(069) Pilgrims & Practicalities

[Fatal T]

Morgan engages the thief with his flail, shouting at the top of his lungs:

"Intruders! To arms!"

Hoping to strike a first blow and give the others time to rouse and respond.

[sully]

Dorgan snatches up his shield and Axe and rushes to the sound of Morgan's voice.

[waysoftheearth]

At the beginning of the upcoming turn Morgan is awake, but Dorgan et al are asleep.

Morgan is inside the refectory and the cloaked figure is outside in the courtyard; there is about 10ft and a doorway between them. The doorway is too narrow to swing a flail in; particularly with a door getting in the way. So, does Morgan want to push out into the courtyard in order to attack, or does he want to fall back into the refectory and let the other guy come to him?

[Fatal T]

Morgan will fall back into the refectory, and will try to engage the enemy as they come through the door one at a time if possible, keep them bottled up.

[waysoftheearth]

"Stinkin' Men are here!" scathes the thief as Morgan steps back in to the refectory and gives a warning shout to wake his fellows. The coiled thief darts in after him, a crooked blade suddenly in its gnarled fist...

The rules say that monsters (including man-types) should take a morale check if attacked by surprise. In this case both sides were surprised so nobody was attacked during the surprise segment. Therefore, the referee uses a reaction check (rather than a morale check) to determine the monster's behaviour.

2d6=3.

Interestingly, if it were a morale check a 3 would indicate a Flee result, but since it is a reaction check a 3 indicates a Negative reaction. With a negative adjustment due to race/alignment difference it becomes a 2 or less, which indicates a Hostile reaction. Looks like Morgan was right to anticipate trouble.

Morgan barely has time to fling the blanket off his shoulders before the skinny creature is on him! His flail blow gets tangled in the blanket as he staggers back and the feral goblin springs inside his reach to cut him with its cruel knife.

"How's you likes that then, Maaaan?" sneers the goblin; so near that Morgan can smell its carrion breath...

It's combat. Neither flail nor dagger offers the advantage of reach, so the ref dices for the initiative in the first round of blows. 1d6; Morgan=6, Monster=6, so simultaneous blows will be struck.

1d20; Morgan=4 a miss. Monster=16 a hit for 1d6=3 hp damage.

(Note that initiative is determined firstly by weapons size, and then secondly by dice; a man-type armed with a lighter weapon will automatically win the initiative in any round following a round in which he hit and his opponent did not).

Morgan AC 7/7 hp 8 5

[waysoftheearth]

Meanwhile, back in the dormatories Dorgan and Hiridhren awake... what was that?

Then there comes a clamor from the refectory! "Trouble is afoot!" cries Hiridhren, springing up from his bedroll to grab his sword.

It will take this upcoming turn to jump up, grab a weapon and/or shield and run into the refectory, if that's what Dorgan wants to do...

What will be your orders for the upcoming combat turn? (which will be combat turn 2)

[sully]

Dorgan will indeed snatch up axe and shield in round 1, and run to the Refectory.

Round 2 will be to attack whoever is engaged with Morgan.

[Fatal T]

"Back, filth!" Morgan responds to the goblin and wields his flail defensively, to parry and defend rather than attack, holding the line until aid can arrive.

[waysoftheearth]

Dorgan and Hiridhren will need to grab weapons and run into the refectory before they can join in the fighting so I'll need to figure out some distance vs. move rate business to determine whether they will join the fight in turn 2, or the in the following turn (turn 3).

Meanwhile, I suspect FatalT may not be aware of his full catalogue of options, so I'll reiterate them here. In combat a player can typically:
A. attack to kill,
B. attack to subdue,
C. physically grapple/wrestle/overbear to pin/capture the opponent,
D. parry/defend (enemy will be -4 to hit),
E. flee (opponent possibly gets a free hack as you flee),
F. surrender.

[Fatal T]

Thanks for the reminder! Given that. Morgan will opt to parry the goblin's attacks until Dorgqn and Hiridhren can arrive.