to climb down the wagon to get away from the flames. While he does this, Ren tosses a pair of daggers into him, removing the last of the hobgoblins on the first wagon.

Seeing that the both ogres were consumed by the fire and that the hobgoblins have been removed, Vernar find himself without an enemy to attack.

When the first wagon explodes, Erisciana moves closer to the edge of the woods and casts Sleep at the next two wagons. Her spell meets with partial success as all the hobgoblins on the second wagon fall asleep! Laurel follows a short distance behind Erisciana.

Seeing the lead ogres consumed by flames, both Lucyus and Kendell rush to attack the ogres pulling the second wagon. Kendell is speedier and reaches the far ogre first. The large warrior lashes out twice with his longsword and the ogre dies before the creature could even realize what was going on.

Lucyus reaches the other ogre equally surprised ogre. He swings his battleaxe in a wide arc that slices through the beasts chest. Blood and organs come spewing out as the ogre dies, a puzzled look on its hideous face.

Flare remains in the woods, but lines up a clear shot at the hobgoblins riding on the top of the third wagon. Two arrows take one of the hobgoblins out.

The group lead by Gerett also makes their attack run when the first wagon explodes. Vardra moves out, running towards the far ogre, leaving the closer one for Gerett and Sann. Bastard sword in hand, the first strike very nearly kills the ogre. The second makes sure.

Gerett stabs the nearer ogre with his halberd, but the ogre still lives. Sorvani helps out by casting Magic Missile, but his single enchanted arrow is not enough to bring down the ogre. Sann follows Gerett and using his axe finishes off the ogre.

The two hobgoblin drives draw their long swords and move to attack the attackers. Vardra blocks the sword swing sent his way with his shield. The other misses Sann with his attack.

The lone hobgoblin archer traces the Magic Missile back to it source and fires. The first arrow misses Sorvani, but the second does not.

Wimzy peaks out from behind a tree and calls out to everyone else.

“There are more wagons coming!” the priestess cries out. “But these ones are being pulled by just one ogre!”

Those who are in a position to see what Wimzy is reporting, can see that the next several wagons are traditional human-like wagons. They are pulled by a single ogre in harness and there is not rooftop to them.

However, much further behind these next few wagons, more wagons like the first three wagons can be seen. All these trailing wagons cannot help but see the fire from the first wagon and know that they are being attack!

[GM Mad]

Gm Notes:

The first three wagons have the firing platforms on them and are pulled by 2 ogres. The next three wagons behind them are normal wagons pulled by 1 ogre and do not have archery stands on top of them. But the wagons behind the 6th wagon does have the platform and is pulled by 2 ogres. There are at least 7 wagons in the caravan and could be more.

Hit Points:

Butternut – 18 of 21
Erisciana – 17 of 19
Sorvani – 9 of 15
Wimzy – 12 of 14


Here is the combat map:

graystone047.jpg (172.62 KiB) Viewed 12213 times

The players are noted as before and are spread out as indicated in the posts. Here are the states of the enemy targets. The squares are 5'.

The Ogres (O#) 1-6 are dead.

Hobgoblin's (HB#) 1-4 are dead.

Hobgoblin's 5-8 were caught by Erisciana's Sleep spell.

Hobgoblin 9 is attacking Vardra

Hobgoblin 10 attacked Sann.

Hobgoblin 11 was killed by Flare

Hobgoblin 12 shot Sorvani with an arrow.

Now what?

[Butternut]

Butternut:

“More than enough for what we need!” Ren answers with a wicked grin.

Shaking her head, Butternut emits an amused snort. "Good."


Vernar shares his plan for the trap, and Butternut sets to working on her part. It only takes a few moments to dig a small, shallow hole with one of her daggers and set the explosive vial within. She trails the fuse back to her hiding place and prepares for the fight ahead.

The ogre-drawn wagons approach slowly up the incline. As the first nears their hiding spot, Vernar gives the signal so Butternut lights her fuse. Grabbing her crossbow and looking up, she notes that Ren appears to be having trouble with his fuse. Fortunately, he gets it lit a couple moments later.

Butternut watches as her fuse burns its way to the planted vial. One of the ogres pulling the first cart notices the burning fuse and pauses to watch the fiery display. Moments later, he and the other ogre are splashed with burning Alchemist's Fire from the exploding pots. The beasts shriek in agony as they die. The hobgoblins driving the wagon are alerted by the twin explosions. However, before they can react, the third one does off directly underneath the wagon, setting it and the drivers on fire.

Butternut uses that as a signal to lean out and shoot one of the hobgoblin archers on the top of the wagon. Her shot only wounds the foul creature and it moves to the edge to climb down. A pair of daggers ends its life and it falls to the ground. Beyond, she notes the other teams engaging the next two wagons.

“There are more wagons coming!” the priestess cries out. “But these ones are being pulled by just one ogre!”

From her current position, Butternut cannot see the following wagons very well. Looking over at Vernar, she signals that she thinks they should move down on either side of the wagon train and support the other teams. There appear to still be a few living hobgobs on the third wagon, and she's happy to eager to help with changing that.

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

Gerett and Vardra were well acquainted at this point, and Gerett knew he could rely on the soldier's bravery, reasonableness, and intelligence. "Ye and I are both skilled in melee and range," he stated. "Whether we stick at a distance or close is going ta depend on the situation. Sorvani and Whimzy will be behind us either way. So we both stay at range or we both go in together, as things demand." This was enough of a briefing, he decided. "I know I can count on you; I'm just going to check in with the others."

Vardra listens to Gerett's summary. "Admittedly, I'm not a fan of rash charges, but I'll support you as best I can, Gerett."

"Circle past the first two wagons--we'll attack the third while the traps hit the first and the other group hits the second. Erisciana says Missiles on the ogres and Sleep on the archers. We take out everything in the third wagon before worrying about the next. We want to stop the wagon, so Vardra and I are going right into melee." He dismounted and hefted his polearm, noticing Vardra had already equipped sword and shield in anticipation. "If we can get the gobbos asleep, we still need someone to off 'em as this may be a long fight. I sure can't climb up there, and my crossbow is going to be a bad way as they'll be slumped behind the cover of their firin' post." He looks at Sorvani, Wimzy, Sann, and Vardra. "Can anyone volunteer to take 'em out?"

After talking with each of the members of his team individually, Gerett gathers them together and addresses the four of them. Vardra nods his understanding of the plan. When the dwarf asks about mounting the wagon to get at the archers, Vardra glances at the others before replying. "I don't have any particular skill in climbing, but I should be able to get up there if the need arises." As humans go, he's not particularly tall, but he's wiry and agile.

As they circle around to the third wagon, Gerett gives a last few words. "We rush 'em while they are panicking. If they start to group up, Erisciana is probably going to call retreat. Three wagons down is a win, even if they have more behind. Let's get that ogre roughed up afore we try to kill off the archers."

"Will do," the soldier states crisply.

The team deploys in the woods just off the right side of the path. Upon hearing the front wagon explode, Vardra runs toward the far ogre at a measured pace as he was trained to do. The ogre tries to move to confront him, but is trapped by the harness he wears. His eyes go wide in shock as the soldier's sword plunges into his chest just below the heart. Yanking his sword free and ducking a feeble swipe from the ogre, Vardra finishes the beast with a chop into the side of its head. The ogre slumps in its straps, which prevent the now-lifeless body from collapsing to the ground.

Sensing movement near his head, Vardra raises his shield quickly just in time to block an attack from the wagon driver on his side. Not one to waste time, he immediately responds by driving his sword upward at the hobgoblin's chest.

[Laurel]

---------------------------------------------------

“I'm just saying that the bird is nowhere near as smart as I am. It's like asking a rock for directions. As for where I've been, I've been keeping safe and following you down the hill. Grow me wings and I'd happily go off scouting!”

The dark haired priestess is uncharacteristically animated when talking with Malfamata. She will sarcastically retort aloud to his reply, "Maybe some day Felix will grant me that power and we'll see if you like it then. We're about to ambush the supply caravan, maybe make yourself useful this time and keep an eye out for any goblin scouts in the woods. Let me know if you find anything so I can warn our comrades!"
---------------------------------------------------

As the group catches up to the goblin supply caravan Erisciana orders the parade to a stop. Laurel quickly dismounts and nods in Malfs direction as she gathers what few remaining first aid supplies survived being made into fire arrows.

"Quickly tie off your horses back here. Gerett, take your group up this side and try to go past the point where Vernar is setting his ambush. Focus firstly on the second wagon beyond the explosion. Stay in sight of each other. Defeat one group of ogres and hobgoblins before trying to engage the next. If you need to retreat, everyone goes together and we rendezvous here. We will try to do as much damage as we can to the enemy before we have to break off. Good luck!"

The young woman keeps her eyes to the ground and her hair shading her eyes, listening to the directions as they're given.

"Lucyus and Kendall, we'll be responsible for the first two wagons. If the explosions do not kill the lead ogres, one of you will need to deal with them. Then engage the next pair. Flare, we need you to primarily target the hobgoblins on top of the wagons. Work your way down the line as you can but don't move too far ahead of the rest of us. Laurel, if you're willing, any hobgoblins that are incapacitated either from explosions or spells need to be killed. We may not have the luxury of defeating the entire enemy and I don't want to have to face any in the future unnecessarily. Save your healing for triage."

When her name is spoken her head snaps up, making eye contact with Erisciana. She nods and loosens her sword in its scabbard. She may not be particularly good in a fight but she has no qualms about killing goblins when they're down.

To what ever end we will see it through

"Once the first three wagons are dealt with, I doubt any plan will survive contact with the enemy. If we can take them down in small groups, that is ideal. If they fully consolidate, we retreat. May Ishtar, Hieroneous, Felix and Ehlonna all look favorably on us this day!"

At the mention of Felix his priestess traces the outline of her silver feline-shaped pendant which lay under her tunic, then turns her attention to remaining out of sight and out of the way of those ambushing the caravan. All too soon chaos breaks loose and several of the wagons burst into flame. Laurel watches a group of hobgoblins crumple on the roof of a wagon, all under the power of Erisciana's sleep spell. "It's never easy..." she thinks to herself as she draws herself up and pulls her sword out of its sheath. The young woman will climb up the second wagon ready perform her duty!

[Erisciana]

Erisciana, priestess of Ishtar -

The priestess first sends Kaylessa off to Vernar to confirm their readiness to continue with the ambush. She then sends Gerett off with his group, with instructions for his half of the pincer tactic. She gives instructions to the remaining four with her.

When Laurel's name is spoken her head snaps up, making eye contact with Erisciana. She nods and loosens her sword in its scabbard. She may not be particularly good in a fight but she has no qualms about killing goblins when they're down. Erisci returns the direct eye contact and nods, a slight smile upon her countenance.

There is time for the remainder to follow Erisci quickly across the road to the other side of the forest before the ogres and hobgoblins in the approaching caravan can see them.

The plan is simple. Split up and take out one wagon at a time. The scouts will blow up the lead wagon and then can assist primarily by ranged attacks. Gerett's group will attack the third wagon while her own will deal with the second. After that the idea is for each group to engage the next wagon in succession. The hope is that they can engage small groups and overpower them, without becoming outnumbered by the full enemy numbers. Once they consolidate though, Ren could prove devastating with a well-placed fire grenade or two.

Erisciana's group moves across the road and into the trees. They proceed up past the point of the scouts' ambush and they wait. Hidden behind a large tree near the edge of the woods, she watches the lead wagon pass, nodding to Lucyus nearby. Flare had moved on up ahead to be ready to shoot the third wagon's own archers.

A moment passes and seems to linger. Erisci catches herself holding her breath as she waits for the ambush to go off. The ogres trudge onward, each step seeming like an eternity. The priestess tenses as she sees one of the sparks trail along the ground. Suddenly an eruption of fire engulfs the lead wagon and then a second immediately after! The attack has begun!

Erisci moves to the edge of the woods. Another explosion rips through the front wagon and the wails of the dying enemy combine with the roaring blaze consuming the wagon. Lucyus and Kendall rush out as the priestess casts her Sleep spell, felling all four of the hobgoblins on the second wagon. Laurel lets out a deep breath and follows the fighters, who make short work of the ogres on that wagon. Glancing each way, the scouts have felled the survivors of the explosion and Gerett's team is engaging the third wagon with Flare's assistance.

Taking a look further down the line, the next wagons do not have the fighting tops and only one ogre seems to be pulling them. Erisci smiles a satisfied smile. They should be able to eliminate perhaps half of the ogres before they are able to begin to mount a counter-attack. She will wave her arm in a wide motion signalling everyone forward. To Lucyus, she will say, "Move on to the next wagons. Hurry we need to press the attack for as long as possible!" Hopefully, Vernar will move the scouts up to engage so the group was not too separated along the length of the caravan. With a couple of Sleep spells and Ren's fire grenades still at their disposal, they had a chance to completely eliminate the entire enemy force if they struck quickly enough.

Erisci will move up past where Flare was shooting and send him a bit further ahead. "Skip the next wagon. Lucyus and Kendall will engage that one. See what you can do about the next ogre and if there are more of those war wagons, then switch back to killing hobgoblins," she instructs. The priestess considers her remaining spells. She will refrain for the moment, holding back on her Magickal Missiles in case an ogre needs to be finished off and planning a suitable diversion when the time is right.

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa

Moving back to the scouts, Kaylessa relays to Vernar and the others of Erisciana’s plan. She then moves to a spot behind a rock and holds there. For what seems like hours she waits then a large boom and the roar of the alchemist’s fire.
She leans out as she sees the Ogre’s and the wagon burning, the screams. She spots a hobogoblin waving the flames away and draws her bowstring back and let’s loose. The shafts find their home in the hobgoblins chest causing it to fall only to be silently consumed by the flames.
Moving her eyes to the second wagon she can see that Kendell and Lucyus have taken out the Ogres and the Hobgoblins have fallen to the ground. As she draws closer she can hear the snoring of the hobgoblins. She knocks an arrow and waits for a moment. ( cover behind the rock that looks like a Bean, 7 blocks north.)
Once there she will see if there is a target that presents itself.

[Lucyus]

Lucyus
Taking a deep breath, Lucyus clears his mind and says a prayer to Heironous. His blue eyes open as the sound of explosions and screaming coming streaming to his ears.

Erisciana's group moves across the road and into the trees. They proceed up past the point of the scouts' ambush and they wait. Hidden behind a large tree near the edge of the woods, she watches the lead wagon pass, nodding to Lucyus nearby. Flare had moved on up ahead to be ready to shoot the third wagon's own archers.

Returning the nod, He sees Kendell take off before him as Lucyus regains his footing and takes off after the warrior.
Screaming echoes in his ears as the smell of burnt flesh, ash fill his nose as he breathes steadily beneath his visor. Ogres flail and fall on the first wagon, he pushes on to the second, where he sees’Kendell take out one of the Ogres. Bellowing a war cry, Lucyus brings his axe about in a wide arc. His butterfly blade bites deep through the beast’s chest Blood and guts flow from the wound as the Ogre gives a confused look it’s hands going to it’s wound trying to stem the flow as it dies.
“Laurel see to those we missed, but do not linger not make yourself a target!”

“There are more wagons coming!” the priestess cries out. “But these ones are being pulled by just one ogre!”

“Then let us welcome them!” he growls out.

To Lucyus, she will say, "Move on to the next wagons. Hurry we need to press the attack for as long as possible!"

“We will have them routed and running in no time!” he calls back a smile etched across his face underneath his visor.”Kendell let us see to the next wagon!”he calls as they leap frog the wagons.

[Vernar]

Vernar -

Finally, Vernar gives the signal to lit the fuses! Vernar does so, as does Butternut while Ren takes a few extra tries to get his fuse lit. The flames dart out from the side of the road and towards the main track. One of the ogres notices the flame and looks at it, cocking his head to the side as if confused.

At nearly the same time, the two pots planted to take out the ogres explode shooting flaming oil upwards! Both ogres are covered and are burning! They both unleash the most horrible screams of pain as they try to escape, but their harnesses hold them fast. Thankfully, both go silent as the flames consume them. The hobgoblins guiding the wagon are also covered and die from the burning oil. The area of the wagon around the drivers starts to burn.

A few seconds later the third pot explodes underneath the wagon. The whole wagon is quickly engulfed in flames! The hobgoblins on the roof of the wagon are far enough away to not be harmed, but are alarmed to discover the wagon underneath them is on fire!

As arrows and daggers fly from the other scouts to take out the remaining hobgoblins, Vernar takes a moment to gaze on the inferno that was the lead wagon. Truly their trap went off splendidly, and even though Ren's fuse was troublesome, having the third explosion delayed was even more glorious. Flipping his axe in his hand, Vernar realizes there are no more targets in his range, and the main fighting group is already engaged against the next two wagons.

From her current position, Butternut cannot see the following wagons very well. Looking over at Vernar, she signals that she thinks they should move down on either side of the wagon train and support the other teams. There appear to still be a few living hobgobs on the third wagon, and she's happy to eager to help with changing that.

Seeing that Butternut is thinking the same thing, Vernar signals her to move up with Ren on their side of the road. Vernar then looks at Kaylessa and motions for her to move up with him. Vernar will completely move past the next two wagons, counting on his other friends and companions to do their part. Once he sees that the next couple of wagons only have one ogre each, he will prepare in case enemy troops spill out from the wagons, and if not, then will use his axe and sword against an ogre. He will try to position himself to not be a target for the hobgoblin archers on the wagons much further back.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

Before the attack begins, Laurel has some words with her cat.

The dark haired priestess is uncharacteristically animated when talking with Malfamata. She will sarcastically retort aloud to his reply, "Maybe some day Felix will grant me that power and we'll see if you like it then. We're about to ambush the supply caravan, maybe make yourself useful this time and keep an eye out for any goblin scouts in the woods. Let me know if you find anything so I can warn our comrades!"

“Fine,” the cat mews in response as it trots off into the underbrush. “Don't do anything stupid while I'm away!”


The Squads continue their surprise attack upon the enemy caravan. The initial attack was triggered by pots of Alchemist's Fire being ignited under the lead wagon. The fiery oil killed the ogres pull the wagon and the drivers. The archers above quickly fell to ranged weapons. The next two wagons were quickly attacked by steel and magic. The pull ogres were all slain and half the hobgoblins put to sleep. Pressing their advantage, the squads continue the assault!

At the third of the wagons, Vardra, Gerett and Sann contend with the hobgoblin drivers. Vardra turns aside another attack from the hobgoblin while slaying him with his sword. Gerett impales the other hobgoblin with his halberd, ending its life.

The hobgoblin on the raised platform overhead takes aim once more, driving another arrow into Sorvani! The wounded mage moves deeper into the woods to get away while Wimzy trails after him. The halfling priestess quickly words to bind Sorvani's wounds.

“We're gonna have ta climb up ta get rid of that rat!” Sann mutters as he eyes the wagon.

Now close enough, the dwarven historian can see that there is a climbing line dangling down from the elevated platform. It would be easy to just climb up there. However, that turns out to not be necessary as Kaylessa advances forward and removes the enemy archer with her own bow fire. The hobgoblin teeters overhead and then falls over the railing landing hard along the side of the road.

The squads attacking the first two wagons have done their job and start to advance down the caravan line. Flare and Erisciana move ahead in the woods along the left side of the road. Erisciana holds her actions for now, waiting to see how the battle unfolds.

Flare moves further ahead and fires an arrow at the ogre pulling the fifth wagon. His aim is off and the shaft impacts harmlessly into the side of the wagon. The hobgoblin driving that wagon realize the danger they are in and are working to free the ogre from thick chain that attaches it to the wagon.

Kendell and Lucyus rush forward to fight their next foe. The pair run up either side of the road, past Vardra and Gerett's group.

“We will have them routed and running in no time!” he calls back a smile etched across his face underneath his visor.” Kendell let us see to the next wagon!” he calls as they leap frog the wagons.

“Try to keep up!” Kendell gleefully calls out as he runs past. The country boy is fast on his feet!

Kendell reaches the ogre pulling the fourth wagon first. His strike misses the ogre, but this foe is prepared for battle and the sword strike misses! The ogre slams his massive fist into Kendell, forcing him back several steps!

"WOW!" Kendell calls out in amazement. "I haven't been hit that hard since I tussled with my cousins!"

Lucyus arrives at that moment and swings his battle axe at the ogre, but he too fails to harm the target. This ogre is pulling a smaller wagon and has a bit more movement allowed to him. The hobgoblin drivers jump down and attack Lucyus and Kendell, but none of their attacks harm the warriors.

Butternut, Vernar and Ren rush to keep up with the rest of the squad. Butternut stops when she gets a clear shot at the hobgoblin attacking Lucyus. She fires her crossbow and the bolt lodges itself in the hobgoblin's shoulder. Ren pauses long enough to pick up the daggers he tossed and then trails after Butternut.

Vernar sprints up the other side of the road. With no immediate threats in the area, Vernar continues onward and reaches Kendell who is battling an ogre and an hobgoblin.

Behind everyone else, Laurel dashes across the road and permanently puts the drivers of the second wagon to sleep. She spies the rope danging along the side of the wagon and moves to use it to climb up to where the last two sleeping hobgoblin are laying.

[GM Mad]

Gm Notes:

Only Erisciana can still act in this round. Everyone else can act in the next round. Those who have moved further along the caravan will realize that there are four wagons being pulled by 1 ogre, not 3 as initially thought. Behind the fourth single wagon are a couple of more larger war wagons pulled by two ogres. The drivers that can be seen are now working to release the ogres so that they can attack.

Everyone, with the exception of Vernar, did a half-move so that they could still act in this round. Vernar did a full move and that had him catch up to where Lucyus and Kendell are at. That's also the downside for those smaller races, they move slower than humans and elves do in these kind of situations.

Hit Points:

Butternut – 18 of 21
Erisciana – 17 of 19
Kendell – 35 of 41
Sorvani – 4 of 15
Wimzy – 12 of 14

Here is the combat map:

graystone048.jpg (177.19 KiB) Viewed 12146 times

Here's what the enemy forces are doing.

Ogre 7 (O#) is fighting Kendell and Lucyus. Vernar is in the area.

Ogre 8+ are being freed by the hobgoblin drivers. Flare shot an arrow at Ogre 8, but missed.

Hobgoblins (HB#) 5, 6, 9- 12 are dead.

Hobgoblins 7 & 8 are asleep atop wagon 2.

Hobgoblins 13 & 14 are attacking Lucyus and Kendell.

Hobgoblins 15+ are working to let the ogres loose.

Now what?

[Gerett]

The attacks commenced almost simultaneously. Gerett could hear the explosion behind him of the first wagon, and the various unidentifiable sounds of magic afflicting the second and arcane bolts hit the enemy and sleeping enemies hit the floor. His focus was on his own target, however. As a squad leader he had to stay aware of what his own team was doing, beyond just his own attacks, but he couldn't spare any attention for the other wagons. The others would have them under control.

Beside him Gerett watched Vardra carve through the gargantuan ogre before him, letting the weight of the hand-and-a-half sword in his single hand carry itself through the exposed flab of the beast. Vardra's determination in the face of a fearsome enemy was evident as he brought it low in only two strikes. For his own part, Gerett tried to bring his target down with a single, intentional lunge from beneath. Rather than impaling right through the gut, his strike went just askew enough for the ogre to keep fighting. Even as a magical bolt slammed into the ogre from afar, the monster still raised its fist to attack. Gerett was not alone, however, and the extremely enthusiastic archaeologist beside him dove in to finish the ogre creature off. Gerett took a slight step backward as the lumbering monster slumped to the ground.

"Good work men," he said, his eye scanning the area to formulate the next course of action. "Vardra, I've not seen bladework like that before. And Sann, you're a firebrand and no mistake. Let's point that energy at a new target."

He wished he could commend Sorvani, but the mage was undoubtedly aware of his importance and now they had to move forward. The first priority was the hobgoblins driving the wagon. Gerett was partly aware of an arrow hitting Sorvani from the raised platform. Even as he and Vardra ended the lives of the hobgoblins in front of them, his mind was working through the puzzle of efficiently reaching the top of the wagon. But from the woods, Kaylessa solved his problem for him. He heard the archer tumble off the top of the wagon as her arrow found its mark.

Somewhere between the ogre's fall and engaging the drivers, Gerett remembered Wimzy had warned of more wagons, these ones smaller. Those should go down quickly, and needed to if they were going to maintain their advantage. As he began to formulate a plan, Kendell and Lucyus barreled past and slammed into the first of the ogres pulling the smaller wagons. Gerett knew that Erisciana and Flare were offering support to that group and wouldn't need help disabling that wagon. Yet charging all the way around into the next wagon would take too long...

"Switch to ranged," Gerett barked to Vardra. "Form a line off Kendell's right." As he spoke Gerett swapped to his crossbow and moved into position. "They're going to start forming up so we don't want to spread out too far." Once his crossbow was ready, Gerett began to unload on the next ogre up, ready to keep firing until the enemy closed to melee. Their window of shock-and-awe was running out--soon the remaining ogres would be out of their harnesses and the enemy would try to organize. It was vital that they were organized themselves when that happened. In a line they could pelt the enemy at range and, when the enemy closed, either receive the charge and finish them off in melee, or make a retreat, satisfied with the chaos they had wrought.


|Gerett's intention is for he, Sann, and Vardra to form a line near where Vernar currently is and pelt the enemy, starting with O8 and continuing to fire on the ogres and hobgoblins further back until the enemy comes to them. I suspect O8 is the last ogre we will catch with his harness on, and I'd rather shoot at it while it can't move than waste time closing to melee with it.|

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa

“We're gonna have ta climb up ta get rid of that rat!” Sann mutters as he eyes the wagon.

Now close enough, the dwarven historian can see that there is a climbing line dangling down from the elevated platform. It would be easy to just climb up there. However, that turns out to not be necessary as Kaylessa advances forward and removes the enemy archer with her own bow fire. The hobgoblin teeters overhead and then falls over the railing landing hard along the side of the road.

“No need to climb. Ye only need a little bit of height,” she calls back to Sann as she watches her handiwork with her bow.

Kaylessa picks her way forward, and hides behind the rock to Vernar’s right. Taking a quick look about she sees Lucyus, Kendell and Vernar to her right and the wagon ahead; the Hobgoblins are trying to free an Ogre from its restraints.

Reciting the words to her Magic Missile spell she will target Ogre 8. Afterward “Reinforcements from the other wagons will be here soon! I’ll try to slow them down.”

[Lucyus]

Lucyus

“Try to keep up!” Kendell gleefully calls out as he runs past. The country boy is fast on his feet!

Lucyus can’t help but smile slightly as Kendell acts like a big kid running forward courageously. For a few moments, he watches as Kendell engages the Orge then the orge’s great fist slams into the warrior knocking him back some.

"WOW!" Kendell calls out in amazement. "I haven't been hit that hard since I tussled with my cousins!"

Moving past the warrior Lucyus lashes out with his axe to no avail. Growling he brings his shield up as two Hobgoblins swing down at him and Kendell. Their armor turning their attacks aside. Lucyus roars his defiance as he lashes out his axe on the Ogre if still alive, If it dies he will focus on the hobgoblins.

[Erisciana]

Erisciana, priestess of Ishtar -

The priestess encourages Lucyus and Kendall to quickly move forward and engage the next wagon.

“We will have them routed and running in no time!” he calls back a smile etched across his face underneath his visor.”Kendell let us see to the next wagon!” he calls as they leap frog the wagons.

Erisciana smiles grimly at the fighters' enthusiasm. Better than being fearful and worried, but she would have to make sure no one got overconfident due to their initial success. That was part of the plan and the ambush. The enemy would be forming up soon enough. But then, that was part of the plan as well. Erisci narrowed her eyes as she watched the battle unfold.

Gerett's group finished off wagon three with some archery help. Laurel began the necessary task of eliminating the sleeping goblins on the second wagon. Lucyus and Kendall move on to the fourth wagon, but the ogre and hobgoblins fight back. Meanwhile, Flare misses his next shot at the ogre on the fifth wagon. Erisci begins to make the magickal gestures that pulsate around her right hand with a blue glow. She flicks her fingers once, then twice, and each time a magickal pulse of energy shoots out from her fingers. (Since she is one of the furthest along, she should be able to see O9, as indicated in the post and hit that ogre. If not then make it O8 as the target.) "Paketi, silavogo udara povragu!"

The priestess is confident that the fighters should be able to bring down their ogre foe and the hobgoblins, as Vernar rushes up to join them. Looking back at the trailing members of their team, Erisci sees Gerett move up his group with the intention of switching to ranged attacks. She nods to herself. This would create two lines once Lucyus moved forward and hopefully would result in finishing off the enemies on the first five wagons.

She did some quick mental calculations. "Two more ogres and four hobgoblins on the next two wagons. We need to fell them before the rest can come to bear," she said mainly to herself. Flare had his directive and she was confident his arrows would prove deadly. Moving to the edge of the trees and back a short distance (one square to the right and two back), she sees Kaylessa advancing swiftly up the far side of the caravan. The priestess will wave forward Ren and Butternut. "You two have the last remaining Sleep spells," she stage whispers. "They are going to be grouping up soon."

Erisci will move back to a position where she can see O8 and O9 again and hold her half action, depending on the rest of the team's successes and the enemy response. A dour thought fills her mind as she considers the similarities between this ambush and the one that struck her travelling caravan in Elcadan some weeks ago. She was determined that they would succeed on this mission, despite the enormity of the task.

[Vernar]

Vernar -

Vernar commits to running as fast as his stubby legs can carry him. He hears Gerett telling his charges to switch to ranged attacks. Vernar doesn't have much in the way of range, but it is good to know he will be covered while he moves up into the thick of things. He pauses a moment upon reaching Lucyus and Kendell as they try to cut down the ogre chained to this smaller wagon.

"WOW!" Kendell calls out in amazement. "I haven't been hit that hard since I tussled with my cousins!"

Moving past the warrior Lucyus lashes out with his axe to no avail. Growling he brings his shield up as two Hobgoblins swing down at him and Kendell. Their armor turning their attacks aside. Lucyus roars his defiance as he lashes out his axe on the Ogre if still alive, If it dies he will focus on the hobgoblins.

Once Vernar can, he will use his smaller size to try to get in behind the ogre and attack with his axe and the enchanted blade. He knows he's not going to get an opportunity to backstab here, but he's hoping to take some of the focus off of Lucyus and Kendell with the ogre trying to swat a foe much smaller than it while also hopefully attacking from a position that the ogre cannot easily reach.

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

"Good work men," he said, his eye scanning the area to formulate the next course of action. "Vardra, I've not seen bladework like that before. And Sann, you're a firebrand and no mistake. Let's point that energy at a new target."

"Thank you, Gerett. A little something my father taught me," Vardra replies over his shoulder as one of the hobgoblin drivers rises to attack.

The ogres are down, but they still have to contend with the hobgoblins on this wagon. The nearest driver swings at him, but Vardra slaps the sword away with his shield and drives his sword deep into the humanoid's chest. He twists the blade and yanks it free, spilling gore across the front of the wagon. Gerett slays the other driver with his halberd. "Nice one, Gerett. What next?"

“We're gonna have ta climb up ta get rid of that rat!” Sann mutters as he eyes the wagon.

Before the dwarf can take action, a pair of arrows silence the creature forever. Tracking back where the shots came from, he spots Kaylessa and gives her a thumbs-up sign.

Kendall and Lucyus sprint by, obviously heading for the next wagon down the line.

"Switch to ranged," Gerett barked to Vardra. "Form a line off Kendell's right." As he spoke Gerett swapped to his crossbow and moved into position. "They're going to start forming up so we don't want to spread out too far."

"Got it," Vardra answers, then loops around to the right and forward as directed. As he goes, he puts away his sword and shield and readies his bow. Staying wide to the right of Vernar, he begins firing as soon as the next ogre is in sight. Knowing that Gerett and Sann will be a bit longer getting there, he hopes to soften up the opposition a bit before they arrive.

[Butternut]

Butternut:

Vernar returns her gesture, confirming their next move. She waves for Ren to come with her and starts to move up past the next wagon. As she runs forward, she sees Lucyus and Kendall fighting an ogre and two wagon drivers. She screeches to a stop, takes aim, and puts a quarrel into the nearer hobgob's shoulder. She would rather it had killed the beast, but hopefully that's taken a bit of the heat off of the paladin.

Once the shot is loosed, she continues driving up the wagon train. As she advances, Erisciana runs in close.

"You two have the last remaining Sleep spells," she stage whispers. "They are going to be grouping up soon."

Butternut just grunts in reply, not sure why the strange priestess is so intent on stating the obvious. She continues to advance while keeping an eye on Ren, looking for another clean shot. Hopefully they can clear the next wagon or two before having to pull back.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

The attack against the enemy caravan continues!

Erisciana prepares to cast her Magic Missile at the ogre pulling the sixth wagon, but finds it obscured behind the fifth wagon. Instead she sends a pair of Magic Missiles at the ogre pulling the seventh wagon, as it's a clear path. The enchanted missiles harm the ogre, but don't slow it down.

The combat around the forth wagon gets fierce as Lucyus, Vernar and Kendell contend with an ogre and two hobgoblins. Vernar slips in and swings his axe at the ogre, but misses the large humanoid. Kendell misses on his first strike as well, but connects with the second. Vernar stabs the ogre with his short sword for good measure and the beast goes down.

Lucyus takes out the hobgoblin before him with one axe swing and wounds the other with his second. Vernar buries his hand axe into that hobgoblin killing it. All enemy attacks here are avoided.


Butternut and Ren advance up the left side of the caravan. Once more Butternut half-moves and fires a crossbow bolt. Much like Erisciana, the next ogre she has a clear shot at is pulling the seventh wagon. The bolt flies true and lodges in the ogre's throat! It gasps for air a few times and then slumps in its harness much to the astonishment of the hobgoblins working to free it!

Ren just kept moving and dashes off into the forest. The gnome continues down the woods and past Flare. Flare fires two more arrows at the ogre pulling the fifth wagon with one striking the beast.

A bit further back, Wimzy realizes the severity of Sorvani's wounds and converts her next to last spell into healing magic. With the grace of Azrella, Sorvani is healed of all his wounds.

Even further back from that, Laurel climbs up on top of the second wagon and slays the last two sleeping goblins.

Kaylessa, Gerett, Vardra and Sann advance up the right hand side of the caravan. Kaylessa sends a pair of Magic Missiles at the ogre Flare has wounded, but even they are not enough to stop this ogre! Vardra fires a shaft from his composite longbow, but misses this same ogre. Gerett removes the enemy as his crossbow bolt drives deep into the creature's belly, killing it. Sann, lacking any real ranged attacks, takes cover behind one of the large rocks along the side of the road.


Off in the woods, Erisciana keeps watch on what has transpired. The drivers of wagons five and seven move and converge on wagon six where those drivers have freed their ogre. It looks like the enemy is going to make a stand at that wagon.

Further back, several arrows come flying in from the elevated archery platforms of the last three wagons in the caravan, but none of these shafts find a target. Most of these shafts fall in the area around Butternut and Vardra.

[GM Mad]

Gm Notes:

Once more Erisciana can act in the round covered in this post. As noted above, the hobgoblins and lone ogre are gathering around wagon six. That ogre is also free!

There are more ogres and hobgoblins coming, but they are off the top of the combat map.

Hit Points:

Butternut – 18 of 21
Erisciana – 17 of 19
Kendell – 35 of 41
Wimzy – 12 of 14


Here is the combat map:

graystone049.jpg (216.44 KiB) Viewed 12078 times

This time I put the dead enemies in yellow with the active ones in white. Should make it easier to tell who is alive and who is not. The W# refer to the wagon numbers. Laurel is off the bottom of the map on top of wagon two.

Now what?

[Erisciana]

Erisciana, priestess of Ishtar -

The priestess sees the sixth wagon coming up the road behind the others and more war wagons further along. She prepares to target the ogre pulling that wagon, but with the bend of the road it is obscured enough behind the forward wagon that she cannot see the large, ugly humanoid clearly. She tries to adjust her position in the trees but to no avail. Instead she can make out the ogre further down. Her frown turning to a wry smile, Erisci begins to make the magickal gestures that pulsate around her right hand with a blue glow. She flicks her fingers once, then twice, and each time a magickal pulse of energy shoots out from her fingers. "Paketi, silavogo udara povragu!" The blue bolts strike unerringly and while they do not fell the opponent, he is wounded for her comrades to finish off.

Erisci moves over to the edge of the trees as the heroes surge forward. She sees Butternut nearby and Ren rush past. She stage whispers to them, "You two have the last remaining Sleep spells," she says. "They are going to be grouping up soon." Butternut just grunts and stops ahead to fire a crossbow bolt, felling the ogre she previously wounded with a fatal neck wound. The halfling can be as poor of a conversationalist as she wants with shots like that, Erisci thinks with a smile.

Not wasting any time, the priestess continues on, her sandaled feet moving quickly and deftly through the underbrush. Erisci skips over a fallen tree trunk and moves past Flare, urging him forward even more. She will stop just past Ren's position. Through the trees she can see the heroes take out the enemies around wagon four. And then the ogre on wagon five goes down to missile fire. The hobgoblin tenders there retreat and group up with those from the further back wagon as well. "Perfect," the priestess thinks. "Grouped up like so, means it is time for the diversion." She balls her fist in anticipation of further turning the tide against the enemy.

Perhaps the heroes can break the enemy's morale with one more swift strike.

----------------------------------------------------------------
Part Three of Erisciana's Prequel to Adventure is now posted for anyone interested.
http://qlink.footsiesbiz.com/phpBB2/vie ... 63d#p16046

[Laurel]

Laurel pulls her dirtied dagger from the neck of the hobgoblin which she had just put out of its own miserable existence. She considers cleaning it before re-sheathing it, but instead tosses it onto the roof of the wagon. Deftly and cat-like she shimmies up the supporting beam and pulls herself onto the roof, hoping that she's not drawing too much attention to herself. Then picking up her dagger she performs her duty on the hobgoblins snoring before her. After finishing them off she will clean her dagger and re-sheath it, all while trying to keep a low profile and watch for the next batch of green skins to fall into slumber.

[Vernar]

Vernar -

The combat around the forth wagon gets fierce as Lucyus, Vernar and Kendell contend with an ogre and two hobgoblins. Vernar slips in and swings his axe at the ogre, but misses the large humanoid. Kendell misses on his first strike as well, but connects with the second. Vernar stabs the ogre with his short sword for good measure and the beast goes down.

Vernar smiles as he dashes in, knowing the ogre will likely either not choose him as a target or struggle to hit him. Either way suits the dwarf fine. Even though his axe fails to connect with anything meaty, and it looks like Kendell might have downed the brute, Vernar slides steel into the ogre's body just to be certain.

Vernar then glances to the next wagon, but there is nothing but a dead ogre. It looks as though the remaining enemies have finally found a rally point further back. He will begin to move up to the fifth wagon, using it as cover. He will put his sword away for now and pull out a throwing dagger should he see a target in range and exposed. Otherwise he will wait until more of his group pushes forward. Vernar will use the rocks to the left side of the fifth wagon as cover to advance when the time is right, throwing his dagger(s) at targets of opportunity until getting into melee with anything on their side of the sixth wagon.

[Butternut]

Butternut:

Ren has continued on ahead and veered into the woods, so Butternut advances as well. She spots an ogre just coming into view down the wagon line. To her right, several of the squad are finishing off the ogre and hobgoblins driving the fourth wagon.

Kneeling down once again, the halfling ranger aims and squeezes off a shot. Miraculously, the bolt lodges in the overgrown humanoid's throat! A bug-eyed expression appears on its face as its roar of rage turns into a gurgling death knell. Moments later, the ogre crumbles to the ground.

Closing her eyes briefly, Butternut prays. "Thank you for guiding my shot, Arvoreen. All praise and glory be to you."

Her eyes pop open again and Butternut rises to her feet. Seeing that the woods draw in a bit on the left, she veers slightly that way as she continues up the wagon train. As she passes, the ogre pulling the fifth wagon dies under a hail of shafts from the far side of the wagons. Meanwhile, many of the hobgobs are converging around wagon number 6 and have released the ogre there from its harness.

Slipping into the treeline, Butternut pauses for a moment, listening for the sound of spell-casting from Ren. She is ready to cast or shoot, depending on his choice.

_________________________________________________________________________
Intent is for Butternut to end up just inside the treeline, one to two hexes up and to the right of Ren. If he casts his Sleep spell on the hobgoblins at Wagon 6, then she'll shoot at the ogre. If not or if his spell takes out less than four of them, she'll cast hers instead.

[Lucyus]

Lucyus
All is chaos when Kendell, Vernar and himself collide with the ogre and Hobgoblins. In short order the others take out the Ogre. His blue eyes beneath his visor shift to the next target. He flexes his grip on his axe as he deflect a sword swing with his shield. A half second later the butterfly edge of his axe swings out in a slashing motion, dropping the Hobgoblin.
His eyes shift finding his next target, the axe following his eyes and wounds another hobgoblin that enters his reach. Vernar settles the issue with his axe.
Lucyus will move up the left side of wagon 4, As he comes to the Wagon 5. He will notice the cluster of Humanoids. Then cheering reaches his ears, causing the Paladin to glance in that direction. A number of dwarves call and cheer as they step from the woods and rocks brandishing weapons.
Lucyus will use the distraction to his advantage and rush forward, With a last minute battle cry he will lead with his shield and bring his axe up and across the Ogre’s chest.

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa
Uttering the words to her spell, “Gúl faras tinu” Kaylessa watches as two missiles of magic streak eerily towards the Ogre that Flare injured. Sadly the magic is not enough to bring the large humanoid down. Gerret soon removes the threat with a crossbow bolt.

Knocking an arrow to her bow, she gets ready to move forward again. She moves up to the Rock that Sann is taking cover behind. She will then poke out, take aim and fire upon the higher hobgoblin trying to free the ogre.

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

Trotting forward, Vardra sees Lucyus, Vernar, and Kendell take down the ogre and two hobgoblins on the first of the lighter wagons. At the next wagon, the ogre seems to be bleeding from a couple of spots, but isn't out of the fight yet. The drivers are struggling to free it. Stopping abruptly, Vardra fires at the ogre, but his shot is wide and lodges in the wagon's front panel. Cursing, he considers attacking it with his sword, but a bolt from Gerett makes the question moot. With the ogre dead, the two hobgoblins jump down and retreat toward the following wagon.

Vardra sees Sann huddling behind a rock to his right. He trots around past the dwarf to the next boulder in the roadway, watching the ogre be released by the hobgoblins crowded around the sixth wagon. Focused on the creature as he is, he nearly runs into Kaylessa as she moves to join Sann but slows at the last moment to let her go by. Reaching the next boulder, the soldier has several options before him; he waits to see what the beastly humanoid will do before choosing an option.

_________________________________________________________________________
If the ogre charges, Vardra will meet it with blade and shield. Otherwise, he will stay back and snipe.

[GM Mad]

Post Continued:

April 15th, CR 569

The Squads continue to work their way along the enemy caravan. The surprise of their attack has faded and the enemy is starting to fight back. The hobgoblins driving wagons 5, 6, and 7 regroup around the middle wagon. The ogre pulling wagon 6 has been freed. But this puts them all within range of the Sleep spell that Ren casts. In response to the spell all the hobgoblins fall asleep!

Much further back, Laurel sees this. She climbs down the wagon she was on top of and carefully weaves her way forward, moving from rock to rock.

Erisciana advances and moves just past Ren. Seeing the effects of the gnomes spell on the enemy, she holds off casting her Phantasmal Force as planned.

Lucyus dashes up the left side of the caravan and rushes the just freed ogre pulling wagon 6. The ogre swings at the paladin, but misses. Lucyus' counter attack fails to hit the mark.

Butternut moves up beside Ren and fires her crossbow at the same ogre. The halflings aim is true and the bolt embeds in the ogres side, much to his annoyance.

Flare moves further up the left hand side of the forest past Butternut, Erisciana and Ren. He takes aim at one of the ogres pulling wagon 8. Once more the ranger's aim is off and the shaft misses its target.

“I need cider!” Flare cries out. “I can't shoot straight sober!”

The annoyed ogre starts to charge towards Flare's position!


Kaylessa advances up the right hand side of the rocky area, moving from boulder to boulder. Seeing that the hobgoblins around wagon 6 have been dealt with, she moves further along and takes aim at one of the hobgoblins around wagon 8, but misses. The ogres of that wagon and the hobgoblins driving it start to advance down either side of the caravan.

Kendell joins Lucyus in battling the ogre at wagon 6. With one mighty stroke, Kendell slays the ogre ending its threat.

Further back, Vernar, Sann, and Vardra advance, but find that their intended targets have already been taken down. Off in the woods to the right, Wimzy keeps pace with Gerett's group, while Sorvani moves to the next tree up.

Looking ahead, the squad can see that the ogres and hobgoblins of the last three wagons are on the move! The archers remain on their elevated platforms while the drivers are following the ogres. The archers fire more arrows, but none hit their intended target.

[GM Mad]

GM Notes:

Erisciana has a full action. Vernar, Gerett, Vardra and Sann all half-moved, but have not attack yet. They can either cast a spell or use a ranged weapon at their current locations, or move further along using up the rest of this round on movement. Your choice.

Hit Points:

Butternut – 18 of 21
Erisciana – 17 of 19
Kendell – 35 of 41
Wimzy – 12 of 14

Here's the combat map:

graystone050.jpg (150.03 KiB) Viewed 11986 times

graystone050a.jpg (172.59 KiB) Viewed 11986 times

The map ended up being too big for the forum, so I cut it into two maps. The enemy has started to fan out and advance. The white I had been using on the enemy was too light for those in the rocky area, so I made them red instead. Yellow enemies are dead or asleep. The red was too dark for the archers, so I left them white.

Now what?

[Vardra]

Vardra Marcus, PFC:

Moving up, Vardra sees all of the hobgoblins at the next wagon suddenly collapse. "Must be magic," he mutters to himself just as Laurel arrives next to him. He gives the young woman a nod and a smile, then turns back toward the fight at the wagon. Before he can draw a bead, Lucyus and Kendall cut down the ogre.

The wagons block his view of the other side of the caravan, but Vardra can see that the enemy is moving up on his side. Alarmingly, he sees an ogre advancing on Kaylessa's position and cannot tell if she's aware of the danger. "Sorry, ma'am, gotta go," he says to Laurel as he switches to sword and shield and takes off running. He charges the large creature, intending to cut it down to size before it reaches the elf.

________________________________________________________________________
Half move to O12 and attack.

[Erisciana]

Erisciana, priestess of Ishtar -

Ren casts his Sleep spell and it works perfectly. The four hobgoblins that had formed up around the sixth wagon all succumbed to the sorcery and fell into a magickal slumber. Looking back towards the second wagon, the priestess sees Laurel climb down from there, her work presumably done in finishing the hobgoblins there. Good she will be able to do the same with this group as well. "Although now," Ersci thinks to herself, "we are not the ones who should be considering retreat." There is not yet a hint of a wry smile. By her count there are still seven ogres and about a dozen hobgoblins left to face them. The battle will still be fierce.

Lucyus and Kendall rush the lone ogre near his sleeping allies. It falls to several strikes and now there were six. One of them was closing on Flare. She only had one remaining Magickal Missile and her Hold spell would not work on a creature that large. She moves up to the edge of the woods (two squares diagonally ahead) and reaches out towards the hobgoblin archers on wagon nine, then quickly makes a grasping motion, while the magickal words to the Hold spell lilt off her tongue. "Zastivat na meste!" (Hold Person with 2 targets on last action round.)

That done, the priestess of Ishtar will move out of the woods to where Lucyus and Kendall are preparing to move. She catches Lucyus attention and leads his eyes off to the left. "Flare is up there alone," she says simply, knowing the paladin will intervene, as she moves past. She will stop near the edge of the wagon to obscure herself as much as possible from the remaining archers.

Erisciana has made a point of studying the dwarves Vernar and Gerett and committing their appearances to memory. "Ozhivi iz skal moya armiya gnomov!" The priestess concentrates and rubs her hands together briskly, as white and blue sparks cascade out and spill onto the ground. Suddenly a large number of dwarves appear in the rocks and trees on the far right side of the caravan. A grunting cheer rises up from them and they wave their weapons in the air at the hobgoblins and ogres nearby. (The spell will be 70' long and 5' wide, starting at the furthest rock on the map on the right side and coming back 7 squares.)

While maintaining concentration on the Phantasm, she will cast a few glances to the rear and sides to make sure there are no other enemy approaching from other directions.

[Vernar]

Vernar -

Seeing all of the enemy threat dealt with on the sixth wagon, Vernar peers further ahead. He can see ogres and hobgoblins starting to move up. Knowing the group has to press their advantage, even if it becomes riskier now, Vernar doesn't wait around and instead keeps moving.

Vernar will move up towards Kaylessa as far as he can get with the intent to protect her while she uses ranged attacks. He will use whatever rocks for cover depending on where he ends up. Once there, he will either throw daggers at an enemy if they keep at range, or charge in with his axe and sword against the ogre if it closes to melee.

[Lucyus]

Lucyus

Lucyus dashes up the left side of the caravan and rushes the just freed ogre pulling wagon 6. The ogre swings at the paladin, but misses. Lucyus' counter attack fails to hit the mark.

Kendell joins Lucyus in battling the ogre at wagon 6. With one mighty stroke, Kendell slays the ogre ending its threat.

The great humanoid raises his hand and brings it down, causing the Paladin to raise his shield. A large “dong” sound is heard as the blow resonates off his shield. His axe lashes out but gets turned aside.

Lucyus growls in frustration and gets ready to exchange blows again when Kendell joins his side. The great warrior swings his sword in a murderous arc and slays the creature.

“Well Done, Ogre Slayer!” he calls as the other humanoids about them are asleep or dispatched. The Paladin looks about to address the situation and sees several of humanoids approach. He looks back and realizes that his team is spread out. In fact, Erisciana calls out "Flare is up there alone," she says simply, knowing the paladin will intervene, as she moves past. She will stop near the edge of the wagon to obscure herself as much as possible from the remaining archers.

“Not for long, " he calls back. “Kendell, let us see to the next Ogre!”
Lucyus will head to intercept Ogre 11. As he draws closer, he will call out a battle cry to the Ogre.

[Kaylessa]

Kaylessa

Kaylessa advances up the right hand side of the rocky area, moving from boulder to boulder. Seeing that the hobgoblins around wagon 6 have been dealt with, she moves further along and takes aim at one of the hobgoblins around wagon 8, but misses. The ogres of that wagon and the hobgoblins driving it start to advance down either side of the caravan.

Seeing no targets, Kaylessa moves up the right side, taking position and firing. She lets out a curse as her arrows miss their target.

Seeing how close the Ogre is, Kaylessa debates for a moment. Her thoughts are to draw her shortsword and advance, but her clan did not raise a stupid elf! She nocks an arrow to her bow, draws and fires at the big ugly Ogre 12. If the others get to her and offer their support, she will then look to the hobgoblin HG 22.

[Butternut]

Butternut:

The halfling tunnelrat glides into the woods near her gnome friend. She can hear his arcane chanting and smiles to herself. Moments later, Ren releases the spell and all six hobgobs fall insensate! "Good job, Ren!" she whispers loudly enough for him to hear.

Raising her crossbow, Butternut fires at the ogre. The bolt lodges between a pair of its massive ribs -- painful to be sure, but not a killing shot like her previous one. She snarls softly in disappointment. Fortunately, the beast is cut down by Lucyus and Kendall before it can do more harm.

“I need cider!” Flare cries out. “I can't shoot straight sober!”

The sound of the inebriated woodsman's despair reaches Butternut's ears. Turning, she looks over and sees another ogre charging at Flare, and another hobgoblin advancing from only a little further away. Padding softly through the woods, she advances roughly halfway to Flare's position, then pauses. Sighting down her crossbow, she takes aim at the lumbering creature.

________________________________________________________________________
If the ogre is killed before she can shoot, Butternut will switch targets to HG21.

[GM Mad]

Post Closed