Encounter 1: The Feast of All Souls

[PhaedrusXY]

Here is the map of where most of the party is at (the black spots are you guys. I didn't label anyone, or place Xuusovic's "posse"):


Here is a map of where Ris-Janna and Marlowe faced off against the vicious chicken of Bristol bat:


And here is the map of the goblin "village". (It is actually a couple of lodges, probably previously "owned" by the druids that live(d?) in this forest, but now ruined by the goblins.)


They should be aligned that order from West (left) to East (right), as marked on them individually. Teflamm is back to the West from the "party" map.

[PhaedrusXY]

I placed the bat a bit closer than I said in the text. Let's say it is currently in Q10 (40 feet from Ris-Janna and Marlowe), but is headed to where I have it drawn on the map (20 feet from M and 15 from R-J). You can throw your daggers at it anywhere along that path that you want to. The bat has cover from the tree leaves and limbs all along that flight path, though.

I'll list initiatives here in this post, and you all can post your combat actions and rolls in this thread till the encounter is over.


Initiatives:

Marlowe 24
Ris-Janna 23
Khammeck, Ghoulish Weretiger 23
Cade 21
Rauol 20
Hannavrah, Vampiric Harpy 19
Oggug, Ghoulish Cloaker 18
Oaxool, Vampiric Cloaker 18
Xuuvosic 16
Sejanus 15
Uvorix, Ghoulish Cloaker 14
Shlurshech, Vampiric Psurlon 12
Siphsis, Vampiric Yuan-ti Halfblood 10
Kaemarah, Ghoulish Green Hag 9

[HeadofVecna]

Here's initiative for the posse:
Xuuvosic 16
Oggug, Ghoulish Cloaker 18
Uvorix, Ghoulish Cloaker 14
Oaxool, Vampiric Cloaker 18
Kaemarah, Ghoulish Green Hag 9
Hannavrah, Vampiric Harpy 19
Shlurshech, Vampiric Psurlon 12
Khammeck, Ghoulish Weretiger 23
Siphsis, Vampiric Yuan-ti Halfblood 10

Default orders are for Oggug to stay on Xuuvosic's back readying to engulf and release. Uvorix flies over the largest grouping of other party members also readying to engulf/release. Kaemarah's default is to maintain everyone's invisibility, and to join combat if Xuuvosic attacks or is attacked. Shlurshech's is to relay communications and position information, attacking with Mind Fog and Dominate Person if Xuuvosic attacks or is attacked. The others are all set to attack with their most powerful reusable abilities (nausea and fear moans for Oaxool, captivating song for Hannavrah, pounce/rake for Khammeck, and bow for Siphsis) once either Xuuvosic attacks/is attacked or if more than half of the other PCs attack.

[Agita]

Step back for a bit... the bat might notice you... if you can't hide from it. And you don't want to get blood on your fancy suit. After sending the mental warning to Marlowe, Ris-Janna takes a step into the shadow of the tree next to her, vanishing and reappearing on a thick branch further up the tree. A slight miscalculation causes her to lose her balance a little as she appears on top of the branch, but she manages to keep herself from falling. Due to the misstep, her first dagger silently flies past its target, embedding itself in some tree trunk. The second, however, strikes true and sticks in the bat's body.

RJ teleports onto a branch 10 ft. up as a Swift action w/ Anklet of Translocation. Ideally, this branch is somewhere around M7. This should put her into melee range of the bat when it comes round. However, she won't attack during the surprise round, because a single attack might not kill it and I'm sure it won't keep flying into its doom if it's attacked.

Balance (1d20+16=18)
*kicks IC*
Oh well, that means she can't move on the branch for one round, I guess (since she only failed by 1).

Surprise round: Attack!
Attack 1, damage 1; attack 2, damage 2 (1d20+16=17, 1d4+2d6+7=19, 1d20+16=36, 1d4+2d6+7=17)
Crit confirm, crit extra damage (1d20+16=32, 1d4+7=11)

Bah, forgot to power attack. If possible, subtract 5 from the confirm roll (the other two auto-miss or hit anyway, respectively) and +10 or +20 to the crit damage (confirm or not confirm). If you want to rule I can't apply PA retroactively, I understand.

Also, RJ now has no ranged capacity because she threw away her weapons and will need to rely on Unarmed Strikes until she gets them back.

[PhaedrusXY]

With the Tome TWF, you can attack twice per round as a std action. So you could make two attacks in the surprise round. I don't know if that changes anything or not. Go ahead and roll attacks and damage (for both the surprise round and normal round, if you reconsider).

[Kuroimaken]

Initiative, deeeeeeewd! <3 (1d20+2=18) Why is it I ALWAYS roll high when it doesn't matter...

[PhaedrusXY]

Ok.... show time.  

The bat disappears into a fine mist as Ris-Janna's second dagger splits it into two pieces. Following so quickly that it almost seems like it happened simultaneously, there is a piercing scream heard from the village, and what sounds like a call to arms in goblin (anyone speak goblin?). You can hear the clanking of weapons being drawn, and lots of confused but angry voices rising like the sound of a bee hive that's been kicked over.

Edit: Since there are 50+ goblins, I'm just going to have them act on all initiatives, spread out evenly. So 2 to 3 will act on initiative 21 (the max they can roll given their stats), 2 or 3 more will act on 20, 2 or 3 more on 21, and so on. That's about what would happen statistically, and it is a hell of a lot easier than rolling it all out.

I'll also do their attacks like that, if 20+ of them attack in a round, and by comparing that spectrum vs. the target(s) ACs, figure out how many would have hit on average. I'm not going to bother with confirming crits from them. I'm also going to just use average damage for them.

Sound reasonable? I haven't looked over the "war game" in the Tome series, nor the official rules for mass combat. I probably should have...

[Agita]

...Fuck. The bat was an alarm or something... okay, so we stick with it? I and the square take out someone who looks like the leader while the gorilla punches little people in the face or something? And... whatever it is the octopus does.
With a flick of her hands, Ris-Janna calls her daggers back to her hand, but she stays where she is to avoid revealing her position.

I almost thought that something like this might happen, but I thought it wouldn't if I killed it in one shot. Drat.
So, Plan A "kill it before it notices us" fails. On to Plan B?

Also, looking at my character sheet again, it seems I wrote down "2x Lesser Crystal of Return" instead of "2x Least Crystal of Return" as I had thought. This means I can get the daggers back as a move action each if they're within 30. Joy!

[PhaedrusXY]

Updated the 2nd post with initiatives. Still need one for Sejanus. Marlowe is up, then Ris-Janna, the were-tiger, Cade and a few goblins, and Raoul. We'll resolve the rest after that. I'm guessing there will be a lot fewer goblins by then.

[Bozwevial]

Reserved for what will most likely be my initiative (unless Sejanus goes first).

[VennDygrem]

Cade waits until after Raoul's actions, then moves as quickly and precisely as he can to help against the oncoming horde, mindful that Raoul is likely to set off a blast to take several of them out at once.

<<I'm going to move on ahead; I don't want Ris-Janna and Marlowe to be set upon by all of those goblins at once, if I can help it. Raoul, if you're going to let off a blast to take out a lot of them, let me know where you're going to set it off so I'm not right in the middle of the blast. If it can't be helped, then I can at least try to lure a group of them into place for you.>>

[Kuroimaken]

<<Got it. Just stay away from the masses, help me pick off the stragglers.>> Raoul offers simply.

"Tenkai ni muteki. Chikyuu ni muteki. Meikai ni muteki. Waga meirei wo yoku kike. Nissen shinin no sakebu kikasete! Bakuretsu kousatsuhou, KAENDAMA!!"

As Raoul's words grew in intensity, so did the sparks on the hilt of the sword that seemingly leaped onto his hand of its own accord. Runes flared to life, forming the words of a poem that none of the victims would ever learn before their lives were mercilessly snuffed. With a deafening roar, a sudden blast of extremely hot air detonated and washed over the filthy goblin masses, catching a few worgs in the process.

Can you guess what spell it is? I know it's not the best, but I'll be darned if it's not the coolest way to open a fight.   Also, IC is down. 7d6 damage, DC 19 Reflex save. Center of the blast is right on top of the two worgs at L9 and M10, assuming they're all still there in the same position by the time I cast it.

EDIT: Come to think of it, I'll get more gobbos if I center the blast on the two gobbos at L8, M8 plus the worg at L9, respectively.

[PhaedrusXY]

You guys know the main group of you is still about 180 feet away from the edge of the goblin village, right? And Marlowe and Ris-Janna are only like 40 or 50 feet away from it. Raoul can definitely fling a fireball that far, but it will take a bit for Cade to get there, as the terrain is too dotted with trees to flat out run. IC was kind of up. I got 20 for the 7d6, which is doubled due to the Wild Surge to 40 (ouchiee). How much is added from your Edge feature?

I should probably roll some kind of percentage to see if you hit a tree before the village.... lol, but let's just go with it for now.

Cade begins making his way through the thick forest as quickly as he can, and a small red bead flies from Raoul's sword, and detonates in the middle of the goblin horde. He can feel the energies surge chaotically as he struggles to control them, and as he releases it he feels the spell pull upon the ambient energies around him to fuel itself beyond its normal effect.

Worg saves:

1d20+6 ? [18,6] = (24)
1d20+6 ? [2,6] = (8)
1d20+6 ? [1,6] = (7)

You can hear the screams and the smell of burning flesh washes over Marlowe and Ris-Janna.

[VennDygrem]

I'm well aware how far we are. I just want to get as close as I can in a round, thus no other actions but moving.

[PhaedrusXY]

I went ahead and resolved Raoul's stuff because I think it will happen before anyone else is in a position to do anything that would change it.

The sounds coming from the village have changed from roars of anger to howls of pain and fear mostly. You can also hear the yelping of worgs in pain, as their hair catches on fire from the blast.

Ris-Janna and Marlowe can hear goblins begin storming into the forest near where they are, also.

We'll say the two worgs it was centered on take the worst and fail their saves, and are dead. The worg that made its save is still alive, but the psurlon tells you that the goblins in that area are all dead.

[Bozwevial]

Marlowe squints through the darkness for the furthest goblin he can target reliably, a grin stretching his face that would unnerve anyone who had seen him earlier.

Study for a death attack!

If there's a goblin within 60 feet, I'm studying the furthest one within that range. If not, I'm studying the closest goblin instead.

This is, of course, assuming I can actually see a goblin at this point. If not, I will simply delay until after Ris-Janna.

[PhaedrusXY]

Marlowe, you can one goblin each come from the NE and SE of you towards your position, and they are moving as fast as possible through this kind of terrain. While you watch, they weave through the trees and denser ground cover, and stop directly under where the bat was killed, and where Ris-Janna is perched in a tree above them.

They see the dead bat, and start carefully looking around. Although you are close enough to literally touch the first one, they don't see you. They're both armed with morning stars gripped with two hands, and they look both angry and afraid at the same time. You can hear more entering the woods behind them. You guess these two are probably quicker and braver than they are smart.

They end their movement at L6 and M7, so one is adjacent to you. This happens on initiative 21, but you could see them both before they started their movement, as you are close enough to see just into the edge of the village. There will be more before everyone's actions are resolved, though. These are just the first ones you see that you could study for a death attack.

[Bozwevial]

I believe I'll study M7, then.

<You take the one below you, I'll keep the other from escaping.> Marlowe relays this thought to Ris-Janna, silently pointing his crossbow at the furthest goblin.

[PhaedrusXY]

Ok, I think we're down to Xuusovic's posse and Sejanus, and the goblins, on initiative. Since only Raul and Ris-Janna have attacked, that's less than half the PCs. So per their instructions Oaxool, Hannavrah, Khammeck, and Siphsis are awaiting Xuusovic's, or another PC's, attacks before they attack themselves.

You hear the beating of wardrums, and six more goblins and a worg enter the forest from the northwest corner of the village, and make their way to the small clearing near Marlowe and Ris-Janna (at R9 and R10). (They are spread out along the "trail" as far back as T6 and T7.) Half of these goblins have longspears instead of morningstars.

The worg is much faster than the goblins. It pushes ahead of them, and walks right up to Marlowe, with its nose twitching, and begins growling at him (it's at K7). Then it says in a gravelly voice "Food here", and it smiles wickedly.

I'm going with the interpretation that Pass without Trace does not remove scent from your person, it merely removes it from your tracks. It says it prevents tracking (and tracking by scent), not that it prevents detection by scent. IIRC, there are other spells that completely remove your scent. So this means that while you are within 30 feet of a creature with scent (or 15 feet downwind), it can detect you. If you move beyond that, it can no longer smell you. It could move around and try to get within 30 feet of you again, though. But it couldn't track you to do so. It would have to guess where you moved to.

I had the worg (and goblins) move right up to your guys' positions because the paths through the forest that aren't difficult terrain are limited, and the goblins (and worg) were told where the bat was by the bat's master (it was a familiar, and I think the "has the same connection to a place that its familiar does" line means that the master basically knows where the familiar is at).

When the goblins got close to that area, they could see the bat. And you guys basically hadn't moved. So when the worg came through, it passed within 5 feet of Marlowe and could automatically pinpoint his position with Scent.

Sound fair? I don't want you to think I'm metagaming, and I don't think I am. If I'm overlooking anything, like something that would prevent the worg from detecting Marlowe, let me know. It's hard to keep up with all your abilities.

Cade gets to R7/R8 on the first map (the one he started on) with a double move. He still can't make what's going on around Ris-Janna and Marlowe visually, but the psurlon is giving constant position updates to everyone telepathically. So you all know that there are several enemies approaching them, with some directly adjacent to Marlowe.

[Agita]

Forget the gobbos... that dog can smell you or something. Dropping from her place in the trees, Ris-Janna lands just behind the wolf-beast and stabs her daggers into its hide with one fluid motion.

Move: Drop down to the ground so RJ can flank the worg with Marlowe. Since it has Scent, I assume it wouldn't be flat-footed against her either. Auto-succeed on Jump/Tumble to negate 10 ft. worth of falling damage.

Standard: Attack the flanked worg with full power attack retinue!
1d20+13=32, 1d4+2d6+10=19, 1d20+13=28, 1d4+2d6+10=23
Another crit? Are you serious?  Should I even bother rolling the extra damage?
Crit confirm, extra damage (1d20+13=27, 1d4+10=11)

Swift: Hide from all flat-footed enemies with Cloak of Shadows.
Hide (1d20+26=42)