IC

[thirdkingdom]

Round One, cont.

Newton pokes his head around a tree and fires a quick arrow, the shaft bristling from the thigh of the robed woman. Telemachus follows suit with a spell, and flame blossoms around the central group of bandits; one of the Boss's flunkies, and the robed woman, fall to the ground in an instant, dead, as do the half-dozen or so bandits surrounding them. Gardo leaps forward, swinging his blade, but the plate-clad woman ducks under the wild swing.

Looking around wildly, the Boss begins to flee away from the party, towards the river! The plate-clad woman sees him fleeing and quails, but still strikes back at Gardo, but the warrior easily blocks the blow with his shield. The remaining flunky advances swiftly upon the now visible Telemachus and cuts the mage deeply with his blade. "This is all your fault!" he hisses, "whoever you are, I'll see you in hell before I'm taken before the magistrate!"

Pulpatoon hasn't posted updated actions for Aldus yet, but I'll go ahead and post the rest of Round One. I'm using Necrotic Gnome's Old School Essentials, the pdf of which was just released, which is a cleaned up and clarified version of B/X. p. 120 clarifies the rules for combat. Casting a spell or moving while in melee must be declared before initiative is rolled, but morale is rolled *after* initiative. Therefore, the Boss could flee, since he was not yet engaged in melee, but the plate clad woman must wait until her turn in the subsequent round to flee.

Newton: http://orokos.com/roll/735079: 1d20+7 18 1d6+2 8 Hits, for 8 damage.
Fireball damage:: 8d6 24 Okay, so that completely obliterates the five mooks in the green group, whether they make their save or not. Saves for the rest of the bandits:
Boss, 2 bodyguards, sorcereress, in order:: 4#1d20 19 14 7 14
Boss: 41-12
Bodyguard 1: 18-12
Bodyguard 2: 12-24
Sorceress: Yeah, she's dead too.
Gardo: http://orokos.com/roll/735127: 1d20+7 12 1d8+4 12 That's a miss!
Aldus:

Morale checks for The Boss, his flunky, and woman in plate:: 2#2d6 3 3 2#2d6 9 11 2#2d6 5 3 Both the Boss and the woman in plate fail. The flunky does not, and charges at . . . Telemachus:
http://orokos.com/roll/735129: 1d20+3 16 1d8+2 4 Hits Telemachus for 4 HP.
Plate clad woman is engaged in melee and cannot flee until the next round, so she attacks: http://orokos.com/roll/735131: 1d20+5 19 1d10+4 13 . . . and misses, even with a 19!

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus and Wulfka intend to make their way around the camp, coming out along the river. The original intention was to fire on the bandits from the rear, but now Aldus will attempt to pick off bandits as they flee. He will try to remain concealed among the trees as well as a he can.

[thirdkingdom]

Aldus and Wulfka intend to make their way around the camp, coming out along the river. The original intention was to fire on the bandits from the rear, but now Aldus will attempt to pick off bandits as they flee. He will try to remain concealed among the trees as well as a he can.

Round One, cont.

Aldus and Wulfka position themselves slightly to the north of the bandit position, trying to remain as hidden as possible. They hold their attacks for the time being, as it looks like the bandits might possibly break 'ere long, and stay alert to shoot down any who try to flee!

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

The mage, fearing the onslaught of this schizophrenic swordsman, calls for assistance. "Soldiers, archers, to me!" he cries.

Not content to wait for help to arrive, Telemachus casts Sleep on the soon to be somnolent swashbuckler.

[shaidar]

Seeing the fleeing Bandit Chief, Newton calls upon the power of nature to entangle the fellow.

[VonAlric]

Gardo

"Not a bad swing there, lass. However, not good enough." Never one to play with his quarry, Gardo attempts to strike and knock-out the female warrior.

[thirdkingdom]

Round Two

Acting with the same swiftness the adventurers continue the assault. Newton calls upon the spirits of the forest to send forth vines to entangle the fleeing bandit captain, but he is able to shrug off their grasp and slips into the river, disappearing under the water! Telemachus ensorcels the man assailing him with a spell of sleep before the bandit can attack again, and he slumps to the ground, insensate. Gardo's blow with the flat of the blade clangs against his foe's helmet, which rings loudly but does not seem to inflict any damage.

Aldus and Wulfka emerge from hiding, weapons drawn, and upon seeing them and the large forces of mercenaries the larger woman throws down her blade and surrenders. Seeing this, the rest of the bandits do the same.

Even at half speed the Boss is still able to get into the river, as he started moving towards it the previous round. Combat is over. Initiative: PC's first, then mercs, then bandits,then leveled NPCs:: 4#1d6 6 3 3 1
I made three morale checks for the bandits, because they were attacked by superior numbers without expecting it, their leaders are either fleeing or dead, and powerful magic was used (the fireball. Morale for the bandits: 2d6 8 2d6-1 9 2d6-2 1

And they failed, on the last roll (not on the first two, though!).

The mercenaries actually get to act before any of the leaders, so they totally rush to Telemachus's aid, but it doesn't really matter, because the flunky is asleep.

Gardo: Knock-out attempt Knockout attempt (10+):: 1d20+8-1d4-4 1 The formatting doesn't seem to want to have worked, but the 1d20 roll was a 1, for an automatic failure.

Newton. Save v spells:: 1d20 16 Ooh, the Boss succeeds on his save!

[Pulpatoon]

Aldus, motioning for Wulfka to follow, tries to pursue the bandit leader enough to take a shot at him as he flees.

[thirdkingdom]

Aldus, motioning for Wulfka to follow, tries to pursue the bandit leader enough to take a shot at him as he flees.

Since we're out of combat, and the Boss managed to slip away from view, we'll use the chase rules (p. 116 OSE). With two pursuers there's a 70% chance of escape: http://orokos.com/roll/735177: 1d100 99

Nope!

Aldus rushes down to the bank of the river, Wulfka right behind him. He tries to judge how far a man might swim underwater and positions himself in what he assumes to be the right spot, bow drawn and readied. Within seconds the surface of the water is broken by the head of the bandit captain, gasping for breath. "Well, shit," he exclaims, staring almost cross-eyed at the point of the arrow, "I surrender."

[VonAlric]

Gardo

Puzzlement crosses his face as the woman warrior seems unfazed by the knock-out shot. "That usually works," he mutters under his breath. After she throws down her weapon, he thinks for a moment then smiles. "Ah, different effect on her. That can happen." He keeps his sword trained on her as he slides the large sword away from her reach.

"Thank you for not making this difficult. Now, who are you?"

[thirdkingdom]

Gardo

Puzzlement crosses his face as the woman warrior seems unfazed by the knock-out shot. "That usually works," he mutters under his breath. After she throws down her weapon, he thinks for a moment then smiles. "Ah, different effect on her. That can happen." He keeps his sword trained on her as he slides the large sword away from her reach.

"Thank you for not making this difficult. Now, who are you?"

Gardo can see she's about the same height as he is, and solidly built. Perhaps early 30s? It's hard to tell; her face has the weathered, craggy look of someone who's been living life in the rough for many, many years. "Casfrea," she spits, "and I would have killed you, too, in a fair fight."

Around him the mercenaries are busy disarming the prisoners. Telemachus sees a couple of his horse archers surreptiously searching the bandits as they do this, pocketing what they find.

Roll redacted: http://orokos.com/roll/735206: 5#1d20 6 4 12 16 20

[shaidar]

Newton heads over to where the chief was originally located, to see if anything of interest survived the fireball.

[sulldawga]

Telemachus

The mage orders a couple of his horse archers to secure the sleeping flunky and keep him separate from the rest of the bandits.

He then walks over to the archers he sees pocketing the bandits' loot and says, "If you don't want to end up like them, you'll turn whatever you found over to your lieutenant."

He orders all of the lieutenants to keep a closer eye on their mercs and make sure they're not pocketing stuff. "Let them know there are consequences for that sort of behavior."

Finally, he joins Newton to see what's left of the other bandit flunky and his sorceress.

[VonAlric]

"Casfrea," she spits, "and I would have killed you, too, in a fair fight."

"It was fair. There was only one of me that you faced. You did not face more than one person. You just quit. As for killing me, I don't think so."

"Where is your camp? Any others of your group that need to be dealt with, permanent or otherwise?"

[thirdkingdom]

"Casfrea," she spits, "and I would have killed you, too, in a fair fight."

"It was fair. There was only one of me that you faced. You did not face more than one person. You just quit. As for killing me, I don't think so."

"Where is your camp? Any others of your group that need to be dealt with, permanent or otherwise?"

Reaction roll:: 2d6+1 8

Casfrea

"This is the camp," she says, sullenly, "and it looks like you got all of us. Must have done the same to Tinehildi and her crew, too, since you obviously knew we were here. Did you torture her slow to get the information out of her, or does she still live, your captive?"

[VonAlric]

Gardo

Gardo gives her a severe look and clenches his jaw as he speaks. "We do not torture anyone, nor do we kill wantonly. Tinehildi lives and is free, unlike you. I may even see her again soon and lift a flagon with her. I'm not so certain about your future."

[thirdkingdom]

The Aftermath

The three remaining bandit leaders are separated, and tied, and kept under heavy guard, while the remaining bandits are disarmed and herded into a circle, surrounded by mercenaries. Those mercenaries that tried to pocket spoils on the sly get chewed out by their commanding officers. A thorough search is made and the following is found:

*The various low-level bandits have 34 gp in assorted coins.
*The Boss is a carrying a jingling, but light, coin purse with
**10 platinum
**15 gold
**2 quartzes, each worth 10 gp
*The woman in plate armor has 10 gp tucked into her shoe.
*The two bodyguards have 5 and 7 gp, respectively.
*The one they call a "sorceress" has a ruby worth no more than 50 -- it is cracked along one face -- and a thin book bound in a dark brown leather. It is freshly charred, presumably from the fireball, but does not look completely destroyed.

All in all the pickings are pretty piss-poor. None of their gear appears to be exceptional; to a man their gear is of poor quality and ill-maintained.

[thirdkingdom]

Gardo

Gardo gives her a severe look and clenches his jaw as he speaks. "We do not torture anyone, nor do we kill wantonly. Tinehildi lives and is free, unlike you. I may even see her again soon and lift a flagon with her. I'm not so certain about your future."

Casfrea

The woman curses loudly. "That witch must've sold us out! Curse her bones, if I get out of this I swear I'll hunt her down and break her back over my knee!"

[VonAlric]

Gardo

A scowl crosses his lips and his visage darkens. "Now I'm certain of your future. I'll see you punished fully before the Baron." He walks away before anything untoward happens.

[thirdkingdom]

The Aftermath

It's now close to three in the afternoon. Three more horse archers -- two from the 1st Rangers, and one from the 2nd Rangers -- and two foot soldiers -- one from the 1st squad of light infantry and one from the 1st squad of bowmen -- are dead, as are twenty-one bandits. Another eighteen bandits remain alive, counting the Boss, his bodyguard, and Casfrea among their numbers. It's likely an hour's walk back to the bridge; the undergrowth is thicker here, along the river's edge, where it gets more sun.