Rollohi-ep11-script

Part one: meet the dominant lifeforms

11.1 Treasure allocation: Kylie takes the armor +1, Ingle takes the healing staff. 

 

11.2 It's time to move up the plateau face, check the ledge base, then finish the ascent and explore. 

Noone is willing to stay watch against the marsh 

[off-camera: does the shaman take the raid as an ill omen? Yes and moves out] 

Ascent day 

Weather poor 

Moon 1st day of 4 gib wane. They stayed a day with Eikpe. 

Xantu makes an 02 guiding them up. 

 

11.3 Watch 1 of the following day 

Weather improved enough to allows climbing and scouting but is overcast. 

Encounter (need to roll a 5 or 6) rolls a 5 – which watch does this fall into? Watch 1, as the party begins spreading out onto the plateau proper. Still counts as 'barren' as they have not mapped it. 

 

This may be a good time to use Cairn to tell us more about the plateau, but let's just roll 1d6 to say ground cover from 1, completely bare, to 6, completely covered. 3, moderately sparse. 

Rerolling 'dragon' because the black dragon is by definition the dominant power. 6_8 goblin. 

Are they ruled by hobgoblins? Yes and... have a hobgoblin leader. Are they reinforced by bugbears? Yes but not this pack. 

43 goblins, of which 2 are hobgoblins and 5 more ride wolves. Leaving 36 afoot. 

As they hate the sun, these goblins are pulling back from a recent sweep. Range 160yds, neither side is surprised.  

Scouting: goblins roll 14 w disadvantage, party rolls 15 w advantage! Ie neither really understands the danger.  So "the wolves smell something" and "I think I saw a small humanoid!" 

 

11.4 The battle's first movement

The goblin riders head out to see what  "that" was and the 'wargame board' shrinks to 80yds or 48" long. Goblin reinforcements arrive from edges a or b, characters cannot retreat off edge c 

Inits: characters 4 goblins 3 

Horrified at the sight of half a dozen wolf riders CiedPod sprint towards the rear! Xantu hastens up to begin acting as a shield beside Eryn while Kylie falls back to the pair. Ingle and Umbert run to where the beginnings of a mangrove swamp offer cover. Jack also heads to the mangrove but looses his bow as the riders come into range.  

Terrain: nearby, heights drain into a mangrove, which in turn drains off the plateau into a thin watercourse that feeds the marsh. Beyond those two, open grasslands offer little cover from the sun. 

Missiles: Kylie Jack and Eryn hit the lead wolf for 10 of its 19hp. CiedPod focus on goblins, killing two riders. 

Goblin ML is OK. The remaining three riders sweep on, loosing bows. One hit on Xantu for 2. 

Round 2 

Characters 1, goblins 6. The riders should probably race back and report. But there's a dwarf right there, and he's wounded. So they race in, and again Xantu is hit, 3 more dmg. But the two dire wolves that lack riders race away into the wilds. 

With the riders perilously close the party scrambles into the soft footing of the swamp while returning fire. This time CiedPod are able to use their bows. All three goblins are knocked off, the 3rd by Jack who crits. 

Crit rule: a character that is not at disadvantage and that rolls a 1 can roll again. If a 1 is scored again, the result is double max. For example a 1,1 on a sling is 8 dmg or 1,1 on a longbow is 16 dmg. 

The three dire wolves are left without riders but unlike the other two, they want to attack, and plunge on! 

Round 3 characters 5, dire wolves 2. Xantu is braced ready and Eryn drops her bow and swings out her shield and sword to join him. Kylie can see the wolves will close and throws up Shield. The other archers pour fire in joined by the two slings. One wolf drops to 10 of 19hp. 

As the dire wolves leap at Xantu and Eryn the pair swing with all their might. Xantu's hammer bounces off, Eryn scores 4dmg. It's the wolves turn! Two bite Eryn and she takes 3dmg. The 3rd leaps at Kylie, who has AC2 and a shield ready. It rakes her for 1. 

Round 4 characters 4 wolves 5. A repeat, except the extra wolf trying to bring Eryn down switches to Xantu. Wolf 1 v Eryn, 3dmg. Wolf 2 v Xantu, 1dmg. Wolf 3 v Kylie, no dmg. Now the non-melee characters can slide in and stab if they dare. They can take advantage from coming in from the flank of a hindered (marshland) beast.  Cied Pod score 5 and 2, Jack scores 3. This is enough to kill the wounded wolf fighting Kylie. Eryn again wounds her wolf, it is down to 12hp. Xantu's hammer again bounces off but Ingle and Umbert use their slings, 3 dmg, that wolf is down to 16hp. 

Round 5 character 3 wolves 2. This time Xantu scores 4 and Eryn again scores 3, while the silngs take another 3. Xantu's wolf is down to 9 and Eryn's wolf is down to 8. Kylie and Jack are free to circle in with advantage to help Eryn and CiedPod the same for Xantu or eryn. The former 2 only add 3 dropping Eryn's wolf to 5 but the halflings manage 5 meaning Xantu's wolf is at 4hp.  

Wolves ML check is 9 they break off and flee while they are in reasonable footing. Do they go back to their masters? No but... a hobgoblin spots them fleeing and gets a bearing. 

Roind 6: ingle wields the staff of healing for the first time as Eryn is hurt. D6+1, she gets all 6 back! 

Xantu is hurt the same 6. Sadly on him the staff heals only 2. So he is down 4 of 16hp 

Kylie is scraped, the others arr fine 

 

Loot: "do we have time to loot?" Yes 

The 5 goblins had 15 gold coin worth of coin between them. 

 

11.5 The battle's second movement

Do the goblins attack? Yes. Does the partyhave time to reposition to the high ground? No. 

"pick off the leaders, the minions may flee" - Kylie 

Characters have many rounds before Kylie and Eryn need to swap bows to swords.  

Round 1: monster move to 150, then Kylie fire. Rolls too high.  

Round 2: Slings and shortbows are long range. Monsters move, characters fire. Kylie uses her precision to make a hit, killing a hobgob. Sling also scores 1, bos score 7, killing the other hobgob. 

Round 3: monsters move, characters fire. ML 5, they decide they number so many it's a victory!  In response 4 goblins perish. 

Round 4: monsters move, characters fire. Shortbows are at normal range now. Four  more goblins drop. 

Round 5: monsters move, characters fire. Goblins can now fire after moving. 18 archers remain. They are loosing into cover, so all characters have AC1 or 2. One arrow gets through, scoring 1 on Pod. In response slings are now normal, longbow is short range. But only two more goblins drop. 

Round 6: both sides move and fire at same time. Another 1 dmg on Cied this time. But everyone except Kylie takes a goblin out and they have lost 17 of their original 36. 

Round 7: this is where Eryn and Kylie will need to swap out. Both sides even. Jack, CiedPod, and the 2 slingers account for only two more as Umbert crits. The goblins score nothing. Kylie puts up Shield, giving her an effective AC of 2 plus disadv. Eryn moves to stand with Xantu and she opts for her polearm.  

Round 8: the goblins close onto the fringe of the mangrove and cover only counts as 1 now. But characters get the init. Between them slings and bows take out two more, goblins have lost 21 of 36.  

ML check: fight on! Five archers remain, Kylie is hit for 1dmg. (all of the front ranks of the goblins are down so there are some yards left to get to close qtrs!) 

Round 9: goblins win init. The non-archers leap into the swamp, archers fire, Pod takes 2dmg, Eryn 1. Then the melee begins between 9 goblins and three front-rankers. Eryn is fine, Kylie and Xantu take 1 each. In response three of the archers are dropped by missiles, Eryn chops 2 goblins asunder.  

Round 10: goblins win init. Two archers hit Jack for 1, eight melee goblins still attack the three front-rankers. Kylie takes 5 dmg and without her extra d8 woukd fall dead. But that deflects 3  leaving her on 2hp. Her return sword cut kills a goblin and Xantu kills another, Eryn fails to get a power swipe through. The last two goblin archers are taken out by CiedPod and the slings while Jack draws a shortsword and moves to help the melee, killing a goblin trying to get to Xantu. 

There are only 3 goblins left. 

Round 11: goblins win init; there is 1 goblin on each of the front rankers but Kylie is fighting defensively. Eryn takes 3 dmg. The others are fine. In response, CiedPod maneuver to cut off any retreat, Jack backstabs, Eryn kills 2 with one swipe. 

Victory!  

Loot of 36 goblins and 2 hobgoblins: 180 gold worth [then 2 x D: 3000 in gold and 4 jewelry worth 1200 altogether. - if a base is found!] 

 

"Don't forget, there is a bounty on at least hobgoblins" - Kylie, taking out a skinning knife. 

"And get lots of arrows" - Jack 

Notes 

The length of this engagement made me think about STR checks to keep fighting at normal ability after 10 rounds. Or should it be 6 rounds? That would be brutal in long running battles. But in real life, people do fight for very long amounts of time. It's when they start taking a battering that the system starts failing. And hp do that job perfectly. So let's keep it simple. 

 

Part two: Prospects

Its a 5-day rest for them  unless Ingle uses the staff of healing the next day. 

Kylie: down 4, healed fully 

Ingle: no harm 

Jack: 1dmg, not worth worrying 

Umbert: no harm 

Eryn 3 harm will need more healing 

Pod down 3, healed 2 

Cied 1 

Xantu 3 harm will need more healing 

so they clatter back to Hidden Springs once they have harvested ears and wolf meat. 

Over the past 5 days has visitors arrived yes 

Over the next 5 days will more arrive yes 

Is Yormsley among them no but he's in the area  

Original 6 outlaws  4 basic adventurers  

Following 4 merchants and guard/drivers  

Are the outlaws in a rush no and want to stay on. Are they looking for trouble yes 

Do the adventurers seek to quell trouble no 

Are the outlaws a bandit gang no but are traveling here because this is where brigands were. 

Did they arrive from the outlands no but have not come from west/ stoutheart. 

On a 1 in 36 they have a real leader, on a 1 in 6 one of them is a 2hd leader. No then yes. So one has 9hp the others have 4. 

What are they disguised as (reroll) merchants and guards.  

How many days apart do these visitors turn up (d4-1) day 2, day 3, then same day the party climbs down. 

Eikpe WIS and CHA checks: 16 and 07. 

Ajiwe same: 04, 09 so Ajiwe discerns and Eikpe convinces. 

The bandits decide to not commit any atrocity since the springs are protected. They wait to learn more about the prospects here.  

 

Now let's find out more about the adventurers that arrive 1 day later. 

Are they hunting the bandits no but wary of possible ambush. 

5 strong; 

Lvl 1 thief chaotic  

Lvl 3 elf neutral 

Lvl 3 dwarf neutral 

Lvl 1 halfling lawful 

Lvl 2 magic user lawful 

• Thief: Arry (Female) 

•  Magic User: Gyoza (Male) 

•  Elf: Liide (Female) 

• Dwarf: Beowvu (Male) 

• Halfling: Pooky (Male) 

What's their goal? Astonishing relics! They hope to search (d12) due east. 

 

Finally let's find out about the merchants. They arrive just a day after the adventurers make their descent. Each has 4 guards making 16. As well as mounts there are 11 mules.  

Are they bound east yes but only a short way then swing north. 

Is that to a market town yes 

 

However, each has things to offer this place. There's a dwarf Smith  Brunhilda Ironhide 

a halfling used-gear trader,Willow Meadowsweet 

 a human trader in rarities, Joric "Jory" Blackwood 

and an elf or half-elf Sumpter,Faelar Stonepath 

 

 

Cha values (2d6+4 since they are established) 12, 10, 13, and 08.  

Ajiwe gets a small chance to influence their reaction to the idea of establishment  

He gets +1 with the halfling and human. 

Of these, the halfling is super enthusiastic and swears to set up shop. The human is mildly interested. 

Of the dwarf and elf strangely each gets max friendly! They too swear to set up. 

 

But as to their business eastward... the human offers a goodly reward if only the adventurers will guard him. And of course he means the eight with over 40 goblin ears! Right? No and he hires the bandits!