Giles walks along behind Soren, looking toward where the needle blight was seen, keeping watch for any movement. He pulls out his crossbow and loads a bolt.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
After an hour of hard work, with Soren and Giles stacking and preparing the dozen corpses for the torch, and Burr continuously stoking the flames of the statue, the party looks back on a cleared field. The bodies of the dead are bone and ash, while the statue is just the smoldering remains of a massive bonfire. Many of the crows still remain, loitering about the field, watching your handiwork and keeping their own counsel.
As they turn their eyes to the ruined grove, they see that the lone [monster]needle blight[/spell] has again retreated just inside the trees.
Keeping their distance and observing from the ring of stones, Soren and the others take a closer look. At the south end of the hilltop is a sickly copse, a grove of dead trees and shrubs with a huge, misshapen tree at its core. Blood oozes like sap from its twisted trunk of white and black wood. Skulking around the tree are six gangly humanoid creatures - the walking piles of pine needles that you recognize from the battle at the winery. Embedded in the side of the huge tree is a shiny battleaxe, beneath which lies a humanoid skeleton.
[The blights do not attack, or seem to register your presence yet.]
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
[Sorencan make a Nature check to evaluate if the tree can be burned.]
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
The half-elven druid's mind recoils at what corrupted central tree might represent, and whether it not it can be burned. He finds he has no idea.
"I do not know if it can burn, my friends, but whether through fire, or perhaps using that bright battle axe that some poor soul before us had attempted to embed in the trunk, we must destroy first the blights, then it. It may even be the source of the vile staff that the dark druid leader in the winery carried."
Nettle has since faded away, Soren pressing his forehead against the owls' feathers in solidarity and farewell as always.
"We are in a weakened state. You fought valiantly in the previous battle, Burr and Zefla, but no charging into melee this time, I think.I believe the more of the blights we can slay at long range, the better. Make them come to us. The needle blights at the winery could turn their needles into harmful projectiles, so the further away we are, the better, I believe. My longbow allows me to attack at a good distance, and Zefla, I have seen you steady your aim in a way peculiar to city-folk that may also help strike from afar. I suggest we approach within a hundred paces (300') and shoot, retreating gradually if they advance. Some of our weapons will be at disadvantage, but I hope that keeps us well out of the range of their attacks."
"Once the blights are dead, Silvanus willing, either we set the entire grove alight, in particular the central tree. Or if the central tree will not catch fire, you may need to chop it down with the battle axe there already embedded in its trunk, Burr. In fact, that may even be better than fire..."
He looks to his companions for their response, and if they are in agreement, turns to the remaining ravens, using Speech of the Woods.
In Raven:
"Black-winged allies. We aim to finish the corruption in the withered grove above. We welcome your help. We plan to attack the blights from range as long as possible. Those needle blights can also attack at range so remain at distance, closing to melee when we (or they) do."
Giles nods in agreement and opens up his pack, taking out a torch and his tinderbox, setting it alight and using his mage hand, holds it 30 feet away, toward the things. He plans to light them on fire in case they get too close. After that is done, he readies his loaded crossbow and starts to take aim, awaiting the signal to fire. “Everyone get ready. Let’s finish this. Then we’ll need to high tail it back to the winery. Still may get dark on us…”. A grim look of determination is on his face, he looks more serious than he did with the prior fight and like he is not having nearly as much fun.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Zefla blushes a bit as Soren compliments her and Burr, but gets her shortbow ready. "Three hundred feet? Yeesh, that's a ways out, but I'll try. Yeah, we don't need another fight like we just had. And Giles, we need to get back before dark, I don't want to think of what might be waiting for us if we don't... and there are those wolves.."
She shakes her head trying not to let all of that get to her as they off towards the dead copse.
With the first ranged attack against the blights, the grove seems to erupt with activity. The needle blights are not alone. Around them, bushes and scraggly vines rise up into anthropomorphic shapes in response to the threat. Altogether, the 6 needle blights are joined by 3 vine blights and 12 twig blights.
Though the creatures scurry to life, none of them leave the grove, venturing no further than the treeline. A few of the needle blights launch ranged attacks, but all the pine needles fall well short of your position. You can target them with ranged attacks, limited only by the amount of ammunition you carry.
[OK, let's try to keep this interesting. Rather than run through combat rounds, lets see if you can kill these things before running out of ammunition.
It looks like only Sorenhas been keeping track of ammunition. From now on, I will keep an eye on it. We will say, after any combat where ammunition is used, you are able to recover 50% (rounded down) for use again later. Soren, you can add 4 arrows back into your quiver (should be 16 now).
Anyone who wants to attack these blights, go ahead and make the attack and damage rolls on your character sheets and post the results. If you reach a point where you want to stop shooting to conserve ammunition, or because you run out of ammunition, say so.
Please also indicate what type of blight you are targeting. All of them are within your effective range, so no disadvantage, but they do have half cover from the trees within the grove.]
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
With Nettle gone, no Wild Companion is there to help him, and he wouldn't risk her anyway with the needle blights capable of attacking a range. Soren uses all 12 of his remaining un-silvered arrows, hoping he can recover some after the battle.
Soren's 12 arrows, all shot with his longbow (all damage piercing), listing round by round so we can resolve each round from all PCs:
Round 1: To Hit: 25 (CRIT), Damage: 16 Round 2: To Hit: 18, Damage: 6 Round 3: To Hit: 6 (Nat. 1) Round 4: To Hit: 25 (CRIT), Damage: 17 Round 5: To Hit: 23, Damage: 5 Round 6: To Hit: 20 (dirty), Damage: 5 Round 7: To Hit: 24, Damage: 6 Round 8: To Hit: 12 (assume miss with the blights having cover) Round 9: To Hit: 15, Damage: 5 Round 10: To Hit: 14, Damage: 8 Round 11: To Hit: 19, Damage: 7 Round 12: To Hit: 12 (assume miss with the blights having cover)
Burr has 12 bolts all shot with his heavy crossbow ( 8 remaining), listing round by round so we can resolve each round from all PCs:
Round 1: To Hit: 5 - Miss Round 2: To Hit: 12, Probably miss but Damage: 11 Round 3: To Hit: 11- Miss Round 4: To Hit: 8 - Miss Round 5: To Hit: 10, - Miss Round 6: To Hit: 20 Damage: 10 Round 7: To Hit: 10, - Miss Round 8: To Hit: 18 Damage: 4 Round 9: To Hit: 22, Damage: 11 Round 10: To Hit: 22 Damage: 5 Round 11: To Hit: 22, Damage: 9 Round 12: To Hit: 6 - Miss
( Good layout hope you don't mind me borrowing. ;) )
After Burr and Soren both take 12 shots (leaving Soren with no regular arrows and Burr with 8 bolts), all 6 Needle Blights are slain, and one of the Vine Blights is heavily wounded.]
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PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Giles has 35 bolts, from what he has gathered, shot with his light crossbow (taking 15 shots, with 20 bolts remaining), listing round by round so we can resolve each round from all PCs:
He is targeting Vine Blights first, when the last one goes down, he will switch to the Twig Blights.
Round 1: To Hit: 12 - for 4 points of damage. Round 2: To Hit: 25 (Crit!) - for 17 points of damage. Round 3: To Hit: 9 - Miss Round 4: To Hit: 19 - for 7 points of damage Round 5: To Hit: 24 - for 7 points of damage Round 6: To Hit: 12, for 11 points of damage Round 7: To Hit: 15, - for 10 points of damage Round 8: To Hit: 18 - for 11 points of damage Round 9: To Hit: 9, - Miss Round 10: To Hit: 17, for 4 points of damage Round 11: To Hit: 13, for 5 points of damage Round 12: To Hit: 13 - for 9 points of damage
Round 13: To Hit: 24 - for 10 points of damage Round 14: To Hit: 22 - for 4 points of damage Round 15: To Hit: 14, for 6 points of damage
He secures the remaining bolts and waits to see what is left, what emerges.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Zefla going to attack with 12 of her arrows, starting with the vine blights since those gave her the most trouble, even though the pine needle ones are down already (nice job!)
Since it is mentioned this is within Zefla's affective range, I'm assuming she can use Steady Aim for adv?
Round 1: To Hit: 8/21, Dam: 9
Round 2: To Hit: 15/12, Dam: 6
Round 3: To Hit: 24/24, Dam: 8
Round 4: To Hit: 14/21, Dam: 7
Round 5: To Hit: 26/20, Dam: 13
Round 6: To Hit: 16/20, Dam: 9
Round 7: To Hit: 21/14, Dam: 7
Round 8: To Hit: 15/20, Dam: 5
Round 9: To Hit: 21/15, Dam: 7
Round 10: To Hit: 16/24, Dam: 10
Round 11: To Hit: 15/7, Dam: 5
Round 12: To Hit: 18/17, Dam: 7
And that would add some sneak attack damage to her first hit: 11
[After all that (12 rounds worth of attacks + 3 more shots from Giles) there were exactly 2 Twig Blights left standing. I took the liberty of assuming dead shot Zefla dispatched them both with 2 more arrows. After recovering arrows and bolts, Sorenis down 6 arrows, Zeflais down 7 arrows, Gilesis down 8 bolts and Burris down 6 bolts from their pre-blight totals.]
You've all heard the phrase [well, maybe not Soren] 'it was like shooting fish in a barrel.' This wasn't exactly like that, but the blights were just as helpless as trapped fish. Either unable to - or to stupid to - depart the grove to confront you, the multitude of blights merely thrashed about and staggered within the copse of trees as your hail of ammunition poured into them. It was only a little more than a minute before you had cut down every last one of them, and the desecrated grove was quiet once more.
Slowly picking your way through the stand of dead and dying trees, you gather those bolts and arrows that are salvageable and dispatch and blights that still twitched on the ground. When it was over, you found yourselves standing in the grey gloom before the massive Gulthias Tree. The mottled black and white bark oozes with bloodlike red sap. Hewn into its trunk, a polished battleaxe is half-covered on this sap, its handle carved with leaves and vines. Below the axe, the skeletal corpse of a dead adventurer is nearly swallowed up by the roots of the tree.
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PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM -(Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown *Red Dead Annihilation: ToA *Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Giles bends down to examine the skeleton, to try and determine what did him in and who he was, but the failing light and the exhaustion from the battle takes a toll on him. He can’t see much and he finishes gathering his bolts, looking at the axe in the tree and tilting his head for a moment. “Someone want to pull it out? I think we ought to burn this tree down, hack it to pieces.” He turns to Burr, saying “Feel up to that?” And gives him a grin.
Investigation : 3
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A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
"You have the right of it, Not-Father." Soren's hackles are visibly up, venturing into the grove and what he feels must be the source of the corruption. "I believe the abhorrent staff the dark druid leader at the winery bore was hewn from this tree. As long as it grows, it threatens all living things."
"Hack and destroy it with fire. The very things I dreaded in my own Neverwinter Wood. Burr, as the strongest of us, it falls to you to wield the axe and finish the job this poor, dead adventurer was slain before completing. I still have strength in me to become a large burrowing beast. I will undermine the Gulthias Tree, removing the earth below it, exposing its roots so you may separate tree and stump from roots before we burn them."
"Not-Father, as before, use oil on all this and the surrounding withered grove so we can ignite it all when we depart. And Zefla, could you stand watch? In case we are approached by the wolves, any further druids, axe-wielders or other foes. We have nearly an hour before we must head back."
To the remaining swarm of ravens, Soren switches to Speech of the Woods. In Raven:
"Allies, you have aided us and lingered with us long. If you must return home, I would understand. Yet scouting from the skies for threats would aid us further while we seek to rid this grove of its corrupted nexus. As I feel we must to remove the source of this evil."
After recovering his arrows, if all are agreed and Burr picks up the axe and is able to begin chopping the tree with no ill effect to himself, Soren nods with satisfaction. His form shimmers and suddenly in his place squats a massive giant badger the size of a large human such as Burr.
(If all are agreed, Soren first calls for Silvanus'Guidance on Burr. He then expends his final use of Wild Shape to transform into a giant badger, and immediately begins using his claws and 10' Burrow Speed to vigorously excavate the earth under and around the Gulthias Tree and its roots, undermining and exposing them so that Burr may both topple the tree and hack it and the undermined and uprooted stump to pieces, separating it from the roots.)
Zefla also scoops up what arrows she is able to recover and as Soren asks her to stand watch, she shrugs and heads to the opening of the grove of trees to do just that.
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Burr sighed and ratcheted the crossbow, " Let's destroy that grove then."
He looked across at Giles, but there was no anger there just resignation and sadness.
Giles walks along behind Soren, looking toward where the needle blight was seen, keeping watch for any movement. He pulls out his crossbow and loads a bolt.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
After an hour of hard work, with Soren and Giles stacking and preparing the dozen corpses for the torch, and Burr continuously stoking the flames of the statue, the party looks back on a cleared field. The bodies of the dead are bone and ash, while the statue is just the smoldering remains of a massive bonfire. Many of the crows still remain, loitering about the field, watching your handiwork and keeping their own counsel.
As they turn their eyes to the ruined grove, they see that the lone [monster]needle blight[/spell] has again retreated just inside the trees.
Keeping their distance and observing from the ring of stones, Soren and the others take a closer look. At the south end of the hilltop is a sickly copse, a grove of dead trees and shrubs with a huge, misshapen tree at its core. Blood oozes like sap from its twisted trunk of white and black wood. Skulking around the tree are six gangly humanoid creatures - the walking piles of pine needles that you recognize from the battle at the winery. Embedded in the side of the huge tree is a shiny battleaxe, beneath which lies a humanoid skeleton.
[The blights do not attack, or seem to register your presence yet.]
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
" Think that would burn too?", Burr asked Soren.
[Soren can make a Nature check to evaluate if the tree can be burned.]
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Soren Nature plus Guidance: 2 (Natural 1) + 2 = 4
The half-elven druid's mind recoils at what corrupted central tree might represent, and whether it not it can be burned. He finds he has no idea.
"I do not know if it can burn, my friends, but whether through fire, or perhaps using that bright battle axe that some poor soul before us had attempted to embed in the trunk, we must destroy first the blights, then it. It may even be the source of the vile staff that the dark druid leader in the winery carried."
Nettle has since faded away, Soren pressing his forehead against the owls' feathers in solidarity and farewell as always.
"We are in a weakened state. You fought valiantly in the previous battle, Burr and Zefla, but no charging into melee this time, I think. I believe the more of the blights we can slay at long range, the better. Make them come to us. The needle blights at the winery could turn their needles into harmful projectiles, so the further away we are, the better, I believe. My longbow allows me to attack at a good distance, and Zefla, I have seen you steady your aim in a way peculiar to city-folk that may also help strike from afar. I suggest we approach within a hundred paces (300') and shoot, retreating gradually if they advance. Some of our weapons will be at disadvantage, but I hope that keeps us well out of the range of their attacks."
"Once the blights are dead, Silvanus willing, either we set the entire grove alight, in particular the central tree. Or if the central tree will not catch fire, you may need to chop it down with the battle axe there already embedded in its trunk, Burr. In fact, that may even be better than fire..."
He looks to his companions for their response, and if they are in agreement, turns to the remaining ravens, using Speech of the Woods.
In Raven:
"Black-winged allies. We aim to finish the corruption in the withered grove above. We welcome your help. We plan to attack the blights from range as long as possible. Those needle blights can also attack at range so remain at distance, closing to melee when we (or they) do."
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Giles nods in agreement and opens up his pack, taking out a torch and his tinderbox, setting it alight and using his mage hand, holds it 30 feet away, toward the things. He plans to light them on fire in case they get too close. After that is done, he readies his loaded crossbow and starts to take aim, awaiting the signal to fire. “Everyone get ready. Let’s finish this. Then we’ll need to high tail it back to the winery. Still may get dark on us…”. A grim look of determination is on his face, he looks more serious than he did with the prior fight and like he is not having nearly as much fun.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Burr nods to Soren, " As you say."
He raises the heavy crossbow, already loaded, " Lets go to work."
Zefla blushes a bit as Soren compliments her and Burr, but gets her shortbow ready. "Three hundred feet? Yeesh, that's a ways out, but I'll try. Yeah, we don't need another fight like we just had. And Giles, we need to get back before dark, I don't want to think of what might be waiting for us if we don't... and there are those wolves.."
She shakes her head trying not to let all of that get to her as they off towards the dead copse.
With the first ranged attack against the blights, the grove seems to erupt with activity. The needle blights are not alone. Around them, bushes and scraggly vines rise up into anthropomorphic shapes in response to the threat. Altogether, the 6 needle blights are joined by 3 vine blights and 12 twig blights.
Though the creatures scurry to life, none of them leave the grove, venturing no further than the treeline. A few of the needle blights launch ranged attacks, but all the pine needles fall well short of your position. You can target them with ranged attacks, limited only by the amount of ammunition you carry.
[OK, let's try to keep this interesting. Rather than run through combat rounds, lets see if you can kill these things before running out of ammunition.
It looks like only Soren has been keeping track of ammunition. From now on, I will keep an eye on it. We will say, after any combat where ammunition is used, you are able to recover 50% (rounded down) for use again later. Soren, you can add 4 arrows back into your quiver (should be 16 now).
Anyone who wants to attack these blights, go ahead and make the attack and damage rolls on your character sheets and post the results. If you reach a point where you want to stop shooting to conserve ammunition, or because you run out of ammunition, say so.
Please also indicate what type of blight you are targeting. All of them are within your effective range, so no disadvantage, but they do have half cover from the trees within the grove.]
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
As stated earlier in OOC chat, Soren's planned (and suggested) targeting priority remains:
1. Needle Blights.
2. Vine Blights
3. Twig Blights
With Nettle gone, no Wild Companion is there to help him, and he wouldn't risk her anyway with the needle blights capable of attacking a range. Soren uses all 12 of his remaining un-silvered arrows, hoping he can recover some after the battle.
Soren's 12 arrows, all shot with his longbow (all damage piercing), listing round by round so we can resolve each round from all PCs:
Round 1: To Hit: 25 (CRIT), Damage: 16
Round 2: To Hit: 18, Damage: 6
Round 3: To Hit: 6 (Nat. 1)
Round 4: To Hit: 25 (CRIT), Damage: 17
Round 5: To Hit: 23, Damage: 5
Round 6: To Hit: 20 (dirty), Damage: 5
Round 7: To Hit: 24, Damage: 6
Round 8: To Hit: 12 (assume miss with the blights having cover)
Round 9: To Hit: 15, Damage: 5
Round 10: To Hit: 14, Damage: 8
Round 11: To Hit: 19, Damage: 7
Round 12: To Hit: 12 (assume miss with the blights having cover)
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
As with Soren Burr will fire in this order of priority-
1. Needle Blights.
2. Vine Blights
3. Twig Blights
Burr has 12 bolts all shot with his heavy crossbow ( 8 remaining), listing round by round so we can resolve each round from all PCs:
Round 1: To Hit: 5 - Miss
Round 2: To Hit: 12, Probably miss but Damage: 11
Round 3: To Hit: 11- Miss
Round 4: To Hit: 8 - Miss
Round 5: To Hit: 10, - Miss
Round 6: To Hit: 20 Damage: 10
Round 7: To Hit: 10, - Miss
Round 8: To Hit: 18 Damage: 4
Round 9: To Hit: 22, Damage: 11
Round 10: To Hit: 22 Damage: 5
Round 11: To Hit: 22, Damage: 9
Round 12: To Hit: 6 - Miss
( Good layout hope you don't mind me borrowing. ;) )
[Update:
After Burr and Soren both take 12 shots (leaving Soren with no regular arrows and Burr with 8 bolts), all 6 Needle Blights are slain, and one of the Vine Blights is heavily wounded.]
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Giles has 35 bolts, from what he has gathered, shot with his light crossbow (taking 15 shots, with 20 bolts remaining), listing round by round so we can resolve each round from all PCs:
He is targeting Vine Blights first, when the last one goes down, he will switch to the Twig Blights.
Round 1: To Hit: 12 - for 4 points of damage.
Round 2: To Hit: 25 (Crit!) - for 17 points of damage.
Round 3: To Hit: 9 - Miss
Round 4: To Hit: 19 - for 7 points of damage
Round 5: To Hit: 24 - for 7 points of damage
Round 6: To Hit: 12, for 11 points of damage
Round 7: To Hit: 15, - for 10 points of damage
Round 8: To Hit: 18 - for 11 points of damage
Round 9: To Hit: 9, - Miss
Round 10: To Hit: 17, for 4 points of damage
Round 11: To Hit: 13, for 5 points of damage
Round 12: To Hit: 13 - for 9 points of damage
Round 13: To Hit: 24 - for 10 points of damage
Round 14: To Hit: 22 - for 4 points of damage
Round 15: To Hit: 14, for 6 points of damage
He secures the remaining bolts and waits to see what is left, what emerges.
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
Zefla going to attack with 12 of her arrows, starting with the vine blights since those gave her the most trouble, even though the pine needle ones are down already (nice job!)
Since it is mentioned this is within Zefla's affective range, I'm assuming she can use Steady Aim for adv?
8/21, Dam: 912, Dam: 624, Dam: 814/21, Dam: 720, Dam: 1316/20, Dam: 914, Dam: 715/20, Dam: 515, Dam: 716/24, Dam: 107, Dam: 517, Dam: 7And that would add some sneak attack damage to her first hit: 11
[After all that (12 rounds worth of attacks + 3 more shots from Giles) there were exactly 2 Twig Blights left standing. I took the liberty of assuming dead shot Zefla dispatched them both with 2 more arrows. After recovering arrows and bolts, Soren is down 6 arrows, Zefla is down 7 arrows, Giles is down 8 bolts and Burr is down 6 bolts from their pre-blight totals.]
You've all heard the phrase [well, maybe not Soren] 'it was like shooting fish in a barrel.' This wasn't exactly like that, but the blights were just as helpless as trapped fish. Either unable to - or to stupid to - depart the grove to confront you, the multitude of blights merely thrashed about and staggered within the copse of trees as your hail of ammunition poured into them. It was only a little more than a minute before you had cut down every last one of them, and the desecrated grove was quiet once more.
Slowly picking your way through the stand of dead and dying trees, you gather those bolts and arrows that are salvageable and dispatch and blights that still twitched on the ground. When it was over, you found yourselves standing in the grey gloom before the massive Gulthias Tree. The mottled black and white bark oozes with bloodlike red sap. Hewn into its trunk, a polished battleaxe is half-covered on this sap, its handle carved with leaves and vines. Below the axe, the skeletal corpse of a dead adventurer is nearly swallowed up by the roots of the tree.
PC - Ethel - Human - Lvl 4 Necromancer - Undying Dragons * Serge Marshblade - Human - Lvl 5 Eldritch Knight - Hoard of the Dragon Queen
DM - (Homebrew) Heroes of Bardstown * Red Dead Annihilation: ToA * Where the Cold Winds Blow : DoIP * Covetous, Dragonish Thoughts: HotDQ * Red Wine, Black Rose: CoS * Greyhawk: Tides of War
Giles bends down to examine the skeleton, to try and determine what did him in and who he was, but the failing light and the exhaustion from the battle takes a toll on him. He can’t see much and he finishes gathering his bolts, looking at the axe in the tree and tilting his head for a moment. “Someone want to pull it out? I think we ought to burn this tree down, hack it to pieces.” He turns to Burr, saying “Feel up to that?” And gives him a grin.
Investigation : 3
A wizard is never late, nor is he early, he arrives precisely when he means to.
"You have the right of it, Not-Father." Soren's hackles are visibly up, venturing into the grove and what he feels must be the source of the corruption. "I believe the abhorrent staff the dark druid leader at the winery bore was hewn from this tree. As long as it grows, it threatens all living things."
"Hack and destroy it with fire. The very things I dreaded in my own Neverwinter Wood. Burr, as the strongest of us, it falls to you to wield the axe and finish the job this poor, dead adventurer was slain before completing. I still have strength in me to become a large burrowing beast. I will undermine the Gulthias Tree, removing the earth below it, exposing its roots so you may separate tree and stump from roots before we burn them."
"Not-Father, as before, use oil on all this and the surrounding withered grove so we can ignite it all when we depart. And Zefla, could you stand watch? In case we are approached by the wolves, any further druids, axe-wielders or other foes. We have nearly an hour before we must head back."
To the remaining swarm of ravens, Soren switches to Speech of the Woods. In Raven:
"Allies, you have aided us and lingered with us long. If you must return home, I would understand. Yet scouting from the skies for threats would aid us further while we seek to rid this grove of its corrupted nexus. As I feel we must to remove the source of this evil."
After recovering his arrows, if all are agreed and Burr picks up the axe and is able to begin chopping the tree with no ill effect to himself, Soren nods with satisfaction. His form shimmers and suddenly in his place squats a massive giant badger the size of a large human such as Burr.
(If all are agreed, Soren first calls for Silvanus' Guidance on Burr. He then expends his final use of Wild Shape to transform into a giant badger, and immediately begins using his claws and 10' Burrow Speed to vigorously excavate the earth under and around the Gulthias Tree and its roots, undermining and exposing them so that Burr may both topple the tree and hack it and the undermined and uprooted stump to pieces, separating it from the roots.)
Tanis(Ranger1): Shiverquill's Tempest City | Xarian(Fighter2): NioNSwiper's Tyranny of Dragons
Dyson/Eleo(TwilightCleric4): Vos' Beyond the Veil | Soren(ShepherdDruid5): Bartjeebus' Ravenloft | Ophelia(WildMagicSorcerer4): Ashen_Age's Risen from the Sands
Joren(EchoKnightFighter6): NotDrizzt's Simple Request | Sabetha(MercyMonk3): Bedlymn's Murder Court | Seri(NatureCleric3/DivineSoulSorcerer1): Bartjeebus' Greyhawk
Burr nods and silently praying it doesn't turn him into a pile of bones grasps hold of the axe and tugs. if the axe comes free he sets to work.
Athletics- 21 + Guidance 4
Attack Rolls?
Zefla also scoops up what arrows she is able to recover and as Soren asks her to stand watch, she shrugs and heads to the opening of the grove of trees to do just that.