Eyes Of The Lich Queen

With the scout pair returned to the group and the decision made to attack the patrols at night, the group returns to the base of the hill where they camped to prepare for the evening's attack. Rogan and Aern do a bit more scouting in the interim and get a pretty good idea of where exactly the nearest patrol is stationed on the trail. The two divine casters take some quiet time to reconfigure their spell potential so they may cast Silence as needed (Khalia/Horatio please decide how many Silence spells you each want available and change your Spells Prepared lists accordingly) The others take time going over strategy. Thus they feel they are fully prepared when the group moves out once the sun goes down.

Under cover of moonlight, the party advances forward through the underbrush, with Rogan leading the pack. He takes them to where he believes them to be... and sure enough the patrol is still in place. He hears the poison dusks talking casually, and is able to get a pretty good idea where they all are in the underbrush. He signals back to the melee group, who signals back to the caster group, and the attack commences.

[sblock= Encounter A2: Jungle Attack]


Each square is 5 feet. North = top of map. The temple is much further north off map.
Lemon = Path, Green = Undergrowth, Brown = Tree, L1, L2 etc. = Lizardfolk

Illumination: Moonlight provides shadowy illumination out to 20 feet (40 feet with low-light vision)

Jungle: Green jungle square contain small trees, ferns, vines and other ground cover. Treat as light undergrowth. Creatures standing in a jungle square gain a +2 bonus to AC, +1 bonus to Reflex saves, and have Concealment (20% Miss Chance). Moving with jungle squares cost 2 squares of movement, and DCs of Tumble and Move Silently checks are increased by 2.

Trees: Five massive trees in the area each take up an entire 5' square and creatures cannot enter squares with trees in it. Tree provide cover (+4 AC) to anyone behind them.

The party is currently off the bottom right corner of the map. Please decide how many and which of the four lead characters (Rogan, Ari, Jina, Aern) will have a Silence cast upon them, then decide for the pre-Surprise round from which direction they will each come onto the map, what squares they will move to, and which lizardfolk they will engage (if any).

Once these decisions are made by everyone, I will advance the map to Round 0 (Surprise Round).[/sblock]

OOC: Jango will enter a prophtic favor if he can during the round before the surprise round. That mean the prophetic favor would have a duration of 6 rounds + the surprise round.

For the surprise round, most probably, Jango will try to move foward as he will need to see his target if he want to cast some spell on them.

Kneeling low on the side of the path, Rogan signals with his hand the number of lizardfolk and their general area. Moving towards the north with as much stealth as possible, Rogan prepares to strike.

Kneeling low in the underbrush with both daggers ready, Rogan waits for the others to get into position. If only he had a way of seeing better in the dark, he might be able to determine which ones might carry the rope-whistles that were mentioned.

ooc - as Rogan's abilities are best suited with a melee partner he will come in to try and flank a Lizardfolk with another party member. Preferably near L2 & L4.

Aerndel slides into place still looking the Poison Dusk Lizardfolk, but with a slightly different color Scheme that the party could recognize as Aerndel and not cut him down(he hoped). He knew what he had to do and perhaps the confusion of having other opponents there might allow him enough time to do what he had to to bolster the party with the Light of the Silver Flame. As for the scout Rogan, Aerndel will assist him as best he could to aid in the swift desmissal of the opponents.

ooc:0 round combat Aern begins to sing Inspire Courage giving everyone a +2 to Attack and Damage. He will assist Rogan with that flank fighting defensivly, Even if the silence is dropped on him everyone should keep that bonus for 6 rounds after they can no longer hear him, more than enough time to mop up.

For combat Aerndel will basically tumble around to get into the best flanking position that he can get to maximize Rogans Sneak attack.

Jina's heart is pounding as she takes up position, ready to spring into action. This will be her first real test, and she's determined to do herself justice. She moves north with the others, knowing that she needs to be in the thickest part of the fighting, close to as many Lizards as possible, if the plan to silence them is going to work.


OOC: Jina will move to be a little north of L6, taking up a position that should be roughly central to the ensuing combat. She's hoping that a lone girl separated from the rest of her allies will prove a tempting enough target to get L6, 3 and 5 all to target her. She'll be applying 5 points of Combat Expertise for an AC of 26.

Khalia positions herself about 20' behind the melee types, just outside the circle of the silence spell on Jina. She has her crossbow out and ready, but she doesn't intend to fire -- or cast any spells -- unless the others are in trouble. It's too dark for ranged weapons to be truly effective, casting spells will likely be heard, and the idea of her in melee combat is laughable.

OOC: If I'm understanding things right, Bless affects any ally within a 50' burst of the caster, and they stay affected even if they later move out of the area. If that's the case, Khalia casts Bless just before Silence is cast.

As Jina made herself visible, Ari tossed his silent javelin where it quiet the majority of the ones not falling for her trick. Then... it was time to go to work.

Brother Donovan, human cleric

Leaving Khalia to enchant the young woman, Donovan focuses his attention on Ari's javelin. Harsh whispers fill the air and seem for a moment to gather around the weapon, then sound itself dies out. Donovan settles in for now, holding his position and thus muffling his loud armor until the fight begins. His fingers itch to be in the thick of things, but he knows the alarm must be dealt with before he moves.

[sblock=OOC]Donovan's going to hold moving until after folks are in place and they see if the silence gambit is working. Then he'll go a-charging in, probably trying to back up Jina since she's exposed herself so much for the sake of the plan.

FYI (and sorry for the timing on this), I'm out of town on vacation from tomorrow until next Tuesday. I'll have limited Internet access, so feel free to NPC as needed.[/sblock]

When Rogan signalled everyone on where their enemies laid... the group began to move.

Rogan advances through the underbrush and his stealthiness seems to keep him from being noticed. Khalia casts a spell of Bless on all of those within her area, which catches everyone except Rogan (who was too far forward). Aerndel (still disguised as the poison dusk lizardfolk) then advances further east of Rogan, hoping to coming back in from the north to help flank whomever the rogue attacks.

Khalia and Horatio both cast Silence quietly on Jina directly and on Ari's javelin. Then the two warriors begin to advance, with Jango following along within the bubble of silence. They move quickly, and Jina targets an area in the midst of the lizards where she wants to rush into, hopefully drawing their attention and inspiring the lizards to charge her and enter the soundless area. Ari keeps his eyes peeled and prepares to hurl his javelin at whomever doesn't take the bait. Khalia and Horatio then begin moving up themselves.

[sblock=Encounter A2 - Jungle Attack: Round 0]
Initiative Order:
23 Rogan
17 Jina
17 Horatio
16 Lizard L1
13 Khalia
12 Ari
12 Aern
6 Lizards L2-L6
5 Jango

Bless on party except Rogan: +1 to hit & saves vs. fear

**********

In the stillness of the night, the surprise attack commences.

Rogan slides right up to the unexpected lizard furthest east and prepares to skewer him.

Jina sprints forward into the center of all the lizardfolk, taking them all by surprise!

Horatio follows up from behind and puts himself in a good position to either cast a spell or move up into melee as needed.

The one poison dusk lizardman furthest north (L1) seems to be the most on guard, as even though Jina's arrival is silent, he sees the movement and immediately grabs at the whistle hanging around his neck and brings it to his lips.

Khalia follows Horatio with her crossbow out and puts herself in a position to act next round.

From further on back, Ari forgoes following the young elf girl up into melee, as his hexer hunter eyes spot the one lizardman reaching for his whistle (Spot check TN 10: [13]+0=13 *success*) The distance is long, but he doesn't need to hit his quarry... just get the javelin into the area. He throws the wooden shaft as hard as he can, and it whizzes towards the lizardman. Unfotunately the undergrowth masks him enough so that Ari doesn't connect with the creature, but rather the javelin embeds itself in the tree right next to him (just as good of a result all things considered.) (Javelin Attack: AC 17 + 2 undergrowth = 19 / [16] + 4 + 1 bless = 21 *hit* / Concealment 20% 1d5 [1] *miss*)

Aern rushes around and comes in to get behind the lizard than Rogan advanced on, and helps flank the creature.

The other five lizardfolk are taken completely unaware by the attack and stand in place dumbly... each holding a longbow in their hands.

Finally, having spent a moment placing himself in a Prophetic Favor... Jango finally joins the others closer to the battle.


[/sblock]

Please post actions for Round 1, remebering that each green square costs 2 movement points. Areas within the two circles are currently Silenced. Ari you are off map right, but are in range to charge straight at L6 this round (even with the impaired movement). If you decide to run instead, you can reach anyone this round but cannot attack obviously.

OOC: As I go after everyone else, inlcuding the lizards, I'll wait for round 1 result to post my action...