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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Goonalan" data-source="post: 5421767" data-attributes="member: 16069">HS1 The Slaying StoneSession 6 Part 2First step of the plan is get themselves over to the town gates, Boontah's empire, again we use the extended Skill Challenge- Keeping Hidden in Kiris, this time all goes smoothly, the PCs pick an ideal route (see map below), and choose discomfort over danger- wading down the shallows of the river below the bank.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/5293264857/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5086/5293264857_b71e9482eb.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>The cold route.They get to the ruined gate with little fuss, the weather they note is milder, the snow starting to melt, it's approx. midday and with a weak sun on their backs they scope out the gates.At first there's not a lot to be seen- some fires burning a little way in, the sounds of Goblins doing gobliny things, a gruff voice (obviously Boontah) barking orders every now and then.Rogar creeps forward a little and spots a few Goblins, one of them wearing only strips of leather, although wielding a battleaxe almost as big as he is- the Goblin looks- crazed, most odd. The Halfling sneaks back and a half-plan is hatched.A few moments later Drake (of all people) strides forward, a Goblin spots him, shouts a warning and then... Drake asks the creature for directions, and perhaps to trade!The Goblin is a little... confused, especially as the young Priest of Pelor rolls a 22 Diplomacy check. Which leaves the Goblin somewhat disarmed by the bedraggled Human- he shrugs forlornly- wishing he did have something to trade with the young man. Two more Goblins join their comrade, and wonder why they're not attacking the lone stranger, that's when Rogar strikes from hiding- his Steel Wind catches two of the creatures, and kills them both dead, while his Ironsoul Flurry (with Sling) does for the third.The entire manoeuvre is accomplished in silence, just the thunk of a sling bullet against Goblin cranium.Jack (Drake) comments in the chat window-'Wasn't aware you were an Assassin.' Simon (Rogar) answers-'Neither was I.'Having thinned the crowd a little the PCs do their best to move closer, but are spotted soon after, it kicks off.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/5293860828/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5045/5293860828_54ca01f205.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>Boontah and his maniac friends.As Bob (Maldor) commented in the chat window-'We found the bastard.'Hmm... Let's see how Maldor fares in this fight.The two sides clash, a few Minions get hosed and one of the Goblin Cutthroats (Tixter) is quickly Bloodied and on last legs, then Boontah steps up and...Dizzy Goblin Strike, spins around in a circle with Fhis lail, and makes contact with the Elven Avenger- Maldor, bloodying him- the attack also knocks Maldor back, Boontah swiftly follows up and stabs Maldor again, for 16 damage- and Maldor's on 0 HP and Dying.Welcome to Boontah, the PCs take a collective breath.Bob's (Maldor) screams in chat-'MEDIC!!!!!' And then he relaxes into unconsciousness.The PCs pile on the hurt, almost all of it aimed at Boontah, soon enough the creature is bloodied, but not before Resolute, Jeb and Rogar have taken one, some or many wounds each.Soon after Drake does the business and Maldor is up and about his business-'Thank you Drake... That was close!' Although still very bloodied, to make matters worse Jeb takes a good hit, with Combat Advantage, from a Cutthroat and is also very bloodied.Rogar takes down several more Minions, all of which have been rolling high and hitting in the previous rounds. Maldor meanwhile chops at Boontah, the Goblin Maniac Champion is now down to only one-third of his starting health, and with Drake's Astral Seal on Boontah, Maldor regains 9 HP and is back on the healthy side of things.'Thanks again Drake.'Bob (Maldor) adds to chat, and giggles a little.It's at this point that Unholy Jeff and Terrible Bobby (both Goblin Acolytes of Maglubiyet) wade in with their Maglubiyet's Fists Powers, double attacks, and several hits- at the end of which all of the PCs except Drake are Bloodied, several of them down to single digit HP.Oh and Terrible Bobby is leading a smaller group of Goblins in a pincer style movement, they attack the PCs from the rear, which catches all of the players off guard, and leaves their soft-underbelly (Neb & Drake) exposed.<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/40504969@N08/5293265527/" target="_blank"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5281/5293265527_dffc6d6d7a.jpg" alt="" class="fr-fic fr-dii fr-draggable " data-size="" style="" /></a>If you look closely you can see the PCs soft-underbelly, although... why would you want to?Which conjures the following exchange on chat-'TPK!'From Bob (Maldor), who's feeling a little fragile having been taken down once already, followed by-'Looks like it.' From Zoran (Jeb), the Serbs are running scared, and I'm grinning like a chimp.And then Boontah gets into the middle of four PCs, including Drake and goes again for Dizzy Goblin Strike, and misses all of them except Resolute, who takes a measly 4 HP damage. His secondary attack misses again. He Action Points and barely scratches Resolute again- bugger.Resolute retaliates, and in style, and Boontah is now looking a little crestfallen.Meanwhile Neb has taken a pounding and is down to just 4 HP, with Goblins closing in- Drake saves him with a Healing Word just in time, and Jeb jumps into the fight to defend the Wizard, who is also Immobilised and cannot get away.As Christer (Neb) put it in chat-'Heeeeealing!' Which is succinct and to the point.Boontah, now also subject to Drake's Exacting Utterance (Vulnerability 5 & 5 Temp HP to those that Hit him), is quickly taken down thanks to 15 HP damage from Rogar, 13 HP from Maldor and to finish him a Magic Missile from Neb for 12 HP, all of which benefited massively from Drake's Power.As Zoran (Jeb) wrote in chat-'Drake MVP!'The fight however is not over, Rogar is down to 1 HP remaining and in pursuit of a fleeing Terrible Bobby, all the other Goblins left standing are likewise beating feet.Bob in chat-'Damn it they're running... We need to cut them off.'Which is exactly what they do, barely missing in the next round or so, Terrible Bobby is the last to fall, the Goblin fleeing out of Gorizbadd and back in to the wild- again, it's Neb's Magic Missile that finishes the creature (as with Boontah- this will become a theme- keep reading).And it's over.And it was titanic to play at the time- real threat and menace, and only a Level 2 Encounter, actually I stole the encounter from Dungeon 177 'Eyes in the Forest', obviously I fiddled with it a bit- adjusted levels and made room for the MM3 damage, added a few more critters, and swapped out the Goblin Blackblades for Cutthroats, which I had MM3 adjusted stats for, unlike the Blackblades.Encounter Level 2- Goblin Thorns (Level 1 Minion Artillery) x4, Goblin Crazies (Level 2 Minion Brute) x4, Goblin Cutthroats (Level 1 Skirmisher) x2, Goblin Acolytes of Maglubiyet (Level 1 Controller) x2 & Boontah the Maniac (Level 2 Elite Brute). You really should check out a few of their powers, for some reason the Thorns target Reflex with their Basic Missile, the Goblin Crazies have Crazed Charge, which is just... crazy,Some notes-Excellent play at the start from the PCs to draw a few of the critters out, I want to encourage this sort of thing so fogged the bad guys a little bit so that the PCs could have their fun.The PCs were not prepared for Boontah, if he had connected more often then... as it was he was doing 25+ damage every turn (except those in which he just missed everything- high damage vs low to hit). Maldor was shocked when he took 27 damage in his second turn, he'd already taken a hit or two from a Minion and then Boontah strolled up and sat the Avenger down.I enjoyed the Acolytes of M, on one round, when the secondary group of Goblins arrived they hit with three of their four Fist of M attacks and everything teetered on the brink for a moment.Rogar got left alone with about three or four enemies at one point, although two of them were Minions, the next round or so they all hit and suddenly he was on 1 HP, priceless.Neb has one spell (I think) that's not a Burst or a Blast- Magic Missile. When he hits with the Area Effects he seems to hit hard, however he misses quite a lot too. He needs to get the Staff of Earthen Might fixed for his extra +1 To Hit and Damage.Remarkable how few criticals there have been so far, I remember two only from the PCs and maybe double that from the bad guys, although two of those were Minions, that's in 6 sessions of play.A drag out fight that kept the PCs guessing- excellent.The PCs quickly search the bodies of the fallen, and then dump them all in the river- Boontah has some +1 Scale Armour, which, after a visit to a good armourer (to re-size it) will become Resolute's.Other than that a few gold and another pair of Healing Potions, the PCs tidy up as best they can, check the area and generally take a short rest- they're all low on Healing Surges, Resolute has three, the rest one (mostly) or two.Thereafter they argue about what should come next, the group are certain that need to take an extended rest the split is between those that wish to return to the farm house to do so, and those that say the Kiris Library is the place. Obviously from where they are the farm house is much closer and entails almost no effort, the Library however, while probably safer, is a riskier journey.The discussion rumbles on, and I sit here like a plum listening to it, hoping sometime soon they'll come to a decision.But they don't...So I take matters into my own hands.“Ahem, give Stone here...”So speaketh the seven foot tall Orc with the huge axe- Krayd, the Butcher.The PCs turn around to see four Severed Eye Orcs facing them, a little over thirty feet away, the creatures are huge (actually medium sized) but each is at least six and a half feet tall and 200 lbs of corded muscle. The PCs are lost for words, and still very short on Healing Surges. This will be their eighth combat encounter today.Next Time- More Violence.</blockquote>

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