Docks, after hours.

[Kelz]

Avarice arrives at the docks at the appointed time to speak with Polliver. Jacinth stands watch on top of a nearby building, within range of Avarice. He moves to cover Avarice should Avarice need to go somewhere else. Zokiin is 15 ft. behind Avarice, in the shadows, holding a backpack with the statues. Once Avarice signals her, she will deliver them. If trouble starts, she'll backstab the biggest threat first, then get to safety with the statues. Merrick and Merrith both enter the opposite side of the docks from Avarice. They are held in reserve, but should trouble occur they'll rush to the aid of the others. Avarice searches out Polliver and any others he may have brought using his infravision as he scans the docks. At the moment his demeanor is as unthreatening as it can be, and he holds neither his longsword or his warhammer, though both are within easy reach. His plan is to blind anyone who may attack him with darkness should Jacinth fail to kill them first. He will not personally draw his weapon unless it becomes necessary.

[Danny]

The full moon grants a high degree of illumination this night, revealing Polliver standing with four other men. They all wear leathers, many of them bloodstained. You see a plethora of weapons. All the men seem to have bows and crossbows in addition to daggers and short swords.

Polliver leans against a post with a lantern hanging from it, looking impatient. He notices Avarice and smiles broadly, showing off his unusually white teeth.

"Good eve, Avarice," he calls out, "Did you bring the goods?"

[Kelz]

Avarice motions to Zokiin to stay in the shadows.

"Well, Polliver.. it seems you've brought more than a large amount of gold, which I assure you is what you'll need to acquire the statues that I spoke of. Who are your friends, and why are they here? I assumed that this was a business arrangement, not a skirmish. Have them drop their weapons and step away, and we'll commence with speaking about the terms of this sale. As you can see, I've no magic items on me or the like to suprise you with, so let's be reasonable here."

Avarice lifts his cloak out to the sides, revealing himself to the group. He turns one full circuit to show that he's not caring wands or anything. In the process of turning, he signals Zokiin to approach the rear of the group, and for Jacinth to take aim at Polliver, who he assumes is the leader of the group. The second shot Jacinth takes will be a flaming arrow, to signal Merrick and Merrith that there's trouble.

[Danny]

(OOC: Is it Zokiin or Lokiin?)

Polliver gestures to the men, "These are my friends from the Lodge. They were also interested in seeing the idols, so I invited them along." The men all chuckle to each other, "You amuse me, devil, and as much as I'd love to see how many days you could survive a Hunt, I'm feeling charitable. I'll give you fifty gold pieces to hand over the statues and leave here alive. It's your call."

[Kelz]

Avarice shakes his head and laughs to himself

"You see, that's not what I was hoping for, honestly... I was thinking more like 75 GP... a piece. I'd hate to feel like you weren't being forthcoming about the value of these statues... but by the children you've brought with you, I can see that you've more than a passing interest in these... which means, to me at least, that they're far more valuable than I thought. So, let's go 100 GP a piece, or I'll continue looking for interested parties."

((OOC - It's Lokiin, my bad. So many names! Also, Since this appears to be going south, can I get an update on whether or not Lokiin has managed to get behind them undetected, and how that would work in regards to a suprise round attack? Shouldn't Jacinth get one as well? I'm new, sorry lol))

[Danny]

Lokiin sneaks to a position behind the men, unobserved as far as Avarice can tell. (She can do a sneak attack, since she'll have surprise) Jacinth has his bow trained on Polliver, nocked with a normal arrow. They wait for a signal or attack.

Polliver grins, ferally this time, "Three hundred gold coins? It'd be cheaper to kill you. The hunt is on." The men accompanying him go for their weapons, intending to draw them forth.

[Kelz]

Avarice signals for Jacinth to fire, and for Lokiin to backstab whichever of the henchmen goes for a ranged weapon of some sort. After those attacks, he casts darkness on his warhammer and moves forward to waylay whomever he comes into range of first. Jacinth will fire flaming arrows at Polliver if possible, and if not then he'll fire at the henchmen. Lokiin will retreat out of range after the backstab and look for targets which she can backstab again. The flaming arrow notifies Merrick and Merrith that there's trouble and they will engage the closest target when they arrive.

[Danny]

Readied surprise attacks
Two men go for shortbows, the other two for shortswords.
Lokiin stabs a shortbowman with her sword... [dice=20]
Jacinth shoots at Polliver with his bow... [dice=20]

1st Round
Initiative - Avarice + BHG: [dice=6] Hunters [dice=6]

Declared Actions
Avarice casts darkness on his warhammer.
Lokiin withdraws from the melee combatants and draws a dagger.
Jacinth lights an arrow wrapped in straw with a torch.
Polliver drinks a potion.
Hunter1 shoots at Jacinth
Hunter2 shoots at Jacinth
Hunter3 swings his sword at Avarice
Hunter4 swings his sword at Avarice[rand=048536456172378457802224858557575232319669231080606433189090752034]

[Danny]

Readied surprise attacks(results)
Lokiin misses her backstab attempt, the opponent's armor repelled the blade.
Jacinth misses Polliver with his shot, Polliver deftly stepped out of the way.

First round(results)
Avarice's warhammer is surrounded by a 15' radius of darkness
Lokiin now has a sword in one hand and a dagger in the other.
Polliver's movements appear twice as fast.

((Things I forgot to roll for))
Hunter1 shoots at Jacinth [dice=20] (-4 for darkness) -missed
Hunter2 shoots at Jacinth [dice=20] (-4 for darkness) -missed
Hunter3 swings his sword at Avarice [dice=20] (-4 for darkness) -missed
Hunter4 swings his sword at Avarice [dice=20] (-4 for darkness) -missed[rand=5222667180680627947357644170868780870493751192688608329282989314]

[Kelz]

((OOC: OMG, WTF EVERYONE MISSED LOL.. Ok, so here's what I want to do, let me know if I can/can't)

Avarice waylay Polliver

Lokiin backstab shortbow wielding henchman

Jacinth flaming arrow shoot other shortbow henchman

Merrick and Merrith run very fast.

Avarice, cloaked in darkness, swings his warhammer at Polliver's head, meaning to take the leader of this rabble out of the fight before he can benefit from whatever it is that he just drank. As everyone is involved in shooting or stabbing other members, Lokiin slips in behind the ranged combatants and backstabs him with her Rapier. Jacinth, seeing that he missed his first shot and identifying the ranged combatants as his only threats right now takes aim with the flaming arrow and fires at the second ranged combatant, signalling the reinforcements in the alley.((OOC: is there a d30 in play here for re-rolls?))

[Danny]

2nd Round
Initiative - Avarice + BHG: [dice=6] Hunters [dice=6]

Declared Actions
Avarice waylays Polliver. [dice=20] [dice=8]
Lokiin backstabs one of the shortbow guys. [dice=20] [dice=6]
Jacinth shoots the now-flaming arrow at the other shortbow guy. [dice=20] [dice=8]
Polliver whips his bow out and dashes backwards, firing at Avarice twice. [dice=20] [dice=20] [dice=8] [dice=8]
Hunter1 runs out of the darkness area and shoots at Jacinth [dice=20] [dice=6]
Hunter2 runs out of the darkness area and shoots at Jacinth [dice=20] [dice=6]
Hunter3 swings his sword at Avarice [dice=20] [dice=6]
Hunter4 swings his sword at Avarice [dice=20] [dice=6][rand=8885520104396982112897341146619861585142561324145499491558860194]

[Danny]

((I'm willing to allow a d30 for you because of how this's going, but normally it isn't allowed on the forum stuff))

Initiative tie goes to the PCs, so Avarice's party goes first!

Polliver gets hit for 7 points of damage and can't be knocked out because he's not surprised. He dashes 80 feet away and is now 65 feet from the darkness's edge. He proceeds to fire two arrows at Avarice, both at a -4 from the darkness. One misses and the other hits Avarice for 10 points of damage. It goes straight through Avarice and comes out the other side, clearly better than an average arrow.

Lokiin successfully backstabbed the shortbow guy for 4 points of damage.

Jacinth's bow-string snapped. Uh oh...

Both shortbow guys clear the darkness area and successfully hit Jacinth for a total of 8 damage, dropping him to -5. He will die in 5 rounds if not treated.

Both shortsword guys miss Avarice.

Merrick and Merrith see the signal and begin running at full speed towards the fray.
[rand=9912903077234408566436929652693737786830866229780873782431839]

[Kelz]

((OOC: So I have a few questions for you.

1. Wouldn't Polliver be suprised, seeing as he can't see me or the hammer until it hits him? I thought that was the idea of waylaying someone. That's why I asked if I could do what I planned prior to typing it out. My thought process is that when the lights went out, Avarice didn't have a warhammer in his hand, so the attack(s) should be unexpected. That's sort of my whole strategy here. I need to know about that before we go further.

2. d30?!?

3. Jacinth's AC is 16, right? How'd the second guy hit him? I mean, he's dead either way, but I'd like to know what happened there for reference, please.

I'm thinking of Backstab and Waylay as combat advantage based mechanics, meaning if enemy x is attacking someone else, than they don't see me... is that wrong? If so, that changes a few things. Let me know.))

If waylay is good, Avarice hits Polliver again while he's down.
If waylay is bad, Avarice charges Polliver attacking him with his warhammer.

If backstab is good, Lokiin backstabs Polliver if needed, else she backstabs the wounded shortbowman.
If backstab is bad, she attacks the wounded shortbowman with her rapier.

Jacinth moans.

Merrick attacks Polliver if necessary, else charges the shortswordsmen.

Merrith attacks Polliver if necessary, else charges the shortswordsmen with Merrick.

if d30 is good, waylay is good than re-roll Jacinth's attack on the shortbowman.
If d30 is good, waylay is bad then reroll damage on Polliver.
If d30 is bad, fml!!

#FingersCrossed

[Danny]

Surprise is a bit strict, and sometimes I loosen it up a bit. Basically, the way it works, you either have it or you don't at the beginning of combat. You can ensure it happens by sneaking up on enemies, so Lokiin had surprise. Since she missed against a target facing the opposite direction, I determined that he was too focused on Jacinth to notice and decided to let her have another shot at the backstab even though the surprise round was over. Generally speaking, once battle has been engaged, you can't get surprise anymore, because it's a special "surprise round" at the beginning of combat. (See: B23)

I'm willing to allow a d30 for you because of how this's going, but normally it isn't allowed on the forum stuff, so here's your new damage on Polliver: [dice=30]

Lokiin will not get another backstab chance since she's now penetrated the guy and he's VERY aware of her. She decides to ignore your command and withdraws towards the river, throwing a dagger at the wounded bowman.

Merrick and Merrith both rush Polliver with you in an attempt to focus fire on him.

EDIT: Jacinth got hit by 14+2 and 17+2 and his AC is 16[rand=8105884976198457485921863213967797849311392817210007127749245813275]

[Danny]

2nd Round
Initiative - Avarice + BHG: [dice=6] Hunters: [dice=6]

Declared Actions
Avarice charges Polliver with his warhammer [dice=20] [dice=8]
Lokiin withdraws towards the river and throws a dagger [dice=4]
Jacinth bleeds to -6
Merrith swings his battleaxe at Polliver [dice=20] [dice=6]
Merrick swings his mace at Polliver [dice=20] [dice=6]

Polliver retreats from the darkness, firing at Avarice once and Merrith once. [dice=20] (-4 from darkness) [dice=8] [dice=20] [dice=8]
Hunter1 shoots at Merrick [dice=20] [dice=6]
Hunter2 shoots at Lokiin [dice=20] [dice=6]
Hunter3 swings his sword at Avarice [dice=20] [dice=6] (-4 from darkness)
Hunter4 swings his sword at Avarice [dice=20] [dice=6] (-4 from darkness)
[rand=0282207551358547585550060053388254305644815263911961550010898869908]