RED OAK: ARCHIVE

[Woe]

Ok, let's see how this plan works.

Kilian will drop down and unless there's something different about his tactical assessment, will charge the guy on the west side (southern guy). James will drop down next and assuming he can also fight southern guy, he'll (hopefully) do that. Tiana will drop down third with the crossbow out and point it threateningly at the girl. She'll tell the girl "get down" and keep her covered.

Can the archers pepper the eastern guy safely? If not, they'll take the appropriate penalty to the roll. Also, they'll advance.

Maybe we will get this one done without a map! How far away are the archers from the treehouse?

[Longman]

OK.

The trapdoor and ivy flap open upwards. There's no ladder, so you literally have to drop down into the room below.

Kilian does so, landing a bit awkwardly and giving the treehouse a bit of a shake as he lands. The room visible looks like about a third of the whole circle, not the predicted half or quarter - Kilian was wrong about the structure. There's no downwards trapdoor in here either.

There's a woman in here, in leather armour with a sword, who is very close to Kilian as he lands. She gets an attack of opportunity, which she takes. It doesn't seem like her heart is really in it and she just swats at Kilian, trying to get him to back off. No damage.

Next down is Bruce, who lands clumsily and falls next to Kilian. The room is now pretty full.

A human male charges into the doorway on the south side of the little room and now the place is even more crowded. He attempts to attack Bruce, stabbing him through the doorway. He hits and Bruce takes 5 hit points of damage. He's also screaming out for 'Goner' to come and help him.

Meanwhile the archers - 140 feet from the treehouse tree but with a decent line of sight on the north window - let rip. I'm not sure who is 'eastern guy' is. All you have to fire at is the guy in the north window - his name seems to be Goner. Talin critically fails and snaps his bowstring. The other two rolls also go badly. Those in the treehouse are not sure what Goner is doing, you haven't heard anything since last round.

Tiana is right above Bruce. There isn't much space to jump down, but she could cast a cantrip on the guy in the doorway, or fire her crossbow or chuck her dagger. I need her actions to end the round. You can also give me actions for next round as well - so if you do that, give me two actions for Tiana.

Your go.

[Woe]

Round 1:
Tiana will Mage hand a dagger down near the girl in a very threatening manner and point the crossbow at her, but not fire. Instead, she'll yell at the girl "drop your sword and choose to live!" Hopefully the girl won't know she is bluffing.

Round 2:
Kilian and Bruce will attack the southern drawler. The archers will keep moving in and shoot again at Goner if they see him, but no blind firing. Talin will exclaim "watch out for weasels!" to Anna and Freya. If the girl doesn't attack anyone, Tiana will keep up the threatening pose but not attack this round, instead dropping down.

[Longman]

And it's on.

Tiana's Charisma roll is decent and the woman seems to realise she is in no position to do much other than back away and defend herself against the floating dagger, which frightens her. She doesn't drop her shortsword, but doesn't attack Kilian again.

It's so crowded in here a battle axe is tough going, so Kilian is at a penalty but lands a hit anyway and does Mr Southern 9 hit points. Bruce, also at a penalty, gets to his feet and takes a swing as well, also hitting, and doing 4 points. The guy looks pretty messed up. He considers his options and makes a fighting withdrawal into the other room. A change is coming over him as he does so and it's pretty clear he is going into weasel form and getting the hell out of here.

On a similar note, Freya spots a dark weasely shape scuttle through the ivy on the west side of the treehouse and scamper along a branch. She takes aim but misses, very narrowly. The other 2 can now see the thing and will be able to fire next turn. They are now 100 feet from the treehouse.

Tiana drops down, getting a decent landing, and continues to threaten the woman, who suddenly panics as she gets a close look at the elf, and takes a wild swing at her. The sword smashes into Tiana's shield spell and nearly penetrates it.

End of round. Southern guy is transforming in the next room, you still have a round on him. The woman is freaking out. The one outside is fleeing but you can all have shots.

Your go.

[Woe]

Tiana's shield is invisible. Does the woman react when the sword mysteriously bounces away from Tiana without hitting anything? For that matter (and because I don't know myself), does the shield spark or momentarily appear when struck, or does it stay invisible the whole time? Both approaches have great dramatic effect.


"Do not try that again. Your friends will die running. You can still live." Tiana says with her best imitation of Kilian's gruffness. She's not too happy about being swung at but more a 'quiet but fearsome' irate than a 'loud and energetic' irate.

"You need help Moonglade?" Kilian calls out. Tiana replies with, "Of course. She doesn't have an enchanted sword. I think she still wants to live." Looking at the girl, she states unequivocally, "Don't you?"

Maybe I was being unclear. Tiana isn't physically threatening the woman so much as covering her to encourage proper behavior. However, if you interpret "pointing a crossbow and levitating a knife near her" as physically threatening, I won't entirely disagree. But she isn't overtly threatening. She just wants the girl to surrender and not be a threat.

Kilian will play whack-a-mole in the next room. He'll continue to swing his axe, because I think he won't be able to attack if he changes to his hammer. Don't forget his newfound hatred of shapeshifters gives him a +3 to hit.

Will Bruce fit in the other room as well? If so and the girl is being reasonable, he'll play whack-a-mole as well. Otherwise, he'll attack the girl (assuming she is taking another swing at Tiana).

Down below, the archers will move and fire at the fleeing nisha.

--------------------
We forgot about poor Fido! Is it ok if he did a full run at the tree last round? If not, he'll take off at a full run this round chasing the nisha.

Also, Bruce needs to be added to the signature.

[Longman]

The woman's attitude is pretty erratic - it's clear she is very frightened. She makes eye contact with Tiana and says: "Who...are you?"

She realises you aren't actually attacking her right now, but in the last round, she thought about escaping out the trapdoor, past Tiana, and that's why she swung at the elf mage. She now seems to have changed her mind again, and backs up to the tree-trunk in the middle of the fort, still holding her sword out. The name Moonglade seems not to mean much to her. She knows she's being attacked / rescued by an elf and two dwarves. That's about all.

Tiana's shield can be visible or invisible, if you like. Has this come up before? I can't remember. In any case the woman knows Tiana has magic, and is frightened. That could go either way.

Meanwhile, Kilian can see the nisha shrinking in front of his eyes. The man's holdall backpack - the same kind that you saw on Ross in Cyn Dol before - plus his armour and weapons - are also shrinking and morphing into the weasels' skin.

Kilian swings and misses the shrinking creature. Bruce barges past his master and takes a good hit with his mace. He makes contact and does another 5 hit points. The creature is still alive but is in very bad shape and human / weasel blood is everywhere.

It flees from the scene, jumping up onto a window ledge and out though the ivy. Both dwarves get a parting shot at the creature as it tries to flee. Unfortunately, both of them miss. It is now out the window and onto a tree branch.

Meanwhile, Fido plus the archers run another 40' to be within 60' of the tree-house. They all fire at the fleeing weasel. Talin and Anna come very close, Freya falls short. The creature - who is uninjured - has chosen to go high, and has scampered up the limb of the main tree-house tree and gained access to another nearby tree. You have another 1 round of fire on him, after that he will be gone and out of sight.

Your go.

[Woe]

Tiana's shield can be visible or invisible, if you like. Has this come up before? I can't remember

The shield is invisible. It came up before, but just now I read the full thread not just your answer. Now, when you also consider my question of "is the shield visible or invisible when struck" then it's clearly invisible all the time. Ugh. I will lrn2read someday soon, I promise.

Everyone fires again, save Tiana. Instead, she says "There, that mess is taken care of. Stop waving that toothpick around. Nobody wants you to get hurt." She'll have the hand sheathe the dagger and go fetch the dropped crossbow, but in a non-threatening manner. "Tiana Moonglade. You?"

"Bruce, go check on the girl." Does Kilian have time to draw and fire his crossbow before the injured nisha disappears? If so, he'll do that. Otherwise, he'll come back into the room as well. He does his best to look not too threatening.

[Woe]

Also, Fido would run 2x speed because he isn't attacking.

[Longman]

"Er...Jane. Are you...from Red Oak?"

She does lower the sword. Bruce comes back in and lowers his weapon as well and the three of them stand around in the room for 1 seconds. She is still pretty nervous.

All three archers miss their target and the nisha Goner is now out of sight and high in the tree, about 120''. You cannot see him at all. Fido is at the base of the tree, barking madly.

Kilian drops his battle axe on the floor and gets out his crossbow. In the intervening period of time, this injured nisha with the southern accent also flees along a tree branch and into heavy foliage. Kilian can no longer see him.

Sorry, you lost both of them. On the plus side, you finally have a captive human who has been hanging out with them, and, this tree house is pretty cool, and contains interesting stuff. I'll be back in a bit to give details.

[Woe]

Tiana is enjoying the role of hardened adventurer. "No, I'm an elf from the Eastern Seas. Red Oak isn't far from here though. About two days northwest of here." Kilian walks back into the room, crossbow away but axe out. He looks at her, bemusedly. She hurries on. "We have friends from there though. They should be here soon."

Kilian can't stand the tough act from the scholar any more. "Ye friends are dead. Ye put away that knife. Ye can keep it for all I care. The blade is rusted and nicked... Not even worth a silver. Ye actually 'ought that it'd kill an elven wizardess? Or a dwarven sapper? Ye are brave but foolish. Now, ye should talk about ye friends and what ye are doing here. We need to wait for the archers to get here anyway. Bruce, can ye sweep the area for anything interesting?"

Before she starts, Kilian leans out the window and signals "clear" to the archers below, or yells it if needed.

Meanwhile, the archers won't pursue a healthy Nisha up a tree. Did they see the other Nisha run? The blood trail would be easier to track. Not that they will yet... Just want to know if they can find a trail to follow.