Tread heads for Rager 1, raises her sword and slices down, splitting the rager in half! "...oops?" Tread squeaks out, honestly surprised at her own strength. But she quickly gets her head back in the game and heads over to the other rager, making sure nobody can get to her allies without going through her first!

---

(Move: E17 to G18)
(Standard: Crushing Surge v R1. CRIT!)
 Crit dmg: rolled max! 6!
 Magic Weapon bonus: 4
 Total dmg: 23
(ACTION POINT)
(Move: G18 to H16)

R1 HP: 19 - 23 = PWND

Shardon grins as his allies are kicking butt as usual. He flings a stone from his dejada at the rager Tread is covering and hits the rager square in the eye! Then Shardon grips his other hand into a fist and that side of the rager's face gets necrotic abrasions spreading from the wound!

---

(First Strike: Combat Advantage on enemies who haven't acted yet)
(Standard: Disheartening Strike v R2 with combat advantage. Hit(28)!)
 dmg (with sneak attack): 14
(Free: Dark Reaping)
 dmg: 2 (on a d8) necrotic

R2 HP: 21 - 16 = 5
This message was last edited by the player at 01:52, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

The Two remaining Silt Runner Ragers both focus on Tread, with Silt Runner Rager 3 moving south to become adjacent to Tread. Although both Silt Runner Ragers try to hit Tread with their Brutal Longspear attacks, they both miss.

However the Silt Runner Inciter moves around the Sarcophagi and wagon loot and then unleases a Psionic Detonation on everyone in the group except for Tread, creating a zone of difficult terrain for the party. While most of those hit manage to shrug off the attack taking only minor damage, Seluku takes the full force of the attack and is almost blooded in an instant.

[OOC: R3 moves to H15 but Misses Tread with Brutal Longspear.
R2 Misses Tread with Brutal Longspear.
SIlt Runner Inciter moves to L16, and attacks, Shardon, Trace, Seluku, Fletch, and Surya with Psionic Detonation. Misses everyone except for Seluku, who it crits on. Seluku takes 15 damage, everyone else takes 14/2=7 dmg.
Fletch has 35HP+3tempHP-7=31HP left
Shardon has 31HP+3tempHP-7=27HP left
Seluku has 31HP-15=16HP left
Surya has 27HP+3tempHP-7=24HP left
Trace has 35HP+3tempHP-7=31HP left
Tread will take 2 damage if she starts her turn adjacent to two or more Silt Runners. (ie unless one of the silt runner ragers is moved or killed before Tread's turn starts. or unless Tread is moved.)]
This message was last edited by the player at 04:08, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

Seluku quickly resummons his spirit companion, which manifests floating over Fletch as Seluku then calls to the spirits on behalf of both himself and Shardon, closing some of his own wounds and filling Shardon with some vigor.

Seluku then moves out into the room, without getting close enough for the Silt Runners to reach him without moving, and calls forth the spirit of the great flood, which appears as a being of storm-tossed water. Its essence flows forth and sustains Seluku and his allies, while drowning the Silt Runners. While Silt Runner Rager 2 manages to avoid most of the attack the force of the attack is still enough to kill him, Silt Runner Rager 3 is hit by the attack, the Silt Runner Inciter is hit by the full force of the attack and bloodied in an instant! As the Silt Runner Inciter shrieks out in pain and rage, the remaining Silt Runner Rager is incited into a frenzy, with Silt Runner 3 shifting to flank behind Tread with Silt Runner 2 and both try to land blows on Tread, with Silt Runner 3 managing to land a strong blow on Tread from behind. but with Silt Runner 2 killed by the attack, Silt Runner 3 lacks a partner to flank with and thus comes close to hitting Tread, but fails to penetrate Tread's defenses.

[OOC: Free Action: Resummon Spirit Companion at D16, Altitude 1 (Over Fletch's head)
Minor Action: Healing Spirit, Seluku recovers 7HP at the cost of a healing surge and Shardon recovers 1d6 (rolled a 3) HP. Seluku how has 16+7=23HP and Shardon now has 27+3=30HP.
Move Action: Move to G18
Standard Action: Spirit of the Healing Flood. Everyone in the party gains the regen 2 while bloodied until the end of the encounter. An individual can end this effect on oneself as a minor action and recover 10HP. (This is surgeless healing.)
Damage is 1d8(rolled a 1)+6=7dmg+4dmg from Magic weapon+4dmg from Punishing Eye=15dmg, half dmg on a miss.
R3 is hit and now has 34-7-4-4=19HP left.
R2 is missed and now has 5-3-2-2=-2HP and is killed.
Inciter is critted! (+1d6->5, and takes 8+6+5+4+4=27dmg!) Inciter now has 38-27=11HP left and is bloodied. This triggers Inciter's Incite Frenzy power! Both R2 and R3 can shift 1 and make a basic melee attack. R3 shifts  behind Tread and both makes a Bone Longspear attack vs Tread.
R2 misses Tread, but R3 hits misses Tread due to not having the +2 bonus for flanking. R3 does 1d10 (rolled a 10)+2 damage so Tread now has 44HP+8TempHP-12=40HP left.
Edit:Forgot the +4 dmg from Magic Weapon and the +4 damage from punishing eye...This changes things, R2 is still missed, but the extra damage kills him anyways, which denies R3 flanking, which makes R3's hit turn into a miss, which negates the 12dmg attack...]
This message was last edited by the player at 05:23, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

Trace moves into the doorway adjacent to Seluku and curses R3, but his Eye of the vestige narrowly misses the last Silt Runner Rager, who looks worried since it suspects that if Trace's attack had landed, it would have killed him.

[OOC: Trace moves to F18 and curses R3 (Minor and Move actions.) Standard is Eye of Vestige on R3, misses. Rolled damage to see what R3 avoided... rolled a 19 (would have been a 23 with Punishing Eye) when factoring in everything...R3 dodged a bullet...]
This message was last edited by the player at 05:21, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

  Hmm, it seems that the shock and awe that was the devestation his co-workers were capable meant Fletch had to step his game up in comparison.  So, the Artificer took aim and... Shot another Crossbow bolt into a dude's head...

  The Inciter's corpse slumps to it's knees while sizzilnig red tears melt their face from it's skull.  "Hmm, may have overdone it on the acid.  We may have to be careful if we want the last one alive. If we want it."

---

  Fletch
Move: To E18
Standard: Scouring Weapon Vs Inciter (S)
Minor: Reload.
http://rollr.appspot.com/view/...IIRGljZVJvbGwYubtZDA

Inciter (S) HP: 11-12= -1 DEAD

Fletch HP: 31/35 S 10/10 V 8. Inf 2
This message was last edited by the player at 06:10, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

Surya points two fingers at the last remaining foes and it shrieks in pain!  She then opens her palm and a bolt of force shoots out and hits the enemy in the forehead, knocking it out.

"That one should still be alive," she explains as she steps forward to bind it with rope, "Let's hope we can say the same of the captives."

---

Surya Excise From Sight v R3
1d20 +8 >= 13
13 + 8 = 21 ... success

damage
1d10 +10
3 + 10 = 13

ACTION POINT!  Magic Missile KO!

R3 HP: 19-13-8=KO!

Tread looks around expectantly. With no more enemies, she goes to aid in tying up the last one. Tread looks to be trying hard not to look at the carnage.




Shardon approaches his allies. "Thank you, Surya. We *did* set out to have at least one survivor. Let's see if anyone else did while we're at it." Definitely not ones like the rager in two halves or the inciter with a melted face. While the rager who Seluku killed looks like he may have survived.

Shardon is grateful Surya did, in fact, purposely knock one out so they could have a survivor. Shardon prepares for interrogation.

(OOC: Trying something new with the avatars. :) Mostly because I didn't have enough to post for Tread to have a separate post for her)
This message was last edited by the GM at 18:22, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

Inspection of the Silt Runner Rager that Seluku dropped reveals it to be unconscious but near death.

[OOC: It is being assumed that before the encounter officially 'ends' everyone is using a minor action to regain ten hit points (surge free). As such everyone is back at their maximum hit points. Also checked and surprisingly, both of the bolts Fletch fired this encounter are recoverable.
The gear recovered from the enemies are a single bone shortsword, a bone bastard sword, and four bone longspears.]
This message was last edited by the player at 19:05, Sat 05 Nov 2011.

Trace puts away his mace and rod as he walks over to the three bound Wavir drivers, who thank the party for rescuing them and introduce themselves as Milos, the half-elf of the three, and Alia and Flaron, both humans.

Trace chuckles and says, “Instead of using our rope to restrain the two surviving Silt Runners, why not use the restraints they used on the drivers?” as Trace hands Tread and Shardon the three sets of restraints that he took off the drivers.

Seluku feels refreshed after ending the effect of the Spirit of the Healing Flood upon himself and after hearing Trace's suggestion says, “The irony of that, is highly appropriate.”

Seluku walks over to the Inciter's corpse and notices a small leather pouch that contains a fire opal and some ancient gold coins that the Silt Runners no doubt found within these ancient catacombs. Seluku then notices a larger pouch containing a block of Residuum near the cistern, as the three Wavir drivers drink water from the cistern to quench their thirst.

[OOC: The gem is worth 100gp, and there are 20gp worth of ancient gold coins. The block of residuum is worth 816gp, and means a share of 136gp of residuum for everyone.]

After quenching his thirst Milos asks the party,"Can you help us get the cargo from the wagon to Alturak? I'm sure House Wavir has posted a reward for its return by now."

Anyone shifting through the wagon's cargo to try and sort things to facilitate transporting them, or simply to look for the box the governor requested the group to recover, finds that the box is present among the wagon's cargo, and seemingly undamaged.

  Fletch dismisses the notion of making the Ragers pull the cart by themselves, as it was unlikely they had the strength to do so efficiently.  "Your employers will no doubt be more sympathetic to your plight if you were returned with your goods as opposed to without."

  Maybe the could make they Ragers try to pull it all on their own for five minutes.  Before it stopped being funny.
This message was last edited by the player at 01:33, Sun 06 Nov 2011.

"I suppose that's possible," Surya guesses, "You are the only survivors?  And what of the draft beasts?"

Milos answers Surya's questrions, "There were only three of us on the wagon. We lost the inixes when they panicked during the storm after we found cover. Shortly afterwards the Silt Runners attacked and dragged us into here. Duno if they were going to eat us or what. I just know that seeing the Silt Runners working with a Ssurran is trouble."

The Alia and Flaron start sorting the cargo from the wagon into loads that could easily be carried by a single individual back to the wagon, while Milos continues to talk with those that rescued them.

Alia overhears Milos' comment about the Surran and mutters, "Ssurrans are no better than locusts. If there is a Ssurran pack nearby they could become a problem for Alturak."

Flaron nods and says, "Especially if they start ambushing and eating caravans and travelers," in response to Alia's comment.

Shardon was definitely sure to go looking for the box. Once found, he looks around at his allies. He figures Tread is likely the strongest. If the box is small/light enough for him to carry, Shardon carries it. Otherwise, he would likely have Tread carry it. This is the one thing he doesn't want dropped. "Thanks for the tip. But what can we do about them? Is there an easily accessible nest of these things we can destroy with fire? Or do you have any idea where the Ssurrans are?"

Tread is, of course, more than happy to help carry as much as she can without getting bogged down. After all, she knows she has to stay limber enough to fight and protect her friends- er.. allies. 9.9

She double-checks her allies, though, to make sure they are all OK.

"I have a preference for taking the cargo and captives directly back to town right away," Surya says, collecting as much as she can carry, which isn't much, "Perhaps we can discuss this more on the way there."

  "One starts to lose track of all the things that attempt to ambush and eat travelers, with how numerous they are."  He looks over to the surviving ragers, commenting "It would be a waste for them to travel in comfort while we work.  Make them pull."   Fletch is already an inventory Managment puzzle, so not much he is able to take.  Unless it was a particularly light shipment, Fletch doubted they could carry it all without dragging the cart along.  He could be pleasantly surprised though.

  "Yes, completing our given task before rushing off to a new one would be a sensible course of action."   Not only would they not be blowing it off, but they would be able to properly reequip themselves and be more rested up.  Pretty much everyone had blown their day powers already, after all.

Shardon and Tread didn't blow their dailies. Shardon says, "I was concerned about if it's an immediate threat. Someone mentions trouble after we just saved the day, I gotta assume it's immediately time to unsheathe my sword again."

With the aid of the three House Wavir Drivers, the group had no trouble getting the wagon's cargo back to the wagon, at which point Fletch and Trace, with Milos' assistance manages to lash up the restraints of the two surviving Silt Runner Ragers to the front of the Wagon and. While angry at being used as pack animals, the two Ragers are in no position to argue as they are afraid that if they refuse they will die, as Trace makes it very clear to them that if they want to live then they have to cooperate since Trace does speak their language (Draconic). Although it becomes painfully obvious after several moments that the two Silt Runner Rager's aren't strong enough to pull the loaded wagon on their own and it isn't long before the house Wavir Drivers and hte group assist in pushing and guiding the wagon to Altaruk. However despite concerns about being attacked on the way back to town, the return trip is uneventful.

By the time the group gets the wagon back to Altaruk, the sun is starting to set and Rhotan Vor meets the group at the gates as some of the town guards unlash the two ragers from the wagon and then escort the two away, no doubt to a holding cell until their fate can be decided.

Rhotan Vor is pleased to see the group has successfully brought back the wagon, its drivers, and what could be salvaged of its cargo, and pays the group the promised reward as several others from House Wavir are on hand to help Milos, Alia, and Flaron get the wagon and its cargo to where it belongs to House Wavir's local establishment. Before the members of House Wavir leave, a pair of Arisphistaneles's guards arrive to make certain that the box that the wagon was carrying for Arisphistaneles was among the retrieved cargo so it can be handed over to Arisphistaneles.

When the guards overhear from Flaron about the Ssurran that was among the Silt Runners, the guards spread request that the hired adventurers come with them so that a more detailed report can be given to governor Arisphistaneles.

It isn't long before the group is escorted to Governor Arisphistaneles.

[OOC: With the wagon's cargo and the box brought to Altaruk, the Trial of Action quest is completed, and everyone in the group has earned 125xp (plus the135xp from the last fight) the reward from Rhotan if people forgot is 20gp and 80gp of residuum for each person. Also the gem and 20gp in ancient gold peices means everyone's share is 20gp. The Dark Sun Narrator sheet has updated values. Also for the gear from teh last few fights that hasn't already been claimed will be sold and the profits split amongst the group unless there is something else that someone wishes to claim. At this point for the group it's basically debriefing/explaining what happened on the mission, and more importantly handing over the box to the Governor. After this 'debriefing' the group will have time to do some shopping in town. Remember that non-magical gear and common (and possibly some uncommon) consumable 'potions' are bought with GP, while magical gear with residuum. People can start going over their 'shopping list' now ooclys while the party converses with the governor. If you have any questions about the availability of an item/equipment/whatever, PM the Dark Sun Narrator.]
This message was last edited by the player at 06:03, Tue 08 Nov 2011.

  "I will admit, the mission went far better than expected.  That they were still alive came as a great surprise.  Let us hope those scrolls do not prove to have been a waste of your time and money, even if what the claims of their use are means they are worth the effort to check."  After all, a small chance of your own water supply was not something anyone who needed it to survive would pass up it they could help it.

  Fletch just hated jobs that were a waste of his time, and therefore a waste of time for those he worked for.

Shardon is sure to stay in front of the group, as he is the face of said group. He has a satisfied smile on his face. A job well done is one step closer to his own goals, he has all the time in the world, and his very capable allies are as incapable of aging as he is.

He gives the proper greeting once brought before the governor. Tread just follows Shardon's example.

"That we even found any trace of them in the first place came as a surprise to me," Surya agrees with Fletch, "Much less met with no interference from other would-be 'rescuers.'  Fortune has favored us much lately."

She too also follows Shardon's lead and lets him deal with the diplomacy thing.

Seluku looks to Surya and says, “There are probably two reasons why we didn't run into others searching after we left town. One, our eyes are sharper than the average person's so we spotted clues to lead us in the right direction, while others probably spent the day looking in the wrong directions. Two, some others may have been chased off by the silt runners, or other things outside the city walls before they found the wagon trail. There are possibly other reasons but those are the two biggest ones I can think of.”