Luthien tensed his muscles. As soon as some idiot or other actually came over here to get his sacrifices, somebody was going to PAY...

For he'd not allow anyone to sacrifice his highness, who represented personally what he planned to be someday. Nor would he let anything happen to the dwarf either.

"Come and get it..."

They'd learn their folly for keeping all their prisoners in one place.

The prince shouldered his way to the forefront, held his right hand out and said quietly "Fragarach!"
An eye blink later and he was armed with a broadsword and taking up a fighting stance.

Luthien blinked.

"Your Highness, you gotta teach me how to do that someday."

Oh well, he'd have to make do without for now.

Amathaon was surprised at seeing the sword. He thought, fool paladin, he should have used that sword sooner.

A rattling of keys and the door swung open to reveal the guard room. An outsided table and two matching chairs stand in the northeast, along the diagonal wall. A cask and several leather jacks are on the table, amongst small hunks of cheese and dried meat; some food scraps have fallen to the floor. Nearby is a barrel and a huge pot. Brackets and torches line the walls, but only 3 contain torches. A great pile of hides and skins is in the southeast corner — a bed of sorts.

The ogre, who is unarmoured but bearing a large club, holds the door. Behind is the bugbear (chain shirt, footmans flail & short sword "dagger" on his belt). To the right is a young looking human in chain mail, shield and armed with a hammer, and another bugbear carrying a spear and morning star, and wearing a short cape of crimson cloth.

Roll 1D10 for initiative (see house rules thread) and state your intended actions for the round.
This message was last edited by the GM at 13:53, Fri 23 May 2014.

Rolled an unmodified 3 for my initiative.

As stated, Hap will drop down on the guard's head and shoulders. If lacking an appropriate belt, he will hold onto the thing's head/neck/shoulders while attempting to 'put an eye out' with an expendable lockpick!

Should that seem impossible (ogre wearing steampunk goggles, for instance), he'll try and bite off an ear!

By the way: Sheesh! That's a lot of armed opposition out there! I had hoped we'd only have two guards to deal with...

09:28, Today: Luthien rolled 10 using 1d10. Init.

Luthien will grab the ogre's leg and attempt to trip him.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:17, Fri 23 May 2014.

21:22, Fri 23 May 2014: Amathaon Chalkbreaker rolled 5 using 1d10 ((5)). initiative roll.

 Amathaon will attack from behind, whoever Hap drops on, I assume the first bugbear.

"Oh look! They want to resist!" the presumed cleric taunted before launching into a spell.

Rolf was ready, prepared to back up wherever needed and bring an enemy to the ground.

The prince moves first, stepping up between the ogre and spear wielding bugbear to the right. Instead of attacking however he takes a defensive posture with his weapon and waits for the opponents to make a move.
Rolf is hot on the princes heels, squeezes around the corner and dives at the bugbear. Tackling them square on, Rolf drives the air out of their lungs and brings them crashing to the ground.

OOC: I'm going to hold the action here for a moment (very early in the round) to allow you the chance to alter your actions in response to the prince and Rolf. Dropping on the enemy from above, or an attack to their rear isn't much of an option any more. Also, if Luthien proceeds with his assault on the ogre, even if he succeeds he's like to get swatted by the bugbear behind.
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:27, Tue 27 May 2014.

(OOC:In that case, can I tackle the cleric instead, seeing as the prince and Rolf have that bugbear well in hand?)

Luthien switches targets to the cleric, and pounces on him in a vicious grapple! The cleric is the one enemy here he may now for a fact is weaker then himself, physically at least.

OOC: Could be problematic given the 7 foot tall bugbear and Rolf rolling about on the floor between the cleric and you.
Note I've tried to keep the images in the combat map roughly to scale at least in regards to how much space each participant takes up.

(OOC: Shouldn't take that long to go around him (and if I do go around, I go around south of him and hit the cleric from the south). I never said I was charging. And I have a super slow init anyway, so his initial spell will probably go off before I can tackle him anyway. Also, I'm unarmored and strong, and I've got good dex to boot. Can't I just jump over the guys rassling on the ground?)
This message was last edited by the player at 16:21, Sat 24 May 2014.

If there's no one to drop on, then try and snatch a weapon from monster Luthien wrestles with. Unless he can snatch a lit torch or lamp. Need a weapon!

In reply to Luthien (msg # 89):

You have actually looked at the map right and seen an ogre to the north, and wall on the other side?
As I said, it's very close to scale - each square represents one (1) foot.

(OOC:You have advised against tackling the ogre, you've advised against going after the cleric. All that's left is hold action and do nothing. So be it then.)

Sorry, it's not all that clear actually, and I posted from my phone in any case.

The opposition are all too big for 2'10" Hap to wrestle, and you said that no one was there to drop on. I have no weapon. My only chance to get something to fight with, that I see, are the torches (good weapon) or take something off a wrestling foe. Upon re-reading on my laptop, I see that now only Rolf is wresting, and if he could get to that target, then so should I be able to. So, I'll try and pluck something from his opponent.

Failing all that, pick up a rock or bone or crust of bread from the floor and whip it at the cleric, anything to disrupt his spell.

Anything is possible, just bear in mind the likely consequences of the actions and how it could effect life expectancy of the character. I'd rather not have anyone actually die just yet. ;)
If somebody was to back up Luthien's attempt to tackle the ogre (for example) he'd have a chance to live through the next thirty seconds. Left by himself to hold the ogre (somehow) without anyone running interference with the other bugbear would leave him badly exposed and almost certainly end with him as a casualty.

If Luthien decides to go for someone, Haldan can try the old "I'll get behind him on the ground, you knock him backwards so he trips on me" Cunning Plan.

But I don't know what Luthien wants to do. Hap will snarl the suggestion up at him, and if he wants to go for it, he can pick the target.

Amathaon will assist Luthien by going low, perhaps with help from Hap. Would that work?

(OOC:The problem, Mr. Halfling, is that Luthien has a whopping 6 HPs. Do you know how much damage ogres and bugbears do? Bugbear does 2d4. Ogre does 1d10, 2d6, or 2d6+2 depending on if it's normal, leader, or chieftan. Most of you guys, with 13,000 xp, are level 4 or 5. I'm level 0. So...the reality of the situation is, you guys should be trying to protect me instead of risking me. The only reason Luthien even considers attacking all is that Cavaliers/Paladins are suicidally brave like that.

Never, ever forget my HP is essentially that of a level 1 wizard right now.

If most of you are good aligned, you should actually be thinking 'keep that idiot kid out of harm's way' rather then 'how can he help us win this battle?' He is obviously WAY too green, not even out of training yet, to be fighting at your side as a competent companion at this time.)
This message was last edited by the player at 05:42, Sun 25 May 2014.

The "priest" commences casting, a thin piece of metal in his hand.

With style and panache, Haldan drops down, rolls, and reaches for the downed bugbears weapons, tossing back towards the door the 8 foot long spear and morning star. Both weapons were a little large for the diminutive halfling, but at least he could supply others while simultaneously disarming the downed opponent.

Snatching up the morning star, Amathaon swung wildly with the unfamiliar weapon, narrowly missing the somewhat startled ogre. The ogre in turn swipes back at the dwarf, missing by a mile.

The "priest" completes his spell and tosses the pin at the Prince, then curses as it bounces off without apparent effect.

Luthien, seeing the spear at his feet, snatches it up and thrusts past Amathaon at the ogre. He's somewhat less than successful however with his attack, the spear thrust going wide.

The bugbear Rolf tackled struggles to catch their breath and break free of the mercenary's hold, but somehow Rolf held on and kept the larger opponent on the ground!

The second bugbear squeezed past the ogre and assaulted the prince with his flail. The prince caught the flail with his sword, but the flexible weapon still swung around and hit the prince heavily. An instant later and the prince skewered his attacker on his blade, inflicting a grevious but not fatal injury.

New round. New initiative rolls and state your intended actions.
I took a few liberties but hopefully nothing too dissimilar to what you might have chosen as the situation evolved.

Rolled an unmodified "1" for initiative.

Haldan, hoping his efforts have proved worthwhile, looks for his next opportunity. If the new-fallen bugbear has a weapon the little hobbit can use (not the morningstar!) he'll take it. If the only other weapon is a lit torch, he'll fetch that. If nothing else, he needs something to throw at the priest when he gets into casting his next spell: a chair, a mug, a rock, if nothing else something he's still got on his person!

23:42, Tue 27 May 2014: Amathaon Chalkbreaker rolled 4 using 1d10 ((4)).
3:27, Wed 28 May 2014: Amathaon Chalkbreaker rolled 20 using 1d20+3 ((17)). attack roll.


 Amathaon will take the morning star and will attempt to hit the ogre.
This message was last edited by the player at 07:28, Wed 28 May 2014.