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The source of the smoke soon becomes apparent to those awake as the air grows warmer and the sound of crackling fire can be heard in the distance. Far off to the west, an orange glow can indeed be spotted.... the direction you happen to be traveling towards.

Flynn, sensing the sudden tension, awakens and sits up. His eyes go to the prisoner in the wagon first, then his comrades. "What is amiss?" he says rubbing his tired eyes.

"It burns, we must be careful not to get caught by it." Eric says

Mehath will pack up his stuff so if he needs to move quickly he can.

The town you are heading towards is still a day or so away on foot, the forest is the only thing on fire as far as you know.

Flynn notices that the two spellcasters that are bound in the wagons are starting to squirm and try to break free, sensing that they too are in danger of getting caught in the approaching flames.

The Iron Glade man, having only caught a few hours of respite, wakes suddenly and shouts in fright. Sweating profusely, he looks around and quickly takes in the situation, much to his horror. "It's just like the nightmare. The flames, they bring the beasts with them!" He trembles and reaches for his sword, looking around frantically.

The air is assailed with the smell of something else as the flames burn closer, brimstone and something.... evil. You didn't know evil had a smell, until now. As you all assume your defensive positions and make your preparations to retreat or fight, the source of the forest fire emerges.

The smoldering bushes part and reveal a pack (x4) of solidly built hounds with rust-red fur, glowing orange fangs, and an aura of soot and ash radiating off of their charred black skin.
The battle map will be made by tomorrow, if not tomorrow then the day after. Not sure how my holiday plans will be unfolding.

The hounds are roughly within 100 ft of the group. The pack is positioned at various points, some a bit closer to the carts and campsite than the others (60 ft).

I imagined the battle map to be an open space just within the forest's perimeter. The hounds are currently in the foliage surrounding the open space to the west, north, and south. The battle map would make this a bit more clear with a square grid being used for accurate measurement.

Here's a quick bare-bones sketch of what I had in mind. The greens strokes are trees and the lightning bolts are the hounds. I will have a more refined and cleaned up version posted soon, either later today or tomorrow.

Here is the updated battle map for the forest encampment. This one has more color and a grid to help measure distance. Each square is 10 ft. I have not placed any of your characters, but unless otherwise stated in game, you will be near the campsite. Flynn may be more near the carts as he stated he was checking up on the bound spellcasters.

Elethil narrows his yellow cat-eyes at the hell dogs and attacks.

Long sword (THAC0 16): [1d20+7] = 17+7 = 24, Dmg: [1d8+9] = 2+9 = 11 (S/M) [1d12+9] = 5+9 = 14 (L)
Long sword (THAC0 16): [1d20+7] = 6+7 = 13, Dmg: [1d8+9] = 7+9 = 16 (S/M) [1d12+9] = 3+9 = 12 (L)

I forgot that Elethil's attack rate is 3/2, not 2/round. So I guess the second roll is lost, but I'm including it here in full disclosure.

Flynn will jump onto one of the wagons for higher ground and pull out his bow. Launching at hound closest to the wagons in the north.

Mehath

Shoots his heavy crossbow at the hound closest the cabin.

Heavy Crossbow [1d20+1] = 19+1 = 20 to Hit, [1d6+3] = 2+3 = 5 Damage

Eric moves to the southwest, toward the hound cautiously. Staff in hand he holds himself defensivly awaiting the first attack before swinging.

[1d20] = 7 to hit [1d6] = 3 damage

OOC: I'll throw a saves vs fire here too. [1d20+2] = 4+2 = 6 save vs fire

Zhym wrote: Long sword (THAC0 16): [1d20+7] = 6+7 = 13, Dmg: [1d8+9] = 7+9 = 16 (S/M) [1d12+9] = 3+9 = 12 (L)

I forgot that Elethil's attack rate is 3/2, not 2/round. So I guess the second roll is lost, but I'm including it here in full disclosure.

No worries, we can save that roll for your next attack.

The group saw the forest fire coming and expected trouble, so when the hellhounds emerged from the forest they were not caught by surprise and was able to get into battle positions.

Elithil charges and strikes hard and fast, taking the initiative and setting the pace of battle for the group. With a mighty arc of his long sword, he cuts into the hellhound before him. Having the high ground, Flynn positions himself on one of the carts and fires an arrow from his bow. Alas, no time was had for aiming and the arrow flies astray, missing its target.

Mehath, with a heavy crossbow loaded, moves just far enough to get a shot in at the hellhound closest to the cabin. His aim is true and it pierces the creature with a satisfying thud. Eric takes advantage of the distraction and moves cautiously forward in a defensive stance. Waiting for the Hellhound's first strike, he is surprised by the ferocity of the claw swipe and fails to parry the blow successfully, let alone dodge it. Eric is cut, taking 10 points of damage. He starts to bleed from his open wound. Akabel, rushes to Eric's side and starts to intone a prayer of protection (protection against evil) upon him.

The Iron Glade man charges the hellhound to the far west and confronts the creature with his long sword. He follows Elithil's example, attempting to strike hard and fast, but fails to connect!

The hellhounds, having taken a few blows, retaliates with claw swipes and bites. The one on Elithil tries to bite the elf's arm but is brushed aside by the warrior's movements. Another attempts to jump onto Flynn and knock him off of the cart with a swipe but fails by a hair's breadth as Flynn carefully dodges the attack. Hellhound 3 rushes at the camp, and despite being injured by a heavy crossbow, manages to break through Eric's defense and deals damage, drawing first blood. The last hellhound is confronted by the Iron Glade Man and surprisingly enough stumbles to the ground. The Iron Glade man's clumsy footwork caught the hellhound off guard. (rolled a 1...)

Updated Combat Map Combat Rolls for this combat round

Elethil mercilessly cleaves the hellhound in front of him and (assuming 16 or 28 points of damage kills it) rushes to fight another of the hounds.

"Group up!" he calls to the others. "We should fight them together, not split apart!"

Long sword (THAC0 16): [1d20+7] = 6+7 = 13, Dmg: [1d8+9] = 7+9 = 16 (S/M) [1d12+9] = 3+9 = 12 (L) (carried over)
Long sword (THAC0 16): [1d20+7] = 6+7 = 13, Dmg: [1d8+9] = 3+9 = 12 (S/M) [1d12+9] = 6+9 = 15 (L)

Mehath rushes over to aid Eric and Akabel, dropping his crossbow and drawing his long sword.

Long Sword, to hit [1d20+4] = 5+4 = 9, damage [1d8+4] = 6+4 = 10

Flynn curses his luck, drops his bow and unsheaths his thin blade.
"Have at thee, hound of ill omen!"
"A slippery rascal then? Have another!"

Eric, a bit taken a back, swings helplessly again.

[1d20] = 8 to hit [1d8] = 5 damage

Elithil charges at Hellhound 2, the next threat closest to the prisoners, and finishes his charge with a slice of his blade. "Group up!" he calls to the others. "We should fight them together, not split apart!"

Flynn curses his luck, drops his bow and unsheaths his thin blade. "Have at thee, hound of ill omen!" He then joins in on the prodding and cutting, flashing his rapier and coating it with hellhound 2's blood. "A slippery rascal then? Have another!"

Eric, Akabel and Mehath have mixed success with their skirmish. The circle of protection cast upon Eric works wonderfully as it blocks an attack that surely would have maimed Eric further. Mehath rushes in with a longsword and enters into the melee. Both Mehath and Eric miss their attacks on the beast. Akabel, instead of using his mace or war hammer, makes use of the divine wisdom bestowed on to him by Odin.

Healing and Hurting go hand in hand. Do not sacrifice one for the other lest you intend to sacrifice yourself in the process.

With these words in mind, he heals Eric's wounds, laying a now glowing hand on the druid's wound. The wound closes and ceases its bleeding, restoring 5 hitpoints back to Eric.

The Iron Glade man and the hellhound he fights continue their awkward stalemate of clumsiness. Truly, it is a sight to behold. You are not sure if the man is a battle genius and is tripping on purpose to dodge the hellhound's attacks or if the accidents are genuine and the hellhound is going through a streak of bad luck of its own.

Hellhound 2 tries to swipe at Flynn again but is denied the chance by Elithil's attack. The hound comes out of the attacks badly wounded and looks ready to drop. Flames start to curl from its mouth as it backs away from the carts.

No changes in battle positions were made, except for Elithil being on Hellhound 2's left now. One hound down, three more to go.

Combat Rolls: