It seemed that there was no way to avoid the violence.  So, Julian did what came naturally and tried to stop all the fighting.  Couldn't they all just get along?

[Private to GM: Dropping the equivalent of a Sleep spell on the guards.

DC @ lvl1 effect = DC 16]

Having healed the fallen Digorye, Marcus immediately launches an attack on the nearest enemy, more to force him back than to cause real damage. Unfortunately he trips over Digorye's prone body and almost falls flat on his face.

[Private to GM: Rolled an attack of 4, a natural 1.]

The teenage sorcerer cast his spell on Grov again and another dart of light unerringly went for the kender, bringing him down (5hp). And seeing his success, the youngster cheered.

Grov just lies there on the ground, unable to act.

Gina continued her fight with four adversaries, bringing down one of the guards with a well placed kick.

Gabriel continued to wield his sword in a state of rage, but this time the guard’s armor protected him and prolonged his life. And the guard breathed an involuntary sigh of relief.

The two remaining guards attacking Gina both missed, as did the two guards attacking Gabriel.

And now Julian acts, casting a spell over their attackers. And the four guards all collapsed in magical sleep.

Digorye rose from the ground.

The half elf attacked Gina, but she deftly avoided his sword.

Seeing that Grov had fallen, Marcus retreated from battle to come to his aid (full round move to get to his side). [I hope you don’t mind that I changed your action, but considering what happened to Grov I figured this is what Marcus would do.]


Initiative

Young Human (2hp)
Grov (8hp, unconscious and dying)
Gina (7hp)
Gabriel (5hp)
4 Guards (9,9; Sleeping)
Julian
Digorye (6hp)
Half Elf (8hp)
Marcus

[What do you do?]
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:15, Sat 29 Sept 2007.

Marcus makes his way to Grov, trying to get to the fallen before they die. Although a trained Knight, he realises that there are many who could fight, but few who could heal. He kneels and starts to chant a healing prayer to Paladine. He places his hand on Grov's wound, and feels a warmth travel from his hand into the fallen kender.

[Private to GM: I would have taken the same action. Marcus casts a Cure Light Wounds, healing 7 points of damage.]

Watching the Guards fall asleep Gabriel chooses another target. Seeing Grov fall he charges the sorcerer.

Charge on young Human.

11:59, Today: Gabriel Uth Argus rolled 16 using 1d20+8. Charge.

12:00, Today: Gabriel Uth Argus rolled 15 using 2d6+9. Damage.

If anyone is next to the young human andhe goes down I can cleave. You can roll for me if you wish.

Julian knows what happens after magicians show their power - much like the young man trying to parry Gabriel's sword with his face, they experience a sudden and drastic downturn in fortune.

Julian winked at the remaining guards and hid behind Gina, his swords out and showing his willingness to stab someone in order to protect his pretty, pretty face.

[Private to GM:

Ready to attack if someone closes.

14:58, Today: Secret Roll: Julian Uth Argus rolled 13 using 1d20+2. Attack w/ Short Sword (if needed).
14:58, Today: Secret Roll: Julian Uth Argus rolled 2 using 1d6. Damage.
]

Another dart of magical light shot forth from the teenage sorcerer, but this one went for Julian instead of Grov. And it hit like the others had done (2hp).

Gina struck the half elf and hit, bringing the half elf to the ground.

Gabriel rushed the young sorcerer and with another raged induced swing, he cleaved the sorcerer in half too.

Marcus cast his spell of healing on the kender, bringing Grov back to wakefulness.

Grov (2hp)
Gina (7hp)
Gabriel (5hp)
Julian (2hp)
Digorye (6hp)
Marcus

[What do you do?]

OOC:everyone else is asleep right?

Marcus starts to tie the fallen men, cutting his rope into lengths to supply enough rope. He throws lengths of rope to the others so that they could help tie the men.

Julian hates fighting.  It's ugly and people get hurt and that's especially awful when its him or the people he cares about.  Usually its over stupid things; in this case, the fight was unfortunate but unavoidable.

He looked down at his wounds - the hole blasted through his clothes made him frown as much as the pain did.  It was with some small amount of glee that he took the boots from the downed men and removed the soles from them.  They'd give some warmth if they were worn but they weren't going to be used for traveling.  He kept their horns for himself, though.  Maybe he'd learn to play a tune someday.

Digorye picked himself up off the ground, shook himself off, and then shook his head in dismay. Why did it always have to come to violence? It seemed that no matter how hard he tried to avoid bloodshed by talking his way around these situations, somebody had to draw a sword and result to brute force. Sighing to himself, he looked around to the rest of the group. "Well, that looked like most of the crew... I guess that should make it easier to wander through camp and take our time finding this music box... plus whatever else of interest they might be hanging onto in there."

Marcus frowns and replies, "It is impossible to tell how many will be left there. At the very least there is still a Knight of Takhisis to contend with. We may be better off resting and recovering. If we go in now we will have a small amount of surprise, but no ability to fight. I fear that Paladine will answer few more of my prayers this day, so if anyone must be healed I can not help them."

Gabriels rage subsided slowly. After dispatching the sorceror he looked around for other combatants to find them all dead or captured. He let his swords blade fall to the ground and he looked over the bodies littering the field. The others stood talking but Gabriel had yet to come out of his reverie. When it finally passed Gabriel made his way to the others thankful to see they had all survived. He swore two of them had fallen during the abttle but he hadn't paid much attention. "Others will come looking for them." he said in an off-hand manner his eyes lingering on the camp that he knew stood beyond the trees.

"Perhaps we should return to our original plan for the moment. Send our scouts forward to see what is in the camp, then they return so we can decide how to proceed. I am unwounded, but many among us are not. It would be foolhardy to go into another serious fight in the state we are in," suggests Marcus.

"I like the idea of fleeing with as much speed as possible and trying again at a later date.  I can't see us talking our way past the next wave of guards and we're going to leave a trail in the snow; I figure our best bet is to just put as much distance between us and them as possible."

He puts his swords away and is clearly interested in getting the hell out of here.

"No sense in fleeing now, while most of the camp lays dead or asleep at our feet. We should go ransack the camp now before somebody else comes upon an empty camp and decides to help themselves, or anybody that was out of camp at the moment returns."

"We won't find the music box if we don't look for it," Gina said.
This message was last edited by the player at 21:23, Mon 01 Oct 2007.

Marcus sighs and says, "Agreed. We should look through the camp, but be prepared to run if more enemies came. I will stay behind to fight them off as a rearguard."

From your current position, looking out over the camp. You see nine tents around the central fire pit, roughly with the fire pit in the middle of a 3x3 grid and a tent in each of the other grids. With an extra tent less than 10 ft from the battle site. The middle tent on the south side is square, while the other tents are circular.

Searching the nine people you've just fought, you find a money pouch on the half elf and a key on the old human.

[OOC: If you want I can list armor, weapons, and other equipment too.]

Julian cuts of the soles from all boots of the people you have just fought, he picks up one of the horns and stomps on the others until they are deformed.

With gestures, Marcus indicates that the more stealthy members of the group should search for the Key, while the warriors should stand guard. He leads the way forward, just in case there are any enemies still inside the camp.

Julian pokes his seeping wound and gives the thumbs up.  He's ready to go into the camp and try to make friends.

He does hold up his hand and whispers.  "Maybe we all ought to go in?  How many more do we think there are, anyway?  Did we just kill or dismember or capture most of them?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:14, Wed 03 Oct 2007.

Marcus looks around, then says, "We check the square tent first. Then we go in a circle from there. We will need to rest before we return to Kalaman though. But if we sleep near the camp then we may be found. So I propose something unusual. Once we have searched the camp we pull down the tents and take them and everything else to an area of deep snow. Then we bury them beneath the snow, so nothing of the camp will still be visible. It will confuse the enemy when they return, and they may mistake the area then go onwards looking for their supposed real camp. We can then go further into the woods and set up camp, maybe using one or two of their own tents if we can find a spot where we won't be found."

"Why start with the square tent when there are other tents closer," Gina asked. "Tents that we can search on the way."