Scott's Bluff (one-shot DnD 3.5)

Welcome to Lobo Lurker's one-shot DnD 3.5 adventure!
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Players:


The Adventure Begins:
Fresh, fearless, & with hard-earned life experiences from adventures along the Lyssan coast and amongst the Sapphire Isles. Tales of your valor earned you free drinks and lodging at a reputable inn at the port-city of Caaniess. While you regaled the visitors with tales of your heroics & sipped on fine wines and ales, and aged caravan master listened. As the night drew to a close he approached you with a pair of job offers.

The first required you to become caravan guards for one of the numerous trade caravans making thier way to the last of the frontier garrisons; a no-man's land between three great countries called Scott's Bluff for the only sizable city in the entire region. Beyond Scott's Bluff only the great unknown awaits. A vast wilderness filled with savage humanoids, monstrous beasts, and half-wispered legends.

The second offer was from a Thracian lord requesting a meeting with you in the town proper. An address is included in the letter and you note that it is not address to your group specificaly. When asked the caravan master, Sanchez, shrugs and says that he was asked to look for capable adventurers from outside the Scott's Bluff area. Your group looked capable and word on the street was that your group was dependable and resourceful as well. As far as he's concerned, it's mission accomplished.

Two days later you found yourself escorting (along with a bunch of other freeriders and sell swords) Master Sanchez's caravan through the endless miles of marsh, forest, mountain, & badlands. The caravan travels slowly, and the duty is dull. Singers, whores, & dice games fill out the night-time activities for those not on watch over the trade goods that are so hard to come by on the frontier. Painted & striped Lyssan wagons full of scented soaps & candles, clothing of the latest design, trinkets and jewelry, paper products and ores are strung out in a double-line.

A single wagon, of Jakartan design follows the caravan, having signed on to be escorted to Scott's Bluff in Caaniess. The Jakartan driver & roustabouts are swathed in silks and tend to keep the lower part of thier faces covered. You can see extensive tattooing on thier forearms and heads when those parts of them are uncovered. They don't associate much with the rest of the caravaners and no one seems to know what they are transporting.

Besides group concensus, you all had your own personal reasons for accepting the meeting with this Thracian Lord. For some of you it's a homecoming or close enough to it. For others its a chance to visit the frontier & the no-man's land that it spawned.

Not three day's ride (5 days via caravan) from the city of Scott's Bluff and well into the frontier lands, you're awoken in the middle of the night to shouts of fire and swordplay. As you stumble out into the night, shrugging into your gear you see that the Jakartan wagon, conveniently located behind near your tent-quarters, is on fire.

Two savage looking men armed with crude, white spears seem to be gaurding the wagon, while the sounds of ransacking take place from within it. One of the men notes your presence and shouts out. A woman emerges and steps to the ground. Almost ludicrously curvy & volumptuous, with inky black hair that cascades to her waist, she gestures, almost lazily and says, in a strangely inflected melodic voice, "Interlopers! Bring me thier hearts, we will feast well this night."

MAP: Attached.

INITIATIVE:
Curvy Woman (CW): 17
Spear Thugs (R1 & 2): 17
Marcus (MC): 16
Axe Thugs (R3 & 4): 16
Arvad (Arv): 14
Shield Thugs (R5 & 6): 11
Scavatch (Scv): 12
Mardin (Mrd): 12
Threendle (3nd): 1

Arvad Greenbough Half-Elven Rogue/Fighter

Arvad shouts to the woman, "From here you appear to be the interloper. This is our party and you'll be going home hungry." He looses two arrows at the curvy woman.

OOC: His action will depend on wether the spear thugs or axe thugs close to melee range. If so, he will take a 5' step back before shooting. Should we roll our own attacks or do you prefer to do the rolls. Arvad's attacks are at +11 and +6 with an extra +1 within 30'. Damage would be 1d8+3 or +4 within 30'

Scavatch utters a feral snarl. "I was sleeping."
His hands blur as he feeds deadly obsidian-tipped arrows into his bow at a rapid pace.

OOC: Scav uses Manyshot to pepper R1 & R2 with arrows. One atack at each, 3 arrows per shot.
Ranged attack +12/+7, +1 enhancement, -6 three arrow Manyshot = +7/+2
Damage 1d6+3, +1 obsidian = 1d6+4 per arrow 20X3 critical

Turning to the threat of the thugs Marcus draws his Greatswrod from the sheath on his back It's a good thing thing that I require no sleep otherwise I would have been caught ill equiped to handle this situation

Raising his hand Marcus points his right index finger at the leader of the group, "Fiend! Today you will feel the righteous fury of the Arcane Shield"

Calling upon his magical heritage Marcus caused a bright azure bolt of electricty to leap from his pointed finger and strike the leader of the thugs, after striking the woman the lightning arcs amongst the small group.

OOC: Marcus uses his chain lightning spell-like ability. 6d6 points of damage arcs to 6 other targets and does half damage to these. Ref save for half

"C'mere so I can show you what's comin' to ya!" Mardin moves forward, ready to receive an attack. "You woke me up, now you pay the price!"

ooc: Moving forward and readying my standard action to hit them when they get to me. +14 to hit, 1d8+6 damage.

Threendle Goodhaven : Male Human Conjurer 7

Threendle waves his arms in mystical patterns while speaking the arcane words of power. Ten feet long rubbery black tentacles spring up under the woman and her guards, reaching to grab them.

OOC: Casting Black Tentacles: Grapple check +15; 7 round duration; each round held 1d6+4 bludgeoning damage; area of effect 20 feet radius centered on Curvy Woman.

The curvy woman crosses her arms, tosses her mane of silky black hair, and looks imperiously at you as her wild men rush fulfill her command.

The two wild men with white spears quickly quaff potions and begin growing before your eyes. Now roughly 10 feet tall, they move forward, the tips of thier white spears looking quite menacing.

Marcus draws his greatsword and meets the threat head on. Pointing a finger at the dark-haired woman he shouts, "Fiend! Today you will feel the righteous fury of the Arcane Shield!" A blue bolt of lightning Flashes from his outstretched hand to the woman and staggers her before splitting into smaller bolts and arcing to the men around her. As the smell of ozone fills the air, you see that many of the wild-men are burnt. Despite the initial surprise of the attack, the curvy woman seems to shrug off the attack and seems unaffected.
(OOC: most of the raiders took 6 damage and one, who failed his save, took 11).

The big men flanking the woman surge forward, sprinting toward you. The axes they wield are hard to see as they are dark colored, but the nearby fires reflect off of a polished surface.

Arvad shouts to the woman, "From here you appear to be the interloper. This is our party and you'll be going home hungry." Nocking his bow, he looses a pair of arrows at the curvy woman. The first buries itself in the side of the wagon behind her; And while the other strikes her solidly she calmly pulls out the arrow and examines the tip before tossing it away.

"Is that the best you can do?" she taunts him as the two savage men hiding behind white wooden shields come rushing from around the bonfires.

Scavatch utters a feral snarl and complains sourly. "I was sleeping." His hands blur as he fills the air with a rain of arrows at the two enlarged spearmen. This, unfortunately draws an attack of opportunity from the spearman nearest him, who stabs the tough little gnome. All six arrows land solidly, however, and the spearmen already burned by Marcus's lightning falls to the ground, his life's-blood seeping into the dirt around him.
(OOC: Scavatch takes 10 damage, but knocks R2 to -1 hit points and leaves R1 struggling to stand).

"C'mere so I can show you what's comin' to ya!" shouts Mardin as he moves forward, avoiding a hit. He readys himself to receive the axe men's charge. "You woke me up, now you pay the price!"
(OOC: You weren't clear on where you wanted to move so I just tried to position you to interrupt the charges of the axe guys against the bowmen & conjurer).

Threednle meanwhile, waves his arms in mystical patterns while speaking the arcane words of power as a field of thick, black, 10 foot long, rubbery tentacles erupts from the ground begin lashing out at all within reach. The tentacles wrap themselves around the curvy woman (who giggles and seems to be enjoying this). As they begin crushing her she manages to wiggle out of the tentacle's grasp.
(OOC: I actually did all the opposed grapple checks for most of the thugs before I realized that I'd forgotten to move them on the map, that's why I didn't provide a link to the rolls... didn't want to confuse you).

Arvad Half-Elven Rogue/Fighter

Seeing the woman shrug off the initial attacks Arvad curses, "Damn, spawn of the Abyss perhaps?" He selects a pair of cold iron arrows and sends them toward the woman.

OOC: Cold Iron Arrows this time. Again Arvad will take a 5' step as needed to avoid giving his foes at extra attack. Arvad's attacks are at +11 and +6 with an extra +1 within 30'. Damage would be 1d8+3 or +4 within 30'

ooc: I'm not sure why you list the Shield Thugs before Scavatch and Mardin, but I also didn't realize that I was going after all the baddies went. I did want to cut off the charges, though. Describing what I want to do is tough if I don't know what happens before me--if someone charges in my direction, I'll whack him. Otherwise, I'm going to charge someone myself. In the current set-up it'd be R1, but if he moves away or if R3 or R4 move closer, I'll go for one of them. My attack is +14/+9 1d8+6 x3, unless I'm charging in which case it's +16 to hit.

Threendle Goodhaven : Male Human Conjurer 7

Threendle steps back a bit before he waves his arms and speaks the arcane words of power. A large glowing cat appears in front of him and leaps at the nearest foe.

OOC: Move 5 feet step to B12, Summon Monster IV; location E11-E12-F11-F12, duration 7 rounds - Celestial Lion; Large Magical Beast; HD 5d8+20; Init +3; Spd 40 ft.; AC 15 (-1 size, +3 Dex, +3 natural); BAB +3; Grp +14; Atk Claw +9 melee (1d4+7), Full Atk 2 Claws +9 melee (1d4+7) and Bite +4 (1d8+3); SA Pounce, Improved grab, Rake 1d4+3, Smite evil 1/day claw +9 melee (1d4+12); SQ Darkvision 60 ft., Resistance 5 to acid, cold, and electricity, Damage reduction 5/magic, Spell resistance 10, Low-light vision, Scent; AL CG; SV Fort +8, Ref +7, Will +2; Str 25, Dex 17, Con 19, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 6.

Skills & Feats: Balance +7, Hide +3, Listen +5, Move Silently +11, Spot +5; Alertness, Run.