Quest #32 "Visiting With The Neighbors"

[Monsieur Rose]

The Princess

She merely casts a glance further up the trail as she hears the horn. "Of course he had a horn. Every Stonegut is spawned with a horn, you know." She mutters to the lizard as she turns it to run down the fallen dwarf.

The Princess means to finish off the dwarf, and then turn back to the others.

[OGRE MAGE]

Stonegut Beat And Gut
Godsday, 23rd of Goodmonth
Early Afternoon, Overcast, Warm, Humid

The panicked horn blowing continues to grow more distant as the party attempts to regroup. The lizard the Princess rides on gladly rushes forward at her commands, eagerly trampling the injured dwarf into the dirt on the side of the trail. If he isn't dead after that, he is a pretty good actor. Dexter's skirmish happening on top of the nearby second lizard continues, with each member sharing a successful blow upon the other. 2 dam

Daisy picks up Sophie and rushes to the side of Jaxsen, administering prayers of healing on the young human and suggesting setting up an ambush once she arrives. Liam suggests they prepare to leave this area instead, while Narramore sprints after the only remaining target he can still see, the dwarf fighting with Dexter.

Actions!

positions:

B6E8F799-4B98-4174-A208-B4AF9BD9923D.jpeg (81.99 KiB) Viewed 562 times

Dexter 16/23
Daisy 11/16 1/3 first 2/2 second
Sophie AC:4 2/6
Jaxsen 10/19
Narramore 12/12 LOH
Princess 5/5 CL, DM, RM 0/1 first
Liam 4/9
overall map:
viewtopic.php?p=366477#p366477

[Urson]

Daisy
Daisy looks around, seeing that the group is scattered more than ever. Her muttered profanities get a little louder. Git under cover, ya'll! Hide in the jungle an' hope for the best. Arvoreen willing, they won't find us.
She works her way into the jungle east of the trail, using all the woodscraft she knows to try and hide her trail. She'll go about 30 feet, then lie flat.

[Paladin]

Sir William Narramore

The knight will focus on quickly ending the combat and attempting to gather his comrades for an escape or a final stand. He barrels down on Dexter and the remaining Stonegut, taking a hard swing as he comes within reach.

[1d20 +3] = 3+3 = 6, [1d8 + 6] = 4+6 = 10

If nothing else, perhaps the wind from his "narrow" miss will knock the Stonegut from the saddle, he muses with a grim chuckle.

[Bluehorse]

Liam

Rushes to help Narrowmore hoping to end this quickly and find cover.

Rapier To Hit: [1d20+2] = 15+2 = 17 DMG: s [1d8] = 8 L [1d12] = 4

[Monsieur Rose]

The Princess

Having satisfyingly crunched the Stonegut, she wheels her mount around and back towards the others.

She calls out to Sir Narramore as she sees him nearby. "We need to finish this now! I have a backup plan if we get caught." She holds her mount nearby, waiting for the more combat-ready people to finish.

The Princess scans the area for her daggers, noting where the blood marks are.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Continuing to exchange blows with the Dwarf atop the lizard, Dexter tries one more blow.

Attack with Short Sword [1d20] = 11
Damage from Short Sword Small or Medium [1d6] = 5

Whether or not this blow hits, Dexter intends to back away out of range of the Dwarf and then roll off the Lizard before he gets too far away from the rest of the party.

[SirOwen]

UPDATE

Jaxsen Reiter

Jaxsen, revived by Daisy's aid, listens to their leader's instructions. He closes with the nearest members of the group and stays close as they head into the bush to hide.

[OGRE MAGE]

Stonegut Rout
Godsday, 23rd of Goodmonth
Early Afternoon, Overcast, Warm, Humid

The Princess sees that the crushed dwarf underfoot is quite dead, so she steers her mount back towards the others. When she pulls on the things reigns, the lizard doesn't seem to respond very well. However, pushing forcefully along the side of its massive neck with her hand while encouraging it verbally seems to do the trick. She sees the paladin rushing towards Dexter before spotting the daggers she threw earlier.

As Daisy finishes up her healing on Jaxsen, she calls out for the others to find some cover, eyeing up the side of the trail for her and her badger. Jaxsen stays with the groups leader for protection, watching Liam take off after Narramore, who is attempting to reach Dexter now fighting all alone.

Dexter takes another swing before attempting to slide off the back of the wide lizard. His attack does little to thwart the big ax of the dwarf, who cuts the halfling badly again as he flees. 8 dam Luckily Narramore arrives in time to take up the fight. Unluckily, his attack also fails to injure the stocky adversary. The dwarf appears about to hop back into the saddle instead of fighting against the huge human.

As the others either hide or continue to rush up from behind, the one thing they all notice is that they have heard no return horn blasts ring out in the distance.

Actions!

positions:

39F40A53-DD19-4841-B351-7A09FD464A84.jpeg (93.79 KiB) Viewed 507 times

Dexter 8/23
Daisy 11/16 1/3 first 2/2 second
Sophie AC:4 2/6
Jaxsen 10/19
Narramore 12/12 LOH
Princess 5/5 CL, DM, RM 0/1 first
Liam 4/9
overall map:
viewtopic.php?p=366477#p366477

[Paladin]

Sir William Narramore

The knight pushes in to crowd the dwarf and takes another swing.

[1d20 + 3] = 2+3 = 5, [1d8 + 6] = 3+6 = 9

Sigh. I guess his streak of hard hits and kills had to end sometime! Two duds in a row.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"You're not a warrior. You're not a warrior. You're not a warrior," Dexter mutters to himself as he picks himself up and starts walking back to the others, bandaging his wounds. "Sir William," he calls. "Let him go. He has to get all the way back to his compatriots, regroup, and then come back. If we waste no time, we can be long gone by then!"

[SirOwen]

Jaxsen Reiter

Jaxsen follows Daisy into the forest, a bit crestfallen. He only hopes that his skills as a bodyguard for the Mayor are better than his recent attempts at fighting.

[Bluehorse]

Liam will continue to rush towards Dexter and Narramor in order to help.

can I just use that roll once her us near enough?

[Monsieur Rose]

The Princess

"Dammit, Dexter! No witnesses! Our only hope for the town now that one has escaped is to discredit him. Which means no corroboration."

"We need to make this look like they turned on each other. Grab one of their axes and disguise the wounds."

She tries to maneuver the lizard in front of the stonegut, preventing an easy escape.

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter shakes his head. "Right," he says. "And the group we ran into on the main trail is going to just forget we were here." He points to the escaping Dwarf. "But if he means that much to you, go get him. I don't see so much as a scratch on you." The Halfling refrains from desecrating any corpses.

[Monsieur Rose]

The Princess

"Why all the attitude? If you don't like my plan, fine. But I don't see you coming up with anything better than running away." The Princess snaps at the thief.

"Of course I know the other group saw us, but they didn't see what happened here! We could claim something else happened, but only if there aren't any more witnesses!"

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

"Because running away, especially in a situation where you have enemies behind you and enemies in front of you, is an excellent plan," says the badly wounded Thief. "And are you so convinced in your own personal charm that you think, for even one instant, that they will believe the people they know well and work with every day and are part of the same clan, suddenly turned on one another? Especially when we are here? No, we are the one and only real suspects. And they would be right to think so, wouldn't they? After all, we really did do it."

"And," Dexter continues. "What is the rest of your plan? You heard them, they mean to enslave us. Even if, by some insanely unlikely chance, you get them to believe they fell on each other, they will still try to enslave us. This part of the mission is over, Your Grace. Time to leave."

"And, as for my attitude, foolishness makes me impolite."

Dexter casts about, looking for where the others have hidden themselves.

[Urson]

Daisy
Once Daisy has gotten 20 yards or so into the underbrush, she stops to collect her thoughts and bandage Sophie. Ah really shat in the mash this time. What are we ganna do? She frets and mutters as she patches up the badger.
She can hear enough from the trail to tell that 'her people' are squabbling and putting themselves at even more risk.

[Monsieur Rose]

Forgive all the extra chatter during combat, but I'd like to clear this up.

The Princess

She stares at the halfling in disbelief. "You don't really believe I mean to continue on? That's absurd!" She shakes her head. "No, my dear, I'm thinking of how to deal with the inevitability of the Stoneguts coming to the town. The town may have to run or fight, sure, but there may be the slight possibility of avoiding a massacre. I'm simply trying to keep a longshot option open."

[SirOwen]

Dexter Broadleaf

Dexter does not engage further with the Princess and makes for Daisy and Jax, ready to find a way out of here. Reaching them, he says, "We need to plan a route." Looking at the Mayor, he asks, "Cut a trail or trust to our skills and leave the trails when we hear something coming."