Chapter 4.2: The Dim Journey to Orlane

Round one, continued...

Seeing the approach of the ambushers, Sora leaps out of the wagon with a clatter and rushes into the woods, crashing through the underbrush to come around the broken tree stump to attack Hider Two with kicks and punches.
Hider Two takes 10 bludgeoning damage!



Seeing his servant struck down in the attack, Berthold yells, "Reynald, get Olyena in the carriage!"
As Guilbert climbs up onto the buckboard and takes the reins, young Reynald looks back and forth between Guilbert and Olyena. Deciding which order to obey, Reynald tosses the shield into the back of the wagon and gets his arms under Olyena's bleeding form and then tries to stand up. He manages to do so with a huge grunt of effort; the full-grown woman weighs a bit more than he does. Then he tries to figure out how to get her up and over the lip into the bed of the wagon when he can't throw her in (even if he was able to throw more than his own body weight over his head, he wouldn't want to treat her so carelessly). Eventually he flops her body over the side and walks his hands down her body, pressing her weight up to lever her over the side and rolling her as gently as he can into the wagon; it's not too much of a drop.
For her part, Olyena tries to cling to life, but the damage to her organs makes it difficult.
Olyena fails her first death save.

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14 - Antonius (10/10)
14 - Berthold (11/11)
14 - Kazzak (12/12)
11 - Dell 9/9
7 - Amnestria (4/9)
5 - Hider 1, Hider 2 (-10), Hider 3 (dead), Hider 4
3 - Sora (12/12)
0 - Noncombatant servants: Guilbert, Olyena (dying, one failure), Reynald

Round Two
(this is preceded by round one, followed by round three)

Amid the sudden chaos, Antonius shut out the cries—the wounded ox, the clash of steel, the cry of anguish as Olyena fell. His focus narrowed to the man rushing him through the trees. With practiced ease, he turned his body to avoid the attack and the blade whistled harmlessly past. The amulet of Wee Jas pulsed a crimson glow on his black-clad chest as Antonius stepped forward, his warhammer Final Measure coming up in a tight, controlled arc. There was no flourish, no wasted motion—only the calm, deliberate strike of a man who had faced violence before and met it without hesitation. Already pummeled, his opponent is surprised at a hammer attack coming up from below and is unable to deflect the deadly blow.
Hider Two takes 4 bludgeoning damage and falls dead, his ribs crushed!
Another soul joins the goddess in the Patterned Web today.



Taking no time to ponder the fact his initial quarry had just been consumed in flames, Berthold the knight turned to look for another target. Immediately he sees Amnestria sway, a shaft protruding from her back. ::Where? There!:: Berthold spies the traitorous bastard who had attacked the party from the rear, and runs full speed toward the foe, brandishing his long blade two-handed.

Seeing the closest assailant go down, Kazzak leaps down from the wagon and races toward the attacker behind them (Hider Four), just a bit ahead of Berthold.

Dell sees his intended target go down in a flurry of blows, then also notices Amnestria's grunt of pain. Looking behind him, he sees another figure leaning out from behind a tree trunk. Dell nocks an arrow, draws, inhales, aims, exhales and releases the string. There is very little of the target showing from behind the tree, but still the rogue's aim is true. As he sees his arrow hit home, Dell says a little thanks to his brother who always hammered home the routine, forcing him to practice it so much that it works as one fluid motion instead of multiple steps.
Hider Four takes 6 piercing damage!




Amnestria tenses, ready to either Dodge any further incoming shafts or cast a protective Shield between herself and such missiles.

Hider One, seeing the dark cleric strike down his companion, looses a shaft at Antonius, but it is lost in the foliage and the Jasidin doesn't even realize he's been attacked.

Hider Four, reeling from the arrow in his side but seeing the murderous approach of the two warriors, backpedals while cocking his crossbow. He looses it at one of them: the larger target, Berthold.
The bolt punches through the meat of Berthold's left arm.
Berthold takes 2 piercing damage!



Also unaware of the terrible crossbow attack, Sora looks about for her next opponent, her eyes settling on Hider One. She moves 20 feet in his direction through the underbrush of the forest.



Guilbert begins driving the oxen again, and the wagon lurches into motion again.
Olyena gasps shallow breaths. Her life is bleeding out onto the packs; she has two failures.
Reynald trots alongside the wagon and hauls himself up and over the side to join Amnestria and Olyena in the bed.

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14 - Antonius (10/10)
14 - Berthold (9/11)
14 - Kazzak (12/12)
11 - Dell 9/9
7 - Amnestria (4/9)
5 - Hider 1, Hider 2 (dead), Hider 3 (dead), Hider 4 (-6)
3 - Sora (12/12)
0 - Noncombatant servants: Guilbert, Olyena (dying, two failures), Reynald

Round two, continued...

Amnestria tenses, ready to either Dodge any further incoming shafts or cast a protective Shield between herself and such missiles.

Hider One, seeing the dark cleric strike down his companion, looses a shaft at Antonius, but it is lost in the foliage and the Jasidin doesn't even realize he's been attacked.

Hider Four, reeling from the arrow in his side but seeing the murderous approach of the two warriors, backpedals while cocking his crossbow. He looses it at one of them: the larger target, Berthold.
The bolt punches through the meat of Berthold's left arm.
Berthold takes 2 piercing damage!



Also unaware of the terrible crossbow attack, Sora looks about for her next opponent, her eyes settling on Hider One. She moves 20 feet in his direction through the underbrush of the forest.



Guilbert begins driving the oxen again, and the wagon lurches into motion again.
Olyena gasps shallow breaths. Her life is bleeding out onto the packs; she has two failures.
Reynald trots alongside the wagon and hauls himself up and over the side to join Amnestria and Olyena in the bed.

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14 - Antonius (10/10)
14 - Berthold (9/11)
14 - Kazzak (12/12)
11 - Dell 9/9
7 - Amnestria (4/9)
5 - Hider 1, Hider 2 (dead), Hider 3 (dead), Hider 4 (-6)
3 - Sora (12/12)
0 - Noncombatant servants: Guilbert, Olyena (dying, two failures), Reynald

@spaceseeker19

Round Three
(this is preceded by round two, followed by round four)

As the wagon rolls past, Antonius grabs onto the railing, hops, skips, and leaps up onto the tail gate. Stepping into the bed of the wagon, he sits on some of the piled gear that isn't quite so blood-spattered and glances at the bleeding wizard contorted in pain from the crossbow bolt sticking out of her back. His assessment is instantaneous: she is badly hurt, but not dying yet. "You will be alright, Amnestria. Apply pressure to the wound—firmly. Do not remove the bolt if it remains seated; if it has passed through, bind the shoulder tight." This nonsense is helpful, as it forces her to focus her thoughts not on the panic or the pain but on how she could possibly tend to the wound in such a way herself. Are some people flexible enough to reach their own back like that? Or is there a sort of device she could craft that would enable a person to pull a weapon out of a place they can't reach? Antonius sees that his words have their intended effect, and he encouragingly adds "Slow your breathing. I will attend you once Olyena is secured." Turning to the dying servant, the Jasidin pulls the quarrel from her chest and tosses it aside. Then he puts his hand on the wound, blood spurting between his fingers. Necrotic energy from the goddess flows through him as Her conduit, the symbol on his chest glows redly, and the mortal wound closes. Though still covered in gore, Olyena is now Stable.

Berthold continues charging across the Road toward the sneaky, cowardly assailant who attacked Amnestria from behind, Hider Four, catching up to the blackguard before he can get away. Off to his left, Kazzak is doing the same, circling around through the trees to come up on Hider Four's other side and being careful to not stay in the path of Dell's arrows.

Hider Four has not had the chance to take cover again, in part because of the two furious warriors charging him, but also because of the bird that is flapping in his face, blocking his vision. Amenstria's avian companion Grallaria is furious at the attack on her mistress and is making this bandit know it. So it is that when Dell looses another arrow, Hider Four doesn't see it coming and can't dodge it.
Hider Four takes 7 piercing damage as the shaft lodges in his gut.


Berthold and Kazzak are adjacent to Hider Four. Dell is 70' away from him.

She's still musing about self-care for back wounds, but as the wagon lurches forward, Amnestria instinctively looks ahead to where they are going and sees the hostile man crouched behind the trees. Gasping with pain and anger, she quickly chants the syllables to wreathe her hand in flames, which she then hurls past Antonius and Guilbert, over the oxen, and into the trees toward Hider One. Hider One is too protected by his three-quarters cover, though, and the tree's bark is scorched instead of the bandit.

Hider One doesn't notice this; his focus is on the crashing, cracking noise of the underbrush as the monk is bearing down on him. He loads his crossbow with shaking fingers, cocks it, and looses the quarrel in Sora's direction. It's lost in the foliage.
Trying to ignore the bird in his face, Hider Four drops his crossbow and attacks Kazzak with his scimitar, figuring that the shorter dwarf might be easier to fight past than the glowing knight with the enormous sword. This is an error, of course: Kazzak still has his shield, which handily blocks the bandit's clumsy slashes.

Sora closes the remaining distance and punches Hider One hard in the face.
Hider One takes 6 bludgeoning damage!

Guilbert drives the oxen forward and the wagon continues along Cecily's Road, with Reynald holding Berthold's shield protectively in front of the driver. Guilbert growls a bit at not being able to see, but he's grateful for the cover and that Antonius seems to have stopped Olyena's screams. Olyena rests peacefully, splayed across the packs.


Sora is adjacent, Antonius is 30' away, and Amnestria is 35' away from Hider 1.

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14 - Antonius (10/10)
14 - Berthold (9/11)
14 - Kazzak (12/12)
11 - Dell 9/9
7 - Amnestria (4/9)
5 - Hider 1 (-6), Hider 2 (dead), Hider 3 (dead), Hider 4 (-13)
3 - Sora (12/12)
0 - Noncombatant servants: Guilbert, Olyena (stable), Reynald