Khessa narrows her eyes a little at the touch of the elf cleric who casts the beneficial spell on her - always so delicate, those healer's fingers... She gives him a kiss and wishes him good watch, before slipping into a peaceful sleep: "Thank you very much, Jasper".

The blonde arcane warrior will take last watch, assisted by Anator. If Anator does not need to sleep, she asks him for the favor of assisting the others as well (and telepathically alerting her if she notices anything suspicious).

(OOC: To speed things up, regarding the others I would suggest Katarina second watch, Aura third,  Echo fourth, Tookrashk none - allowing him to rest as much as he can, since he has to recover)

Echo looks at Tookrashk sympathetically, "we can hunt for food on the way! This is pretty urgent, so we have to go fast."

Echo will happily take a night shift since she sees well in the dark. She would extinguish the campfire, relying only on her vision. When boredom overcomes her, she passes time by poking at the remaining embers.

Perception for night watch: 18

Oh, good idea the rolls in advance, guyu

Perceptions, if needed:

Khessa: 20

Anator (who has blindsight, anyway): 8

Tookrashk walks in a circle three times before falling down onto a soft patch of grass with a satisfied sigh. The manticore curls in on himself like a cat, tail tucked to nose, and in only a few minutes he begins to snore.

The evening draws on, and just past midnight, when it is Echo's turn to watch, she hears a rustling in the foliage about 20 yards away. It sounds like some sort of animal snuffling around, but it also sounds like a big animal from the noise it's making.

I guess I'll roll a Perception check for Katarina as well.

Perception: 21

Katarina can tell that the noise seems to be headed toward the camp!

"Whatever comes towards us... crazy it must be," Katarina says incredulously as she unsheathes her axe for battle. "To attack a camp full of warriors AND a manticore..."

She pauses as another thought occurs to her.

"Unless perhaps a fight is not what they seek?"

Jasper comes out of his meditation from the commotion. “What is happening?” Jasper asks quietly. Listening carefully and looking into darkness...

Perception: 26

If Khessa gets also awakened, she promptly cast Light to be able to see, she sends Anator to check from above (well out of melee range!) and report and readies her greatsword, triyng to place herself between her friends and the source of the noise.

Echo does shakes everyone's shoulder lightly and then quickly points in the direction of the noise. She looks over her shoulder and says in a low voice, "I'll go see real quick... I'm good at hiding, and I can see, so don't worry!" She crouches and creeps to the nearest trees just off the side of the road. Her form disappears as she seems to blend in with the shadows and she moves out towards the source of the noise unseen.

Casting [spell]invisibility[spell] and sneaking to check out whats out there!

Stealth if needed: 22 another one if i get adv from invis 17

Perception again? 7

And yea! I found that doing really obvious rolls in advance can speed things up during pbp! DM can still ask for rolls where needed, or just disregard rolls not needed too

Echo sneaks forward a bit toward the source of the noise. As she gets closer, she makes out the vague silhouette of a huge creature snuffling about, apparently following the party's scent. At first glance, it appears to be a massive bear, but then the creature raises its feathered head to reveal that it is, in fact, an owlbear! It hasn't seen Echo yet. 

(Doing rolls in advance is fine with me. Like you said I can always ask for different rolls or disregard ones that aren't needed!) 

...kind of sounds like we should probably roll Initiative.

Katarina Initiative: 3

Since Khessa sent Anator to check from above, I guess her brother warns her telepathically of the Owlbear (or at least he warns her of a 'very big animal', if he does not know what an owlbear is). Learning this, Khessa reasons: 'Beasts, usually, do not have ranged attacks...'

So she wakes up Tookrashk: "There is an incoming big beast, my friend! It's behind those bushes. Allow me to ride on your back and let's take flight! We will fight the beast from distance, from a bove, you with your tail spikes, I with my spells! The beast will not be able to retaliate - so we will scare it away safely".

then...

If Tookrashk agrees to the strategy:

Khessa holds tightly with her legs to the sides of the manticore and with one hand to the mane, while with the other she spams Fire Bolts on the owlbear from above until it flees (the beast has no hope of fighting back... it will probably realize this soon and run away - or if it is too stupid to realize this, it will anyway be reduced to a smoking carcass in the end).

If Tookrashk refuses the strategy:

the blonde arcane warrior thinks again: 'Beasts are also usually scared by fire...' and with a quick formula combined with an elegant gesture she sends a mote of fire to ignite the bushes the beast is behind, hoping to put the big visitor to flight.

Some rolls in advance, if needed:

Khessa's initiative (if we can not simply put the owlbear to flee as Khessa would like and a fight starts): 20

Khessa's persuasion (if she needs a check to convince Tookrashk of her strategy): 3

Khessa's roll to hit the bushes (in case Tookrashk refuses her strategy) - no idea if a roll is needed or what AC bushes might have, but just in case: 5

Jasper looks in the direction same as the others and grabs his spear. And as Khessa hurls the fire at the bushes, Jasper readies himself for attack.

INITIATIVE: 8

Tookrashk seems appalled by the idea of someone riding him, and he rears back like a startled horse. "No one ride Tookrashk!" he declares. "Tookrashk not beast of burden."

Meanwhile, the owlbear seems to have heard the commotion made by the manticore, and it comes charging out of the woods straight at the party! It is startled by the appearance of the fire, but its confusion is momentary, and it continues its charge.

~~

If you haven't already, please roll for initiative! And I've updated the battle map. Owlbear Rodeo has a new site that hosts the maps permanently so this should work a lot better!

Hmmm... so fight we must, it seems.

Have rolled initiative already:

Khessa: 20

Jasper: 5

Katarina: 3

Still have to roll:

Echo:

Aura:

(Tookrashk and Owlbear will be rolled by DM, I guess)

(thanks for the patience, I've been out all weekend!

Initiative: 22

Depending on the initiative roll, if Echo can get a surprise round, she grasps at the air in the direction of the owlbear and releases a ray of sickness!

Attack: 24 Damage: 12 (rolled at advantage since the owlbear hasn't seen her, but attacking also breaks invisibility)

I will roll initiative for Aura since she hasn't posted yet.

Initiative

Khessa: 20

Aura: 20

Echo: 16

Jasper: 5

Tookrashk: 5

Owlbear: 4

Katarina: 3

Echo is able to launch her ray of sickness, which surprises the owlbear. It roars in fury and charges toward the party!

Aura, Khessa, Echo, and Jasper may act first!

Jasper seeing Khessa, Echo and Aura quickly act towards the beast, he casts Bless on the three. 
(Add 1d4 to attacks or saving throws on the next round)