RED OAK: ARCHIVE

[Longman]

Talin is in the copse. 50 yards from MP.

Freya switches to swords and takes a look around for the sight of either a weasel or a human being.

There is a 'thwick' sound that emanates from one of the smaller abandoned buildings - the one on the top right. A split second later a crossbow bolt hits Freya in the right shoulder and does 3 hit points of damage.

Fido and Talin also hear this.

[Woe]

This is exactly why it's harder to play the good guys!

Does Talin have a target to get a shot off, or does he have a target to shoot at? If not, Freya will retreat back to Talin and they'll both retreat back to the tree line, using the copse as cover.

[Longman]

That's tricky. You thought you were well hidden while you were peering through the grass, but @ still saw you somehow. You think he might have seen something when you signaled Talin. (In which case, he can definitely see in the dark.)

In terms of shots off, Freya has her swords out, so swapping is a full round.

Talin has literally no idea where the target is. He'd have to nat 20 to hit even close.

[Woe]

Ok, lets go with plan B. Freya will retreat to Talin under cover, and the three of them will retreat further (since they don't have targets to aim at).

[Longman]

In that round, Freya retreats 20 yards back to the copse to join Talin, trying to keep low.

In the following round, both Talin and Freya, with Fido, scoot another 20 yards westward, again trying to stay in the grass.There is another 'thunk' of a crossbow bolt being released but this time it lands wide of them, to their right.

The abandoned buildings seem to give good cover for firing eastward. When '@' thought he needed to be firing south, that's when he needed to be outside, in between to of the buildings.

How is Kilian's catapult coming along.

[Woe]

Unfortunately, Kilian can't find a good enough counterweight.

Party will continue to retreat out of range of the crossbow(s). I'm not sure why they're only going 20/rd. I thought their move is 40/rd (and double if running, which they aren't). Shouldn't they be moving a bit faster?

Did @ ever appear? If not, the party is going to disengage and circle back later.

Any reason why @ was watching to the south? Is that the direction of town?

[Longman]

I usually rule sneaking as half move. If you want to just leg it, you can, but @ is much more likely to see you.

Anyway no more crossbow bolts come your way as you head for the trees and you can get there in safely.

The @ is facing south because that is the direction the cottage (east at the top of the map). It looks like he was waiting, guarding the lane. He does not seem to follow you out towards the trees, as far as you can tell.

By the time Freya gets back to the treeline, she is starting to feel pretty weird. The crossbow bolt struck her in the shoulder but did not stick in her body. It doesn't hurt as much as it might, but she is feeling sweaty, and starting to get dizzy.

[Woe]

Bleah.

Kilian will take out the bolt and examine it, while everyone else stands watch. Tiana will treat for poison. Given her lack of knowledge in the area, that mostly means she'll paste it with old wives' tales herbs and a lot of water.

Is there a healer in town?

[Longman]

Kilian will take out the bolt and examine it.

It's not in her. I assumed it was back where it struck her, west a fair way.

Tiana will treat for poison.

This is where the 'medicine' background skill would come in handy - that'd give you an actual shot against the poison. She doesn't have that, or any herbs to hand - so what does she do?

Is there a healer in town?

The local priest (not the Undertaker) might know something, probably not. In terms of someone with the actual medicine skill, very unlikely. There might be some kind of pagan healer in town but you do not know about them.

As you are pondering what the hell to do, you can hear something in the woods behind you. Kilian hears it first. It's about 120 yards away to the east. It sounded like one or more human / oid people walking in the trees towards the country lane to the south of you. This is a bit odd, seeing as it is well after 11 at night.

Almost as soon as you hear it, the noise of movement stops.

[Woe]

Tiana would have been trying to wash the wound with water. Other than that, she doesn't have a lot of ideas.

120 yards away. The party will be heading away from the area and back toward their "safe" camp. With Freya being the best eyes but also poisoned, they'd have a disadvantage during combat. They'll wait until the noise passes by (or a while passes by) before leaving. They don't want to rile up anyone else.