(sounds good to me; you could also use Deception for the distraction if you wanted ... one of those situations where either could apply pretty equally.  Looks like once I get that and Erolith's action the game will proceed to the next foot LOL)

Erolith smirks and then takes off after Artifex. He stays a good distance away from Artifex and in the cover surrounding the clearing in order to try and spot whoever is trailing the party.

Stealth = 22

Perception = 7

Artifex gets close to the pens, flinching away from the animals. They do It's best to play into the natural reaction by showing exaggerated fear....

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Deception: 16

Animal handling: 9

The Black Rose tightened his grip on his quarterstaff and tried to listen for any sound in the environment he could pick up on—any sound that was not natural. He was trying to pinpoint his allies' locations as best as he could, as well as the location of any other creatures that might be hidden.

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Perception: 22 (a crit!!!)

Tarton manages to reach his position without alerting anything nearby, as does Erolith.  Gwrgi and The Black Rose, meanwhile, watch anxiously from their ambush at the original site; and all find their breath quickening as they await the outcome of Artifex' diversion. 

This is very quickly forthcoming, so at least no one has terribly long to wait. As soon as Artifex draws near enough to become fully visible to the shortsighted lizards, who meanwhile have become more and more agitated as they catch the eladrin's scent, they begin to lunge and strain against their simple leather tethers Meanwhile, Artifex has had time to detect two sure evidences of the tampering that The Black Rose and Erolith feared. One is that they can very clearly perceive the shallow marks of scaled bipedal feet emerging from the broken reeds and grasses on the far right of the clearing and then returning there after entering the two central lizard pens (Artifex: roll PER). The second is that the four lizards in those pens snap their deliberately frayed tethers with a final fierce lunge and use their heads as battering rams to assault the gates of their pens, seeming to have a desire to meet their food before they play with it. The schemer does not seem to have been able to come up with a way to leave the gates unbarred without having the tampering suspiciously obvious; but they weakened the hinges in such a way that the bottom ones give way with the first blow of the lizard's heads and the others squeal dangerously. A second blow burst the remaining hinges and forcecs the gate out against its thick bar with such force that it rips through their timbers and lets them crash to the earth. The action of battering down the gates also causes the lizard's muzzles to strain against artfully weakened points in the straps, weakening them further, and you can hear the leather give way seconds before amgry hisses warn you that the lzards have their jaws free.

The good part is, the distraction worked! All six lizards are most definitely focused on Artifex.  The good part is, the distraction worked! All six lizards are most definitely focused on Artifex.  At the moment only four have broken free, but if they feel it would make the situation more interesting to loose the other two also Artifex is of course free to do so ...

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(...aaaaand everybody roll initiative!  I'm sure you're all terribly surprised LOL.)

(Both lizards assaulted the gate the first time in both pens, weakening their muzzles enough for them to snap with a final jaw stretch. In the southern pen, one lizard caught its nose on a splinter and drew back long enough to allow the other to lunge straight through the gate. In this pen the first lizard is just outside the gate . turning to get a bead on Artifex, and its comrade is just behind preparing to follow it out. Both will be able to attack the first round of combat; the second lizard will have a -2 penalty to its initiative for that round only. The lizards of the northern pen battered down the gate together and then tried to emerge together through the narrow space. It has taken the stupid creatures so long to get themselves untangled that the first has -4 penalty to its initiative the first round and the second will not be able to act at all until the second round.  Before those adjustments, the lizards' initiative is Unable to parse dice roll)

Tarton's Initiative: 7

(well, I really don't think the lizards will be satisfied with an initiative of 'Unable to parse dice roll'.  Instead, if you beat an initiative of 18 then go ahead and post your action)

"We are not alone, and I'm not talking about the giant lizards. Let's do this quietly and swiftly before we migth become even more outnumbered," The Black Rose whispered to Gwrgi. He then charged in at the closest giant lizard, following The sounds of The beast, swinging his quarterstaff and readying his fist to deliver two strikes. 

——————-

Initative: 13

Quarterstaff: to hit 10 and deal 7 damage if it hits.

Punch: to hit 10 and deal 4 damage if it hits. 

If I cannot reach the closest giant lizard this round, then i will edit my post, move as close to them as possible, and take the Dodge action indstead. 

Artifex smiles, giving a slight bow to the giant lizard. "Ah well. Blood sports it is!" They disappear into a burst of blue flame, appearing thirty feet away, crossbow in hand, ending a bolt towards the alligator that The Black Rose had swung at. "A little trick I picked up from the Will-o'-Wisp during our games." They say, seeming very pleased with Itself. Unfortunately, They got too caught up in showing off, It's shit going wide.

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Perception: 14

Init: 7

BA: Misty step

A: 7 to hit, 8 damage

<ooc: can Tarton see any of the lizards, and if so, is he hidden from them or not? I don't think he'd be able to see them, so he will ready an action to shoot the first perceived threat when he sees it.>

From his vantage point Erolith sees the lizards burst through and move towards Artifex. He readies his bow and fires at the lizard closest to reaching him.

Initiative = 13

To hit = 10

Damage = 12

Quote from badfishingdad75 >>

<ooc: can Tarton see any of the lizards, and if so, is he hidden from them or not? I don't think he'd be able to see them, so he will ready an action to shoot the first perceived threat when he sees it.>

 (well, here's the situation as the lizards burst out, just before all of you acted:

I'm seeing the corrals and pens as rough stockades made of logs and boughs, more fencing than solid walls.  Tarton can see the lizards through the corral, but it gives them half cover from any shots he might take.  I assume he snuck through the grasses on the edge of the clearing and is peering through them, so he is hidden from the lizards until he acts (as was Erolith).  Also note that Tarton is 70 feet away from the lizards, out of the 30' normal range for his hand crossbow but within the 120' maximum; so the shot is at long range and is made with disadvantage.  If he's using his shortbow, of course that's not an issue (normal range 80')

At 40' out, The Black Rose could either take a normal move which would put him around the same area Artifex was before they mistystepped away [btw Artifex please specify which direction you went], or he could Dash into melee range with the lizards.

Finally, Gwrgi's initiative in all this will be 4) )

(also note that while the gate of the central pen faces west, towards where you are, the north and south pens have their gates facing east)

The Black Rose realized he could not get all the way up to the giant lizards without needing to catch his breath. Instead, he ran a shorter distance and took the defensive stance of his monk order to prepare for the worst.

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I do a normal move and used the dodge action then. 

Tarton takes out his shortbow and fires at the lizard.

Attack w/advantage: 11 and 17
Damage if hits: 10

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I think it is Tarton's turn, but if I have acted out of initiative order, he will do this on his turn.

Tarton won't use the hand crossbow until he has the Crossbow Expert feat (if that is allowed)

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They misty stepped towards the Black Rose,so It's about 40 feet away now.

(sorry for the hiatus, IRL came up.  Should be able to post tomorrow or nex day)

The clearing which had seemed so quiet before now erupts into chaos.  As the first lizard lunges towards them, Artifex vanishes in a burst of blue fire, causing the beast to hiss with redoubled rage and fear and to swiftly pull back from the terrifying, uncanny flames that so suddenly burst forth in its face.  It sways and lurches as it checks for a moment, and that spoils Erolith's shot as he springs from the grasses and looses an arrow at the creature.  At the same moment, The Black Rose and Gwrgi run up to the corner of the corral behind where Artifex had been.  While the first assumes the defensive Stance of Flowing Water his order uses as their go-to initial stance in any cases where quick dodging might be necessary, the dragonborn priestess begins a droning chant that constantly cycles back to one eternal polyphonic chord (bless spell on Tarton, Artifex and Erolith (applicable starting on next action).  Tarton seems to tune in to the holy chant immediately, half-closing his eyes and sending an arrow that slips uncannily through the bars of the corral to lodge in the first lizard's neck as it draws it back with a furious hiss.  But Artifex, though they seem to also tune in to the chant well enough to be guided towards the lizard, has most unluckily reappeared with their right foot sunk into a soft hollow.  Their shOt is thrown off enough by the skewed stance that it goes wide of the mark.  (might want to edit out that typo at some point, though, this has been a PG-rated thread so far after all LOL)

The lizards then respond with all the primal ferocity of the aggressive carnivores they are.  The lead lizard, infuriated by the stump of Tarton's arrow buried in its neck and the flames that singed it a moment before, charges forward towards Artifex with such ferocity that it completely overshoots them; but its powerful jaws open a deep wound in their side as it passes by.  The other lizard who shared its pen rushes out of the gate towards The Black Rose but is hampered by the smaller area it is fighting in and confused by its practiced foe's flowing defence.  The third lizard, from the northern pen, also rushes out of its gate but is unable to close the distance in time to effectively attack.  But the fourth, blinded by its fury, begins to batter and tear at the logs of the north pen itself in an effort to ram through on the side closest to Tarton and charge him directly.   A large chunk of the structure is splintered away, and though the lizard can't quite get out yet, it looks like it would be able to burst through the barrier with only a little more effort.

Top of round 2!

INIT

• 13:
  • Erolith - undamaged
  • The Black Rose - undamaged
• 9:
  • Gwrgi - undamaged
• 7
  • Artifex - 7 points damage
  • Tarton - undamaged
• 3
  • Lizard #1 - 10 points damage
• 1
  • Lizard #2 - undamaged
  • Lizard #3 - undamaged
• 0
  • Lizard #4 - undamaged

Erolith spits out an elven curse as the first arrow goes wayward. He quickly fits another arrow to fire, concentrates on the lizard closest to Artifex, and lets the arrow fly.

To hit = 10

Damage if successful = 9

Erolith lets out another elven curse.