Borun listened to Haldir. "There's no need for all three of us to be on point." He considered the matter. "Perhaps I should stay with the main group. I know a magical spell that could help us to communicate with each other. If you permit me, I can cast this spell on everyone in the group, which allows everyone to whisper to me and me to you, even at a distance."

OOC: the spell is Message

        The Elf graciously accepts Borun's spell, then asks .  .  .

        "How far doth ye wont me to scout ahead O' art party?"

        Sting looks momentarily at the Dwarf, snorts, and turns his attention
back to the black fowl winging it up above them, all the while looking upon it
with a hungry eye.

"Let's away," Gwyn suggested before giving the command to Bain to begin down the road.  After a few moments she began to sing a walking song for them to keep their spirits up,

    "Roads go ever ever on,
    Over rock and under tree,
    By caves where never sun has shone,
    By streams that never find the sea;
    Over snow by winter sown,
    And through the merry flowers of June,
    Over grass and over stone,
    And under mountains in the moon.

    Roads go ever ever on
    Under cloud and under star,
    Yet feet that wandering have gone
    Turn at last to home afar.
    Eyes that fire and sword have seen
    And horror in the halls of stone
    Look at last on meadows green
    And trees and hills they long have known...."

In reply to Haldir (msg # 72):

"Oh, perhaps a hundred feet?" Borun looked at the others for their agreement. "Far enough ahead to spot trouble before we stumble upon it, yet close enough for me to arrive quickly if needed."

Nodding her head in agreement for the spell but she thought it was good wise decision.

Upon her black mare, she kept quiet and rode along the side of Radagast and his furry huge bunnies.

       Before moving out, Haldir casts a spell upon himself . . .

       Once the order to move out is given by Radagast, the Elven Ranger
makes his way to the forefront of their small contingent.

       As Haldir advances, his emerald orbs flit this way and that in an
attempt to ferret out any foes, tracks, or threats that he may happenstance upon.
With Sting's assistance, the Ranger heads towards the closest southerly adversar-
ies.


OCC:  Casting Longstrider on self.
              Haldir advances 100 feet head of their group.

              Typical Movement through Forest:  40 feet . . .


 
This message was last edited by the player at 04:42, Sat 07 June 2014.

When the Keepers of Olvar are ready to leave in the morning, they discover that the Keepers of Dinar also waited till morning.

In fact, as the two groups leave the inn, they travel the same path for awhile until the Keepers of Dinar have to veer off to the west.


Continuing on, the group soon realizes that the forest seems to be getting darker. It quickly becomes apparent that this is just an illusion. The canopy has just gotten a bit thicker in this part of the forest and the trees are a bit closer together. Even the sounds of the forest seem to diminish.

Bane and Danann and Sting are staying closer to their companions.

This goes on for about an hour, and everyone is getting a bit on edge. It doesn't seem unnatural, but still, it's a bit unnerving.

Everyone starts a bit when there's suddenly a loud crashing sound from ahead.

This is followed by someone cursing in Sindarin.

"You oaf! It's a good thing it was empty or you'd be a puddle of goo! Now pick it up and set it down on the coals... gently!"

It's hard to tell, but the voice sounds like a harsh female voice.

      Not wishing himself or his companions to be seen or heard at the moment,
Haldir raises a free hand with a cautioning gesture.  The Elven Ranger then
proceeds to use whatever cover thats to be had, and moves as stealthily and
silently as possible through the woods towards the harsh female voice up ahead.
If called upon to do so, he'll prepare for the worst.  The Elf's Emerald orbs
flit all about as he moves along in order to spot any threats along the path
or for the ones whom are conversing at the moment . . .

Gwyn touched Bane's mane in a gesture to halt and be still as she listened intently and watched the trees for signs of movement or the source of the voice.
09:48, Today: Gwynhwyfar the Fair rolled 29 using 1d20+16. perception.

09:33, Today: Wren rolled 41 using 1d20+24. Perception.
09:33, Today: Wren rolled 35 using 1d20+22. Stealth.
For the record I can move 70ft/round through the trees via brachiation,  soI think that's 35 in full stealth?

Wryn sprang and vaulted from tree to tree, acrobatically swinging and alighting, her delicate build barely disturbing the way of leaves in the wind. Perching on high she looked down on the source of the voices, peering through the morning glow and dense foliage.

Using the spell Borun had placed, she whispered back to the others. "Having a look from above..."

"I do believe that is Moridreth... the Dark Witch of Numenor," Radagast whispers to the others as he brings his sled to a halt.

"I do not know who her guests are."

Both Haldir and Wren manage to move close enough to the speaker to observe the situation, apparently without being spotted.

There is a camp-like set-up with a tent and a campfire. Clearly what appears to be a witch is fussing over a cauldron hanging over the fire.

Around her are four trolls... probably stone trolls.

        Having noticed his avowed adversaries, and not wishing to attract their
attention, Haldir remains hidden in his current position.  The Ranger Magus
immediately draws his rapier, which is then followed up by a few gestures as
well as the utterance of a whispered spell.

OCC:  How far away are the witch and the Trolls from Haldir's current position?

This message was last edited by the player at 04:09, Wed 11 June 2014.

While Haldir prepares his own strike, Wren whispers a warning to the others, cautioning them  to the number and nature of the enemy, and offers a first,  preemptive strike upon the witch, to be timed to coincide with their arrival to the battleground.

Gwyn's lips pressed together in a grimace.  The trolls were dangerous but the witch was the most dangerous of the lot.  They would need to be quick, with this in mind she whispered a spell to help them be just that.

OOC  casting haste on all who are within 10 paces (30 feet of her position)

OCC:  Where are the PC's in relation to one another, and how close together
are the trolls grouped?

She waited for someone who can see what the commotion was to give them all details and then she could act accordingly

The fire is rather large, takes up the better part of a four 5-foot squares. The witch is on the far side of it, and the trolls are surrounding it. The trolls are large creaures, so each one is taking up four 5-foot squares as well. So there is one to each side of the fire, and two across the fire from the witch.


Haldir is about 50 feet away from the nearest troll, and Wren is about 60 feet away, on the other side of the clearing and up in a tree.

Gwyn, Lady Isile and Borun are around 150 feet away from the clearing, but are all within the 30 foot radius of Gwyn's Haste spell.

Companions/familiars are wherever you want them to be.


Due to Wren's elevated perch, she sees the black cat slink up to the witch and rub against her legs.

She whispered the details of what she saw, including the obvious familiar, to the others. "Make ready. I'll strike first and try to incapacitate the witch, then, take advantage of the confusion and charge in. She won't see me coming from above. nobody looks up..."

         Sting flies into the nearby flora, and remains out of sight . . .

         With rapier in hand, Haldir patiently awaits Wren's attack, then makes
his bold move; swifty and lithely does the Ranger move with a dancers grace from
whence he stood, yes all the way to a position that places himself twixt two of
the trolls before he finally strikes his foe with a powerful thrust from his dead-
ly blade . . .

Sending a mental word to Wren Killing her familiar would weaken her greatly or if you can paralyze her.

 "Need to get closer," Gwyn whispered, giving a command, she shimmered a moment before a raven sat upon the back of the great lion.  Launching herself into the air, she flapped up into the tree tops and just above, flying towards their quarry.

OCC:  Attention!!!  Anyone thats attacking the trolls, and are within thirty
feet of Haldir gain a +4 to their damage on the trolls . . .

Wren was silent for a long moment as she made herself ready, quietly swinging into place, and getting poised to strike. And, after an extended moment, she whispered to the others. "... I'm striking. Three...  Two... Now~"

And at that, she vaulted down from the branch that held her, using her nimble grace to catch several branches and thrust herself downward faster and more fiercely, dropping hard atop the witch herself aiming to land, feet upon her shoulders and thrusting an unarmed blow down to the side of her neck with full intent to disable her with extreme force.

(Delivering an attack from ambush against the witch - +14 to hit, 2d6+1 Bludgeoning, Sneak-attack damage, plus 5d6 precision sneak attack damage. My aim is to weaken her so she falls unconscious either from this blow or from upcoming damage pushing over to KO her. The attack is also a Stunning fist, DC 22, to stun for 1 round.

19:01, Today: Wren rolled 17 using 1d20+14 with rolls of 3. SNEAK ATTACK. (Hope that hits)

Damage: 19:03, Today: Wren rolled 34 using 7d6+1 with rolls of 2,5,6,6,2,6,6.

Since I'll then be in the midst of her trolls, I'll use 1 Ki for a Swift action after landing the blow to cast Invisibility on myself for 10 rounds... and initiative roll:

19:04, Today: Wren rolled 14 using 1d20+11 with rolls of 3. Initiative.

Soirry for my long, undue  delay)

Whether everyone was waiting for Wren to make her announced attack or not is uncertain, but as she drops down from the overhead trees on top of the witch, Haldir makes his move against the nearest troll.

Unfortunately, Wren misses the witch even with her charge bonus from dropping in from above. However, she lands behind the witch, rather than in among the trolls. She quickly turns invisible. That doesn't keep her familiar from striking at Wren.


22:48, Tue 17 June 2014: Erebyss rolled 29 using 1d20+15 ((14)) bite attack on Wren.
22:49, Tue 17 June 2014: Erebyss rolled 9 using 1d10+8 ((1)) bite damage.

I believe that just hits Wren, so she takes 9 points of damage.


Haldir attacked almost at the same time, and caught the troll completely flat-footed. He has no trouble hitting the creature, and just barely manages to score a critical hit. He does 50 points of damage to Troll #2! It's not enough to take the creature down, but he's been hit pretty good!


What are Gwyn, Lady Isile, and Borun doing? Remember, they are all hasted now, including Radagast.