Ran cursed the sun, the heat and the sweat dripping bc down his face and arms. He couldn’t get a good grip on his sword and merely tapped Taban on the side. The gladiator would be laughing at that.

The only good to come from his miss steps was that his momentum had carried Ran past Taban and in position to get a jump on the gladiator before he could reset.

Again he sweeps the long sword in his left hand out and twists it to catch Taban with the flat of the blade. He then twists, keeping that sword up to act as a shield and smacks down at Taban’s knee with the other blade.

Action: Attack: 19 Damage: 7  

Bonus: Attack: 25 Damage: Unable to parse dice roll. 

Ran feels as much as he hears the satisfying 'thwack' as the flat of his blade lands hard against the gladiator's side, though he lifts his leg to let the second strike pass by harmlessly.  There is an "Oof!" from Taban that morphs into a growl.  The large man's eyes had been cheating away in the direction of the wizard, Velan, but after the injury they flick back sharply to Ran.

Lightning quick, he dips his knees and sends a jab for Ran's nose under his raised sword.  Attack: 11 Damage: 5

He rises a little taller and follows that up with a hook aimed for Ran's jaw.  Attack: 26 Damage: 5

Then he springs to his full height and tries to deliver a heel kick to Ran's chest.  Attack: 24 Damage: 5

The man is strong, but Ran can tell that he is pulling his punches.  Any attacks that hit deal non-lethal bludgeoning damage.

He then backpedals away from Ran and Meili, passing by Danica and circling around to the other side of Mica.  He comes to a stop between Mica and Velan, his eyes on the wizard. 

(His movement will provoke AoO from Ran, Meili and Danica (he never leaves Mica's reach) if any of you would like to spend your reactions on an extra attack.)

Taban moves with unbelievable speed. Ran dodges the first blow but the next two almost bring him to his knees. Taban must have assumed they would because he drops his guard as he turns away from Ran.

Ran blinks once to clear his head and then swings one of his swords hard at the retreating Taban.

Reaction: Opportunity Attack - Attack: 22 Damage: 10  

Posting on phone so have to use character sheet dice. 

Reaction Opportunity Attack with Scimitar: 17 // Damage: 5

Action on her turn: Thorn Whip

Thorn Whip Attack: 23 // Damage: 4

He gets pulled 10 ft closer to Danica, hopefully taking his eyes off of Velan.

((I wish the similarity was planned to reflect Meili's occupation, but sadly it's just a coincidence!)

So confident! Meili had to admit, he had the right to be this way with these incredibly fast and precise masterful blows. The excitement of the battle was growing in her too now and she tried to catch the big warrior.

Attack: 9 Damage: 4

As Taban was maneuvering, Ran was able to catch him again along the ribs with a blow that had to hurt.  Danica also slashed at him as he fled past, though tried to bat her scimitar away, the move drew blood from his forearm.  He flicked a bit of the crimson at K'lahu in an impish display, then he loomed over Velan...

... until Danica's thorn whip lashed itself around his waist, blood welling up from hundreds of tiny thorns.  He braces his feet against the pull, but no amount of strength allows him to resist.  He is dragged backward leaving Velan out of his reach, for now.  (Since the stated intent was to pull him away from Velan, DM assumes Danica moves 5ft to the left, and Taban is now in the space Danica occupies on the current map.  Will try to limit new maps to one per round.

Mica is up.)

Taban was fast!  The gladiator was unimpressed with his threats or the idea of conversation in general, but readily agreed to fight the group.  He moved quickly, avoiding most of the strikes against him and literally moving in circles around Mica to get next to Velan before being pulled away by the Captain. Judging from Ran’s appearance, Taban packed quite a punch as well.

Mica stepped forward to get in between Taban and Velan, he wanted to keep him away from the wizard, and pulled his woodsman’s handaxe out of his belt.  Understanding that they were not there to kill, he reversed the weapon and slammed the poll, or back, of the axe down towards Taban’s head, hard as he could.

Attack: 14 Damage: 8.

Velan was surprised when Taban approached him. Why would he when Mica and Ran had been far more aggressive, be it with words or actions. It was like the gladiator knew he was the easier to defeat at close combat, but how could he? It took a moment, but the wizard understood - he was the only one without visible armor and when it comes to debt collectors it could only mean one thing, a spellcaster, the kind of opponent that usually was weak in close range. Fortunately, he had share his specialty with his new allies and they more than readily interceded to keep him in safe distance Danica’s whip all but ensuring his safety.

“Ran, grapple him!” Velan says drawing upon the magic of his blood. His eyes shine with the same teal color of his crystal as the wizard draws a circle in the air by moving his arms in opposite directions - the right arm clockwise, the left anticlockwise - while whispering arcane words. Dark fillets of smoke emanated from Taban’s shadow and rested upon his body, as if being weaved by the caster. A curse to maim the gladiator’s strength. “And then, make him prone!”

Grappled Taban would not be able to escape the prone position, making his attacks easier to evade. It was their best chance to defeat the man. Come on, big guy, I’m helping you. He said with the voice of his mind as a new whisper traveled the air. A disorienting spike of psychic energy being driven into the mind of the debtor.

Mind Sliver cast, Velan moves as far from the enemy as he can, but keep focus on him. Should the man avoid the grapple, the wizard would react casting Silvery Barbs against him.

Notes: Velan uses his bonus action to cast Hex with his Hex Magic trait, imposing on Taban disadvantage with all skill checks that use Strenght. Then he uses his action to cast Mind Sliver (Taban have to make a Intelligence Save Throw DC 13 or take 1d6 psychic damage and reduce 1d4 from the next saving throw before the end of Velan's next turn). After this, Velan move his full speed (30ft) away from Taban. Finally I am compromising Velan's reaction to cast Silvery Barbs if Taban makes the grapple check (despite disadvantage and -1d4). Ran, grapple him!

Damage (if applicable): 6

Taban’s INT save: 5

…

 
Mica brings the blunt side of his axe down… but it’s like the gladiator has eyes in the back of his head, as he shifts just enough to let the weapon strike the studded armor on his shoulder, to no effect.

Taban’s eyes cross briefly and a trickle of blood runs from his nose as Velan’s cantrip assails his mind.   He shakes his head and continues to fight, but do his arms and legs suddenly seem a bit heavier?  STR Hex has taken hold.

(Meili and Ran are back up for around 2!)

Meili was close to panicking (internally, very internally). No, not because Taban proved to be a great fighter - that was a good part of the fight. She, on the other hand, was so out of practice, she would not be able to hit the side of the barn. She draw her sword now and jumped back into the frontline:

Attack: 13 Damage: 8  adding a kick at the end:

BA: Attack: 11 Damage: 4

Ran primes himself to take another pass at Taban but then he spots Velan waving his hands around and hears him shouting to grab Taban and knock him to the ground.

He raises his eyes at the size of the gladiator, but something does look off about him now. He quickly sheathes both swords and charges Taban, slipping his arms up and under the gladiator’s looking to hold him steady.

Action: Grapple  Athletics: 24  

While he grabs at the big gladiator, Ran finds a moment to catch his breath and push the pain of Taban’s first attack out of his mind.

Bonus Action: Second Wind - heals 3  

The huge man tries to flex his back to keep Ran from locking his arms around him.  Athletics (w/disadvantage): 24 and minus 1 from mind sliver

...

With a final reroll from silvery barbs : 22

...

 But Taban is just too strong, even under the influence of Velan's hex!  Despite his escape, he looks much less confident than he did before, injured now and surrounded, yet to put any of his foes on the ground.  He looks down at Ran, still trying to grasp him, and attempts to deliver three crushing blows with his fists.

Attack: 23 Damage: 5

Attack: 21 Damage: 5

Attack: 9 Damage: 5

...

 "Why won't you go down!" he bellows in frustration.  He makes another move, sliding between Ran and Danica as he moves back toward his house.  

[Nice plan, Velan, but with +10 to athletics, Ran's roll made it very difficult for him to fail the check on the grapple.  However, his move once again allows for AoO from Danica, Mica and Meili (he actually moved out of and back into Meili's reach) but he never leaves Ran's reach so no AoO.  New map shortly.]

Second Round

• Meili
• Ran
• Taban
• Danica
• Mica 
• Velan

[Correction... Velan should be 15 feet off the map to the south]

Yes, Meili would too ignore the opponent like herself right now. But she did not completely give up just yet!

AoO: Attack: 23 Damage: 5.

Taban isn't looking defeated but it's clear he is re-evaluating how he wants to approach this fight.  His grinning confidence is gone, replaced by a grim ferocity.

[AoO's are on the menu and then Danica is up.  For now, your opponent is looking scraped and bruised but still very much prepared to keep the fight going.]

Frustrated as his first strike slides harmlessly off of Taban's shoulder, Mica lashes the back of his axe at the gladiator's head as he begins to move around the group, trying to hit him before his slips out of reach.

AoO: Attack: 9 Damage: 4

As Taban moves past her, Danica grimaces at his poor decision making before slashing towards his retreating form with her scimitar. Following after him, she moves around Ran and comes up behind him from the west before trying to attack again, this time aiming at an arm. "You already know how this is going to end. Save yourself some pain. Don't want to show up too worked over for your fight, right?" 

AoO  Attack: 14 Damage: 4
Attack: 9 Damage: 7

Mica grunts out an angry curse as he misses the retreating form of Taban, again.  This man was slippery as an eel.  Seeing the Captain swing around the west, Mica draws his second handaxe and loops around Meili to the east, ending up between Taban and his house and bracketing the gladiator between him and the Captain.

He attacks with both axes,  high and low, swinging the blunt end of one axe down on the side of Taban’s knee and then raising up and bringing the other one around in a wide arc toward his head.

Attack: 22 Damage: 9

Bonus action: Attack: 13 Damage: 2

Taban appears to be losing a step, as Danica and Meili are both able to strike glancing blows with their swords as the gladiator tries to maneuver through and around their group.  He is able to turn in time to deflect Danica's follow up attack with his left arm, but Mica takes the advantage of his distraction and strikes blunt blows to his right knee and head.  Taban is now favoring his right knee and his left side, and he is once again surrounded.

[Velan's up to complete round two, and then back around to Meili and Ran!]

As Taban first seemed to evade the grappling he released yet another spell. With the eye of his mind, Velan saw vines of silver light sprouting from the ground and enveloping the gladiator, trying to hold his body, reduce even further its strength. It was his mental image for turning the uncertainty of the man’s success into a literal obstacle and it was not enough.

Through sheer physical prowess the debtor pushed through the spell and as the wizard saw the failure of his plan, he gathered upon himself the energy siphoned from the enemy. An instant of inspiration for his next attack, he knew as Ran was stroke. It happened because of my strategy, he thought as the combat progressed. It is my fault.

“Ignis!” He said distancing himself further thirty feet, raising his right arm, hand open, mystic energy concentrating upon his arcane focus. He conjured a mote of flame and hurled it against the gladiator. There was not time to feel guilty or apologize. There was an enemy to defeat. If restraining had not worked then it was time for the more direct approach. His hex was still upon the man, it could bring forth more damage. Not enough to bring the warrior down, at least not yet. But certainly something to add to the attacks of the group.

Notes: I expected Taban to have between 5 and 7 in Athletics. Gross underestimation of my part, but it happens. Apologies for putting a target on Ran's back, Thoradin. That said, Velan moves his 30ft back and attacks with Fire Bolt.

Spell Attack (Adv because of Silvery Barbs): 22
Damage (if applicable): 5