Round Three

The DM smiles to himself—the bugbears have maneuvered the heroes right where they want them. The two bugbears fighting Pascal can guard, getting the first attack against the paladin because of their longer range. The two bugbears hiding behind the room’s corners will move forward to engage Pascal’s flank and Lyssa. The DM asks the players to state their actions for the round:

Pascal: “I’ll move up and attack again.”

Lyssa: “Cast acid arrow at the bugbear hiding in the corner there.”

Damiar: “Keep firing!”

Dain: “I’ll move and take a shot at a bugbear. Nothing’s coming down this hallway.”

The initiative roll is won by the players again, beating the bugbears with a 2. There are no very fast actions this round.

In the fast phase, Pascal moves up to threaten the bugbears facing her, but they both get attacks since they were guarding and out-ranged her. One bugbear misses, but the other hits for 5 points of damage and a roll for a knockdown. A morningstar is rated as a d10 for knockdowns, and since the bugbear is a Large creature, that is stepped up to a d12. It takes a 7 to knock down a Man-sized creature, and the Bugbear rolls a 9. Success! Pascal rolls a saving throw vs. paralyzation and fails. She is on the ground and has to use this round to stand up again.

Lyssa’s spell is again fast. She throws Melf’s acid arrow at the bugbear previously wounded by Damiar and hits it for 8 points of damage. Dain takes a half-move and steps into the doorway beside Damiar.

On the average phase, Damiar fires his first arrow of the round and misses. Pascal would have attacked this round, but decides to stand up again. The bugbears hiding around the corners move up to threaten Pascal and Lyssa.

Pascal: “Sure, now they break cover since I got knocked down.”

DM: “You didn’t think those two bugbears were going to stay out of the way forever, did you?”

Lyssa: “We’re in trouble.”

DM: “We’re up to slow actions now. Dain and Damiar have shots, if they want to take them. You’ll be shooting into a melee now, since there aren’t any bugbears clear of the fight.”

Damiar: “I’ll take my chances.”

Dain: “Me, too!”

Lyssa: “Hey, you could hit us!”

Dain (shrugging): “So? You can take it.”

There are three bugbears who are threatening Pascal. Using the Firing into a Melee rules, the DM determines that a d8 roll should be used to resolve who becomes the target. (The three bugbears are Large and count for 2 each, and Pascal counts for 1 target. An 8 result will be rerolled.) Damiar and Dain are lucky—the target rolls end up being bugbears. Unfortunately, both characters miss with their attacks.

The two bugbears who moved in this round get to attack in their half of the slow phase. One attacks Pascal, and the other attacks Lyssa. Pascal is hit again for 5 more points of damage, but this time she isn’t knocked down. Lyssa gets clobbered for 6 points of damage and begins to consider a strategic withdrawal.

At the end of the round, everyone marks off their fatigue points. Pascal loses two more, as do Dain and Damiar, but Lyssa cast a spell and loses none. The bugbears who broke cover and attacked Lyssa and Pascal lose two, but the others who were already engaged only lose one each.

Since Pascal was hit without hitting her opponents, the bugbears can force her to retreat. She is driven back one square, but the bugbears hold their ground to keep their reach advantage. The continuing damage from the Melf’s acid arrow spell doesn’t begin until next round, since Lyssa just cast the spell this round.

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