"I am eager to find Reidoth. Let us hurry!"

Morgan once more leads the party to the nearest building.

(#1 on the map)

Morgan lead the group to a crumbled stone cottage with no roof, cowering in the shadow of the old trees nearby. Looking inside she sees weeds. Lots and lots of weeds, filling the dirt floor of this once-building.

"Does your mentor often inhabit abandoned ruins, I suppose?" Betty questions as she eyes the overgrowth suspiciously.

Zombies. Zombies and plant monsters... ugh.

"My mentor goes wherever he's needed," Maric said. "I think he's around here somewhere, though. Maybe if we called for him, or looked around some more. When he comes this way, he's usually studying the plants and such, searching for blight."

"Well, we can keep looking."

Morgan will lead the group to the next abandoned building. [Just left of "2"]

These ruined, side-by-side cottages look as though they might have been the homes of prosperous shopkeepers or well-off farmers in their time. All that remains are collapsed walls and piles of debris. Several young trees have grown up in the midst of the ruins.

As Morgan leads the group closer to the bits of brush and trees, a number of tiny creatures jump out. At first it seems like a swarm of preying mantis or some such, but the swarm clusters together forming small bodies of wood-vine-people-things. As you react in shock to their presence and then confusion as to what these things are, hollow claws form at the ends of their arms and they swarm hungrily.



There are least 6 of these things, and they're all around you, so everyone is in melee range of at least one, if not more.

21:01, Today: Psynister rolled 17,11,8,14,15 using d20+3,d20+2,d20+2,d20,d20+1.  Party Initiative: Beat, Mari, Morg, Tali, Monsters.

Round 1: Beatrice is the only one who beat them on initiative, so Beatrice can post her action, everyone else wait. I'll recap Betty along with the twig blights and then we'll flow into all of you, all of them, and so forth.

[OOC: Well, shit, maybe not. Can't hold the party up! :) -Ken]

Betty whips out her rapier with lighting efficiency. "Maric! I've NO idea how to fight these things!" she calls, and though her gut instinct tells her that her piercing attack may do little damage, if any, to such creatures, she stabs at one anyway.

As anticipated, the rapier bounces off one of the creature's limbs ... hah! ... and does no real damage. Betty swears and growls. "MARIC!", she implores.

[OOC: Today: Beatrice Thornhall rolled 7,10 using 1d20+5,1d8+3 ((2,7)).
Re-roll 1s with Halfling Luck. So, what do I do? Roll a 2.
<sigh> -Ken]

"I'm on my way!"

Beatrice drew out her rapier and stabbed at the little plant-creature-things, but they were light on their feet and had gaps in their viney bodies, making it difficult for her aim to be true. (miss)

The twig creatures then reached their targets with their hollow-needle claws.

The first struck true at Morgan, the warrior only barely parrying the claws enough to keep them from sinking into her skin where she could only imagine it would then start feeding on her lifeblood. (Morgan takes 2 Piercing damage)

The next tries for the warrior woman's other leg, but it's claws are thwarted by the rings of chain mail armor and it has to fight to free its claws from the interlocking chains. (miss)

Two more of the creatures go after Beatrice, but none of our heroes was surprised to see that she dodged attacks from little creatures just as easily as she did larger ones, and the halfling remained unharmed. (miss and miss)

Maric was in his elven form, which he had grown unaccustomed to fighting in as of late, but he was still able to keep the little creature at bay with the butt of his spear as the shock and surprise of this ambush seemed to have heightened his reaction time. (miss)

Talin was not quite so lucky, as his attention had been mostly on things outside of the buildings since he was watching the rear and there was little room for him to join the others inside. With no armor to protect him either, the creature's claws stabbed into the warlock's calf and pulsed as it fed. (4 damage to Talin)


Round 1: Everyone can post actions now, including Beatrice.




10:05, Today: Psynister rolled 20,4 using d20+3,d4+1.
10:05, Today: Psynister rolled 9,3 using d20+3,d4+1.
10:05, Today: Psynister rolled 14,4 using d20+3,d4+1.
10:05, Today: Psynister rolled 15,5 using d20+3,d4+1.
10:05, Today: Psynister rolled 14,2 using d20+3,d4+1.
10:05, Today: Psynister, for the NPC Twig Blight, rolled 18,2 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.

Maric calls forth a Flame Blade (2nd lvl spell 3d6 dmg)

Rolled 13 to attack

11 pts dmg if successful

Morgan tries to slash one of the creatures attacking her, but her blade just misses. However, she uses her shield to knock the twig blight that scratched her back away from her.

Action: Attack, just missed
Bonus Action: Shield bash to shove away, Athletics/Acrobatics DC22 to resist

10:22, Today: Morgan Ironwolf rolled 22 using 1d20+5.  Athletics/Shield Bash bonus action.

10:21, Today: Morgan Ironwolf rolled 12,12 using 1d20+6,1d8+6.  attack twig blight.

Betty fends off the creepy wood-things attacks, a blur of shield and sword and lace and ruffle, her heeled boots clicking and scuffing along the ground as she danced her way through combat. She saw an opening and struck, attacking in such a way so as to lessen the chances her delicate blade would become trapped between branches and twigs.

[OOC: Beatrice Thornhall rolled 17,9 using 1d20+5,1d8+3 (Attack, Damage)]

0

Morgan finds no more success in harming these things than Beatrice had. However, she did manage to slam her shield into one and send it flying back, putting some distances between them. (Shove succeeds)

Maric on the other hand, summons a blade made of pure molten fire. He carved into one of the creatures, splitting its poorly constructed body cleanly in half and causing both sides to burst into ash almost instantly. (Twig Blight 4 is dead)

Talin summons a protective layer of cold magic that covers his body. (casts Armor of Agathys)

Beatrice fends off the creepy wood-things attacks, a blur of shield and sword and lace and ruffle, her heeled boots clicking and scuffing along the ground as she danced her way through combat. She saw an opening and struck, landing true and destroying the foe. (Twig Blight 3 is dead)

TB 1 gets through Morgan's armor at last, stabbing the claws into her leg. (4 damage to Morgan)
TB 2 goes after Beatrice, but has no luck against the more agile halfling. (miss)
TB 3 is dead.
TB 4 is nothing but ash.
TB 5 attacks Talin, landing another slash against the unarmored warlock. The protective spell he'd just cast keeps him protected, however, as the claws sudden slam into a layer of ice and you watch the twig creature shrivel, grey, and fall over dead. (TB 5 dies for Armor of Agathys)
TB 6 tries for Talin, but hesitates at the sight of its flash-frozen companion. (miss)

From out of the foliage nearby, two more twig blights join the fight.

TB 7 joins the attack on Beatrice, but it is no match for her agility either. (miss)
TB 8 goes for the warlock's legs, but misses.

Round 2: The notes on the right side of the chart below show you which ones are in melee range of who.





23:56, Today: Psynister rolled 5,3 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
23:56, Today: Psynister rolled 10,3 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
23:56, Today: Psynister rolled 5,4 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
23:56, Today: Psynister rolled 20,3 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
23:56, Today: Psynister rolled 10,2 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
23:56, Today: Psynister rolled 22,4 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
23:46, Today: Psynister, for the NPC Twig Blight, rolled 16 using 1d20+1.  Acrobatics.

Maric's invigorated by the damage done to the Twig Blight, follows up with another swing of his flame blade.

Attack roll: 10

Damage: 9 on the next nearest Twig Blight.

Seeing that knocking the creatures back was not really effective, as it just came back, Morgan focused her energy on attacking, putting on a burst of speed to slash at the two twig blights closest to her.

Action: attack, hit for 7 slashing damage
Action Surge: attack, hit for 11 slashing damage

22:34, Today: Morgan Ironwolf rolled 16,11 using 1d20+6,1d8+6.  Action surge attack/damage with sword.

22:34, Today: Morgan Ironwolf rolled 19,7 using 1d20+6,1d8+6.  attack/damage with sword.

Thankful that his magical armour killed the creature, He takes stock of the situation and noting the hesitation i one of the monsters he fires an eldritch  blast at twig blight 8 which has just recently missed his legs

OOC 12:09, Today: Talin rolled 7 using 1d10.  Damage .


12:08, Today: Talin rolled 13 using 1d20+5.  Eldritch blast to hit
This message was last edited by the player at 11:11, Sat 15 May 2021.

Noting the battlefield conditions, Betty leaves Twig Blight 2 to Morgan, and focuses her attentions on Twig Blight 7. "I'm gonna turn you into toothpicks!" she warns, lashing out with her blade. The attack strikes true, and her prediction proves accurate as the Twig Blight shatters into a spray of wood splinters. She smiles contently and looks for another target.

[OOC: Beatrice Thornhall rolled 24,12 using 1d20+5,1d8+4 ((Attack,Damage)).

MAN! What a time to JUST miss on a CRIT! -Ken]

0

Morgan redoubled her efforts on attacking the creatures, giving up on batting them away with the shield. She cleaved two of them with ease, clearing out the ones nearest to her. (TB 1 & 2 are dead)

Maric swung his flaming blade, but the little creature was too agile for him this time around, and the sword left a seared line in the nearby wall instead. (miss)

Talin tried to blast one with eldritch energy. The drawback of using ranged attacks in close quarters though, was that aiming was more difficult since it was easier to dodge, and the blast kicked up rocks and dirt as it slammed into the flooring. (Miss, ranged attacks when you are within 5 ft of an enemy gives Disadvantage on the attack)
12:46, Today: Psynister, on behalf of Talin, rolled 10 using 1d20+5.  Disadvantage.

Beatrice turns to find a target and stabs the one nearest to her. The attack strikes true, and her prediction proves accurate as the Twig Blight shatters into a spray of wood splinters and leafy vines. (T7 is dead)

The plant creatures show no sign of stopping simply because the majority of their number had been decimated. Both of them attack Talin with their hollowed claws, but neither can find purchase.
TB 6 misses.
TB 8 misses.

Round 3: The notes on the right side of the chart below show you which ones are in melee range of who. You all have room and speed to maneuver into range of the other two, though.




12:50, Today: Psynister rolled 9,5 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack.
12:50, Today: Psynister rolled 4,2 using d20+3,d4+1.  Claw Attack

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:49, Sun 16 May 2021.

Drawing his mace from his belt, he swings at the creature



OOC, 20:51, Today: Talin rolled 5 using 1d8.  Mace damage.

20:51, Today: Talin rolled 19 using 1d20.  Mace
This message was last edited by the player at 19:52, Sat 15 May 2021.

Morgan gives a battlecry as the two twig blights attacking her are destroyed, and she seems to have more vitality from the effort.

She moves to Talin's side and swings Talon at one of the creatures attacking the Warlock, slicing into it.

Bonus Action: Second Wind, heal 10 points (back to full hp)
Action: Attack whichever twig blight Talin didn't, hit for 8 slashing

06:37, Today: Morgan Ironwolf rolled 13,8 using 1d20+6,1d8+6.  attack/damage with sword.

06:36, Today: Morgan Ironwolf rolled 10 using 1d10+3.  Second Wind.

Morgan and Talin finish off the two remaining twig blights, and the area is still once more.

Combat is over.

"Who needs healing?" Maric asks.

"Hmph." Betty scoffs, "Those creepy little things couldn't even touch me, I suppose." She concludes as she slings dust and twig-parts from her rapier before sheathing it.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:21, Sun 16 May 2021.

"Lass, as cute as you are in your underwear, I asked 'who needs healing.' Now, if you don't need healing, than you don't need to speak up. I'm only asking for the wounded. Thank you for your help though."

There's a large element of humor in what he says, but he is ready to heal if need be.
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:22, Sun 16 May 2021.