Harmony was very surprised as they knew what she had done, having worked on one but the other two brandishing their weapons. "I'm not a devil. Please, I really do mean no harm. It was just meant to help calm your nerves, so that we can all talk peacefully. I just wanted to ask some questions." she says back to them, staying still and hands up to show that she is not a threat in any way.

The bugbears share looks between one another, spears still leveled toward Harmony and Garu, but a higher voice breaks through the tension. "Let them in."

The guards look back toward the cookfire, where a bugbear woman, much older than the others, wears a scowl on her face. "And you, make up your damned minds. Sneak around or show yourselves, don't do both at the same time. What's the purpose?"

She clears her throat and wipes her recent meal off of the fur around her mouth. "You got questions, get yourselves over here and ask," she grunts.

For Abraxas:

Aisha returns the question with an answer The purpose should be obvious. Make sure if you're a threat or not when we have peaceful intentions, barring you having hostile ones. No reason not to have every possible advantage should it be the lat... the second one. Aisha whispers into Tsavi's ear to remain hidden.. just in case, unless hostilities break out, allowing her panther just long enough to stay behind something to retain her stealth, before dropping her spell and moving forward. The first being, that we've heard a bit about these statues, and we've come to see if what we heard is true. So, why are you and yours out here, and why have we heard tales of bugbears tearing through settlements and farms.

even as she speaks, she readies herself to dodge a potential attack(s) just in case one of the last few things she said triggered somehting.

If possible, Abraxas will change the target of his Crown of Madness spell to the chieftain. Other than that, he remains watchful, his mage Armor shimmering silver slightly. 

Harmony listens to the woman, nodding and carefully making her way over. She hears Aisha, agreeing with what she says. "We were just wondering about the statues, if you knew anything about them with the rumors going around? We had also heard mentions of bugbears running amok, so we weren't sure if you all were the rumored ones or not. Maybe there is another tribe that could be the troublesome ones." she had said, trying to be calm and friendly while not wanting to offend these bugbears.

The chieftain snorts, "It's Iron Claw you want, then. Blood Tusk has nothing to do with it. And yeah, we know all about the statues."

She stands up, her full height of over seven feet towering above. "You approached us, so you're either real strong or real stupid. You want Blood Tusk history, though, you need to earn it. Datark!" she hollers.

Another bugbear hefts a greataxe onto his shoulder and approaches. The chieftain continues, "If one of you can defeat Datark, I'll tell you all about your little statues."

Aisha looks up at the hulking creature, and around the rest of the group. If no one objects, Aisha would be up to this task. She feels she has every advantage needed to succeed. Aisha will nyot even need Tsavi's help. Aisha seems extremely confident about this.

Garu stands to Aisha side. “Fight well and honorably - may the light shine on you.”

Harmony hears that it is another tribe of bugbears that have been causing the problems and that they do know about the statues. But then the woman said that they have to earn being able to know their history, having to fight one of their own. She then hears Aisha, nodding back and relieved as she smiles. "Alright. You can do this Aisha!" Harmony says back, cheering her on.

(Harmony will give Aisha a Bardic Inspiration)

Abraxas watches for magic use among the bugbears (Arcana 24). He will ready Dispel Magic in case spells like Bane or Blessing are used. Abraxas is looking forward to learning more, including the history of this bugbear tribe. He will be sure to encourage Aisha.

Seeing that atleast the majority of the group agreed, Aisha took out her bow, knocked an arrow  and told her panther to stand down, more or less as she looked up to the large bugbear, who's opponent was going to be a roughly five foot tall cat woman.  Aisha held her readiness to dodge, should she somehow prove to be the slower out the gate.

Aisha is maintaining her held dodge action, just in case.... 

Initiative:  4

OOC: Sorry for the delay, feel free to blame my RL groups for taking my attention.

Also apologies Rai, I don't typically allow readied or held actions before combat when both parties are aware of the others' presence. Initiative simulates who gets the first attack, and that dex advantage gets penalized if the opponent always gets a free action to dodge beforehand. I don't think you'd all appreciate enemies always dodging before you get the jump on them either :D

All that being said, your initiative is showing as "not yet available for this section" so I'll re-roll it here.

Initiative:

Alchemist's Fire vs. Aisha: 13

Datark takes up his position, not yet drawing a weapon. The bugbear towers over Aisha's small frame, and he simply cracks his knuckles and grins. The chieftain watches with a smirk on her face as well, eyebrows cocked in a look of intrigue while the rest of the bugbears move closer to watch the duel themselves.

"Alright, Neko. Prove your worth," the chieftain says, before action begins. The two combatants react in a flurry of motion, spurring cheers and laughter from the goblinoid spectators. Datark charges toward Aisha, reaching into an opening in his hide armor and pulling out a small flask. He throws the object as he charges, bearing down on Aisha quickly, who darts to the side. The bottle smashes upon the ground behind her, erupting into flame ten feet behind her position. Laughing wildly, the bugbear is already within melee range.

Round 1 Order:
Datark
Aisha

As the bugbears moved closer, but had not surrounded the pair, Aisha took advantage of this as it was all part of her initial strategy to begin with, the one thing that counters a strong opponent, is a fast opponent. The bugbear had made it into melee range, so Aisha decided to play into the challenge a bit This will be the only chance you have to touch Aisha, make it count big boy.  she would say as she winked, and then darted at an incredible speed in a straight line where she would have a clear shot, and not easily risk hitting another bugbear by accident as a dust trail rose up behind her.

Flipping around, to face her foe from sixty feet away, her bow had been removed, and knocked during the time she ran as she whipped around, firing two shots at the bugbears center mass. She had considered using magic, but felt that they would likely see it as an insult or dishonor, so she would only use it in an emergency situation. Whistling through the air, her arrows flew hard and fast.

Aisha is taking full advantage of the fact that no official rules were set, and that they never surrounded them forcing her into a ring, as this was how I intended to fight him anyway - And I've never got a chance to fight this way with her before. Aisha's actions are Running in a straight line, 60ft out, with Feline Agility (no action) and once a full 60 feet away, likely taking an AO on her way out, firing two longbow shots at her opponent.

DM Screen:

Greataxe vs. Aisha (Opportunity Attack): 23 Damage: 8
Javelin vs. Aisha: 22 Damage: 6

Datark, deceptively fast for his size, nearly takes Aisha's head off with his axe, but the ranger scrambles forward quickly enough to lose only a few hairs instead. Growling at the perceived petulance, the bugbear charges forward through one arrow that lands in his chest as a second misses the mark by inches. Keeping his axe in hand, he slips a javelin through a loop with his other and unleashes it. His form impeccable, the missile again comes close to landing, knocking Aisha out of her stance.

The duel has quickly taken a deadly turn to ranged combat, and the scowl on the chieftain's face contradicts the continued laughter and taunts from her tribe.

Round 2 Order:
Datark
Aisha <=====

Placement:
Datark is 30 feet away from Aisha.

Health:
Datark is lightly wounded.

Aisha is lightly wounded.

Aisha knew her plan was risky, and she had the most frail constitution of the party, especially without her panther. But she did have one advantage that the bugbear (likely) didn't. But she hadn't expected the creature to have a ranged weapon - her own fault for not looking - And it was now that she felt she would need to bring her full arsenal to bear, as she couldn't handle too many more hits like that. And she felt she had every right to, since the creature had tossed some kind of item that -unbeknownst to her- would have lit her quite permanently on fire.

As she stand her ground, her eyes glow a fierce emerald as energy wells up from within her tiny frame, and a hand extends out, and seemingly nothing happens, when in reality, the bugbear would find himself suddenly surrounded by a very deadly trap.  He would find himself surrounded by invisible blades of various spike-like terrain.

Aisha is casting Spike Growth around the Bugbear, but instead of centering it on him she is going to put him where there is 10 feet of it left in front of him, 5 feet behind him, and 5-10 feet to either side of him, so he's just off center of it, with MORE of the growth towards Aisha and less of it behind him.

Abraxas is watching the fight carefully. "I think my friend will prevail, but Blood Tusk is a strong tribe!" Abraxas says to the chieftain. "Probably stronger than all the others?" he says.

OOC: Spike growth is a 20-foot radius, not diameter, so there's plenty more space than that occupied around the bugbear.

Datark stands and snarls as the ground around him erupts with painful barbed spikes. His muscles tense, as if he is judging the distance to jump, hesitating at the sheer size of the growth. The chieftain sends Abraxas a disapproving glare, then shouts, "Enough!"

The bugbears pause to look toward their chieftain as she speaks, "You are an open target, Datark. You did not strike quickly enough. Now lower the magic!"

Aisha had been about to draw her bow once more to fire down the line, though she had no intent to kill. She had been lining up her shot since she had the time when the cheiftan shouted out, at which point, she allowed the bow to go slack, and after a moment the ground becomes normal dirt/rock/whatever it was prior. More green energy can be seen flowing around the tabaxi, though it centers on her tail once her verbal intricacies finish, as she applies the heal to her back with her tail. (7)

Once healed,  Aisha would push forward at a casual pace, though she didn't seem satisfied with the win entirely, whether because it was cut short, or due to being forced to resort to that tactic bothering her, it was hard to tell. Regardless, she would walk up to Datark with her hand extended in a hopefully-clear sign of goodwill.

Datark scoffs, spitting on the ground. He stows his axe, then crosses his arms. "You fight as a coward," he growls, walking away without accepting Aisha's hand.

"Alright, you've earned a conversation," the chieftain says. "Now what do you want to know, before I change my mind? I wanted to see a fight, damn it, not whatever that was."

As the hand was rejected, it takes everything Aisha has not to quip a line like 'oh? not confident in your javelin?' or 'Sorry that you're so slow' 'oh, should I have had my cat join too or would that overwhelm you?' and so forth to both her opponent AND the cheiftan. But Aisha also expected as much from brutes of a race.  But Aisha would let the others do the questioning as she feared if she did, that her pride would get the better of her.