Combat!
Selua nocks an arrow to her bow and quickly fires off a shot, but misses the gnoll in her haste.
Abrielle also raises her bow and launches an arrow at the gnoll, but her shot is clumsy and falls short.
Abde'ragman prepares his crossbow, looking for a clear shot.
Evanar rushes over to Fayne, trying to join in the fight before anyone can be cut down by the gnoll.
The gnoll bounds quickly through the foliage to reach Fayne, howling as it goes, but has to pull up short and hop back as Fayne swings his polearm at the approaching beastie. The gnoll snarls like a dog and springs closer while the polearm swishes past, raising his well-worn battleaxe and baring fangs at Fayne.
Storn hustles over towards the battle scene, but his stumpy dwarven legs don't carry him very far yet.
Tarven raises his crossbow and fires off a bolt, then dashes forward, dropping the crossbow and unsheathing his longsword.
[sblock=Round 1]Round 1 Initiatives:
22 Merrick
19 Fayne
17 Selua
15 Abrielle
15 Abde'ragman
11 Evanar
6 Gnoll Sentry
6 Storn
4 Tarven
Fayne readies himself to strike.
Selua gets out her bow and shoots, but misses.
Abrielle fires her bow and also misses.
Abde'ragman retrieves his crossbow and loads a bolt.
Evanar moves closer to the forward scouts.
The gnoll closes in on Fayne. Fayne swings his polearm but misses.
Storn moves closer like Evanar.
Tarven fires a shot, drops his crossbow, and moves 30 feet closer while drawing his sword. Rolled a 7 for his attack roll, miss.[/sblock]
Merrick drops his crossbow and draws his sword, dashing around Fayne and the gnoll to get behind the beastie. However, he sees it about to strike Fayne, so he moves in a little early to take a swipe at it, coming up short as the gnoll jukes left to dodge.
Those closest to the gnoll sentry can hear movement from the clearing up ahead, but aren't sure what it is yet.
[sblock=Round 2 Begins]Round 2 Initiatives:
22 Merrick
17 Selua
15 Abrielle
15 Abde'ragman
11 Evanar
6 Gnoll Sentry
6 Fayne
6 Storn
4 Tarven
Merrick drops crossbow as a free action, moves 30 feet around while drawing longsword, and attacks for 8 to hit, missing. Yeesh.
Everyone, please post your actions for round 2. The gnoll will act just before Fayne (his readied action occured at roughly the end of its movement, so he'll act just barely after it now, like Storn). I'll post the gnoll's, Storn's, and Tarven's actions after seeing the rest of the group's actions.
The terrain does not slow you enough to matter in combat, but it is rough enough that you cannot charge or run through the light undergrowth.
The map, after Merrick's action.....
* X X * X X X X X X * X X X * X X X X * X X * X X X X * C
X * X X X X X * X X X X * X X X X * X X X X X X X * X X C
X X X X * X X S * X X s X M * X X X X X * X X X X X X X C
m X A X X X * X X a X F 1 X X X X * X X X X X * X X X * C
X * X X * X X X * X X T E * X X * X X * X * X X X X X X C
X X X X X X * X X X X * X X X X X X * X X X X X * X X X C
* X X * X X X X * X X X X * X X X X X X * X X * X X X * C
X X * X X X * X X * X X X X * X * X X X X * X X X * X * C
A = Abde'ragman, a = Abrielle, E = Evanar, F = Fayne, M = Merrick, m = mule, S = Selua, s = Storn, T = Tarven, 1 = gnoll, C = empty 5-foot space of grassy clearing, X = empty 5-foot space of light undergrowth, * = tree (half cover, effectively heavy undergrowth for moving through the space)[/sblock]
