Greenfield
Adventurer
Post Mortem on this: I ran the battle this past weekend. I altered the warriors, making them swordsmen more than archers, as advised here.
The party met the bad guys on the road, and had an amicable meeting. Shared lunch and hospitality, and traded tales about what they had done, and what they were out there to do.
Bad guys said they were trailing an army that had marched through their homelands. They were scouting, so they could warn people if it was marching back.
All parted on friendly terms, though some NPCs warned the PCs that the bad guys were bad guys, and that there actually was a war of sorts going on.
Two nights later my bad guys locate the PC camp. PCs knew they were being followed by someone, but had made no real effort to find out who.
PCs have two people on watch at a time. First watch has the Rogue and the Wizard/Cleric. Enemy Rogue sneaks up and causes a disturbance outside the camp, sounds like someone kicking a stone loose on the hillside. He's trying to draw someone out of the camp so he can take their place and sneak in. (Disguise Self is a nasty spell when abused right).
The party Rogue investigated. Being a Halfling, she was the only member of the party the guy couldn't impersonate.
She checked out the area where the enemy had thrown his pebble, but didn't check anyplace else, so she didn't spot the guy. (His Hide was damned good.)
So he waited until shift change. PC's rolled, but nobody saw or heard him.
At shift change she tells the Ranger what she heard, so he goes to check the area.
Moments later the "Ranger" walks into the camp and right up to the Fighter/Rogue. Sneak attack for 25 points, and the fight is on. Enemies charge the camp
Barbarian/Mage decides to go into battle with no armor, no shield, just a Bastard sword and a bad attitude. Didn't cast Mage Armor either. Then he Raged. Talk about a glass cannon! I think he presumed that I'd pull punches.
Wizard ended up using precious charges from the lightning wand at a key moment to turn the tide of the battle. The Cleric went down, the big fighter went down, the Barbarian went down of course. The Rogue stayed up, as did the Wizard. The Ranger joined in with his bow, keeping out of the thick of combat.
The enemy Rogue/Assassin found himself a lot more front and center than he was really comfortable with, and after his hit points fell to about 25% he decided it was time to leave. He figured he'd done his thing. He was tempted to use his Spring Attack technique on the way out, but the Ranger's concentrated fire convinced him that it was a bad time to delay his escape.
The Adept got low on hit points and tried to use Invisibility to escape. Almost made t too. The big fighter (having been brought back into the battle through a Cure Light wand) made a lucky guess as to where he was and managed to hit him. (1 in 3 chance to pick the right square, after being directed by someone else, then beat the 50/50 miss chance, and then rolled well. I had to give it to him.
The battle leader and two of the Warriors escaped, along with their Rogue. The Adept is alive, as is one of the Warriors, taken prisoner.
The party nearly didn't make it. They're pretty badly pulped at the moment.
I think they'll be surprised when the remaining force tries again, to free their companions. They have some healing potions, and given a day to prepare and heal, they'll try again.
The party *really* hates that Rogue/Assassin.
The party met the bad guys on the road, and had an amicable meeting. Shared lunch and hospitality, and traded tales about what they had done, and what they were out there to do.
Bad guys said they were trailing an army that had marched through their homelands. They were scouting, so they could warn people if it was marching back.
All parted on friendly terms, though some NPCs warned the PCs that the bad guys were bad guys, and that there actually was a war of sorts going on.
Two nights later my bad guys locate the PC camp. PCs knew they were being followed by someone, but had made no real effort to find out who.
PCs have two people on watch at a time. First watch has the Rogue and the Wizard/Cleric. Enemy Rogue sneaks up and causes a disturbance outside the camp, sounds like someone kicking a stone loose on the hillside. He's trying to draw someone out of the camp so he can take their place and sneak in. (Disguise Self is a nasty spell when abused right).
The party Rogue investigated. Being a Halfling, she was the only member of the party the guy couldn't impersonate.
She checked out the area where the enemy had thrown his pebble, but didn't check anyplace else, so she didn't spot the guy. (His Hide was damned good.)
So he waited until shift change. PC's rolled, but nobody saw or heard him.
At shift change she tells the Ranger what she heard, so he goes to check the area.
Moments later the "Ranger" walks into the camp and right up to the Fighter/Rogue. Sneak attack for 25 points, and the fight is on. Enemies charge the camp
Barbarian/Mage decides to go into battle with no armor, no shield, just a Bastard sword and a bad attitude. Didn't cast Mage Armor either. Then he Raged. Talk about a glass cannon! I think he presumed that I'd pull punches.
Wizard ended up using precious charges from the lightning wand at a key moment to turn the tide of the battle. The Cleric went down, the big fighter went down, the Barbarian went down of course. The Rogue stayed up, as did the Wizard. The Ranger joined in with his bow, keeping out of the thick of combat.
The enemy Rogue/Assassin found himself a lot more front and center than he was really comfortable with, and after his hit points fell to about 25% he decided it was time to leave. He figured he'd done his thing. He was tempted to use his Spring Attack technique on the way out, but the Ranger's concentrated fire convinced him that it was a bad time to delay his escape.
The Adept got low on hit points and tried to use Invisibility to escape. Almost made t too. The big fighter (having been brought back into the battle through a Cure Light wand) made a lucky guess as to where he was and managed to hit him. (1 in 3 chance to pick the right square, after being directed by someone else, then beat the 50/50 miss chance, and then rolled well. I had to give it to him.
The battle leader and two of the Warriors escaped, along with their Rogue. The Adept is alive, as is one of the Warriors, taken prisoner.
The party nearly didn't make it. They're pretty badly pulped at the moment.
I think they'll be surprised when the remaining force tries again, to free their companions. They have some healing potions, and given a day to prepare and heal, they'll try again.
The party *really* hates that Rogue/Assassin.
