I'm lovin' it... the maps that is. the grid one is pretty good. Where (in general direction) was the shuffling heard?

coordinates D8

who's who in the map close up? Talon's the good guy boss but the rest of us aren't labeled.

The only positions i know are bruno is in lead position and Talon is behind him. and from the posts I think youre at A10 and Mooncat is at A12. Patrick and Behufil are bringing up the rear positions of the same coordinates though i don't know whether they are left or right of the wagon.

a10 position looks fine to me. Is Behufil a NPC at this point?

I vote to have the Cleric on the right side of the wagon.

The right side of the wagon is fine with me. I will be using Summon Monster 2 to summon a Celestial Monkey to my location (square adjacent to Talon but between him and the "target" square(s) where the rustling was. Patrick's mace is currently in his Glove of Storing (as where he usually keeps it) and call it out as soon as it's needed (move equivalent action).

I'll try to buff people as we go if needed as well and I'll have Patrick say so in the game post if all of this is ok so far.

I was tempted to do Create Water on the rustling square, but did not for fear that 160gallons of water might make it hard for the wagon or horses to get through that part of the road/path lol

Initiative order

jozan1
dragodorn
strike
brianna
Gnoll5
shades331
gnolls3-4
Talon
gnolls1-2

\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\for now.

Were they distracted by the dancing lights at all?

Should I still post about summoning the monkey or was that taken into account already, or am I going to have to wait until Patrick's initiative turn to do that?

Also, the squares are 10x10, correct? If so, can you let us know which 5ft squares they are in. That will help with placement of us or any spells/abilities we might want to use

And heck yeah, fight time = fun

When the first rustling sounds caught Moon Cat's attention. She use her hat of disguise to blend her clothes into forest greens and browns blochy pattern and stepped off the path into the forest. Moon Cat plans to sneak in form the rear to catch them flate footed, so make stealth rolls for her, hide, and move silently.

Bruno is going to need to tie down his pony. Anywhere he could do so?

Also, I cannot connect to the webpage to see the new map... any ideas on how I can fix this? I tired with both google chrome and Internet Explorer.

did we see any of the gnolls that made the rustling sound in the bushes? i was thinking of using seeking ray because it ignores everything but total cover but i would have had to have seen at least a tiny bit of them for it.

If we didn't Garrik is going to wait to attack the first gnoll that pops out from the left using spring attack to hit it then back off out of its melee range. That would be his target for Dodge too. He would channel shocking grasp and use the corrosive swords ability along with it. If none show up the first round the beginning of the his turn in the second round he fires a seeking ray at the group down the trail. Garrik doesn't want to leave Talon alone with the wagon so he stays by it if the gnolls from the side don't show up. He's pretty sure there is at least one over there.

Were they distracted by the dancing lights at all?

The dancing lights may not have been noticed at all, could have been mistaken as sun light filtering through the trees as the sun sets in the west (assuming there was something alive close by that would have even given a crap,lol).
Should I still post about summoning the monkey or was that taken into account already, or am I going to have to wait until Patrick's initiative turn to do that?

No you don't have to wait for your initiative, the monkey was summoned, it acts on your initiative.
Also, the squares are 10x10, correct? If so, can you let us know which 5ft squares they are in. That will help with placement of us or any spells/abilities we might want to use.

To make it easy, you can occupy a square with an enemy, seeing how the squares represent 10 square feet. the count is the same. (example: you cast a spell that has a range of 50' plus 5' per caster lvl. the enemy is 60 feet away, no cover, if counting spaces were necesary in this case, just count 6 squares. and to make it easier than that, say the enemy were 105' away. With you being lvl 10 you would have a total range of 100'. as long as the enemy is in the 10' square your range lands in you can still "reach" and hit the target.) your base speed is 30' so you can move a max of 3 squares. The coodinates are to communicate WHERE you move and WHERE RANGED shot are headed at which enemy. I hope all this was of some help to you.
Bruno is going to need to tie down his pony. Anywhere he could do so?

Tie the pony to the back of the wagon, or pick a tree preferably on the right side of the wagon (possibility of bad guys in the woods to the left). Sorry to say there really isn't any relatively safe place to tie up a pony or horse here.
Also, I cannot connect to the webpage to see the new map... any ideas on how I can fix this? I tired with both google chrome and Internet Explorer.

The link does work, i tested it myself, and the other players have seen it. However I might be able to actually put it here for a time. The maps will change over time as events happen and ill have to edit, delete and repost maps as we go along.
did we see any of the gnolls that made the rustling sound in the bushes? i was thinking of using seeking ray because it ignores everything but total cover but i would have had to have seen at least a tiny bit of them for it.

As far as your characters know (Thanks to failed spot checks all around) either the noises were caused by the gnolls you now face, or they were caused by a devil wind or a small forest animal. None of you saw anything that resembled a gnoll in cover.
If we didn't Garrik is going to wait to attack the first gnoll that pops out from the left using spring attack to hit it then back off out of its melee range. That would be his target for Dodge too. He would channel shocking grasp and use the corrosive swords ability along with it. If none show up the first round the beginning of the his turn in the second round he fires a seeking ray at the group down the trail. Garrik doesn't want to leave Talon alone with the wagon so he stays by it if the gnolls from the side don't show up. He's pretty sure there is at least one over there.

thanks for reminding me, Talon is ready to fight too. I just need to roll init for him.

Ok, so if I target say a Flame Strike between H11 and H12, right in the middle of the H row, since it has a 10ft Radius, it would be able to hit the Gnoll in row I, both Gnolls in row H, and the Gnoll in row G?

I'm planning on having Patrick use the Flame Strike scroll that's part of the Caster Shield he has before he sends the celestial monkey over to the bushes to smite evil on any gnolls that might be there that we missed. If any of the party is within that range before he goes, Patrick will be applying Mark of Doom on the closest gnoll and then on the other gnolls as the turns go on if none are within 20ft of him or Talon yet.

Mark of Doom - lvl 3 spell, will last 10 rounds, no saving throw, no resistance, causes target of spell to take 1d6 dmg every time they cast an offensive spell, do melee or range attacks, or use any spells or abilities that harm others. The Gnolls simply need to be evil or lawful for the spell to work. Due to the spell's "visual effects" Patrick and the rest of the group will know if they are evil or lawful if the spell works.

(edit)
I might do Mark of Judgment(PHBII) as well if it looks like healing is needed early in the fight.
(edit)

Patrick wants to make the gnolls think twice (i know, hard feat to get them to the first time right lol) about attacking their group. He knows that we need to possibly take 1 of the gnolls alive but that's easy enough to do AFTER the fight is over. Patrick knows that the Flame Strike makes a HUGE roaring inferno pillar of fire 40ft tall but hopes that again that will put some fear into the gnolls. If it doesn't then maybe we can draw out enough for Bruno to let loose his anger on these poor souls lol.

Bruno will simply stay around the wagon. If a gnoll comes to close, Bruno will jump off the pony, land, then draw his ax. damn the pony if Talon could possibly get hurt.

I need something from jozan1 before i can make rolls and post in story form. Bear with me though for some of your action posts are confusing at best. A few examples:

Shades, you posted in game that you got down off of your pony, now you are getting back on just because you don't have a safe place to tie it up? I'd , if i was that concerned for Talon, just get off the pony, let it walk where it will and find it after the fight. the pony knows who butters its bread, itll come back if it hasn't been killed.

Brianna, you can't catch someone flatfooted if they are already aware of you. The five gnolls you are engaged with know of your presence and have seen you camoflage yourself. Now, just like with the spell Invisibility , if your hide and move silently check both succeed, you can get the drop on them, and I'll even give you a +2 circumstance bonus to your attack roll. flat footed only works in a surprise round and the attacker is undetectable. Teleport is the same way, one could teleport from one spot to just behind an enemy and get the drop on him, but it doesn't necessarily mean the enemy is flat footed.

strike, where is the celestial monkey found in the books? Id like to see its stats. How many rounds are you planning ahead here? you can only cast one spell a round unless you have the metamagic feat Quickened spell.