Adventure:-- LPNN (Manzanita Judging)

[two]

"How about this: We look for a place in a natural defilade - some kind of valley or knoll. Those of us without night vision set up in the defilade, and start a fire. Those of us who can see at night in the dark set up watch posts at a reasonable distance from the fire, for the purpose of setting an ambush for our ambushers. I can tell Huln to guard one of you, and his nose will warn you if somebody is about to sneak up on you unawares. Ideally, we would want a valley with one obvious entrance that could be watched and then cut off so that the attackers wouldn't get away. I'm willing to go looking for one now, but we've got to move quickly, because we don't know how soon the wererats will be back, and I need some support. The only downside of this plan is that those of us who are the bait can't easily get away either. Who is with me?"

{Five minutes pass while you discuss matters and make your plans. Vargo and Huln are going to venture into the darkness looking for a more defensible position. Is anyone else going along with them? Vargo, what source of light will you be using? (else your druid is wandering around in the dark blind). Will you be taking any precautions while scouting?

For those with low-light vision, the night, given the moon & star illumination, looks as dusk might to a human. You can see shapes, and outlines, but no details. You run no risk of walking into a tree limb or branch; but you also have great difficulty discerning the color or type of bark on a tree trunk from more than 5 feet away. For game purposes, it's 20% concealment.}

 

[Xael]

Vargo and Huln are going to venture into the darkness looking for a more defensible position. Is anyone else going along with them?

OOC: Well, Almayce is staying with majority of the group, but I kinda got the idea that all of us would go. And would you roll the amount Almayce healed himself and Rasereit with his Wand of Cure Light Wounds (post 156)? No sense in walking around half-dead. Almayce will follow-up that with three Cure Minor Wounds, but I need to know at whom to cast them. The bolt with Light spell should last for about ten minutes still, and then we might change to torches (though Almayce doesn't want to be the one to carry it).



IC: Almayce loads and readies his crossbow and goes to fetch his horse. "Sure, let's go. No sense in standing here."

 

[two]

OOC: Well, Almayce is staying with majority of the group, but I kinda got the idea that all of us would go. And would you roll the amount Almayce healed himself and Rasereit with his Wand of Cure Light Wounds (post 156)? No sense in walking around half-dead. Almayce will follow-up that with three Cure Minor Wounds, but I need to know at whom to cast them. The bolt with Light spell should last for about ten minutes still, and then we might change to torches (though Almayce doesn't want to be the one to carry it).

{He is healed 6 points. Outside of combat, if you want, you can make rolls yourself by going to: http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice.py

And using LPNN for the character name. All rolls made under LPNN can then be traced at: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py.

In combat, I have to do all the rolls or things will get bogged down to the point of, well, bogginess.

There is still an astral constuct attack to resolve. Resolving: "10". Just missing a WereRat.

That brings us up to the present point.

So. Discuss amongst yourselves, and let me know who is going on what I am terming a "scouting mission".}

 

[Xael]

{He is healed 6 points. Outside of combat, if you want, you can make rolls yourself by going to: http://invisiblecastle.com/rolldice.py

And using LPNN for the character name. All rolls made under LPNN can then be traced at: http://invisiblecastle.com/find.py.

OOC: Cool, Almayce is in full health again. Almayce also used 3 more charges to heal Rasereit 15 points, which should make his current HP total 23. I think. Almayce then convers all his three 0th level spells to Cure Minor Wounds and heals Ogrin 2 points and Rasereit 1 point.

HP Totals: Ogrin 15, Rasereit 24, Rest at full HP. Correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Bront]

OOC: Isn't Almayce 2nd level, so the cure spells all get +2 to them and the light spell lasts 20 minutes?

 

[Xael]

OOC: Isn't Almayce 2nd level, so the cure spells all get +2 to them and the light spell lasts 20 minutes?

OOC: Almayce has already used up all his normal spells in combat, and is using his wand of CLW, which is Caster Level 1. And we have spent at least 5 minutes talking after the combat.

 

[Bront]

Juliana says "Let's be moving quickly, the more time we waste, the more we loose our edge"

OOC: Doh, no problem then. Just making sure you weren't forgetting anything

 

[Vargo]

"Anybody got an extra torch or lantern? I don't want to go tripping over myself in the dark."

 

[Xael]

"I have torches and candles.", Almayce says while digging up a torch from his horse's saddlebags and offering it to Vargo. "It seems that I need to buy a lantern when I get the opportunity."

 

[two]

I’m in a good mood; an article of mine was published in the latest KODT.

The party packs up and prepares for a night scouting expedition. The “lighted” bolt is picked up; torches are passed around; flint is struck; flames appear. Everyone is going along, more-or-less as a group, searching for defensible positions – or at least, a position more defensible than an open clearing. As the party moves into the forest, the bright light of the torches outlines the slender limbs of the trees, casting swaying shadows behind the trunks as the party progresses.

About twenty feet into the forest, Huln’s nose discerns an odor; distant, yet eminently rat-like. He growls, and at the same time a barking noise is heard – a chittering, loud, stacco sound, about 100 feet away to the North East. It’s clearly one of the ratmen shouting; and a shout is heard in response, from the South West. After that, relative silence.

Well, except for the occasional sounds of ratmen moving, which somebody in your party hears every round or two, at the very limit of their hearing. The ratman, or you soon think ratMEN, are keeping pace with the party – a party that is not moving very quickly through the forest with horses and their adventuring gear.

As for a defensive location being nearby, a roll of “9,” modified by Vargo’s excellent outdoorsy skills, does indicate that there is a defensible position somewhere in the vicinity – perhaps. The ground is rising slightly; it seems possible that there is a hill of some size approaching perhaps 500 feet away. Possibly. Too far away to tell.

The trouble is, as the party makes its way forward through the forest, into an area of relatively thinner trees (marking the start of the rising towards the hill), two shots ring out. Rather, two twanging shots are heard – I think only gunpowder causes shots to “ring’. The WereRats, easily keeping out of visual range, and not finding it very difficult to keep ahead of the party’s probable more-or-less straight-line destination, have set up an ambush of sorts. Almayce (and the Wolf) sees the two shadowy ratmen peer around trees roughly 70 feet ahead of the party, crossbows at the ready. Before anyone can do much of anything, the shots are fired.

Everyone in the party has cover, due to the narrow trees between the ratmen and the party; however these trees also make charging in a straight line impossible.

The Ratmen are none too finicky. They pick the target who they think is most open at the moment, given the vagaries of cover. A d8 suffices to determine this.

1: Ogrin
2: Rasereit
3: Vargo
4: Wolf
5: Hallidor
6: Juliana
7: Zaeryl
8: Almayce

The Wolf and Juliana are attacked; the Wolf is missed completely and utterly, while Juliana is easily hit, being attacked by an invisible creature – doing “3” points of damage.

Ratman2 is heard to mutter something -- it sounds like "One." The other RatMan curses in return. They seem to be in a sporting mood.

The party may act in round 1 of this skirmish; both the Wolf and Almayce beat ratman2’s initiative, while ratman1 moves into the dark at the start of round1, having won the initiative battle. Let me know the general method for dealing with these sorts of skirmishes, which likely will be repeated many times barring an effective counter.