Into the New World, Chapter 1: Amongst the Verdant Towers

[Zurai]

[sblock=OOC]I'm going to run the round until the things' actions, then take actions from the party. That way you're all acting at the same time instead of being split. People after the things that have already submitted an action can re-think their action based on the updated sitrep. By the way, you all are welcome to roll your own attack and damage rolls if you want. I'm only enforcing passive rolls on my end (stuff like Knowledge, Sense Motive, Spot, Listen, etc).[/sblock][sblock=Tactical Map, round 2.5]

Key:

Alistia

Artemisia

Enko

Growl

Ryon[/sblock]

Hearing a spine-chilling scream from behind her, Cleyra whirls and fires an arrow at the rapidly approaching figure. Her attack misses wildly (rolled a natural 1, auto-miss), but it buys her time to put more distance between herself and the scuttling creature; the thing which had been headed for her instead veers to its right and leaps at Artemisia, spoiling her own attack but inflicting no real damage (Artemisia's attack misses, thing 3's attack hits Artemisia for 2 vitality damage).

Enko closes his eyes and draws energy from the spirit world, sealing his wound shut. His opponent tries to stab him while Enko's eyes are closed, but Growl keeps it pinned to the ground as his jaws clamp shut around the thing's neck, making its eyes glaze over from the pain and its knife drop from its grasp (Enko casts cure minor wounds; thing 1 takes AOO but misses due to prone penalty. Thing 1 stands up; Growl takes AOO and hits for 4 wound damage, stunning it; Enko takes AOO and hits for 3 wound damage).

Erin reaches out with an eldritch grasp and takes hold of one of the things' knife, but the dark spirit refuses to let go, and the magic of Erin's spell propels it unerringly towards her. Her eyes widen as she sees the creature flying at her, knife first, and barely manages to sidestep in time; the knife slices through the side of her dress (Erin casts greater mage hand; thing 2 succeeds will save. Thing 2 charges Erin, hits for 1 vitality damage).

The final creature gibbers in unholy glee and charges at Thane, ducking under branches and leaping over small shrubs. Thane spins to meet it, barely deflecting its vicious knife slash with his bow (Thing 4 charges Thane, hits for 3 vitality damage).

[sblock=Combat Status]
Thing 1: sorely pressed, prone, stunned, fatigued
Thing 2: confident in victory
Thing 3: confident in victory
Thing 4: confident in victory

Cleyra: 9/9 12/12
Erin: 5/6 14/14
Enko: 10/10 14/14
Artemisia: confident in victory
Alistia: 5/5 12/12
Ryon: 10/10 14/14
Growl: 16/16 15/15
Thane: 6/9 12/12[/sblock]

 

[WarShrike]

Ok, not too sure what my options are so here goes.

Realizing the risk to his comapanions if he tries to shoot the things now, he drops his bow, draws the shortsword and either:

A: Charges Thing #3: Charging Thing #3 (1d20+3+2=21, 1d6+2=6)

Or if thats too many actions,

B: Moves 30' NW. That should take him 4 squares, 2 squares SE of Artemisia.

 

[Dire Lemming]

"W-wow... Good job... Growl... Can you... Just hold him there?" Enko takes a moment to give the creature an incredulous glance as he bends to grab it's knife. "Hey, now..." he says to it. "We don't mean any harm... If you'll just stop attacking us."

OOC: If I get any more AoOs on the creature they'll be unarmed attacks. Kicks, or whatever. I'm trying to avoid killing it.

 

[Nac Mac Feegle]

Thane lets out a grunt as the creature strikes him, and moves backwards, loping sideways away from the creature before him and nocking an arrow to fire at it. All the while he murmurs quietly under his breath, whether in prayer to the spirits or something else.

[sblock=OOC]Moving away from the creature to the spot on the same row as the fire at the far right of the inner circle (provoking an AoO), and firing an arrow with extra skirmish damage.

Into the New World Attack Roll (Post 334) (1d20+3=16)
Into the New World Damage Roll (Post 334) (1d8+1d6=8)[/sblock]

 

[Lorthanoth]

"Now you leave her alone!" screams Alistia almost hysterically, as she runs towards the thing attacking Erin and swings wildly at it with her "fighting stick".

[sblock=OOC]move: Charge thing 2, attack Attack (1d20 3=10)[/sblock]

 

[Masquerade]

Leaving her target in capable hands, Cleyra realigns herself, this time setting her sights on Thane's assailant. With another arrow and another pull of the bowstring, she fires. That last shot was just nervousness. I'm in control now.

[sblock=ooc]Move Action: Move within point blank shot range (if necessary)
Standard Action: Fire at thing 4[/sblock]

 

[Zurai]

[sblock=Enko]

Enko takes a moment to give the creature an incredulous glance as he bends to grab it's knife.

Now that you can examine it a little more closely, the knife appears to be made of sharpened bone. You can't be sure until you can give it a more thorough examination, but it looks like a bone from a small child or baby.

[/sblock]

 

[Zurai]

DM's Note: I'm NPCing Erin for this round of combat. I know you're online, Shayuri, but as you'll quickly see it's not going to matter much anyway.

The creature menacing Erin lands ungracefully, but somersaults to its feet quickly enough to avoid Alistia's wild swings with her fighting stick (Attack misses). Erin backpedals away from the creature before it has a chance to attack her again, however (5' step away from the thing).

Ignoring Enko's entreaties to not hurt the little menace in front of him, Growl bites hard at the back of its neck, and an audible crunch reverberates around the camp, accompanied by a shriek cut mercifully short (Attack hits for 4 wound damage; thing fails fort save and begins dying).

Meanwhile, Thane nimbly disengages from the dark spirit attacking him and fires an arrow on the run, nailing the thing through its shoulder and spinning it around in a circle, causing Cleyra's arrow to miss cleanly (Thane moves; thing takes AOO and misses. Thane hits for 8 damage; thing takes wound damage but passes its fort save to avoid being stunned. Cleyra rolls another natural 1 to attack, automatically missing).

Ryon, realizing his companions are at risk, draws his new knife and charges the monster trying vainly to gut Artemisia. The little creature doesn't even notice him coming, so intently is it attacking the huntress, and Ryon's knife impales it from behind. Immediately, it lets out an ear-splitting wail of pure agony and screams, "Szas Fhel! Szas FHEL!" (Ryon's charge hits for 12 damage due to creature weakness. Thing passes fort save to avoid being stunned, barely). All three remaining creatures turn and begin to run away, gibbering, "Szas Fhel!" to themselves over and over (Things 2, 3, and 4 execute Withdraw actions on their turns, provoking no AoOs).

As soon as the creatures pass the edge of the illumination provided by the firelight, the darkness seems to swallow them, and you can no longer hear their gibbering. Indeed, one of them was cut off mid-word; it's as if they vanished into thin air. Artemisia, however, doesn't seem to be affected as she nocks an arrow and lets loose. A moment later, one of the things reappears about twenty feet from where it disappeared - but with Artemisia's arrow sticking out from its back. It wails and shudders, then falls still.
[sblock=Ryon]You noticed that the wound you caused with the odd knife acted as if it was caused instead by a burning brand; the flesh blackened and sizzled, and a trail of smoke emitted from the wound for the entire time the blade was in contact with the thing's flesh.[/sblock][sblock=Combat Status, End Of Combat]
Thing 1: stable but unconscious
Thing 2: fleeing
Thing 3: disabled
Thing 4: fleeing, fatigued

Cleyra: 9/9 12/12
Erin: 5/6 14/14
Enko: 10/10 14/14
Artemisia: victorious
Alistia: 5/5 12/12
Ryon: 10/10 14/14
Growl: 16/16 15/15
Thane: 6/9 12/12[/sblock][sblock=Experience]100 xp each for defeating 4 CR 1/2 creatures.[/sblock][sblock=Side Note OOC]I had set 4 different "win conditions" for this fight. You all managed to achieve all 4 on the same round
For the record, the conditions were: kill one thing, drop two things to less than 1/2 wound points, deal wound damage to 3 things, or score a hit with the steel shortsword.[/sblock]

 

[WarShrike]

Ryon stares at his blade in shock. "It scorched it's flesh." Regaining his senses, he runs over to Thing #3 and examines the body. "This ones still breathing. It appears his wounds are not fatal. Do you still want to talk to it Enko, or shall i end it?"

 

[Dire Lemming]

Enko quickly holds up a hand to Thane. "Wait, don't kill it! And call Growl off, quick! We shouldn't cause any more damage than necessary. Whatever these spirits are, they must have had a reason for attacking us. We should try to find out what it is, and maybe we can avoid further conflict with them."

[sblock=OOC]Assuming no one kills them, Enko will make sure that both the injured creatures remain alive. Using magic if necessary.[/sblock]