Against the Cult: Party at the Mill (1.1)

Thacogygax growls about archers upstairs to the group and prepares to crush them if they take any more hostile action.

The archers he mentioned draw, aim and fire another volley. The targets are now Aanbo, Thacogygax, Sara, the aproned man, Ogbar and Durren, in that order, for target selection. That's two shots at the dwarven monk (he attracted attention with his flashy killing of a man with his bare hands), one shot at Thacogygax, and one shot at Ogbar.

Aanbo swats one of the arrows out of the air, but the other hits him, rocking him back on his heels.
Aanbo takes 7 HP damage.

Thacogygax is hit by an arrow...but once again, a field of scintillating force shatters the arrow before it can penetrate his scaly skin.

The aim of the fourth arrow is off and goes far wide of Ogbar. Thacogygax's eyes spark; he raises his hands palms upwards, as if pressing a box above his head and roars. But instead of sound, everyone is shocked to hear a tremendous clap of thunder. Splinters of wood fall from the ceiling and flour fills the room; despite ringing ears, the party can hear thuds of items collapsing upstairs, toppling to the floor.

Xana, Klak, and Quest have submitted moves; we still need to hear from Ogbar, Durren and Sara for round four.

- Aanbo (killed Thug 6)
- Thug 6 (dead)
- Thacogygax (prepared action triggered)
- Everyone in the basement (?)
- Everyone upstairs (fired arrows)
- Xana (made a death save: Two failures, 1 success)
- Ogbar
- Klak (laying hands on Xana)
- Durren
- Quest (looking for Keb)
- Sara

Only now was Durren able to get a closer look at his companions. A barbarian had just pushed past him; the man was probably mad at Durren for trying to block his blow. So he is one of those types... Durren thought, sighing. Sometimes people resented his attempts to bring peace. Behind him, an archer stood. Probably an elf, or maybe a human. A dwarven monk had just stood up from single-handedly killing a man with his bare hands, a large blue dragon-born hurled destruction into the upper story and another dwarf was kneeling over a prone gnome whose lifeblood seeped through her shirt. Durren would have helped her, but the dwarf appeared to know what he was about. The barbarian was sprinting up the stairs, apparently to attack anyone up there. Durren turned to the ranger behind him. "Pray, could you cover our ascent?" *insert yes or no from Sara* Durren turned and rushed up the stairs, sword at the ready.

OOC: Durren will rush up the stairs regardless of Sara's response. If the archers are close together, he will attempt to cleave through as many as he can. I'm also going to roll perception or insight or history in order to determine additional things about my fellow adventurers.

ROUND FOUR, continued

Screaming incoherently, Ogbar rushes up the stairs (MAP here) and two arrows shoot at him, hitting him in shoulder and thigh.
Ogbar takes 4 HP damage (would be 9, but he's still raging).
Ignoring the pain, the barbarian smashes through the archer facing him beyond the top of the stairs, the bow, the quiver and the body all chopped in half. Ogbar stops upstairs, by the spinning vertical steel rod which is the driveshaft for much of the mill (shown as a black circle on the map).

Klak yanks the arrow out of Xana and then lays his calloused hands on her wounds. Saying a quick prayer, the dwarf feels the warm healing power flow through him and into the warlock. Xana's vision of the coins fades, dissolving into the kindly lined face of her companion, Klak.
Xana is prone, conscious, with 5 HP.

Durren chases after Ogbar up the stairs slippery with the barbarian's blood, which is still flowing freely from his neck and several wounds. The human arrives at the top of the stairs with Ogbar and surveys the scene. The room is dominated by a huge bin in the center of the room. Much of the room is in shadow from pipes, conduit, and vertical shafts throughout; the only direct light source a lantern hung on a peg in the northern wall. Some light comes up from the open trap door barely visible on the other side of the bin, which is enough to see the bodies of four more men lying sprawled around the open hole, clearly in the limpness of death. An open door in the southern wall reveals another archer, drawing an arrow from a quiver with shaking hands.
(Note: Figuring stuff out about these people from looking at them will take an action of inspecting/observing them, and would be a separate action for each one. Perception would potentially tell you things about what they've done/where they've been recently, while Insight might tell you about who they are/what their motivations are. History would only come into play if they were somehow famous/infamous or related to someone historically significant. So you can use the rolls you made later, when you're not taking other actions and can observe them, or you can reroll when you are in that situation.

As an alternative, you are dealing with other PCs, and can handle it entirely through role-playing, without rolling. Rolling typically involves NPCs; with any character, you can choose what attitude you want to take, and what conclusions you draw about them.

All that said, I will add that it is clear to Durren that these people are almost certainly adventurers, and maybe they know something about Dungeon Busters.)

ROUND FOUR, continued

Quest looks through the bodies to see if he can spot one who would be Keb. None of the bodies in this room have the look of a miller; they all look like toughs. Quest makes his way toward the other room (How do you want to get there? Through the adjoining door, or outside?)

- Aanbo (killed Thug 6)
- Thacogygax[s] (prepared action triggered)
- [s]Everyone in the basement (?)
- Everyone upstairs (fired arrows)
- Xana (healed)
- Ogbar (upstairs)
- Klak (laid hands on Xana)
- Durren (upstairs)
- Quest (looking for Keb)
- Sara

Ogbar is in the process of threatening the archer (at this point, covered in blood, I'd use CON, just because he's inspires dread by taking more damage than a human should and has kept going, and I'm considering it as the end of Ogbar's turn) when Sara runs up the stairs behind Durren, wheels, and fires an arrow at the archer, hitting him even though he is half covered by the wall. The man (Thug 12) staggers with the shot, but does not fall.

Xana, roll perception as Klak makes as if to leave you.

END OF ROUND FOUR

ROUND FIVE BEGINS

Those of you who are upstairs, roll perception checks: Ogbar, Durren, and Sara.

- Aanbo
- Thacogygax
- Everyone in the basement
- the wounded archer upstairs (thug 12)
- Xana
- Ogbar (upstairs)
- Klak (may be heading upstairs)
- Durren (upstairs)
- Quest
- Sara