Into the Swamp of Bones!

[A.B]

Elan'fal is reeady, staff readied with magic in one hand, magic in other. He waits to cast.

[Jeikor]

Innil is ready as well. Arrow trained on heavy crossbow weilding orc and fire bolt cantrip ready as soon as his hand is free. He just needs to know where to fire.

[Zergrinch]

Every muscle of Zemzelett's body tenses as he slowly creeps towards the tower with Quelten.  "This is it.  No turning back.  My first winter in the trenches."  His eyes flit to the nobleman, waiting for the boy's signal.

 

Upon signal, cast Minor Illusion to seemingly create a sound originating from Quelten's illusion.  The sound mimics a harsh voice saying in the Goblin tongue: "Attack!"

[ken barber]

(Barret)

 

"On my mark" Barret casts fairy fire on the gnoll with the Crossbow. The Gnoll lights up in a glow of purple. "Fire, Reld Charge." Barret cast shield of faith on Reld and races after him.

[Jeikor]

Innil fires his arrow at the orc with the heavy crossbow on the tower and raises his free hand preparing to send fire bolt where needed.

[Eghas]

Eghas looses his arrow at the gnoll with the large crossbow, then switches his aim to the horned creatures.

[Zergrinch]

Zemzelett watches Quelten closely, and unleashes his prepared cantrip in tandem with the cleric.  As the older Cleric and walking human tank charge the orc things, the half-elf sprints towards the base of the tower.  "Reach the tower, hug the walls.  Reach the tower, hug the walls!" he repeats to himself like a mantra; his two hands now grasping his crossbow.

 

Action: Cast Minor Illusion

Move: Towards base of the tower, so as to present no target to the heavy crossbow user unless he is looking directly below

Object interaction: Equip crossbow

[A.B]

Elan'fal touches Reld on the shoulder and casts magic armor as he sees Barrett casting a similar spell on himself. He then hides behind some rubble and tall bushes so that he cannot be seen by the orc in the tower or the others and casts ray of frost to the crossbow user in the tower and then acid splash on one of the two huge orcs in the base of the tower. 

 

Actions:

 

Acid splash on large orc thiny

ray of frost on crossbow user

magic armor on Reld

 

Elan'fal knows he has only one more magic spell to give before his magic is tapped out for the day so he keeps it for an hour of great need. If he needs to he can use the daggers even though a toddler would have greater proficiency in using them than him.

[Quelten]

Quelten touches his holy symbol, visible at his neck, and prays.  "Oh Pelgrim, god of warriors, I do your holy work this day.  Though stealth demands I do not call out your name, I do this in your honor.  Stand with me, aide me, and strengthen me.  Amen."

 

Quelten looks up at the tower and invokes the power of his god, and creates the sound of many bows firing from just behind the large gnoll.

[Kyle Aarons]

***Note*** Elan'fal, I am changing your action since casting mage armor on someone who is wearing armer does not work. Your character would know this so Instead I am having you cast Fire Bot at one of the Gnolls who is in the rubble since one of them noticed your group and has grabbed a flail while moving out of the ruble to face your group. It is the only one who seems to have noticed your group on this first round of combat and you spotted him grabbing his weapon and moving out of the rubble so you didn't use that spell slot****

 

So, as noteded above: Elan'fal sees the one Gnoll jump up, grab a weapon and move out in your direction while getting ready to shout a warning only to get a burst of flame from Elan'fal. It doesn't do a great deal of damage, but does cause it to dive back behind some cover.

 

The Gnoll on the tower lights up in a rather splendid purple for all to easily see then jumps and spins at the sound of Zem's spell. This does two things. First it makes him a very easy target since he is outlined in glowing purple, and second, he loses the advantage of any cover since he is no longer crouched down.

 

Innil's arrow hits the Gnoll hard followed moments later by Eghas' arrow. While this would have certainly dropped a normal man, The Gnoll shows it's toughness as it spins with the massive heavy crossbow, looking for a target, any target.

 

Reld sees this, and even at the distance he is at, drops his axe, pulls a dagger, spins and whips it at the Gnoll. The dagger burries itself into the flesh of the Gnoll and it drops the crossbow and falls off the side of the tower.

 

As the sounds of multiple arrows launching causes the two creatures and the other Gnoll to look back in the direction of the tower, Brother Barett closes on the two figures

 

Off to the side, Vorador suddenly lets loose with a crimson beam of crackling energy at the second Gnoll in the rubble. His targeting is precise and does devastating damage. (critical hit) The force of the ray knocks the Gnoll down, and it shows no signs of moving. those close to Vorador hear him snicker, "now that's a cantrip combo for you!" He then points a finger at a figure in the window as if getting ready to do something else.

 

With your surprise round compete, you're group maintains initiative and is able to strike again other then the Gnoll Elan'fal singed. It produces a crossbow from behind were it dove and fires at Reld. The shot would have certinaly done damage to any of the rest of you but the combination of armor and the magic Shield of Faith, the bounces off harmlessly.

 

Reld growls, "Drop that idiot!" even as he pulls his backup weapon, a morning star, and moves into melee with the two creatures. He selects the one with the amulet and swings. The blow is a hard one to be sure and gets a couple of goblin curses out of the creature as it focuses in on Reld.

 

Barett, you also get into combat range of the two creatures and decide it might just be better to team up on one than to take on a separate one. Your mace swing is a good one and gets another set of mutterings out of the creature , but you can now verify what Reld said, under the fur cloak, is some really heavy metal armor.

 

Zem you get to the wall and hear voices inside, but cannot understand what is being said. However, you did hear Reld telling others to take out the Gnoll, so you fire off a quick Cantrip of Vicious mockery, unfortunately, the Gnoll shakes this off with no effect. (note- when I say something like this in the future, this means the creature has made the needed save and was not effected)

 

Elan'fal, since the Gnoll in the tower is down, you also direct your next action at the Gnoll who shot at Reld. You send a Ray of Frost at the Gnoll even as you move to find cover. The icy ray strikes the Gnoll hard. It lets out a scream in Gnoll that several of you understand, "Fire and Ice It hurts! It hurts! Kill the casters! Kill the casters!"

 

Eghas, you turn your attention away form the tower and toward the two creatures. You are left in a bit of a quandary since, to shot at the one Barett and Reld have engaged, means you will have to fire with a peneltiy to avoid hitting them. The other one has a similar problem. To shoot at it means you have to avid hitting the kid it is carrying. Neither are great options so you decide to go with option 3, go after the Gnoll who shot at Reld. You just barely hit, but your arrows does decent damage. Once again, the Gnolls show how tough they are. It still doesn't go down.

 

Quelton, with your distraction made you also turn your attention to the Gnoll who still has not fallen. With your hands free, you pull your bow and fire an arrow. It bounces off the rocks to its side, missing by a wide margin.

 

Vorador continues to point at the window were the face of an Orc can now be seen looking out and readying a crossbow. Vorador  moves considerably closer as he mutters just loudly enough for you all to hear, "Baruel, thank you for showing me the weakness in this creatue!"

 

The creature facing Reld and Barett turns its full attention on Reld, pulls a long sword and swings. Reld defects the clumsy shot with his shield with almost no effort. The creature then looks back and shouts at the other creature in Goblin, "Go! Get to master, but no harm must come. Master need him live!"

 

The other creature backs off with the kid in tow, dropping his pack as he does so to make better time.

 

From up in the window Vorador is pointing at a crossbow bolt sails downward, aimed at Eghas who is pretty much in the open. The bolt barely misses, going between Eghas' legs and just missing his tail.

 

The deep voice from iside the tower shouts loudly and three orcs burst out. two move up to help the remaining creature while the last grabs the pack with the coin and back up toward the open door of the tower while two Gnolls come out and move to stand between the Orc who grabbed the coins and the rest of you.

 

The wounded in the rubble Gnoll loads another bolt in the crossbow and fires at Elan'fal since it s now far more worried about spell casters than helping the remaining creature. The bolt grazes Elan'fal doing 2 points of damage.

 

******Combat Initiative is now back to you all, need to know if there are any change of plans.******** 

[Kyle Aarons]

******** Also Note: there is a map available giving you all a larger picture of where you are at. I will work on a close in one as time permits, but since you are stuck in the Swamp of Bones and fighting for your lives, I think I have some time ********

[Jeikor]

Innil looses his fire bolt at the wounded Gnoll and notches another arrow to aim and fire at the window creature. 

[A.B]

Elan'fal groans when he is hit and clutches his shoulder. He swears in the best troll he can, wanting to add to the gnolls' confusion if only for a moment more. The more time they are confused the less time they have to actually battle them. He ducks under cover waiting to find a target of opportunity while not giving his position away as he practically defenseless up close. He does have two daggers but no proficiency in using them.

[Eghas]

Eghas spins, aims, and fires at the horned Orc that is running with the kid.

[Zergrinch]

Zemzelett reaches the wall moments before the heavy crossbow-wielding gnoll crashes down to the ground - dead. His adrenaline is pumping ferociously - why on Earth does he feel like singing now?

Kicking at the creature's corpse, he looks at Quelten:

"♬ Do you wanna kill the gnoll-man?
And earn a lot of fame? ♪"

Now, directed at the enemy:

"♬ They're stinky with a poopy-face
A flea-bit race
I think they're kind of lame! ♪"

His inexplicable urge to sing temporarily satiated, the bard flattens himself against the wall, and relocates just below the window, crouching down to present the smallest possible profile from above. That orc would have to be looking straight down to even see him. And if it sticks its face out the window, Zemzelett will be ready with his crossbow.

Bonus Action: Bardic Inspiration to Quelten. Within the next 10 minutes, Quelten can use a 1d6 die to improve the results of an ability check, attack, or saving throw. The decision to use the die must happen before Kyle announces the results of said check, attack, or save.

Action: Vicious Mockery on wounded Gnoll. If Innil has already killed it, redirect it towards the creature Barret and Reld are fighting. Wisdom DC: 13. On hit, target takes 1d4 psychic damage and has disadvantage on its next attack roll before the end of its next turn.

Move: Reposition away from melee and crouch.

P.S. Lyrics match "Do You Wanna Build a Snowman?" from "Frozen".

[ken barber]

Barett attempts to maneuver to so his shield side is between Reld and the Crossbow bolts being fired from the tower while swinging his mace at the creature in front of him. He shouts, "Eghas, Quelten, Voradar stop that creature with the boy NOW! Elan'fal, Innil take those archers out. Zem bring in the reinforcements!"

[Quelten]

Quelten grabs up his warhammer and shield and charges forward, bellowing his battlecry as loudly as he could.  "For Pelgrim!  For the King!  For Beurden!"

[Kyle Aarons]

Barett, you swing and hit armor, doing no damage,

 

Reld hits and gets a grunt of pain, but the creatures only looks more pissed off than it already was.

 

Eghas spins and fires at the fleeing creature who has the boy with him. The arrow grazes the creature dong minimal damage.

 

Quelten races after the departing creature. You have to use a dash to get up to the creature which takes up your action but you get to him.

 

Zem, you attempt a vicious mockery on the Gnoll, who shakes its head and glares at you. You can tell it just barely resisted the spell.

 

Elanfal, you get behind some cover, but still can see the wounded Gnoll clearly enough. You launch a fire bolt at it and it screams in pain, throws down the crossbow and starts to run away, screaming in Gnoll about it having no face hair left and too many spell casters. it seems to run on wobbly legs.

 

Innil, as the Gnoll starts to run away screaming, you nail it with yet another fire bolt. This time it drops unmoving.

 

Vorador unleashes another cracking crimson bolt into the window catching the Orc shooting out of it dead center in the face. Many of you have see his accuracy with a sling, but he seems to be able to do the same thing with his weird spell. The Orc disappears from view and the crossbow it was pointing at the window falls and lands at the base of the tower. Vorador then starts to do his weird pointing thing in the direction of the fleeing creature. It is then that many of you realize he is starting to prep a spell and all the pointing he has been doing since you have known him is some kind of non-verbal combat assistance spell.

 

The creature in front of Barett and Reld once again swings on Reld with the same basic effect. The youngster blocks the sword swing with his shield while saying something about having fought commoners with better combat style. If he is trying to make this thing mad and stay focused on him, it seems to be working.

 

the two Orcs move to prevent more damage befalling the fleeing creature. One runs up to Eghas and swings wildly while shouting Orcish insults at him.

 

The second one moves up to Quelten, but had to dash to get to him, so is unable to swing this turn.

 

The Orc with the pack of coins runs right back in the door to the tower and the two Gnolls back in after him. You all hear the door slam followed by a bar being dropped loudly in front of the door. (so the one Orc with the money and the two Gnolls are now back inside the tower)

 

The creature with the kid in one arm pulls a dagger and stabs at Quelten missing him. All this does is make the other creature more angery, "Go, get to Master or me kill you me-self!" it shouts in Goblin.

 

With these words the creature moves away from Quelton, who gets a free swing as it tries to flee. Quelten is able to smack it for some damage, but the creature is all but unfazed it backs off 30 feet.

 

(Quelten- if you go after this creature this will allow the Orc that moved up on you to get a free swing, just like what you go to the fleeing creature)

(Eghas- If you fire from where you are the Orc next to you gets a free swing unless you fire at it, but you would be at a disadvantage to shoting something that close- roll twice and take the lower of the two- if you move off the Orc so you can fire at the departing creature the Orc will get a free swing as well. You can pull a weapon while holding onto the bow in your off and swing on the Orc with no penalty if you wish)

 

From inside the deep voice shouts in Goblin for something with the name of "Twitch" to get up and grab the heavy crossbow and take out these "interferers". Reld relates this order so you can all understand it even as he sticks out his tongue at the creature he and Barett are fighting.

[Zergrinch]

Zemzelett's skin crackles at the intensity of Vorador's spell.  That's twice now that the half-elf performed such powerful magic.  He hadn't seen the first time when Vorador completely obliterated the gnoll at the fire with a devastatingly precise magical attack - even though he knew it happened (the gnoll's smoldering corpse was more than enough evidence).  This time however, Vorador fired in his direction - the spell went directly above his head.  Its sheer power was strong enough to cause a normally physically-imposing orc to drop its crossbow.  The same crossbow which landed neatly right at Zem's feet. He briefly prods it with his foot - is it even usable now?
 
A nagging thought that he'd suppressed starts to take root in his mind.  Ever since the half-elf told him about his experience with the "elf lady", Zem has been trying to think of a reason why his mother would turn the orphan away.  She gave birth to a half-elf herself, and willingly adopted the life of a traveling entertainer - in truth no better than being a peasant.  She would be the last being Zem knows who would discriminate on race or status.
 
"No.  Mom would not that shallow.  She must have sensed something dark to the half-elf, and used his low caste as an excuse to refuse his request."  From what Zemzelett has seen, Vorador must be a warlock of sorts, with a patron whose name was...  "What was that again?  Baruel?  Have I heard that name before?"
 
There is more to Vorador than it seems, and it seems obvious that his fellow half-elf must be protected at all costs.  This so-called Master of theirs appears to be intent in capturing magic blood - who knows what will happen if word gets back to him about what he's able to do?  But... shouldn't Zemzelett's priority be his family?  And on the other hand, does he have it in him to abandon a brother half-elf - especially one that is orphaned?
 
Struggling to keep focus on the present, Zem frantically gestures to Innil and then to the tower.  If they don't act quickly, the enemy will be able to pick them off with impunity using that heavy crossbow.  Zem would love to go himself, but the prospect of falling, or worse - having to face an enemy by himself scares him.  Perhaps a stirring ballad, sung in Elvish, would better the moon elf's chances.
 
"♬ He's got the strength and agility to scale the wall!
He can climb quickly and safely guard himself from fall!
No one can ever take him down!
The power lies on his side!
Go, Innil Siannodel!  Go, Innil Siannodel!  
Go, Innil Siannodel!  Mighty Elf, Innil Siannodel! ♩"
 
As the orc menacing the human disguised as a demon turned his head at the song, Zemzelett points and shouts excitedly, "Wow!  That's the biggest and ugliest goblin I've ever seen!  Save some for me, Sir Eghas!"

Item Interaction: What type of a crossbow is it? 
Knowledge Check: Who or what is Baruel?
Bonus Action: Bardic Inspiration to Innil
Action: Vicious Mockery on orc attacking Eghas
P.S.: Lyrics sung to "Go Go Power Rangers"

 

Enemy Count:

Gnolls (5-7): 1 on roof (dead), 2 by the fire (dead), 2 inside the tower, possible 2 status unknown

Orcs (4): 1 by the window (injured), 1 attacking Eghas, 1 attacking Quelten, 1 with the moneybags <-- the Scout miscounted the number of orcs?

Bugbear (1): inside the tower

Horny Orcs (2): 1 fighting Reld & Barett, 1 fleeing with Gothan

[Jeikor]

Innil nods and grins at Zemzelett as he puts his longbow on his back, heads for the tower and attempts to climb to the top.

[ken barber]

(Barett)

 

Barett again attempts to hit the creature with his mace swinger lower than normal in an attempt to hit  the the less armored legs.  He places his free hand on his Medallion of Vindayin. "Great Mother of the Forest cleanse this creature with your Sacred Flame" (Cantrip Sacred Flame)  "Innil El'fal assist Eghas  and protect Vorador, SOMEONE STOP THAT FLEEING CREATURE!!!!"

[Quelten]

Quelten obeys orders and charges forward.

[A.B]

Elan'fal looks over the rubble and sees the injured orc by the window. He grins seeing him looking at the climbing Innil and concentrating he unleashes a fire bolt on it Before ducking for cover again.

 

"I have overstayed my welcome in this location, time to move!" He thinks and half-crawling half running under the rubble he runs towards the other side of the perimeter in hopes of getting close to the fleeing orc.

 

"No child shall die this day if I have anything to say on the matter."

 

Vorador's magic has not gotten unnoticed to him but for the moment it is helpful to them.

 

Action: firebolt cantrip on window injured orc

move: close to the fleeing orc

[Eghas]

Eghas decides to see if the Goddess of Luck is on his side.  he ignores the Orc that charged up to him, and sprints towards the fleeing Horned Orc thing with the child.  He moves around in front of it, trying to block it's escape path, and putting himself on one side, and Quelton on the other, forcing it to fight, hopefully dropping the kid in the process

[Kyle Aarons]

Zem: it is a light crossbow and the bolt it had loaded is lying off to the side as well- you don't have to think very hard or long when it comes to Baruel, for that is an entity that is out of the deepest and sometimes darkest of legends. Baruel is thought to be a made up force of primal nature linked to tempests, pestilence, disease, but on the opposite side, of nature, of wind, of rain- basically the wild untamed forces not controlled by man. The legends of Baruel say Baruel had to be chained before the gods and demon lords that exist could claim dominion over any of the primal forces of nature. One thing is for sure, you have never even heard rumor of someone getting power from Baruel.

 

Zem is also able to provide inspiration to Innil. Finally this time, your Vicious Mockery of the Orc takes hold doing a little psychic  damage to the Orc and giving it disadvantage on its next action.

 

Innil, thanks to Zem, you are able to make it up to the top of the tower this round by using a move and a dash action. You don't slip once and roll over on top of the tower finding the heavy crossbow loaded and lying there. There is also a wooden door in the floor that looks like it is recent or at least repaired. Finally there is a small barrel with 14 more heavy crossbow bolts. his is a slow load weapon, as it has to be cranked to be loaded, so it is a load one round fire the next weapon. You can pick up and fire it now, but you are not real sure about firing such a massive weapon. On the other hand, you can see the entire battle really well from up here.

 

Barett- you can't do both actions in the same turn, so I am going to go with the sacred flame cantrip. The creature you and Reld are facing  fails to avoid the blast of radiant damage coming out of you  and takes damage from it. You realize you might have a better chance with this than swinging on it since it is so well armored.

 

Quelten you ignore the Orc and race after the fleeing creature, giving the Orc next to you a free swing and it takes full advantage. You get hit for 7 points as you move away. On the other hand, you close and deliver another hit on the creature who is carrying the boy. Still the hit leaves you knowing you have been hit and hit hard.

 

Eghas, you suddenly find yourself extremely lucky as the vicious mockery left the Orc with a disadvantage. Had this not been the case, the Orc would have done a critical hit on you. Instead he missed altogether. You move past the fleeing creature and block an easy escape, which is good because Quelten looks hurt. 

 

Elan'fal, you can't currently see the Orc in the window, but the two Orcs that Eghas and Quelton moved away from are both in the open. You raise your hand and fire at the closer of the two and hit it with a fire bolt. It glares at you but still turns to chases after Eghas.

 

Innil, form up on the top of the second story of the tower, you hear the trap door opening.

 

Reld swings and does no damage, hitting only armor, but smiling even as he does so. 

 

still keeping a bit back, Vorador mutters in aggravation, "It has moved too far away so Bareul show me the weakness in that one!" He points at the one Reld and Barret are fighting.

 

The creatures carrying the boy glares as it realizes escape will not be easy, but attempts to do so anyway giving both Eghas and Quelten free swings as it takes off running. Barret you hit followed moments later by Eghas. Neither one of you hit very hard and the creatures moves 60 feet into the edge of the woods. Unless you can see at lest that far in the dark, it is getting hard to see him as he moves out of the good light radius of the fire.

 

The Orc going after Quelton closes and swings, missing totally, hitting nothing but air. The other makes it up to Eghas' side but had to move and dash to get to him so cannot attack. It does, however growl in common, "Silly, you so silly, no can get away from me!"

 

The other creature swings on Reld again and hits shield a third time. It snarls as it's frustration on not being able to hit a kid who keeps sticking out his tongue and rolling his eyes is really getting on its nerves. Barett, since you are right there and seeing everything the kid is doing, you actually realize Reld is fighting as if he is playing to an audience....