Ch.2 Goblins, why did it have to be Goblins?

Bugbear #1 makes a beeline straight for Vilde, sidestepping and sweeping around her to take a swing at the mage with its heavy spiked club.

Bugbear #2, still slightly shaking from the mage's lightning arc, staggers forward and brings its weapon crashing down upon Caldra as Gerbling #2, the one that still has raw egg on his chin, slashes at her with a rudimentary hatchet, trying to get under her guard.

Goblin #1, spins, angry and humiliated, baring his teeth and flying at Naut with unbridled rage as Gerbling #1 runs cackling and giggling down the lane and attempts to jump on the Zephyr and bite him in the neck.

Meanwhile Goblin #2 attacks Kessa from the flank, hoping to overwhelm her quick reflexes with sheer feroctiy.

Gerbling #3 bounds around the corner of the chandler's shop and throws himself at Thorne, Biting at his kneecap while stabbing at his thigh with a small and very rusty dagger.

Finally, the Goblin leader, having suffered some major damage at the hands of the diminutive mage, falls back and leans against a building to steady himself as he glugs down something from a waterskin.

Caldra shifts to block Defend 10-8=2the attack and staggers then retaliates, striking at the bugbear before unleashing another Rebuke [color="blue"]Bugbear 2 if still standing, else bugbear 1[/color

Thorne defends, marks the Bugbear #2 as his quarry and slashes with his sword.

Caldra takes a mighty swing at the nearest Bugbear but it intercepts her blow with its massive club, sending a painful reverberating shock through her weapon arm that goes all the way to her shoulder. Even as her body struggles to process the shock of that impact, her mind remains clear and focused, and she channels radiant energy through her offhand, leaving a glowing mark of Rebuke on the Bugbear's furry chest.

It lets out a howl of rage which is cut short almost instantly as Thorne turns his attention to it from the kneebiting Gerbling, his blade striking home under the beasts' guard and nearly bringing it to its knees.

@Psybermagi: I think you can crit on your Rebuke. It kinda seems like a Cantrip shouldn't, but I don't see anything to the contrary (unless you do). AFAIK, unless specifically stated otherwise, any attack (whether with a weapon or spellcasting can crit), so let's see if you can put him out of his misery!

@ctme2000: Great questions! The action sequence can be a little confusing at first, especially in PbP since it doesn't have the flow of in person.

To answer your Question 2: In combat, turns always go Heroes first, then monsters. Aside from the first turn, where heroes roll initiative to determine the number of actions they get, heroes always get three actions for their turn. Once their turn is over and it becomes the monsters turn, their 3 actions reset, and can be used out of turn for Heroic Reactions, like Defend, Interpose, Opportunity Attack or Help. Actions spent during the monsters' turn are counted against the hero's total the *next* time they get to act. So if you defend against an attack on the monsters turn, you start your turn with only 2 actions remaining instead of 3. (Something to keep in mind with Heroic Reactions, is you can only do one of each type per turn.)

Since were in PbP, we're calling out Heroic Reactions after the monsters' combined turn. In person, players would react to the attacks as they happen in real time during the monsters' turn. And when those are all resolved, we'd start the next heroes' turn. Here, it seems to work to call out Reactions first on your hero's turn (so you know how many actions are remaining), and then follow that up with what you're doing this turn. Hopefully that makes sense....

Question 1: Once you use Anticipate Danger, it stays in effect until your hero takes an action on their next turn. Its predictive defense, rather than reactive (like Defend).

Question 1a: Yes, the first die in the chain is the Primary die - if that one (and only that one) comes up 1, the attack is a miss and has no effect.

Hopefully that helps! I'm not always the best at explaining things, so if any of that was unclear or vague or unintelligible, feel free to ask for more clarification! Those were great questions :)

Monk move his simple staff in whirling motion ending it with a blow, a kick and another hit.

Vilde focuses on the bugbear in front of her, trying to anticipate the spear's direction to sidestep it. She's too slow however and it punctures through her robe, the sky blue fabric turning a dark crimson. Dropping to a knee, she lets loose with another electrical zap, but is too shocked to hold the elemental weave together and the electricity instead flows through her, the smell of burnt hair suddenly in the air. With a guttural yelp, Vilde falls to the floor.

The radiant energy of Caldra's Rebuke reverbverates through the Bugbear's body, and after a moment of twitching and inarticulate yowling, it falls back and collapses to the ground in a heap.

At the same time, Naut unleashes a flurry of blows with staff, fist and foot, overwhelming his Goblin foe and sending him to meet his maker.

@ctme2000: As an action, Assess - Anticipate Danger would have gone into effect during your turn and then be active for the *next* monster turn. It wouldn't protect against the previous attacks. But Heroic Reactions, e.g., Defend, would. In this case, if Vilde defends the damage from the Bugbear's attack would be reduced by her Armor of 2 to 8, leaving her at 12/14HP. Unfortunately the miscast burned those last 2 HP. :(

Vilde whirls and dodges, mitigating the Bugbear's blow a little, but the effort disrupts her concentration and the spell she was preparing misfires, discharging the electricity through her feet into the ground. She falls as the world swims around her. (However, you do gain the Charged condition for the next 10 turns/1 minute, so if one of your companions can get you back on your feet you'll have access to Overload - although it's an AOE so if any friends are in the Reach 2 blast radius, they'll be affected as well. Just sayin'!)

Slightly restored, the Goblin leader calls out, "Come on you gits, get in the fray or we'll be having Gerbling for dinner tonight!" In response, another of the pesky critters pops out from behind the nearest building and charges Thorne.

The Goblin leader quickly draws his short bow and fires a black fletched arrow at Naut while the Gerbling hops and jumps and thrashes at him with manic intensity.

Having felled the mage, Bugbear #1 steps over her prone form and swings at Caldra from the rear, while Goblin #2 tries to keep Kessa tied up with a series of vicious thrusts and slashes with his shortsword.

On the right flank, the three Gerblings move as a pack and swarm Thorne, biting and slashing; #2 leaping at his face, #3 at his legs, and #4 attempting to clamp his myriad pointy little teeth down on Throne's sword arm.

Thorne feels empowered after his quarry (Bugbear 2) dies.Then, he defends against the swarm and slashes back —hitting 4 and missing 3."Somebody kill the leader, otherwise we will be overwhelmed by this Gerbling horde." He says.

@htech: Thorne, take a Hero Coin for Tactical Awareness! GJ!

Taking inspiration from defeating the first Gerbling and determination from the realization that the swarm wont stop until the boss is dispatched, Thorne turns a deflected blow into a reverse strike that flings the Gerbling that had attached itself to his leg into the air, and then follows that up with a downward slash that neatly bisects the fiend Fruit Ninja style.

Caldra deflects the bugbear attack but grunts as the shock runs through her shield and into her. defend 14-8=6 before retaliating with her mace, still empowered by her radiant judgement, and sending a wave of healing energy into Vilde

Naut partially parry Gerbling attack and rush toward goblin boss attacking him with both ends of his long stuff.