Chapter Two - A Shortcut Across the Bay

[Trogdor]

Chanur rushes to follow Bua Gorg trying to stop the bullywug priest from letting the other bullywugs into the room.

Meanwhile, Wavedancer, in a better position to act, may well try the same.

Roll

Chanur follows Bua Gorg

Initiative

Round 4: Bua Gorg 21, Chanur 18.9, Wavedancer 18.8, Lavinia 13, Tolin 12, Zan 6

Characters in bold have already acted this round.

Effects
Wavedancer: Mage Armor (3+ hours)

Hit Points

Bua Gorg: -44

Map

Move Chanur N of Bua Gorg

[TetNak]

Wavedancer does not like the prospect of fighting through a mass of bullywugs. He hopes the others get here soon, and wonder what is taking them so long. The elf gets into better position and unleashes another arrow made of acid toward the creature.

Action

Move: SE, S. Acid Arrow vs. Bua Gorg

[Trogdor]

Expending the last of his more advanced spells, Wavedancer shoots one last acid arrow at Bua Gorg. It hits and begins burning through the bullywug's skin.

Lavinia and the other two then do everything they can to hurt the bullywug priest. Lavinia advances and attacks, but misses. The man runs forward, and grazes the bullywug with an arrow, firing just past Chanur as he shouts a warning to the sailor. And the half-elf also picks up a bow and fires, though his shot is high and misses.

Bua Gorg is badly injured, but still standing. It calls forth to Dagon in a terrible hissing voice and a dark green light briefly falls over the room. Within this sickly glow, healing energy courses through everyone in the room. The man and the elf no longer seem on the edge of death, and even Kora begins to awaken. But so too is the priest renewed. Showing greater strength and stamina, the bullywug reaches down to pull out the dagger blocking the door, opening the way for a host of other bullywugs to enter.

Lavinia slashes away at the creature, but her rapier thrust skitters off its rubbery hide. Chanur, however, is more precise. Watching the bullywug's hand descend toward the dagger, the sailor stabs out with his rapier, piercing the creature's wrist and pinning its hand and arm to the door. A jerk back and forth on the rapier, temporarily anchored on the door, cuts deep into the creature's arm. At last, the pain is too much for it and the bullywug priest collapses. A moment later, the remains of Wavedancer's acid arrow ends any chance the creature might have had of surviving this fight.

Outside, the other bullywugs press against the door. But at present, they haven't the strength to get through.

Roll

Wavedancer fires Acid Arrow at Bua Gorg: 22, hits for 7 damage!

Lavinia attacks with rapier: 14, miss

Tolin rushes forward and fires an arrow: 17 hit for 2

Zan picks up shortbow and fires an arrow: 11, miss

Strength check by bullywugs to bust down door: 10, stays closed

Bua Gorg channels energy: 8 damaged healed for all.
Then Bua Gorg tries to remove the dagger
AoO from Chanur: "20" possible crit, 20, confirms, 10 damage, brings Bua Gorg down to -1 hp
Pinned Arm: double damage and arm pinned
AoO from Lavinia: 8, miss

Initiative

Round 5: Chanur 18.9, Wavedancer 18.8, Lavinia 13, Tolin 12, Zan 6, Bullywugs 5

Characters in bold have already acted this round.

Effects
Wavedancer: Mage Armor (3+ hours)

OOC

Right now you're in pseudo-combat. I'm going to keep tracking rounds. And each round, the bullywugs will have a chance to break through. But you guys don't have to post in any order.

Nail-biter of a round

It may not have looked so to you guys, since I'm narrating things all at once. But seeing yoru actions go one-by-one made this a very tense round. As each of the good guys attacked and either missed or did low damage, you slowly reduced Bua Gorg to 1 HP. One more hit or one slightly better damage roll would have taken him down.

Then he channels energy to heal himself and reaches down to pull out the dagger wedging the door shut. Lavinia misses her AoO and Chanur hits. But a regular hit by Chanur does 8 max damage, and Bua Gorg now has 9 HP left. Thankfully, Chanur threatens a crit. He confirms and just manages to do 10 points of damage, taking the priest down. For good measure, he gets an 'arm pinned' crit, which I would have ruled stopped Bua Gorg from grabbing the dagger anyway. Oh, and then right after its move, the priest takes the last 6 points from the acid arrow, dropping it to -7.

All in all, a tense round that you pulled out by the skin of your teeth, even if it didn't seem as tense in the post.

[TetNak]

Wavedancer walks forward and suggests, "Perhaps you should move out of the way, Captain, and when they come through, I shall disable them in the doorway. They will be surprised and blinded, and we can pick them off easily afterward.

Action

Move: E, E, SE, SE

[Chanur]

Chanur nods at Wavedancer and moves to check on Kora.

"Great idea Wavedancer."

[Trogdor]

Wavedancer takes up position near the door and declares his readiness to enchant anything that comes through the door. But one the rescued people has a different idea.

"Hold on mate," the man with bow says. "Can you hold the door long enough to let the three of us get some armor on?" Even now he's dropped the bow and is grabbing a mithral chain shirt from the pile of items near the bed. "I'll fight the damn bullywugs no matter what. But I'll be a lot more effective if I have my armor on." He tosses the chain shirt onto a chair near Lavinia. "And I'd not see Lady Vanderboren go into danger unarmored if I could help it."

Lavinia grabs the chain shirt, sets down her rapier on the chair, and starts wriggling into the armor.

Meanwhile, the half-elf, rather than opening the door, grabs the chair Lavinia was in and wedges it under the door handle, further keeping the door jammed shut. And a good thing too! The bullywugs smash into the door with real purpose, bowing the door inward and cracking part of the chair. There's no doubt in anyone's mind that their attempt would have smashed through either dagger or chair alone. And it's only the combination of the two that held them back.

Chanur, for his part, checks on Kora. He finds her doing far better after the healing the bullywug priest inadvertently gave you. She's slowly regaining consciousness and looks like she'll recover.

OOC

Zan's Disable Device Check: 18, successfully jams the door even more.

Bullywug strength check (with some aid another's added in): 24 vs DC 25, barely fails. (Thanks to the chair wedged under the door handle)

Lavinia starts getting her armor on. [Round 1/5]

[TetNak]

The aquan shakes his head, "You are going to have to move faster than that," Wavedancer says, watching the door intently. "I doubt it will hold long enough." He shrugs slightly, figuring that they should be able to hold out unless there is a horde of them coming. At least their leader is defeated. That should give them a chance. He idly wonders, again, where the others are.

[Chanur]

"If the door breaks Wavedancer and I will try and give you enough time to get geared up."

Chanur stands ready with a flourish of his rapier, absent mindedly trying to adjust the hat that is not there.

[Trogdor]

Chanur sands back, rapier raised, and flanks the door with Wavedancer. The two wait for an incursion, ready to attack whatever comes through. Meanwhile, the half-elf rushes to reinforce the door, while Lavinia and the man start working their way into their armor. "Don't just stand there waiting for them to bust through," the half-elf says. "Help me hold the door! We've got to give Lady Vanderboren time to get her armor on!"

And as if to emphasize his point, there is another slam on the door from the outside. The chair creaks again and cracks appear on the door. There's no telling how much longer it will last.

Lavinia and the man say nothing, both doing all they can to wriggle into their chain shirts as quickly as possible.

OOC

Zan's interfere with another roll: 12, success
I'm basically letting you make 'Interfere with Another' checks much like the Aid Another checks that the bullywugs are getting to make. Every one that you succeed on, subtracts 2 from the main bullywug strength check.

Bullywug strength check (+/- from bullywug aid and Zan's interference): 19 vs DC 24, fails

Armor Status
Lavinia: 2/5
Tolin: 1/5

[TetNak]

"I suggest standing back," Wavedancer warns the man. "If you are in my way when they come through, I will not wait ..." Whatever the strange sea elf plans, it appears that Zan will catch it if he stands in his way.