"Foul creatures," grumbles Homil as the last ghoul hits the earth. He pulls a disgusted face. "And they reek too. Let's get rid of them, Karnak." He helps the paladin pile up the dead: among the Taikari fire is the only appropriate resting place for undead, though an enemy undefiled by dark magic would be left for bird and beast. Once the fire is blazing, the elf cleans his weapons and positions himself to watch the woods around them as the others investigate the rags.
Key, being so meticulous also means being slow. Getting past the pile of bloody, tattered clothing takes time, and you've just gotten through the generic traveling equipment in the large pack when Homil signals an alert.
Homil, you're the first to hear it. More howling is coming from the woods. Much more. Perhaps it was the smell of fresh blood, or the light of the funeral pyre, but there are more ghouls out there and you've got their attention.
"See to your arms!" calls Homil, scanning the treeline for any sign of the creatures he heard. "There are more of them in the trees, far more." He positions himself between the casters and his best guess at where the most ghouls are coming from and jams his spear and a javelin into the earth before him before drawing a pair of hand axes, ready to meet the first ghoul to break the treeline with a barrage of thrown weapons. He waves to Karnak. "Now, my friend, perhaps a chance to properly draw steel together." As the battle-fury wells up in him, some other part of his mind wonders at the sheer volume of howling: are they too badly outnumbered this time? The thought fans the flames of his rage.
Readying my spear and javeling so I can grab them after I throw the axes. Rolling an intelligence check to see if I can guess at if we're so badly outnumbered we might want to run for it, or if we stand a fighting chance. I'll roll init, too, while I'm here.
Edit: Yeah... Homil don't run.
Geth, roll 1d20 for Int check to calculate the odds
The spectral hand fades out as Key returns her attention towards the surrounding woods, the mystic orb alight with fire once again.
"Now this sounds like a proper audience for my fiery affections, but it bodes poorly for the people of Anbury. What could cause such a plague of ghouls?"
I could hog Haste for myself, but it would be, frankly, rude. Twinned Spell will be nice. I think Homil can get better use out of Haste, but he's so uncultured, yknow?
Geth, roll 1d20+4 for initiative
Geth, roll 1d20 for Ghoul Problem
Add +3 to that roll if History applies, not sure what it would fall under though.
The majority of the ghouls are coming from the south, which also happens to be where Anbury is, but you can hear them everywhere. As you try to mentally count the different howls, your ears pick up another sound: a whistle. Specifically, the small metal signal whistle that Key's servants use in case of emergencies. If a whistle can be blown frantically, this one certainly sounds like it.
@Rainfall that's a pretty good roll. What could cause a plague of ghouls?
Noting his companions' preparation for battle, Karnak nodded in satisfaction and prepared in his own way. "Lady of Strategy, guide our preparations. Lord of the Dead, guide our blades against your hated foe." The paladin walked in a circle around the party, attempting to consecrate the ground against the oncoming ghouls.
Minion, roll 1d20+2 for Religion - attempted circle of protection
Minion, roll 1d20+1 for Initiative
Ghouls don't create other ghouls by their nature, they're typically created by madmen feeding on flesh tainted by the undead already.
If a large amount of tainted flesh was introduced into a village at once, and people ate it without knowing, that could create a plague of this size, but it's almost unthinkable that it would happen by chance.
Some sort of worshipper of undeath is behind this, perhaps similar in nature to Doresain, the fallen elf who became the first ghoul. Of course, anyone with the ability to create this many monsters is... very powerful.
Homil tilts his head, trying to fight down the fear at the swarm of ghouls and the rage that fear incites to focus on the small, shrill sound flitting amid the howls and shrieks. The whistle; indeed. "Your servant calls for help, Keysera," he says. "I might reach her, if the sky-spirits guide me. Can you hold them off here, Karnak?"
I've got a 55 foot base speed, Dash as a bonus action while raging, ignore difficult terrain while dashing, and I can negate attacks of opportunity by administering a melee attack; regardless, attacks of opportunity have disadvantage. I just might stand a chance of getting to Brylana before she's eaten.
Assuming, of course, that she's not part of some sort of trap. But Homil wouldn't think of that.
Edit: Rules question for @Denada : if I take Dash as a bonus action, can I also take it as my regular action, bringing my total movement for the round up to 165 feet if I don't attack?
"Go. We can make haste after you, but you can pass through the woods best of all of us. If we can save Brylana... I shall owe you all a round at the Lonely Oak."
Key gripped her orb in one hand and laid the other on Homil's shoulder, chanting quietly as she released a surge of power into him, speeding his movements even further.
Haste on Homil doubles his base move to 110 and gives him a full extra action he can use to attack once, Dash, or Disengage, as well as +2 AC. Hopefully it will be enough.
Trebor checks the fit and straps of his armor while taking in what information he can. "If we could take this circle of protection with us, I'd recommend heading into some trees or other area that may grant us a small advantage in the fight to come. If we could get to Bry in time, the wagon could be a useful elevation for Slane and Lady Keysera..."
Trebor trails off, evaluating the situation but unsure what the best course of action is.
Either way I'll Chill Touch those fools at medium range until it comes time for melee, if only to give them disadvantage when they attack others. There are a few ways to cut this pie, and Karnak's abilities are going to really help us anywhere we go.
Edit: If I had a cliff handy I'd just Feather Fall us down into the unknown. Dramatic!
Edit 2: I hadn't even refreshed the page so I didn't see @Rainfall's post. I'll gladly double time it and go save Bry as a team.
Geth, roll 1d20 for Initiative
"Right now the safety of Brylana should be foremost on our minds." He paused as he pulled on his gloves to tighten them around his hands. "It could be a trap though, but for Brylana's sake, we will deal with that when the time comes, if it does."
This was rapidly becoming more than a few undead to deal with it. It was becoming an infestation.
"There is no recalling you just yet, my friend. There is still justice for you to dispense here in our world." Slane smiled despite the situation at hand, something he had a tendency to do. Behind the smile however, his mind was racing. Karnak's consecration would do its part, but it might just be temporary. Was there any holy ground nearby? A spot that had been a church in ages past? Somewhere easily defensible? Images of himself standing over dusty tomes and journals flashed before him in his mind, as he tried to bring forth any information that might be of relevance to the situation at hand.
Rolling history and religion to think of any place that would fit into what was mentioned above
Geth, roll 1d20+6 for history
Geth, roll 1d20+6 for religion
Just to be clear, are we splitting the party 4 to 1? I'm sure Homil could take out two or three ghouls on his own, but at what cost? If there are more than that or different creatures we may be looking at a pretty grave situation. I'm unsure of what the current plan on is.
So this encounter is going to be abstracted quite a bit. Here's the map:
There are three zones. Using all of your movement will get you from one zone to an adjacent zone. If you Haste someone, you can move two zones instead of one. I'm not taking individual movement speeds into account here just for the sake of simplicity.
You can attack any creature in the same zone as you without spending movement. If you're in combat with a creature and then decide to move to another zone, they'll get an opportunity attack. If you have some special thing related to that, we'll deal with it if the situation comes up. Enemies that are grouped up will be grouped up on the map, for the purposes of area attacks.
Hopefully that's not too confusing.
So what's the plan? Where is everyone going to be? Is anyone being Hasted?
Karnak grunted as the group disperses. "The Lady of Strategy teaches that those who fight a running battle are doomed to die tired. It is an inauspicious start to the battle!" Nevertheless, the paladin kept pace with the group.
Karnak burned everything and consecrated the ashes. He'll do his best to keep up if everybody's running for the road.
The ghouls have arrived, and there are a lot of them. They're cutting you off from the wagon, but you can see Brylana crouched down with a crossbow, ready to defend herself. She's alive - so far - as the ghouls seem to be focused mostly on Homil.
Key – HP 38/38 | AC 17 | Status: Normal. Homil – HP 59/59 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Haste. Trebor – HP 50/50 | AC 18 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Karnak – HP 52/52 | AC 17 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Slane – HP 33/33 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Ghouls – HP 5/5 | AC 12 | Status: Normal.
With a flash of fire, Key raised her orb, flickering flames bursting out from within to lash at the oncoming ghouls to the north, turning them to cinders and ash with only a modicum of effort.
"I can hold them off here, keep Brylana safe from these beasts!" Scorching Ray on Ghouls F1-F3
Geth, roll 1d20+6 to hit F1
Geth, roll 1d20+6 to hit F2
Geth, roll 1d20+6 to hit F3
Min damage is 2+3 for Elemental Affinity, they can't survive with 5 hp so I won't bother rolling unless you ask.
Also if I take any hits from the Ghouls I'll use my reaction to cast Shield and bring my AC to 22 against all attacks for the round.
Next up, @Mongrel Idiot
Homil bursts from the trees, ghouls howling around him, and lets the fury of his northern home take hold. "Carrion!" he roars, beating the flat of an axe against his chest. "Face me! Wet your teeth on a Taikari's flesh and see if they don't break!" He sweeps among his foes, seizing the ghouls' attention leaving hand axes buried in two ghouls and cutting at a third with his longsword. He draws to a halt over the crouching Brylana and daring the undead to draw near. Through the red haze of battle, he snarls to her "Take cover, girl, while their eyes are on me."
Use a bonus action to rage, my first action to attack ghouls R9 and R10 with hand axes, dropping them after the attack, and my second action to attack ghoul R3 with a two-handed longsword. I'll also drop Reckless Attack to get advantage on my attack rolls. In the meantime, I'd like to sweep the clearing, provoking as many attacks of opportunity as I can; they'll all have disadvantage, and provoking them will give Brylana a clearer route to safety, if she chooses to make a break for it.
Edit: Jacked up the formatting on my axe damage rolls, but the minimum is 5, so probably no big deal. Also, the attacks of opportunity would have disadvantage from my totem spirit thing and advantage due to reckless attack, so they'd be rolling normally, I think.
I'm getting ready to take my kids to the zoo, so I'll have to resolve those opportunity attacks later. The rest of the party is free to act in the meantime. And just to confirm, yeah if your minimum damage is enough to take one out you don't need to bother rolling if you don't want to.
Strong start everyone! This is 100% an action movie sequence so feel free to get creative!
Trebor advances through the brush after Homil, intent on defending poor Bry and bolstering his comrade. Once through the brush, he notices his companion has already angrily dispatched a number of ghoulish foes. He turns his attention to Homil's flank and engages. If this tactic pays off, part of the road will be clear for a potential escape and Bry will be in a better position to survive. Trebor knows the three remaining in the forest will fare better than a lone berserker and crossbow-wielding handmaiden.
Alright, Trebor uses his movement to get to the Road and engages R6 and R8 wiith his Extra Attack feature, keeping within five feet of Homil and using his reach weapon. If any ghouls in range move to attack Homil, Trebor would use his Chill Touch in lieu of his opportunity attack. I'll save my Action Surge for later in our battles, who knows when you can count on a Short Rest?
Geth, roll 1d20+7 for Glaive Attack vs R6
Geth, roll 1d10+4 for Glaive Damage vs R6
Geth, roll 1d20+7 for Glaive Attack vs R8
Geth, roll 1d10+4 for Glaive Damage vs R8
Geth, roll 1d20+5 for Potential Chill Touch Opportunity Attack (If Applicable)
Geth, roll 2d8 for Potential Chill Touch Damage (If Applicable)
Looks like I've got too many rolls on the screen already! I'm going to use my inspiration on that attack against R6 and hope I don't need it later. Damage remains the same (I'm pretty sure).
Long, gnarled claws rake across Homil's flesh as he forces the ghouls to focus on him. Other than the physical pain of so many flesh wounds, he doesn't seem to suffer any ill effects. He does seem to have their attention though, if not through intimidation than through the fresh scent of his blood.
Six of the eight opportunity attacks from the ghouls connect with Homil, for a total of 25 damage after his resistance.
Key – HP 38/38 | AC 17 | Status: Normal. Homil – HP 34/59 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Haste. Raging. Reckless. Trebor – HP 50/50 | AC 18 | Status: Normal. Karnak – HP 52/52 | AC 17 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Slane – HP 33/33 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Ghouls – HP 5/5 | AC 12 | Status: Normal.
Karnak strode onto the road, drawing forth the maul and swinging it with one smooth motion. The head of the ghoul whose claws had so recently rent Homil's flesh burst like an overripe melon. With a roar, the paladin brought the weapon down again, caving in the torso of the next nearest creature. "The Lord of Three Thunders judges you guilty! Ask for no quarter, for the only respite you will find will be that of the grave!"
Minion, roll 2#1d20+7 for attacking two ghouls
Minion, roll 2#2d6+7 for the two attacks' damages
Slane shadows Karnak as he moves towards the wagon. The paladin's steely resolve was always a welcoming sight between yourself and an onrushing enemy. Still, this time the enemy was coming from all angles, so Slane carefully put his pack to Karnak's, hoping his presence would give the Half-orc the same amount of comfort that he gave Slane.
"Brylana is safe, yes?" he yelled, whilst he pointed both palms at two ghouls. In a flash, two pitch black rays erupted from his hands, surging towards the nearest two ghouls. Upon impact, the power of the blast surged around the two ghouls, the sheer amount of force breaking bones, before they were flung away, into more ravenous undead.
Eldritch blasting two ghouls, and I might as well push them 10 feet for fun, because I can! :P
Geth, roll 2#1d20+7
Geth, roll 2#1d10+4
The ghouls, undeterred by their quickly thinning numbers, surge forward to attack. They're not particularly effective, but what they lack in strength and skill they make up for in pure numbers.
R4 attacks Homil, hitting for 4 damage after Homil's resistance.
R5 attacks Karnak, but misses.
R6 attacks Trebor, but misses.
F7, F8, and C3 attack Key, two of them hitting for a total of 11 damage.
The rest of the ghouls seem to be waiting in a loose circle around the melee for some reason.
Round 2
Key – HP 27/38 | AC 17 | Status: Normal. Homil – HP 30/59 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Haste. Raging. Trebor – HP 50/50 | AC 18 | Status: Normal. Karnak – HP 52/52 | AC 17 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Slane – HP 33/33 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Normal. Ghouls – HP 5/5 | AC 12 | Status: Normal.
Would casting Shield with my reaction negate those two hits? Can I escape with a Disengage action? How many ghouls in the forest can I target with a single Fireball?
Shield would negate the hits.
You can use your action to Disengage if you want to move to a different zone without provoking.
The distances are all pretty abstract. The only ghouls that are actually clumped together are C8, C9, and C10. I guess technically C3, F7, and F8 are clumped together, but that's because they're surrounding you in melee. So those are your options for area attacks.
I think my description of the scene wasn't clear. She's off the map. The wagon is just south of the road zone on the map. So you've got a line of ghouls between you and her. Currently she's staying quiet and trying not to draw attention to herself while the ghouls are focused on all of you.
Posts
Geth, roll 1d20+5 for Perception
Geth, roll 1d20+5 Investigation
Geth, roll 1d20+1 Perception
Homil, you're the first to hear it. More howling is coming from the woods. Much more. Perhaps it was the smell of fresh blood, or the light of the funeral pyre, but there are more ghouls out there and you've got their attention.
Readying my spear and javeling so I can grab them after I throw the axes. Rolling an intelligence check to see if I can guess at if we're so badly outnumbered we might want to run for it, or if we stand a fighting chance. I'll roll init, too, while I'm here.
Edit: Yeah... Homil don't run.
Geth, roll 1d20 for Int check to calculate the odds
Geth, roll 1d20+2 for Initiative
"Now this sounds like a proper audience for my fiery affections, but it bodes poorly for the people of Anbury. What could cause such a plague of ghouls?"
I could hog Haste for myself, but it would be, frankly, rude. Twinned Spell will be nice. I think Homil can get better use out of Haste, but he's so uncultured, yknow?
Geth, roll 1d20+4 for initiative
Geth, roll 1d20 for Ghoul Problem
Add +3 to that roll if History applies, not sure what it would fall under though.
@Rainfall that's a pretty good roll. What could cause a plague of ghouls?
Minion, roll 1d20+2 for Religion - attempted circle of protection
Minion, roll 1d20+1 for Initiative
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
If a large amount of tainted flesh was introduced into a village at once, and people ate it without knowing, that could create a plague of this size, but it's almost unthinkable that it would happen by chance.
Some sort of worshipper of undeath is behind this, perhaps similar in nature to Doresain, the fallen elf who became the first ghoul. Of course, anyone with the ability to create this many monsters is... very powerful.
I've got a 55 foot base speed, Dash as a bonus action while raging, ignore difficult terrain while dashing, and I can negate attacks of opportunity by administering a melee attack; regardless, attacks of opportunity have disadvantage. I just might stand a chance of getting to Brylana before she's eaten.
Assuming, of course, that she's not part of some sort of trap. But Homil wouldn't think of that.
Edit: Rules question for @Denada : if I take Dash as a bonus action, can I also take it as my regular action, bringing my total movement for the round up to 165 feet if I don't attack?
Key gripped her orb in one hand and laid the other on Homil's shoulder, chanting quietly as she released a surge of power into him, speeding his movements even further.
Haste on Homil doubles his base move to 110 and gives him a full extra action he can use to attack once, Dash, or Disengage, as well as +2 AC. Hopefully it will be enough.
Trebor trails off, evaluating the situation but unsure what the best course of action is.
Either way I'll Chill Touch those fools at medium range until it comes time for melee, if only to give them disadvantage when they attack others. There are a few ways to cut this pie, and Karnak's abilities are going to really help us anywhere we go.
Edit: If I had a cliff handy I'd just Feather Fall us down into the unknown. Dramatic!
Edit 2: I hadn't even refreshed the page so I didn't see @Rainfall's post. I'll gladly double time it and go save Bry as a team.
Geth, roll 1d20 for Initiative
This was rapidly becoming more than a few undead to deal with it. It was becoming an infestation.
Geth, roll 1d20+2 for fantastic initiative!
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Rolling history and religion to think of any place that would fit into what was mentioned above
Geth, roll 1d20+6 for history
Geth, roll 1d20+6 for religion
There are three zones. Using all of your movement will get you from one zone to an adjacent zone. If you Haste someone, you can move two zones instead of one. I'm not taking individual movement speeds into account here just for the sake of simplicity.
You can attack any creature in the same zone as you without spending movement. If you're in combat with a creature and then decide to move to another zone, they'll get an opportunity attack. If you have some special thing related to that, we'll deal with it if the situation comes up. Enemies that are grouped up will be grouped up on the map, for the purposes of area attacks.
Hopefully that's not too confusing.
So what's the plan? Where is everyone going to be? Is anyone being Hasted?
Karnak burned everything and consecrated the ashes. He'll do his best to keep up if everybody's running for the road.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
The ghouls have arrived, and there are a lot of them. They're cutting you off from the wagon, but you can see Brylana crouched down with a crossbow, ready to defend herself. She's alive - so far - as the ghouls seem to be focused mostly on Homil.
Key – HP 38/38 | AC 17 | Status: Normal.
Homil – HP 59/59 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Haste.
Trebor – HP 50/50 | AC 18 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Karnak – HP 52/52 | AC 17 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Slane – HP 33/33 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Ghouls – HP 5/5 | AC 12 | Status: Normal.
@Rainfall is up first!
"I can hold them off here, keep Brylana safe from these beasts!"
Scorching Ray on Ghouls F1-F3
Geth, roll 1d20+6 to hit F1
Geth, roll 1d20+6 to hit F2
Geth, roll 1d20+6 to hit F3
Min damage is 2+3 for Elemental Affinity, they can't survive with 5 hp so I won't bother rolling unless you ask.
Also if I take any hits from the Ghouls I'll use my reaction to cast Shield and bring my AC to 22 against all attacks for the round.
Next up, @Mongrel Idiot
Use a bonus action to rage, my first action to attack ghouls R9 and R10 with hand axes, dropping them after the attack, and my second action to attack ghoul R3 with a two-handed longsword. I'll also drop Reckless Attack to get advantage on my attack rolls. In the meantime, I'd like to sweep the clearing, provoking as many attacks of opportunity as I can; they'll all have disadvantage, and provoking them will give Brylana a clearer route to safety, if she chooses to make a break for it.
Edit: Jacked up the formatting on my axe damage rolls, but the minimum is 5, so probably no big deal. Also, the attacks of opportunity would have disadvantage from my totem spirit thing and advantage due to reckless attack, so they'd be rolling normally, I think.
Geth, roll 3#2d20k1+5 for Attack R9, R10, R3
Geth, roll 1d6+4 for Damage R9, R10
Geth, roll 1d10+4 for Damage R3
Strong start everyone! This is 100% an action movie sequence so feel free to get creative!
Geth, roll 1d20+7 for Glaive Attack vs R6
Geth, roll 1d10+4 for Glaive Damage vs R6
Geth, roll 1d20+7 for Glaive Attack vs R8
Geth, roll 1d10+4 for Glaive Damage vs R8
Geth, roll 1d20+5 for Potential Chill Touch Opportunity Attack (If Applicable)
Geth, roll 2d8 for Potential Chill Touch Damage (If Applicable)
Geth, roll 1d20+7 for Attack #2 vs R6
Edit: Now I know how some of you guys feel!
Six of the eight opportunity attacks from the ghouls connect with Homil, for a total of 25 damage after his resistance.
Key – HP 38/38 | AC 17 | Status: Normal.
Homil – HP 34/59 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Haste. Raging. Reckless.
Trebor – HP 50/50 | AC 18 | Status: Normal.
Karnak – HP 52/52 | AC 17 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Slane – HP 33/33 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Ghouls – HP 5/5 | AC 12 | Status: Normal.
@jdarksun is up next.
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
Minion, roll 2#2d6+7 for the two attacks' damages
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
@PACherrn is up, I believe?
Penny Arcade Rockstar Social Club / This is why I despise cyclists
"Brylana is safe, yes?" he yelled, whilst he pointed both palms at two ghouls. In a flash, two pitch black rays erupted from his hands, surging towards the nearest two ghouls. Upon impact, the power of the blast surged around the two ghouls, the sheer amount of force breaking bones, before they were flung away, into more ravenous undead.
Geth, roll 2#1d20+7
Geth, roll 2#1d10+4
R4 attacks Homil, hitting for 4 damage after Homil's resistance.
R5 attacks Karnak, but misses.
R6 attacks Trebor, but misses.
F7, F8, and C3 attack Key, two of them hitting for a total of 11 damage.
The rest of the ghouls seem to be waiting in a loose circle around the melee for some reason.
Round 2
Key – HP 27/38 | AC 17 | Status: Normal.
Homil – HP 30/59 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Haste. Raging.
Trebor – HP 50/50 | AC 18 | Status: Normal.
Karnak – HP 52/52 | AC 17 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Slane – HP 33/33 | AC 14 | Inspiration | Status: Normal.
Ghouls – HP 5/5 | AC 12 | Status: Normal.
@Rainfall is up next.
You can use your action to Disengage if you want to move to a different zone without provoking.
The distances are all pretty abstract. The only ghouls that are actually clumped together are C8, C9, and C10. I guess technically C3, F7, and F8 are clumped together, but that's because they're surrounding you in melee. So those are your options for area attacks.