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Situation: Holed up in the Millfort, the company plans to deal a wicked sting to the Spiders of Mirkwood!

Attercops (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/spiders.jpg)
Hunters (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/spider_hunter.jpg)
Tauler (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/tauler03.jpg)

Combat Advantage dice:
• Esgalwen 0 / 2
• Rorin 2 / 2


Situation Modifiers:
• The Company has initiative
• The hatch is covered with webs - TN 10 to hit and 20 END to clear
• Front door is at 39/60
• Back door is at 45/60

Physical Modifiers (complications):
The Millfort is impregnable save for five locations.

A) Each door has been successfully repaired and has 60 END points each (FRONT 60/60; BACK 55/60). No spiders can get in them until they reduce the doors to 0 END and then roll a Piercing attack that overcomes a 3d armor rating.

B) Each window is a vantage point that allows an attack out (and in). Ranged weapons may be fired out and the defending archer gains the Rearward DEFENSE, but may use the Open ATTACK TN. Overwhelming numbers of enemies do not affect ranged combat while the defenses hold. Melee weapons may be used to attack out (and in) but the defenders gain the Defensive DEFENSE TN rating, but may use the Forward ATTACK TN. Attackers from the outside may return a melee attack through a window, but may NOT enter the fort.

C) The hatch has been successfully repaired and has 40 END points. No spiders can get through it until they reduce the hatch to 0 END and then roll a Piercing attack that overcomes a 2d armor rating.

D) The floor has been successfully repaired and has 20 END points. No spiders can get through it until they reduce the floor to 0 END and then roll a Piercing attack that overcomes a 1d armor rating.

E) The stone roof of the fort is compromised - there is a large hole here. The second floor offers little defense and any PC that decides to fight on the second floor will not be eligible for vantage defenses once spiders come through the hole in the roof. Ranged combat WILL be affected by overwhelming numbers, if the archer positions themselves here, instead of on the first floor.

IF the first floor defenses are compromised, vantage benefits are lost as the spiders enter the room. There will be NO opening volleys, as the things coming in the night are invisible in the trees.

PC/NPC	PARRY	ARMOUR	HOPE	ENDURANCE
Arbogast Bandy Esgalwen Grimbeorn Rorin Bofri	6 (shield +3) 9 (shield n/a) 6/9 [skirmisher] (shield n/a) 6/9 [giant strength] (shield +4) 4 (shield n/a) 4 (shield +2)	2d (headgear +1) 1d (headgear n/a) 1d (headgear n/a) none (headgear +1) 5d (headgear n/a) 3d (headgear n/a)	12/16 16/18 10/12 10/12 7/10 n/a	14/26 22/22 27/27 31/31 28/34 9/21 [Weary]

COMBAT STATUS by PC

PC	ENEMY	PARRY	ARMOUR	END	HATE	NOTES
Bandy	Attercop 1 Attercop 12 Attercop 14	4 4 4	2d 2d 2d	DEAD DEAD DEAD	2/2 2/2 2/2	• firing arrows through 1st floor vantage, spider must attack with Rearward stance
Esgalwen	Attercop 2 Attecop 13 Attercop 15	4 4 4	2d 2d 2d	DEAD DEAD 5/12	2/2 2/2 2/2	• firing arrows through 1st floor vantage, spider must attack with Rearward stance
Arbogast	Attercop 3 Attercop 6 Hunter 1 Attercop 16	4 4 6 4	2d 2d 3d 2d	DEAD DEAD 18/25 8/12	2/2 2/2 3/3 2/2	• in melee on second floor with two spiders coming through roof, spiders match PC stance
Rorin	Attercop 4 Attercop 8 Attercop 9 Hunter 2 Hunter 5 Hunter 6	4 4 4 6 6 6	2d 2d 2d 3d 3d 3d	DEAD DEAD DEAD DEAD 25/25 25/25	2/2 2/2 2/2 3/3 3/3 3/3	• in melee on second floor with spiders coming through roof, spiders match PC stance
Bofri	Attercop 5 Attercop 11 Hunter 3 Hunter 4	4 4 6 6	2d 2d 3d 3d	DEAD DEAD 25/25 25/25	2/2 2/2 3/3 3/3	• in melee on second floor with spiders coming through roof, spiders match PC stance
Grimbeorn	Attercop 7 Attercop 10	4 4	2d 2d	5/12 DEAD	2/2 2/2	• in melee on second floor with spiders coming through roof, spiders match PC stance

STANCE	TN (+parry)	PC / LMC	Options...
Forward - action order 1 Close combat	TN 6+	none	Forward Stance maneuvers (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/forward.jpg)
Open - action order 2 Close combat	TN 9+	Grimbeorn, Rorin, Arbogast	Open Stance maneuvers (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/open.jpg)
Defensive - action order 3 Close combat	TN 12+	Bofri	Defensive Stance maneuvers (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/defense.jpg)
Rearward - action order 4 Ranged combat Must be 2 other PC's in Close Combat May not use if outnumbered 2:1	TN 12+	Bandy, Esgalwen	Rearward Stance maneuvers (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/52987685/rear.jpg)
Any Escape combat Must start in Rearward or roll TN 10 + highest attribute level of opponents		none	May safely flee from the scene of combat

Ooc: front door should be at 21 right?

All around Arbogast sounds the clangor of battle - the grunts and cries of Men and Dwarves, and the inhuman hisses and screams of wounded and dying spiders.  The Fire-watcher hears also the wild drum-beat of his own heart, yet still strong, but racing.  The strength of his arm will not last forever, and though he had, he thought, a reckoning of the spiders' numbers, they now seem without end.  The battle has become like a fever dream - ceaseless and strangely repetitive. 

Then, as if bidden by his half-formed thought, the fort begins to quake.  Mold, stones and yet more spiders are shaken from the shattered roof to the uncertain floor as something vast and terrible begins its ascent.  It has returned, Arbogast manages to think.  The great beast with which we held parley has come to avenge its insult.

There is little time to have wit of the goings-on, but this he knows: Rorin and Bofri fight on, though each is hurt.  Grimbeorn stands behind him, not to be seen without turning his back to their foes, but his cries of frustration do not augur well.  All are touched, to some extent, by pale and viscid strands of web. 

It is enough.  Their stand here has been made.  Now is the time to seek the shelter of their redoubt, and reap the benefits of the labourious hours that have gone before.  With a frantic bellow, he pushes forward a pace, driving the spiders back with shield and weight of Man-flesh.  Then, in the precious half-second before the creatures respond, he hacks desperately at the webs covering their escape route. 



:ooc: Taking a leaf from Grimbeorn's book (though hopefully picking an easier target), Arbogast will shift into Open stance and make a twin strike at the webs. 

Attack 1


Attack 2

:ooc: Well, shit.  I'm beginning to think that the twin strike maneuver is pretty useless unless you've got five or six dice in your main attack skill. 

Can I spend two points of Hope to turn both attacks into hits?

Quote from: Telcontar on Dec 26, 2016, 10:36 PMooc: front door should be at 21 right?

 :ooc: it is, I just changed the damage count to a descending number the way I do all other END round stats. Instead of 21 and counting up, I made it 39 and counting down.

Yeah, twin strike isnt worth gamble, it's like having two first level attacks, and relies too heavily on the Feat die to succeed.

"Enough!" roars Grimbeorn and puts all his effort into one of the creatures.

 :ooc:  :00:

Bandy remembered one of the songs that the comapnions had heard in their travels. He knew that the big folk were invovled in the hard work of war upstairs. The smashing of weapons and the thud of hard objects against wood and soft tissue could be heard. The stout Hobbit stood to his post on the ground floor firing as fast as he could to render what aid he could to his friends. Seeking to let his friends know that they still fought below and to inspire them the tenor of the Hobbit rang out in song.

                 
We sleep no more; the horn blows—hark!         

        To arms! away!       

They come! they come! the knell is rung                     

        Of us or them;         

Wide o'er their march the pomp is flung               

        Of gold and gem.   

What collar'd hound of lawless sway,     

        To famine dear—     

What sinister slave of Mirkwood,           

        Leads in the rear?   

Come they from dark wilds afar,             

        Our blood to spill? 

But, dark and still, we inly glow,

        Condensed in ire!   

Strike, tawdry slaves, and ye shall know               

        Our gloom is fire.   

In vain your pomp, ye evil powers,           

        Insults the land;       

Behind, before, above, below,

        They rouse the brave;         

Where'er they go, they make a foe,       

        Or find a grave.

The bow string of the Hobbit releases another deadly dart at the beats that assaulted the Millfort.

or

 :tup: piercing blow, great success.  (>d  (>d

:ooc: Paul - I can't find anything on how many hope can be spent in a single action (or in this case, double action). Unless you guys know something I don't, i am going to treat it like Star Wars Saga Force Points and say only one point per round. That being said, Esgalwen and Rorin have Bonus success dice from their battle rolls.

Esgalwen will give you her last dice.

I'll have another update shortly.

 :ooc: i want to say I read erratta that said one hope point per roll of the feat die, a feat die being an action, not if you can roll two and pick one. Simce twin strike is specifically two distinct rolls you may. I'll look into it. 

:ooc: Thanks, Esgalwen!  I'll add it to the first roll.

:ooc: And I'll spend the Hope for the second strike.  

Esgalwen watched as Bandy loosed another shot and she smiled when it struck deeply into the underbelly of a spider that covered the window. The thing had been trying to send tendrils of sticky web into the room and it quickly retreated when the missile penetrated its flesh.

Or maybe it perished, she thought. It was then that the Ranger noticed the hatch in the roof - it had become darker and she knew right away what was going on.

"Bandy, hold the creatures whil'st I aid our friends!"

Dropping her bow and drawing forth Nimronyn, Esgalwen raced up the stairs that led to the second floor and the hatch that gave access. She started back when the axe of Arbogast cut at the webbing from the other side, but the Dwarven axe did not break through. Her own sword slashed and the webbing began to yield.

---

:ooc:

Esgalwen attacks the webbing
TN 10 Nimronyn 3d

:dmg: 5   edge: 9   injury: 16

:ooc: Damn! She still did 5 END but I was hoping for something more.

Oh well - results thus far:

• Arbogast does 12 END damage to the webbing over the hatch [8/20];  :csu: for Hope point

• Esgalwen does 5 END damage to the webbing over the hatch [3/20]

• Bandy does 9 END to Attercop 14, plus piercing

• Grimbeorn kills Attercop 10 - I'd roll the piercing test, too, but there is no need.

Attercop 14 protection test
TN 14 armour 2d

:ooc: Attercop 14 dies!

Bofri, feeling the burn from spider poison in his wound, watched as Arbogast's axe tore away the silk that covered their escape. A sword from below suddenly appeared and cut through the webs, but still they did not have access to the lower level. The Dwarf lifted his own axe and swung.

---

Bofri attacks webbing
TN 10 axe 4d

:dmg: 5   edge:  :g:   injury: 18

Esgalwen's face was now visible through the hatch - the webs were cut away!

"Come," she cried, "You must all get below!"

---

:ooc: Bofri's axe delivers 5 END to webbing [0/20]

Rorin looked to his companions and the state they were in and decided it was time. "Come, lads! The way is clear."
:ooc:
Rorin attempts to escape combat and go below...
TN 14 athletics 1d

:ooc: He'll commit his battle dice...

:ooc: With his extraordinary success, I am going to allow him to pull another PC with him. I will make it completely random, so:

1 - Arbogast
2 - Bofri
3 - Grimbeorn

Esgalwen quickly backed down the stairs as Rorin came through the hatch. The Dwarf moved so deftly away from the enemy, he was able to grab Bofri by the arm and pull him along, too. They just needed Grimbeorn and Arbogast to follow!

:ooc: Rorin  :csu: for successful skill use

Alright...spiders attack:

Spider outside attacks the front door (basically leaping and smashing its mass against the doors):
TN 10 2d


Spider outside attacks the back door (basically leaping and smashing its mass against the doors):
TN 10 2d



The Hunter spiders attack the remaining companions, while the two remaining attercops attempt to cast new webbing over the hatch

Attercops 7 and 16 will spray webs over the hatch if successful, it will block the entrance and must be cut away; the web will has 5 END and is cumulative for each web cast
TN 12 ensnare 2d6+3



Hunter 1 and 5 attack Arbogast
TN 18 beak 2d6+4


:dmg: 6   edge:  :~~:   injury: 15

Hunter 3, 4 and 6 attack Grimbeorn
TN 22 beak 2d6+4



:dmg: 6   edge:  :~~:   injury: 15

:ooc: forgot the feat die on the outside spiders...

Front

Back

:ooc: Wow...

• Back door takes 5 more END damage

• Attercops lay down 10 END of web silk over hatch [10/10]

• ALL hunters miss!

The two men dodge and parry away the hunter spiders as they try to stab them with their fangs, but neither is harmed. But even as the companions make their desperate move to get below, Tauler pushes his massive head through the opening in the roof.

The giant spider's mass loosens a few of the stones that make up the tower's roof and they fall to crash into the wood floor below, one even smashes through to the lower level.