Keep on the Borderlands - The Path of Evil - Session 36

SESSION 36a: DAY 17 – CAVES OF CHAOS

Before the monsters arrive, the party has six seconds or one round of equivalent actions to get ready.

They set an ambush.  

·        Per moves 5ft to the west to cover the passage with his glaive.

·        Talmark moves 10ft to the west and orders “I think we should form that ‘U’ again at the opening of the passage way but set up so that we only have to engage 2 enemy at once. We need some healing once we are in position on Clovis and Fremont as they come up. Malandir, now would be an excellent time to seed the area of the lit bone with those caltrops! Half start with bows, the rest with blades until they are within reach”.

·        Malandir uses his action to open his bag of caltrops and hurl them at the area of the bone light. It’s an easy throw for the dexterous elf and they land on target.

·        Kord calls Fremont up with his bow. Fremont moves to just in front of Kord.

·        Kord casts Cure Light Wounds upon Fremont healing back 10pts of damage and taking him back up to full strength. Kord then uses his move action to move to the southern flank of Talmark.

·        Barret uses a double move to start to close the U.

·        Lucien uses a Scroll of Cure Light Wounds to heal back 5pts of damage to Clovis. He then turns and moves 20ft to the west to support the rest of the party.

·        Clovis then double moves 40ft to the west and readies for combat. He is still looking a little fragile but a lot better.

The gnolls round the corner and run into the party. Three big males lead the pack, followed by an archer male and five females.

As the gnolls round the corner, up to four of them (two males and two females) run over and may be damaged by the caltrops. The caltrops make an ‘attack’ with a bonus of +0 against the gnolls armour class (page 155 of the Core Rule Book). If the attack succeeds the monster takes 1pt of damage and its speed is reduced to ½ as its foot is damaged. A charging or running creature must immediately stop if it steps on a caltrop. A creature moving at ½ speed or slower can pick its way through a bed of caltrops with no trouble. 

The first gnoll heading for the caltrops is missed by the nasty little devices and heads straight toward the party. The next is also missed. The third is missed as is the fourth. 

As the first male advances on Talmark, Per gets an attack of opportunity as it leaves one of his threatened squares. Per hits the beast in the right leg. The penetration is devastating as Per deals 15pts of damage and immediately kills the monster. The brute slides along the ground and rests at the feet of Talmark never knowing what hit it. 

SURPRISE ROUND

·        The party have completely surprised the gnolls and have a surprise round. You only get one action in a surprise round (as opposed to a normal round when you get one move and one standard action) and the surprised participants are flat footed.

·        Talmark swings Felldrac at the nearest gnoll and shears off its left leg dealing 11pts of damage and instantly killing the monster.

·        Per attacks the remaining northern male with his reach weapon and hits it in the stomach, puncturing several key organs as he delivers 11pts of damage, instantly killing the monster.

·        Barret stabs at the archer gnoll but misses.

·        Stretching out his hand Kord casts firebolt at the big male and hits it dealing 7pts of damage, badly singeing the monsters fur.

·        Malandir fires his bow at the monster and hits it in the chest. It’s considered to be a Sneak Attack as the monster is flat footed and he deals 13pts of damage, instantly killing the monster.

·        Lucien throws a bomb into the back of the pack. It’s a thrown splash weapon with a 20ft range increment (page 202 of the Core Rule Book and page 28 of the Advanced Players Guide). He targets the female standing on the caltrops at the back of the pack, hoping to maximise his damage. The throw is off target however and it goes long and hits the back wall with the potential to do splash damage to the three western most females. On a direct hit Lucien would do 1d6 + 1 damage and with splash damage he would do minimum damage (ie 2pts) with a Reflex save for ½ against DC 11. The females have a reflex modifier of +2 and thus need to roll a 9. The roll (from top to bottom) 13, 17 and 16 and each receive 1pt of damage.

·        Fremont fires an arrow at the nearest female and misses.

·        Clovis fires an arrow at the nearest female and misses. 

ROUND 1A

Monsters Initiative: d20 = 4 + 6 = 10

Party Initiative: d20 = 19 + 0 = 19

·        Lucien steps forward 10ft and throws another bomb. This time he decides to aim at the ground to maximise his chance of a hit and to do damage to as many monsters as he can. He needs to hit an AC5 and the range is 20ft (so in the first range increment) but he’ll need to lob it over the head of Talmark which will give a -4 penalty so an effective armour class of 9. He’ll need to roll an 8 or better to be on target. He rolls a 16 and nails it. The bomb explodes amongst the four females. For their reflex saves they roll 1, 7, 6 and 17 and take 2pts or 1pt of damage respectively.

·        Malandir fires an arrow at the closest female but misses as he tries to avoid hitting Kord in the back.

·        Fremont fires an arrow at the closest female and misses.

·        Clovis fires an arrow at the closest female and misses.

·        Kord lets lose a Fire Bolt at the nearest female and unimpeded by any intervening characters he is able to hit the monster, dealing 3pts of damage.

·        Talmark charges the nearest female and brings down his big two handed sword upon her but he misses.

·        Per 5ft steps to the south west and stabs at the south eastern female and hits her in the chest for 19pts of damage (that’s right 19 frigging points of damage!!!!). She slumps to the ground, blown up, singed and stabbed to death.

·        Barret 5ft steps to the north west and attacks the female in front of Talmark but he misses her. 

ROUND 1B

·        The gnolls have taken their first casualty and have taken ½ losses and will need to make 2 morale checks. The roll a 9 on the first test and, unsurprisingly, break morale and run. As they do so they’ll need to test for being on, or, running through the caltrops and Per, Talmark and Barret will get an attack of opportunity against the lead remaining female.

·        The rear most female races to the north unimpeded.

·        The female on caltrops steps on one in her haste to get away, takes 1pt of damage immediately stops.

·        The next female in her haste forgets about the caltrops and she runs to the north using 1-3 the western or 4-6 the eastern edge of the wall, d6 = 2 = the western edge. Luckily she misses the square with the caltrops in it and moves 30ft to the north.

·        As the final female turns to leave, Per, Talmark and Barret each get an attack of opportunity against her. Per misses her, Talmark critically hits her in the back for 23pts of damage (ohh jeez) and Barret misses her. She slumps to the ground dead. 

DEW