Rollohi-ch404-script

Intro

Welcome back to Part Two of Villa-fight in the World of Rollohi. 

Our heroes have elected to intervene directly to safeguard the villagers from the ferry; who have all fled to the manor house, which is in effect a fortified villa, belonging to the seigneur Fuire.  

It may take some time before the Buccaneers realize that their northern tip of their siege is under attack. And that's all to the good for our party, for they have walked fairly quietly(!) close to the northern group of buccaneers, and have managed to reach shortbow range, from where they let drive. 

The action 

Jack's shortbow, Cied and Pod's shortbows, Kylie's longbow, and Xantu's crossbow:

[d6s]

 Pod maxes off, but all four buccaneers in that particular clump of buccaneers fall at the first stroke. 

Declarations round 1

From what Eryn can see, everything has gone according to plan. Her move will be to advance to where the buccaneers had been positioned and check that they are all dead, and then swing west so that she's facing along the line against any further buccaneers approaching. Generally speaking, the characters will attempt to pick off new targets. Ingle and Umbert are simply keeping in support. Ingle does wave up to the battlements, such as they are, to let the defenders know that help has arrived. Moreover, Ingle will pray for that protection from evil, as there's no doubt that there are a lot of buccaneers to come. Now, as it happens, the runner assigned to that particular level four fighter is just returning from the command station situated towards the center, and they make a five on their wisdom perception check and notice what has happened and they shout that warning to their boss. So now that the jig is up, it's time for initiative. [d6s] Characters 4, Buccaneers 3. In terms of combat strategy, there really is no time for that, but in terms of tactics, as it happens, Jack had been looping lakeward and is quite distant from the next group of Buccaneers. CiedPod, on the other hand, are quite close, so they will be simply loosing from cover. I'm going to ask a question about Jack's tactics. Does Jack decide to stalk and backstab? [d6] 3. No, but he will keep that option open if the chance presents itself. He will simply move, keeping to cover as much as he can, and then loose during this round. There's no reason for Kylie to move at all, she will simply adjust her aim and loose. Umbert will stay exactly where he is under cover, while Ingle will attempt to adjust his position to gain a better vantage for what's coming round to their right. Remember the characters are coming in from the north of the manor house, which is on the west of the lake, on a bit of a height, but with in effect no land access from the lakeside, which - as an aside - must be why the Seigneur's mistress was walking so far away along the lake view. Xantu will reload his crossbow. Eryn, however, will swing her shield around and sidle across to make sure that Umbert and Ingle have plenty of cover from her, and no Buccaneer can get to them. I'm afraid that tends to make Eryn the main target for any missiles or spells from the Buccaneers, but she's certainly not trying to stand out. She's trying to use cover where it is available. Since I don't have terrain set up and only the barest of sketches for the layout, I'm going to use 2d6 to express how far through someone's full move they have managed to move while keeping to cover. This is Erin. [2d6] I roll 6 out of 12, which means that she has half moved while crabbing across towards the right of the party and tending to be out in front. Here is Jack. [2d6] He too has rolled a six, so he is now equivalent to the middle of the original party's layout. Here is Ingle's move. [2d6] He moves fairly rapidly over, uh slightly more than half his available move, so that he has got a good sight line for what comes next. And last of all, Xantu who is moving slightly and loading. [2d6] He moves one third of his available move while loading his crossbow. Next round he will be ready to fire. 

Now I'm sure that you're interested to know what their targets are. And in fact, as I've rolled the sketch layout, the next targets are in fact the runner and the fourth level fighter. The fourth level fighter will not be heavily armoured. These are buccaneers and they are used to jumping from ship to shore and from ship to ship. However, unlike his other buccaneers who are plying missile weapons, he may not be using a missile weapon. Here's an oracle. Is the level 4 fighter flying a missile weapon? [d6] Yes, and it's his main weapon, so he is using a longbow. I have four characters loosing missiles, and I'm going to use a sub-oracle by saying that if the number is even, then the arrow is aimed at the runner. Here we go. And I roll three fives and a one, the one coming from Jack. Obviously, Jack's arrow takes effect, it's a nick. The fives will bounce off the chain armor, but both Cied and Pod can adjust that five down to a four: they're at normal range for a short bow. And so the level four fighter has taken four, four, and one damage. I haven't rolled for the crit confirm. [d6] No, I rolled a three. Jack has not critted. The level four fighter started with 15 hit points and has dropped to six if my math is right. Ingle casts Protection from Evil on himself. Finally, there is no melee this round, and we move to the Buccaneers bound. 

Now there were 14 Buccaneers under this fighter's command, and he has already lost four. A fact that he may have only just realized. And so it's time for a morale check. [2d6] 6. His feelings are, as far as he can see, there are but three or four interlopers, probably some of the Seigneur's men who were outside the walls when the fuss began. So he confidently urges his buccaneers to swing their bows around and advance while firing. He himself will not advance because he is plying a long bow which has plenty of range. And he sends a runner back to the central command to let them know that he's in action outside the walls. The nearest buccaneer to the characters moves [2d6] just over half their movement, hopping from cover to cover, and so ends up in short range vis-a-vis CiedPod and Jack. Next it's missile firing. Here's the longbow. [d6] It's a good hit... on Eryn is one or two, Kylie three, Xantu four, and Ingle or someone else five-six 

[d6]

Oh dear. So it's going to be either Ingle or Umbert, Jack or the hidden CiedPod. [d4] He has targeted Umbert, realizing that that cloth robed person must be a magic user. He strikes home with a two and Umbert takes a wound. Umbert curses to himself, wishing he had cast invisibility, despite Ingle's plea. 

Archery from the other buccaneers? Well there are five who have managed to move up into range. Three of those loose at Eryn. Here are their results. All three arrows bounce off Eryn's shield or slam into it, sticking. The other two buccaneers, for whatever reason, not quite picking up Kylie, loose at Xantu, who's squatted down, readying his crossbow. And here are their results. Xantu takes an arrow through the shoulder with a crit. Six damage. The final three buccaneers in that particular group have run just about as far as they can, fairly careless of making themselves a target, and are still not in range. 

Has this attracted the attention of the defenders? [d6] Five. Yes. Alright, I have been dealing with damage from the defenders in a very arbitrary and unscientific way, but now I might need to roll a different oracle. Did any of the buccaneers get hit during their turn? Yes and two of them got hit. A hit on a buccaneer from a normal arrow is normally a kill, so I'll just roll one further oracle. Are both of them dead? No. 

So one buccaneer is wounded with a nick and the other buccaneer is down. The Buccaneers have no spellcasting capability on this wing, and of course, none of them got to melee. And so we head on to declarations for the next round. 

Here's a WIS check from Ingle. A very nice six, very comfortably under his excellent wisdom. So he has been able to keep an eye on his comrades and is aware that first of all Xantu may need some healing. So he's going to call. Eryn herself is going to close on Xantu so that there is a decent three-person front line. As for the Buccaneers, the level 4 fighter has committed his people, so he is going to rush towards the front line as well. He's slightly behind the lead now. And those available to charge into melee are going to drop their bows and rush to melee. 

Here's initiative. [d6s] Buccaneers 4, characters 3. 

Let's see if the level 4 fighter can gain the front line. [2d6] Yes he can. There is a full move available to him, and he canters across the ground to charge into Kylie, who does not have a shield ready and has not yet, at this particular point, caught up to Eryn. The Buccaneer fighter cunningly cuts high and low at Kylie, taking her slightly off guard, and [d6] does pierce past her heavy armor since she has no shield, giving her two damage. Taking away the half-wounded Buccaneer, who obviously will not want to rush into combat with one remaining hit point, it seems reasonable to suppose that two of them head to Xantu, two to Eryn, and two to Kylie. Is that correct? [d6] No, and going back to our spray pattern before, a roll of one, they predominantly go towards Eryn. Well, I guess she's pulling aggro. Eryn has three spare hit dice that she can use to guard against stray cuts, but not crits. They are all attacking her at disadvantage: they haven't managed to circle her this round, and there's a lot of dice rolling, so I'll take that away from the mic. 

Right. There is an unconfirmed crit for one damage and a cut for two damage. Eryn in total takes three damage. 

That leaves Xantu, perhaps because he was crouched down, available to pick and choose where he heads. So speaking of heading, it's now the character's bound, and we're going to find out movements. 

[various 2d6 checks on movement]

So Jack, CiedPod two-thirds. Xantu a little over half. Okay, that confirms what I was thinking. Jack has actually circled round. He is now in a position to backstab the level 4 next round, if he's needed. We'll see how Kylie handles herself. And Xantu has simply joined Eryn. In the meantime, we can imagine Ingle closing up to Xantu, ready to heal. 

Faced with six foes, Eryn feels it's probably time to pull out a hit dice, but we'll see how it goes. Here's her longsword attack. [d8] That's going to bounce, and she will use a hit dice. [d8] She rolls a one, potentially a crit, and [d8] confirms it with another one. So that's two hit dice spent, but well spent. She has annihilated two buccaneers - as they are mooks. Here's Xantu's warhammer. [d6] He shatters the knees of a buccaneer, felling him. 

Now Kylie has no ability to change the odds with hit dice, but she can use strength if she does manage to hit home. [d8] Ooh, she rolls a two. So yes, she gets past his chainmail, and her strength makes that a three. I haven't really stopped to double-check my math, but I believe the level 4 fighter was on six hit points. That will drop him to three hit points, and he will definitely be thinking of fleeing. Well, should I say, retreating manfully, or keeping up a brave face in front of his troops. 

That I believe will be the end of the round, and so we move to [declarations and] initiative for the third round of this close-in fighting. 

I don't think there are any major maneuvers to note. CiedPod will snipe at opportune targets, none of which currently exist. Umbert will cast invisibility if he believes no Buccaneer can see him at present. Ingle will heal Xantu if Xantu needs healing, while Kylie intends to crab sideways to Eryn since she didn't quite make it over there last round: if the Buccaneer allows that: in other words, she plans a fighting withdrawal towards Eryn. That's fairly crucial because as we noted last round, Jack is now perfectly placed to slide a short sword into the level 4 fighters' kidneys. 

[d6 Initiatives]

Characters 2, Buccaneers 5. 

Other than noting that the runner reaches the central group this round, we just need to note that the Buccaneers currently have one very wounded level 4 fighter, three unwounded, and one very heavily wounded Buccaneer. And so it's a morale check. [2d6] I roll an 8, which means, not surprisingly, they are going to try to withdraw. Fighting retreat. Now it's the turn of the level four fighter to slightly regret that he does not have spare hit dice to match against the person he's defending against, but he pulls back slowly. And by doing that, he will run into Jack's backstab. But I'll deal with that in Jack's turn. The other three conduct their fighting retreat, up to half their movement. [2d6] Uh no, in fact, that would be one quarter of their movement, so half of a half. Now's the time for Kylie to rather gratefully move cautiously to Eryn's side, checking with her comrades that they are still fine. "Been better" Xantu grumps. And for very tiny movements from all the others just to adjust their position. That brings us to any missiles for the characters, and yes, this is what CiedPod have been waiting for. [d6s] Cied maxes off, uh Pod drops a buccaneer, and Jack's backstab. [Advantage d6] Yep, that's a crit. Jack lances his short sword through the man's back as he tries to pull away from Kylie.

Yes, that leaves us with Eryn and Xantu heading forwards, striking at the retreating couple. [d8,d6 with disadvantage] Xantu maxes off. Eryn kills one Buccaneer. The final point of that round can be said to be a question, an oracle question. Do any further buccaneers get shot at from the wall? [d6] Five, yes. Does that kill them both? [d6] No. Does that wound either of them? [d6] Yes. The buccaneer with only a hit point left is now dead. Umbert does not trigger his invisibility. The buccaneers are all facing him as they are doing a fighting withdrawal.