With the goblins down in front of the them, the party was of two minds.  Thaoran, Hornet, Uthal and Lily all saw the bugbears as a danger in need of being dealt with quickly.  They sprinted forward and sped past the goblins, turning and heading up the ridge towards the presumed flat area where the pyre would be.  As they ran Lily thought she caught a glimpse of one of the bugbears moving quickly upward ahead of her.  The Kender yelled at them as she ran, hoping to make it seem like an army was charging in pursuit.  It was also moving as quickly as possible, but the steep ridge line was slowing everyone down. 

               That left Silver, Soledad and the two dwarves to deal with the sleeping goblins.  Soledad looked with disgust at the first one and wished she could mage hand to dispatch it, but knew that the spell would likely not deliver enough force behind the blow to do the job.  Grimacing she plunged her dagger into the creatures eye.  It’s sleep became a more permanent version of unconsciousness.  Gerdar and Dok each finished off another goblin leaving none of them alive.  The group also cut off the ears of the ones they killed.  As he stood up Gerdar was surprised to see a goblin dragging itself out of the river on the far shore – about 30’ down stream of their current location.  It looked injured and struggled to reach shore, but it go there, climbed out, and looked back meeting the dwarf’s gaze. 

 

Overview

All of the goblins are dead – you collected 3 ears.  There are 3 more goblins whose ears have not yet been taken.  To do so would take your action for a turn.  If you are staying to do this please tell me what you want to do when done with this so I can do a couple of rounds at once – depending on what happens.

The goblin on the far side of the river is about 100’ away from you total.

Travel up the ridge counts as difficult terrain.  So one you head upwards your movement will be slowed to half speed.  This means that if you dash you will go at your normal speed and if you don’t you will travel at half of that.  Lily is about 20’ up the ridge – so just into the trees obscuring your view.  The other three headed up the ridge are 10’ behind her.  She had a bit of head start.

It was a good thing that Lilly couldn’t see what was happening back with the Goblins; while she would kill things in self defense, to slit the throats of unconscious foes, and mutilating their death bodies was appalling behavior. It was best that she was unaware of her new companions actions, or she might have decided that this was not a group in which she wished to travel.

 

Seeing only one of the ugly bear-like creatures up ahead, gave Lilly pause, she continued on but she slowed her pace to a normal one, still whooping and hollering she took care to watch her step on the steep terrain.  She swore there were two of those creatures, but saw only one; was one laying in wait along the side of this path?  She was cautious now, and moved with a wary eye for an ambush.

 

((Okay, slowing her pace to normal, and keeping an observing gaze on the sides of the path among the trees, etc., for any signs of a surprise attack or trap.  She will move enough this turn so she can still have an action, such as dodge, etc., if needed.))

 

Dok made sure that he collected the right ears of the 3 newly slain Goblins and as he collected the ear bounty, he glared at the Goblin who had escaped to the other side of the river.

The Hill Dwarf Cleric of Helm made it a point to stand up and glare at the Goblin across the river, making a menacing gesture with his knife as if cutting the Goblin's throat and then slicing off its right ear, before cautiously following his companions who were in pursuit of the retreating Bug Bears.

Dok makes sure that no enemies are trying to attack from behind, especially if the Goblin across the river decides to return and follow the group from behind. Dok also keeps aware of any ambushes ahead of him, or to either side as he follows his companions.

Uthal, quaterstaff in hand continues his chase of the Bugbears (Dashing), heading up the path to the ridge.

Seeing that the lone goblin was way off his effective range, Gerdar cursed in dwarvish and pushed forward across the ridge.

 

(Lemme dash!)

Cursing the rugged terrain, Hornet continued after the bugbears.

 

OOC  Sorry for short post just not much else to say

Thäoran kept his grip firmly on the hilt of his rapier as he continued to chase after the Bugbears (using my dash action), a little annoyed of the rough and rocky terrain that prevented him from moving at full speed.

The group continued their attempt finish off the monsters at the pyre without allowing them to raise the alarm back at the Vargolg.  So far six goblins had been silenced and lost their right ears to the bounty hunters.  Dok claimed the ears with Soledad and Silver watching.  They glared at the goblin on the far side of the river and then turned and followed the rest of them up the path towards the pyre.

               Lily had the early lead but slowed her pace when she lost sight of one of the bugbears.  Wary of an ambush she continued upwards.  As she advanced, she thought she saw both, but the creatures looked the same and she never saw more than one at a time so she couldn’t be sure.  What she did know was that nothing ambushed her as she advanced. 

               At the hallway point Uthal and Thaoran passed the Kendar and continued upwards as quickly as they could, determined to catch their enemy.  As they got to within about 30’ or so of what looked like a stone ledge a large bugbear suddenly appeared at the edge above them and hurled a large, still burning, log down towards them.  It flew towards the pair but struck a tree branch before it got there and went tumbling on down the hill surprising those in the party who followed but not hitting anyone.  They looked up at the ledge and wondered what exactly was up there.  All they could see was some smoke from further back heading skyward.  The bugbear had pulled back from the ledge. 

 

Overview

 You took two rounds to move up the hill.  Right now you are below the ledge – you are listed below with your current distance below the edge of the ledge/flat area where the pyre presumably burns. 

Thaoran and Uthal – 30’

Lily and Gerdar – 50’

Hornet – 60’

Silver, Dok and Soledad – 75’

Remember that this is difficult terrain so you move at half normal speed.  I will try to get a map out with in a day or so, but right now you all have partial cover behind trees, brush and rocks on the ridge.  Think of it as looking up at a shelf.  You can see the lip of it, but not onto it unless something looks over the edge of it.  (Or moves to the edge to throw a burning branch down.)  It is hard to tell how big the shelf is but it seems to extend about 40’ or so to both the left and right.  If you had to guess it is around 30’ deep, but you can’t tell for sure – that is a guess based on the large cliff wall that looms above it.  (Reference the previously posted picture of that Ridge.)

A couple of you are close enough to potentially reach the ridge if you sashed for it.  But the rest have a longer climb still.  When you post please indicate how you want to deal with he ledge when you get there.  If you want to coordinate the timing as a group you need to talk about it and be clear about that timing. 

Lilly was moving cautiously up the train keeping and eye out for any surprises, when she was surprised, but not by any bear like creatures or goblins.  Instead it was by Uthal and Thaoran passed her as they charged up the trail towards the top.  

 

The kender gave a short quick exclamation, “Hey..” then she quickened her speed as the two pulled away from her, “you not going to to have all the fun without me.” She said at a more normal volume which probably wasn’t overheard by anyone over the noise of them all moving quickly up the hill.

 

She picked up her pace up the trail and moved as fast as she safely could given the difficult terrain.

 

(OOC:  she will move to a Dash, if she can on the difficult trail.  She will depend on her dexterity to keep her footing and be ready for action when it comes.)) 

   Hornet saw the ledge and knew that is where the bugbears would be hiding.  Battle loomed ahead but for now it was just a matter of climbing as quickly as possible.  

OOC: Using dash so guessing it would balance out with the terrain to be normal movement of 30 ft

Thäoran continued dashing (yep, using my dash action) towards the ledge after the bugbears, the elf covering 30ft of the rough terrain (I assume. Half movement speed). The elf was determined to catch his quarry.

"C'mon!" whispers Uthal as he dashes past Lilly.

Uthal keeps up his dashing pace with Thäoran. Secure in the knowledge that a side by side ally is probably a safer bet than "spider climbing" up to meet what ever is at the top alone.

Soledad continued her dash with the others, cursing whichever vile cretin had hurled a burning log at them. The nerve!

Dok climbed cautiously as he followed his companions who had rushed ahead after the Bug Bears, making sure that no adversaries caught them unawares from behind, as they all made their way ever closer to the ledge!

((OOC: Dok has his battle axe at the ready and he is also prepared to launch a Guiding Bolt if necessary, as long as it does not endanger any of his companions that are ahead of him. He is also prepared to unleash a Guiding Bolt if any attackers are following the adventurers from behind / below!))

Since it may matter here, actions below are explained in initiative order:

               The party moved quickly up the ridge trying to reach the ledge where the bugbears now seemed to be staked out.  The first to reach it was Thaoran who ran as quickly up the difficult terrain as he could.  As he reached the flat area, he saw two bugbears standing there ready to defend their position.  Behind them a large flat area extended – it stretched about 100’ or so from North to South – with a sheer cliff wall rising behind it. The flat area was about 40’ wide for much of this space but narrowed near the northern and southern ends.  Several small trees grew in the area.  A smoking pyre sat near the cliff wall near the southern end of the ledge.  About 20’ to the north of the pyre was a small pile of brush and branches, doubtless fuel for the fire.  The fire was still burning, although not strongly, and putting out a column of sooty black smoke. 

               Soledad did her best to race up the hill and catch the others.  Lily, meanwhile, surprised to have been caught from behind by Thaoran and Uthal, decided to give up on caution and ran on as well, coming to within 20’ of the ledge. 

               One of the bugbears had grabbed a large log and threw it at Thaoran as he climbed onto the flat area.  The elf, expecting danger when he exposed himself, threw up his shield and just barely managed to deflect the log and it bounced off down the ridge and into the brush, deflected away from the party by his shield.  The bugbear howled in frustration. 

               Dok chose not to dash up the hill, taking a more cautious route knowing that other creatures might be there to attack from the rear or sides.  He saw no such attack.

               Hornet and Uthal also ran up the path.  Hornet was close to the top, but Uthal made it to the top and stood side by side with Thaoran. 

               The second bugbear, seeing both Thaoran and Uthal climb into view charged forward and took a mighty swing with a massive morning star.  But it seems he couldn’t decide which one to target and thus ended up only striking the ground between the pair. 

               Dok, seeking the bugbear appear on the edge of the ledge above him sent a guiding bolt screaming towards the monster but misjudged the angle and saw his bolt instead fly past the creature’s head.

 

Notes and Overiew

*I interpreted Dok’s post as a “held action.”  You have the ability say, “I will do this if X happens.”  Then if whatever the trigger was you designated occurs, you do it.  He said he had a guiding bolt prepared. I would prefer you designate something specifically as a held action, but I know some of you don’t know that rule well.  Note – if you hold a spell and the trigger doesn’t occur, you still waste the spell slot.  That doesn’t impact cantrips or weapon attacks of course. 

*Gerdar didn’t post and so moved up slowly.

*Silver – Tann is having some real world issues and will try to post when he can.  He has been a very loyal gamer and a part of this site for longer than I have and I will be very patient with his needs.  Right now, Silver is along for the ride.

*The two of you on the ridge are up there completely and able to take whatever action you wish.

*Hornet, at 90’ up the ridge and 10’ away from the top can reach the top and attack next turn.

*Those 70-80 feet from the edge still can reach the top next turn only if they dash.  That would leave them without an action once there. 

*Anyone further than 70’ from the top can’t make it there next turn. 

*You can all see the one bugbear that moved forward to attack Thaoran.  However, given that he is on the ledge he has partial coverage from anyone still climbing.  This means that anyone not yet at the top can make a ranged attack on him if they don’t dash.  However, it will be with disadvantage. (Roll two d20 and take the lower roll.)  This would not affect Uthal and Thaoran as they are already at the top.

*The second bugbear (threw the log) is further back and not visible to anyone not on the ledge.

*I will get a map posted soon – and will use an alternate method that will hopefully stick.

 

Distances for everyone from the top:

(Note the distance to the top is 100’ – Hornet has 10’ still to go, Lily and Gerdar 25&rsquo

Thaoran and Uthal – at the top

Hornet 90’

Lily and Gerdar – 75’

Soledad – 55’

Silver, Dok – 50’