Teal: The Road Ahead All is going smoothly, your forward scouts are out of sight, only Calador has not been seen all morning long. The road is a little windy and there is a soft, steady uphill grade. There are more small outcroppings of trees to either side of the road, but over the next few miles there were not any campsites lodged inside a ring of trees. Up ahead there is the beginnings of a deeper forest to the left and the road takes a little deeper bend around it, so that the road ahead is obscured. Drifting your way you hear the clanging of metal on metal. Eralinad looks to his wife, and says, "If those two are taking a break from their duty and horsing around...." Agrardon is about to respond, when you hear Christian's voice, "Harper's 'ware!" You have not known him long, but everyyone can hear the pain and stress coming from his cry. Clavel Clavel yells, "Quickly now! We must save them. Watch thy flanks if we are waylaid from the sides. We go in to get them and pull back out to regroup. Shields up, turned toward the forest we shall ride side by side to guard each others' flanks. Tempus aid us!" Clavel unslings his shield from his back, unsheathes his sword and motions to Zeptha to stay close by his side. He then spurs his horse forward, letting the two older Harpers lead the way, not wishing to endanger Zeptha more than necessary, but not daring to let her remain behind on her own, but also knowing that she would never consider abandoning Darrin. Andrew Andrew will ride besides Clavel, following his instructions. As they ride he makes a magical gesture and mutters some words. A shimmering appears in front of him as he casts the Shield Spell. He tries to accompany Clavel. Valimar Valimar is suddenly is jolted from his daydreaming by the cry of Christian.Valimar draw out his dagger as he quickly scan the surrounding area.He pulls the horse to a halt."Friends beware there maybe an ambush",Valimar shout to his companions."Some of us should ride forward but the rest should stay put just in case of ambush.I volunteer to stay and guard the caravan.What say you all???Quick time is of the essence here",Valimar continues.Valimar continue to scan the surrounding area anticipating any ambush that may occur. Clavel Clavel swiftly responds to Valimar's hesitation as he impatiently waits for the group to line up into the special battle formation, "I know there might be an ambush waiting for us, we need ALL our numbers to go in to save them and then we pull out. Shall we leave them there to die?! We must act quickly to surprise the attackers with our numbers. They'll think we are ALL powerful Harpers!" He calls out to the members in line, "Whatever ye do, stay in this defensive formation with shields up and be prepared to withdraw once we get to the boys! Charge!" As the group rounds the bend, Clavel bellows out to Tempus and yells the Harper name. Craelan Craelan quickly draws his sword and a dagger. He scans ahead, and a grim smile crosses his lips, " Ahh, now we see!" he is heard to whisper. His hair is tied back and his boots are tight. He's ready. He kicks his horse to a charge and swings to the inside of the bend to the left. The battle is joined! Methos Methos is quick to nock an arrow to his bow, and prepares to lodge it right between the eyes of the first enemy he sees. A Chilling Sight Just around the bend, around the outcropping of trees, you see a sight that brings a chill to your bones. Christian on the ground. He is desperately attempting to snap the shaft of an arrow lodged in his thigh. Darrin standing over him, dodging a vicious swipe from an orc's mace. Darrin's own battle axe hangs limply to the ground. Three orcs lay dead around them, and three more are dead near the forest's edge. Darrin's horse lies unmoving behind them, and Christian's horse is nowhere to be found. Bodies, dressed as the harpers beside you, riding leathers and cloaks, hanging upside down, bloodied and battered, from the trees in the forest. Dozens more orcs rushing from the forest right at the two youth's. The orc swings his mace down at Christian, and somehow Darrin's axe comes up awkwardly, but blocks the attack, and Christian reaches under the crossed weapons, to slide his sword into the orc's throat. Darrin grabs Christian with his left hand, and they turn and hobble towards you, there backs to the oncoming orcs. But they are going as fast as they can, and you are sure they know about the oncoming orcs. It is now that you see that Darrin's riding leathers are moist and his right arm hangs weakly while carrying his weapon and on his forehead blood leaks from a cut into his left eye. The orcs are closing fast. Methos and the harpers let fly their first volley of arrows into the nearest orcs and three more fall, giving you the few seconds you need to reach the boys, but the orcs are right behind them, and within five feet of striking out at them with their weapons. Then a loud ominous crash comes from the forest. Note.... there are at least two dozen orcs rushing you. Darrin and Christian are within arm's reach should you desire to draw them onto your mounts, but the orcs are probably gonna get a shot at them. There are other prisoners in the trees, and some might still be alive and then there's the crash. Clavel Clavel yells out to the boys, "Under the horses lads! And safely mount behind!" He points for them to scramble under his horse and then mount the horses that are behind him and shielded from the orcs. Slashing out at the front line of orcs, he yells "Stay in defensive formation!" And then bellows, "TEMPUS! Come to our aid!" OOC: Once the lads mount safely, Clavel shall give the signal for a quick mounted withdrawal IF the road is clear and not blocked by chopped trees. IF it isn't clear he'll yell out to the group the direction towards which they should withdraw. If the enemy leader is sighted... Clavel yells, "Shoot down their leader!" Valimar Valimar now sensing the dangerous situation faced by Darrin and Christian.He quickly searches his mind for a spell to save them.Suddenly you can see Valimar is muttering something and gesturing in the air.Instantly you can see colorful wisp of energy forming around his hand. OOC: Valimar will cast a sleep spell targetted behind the nearest orcs to Darrin and Christian.He will target the spell so that it would never affect Darrin or Christian. Craelan Craelan throws his dagger at the orc closest to reaching Darrin, And he will charge the orcs closest to the fallen companions, sword swinging. OOC: The thrown dagger is at the face of the orc, to distract him if not kill him. Then I will stay atop my mount and attempt to cut off the charging orcs from reaching Darrin, Longsword swinging. Injure or kill or both. Valimar Valimar will try to cast sleep on the orc chasing Darrin and Christian.Targetting the spell to the back of the orc so that only the orc will be within the area of effect.Valimar will then focus his attention on where the crashing sound is coming from.If there is any spellcaster,Valimar will target it with a magic missile to disturb opponent spellcasting.Valimar will also use the magic missile on anyone that appears to be the leader of the orc.Valimar will try to blind any opponent that appear to be advancing toward him with his light spell.Valimar will try to keep out of melee attack if possible.If drawn to melee he will try to blind opponent or charm it first before fighting with his dagger. Clavel As the boys scramble for cover and Valimar murmurs a spell at the front line of orcs... Clavel notices from the corner of his eye Craelan throw his dagger and then ready himself for a charge. Seeing that Craelan might get in the way of Valimar's spell, he reaches out to restrain him, saying, "Ye'll get in the way of Valimar's spell!" Andrew As the orcs approach, Andrew makes a gesture and shouts magical words preparing as many spells as he can to hit the orcs. He keeps his Shield spell. He points his hand towards the nearest orcs and releases as many magic missiles as he can. He listened to Clavel's orders. He shouts: "Valimar, hit them with as many spells as you can" Clavel Clavel then whips out the dagger he has strapped within his shield, aiming at the face of one of the onrushing brutes, wishing to slow their charge. Clavel - AC 3 HP 8 Clavel is mounted (as are the others) so he gains +1 to his attack roll (combat modifier for higher ground). He is also specialized in the longsword, +1/+2. Strength gives him +1 DAM. dagger thac0 22 dam 1d4 longsword thac0 18 dam 1d8+3 Bonus attacks with longsword: 3/2 spiked glove thac0 19 dam 1d4+1 The fist is faster than the longsword. So, I'd think that the attack rate would be greater than 3/2... 2/1 as per the dagger's ROF? What do you think? But because, Clavel chooses to hang onto his sword, while punching the orcs beside his horse, the attack rate would be as per the longsword 3/2. IF and when the first line of orcs is eradicated, Clavel shall signal a withdrawal, UNLESS if the tide of battle really changes drastically to his side's favor, let's say the enemy leader is killed, the noise from the forest is our saviour, etc. There should be enough time to withdraw (mounted) safely with shields up (there are too many orcs to persist with the fight, there might be more and the crash might be something even more sinister. But Clavel plans to return (within the hour), once he heals the boys, for a surprise guerilla attack to save the prisoners). If possible, Clavel will try to make his horse kick at the oncoming orcs, when the boys are out of harm's way. They should be mounting the horses that aren't in the forefront... Zeptha's horse and Andrew's. If the orcs manage to engage them before withdrawal is possible, he shall use his longsword. If the orcs get too close for Clavel to swing his longsword effectively at them, he'll slam them with his spiked fist (still hanging on to his sword). Note that he wields the sword with his spiked fist and holds the shield with his left hand. Due to his riding proficiency, he can fight two handedly. Thus, he would be able to block attacks with his shield and swing his longsword when openings are found. -- -- Die rolls: 20 (thrown dagger), 13, 20, 19, 9 Valimar p9565535@sp.ac.sg requested that 5 rolls of a 20-sided die be rolled. Roll them bones ... your dice are Roll 1: 19. Roll 2: 8. Roll 3: 16. Roll 4: 16. Roll 5: 16. I've roll the 5 20 sided dice on Irony Games dice server.I thought it would be for both of us.Anyway here are the things you wanted.Hope it is enough........:) Valimar dagger AC 10 with armor spell base AC 8-2=6(adj due to dex) thaco 20 -2(adj due to dex) damage 1d4 Craelan: Longsword, specialized: +1 to hit/+2 to damage Daggers Armor Class: 6 20, 7, 6, 14, 14 THACO: 20 (str+1, spec+1) +18 round one round two Andrew Magic Missile same Methos longsword same Craelan dagger thrown longsword Clavel dagger thrown longsword Valimar sleep spell same Agrardon morningstar same Eralinad Broadsword same Fiowyn shortsword same Uneldur shortsword same round one... the boys, fear evident on their features, don't look back, they just dive under Clavel's horse, rolling to the backside of the horses A sizzling bolt flies from Andrew's hand and strikes one orc dead and Valimar's spell drops three of them to the ground where they are trampled by the oncoming line. Craelan and Clavel both strike different orcs with their dagger throws and both find the mark, both orcs falling to the ground as well. Methos slashes at another orc and cuts write through the leather like hide like it was butter, and the orcs begin to fall back, causing all of the harpers to miss. There is a shout from a rather nasty looking Orc in the midst of the bunch. He is surrounded by three more orcs, who are all glaring and walking calmly amidst the chaos, towards you. The remaining orcs push forward again, though none were within range to strike you in that round. results, seven more orcs dead(about 17 left, including the leader and his assistants) You hear a battlecry from behind the orcs, and see the figure of Calador clumping out of the forest charging for the leader and his bodyguard. Eralinad calls out, finish them, as Clavel points out the leader. the boys are having difficulty mounting.(Andrew is spell casting and really can't help them up, and Zeptha can only assist one. The boys are trying to help each other up, not wanting to be the one on the horse while the other one is on the ground.) You clearly hear Christian yelling, "Get on the horse damn it. I'm not hurt as badly as you!" the orcs caught by the sleep spell, are trampled as the orcs try to get in close) round two Your spellcasters are awesome. Valimar fells five more and Andrew slays another one. Methos again slices right through an orcs defense and kills another. Clavels swing is good enough to strike down another, though Craelan misses clean And Fiowyn and Uneldur both hack down an orc a piece. Two of the assistants close the gap with Calador, and the leader calls a quick retreat into the forest for the remaining orcs that are alive. There are only seven left... Two going towards Calador, and five running for the forest. There are five sleeping orcs on the ground ahead of you. Darrin and Christian are still hanging on to each other, with Zeptha hovering over them, her dagger drawn protectively, (she holds it like she's got a butcher knife that she's gonna bury in a block of wood) Round Three Andrew As the orcs approach Calador, Andrew cries: "Watch out Calador!". Then he shouts a magic word and another energy bolt flies towards the two orcs approaching his friend. Calador The pain of the woman dead at my foot. I hear a sound calling watch out Calador. I look with hate in my eyes as drag my leg calling the orcs " I am sending all of you to hell, If I don't they will." I stop and draw my dagger from my boot and let it fly with ease. Ready my sword and wait for the orc with sword in hand. Start to yell die monsters DIE! Long sword, AC:1 without shield 17, 8, 15, 18, 12 thaco 20 1st level or is it 19 dam 1d8+1str. Clavel Clavel shouts to the others, Charge them down!" and casts a swift spell, throwing three red, pulsing objects after the five fleeing orcs. But he himself remains behind to tie up the five sleeping orcs, first making sure that the dead ones are indeed dead with a quick prod from his longsword. He says to Zeptha and the boys who remain behind with him, "'Ware the sleeping orcs," and gestures to them to keep away. Round Three Results Calador's thrown dagger drops a nearing orc, and Andrew's bolt takes down the other. Agrardon and company spur their horses at the remaining orcs along with Methos, Craelan and Valimar. Valimar and Agrardon both fell a fleeing orc, Agrardon's morningstar slices through the back of one assistant. The Orc's try to veer into the forest. Round four Eralinad, Uneldur and Craelan are each quick to polish off an orc before they can try to shake pursuit amongst the beginnings of a large forest. The Forest of Death The harpers cry out as one, bemoaning the fate of these poor trees. All quickly join the search for anyone still living, and out of a dozen, one is barely breathing. Uneldur calls out, "It is Sarij. Help me get him down." You are all quick to get the moon elf to the ground, his long silver gray hair hangs down towards the ground bound with a soft ribbon of black. His black shirt is ripped where an arrow cut him down through the ribs, and a trail of blood trickles from a cut on his throat. His eyes flutter at your touch. No other harpers are alive to tell the tale.