The Romance of the River Kingdoms

Mystal darts across the courtyard, jumps, rolls beneath the slashing claws of the beast and throws his flask of acid, but the wailing and spitting heads along its flanks cause him to rush his throw and the acid vial sails right over the headhanger and lands the other side, even as Annika's fiery feather bursts upon one the hanging heads and silences it. Some of the acid, however, still splashes its rubbery flanks.

The headhanger retaliates against Three Flower's assault on it with a flurry of clashing claws. The paladin fends off one claw with his shield but the second slashes him across the shoulder. Blood flows.

Tiger-Shakou stalks alongside the culvert until she is level with the headhanger. Her tail twitching, she readies herself.

The Paper Lantern gang, waiting in the doorway, are similarly poised for action.

[sblock=ooc]
Annika: magic missile 2d4+2=9
Shakou: move into position. You can do a full attack combo on it next round, if you like. I'm all for characters jumping on larger opponents. Plus you have a flank with Mystal.
Headhanger: 2 claws attack on Three Flowers. One misses, one hits for 14 damage.

Next round:
Mystal Marr: Tumble to avoid AoO 9+12=21, success. Ranged splash weapon 1+6=7, miss. Miss direction 10 ft. straight ahead, so causes 1 splash damage to HH. I let you take the full move combo in one round to compensate for gypping you last time, although I do think that the multiple rounds to jump rule is a bit silly.

Growling Ape (plus earth spirit)
Three Flowers
Annika
Shakou
Headhanger
[/sblock]

AC 15 (T15, FF13), HP 12/39, F +5,R+3,W+6 (Spells: 0:5/5, 1:2/4, 2:3/3)
Ape Form (AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13)

The air around Ape crackles as he summons another lightning to his hands. Meanwhile the headless earth spirit continuous his attack against the unnatural thing.

[sblock=ooc]
cast produce lightning and the elemental attacks.

--------
Spells (CL: 3, DC: 13+spell level)
5/Day Level 0: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic
4/Day Level 1: Produce Lightning, Shillelagh, Summon Nature's Ally I.
3/Day Level 2: Summon Nature's Ally II

Baboon Traits:
AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13
Fort: +6
Refl: +5
Will: +6
Move: 40', cimb 40'
Init: +4
Listen/Spot: +9
[/sblock]

Shakou snarls to herself as her muscles tense, charging forward before leaping at the creature, ready to tear it apart!

[sblock=OOC]
Shakou will charge the headhanger, performing a full attack and attempting to grapple after the successful bite, if possible. Essentially, she's going for the throat for a stereotypical big cat takedown. However, I'm not sure this thing actually has a throat, but you get the point.[/sblock]

Growling Ape holds out his hands and lightning lances down from the heavens to nestle in his palms, sparking and crackling. Meanwhile his earth spirit slams its stony fists into the flanks of the headhanger. Two more of the shrieking heads fall silent.

[sblock=ooc]
Elemental attack 11+6=17, damage 1d6+5=11.

Will resolve Shakou's attack once I have actions for Three Flowers and Annika.
[/sblock]

Annika hesitates, her magic expended...then arrives at a decision. She seems to ripple somewhat, as if she were made of cloth and a wind had passed across her...then she collapses into her clothing, which settles to the ground. A moment later a russet and orange colored bird about the size and shape of an eagle struggles free of the oversized neck hole and launches itself skyward with a raptor's cry!

(Shapechanging and moving 15' up, 15' away from the beastie)

Three Flowers strikes with poise and grace, but a blow that looks as if it would be a telling strike is truned aside on the headhanger's rugged hide, bringing a drip of ichor forth from a tiny wound.

Shakou-tiger bolts across the courtyard and leaps onto the back of the creature. Although it has no neck, as such, it has a pushed-in mass that marks a front, of sorts. Her teeth clamp into its rubbery flesh, and her forepaws struggle for purchase. Her hind claws rip and tear at the creature, dragging another head loose. It bounces to the courtyard and falls silent. Even so, the yammer of the remaining heads is painful to Shakou's senstive feline hearing.

The headhanger lashes out with its almost crab-like claws. One crushes the earth spirit to dust. The other lashes out at Three Flowers. The young paladin tries to block with his shield but is too slow. The claw clamps onto his head. Three Flowers is saved by his helmet which is crushed out of shape, but the assault is too much for him and he collapses to the courtyard, blood trickling from one nostril.

Perhaps inspired by this, the remaining Paper Lantern Gang members rush from their ruined doorway, but they scatter, running away down the nearby streets and alleys - three groups of two each. You recognise three of them as survivors of your previous fight, the other three are hooded in heavy cloaks.

[sblock=ooc]
Three Flowers: scimitar attack 20+5=25, hit. Crit confirm 2+5=7. Damage 1d6+2=3

Annika: transform

Shakou: bite attack 15+4=19, damage 1d6+3=5 plus now grappled.
Claw #1 7+0=7, miss.
Claw #2 2+0=2, miss
Rake #1 18+0=18, 1d3+1 damage= 2
Rake #2 17+0=17, 1d3+1 damage= 3
Since the headhanger has all-round vision it cannot be flanked, thus no sneak attack I'm afraid. But you are hanging onto its back.
Will save against noise of heads 3+1=4, fail. Shakou at -2 for attack, saves and skills.

Headhanger: Claw #1 attack on earth elemental, hits for 13 damage (elemental has 11 hit points and is thus destroyed).
Claw #2 attack on Three Flowers hits for antoher 13 damage. My reckoing is that this puts Three Flowers at -1 hp.

Three groups of 2 thugs apiece do double move towards the nearest three alleyways on their side of the courtyard.

Next initiative cycle:
Mystal Marr
Growling Ape
(Three Flowers): action - bleed.
Annika
Shakou

Edit: added map. There's no particular order attached to the numerical value of the bad guys, but assume the each odd number is one you've seen before, and even numbers are hooded.
[/sblock]

AC 15 (T15, FF13), HP 12/39, F +5,R+3,W+6 (Spells: 0:5/5, 1:2/4, 2:3/3)
Ape Form (AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13)

Growing furious and desperate as the others fall, Ape channes the first lightning at the creature.

[sblock=ooc]
throw lightning.
1d20+5 ranged touch. 1d6+3 electricity damage.

--------
Spells (CL: 3, DC: 13+spell level)
5/Day Level 0: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic
4/Day Level 1: Produce Lightning, Shillelagh, Summon Nature's Ally I.
3/Day Level 2: Summon Nature's Ally II

Baboon Traits:
AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13
Fort: +6
Refl: +5
Will: +6
Move: 40', cimb 40'
Init: +4
Listen/Spot: +9
[/sblock]

Ape casts a bolt of lightning at the headhanger. It convulses as the bolt hits it and then, ever so slowly, its legs buckle beneath it and in drops to the floor. The heads let out a collective groan of dismay and then fall silent, their eyes rolling upwards.

Once again,a post battle lull falls across the courtyard. Three Flowers lies unconscious and badly wounded, the rest of the group are battered almost to their limits, spells almost spent, but finally the gang seems to have been cleared out, their undead and their secret weapon defeated, their lair seems abandoned.

From her vantage point in the sky, Annika can see the three groups as they head into the streets of Cormondal.

Through the doors of the gnag's lair, the Old Tamsa Building, Mystal and Shakou can see an inner courtyard, in a disarray of rubbish and debris, but amongst it a man crucified on an X-shaped frame, alive or dead you can't tell.

[sblock=ooc]
Growling Ape lighting attack 16+5-21 touch attck, hits for 1d6+3=7 damage. Just enough to put this thing down.
[/sblock]

AC 15 (T15, FF13), HP 12/39, F +5,R+3,W+6 (Spells: 0:2/5, 1:2/4, 2:3/3)
Ape Form (AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13)

If he sees any gang members, Ape throws the rest lightnings at them. Calming down, he realizes the unmoving shape of Three Flowers. He moves quickly to him, green healing energies emanating from his hands: "Your time hasn't come, warrior!"

[sblock=ooc]
throw lightnings. (this is just fluff. Please don't penalize 3F for the time it takes.
Move to 3F and use Cure minor wounds twice to wake him up.

--------
Spells (CL: 3, DC: 13+spell level)
5/Day Level 0: Cure Minor Wounds, Detect Magic, Light, Purify Food and Drink, Read Magic
4/Day Level 1: Produce Lightning, Shillelagh, Summon Nature's Ally I.
3/Day Level 2: Summon Nature's Ally II

Baboon Traits:
AC: 17, Touch: 17, Flat Footed: 13
Fort: +6
Refl: +5
Will: +6
Move: 40', cimb 40'
Init: +4
Listen/Spot: +9
[/sblock]

[sblock=OOC]
Can Shakou see any of the escaping gang members? If so, are any within her charging range? Also, is she still suffering the headhanger's penalty?[/sblock]