001 The Road to the Ruins

[Rex]

Zennys

Zennys stays still and tries to hide. She also readies her Sling as she watches Linder.

[ybn1197]

Daerrin pulls his crossbow off his back and slots a bolt into the bow. He says a quick prayer to Moradin and prepares himself for whatever comes next.

[joertexas]

Carsta lays her quarterstaff and shield on the ground, and brings up her crossbow.

[Eris]

OOC: Okay, collected posts, so here we go!

"None of our party died here, but those might be their bodies. I'll check it out." says Linder pulling his weapon and advancing slowly, eyes open for an ambush. He's not rushing in, but not stopping either.

Zennys stays still and tries to hide in plain sight. She's a halfling, after all! She also readies her Sling as she watches Linder move cautiously forward.

de Francisco holds up his hands to have everyone halt and pull his light crossbow and readies it.

Hellebore nudges the tiny owl to wake it. The owl takes wing, flying a circle high in the sky, while Hellebore's eyes go glassy. She is looking down on the road from above now, curling over the thick woods to either side. She see movement, slight, but there! There is a goblin behind a log on the left side of the path! Looking closely as she circles she sees another, then another, then two more on the left side. Now the owl circles back over the party on the road and toward the right side...

Vesper gladly siped the proffered tea. Tea being one of her favorite things, a balm to nearly all ills. Fully refreshed she set out with a spring in her step. A spring that dissipates at the sight before them. She stands still aware of the unnatural silence slipping her bow from her shoulder. Her sharp ears pick out a slight rustle of leaves somewhere ahead and out to her right.

Arram , the priest, readies his crossbow and keep his eyes peeled at the rear of the group. If this is an ambush, not only will the attack come from the sides, but the rear as well...that's what he would do, anyway!

Frank says to Eudoxos, "Flank right!" as he nocks an arrow on his bow string and then moves to the left and into the wood next to the path.

Everything is quiet for a few moments as Linder continues forward, then there is a whiz as an arrow comes flying out of the brush to your left toward Linder! (To Hit: [1d20+2]=18+2=20) A slight rustle caught Linder's ear just before the arrow came flying and he ducked, (Damage: [1d6]=1) saving himself from a worse hit as the arrow grazed his arm as it passed. One arrow fired

For a second all is quiet, then you hear a smattering of harsh words (curses if you understand Goblin) coming from either side of the path. This is followed by a hail of arrows fired (Six arrows fired) toward
Linder (To Hit: [1d20+2]=8+2=10 Dam: [1d6]=2), <-- a miss
Zennys (Hit: [1d20+2]=16+2=18 Dam:[1d6]=6) <-- a hit
and de Francisco (Hit: [1d20+2]=14+2=16 Dam:[1d6]=4)! <-- a hit

OOC: I'm shortcutting the attack in this way for this attack. To Hit is 1d20 plus 1 for each arrow fired at a target, if a hit is achieved the damage is 1d6 total.

Now everyone roll Initiative!

[terrymixon]

Linder

"Ambush!"



Linder will back up, pull his bow, and cover the fighters by firing at the goblins.

[ateno]

Init [1d20+4]=10+4=14

de Francisco

[Rex]

Zennys

Zenny tries to spot one of the attackers.

Initiative [1d20+3]=4+3=7

[shaidar]

Arram looks around for a target

Initiative: [1d20]=18

[Marullus]

"There!" Hellebore points out their locations precisely to everyone, "Five goblins on the lefthand side!"

After yelling her warning, she will continue to scry this turn to make sure she's checked the right side, too.

[joertexas]

Carsta trains her crossbow to the left, looking for a target.

[ybn1197]

Daerrin trains his crossbow on the area indicated by Hellebore.

[Marullus]

Initiative [1d20+3]=17+3=20

They already fired a volley of six arrows on us, so you actually know the location of all six of those to return fire. Or to charge them and bind up their bows.

The last GM post implied i needed to spend another round to finish identifying those hiding (all who shot are no longer hiding), otherwise I will post an action.

[ybn1197]

Initiative [1d20+3]=17+3=20

They already fired a volley of six arrows on us, so you actually know the location of all six of those to return fire. Or to charge them and bind up their bows.

The last GM post implied i needed to spend another round to finish identifying those hiding (all who shot are no longer hiding), otherwise I will post an action.

Thanks for that Marullus, I was a little confused on the issue.

Daerrin trains his crossbow on the area indicated by Hellebore.

Daerrin pulls out his warhammer and charges at the goblin's location.

[Darithe]

Vesper

At the sight of arrows flying, Vesper drops her teacup cursing at the sight of spilled tea. Readying her bow she nocks an arrow and looks for the archers.

Initiative Roll: [1d20]=14

[Eris]

Round 1

Hardcore calls for Group Initiative...I rolled a 4 for the monsters, the lowest any of you rolled was a 5, so Players won Initiative so all PC's go first, and you can also coordinate your moves. This Round everything is based on your individual init rolls and posts, but in future I'll roll both sides Init and let you know who goes first. Remember you can coordinate the order you go too so as to apply tactics enhance your abilities.

I'll process this round based on your posts, and the response from the monsters. Read what is posted here and decide how and in what order you wish to respond for Round 2.

OOC: Some of you didn't actually give me a straightforward action, so I'm going to make assumptions this time only, in future if I don't see what you're attempting to do your PC will be doing nothing. So, please state what your PC is attempting to do even if I just ask for initiative and like Daerrin you can make changes based on new knowledge. Oh, and I really would like to have your Character Sheets in the Character Sheet thread!


Linder backs up, pulls his bow, and covers the fighters by firing at the goblins on the left side of the path. He can't see them well, but he knows where they fired from. His arrow whizzes into the brush and he hears a grunt, it hit someone!

"There!" Hellebore points out their locations precisely to everyone, "Five goblins on the left hand side!" She continues to scry through her familiar to the right side of the path and is shocked to see 2 more Goblins there, armed with bows!

At the sight of arrows flying, Vesper drops her teacup cursing at the sight of spilled tea. Readying her bow she nocks an arrow and looks for the archers. Hearing Hellebores shout she looks left and sees a Goblin in the brush standing to get off another shot. She fires, but her arrow misses its target and thunks in to a tree trunk behind the monster!

Carsta trains her crossbow to the left, looking for a target and like Vesper, sees the same Goblin. Her bolt likewise misses the Goblin!

Arram looks around for a target. He sees Goblins on the left side of the path up ahead. They are shooting at Linder, Zennys and de Francisco. From the back he can't reach the Goblins this Round and is still worried about an attack from the rear...

Daerrin pulls out his warhammer and charges at the goblin's location. His charge passes those ahead of him as he closes on the monster readying its arrow! Swinging his heavy warhammer like it is nothing Daerrin smites the Goblin (7hp) and runs over it's body as it falls dead on the ground! From where he stands now, crashing through the brush, Daerrin sees two more Goblins ahead of him. One continues to ready a arrow in it's short bow, but the other drops it's bow and pulls up a short sword to defend against Daerrin's charge!

de Francisco fires his crossbow in the general direction of where the arrows had come. He thinks he hit one, but can't be sure. Dropping his crossbow he scampers forward into the brush to get out of the line of fire and find an opponent to use his rapier on! As he enters the brush he sees two Goblins down, one with a pair of arrows in its torso. Daerrin is charging forward towards a third. He sees 3 more all with short bows readying arrows Near him!

Zenny tries to spot one of the attackers and sees a Goblin standing in the brush readying another arrow! Her immediate reaction is to hurl a dagger at that Goblin...a miss! She then moves into the brush for cover and hides. Once in the brush she sees several Goblins Near her. Daerrin comes crashing past her killing one Goblin and continuing forward toward another. On her other side, she sees a wounded Goblin fall as a second arrow strikes it in the chest, then de Francisco rushes past her to confront the Goblins with his rapier. Zennys is in position to attempt to sneak around one of the Goblins for a backstabbing attack if she wants to.

Round 2 Initiative:
PCs: [1d20+5]=19+5=24 Goblins: [1d20]=18

PC's win! You go first. It is 5/30 4pm, work out what you're doing and post it by 6/1 1pm.
---
Monster Stats:

Left side
Goblin 1 7/0 13ac StBow
Goblin 2 7/0 13ac StBow
Goblin 3 7/7 13ac StBow ShSword
Goblin 4 7/7 13ac StBow
Goblin 5 7/7 13ac StBow
Goblin 6 7/7 13ac StBow

Right side
Goblin 7 7/7 13ac StBow
Goblin 8 7/7 13ac StBow

[ateno]

de Francisco sees the 3 with reading bows.

He makes a quick decision and runs behind the three goblins. whacking them with the rapier and causing confusion so they cannot shoot.

"Over here! Three."

de Francisco

[Marullus]

Her senses returning to her excited, tiny blonde form, Hellebore yells, "...and two more on the right, I got 'em!"

She runs forward in that direction, points her staff and intones, "Boom!" as a concussion wave flattens the grass, scatters their cover, and sends the goblins flying.

Thunderwave: [1d20+7]=6+7=13 vs 11, [2d8]=9 damage, pushed 10' away, 15' cube, Con save vs 13 for half

[joertexas]

Carsta reloads her crossbow and looks for another target.

[Rex]

Zennys

Zennys tries to slip unseen behind one of the goblins and backstab it.

Stealth [1d20+5]=1+5=6
Natural 1. That didn't go well.

Paired Short Swords [1d20+5]=2+5=7 [1d20+5]=14+5=19 to hit [1d6+3]=5+3=8 [1d6+3]=6+3=9 damage

[Marullus]

Sneak attacking...

You don't actually have to 'sneak around behind and backstab.' That often got really weird narratively in earlier editions, so is simplified a bit in 5e here.

Beginning at 1st level, you know how to strike subtly and exploit a foe’s distraction. Once per turn, you can deal an extra 1d6 damage to one creature you hit with an attack if you have advantage on the attack roll. The attack must use a finesse or a ranged weapon.

You don’t need advantage on the attack roll if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it, that enemy isn’t incapacitated, and you don’t have disadvantage on the attack roll.

So, you need one of two conditions met:

• You have advantage
• Your foe's attention is on fighting an ally

...you can also used ranged and there's no friendly fire, so you can shoot the goblin that is drawing its sword as Daerrin looms over it, for example.

You can get Advantage from:

• A successful Sneak roll (i.e. actual backstabbing). "Sneak" is an action and would technically replace your attack as you get into position (much like the old 'move silently') and is necessary to get a surprise round, which also gives advantage.
• Usually in 5e, a Rogue moves normally in a fight and then uses a roll to "Hide" before attacking instead (or attacking-then-hiding so you they have disadvantage to hit you the rest of the round and you get advantage for being hidden the next round), which is granted as a Bonus Action using your Cunning Action ability at second level. So, basically, Move, Bonus Action Hide, Action Attack, as one round... as long as there is something narratively to hide behind. As a Lightfoot Halfling, your unique special ability is you can hide behind any medium-sized creature, including your own foe! (I always imagine the ogre turning in circles saying "where did it go?") This is designed to overcome that limitation.
• Someone else distracting your foe with a Help action (a typical use of a familiar like the owl)
• Your Steady Aim ability (which you got at 3rd level) - Spend your Bonus Action and your Move and get Advantage on a ranged attack.