The Enemy Within

[Insight]

Covering his mouth with a handkerchief, Hans moves next to the door, waiting for Kildrak to pass through. Once the dwarf is out, Hans makes for the nearest cover on the other side of the door.

 

[FourMonos]

"Gads! Is someone trying to burn the boat!"

Garold draws his long sword and rushes outside to survey the scene.

[sblock=actions]
Minor: Draw Longsword.
Standard: Move out of lower deck, ends standing next to Kildrak.
[/sblock]

 

[Walking Dad]

Gorim Grimmson

Gorim moves to help Gilda getting Elsa to the fresh air. Though she is only a human, he will not allow an infant to die on an attack more targeted at him than the people living on the boat.

[sblock=OOC]


[sblock=Mini stat block]
Gorim Grimmson
Perception: 12 Insight: 12 Low-light Vision
AC 17 Fortitude 16 Reflex 11 Will 12
Initiative: +1
Hit Points: 31 / 31 Bloodied: 15
Temporary Hit Points: 0
Resist:
Saving Throw: -
Action Points: 1 Second Wind: 1
Healing Surge:7 Surges per day: 12 / 12
At-Will Powers: Brash Strike, Cleave
Encounter Powers: Dwarven Resilience, Hack and Hew
Daily Powers: Driving Attack

Condition:

[/sblock][/sblock]

 

[airwalkrr]

Aaryn steps boldly out on deck, searching for the nearest foe and targeting him with his eyes, which glow for a brief moment with an icy chill to them. He raises his orb and unleashes a misty ray of frost at the nearest opponent.

OOC: Move: step up to deck Standard: cast ray of frost on nearest visible enemy

 

[Dr Simon]

The group rushes out onto deck, into the cool, clear night air. Immediately it is obvious that a large group of men have spread out along the bank, hemming the boat in. Some of them hold flaming brands and incendiaries.

From the darkness in the trees beyond, a crossbow bolt thwips into Aaryn's shoulder and he doubles over in pain, almost thrown from the boat. He is still able to send a blast of cold onto the nearest man, but its force is diminished. Although the crossbowman is back in shadows and cover, you can still make out a hint of red beard.

The two thugs nearest the bow of the boat throw their molotov cocktails. One sails right over the boat and lands in the river. The other breaks and catches, creating a patch of fire on the fore-deck.

[sblock=OOC]
Initiative:

Crossbowman - hits Aaryn for 16 damage, plus Aaryn is weakened.

Aaryn - ray of frost hits #4 (nearest foe). Doesn't kill him, but #4 is slowed.

Gorim - opens windows and helps Gilda and Elsa belowdecks - through the portholes on the bank side, Gorim can see much the same as the others on deck.

Thugs - only #7 and #8 act at this time, throwing molotiv cocktails. One misses, one hits. (Red circles indicate fires).

Next up in initiative order:

Kildrak
Hans
Garold.
[/sblock]

 

[airwalkrr]

OOC: Okay, I'm bloodied and at 4/20. We're officially f***ed unless that guy that just hit me is the only one out there like that or it was just a really lucky shot. I saw screw the barge. We can try keeping it from catching fire, but that splits our attention from the guys trying to kill us and the barge is no good to us dead.

 

[Neurotic]

[sblock=Rune Priest Effects - IMPORTANT]
Rune of Mending (destruction): Every ally get +2 power bonus to damage TENT
(Protection) Every ally adjacent to Kildrak gains DR 2 (so Aaryn took less damage)
[/sblock]

"Cast off! We'll deal with the fire as we go! Gorim, get a hell up here. Everyone, chop the lines!"

Kildrak quickly draws a rune of healing and immediately afterwards, that of retribution. The bolt drops out of Aaryn's flesh as the universe forgets there was a hole in it, while the closest assailant almost burns in the fires of creation. Unfortunately, taking care not to burn the ship means that Kildrak put it too high to affect the enemy.

[sblock=Actions]
Minor: Rune of Mending (destruction): Aaryn heals a surge, allies gain +2 power bonus to damage rolls

Standard: Flames of Purity (protection): blast three including Aaryn and enemy #4 - allies within the blast heal 3 hp. Flames of Purity vs $4 AC; fire damage (1d20+6=7, 1d10+4=10)

Move: to closest mooring line (assuming the fire blast didn't burn them)
[/sblock]

 

[Dr Simon]

OOC: Forgot to apply the effects of Garold's presence on Initiative, but it doesn't change anything. Feel free to remind me if I miss anything like this (such as Kildrak's DR effect) - I'm still learning 4E as I go!

 

[Neurotic]

Don't bother to remember, next time it will be +1 to hit vs adjacent enemies (when I choose destruction as current runestate) - and every power has different effects depending on current tune state. I'll take care to always list ongoing effects at the top of my posts. Everyone should read them or miss out on various bonuses (such as current +2 to damage rolls (ROLLS, not damage, magic missile, flurry of blows or minion damage wouldn't benefit)

Kildrak also gets +3 to damage vs those who hit him TENT

 

[airwalkrr]

OOC: So I guess Aaryn is at 6/20 after the bolt because of DR. Then with the HS he heals 5, which puts him at 11/20, then the 3 hp from flames of purity puts him at 14/20. So it seems he is now unbloodied. Still, ouch... I really hope that bolt was from the elite artillery guy who is leading a bunch of minions. Otherwise I still think we're in trouble.

"Cast off?" Aaryn cries out in disbelief. Despite his grievous wound, he seems to think the notion of casting off is preposterous. "No! We deal with these villains now!"

OOC: I'd also like to remind everyone that we are on a river, not an ocean. There is a finite distance we can travel to get away from these guys, which is probably still in range of their ranged attacks. And this is a barge we are talking about, not a clipper ship. It probably can't move any faster than 3 MPH/5 KPH, which isn't much faster than a human walking. The point is, they can keep up. I say disboarding and killing (or knocking out) the bad guys as quickly as possible is the best course of action. Let Josef and his family work on putting the fires out. I'm sure the bad guys will turn their attentions away from the barge as soon as they have a group of PCs to contend with. If there are many more of those crossbowmen (or other threats) we'll have a rough go of it, but I didn't mean my previous statement to indicate we needed to turn tail and run.