'This drow is always so attentive to what I do or look at, that he can often read my mind!' thinks to herself Khessa 'I wonder why he does it? Does he care of me? ' she is partly pleased... 'Or... or does he keep an eye on me because he doesn't trust me?'  ...but she is also partly suspicious 'I hope not this... He should have understood, by now, that I want to save him no less than all the others!'

"A broken arrow as symbol... Is this Laduguer a god of ill-fortune?" Khessa asks the drow  "Hmmm, or something quite worse, perhaps... I had never heard such disgust from you, Aster! I'm really curious what the servants of this god do, to impress even you so much"

The blonde warrior checks in the meantime the cleaning supplies, to see if there is cloth that Clara could use to bandage wounds or something like it.

"Do you see any vials of water, Aster?" the tall adventurer is looking for them also "Because, you know, it might be holy water... that could be a powerful weapon against fiends like the manes, even in unskilled hands such as those of the refugees!"

Khessa takes whatever she can find of said things (cloth, vials of water), then she goes for the doors in the hallway, starting from the first on her left.

 (OOC: Oh, by the way, regarding my previous posts, post 151 especially... Which scrolls Clara was able to use - so I know she has them - and add the others to Khessa's inventory? And which ranged weapon choose Aster, bow or crossbow - so I know he has it and add the other to Khessa's inventory? I know I write sometimes somewhat too long posts, so it is easy to miss something...)

(I am ruling that basically anyone can use any scroll, but it will use that person's INT or WIS or CHA, whichever spell list the spell is most commonly from. In the case its from multiple lists, its your' choice!)

"You could call him a god of ill-fortune, yes," Aster nods. "He encourages these little dwarves to think they are better than everyone, drow included. Flawed thinking, I would say."

Aster looks where you want him to look "No, I don't quite see anything like that here. I imagine the duergar took anything like that with them..."

Looking through each room, you realize this wing of the church is a dormitory for the most part, except one of the doors leads into an office. The dormitories mostly just have cloth in the form of bedrolls, sheets, that sort of thing. The office might require more searching to see anything of interest.

(OK, I'll have Khessa keep the Thunder Wave scroll, leaving Speak with Animals and Bless to Clara. And as far as the ranged weapons are concerned? Aster prefers Longbow or Hand Crossbow?)

"Yes, very flawed," sighs Khessa "because no race will ever be better than a world of creatures of all the races living in peace together! But this seems so hard to understand for so many..."

From the dormitory the blonde warrior takes some bedrolls; she thinks that Clara could use them to make bandages. Plus, in one of the bedrolls she puts as much lumineshent mushroom as possible from the small gardens, looking forward to use it to grant additional illumination to all during the journey.

Then, as she enters the office, she starts looking anything else of interest...

Perception (while searching): 12

(Oh sorry,  I thought I answered, he will take the hand crossbow so he can look cool. I'll update this more seriously later!)

(OK, great, Khessa will keep Longbow; it might appear less cool, but at least it shots at farther range! There were ammunitions also? Or are we without at the moment?)

(For this game, we won't track ammo, because I find it slightly annoying... hah!)

As Khessa and Aster enter the office, they don't immediately find anything worthwhile, but take to giving a closer inspection of the nooks and crannies. Anything left behind in a hurry during the duergar escape against an ankheg could prove useful. The two of them look through the desk, tables, drawers, but don't find anything. They don't even notice that the door starts to swing slightly, nearly closed... as critters suddenly attack! It appears there was a hole in the wall just behind the door when Khessa opened it. 

Roll initiative! Khessa and Aster are both surprised.

The critters in question number as a total of 3... and they look like this! They are about knee high.

Critter 1 22
Critter 2 21
Critter 3 15

Khessa can not be suprised while she is conscious, thanks to the bonus feat you granted her (she choose Alert).

Her initiative is 23

(Should I roll for Aster also? If yes, this is his initiative 9 - if you prefer to roll it yourself ignore this result, no problem)

Quote from LaRue >>

(For this game, we won't track ammo, because I find it slightly annoying... hah!)

 

Perfect! Yes, I agree, it is slightly annoying... and who wants to be annoyed, albeit slightly?

So, coming to the combat, if the numbers you rolled for the critters were their initiative, Khessa (who not only cann't be surprised, but also rolled high) should be up, right? If so, I'll have Khessa take her turn... Now, if I well understand: the critters are between her and the door, and the door is nearly closed... so she cann't retreat out of the room (she could jump over the critters, sine they are only knee-high, but the almost closed door would prevent her to jump out). So she is forced to fight in the room. Correct?

(Oh right, Alert! Excellent. And yes, you rolling is better in my opinion!)

23 - Khessa
22 - Critter 1, 2, and 3
9 - Aster

Khessa, it is your turn. You are thinking of making a break for it, but as you realized, the small critters are standing in a way that is just in the way of opening the door more fully. You and Aster won't be able to walk out the door unless you can kill Critter 3 and move its corpse away from the back of the door.

The recent troubles in the Underdark have taught Khessa to always be on the alert; for this reason the slight, almost imperceptible, rustle of the door moved by the critters makes her spin around and spot them! The blonde warrior immediately realizes the danger: the three monsters wanted to attack them from behind!

'Darn...' she also realizes 'They are between me and the door. Plus they almost close it. I can not exit and fight with cover... I'd need to kill one of them and move its corpse away from the back of the door. No time for that. And must protect Aster, who is unaware of them! No, I have to fight here at the moment'.

Trying to draw attention to herself (and thus prevent enemies from assaulting the drow while he is still unprepared) Khessa wields Cabbage Patch Avenger with both hands and fires a quick low slash, at the level of the monsters' bodies (OOC : let's say he attacks Critter 3), placing herself between them and Aster.

"Aster!" however she tries to warn him "Behind! We have got company!"

Quick low slash: 24 Damage: 11

Khessa bisects the creature with ease, it is dead.

(If you make a successful kick of its body with a athletics DC 12 check, then you can free interaction the door and make a break for it, if you'd like. Waiting confirmation that your turn is over before these goobers all go.)

(Oh, ok, I thougt it pratically impossibile... I try then, because if successful one of the attacker will be forced to strike from the corner of the door, with disvantage. Let's see...)

"This will teach you to try sneaking on us!" Khessa exclaims at the bisected critter and she tries to kick its body out of the door's way.

Athletics: 18

But the kick is too quick and lacks the power to move the dead body enough. The blonde warrior tries to defend herself at her best from her current position.

'At least, there is one less already...'

23 - Khessa
22 - Critter 1 & 2
9 - Aster

Enraged by the death of their kin, which you just KNOW they are going to eat later, they flank Khessa and go for attacks!

First Attack: 22, 5 piercing damage.

Second Attack: 16, 6 piercing damage.

Aster is surprised. He gasps, but draws his rapier. "Damn, if these little monsters are here... Lady Khessa, we must swiftly end things and get out of here... before their mother comes!"

(They attacked with advantage, but because of the optional flanking rule, but because they have pack tactics. It is your turn again, Khessa! Unless I dropped you to 0... :( )

Crit Damage: 2 more piercing

(LOL WHAT IS THIS LUCK)

Khessa drops to the ground from the deep bites she has just taken.

'Aster...' she thinks, before losing consciousness 'I tried to save you, but I could do no better than that...'