The Blind Watchers of the Sylvan Shard

Perhaps its best that Rinya can't be heard, as she starts shouting obsenities at the poison-lobbing "gnome," in preperation for her attack.

Init=1d20+3=18

Khairi will draw his scimitars and move forward as much as possible using roots for cover.

Saithnar's Init (1d20+1=7)

Lucien steadies the grip on his weapons when he sees the commotion in front of him.

Lucien Initiative (1d20+6=21)

[sblock=OOC: ]Wait, why is it that I made my spot yet didn't get to react?
Obviously the situation as stated makes it impossible to decide what Richard would have done without metagaming, so I guess he'll just be poisoned. again. huzzah. (Failed Fort ST DC 16 8)[/sblock]Richard will charge the offending baddie, bull rushing him if his initiative allows it. Initiative 12, double move=50'

OOC: with such a low initiative relative to other fighter types, Richard may have to belay the charge and simply seek to close with the enemy. Given the small area that the enemy occupies, if the tunnel-mouth becomes clogged, Richard will instead guard the flanks, casting a wary eye to each side . . . btw... who has what for light sources available right now, what is the light situation in the room.

[sblock=Big OOC: ]First things first: I made a mistake about the flask, it's a flask of acid not poison. This means that Richard does not need to make a fortitude save, but he does take 1 point of acid damage.

The spot check was to notice Nhairi's mouth moving, not to notice the gnome creature (which was out of sight).

Actually, though, now that you mention it, Richard and Saithnar can both see the creature as well as Rinya can. I've rolled surprise round initiatives (belatedly) for them. Here's the adjusted surprise round initiative board:

(Rinya's and the "gnome"'s initiatives I rolled at home (with real dice), so I don't have the IC record, but they both rolled 20's and both had a 16 (+3) Dexterity (go figure...). Rinya won the tiebreaker roll.)

Surprise Round:
Rinya (23)
"Gnome" (23)
Richard (22)
Saithnar (4)

This means that Richard and Saithnar both get to react immediately to the flask of acid, subject to surprise round limitations.[/sblock]

*Rewinding time for just a moment, back to the surprise round*

Richard feels the acid burn as it soaks into his skin. Like the roots at Rinya's feet, Richard's own skin turns black and emits that awful odor. (1 damage to Richard)

Richard and Saithnar may now make one standard action in the surprise round.

Saithnar- M Elan Psion(Telepath) 3 (AC:15, HP:16/16, PP:16/17)

Saithnar quickly snaps out of his reverie as things start to happen around the party. He immediately manifests his inertial armor to strengthen his defenses. With a thought, the silvery glow spreads around his body starting from his head and running like water down his chest and arms till it finally encases his legs and feet as well.

[sblock=OOC]Surprise round: Spend 1 PP to manifest Inertial armor and raise his AC from 11 to 15.[/sblock]

Richard, sword drawn and shield set, mouths a few choice words into the aura of silence... he leaps the low vegetation on his way to a Charge at the little creep that just singed his leathers, pock-marked his (somewhat) shiny breastplate and burned him! His voice suddenly breaks through as his pumping legs carry him out of the silence - a howling attack cry that sounds over-loud to his own ears.

[sblock=OOC: Combat questions]So, reading the description of Charge, I'm not so sure Richard can pull it off with the little leaping to clear the veggies... I read the description of forest that you linked to, and don't see anything about movement restrictions... assuming that the veggies don't restrict movement I guess the biggest question is, are these 5' or 10' squares?
SO, since we have multiple options here, I'm gonna run through some numbers to try to cover the bases and not make you do extra work.
First, jic, a jump skill check to clear the undergrowth: Natural 20! (-3 adjusted to 17 )
Next an Attack Roll, jic he gets there: ok, let me just say that when you get a sucky roll, it is just gonna be sucky. I originally rolled a 2+7 = 9 and groaned, but then I remembered the super duper +2 you get from Charging, so I tried to sneak another roll in there... (actually I fully disclosed it was a second roll... *sigh*) and got ... another 2.
With a +9 this time for a whoopdidoo 11
Any other rolls I need to do?[/sblock]

Surprise Round:

[sblock=OOC: ]The squares are 5'.

That jump check you rolled is indeed necessary: In the SRD's forest section, in the undergrowth subsection, it says "A space covered with light undergrowth costs 2 squares of movement to move into, and it provides concealment." Even though the roots are on a diagonal... I'll give you the 5' jump with DC 10 for not getting a running start.

Charging as a standard action means that Richard can only move his speed (25'). Even with jumping the roots, he still can't make it to K2. Richard has 5 squares of movement. 1 is used for the standing jump diagonal, then 2 for the next diagonal, then 1 for the diagonal move to J3, leaving 1 leftover. That 1 is not enough to get him across the diagonal into K2 (even if I fudge the rule on not taking diagonals around corners because K3 isn't quite a "corner")

The closest Richard can get is J2.

Oh, hang the rules, it's so close it shouldn't even matter. Richard charges the gnome in the surprise round and misses. [/sblock]
Richard surges forward at the acid-flinging "gnome", but the creature easily side steps his large greatsword bastard sword.

Saithnar activates his inertial armor.


Round 1:
Initiative:
Tentacle Gnome
Lucien Rayes
Rinya Starflower
Khairi Bahedar
Tumna Lakeside
Richard Rawen
Thallirae
...

(I went ahead and rolled inititative for Khairi and Tumna.)

The creature next to Richard looks up at the big man with its unnerving glowing green eyes. Shooting out from its back, four long, thick fungus-root tentacles lash out at Richard. Swishing and slapping, Richard dodges the first three. The last one thuds thickly on his armor, slithering grotesquely across the metal surface and leaving behind a dark violet substance. (No hits on Richard)

Everybody but Saithnar, go ahead. Getting to the Tentacle Gnome for melee is going to require a DC 25 tumble check since Richard is occupying the only adjacent square on this side.

OOC: So why can't Saithnar do anything yet?