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[LuckyDee]

Isirius turns to Berak, smiles and answers:

- We're here to find the cause of the problems, not to keep the current warden in charge. If we start telling tall tales, or someone does on our behalf, and we cannot live up to them... However, stating that we have been sent by Lord Padraig to aid might draw these peoples attentions back to their comfort zones while no false word is uttered.

Isirius ponders the political situation between Fallcrest and Winterhaven for a moment, to verify the validity of his statement.

[Malek Deneith]

Political situation between Fallcrest and Winterhaven is rather good. Both cities came to be in times of Nerath, and while with the fall of the empire and thus central authority they became separate entities in political terms they have retained good relationship between them. People and merchants travel between them freely - well as freely as the roving orc and kobold bands on the roads allow - and rulers of both cities tend to help each other if able. In fact, while you didn't meet the Warden yourselves it was on his men that sought you out in the city and then convinced you to take up the work you've done in Winterhaven earlier.

[LuckyDee]

- And we have the fact that we've successfully solved the Winterhaven situation in the warden's name speaking in our favor, Isirius adds confidently.

[slave]

Berak answers:

- Perhaps you are right.

and communicates Isirius's opinion to the others.

[S.K. Ren]

╜ ║╡╩╦╔╜╗╦╡╞┼ ╦╞ ╝╜│╢╣ ╦╢╣ ╦╣┼╩╡╞┼ ├╜╨ ╩╣╔═╣ ╬╣╛╛ ╢╣╔╣┐

Catching Isirius' attention he taps his head while gesturing to the Warden with a nod.

[thelaptop]

"Truth is worth more than falsehood, no matter how good the intention," Marek intoned.

[LuckyDee]

At Gosok's request, Isirius nods and takes a moment to clear his mind. He then focuses his attention on the warden and starts to project a feeling of calm - not the complacent calm you get while floating in the river on a hot summer day, but the cornered kind from standing in the eye of the storm. After sustaining this for a couple of seconds, Isirius draws attention to himself and his party by putting up a beacon, the image of seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

What effect does this have on the warden?

[Malek Deneith]

As intended the telepathic contact helps to both focus Lord Markelhay and bring you to his attention. The Warden wince for a second out of surprise but collects himself before anyone can notice and speaks.
- People! People, calm down! In the heat of our debate we have overlooked newcomers in our midst! They look as a formidable lot and since they're new they might bring us further perspective to our problem...

Townsfolk quit bickering for a moment, turning their attention to you. A murmur rises through the gathering:
- Who are they?
- Why would anyone bother traveling here in this godforsaken winter?
- Didn't I see them somewhere recently?
- Maybe they come from somewhere that this cold didn't reach. Please, have you seen any warm lands on your way here?
- Bah, with our luck they're somehow responsible for all this.
- One of them wears the mark of the Sun God, the dwarven priest was right!

Lord Warden seems to start to speak up, probably wanting to ask you some questions but before he can begin he is interrupted by a sudden thunderclap, as a lightning bolt drops from the sky and fries random person in the crowd. Before the anguished cry of a dying man ends everyone looks up to notice a peculiar sight - a longboat sailing through the sky as if it was water. As if to confirm your suspicions on the origin of the attack another lightning bolt comes streaking from the figurehead at the prow of the longboat, followed by several warriors jumping down from it, landing among the crowd.

People scatter. Guards react and start to place themselves between townsfolk and the invaders, and more importantly around Markelhay. The boat makes a hard dive and crashes in the ice-covered river with more soldiers coming out of it as soon as it stabilizes. You shake off your confusion and react.

***

As you spring into action you smell the familiar stench and notice the rotting flesh on the assailants - those of them that have any flesh at all that is. Your observations are reinforced when two quickest reacting enemies both move on to tear a good, solid bite of the nearest civilians, forgoing the clubs they were wielding. Undead. Great. Must be a theme week.

Encounter 1: Sky Raiders - Initiative, Movement and General Commentary

This is it boys and gurls, roll for initiative... oh wait, I did that for you already

Initiative
26 - Flesh-Crazed Zombies
25 - Marek
15 - Zombie Shamblers
12 - Gosok Skyborn
11 - Isirius Thray
10 - Berak
9 - Decrepit Skeletons
8 - Skeletons
5 - Quill
0+ - Guards and Lord Warden (who will make it like a tree and leave)
0 - Meat... I mean civilians

Actions
- Flesh-Crazed Zombie 1 moves to M12 and kills the civilian on L13.
- Flesh-Crazed Zombie 2 moves to Q22 and kills the civilian on P23.

Map Notes
- River is probably quite cold
- Ice is difficult terrain. It also looks tad slippery and thin.
- Campfires are burning bright.
- Boats are difficult terrain and provide cover.
- Tents provide cover but aren't much durable.
- Totem poles could be climbed if you wish to do so.

Important Note
As a reminder you'll have to draw your weapons/implements to be of any use. That's a minor action (see other notes below) unless you have something that overrides this. I'm going to houserule that Isirius can both draw his implement and summon his magical flail with one minor action. And Marek has the unique benefit of his holy symbol being usable without the need of any preparation so long as it is equipped which it is.
(I am sure we'll all swiftly forget about drawing weaponry, but for now let's keep the pretense up :P)

Other Notes
As a reminder for everyone who slept on Combat 101 you get ONE Standard Action, ONE Movement Action, and ONE Minor Action each of your turns. Action Points (AP) can be spent to gain ONE extra action of any kind but they don't recover after battle (we'll cover how they DO recover once we get to a right moment). Only one can be spent AP per battle per person. Map token legend as well as status icon legend got added to first post in combat. The three tokens that did not get covered should be pretty explanatory - civilians, guards and Lord Markelhay who will make it like a tree and leave. Green bars above your tokens are HP, orange ones are healing surges.

Map

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[thelaptop]

Marek mutters a small prayer to Pelor for His divine guidance and walks off to the tent as the others were still shock from seeing the deaths of the two bystanders.

Minor: Shield of Faith (Close burst 5, self and allies +2 power bonus to AC till end of encounter)
Move: Walk I20-->H17
Standard: Lance of Faith on I14 (1d20+8=12 vs Reflex, 1d8+7=14 radiant damage, on hit Power of the Sun: Target gains 3 vulnerability to radiant till EoNT)

[Malek Deneith]

Marek's prayer spreads engulfing his companions as well as several bystanders in glowing light of protection. Sadly the accuracy of his sacred projectile leaves much to be desired as it overshoots the skeleton he was aiming at. The zombies continue their rampage killing several more people - civilians and guard alike, some despite the protection Marek tried to bestow on them.

Meanwhile Gosok seems to hesitate some more as if waiting for something to happen.

Encounter 1: Sky Raiders - Initiative, Movement and General Commentary

Initiative
26 - Flesh-Crazed Zombies
25 - Marek
15 - Zombie Shamblers
11 - Isirius Thray
10 - Berak
9 - Decrepit Skeletons
8 - Skeletons
5 - Quill
5 - Gosok Skyborn
0+ - Guards and Lord Warden (who will make it like a tree and leave)
0 - Meat... I mean civilians

Actions
- Everyone in the party and several NPCs gain +2 power bonus to AC until end of encounter
- Lance of Faith misses
- Zombie Shambler 1 moves to J13 and kills the town guard on J14.
- Zombie Shambler 2 moves to M15 and kills the civilian on N16.
- Zombie Shambler 3 moves to M17 and kills the civilian on L16.
- Zombie Shambler 4 moves to P14 and kills the town guard on O15.
- Zombie Shambler 5 moves to O13.
- Gosok Skyborn delays his action.

Map Notes
- River is probably quite cold
- Ice is difficult terrain. It also looks tad slippery and thin.
- Campfires are burning bright.
- Boats are difficult terrain and provide cover.
- Tents provide cover but aren't much durable.
- Totem poles could be climbed if you wish to do so.

Important Note
S.K. Ren left me with his move plan and it involves Delaying until after Quill. LuckyDee, you're up

Map

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[LuckyDee]

Trusting Quill to conquer the closest threat, Isirius directs his attention southwards, to where one of the towns guards is going to be in a lot of trouble really soon. He swiftly draws his Frost Dagger from its sheath business end down with his right hand while his Scourge of Exquisite Agony appears in his left. With a loud battle cry - not so much to shake his foes as to inspire his newfound allies - he charges past the guardsmen and into the flesh-crazed zombie on his other side.

Draw Frost Dagger and tap into its cold powers; summon Scourge.
Charge to P22.
Apply Flesh Rend to zombie in Q22: to hit 1d20+11=25; damage 1d10+8=9
Zombie slides to R21 and suffers -2 to attack until my SoNT

[slave]

Berak, still deeply disturbed by this unexpected attack, wields his crystal orb and sends out his frustration as a of torrent negative thoughts towards a group of enemies. Seeing Isirius move behind a tent, Berak changes his position to be better able to support everybody.

Wield the Crystal Orb of Unfailing Concentration
Dishearten at L15 - Attack: 3#1d20+9 25 29 28 vs Will (L15, K14 - CRITICAL HIT, M15), Psychic damage: 1d6+9 10 for L15 and M15, Psychic damage (critical hit): 1d8+15 20 for K14
Move to M25

[Malek Deneith]

Isirius' scourge landed a solid hit on his target. While the blow didn't seem to do much damage it did manage to stagger the zombie, making it stumble backwards a bit. Meanwhile Berak reached out with his mind to a group of enemies - while there wasn't much in terms of a sentience to attack there he did manage to latch onto the magical force animating his enemies. The effects proved to be pretty spectacular as two of them outright stopped moving and fell and even the last, sturdier looking skeleton, seemed to be noticably weakened.

The undead did not relent their advance though - yet more townsfolk fell, Isirius found himself target of skeletal archers, while the weakened skeleton turned his empty eyesockets towards Marek and assaulted him, cutting a deep wound into pelorite's flesh.

Encounter 1: Sky Raiders - Initiative, Movement and General Commentary

Initiative
26 - Flesh-Crazed Zombies
25 - Marek
15 - Zombie Shamblers
11 - Isirius Thray
10 - Berak
9 - Decrepit Skeletons
8 - Skeletons
5 - Quill
5 - Gosok Skyborn
0+ - Guards and Lord Warden (who will make it like a tree and leave)
0 - Meat... I mean civilians

Actions
- Isirius hits Flesh-Crazed Zombie 2 for 9 cold damage and slides it to R21. Flesh-Crazed Zombie 2 has -2 to attack rolls until start of Isirius' next turn.
- Berak deals 10 psychic damage to Decrepit Skeleton 3 and destroys it.
- Berak deals 20 psychic damage (CRITICAL HIT) to Skeleton 1. Skeleton 1 has -2 to attack rolls until end of Berak's next turn.
- Berak deals 10 psychic damage to Zombie Shambler 2 and destroys it.
- Decrepit Skeleton 1 misses kills the town guard on J9.
- Decrepit Skeleton 2 misses (AUTOMATIC MISS) the civilian on H15.
- Decrepit Skeleton 4 misses the civilian on M20.
- Decrepit Skeleton 5 shifts to P19 and hits Isirius for 3 damage (37 hp left).
- Decrepit Skeleton 6 shifts to Q18 and misses Isirius.
- Skeleton 1 moves to I16 and hits Marek for 13 damage (CRITICAL HIT, 28 hp left). Marek is marked until the end of Skeleton 2's next turn.
- Skeleton 2 moves to L15, charges the town guard at L19 and misses.
- Skeleton 3 moves to K17 and kills the civilian on J18.

Map Notes
- River is probably quite cold
- Ice is difficult terrain. It also looks tad slippery and thin.
- Campfires are burning bright.
- Boats are difficult terrain and provide cover.
- Tents provide cover but aren't much durable.
- Totem poles could be climbed if you wish to do so.

Important Note
*sigh* It seems Invisible Castle is down at the moment. Please use http://orokos.com/roll/ as an alternative roller (does require registration to do anything sadly, otherwise should work similar to Invisible Castle)

New Mechanics Learned

Automatic Hit and Automatic Miss
A natural roll of 20 always hits. A natural roll of 1 always misses.

Critical Hits
On a natural roll of 20, and if the total attack roll is enough to beat targets defense the hit is also a critical hit. Critical hits deal maximum damage without need to roll. Some weapons (mostly magical) add additional dice on a critical hit - those must be rolled (example - Berak's critical hit was on a power that normally deals 1d6+9 damage. Instead it became 15 damage plus an additional 1d8 was rolled due to the magical orb he uses).

Marked
A creature that is Marked takes a -2 penalty on any attack roll that doesn't include the creature that applied this status. Note that creatures with marking capability often have means to apply additional punishment for ignoring the mark.

Map

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

[Xander Morhaime]

Quill had looked on at the gathering sullenly - her height hadn't allowed her to see much of anything, really, only adding to her overall frustration with this city and surrounding land. But when the attack came, well... here was a face to put to all the misery she'd had to put up with since coming here, and a perfect opportunity to bash said face in.

Gripping her flail firmly, the kobold leapt towards the nearest skeletons with an ear-piercing screech, the metal end of her flail lighting up with a fiery glow. She wasted no time swinging the flail in a wide arc to try and hit the nearest enemies.

Action rundown:
Minor: ready weapon.
Free: activate fire-damage property of weapon: all unmarked damage becomes fire damage
Move: M19
Standard: Cleave at L18 - if it hits, extra 4 damage against N19; regardless of hit, warrior mark on L18.

[Malek Deneith]

Free: Ready the Kopesh (thanks to Battle Harness)
Move: Walk to M18 (path through M20 and N19 to avoid OA)
Attack: Word of Diminishment on L18 (Protection Rune) Attack: 1d20+10 12 vs AC (Actually 13, forgot the first round bonus but it doesn't help any), Damage: as if.

Quills flail hits one of skeleton, turning it into an explosion of burning shards and proceeds to smash into another, taking a good chunk out of it as well. Gosok finally joins the action, maneuvering past a civilian and a guard to stand at Quill's side but his blow gets easily parried by the damaged skeleton despite the runes the mul summoned to help. The few remaining civilians - along with Lord Warden - finally begin to evacuate while two remaining guards try their best against unnatural assailants. Two zombies that led this assault make themselves known again, one charging - but missing - Gosok, while other moves back up to kalashtar who hurt it and takes a big and painful bite out of him.

Encounter 1: Sky Raiders - Initiative, Movement and General Commentary

Initiative
26 - Flesh-Crazed Zombies
25 - Marek
15 - Zombie Shamblers
11 - Isirius Thray
10 - Berak
9 - Decrepit Skeletons
8 - Skeletons
5 - Quill
5 - Gosok Skyborn
0+ - Guards
0 - Meat... I mean civilians

Actions
- Quill deals 14 fire damage to Skeleton 2 and 4 fire damage to Decrepit Skeleton 4. Skeleton 2 is marked until end of Quill's next turn. Decrepit Skeleton 4 is destroyed.
- Gosok stops delaying.
- Gosok misses Skeleton 2.
- Gosok enters Runestate of Protection. Adjacent allies have resist all 2.
- A town guard moves to P20 and destroys Decerepit Skeleton 5.
- A town guard misses Skeleton 2.
- Lord Warden and his personal guard evacuate to a safer spot (removed from the map).
- A civilian flees.
- A civilian shifts to G12 and moves to A11.
- A civilian shifts to I18 and moves to I24.
- A civilian flees.
- A civilian shifts to G15 and moves to A15.
- Flesh-Crazed Zombie 1 charges to N17 and misses Gosok.
- Flesh-Crazed Zombie 2 moves to Q22 and hits Isirius for 12 damage (25 hp left). Isirius is dazed until end of Flesh-Crazed Zombie 2's next turn.

Map Notes
- River is probably quite cold
- Ice is difficult terrain. It also looks tad slippery and thin.
- Campfires are burning bright.
- Boats are difficult terrain and provide cover.
- Tents provide cover but aren't much durable.
- Totem poles could be climbed if you wish to do so.

Important Note
Decided to use Stoneskin Icon for Runestate of Protection and Skull Icon for Runestate of Destruction.

New Mechanics Learned

Dazed
Dazed creatures get to use only ONE action per round - so only standard OR move OR minor, not all three. They still can make free actions though. In addition they can't take immediate or opportunity actions, can't flank and grant combat advantage.

Map

Spoiler (click to show/hide)