The Heroes' Journey Begins (in Merivale)

@Kessa: By the time you have a chance to react, the leader (he's actually on a giant rat >^.^<) will be far enough away that you'll be at Disadvantage 1 to attack. There's also the matter of the squirming sack on his back crying for help that might end up getting skewered instead.... On a successful hit, it would be a 50-50 chance.

Vilde takes her time a little bit to overview the ungoing situation. Gerblings... she watches them with awe. She only read about them and they are so fascinating and.... oh... yeah.... fighting!

Trying to find a defensive position behind her table, near the door opening, Vilde remembers her magic training.
Yeah... she looks at the giant rat. "Yeah... no..." she just says and points her finger at him, relwasing a yet of freezing cold.

@Vilde: They give range in squares, which is 5' for us heathens in the non metric world, and 1m for the rest of humanity. (I know they don't correlate, but the designers were going for simplicity, so... *shrugs*).

VIlde's spell flies forth, skewering the rodent of unusual size right in the behind, and eliciting from it an ear piercing shriek. The creature is temporarily hobbled and slowed but still on its giant rat feet. The other goblins retreating with their leader, much larger than the Gerblings, turn and snarl at you, seeming to consider whether to continue to exit the scene or wade into the fight.

@Vilde: you have one more action left this round!

"Shoo!" Vilde yells at one of the goblins considering to fight, and casts another ice spell.

GM Note: In Nimble, if you take the same action twice in a round (I think only attacking or casting a spell counts here), each subsequent use after the first adds 1 level of Disadvantage.

@Vilde: So to cast a second spell, you'll roll 1 additional die (in this case a d6), and then discard the highest result.

@All: We're learning as we go here. :) I'll try to give you a heads up on specific rules ahead of time, but a few (like this one) may sneak past me - sorry!

Kessa's first shot drills one of the Gerblings right between the eyes, flinging it backwards, feet flying up in the air before lying still. Her second shot, however, clips the edge of one of the support posts and veers wide of the mark.

Caldra is the last hero up! You can always pass if you want to hold position and be ready to Interpose. Just remember Reactions deduct from your action total of 3 on your subsequent turn!

GM Note: Gerblings are Minions so they use the Minions rules. They only have 1 HP, so easy to dispatch, but they attack in groups, adding all of their dice that hit (that aren't 1's) together for damage. They can be pretty dangerous in groups, beware! O.O

The Gerblings snarl, their eyes glowing ember red, bare their too many sharp pointy teeth and charge!The bulk of them hone in on Kessa, the one who delivered the last killing blow to one of the swarm, while the remaining two target Caldra and Thorne. They cross the open space in a chaotic boil, making you think of stories of packs of carnivorous fish that infest the rivers of the tropics.

Four hone in on Kessa - one lunges for her leg, hoping to wrap its wiry limbs around it and sink its fangs into the flesh of her thigh. Two others leap and slash at her like mad acrobats, while the fourth takes a flying leap at her face, teeth bared and dagger poised to stab. The fifth tries to dive under Caldra's guard and slash at her hamstrings, while the final Gerbling lunges at the hunter, feinting and juking spasmodically before slashing wildly across his midriff.

GM Note: This is where Heroic Reactions come in. You can spend one of your next turn's 3 actions to Defend, which will let you reduce the damage by your armor score. You can also spend an action to Interpose, essentially stepping in to take the damage that one of your compatriots would otherwise take. The catch is that you can only perform each *type* of Heroic Reaction once per turn. So if, for example, Caldra were to Interpose to shield Kessa from the swarm attack, she could only defend with her armor once - either against the Gerbling that attacked her specifically, or against the swarm that initially targeted Kessa.

Now that you have a better sense of how combat plays out, you can see where the Assess/Anticipate Danger action could come in handy. That one reduces all primary attack dice used against you by 1. In Kessa's case, that would have reduced the number of hits by 4, and caused any rolls of 2 to miss. When you're up against tougher opponents, the Assess/Create Opening can help you or an ally boost not only their damage but also the chance to crit!

Seeing Kessa in danger Caldra moves to interpose on her behalf and defend against the swarm damage.

It is, but great use of Interpose and Defend! You saved Kessa from going down and taking a wound she likely wouldnt have healed from til after the adventure - that's what being Oathsworn is all about! Add a Hero Coin to your inventory. You can cash it in at any time for a free reroll for yourself or one of your companions. :)

Seeing her companion in mortal danger, Caldra quickly widens her stance and steps in front of Kessa. With her trusty buckler, she swats the Gerbling flying at Kessa's face out of the air and sends it sprawling to the ground. At the same time, catching the one leaping for her companion's leg square in the chest with a mailed boot, stopping it dead in its tracks. The remaining three, however, unleash their fury on the Oathsworn's exposed flank, striking her for 12 points of damage.

@Thorne: Do you want to burn one of your next turn's actions to Defend? If so, tell me how you avoid the attack and your armor will soak all 5 points of damage.

Heroes, it's your turn! Caldra will have 1 action remaining after saving our Cheat's bacon. Thorne will have 2 actions if he chooses to defend, and Kessa and Vilde will have all 3 actions.

The Scene: Our heroes and the six Gerblings are on the front porch of the tavern. Four of the baddies are clustered around Caldra; another one is hopping up and down, hissing and growling at Thorne; and the last one (the one that faceplanted into Caldra's shield) has rolled to his feet a few paces away spitting out teeth and not yet engaged with anyone.

Kessa drops her sling and draws her dagger. A quick stab dispatches one of Caldra's attackers. Then Kessa does her best to stay put of the way of the remaining gerblins.

Thorne waited until the last possible heartbeat, watching the creature’s center, not its hands. Then he shifted his weight and pivoted aside, the blade slashing through. He stepped back, planted a boot for balance, and brought his bow up in one clean motion. The draw was silent, practiced.

"I see you," he muttered, eyes narrowing as he leveled the arrow.The creature spun toward him, teeth bared, red eyes gleaming. Thorne exhaled slowly, steadying his hand. The room around him—the chaos, the screams, even Kessa’s curses, if any—fell away.

He released.

The arrow sang through the air, straight and true, aimed squarely for the Gerbling that had dared to slash at him.