More Planning (Will It Ever End?)
Subject: Let's BURN her!
Everyone ready?
From: Mike
Subject: Re: Let's BURN her!
Yes.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Let's BURN her!
Ready!
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Ongoing investigations; a new revelation
Yup, no objections. Let's do that. :)
From: Ty
Subject: Re: Let's BURN her!
Ok, guys. I just need to fill in my map with everyone's exact location.
Can you guys give me a quick pin on the map to show me where you intend to be?
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Let's BURN her!
Osred's in the wagon. And just to be clear, did someone get those explosive vials out of there like he suggested?
From: Matt
Subject: Rennik sets positions
Taking a calmer, slower look at the bowl and the layout of the land, it quickly dawns on him that there's no way to hide the signs of major struggle. The blood, the burnt ground, the broken branches, the disturbed grass. But, if all the bodies were hidden, it would certainly look strange - huge struggle, no bodies.
The witch might not land, if there were no bodies and everyone was hiding. Or she might fly on to look for them, or survey for survivors. They needed her to drop close enough for clear shots, and to give Osred a chance to keep her at that altitude.
A plan starts to form in Rennik's mind.
"Reth'tenn Melani, Friend Garyth and I have the shortest range on our bows, so we will take the closest bushes at the top of the rise. I will place the rest of you some distance apart in the bushes below the bowl, far enough that her magics can only affect any one person at a time."
"I worry about hiding all the bodies, now. It is impossible to hide the signs of struggle in time, and with no bodies, the entire scene would be suspicious. Here is what I suggest: Leave the bodies where they are, except for one. We strip one and dress a volunteer in that armor, an actor pretending to be wounded, trying to crawl back to the wagon. We could rip up his cloak, to make it look like he tied a bandage around his own head, and maybe used his sword to splint his own leg - though not truly tied, so it wouldn't stop movement."
As he speaks, Robert speaks up. "I will volunteer. It seems I escaped that last battle without a scratch - wouldn't want to feel left out."
Rennik nods, and continues.
"With one alive and moving, the witch would be more likely to investigate, if only to interrogate him about what happened. If you see her, you could try to wave her down, but when she gets within range, I would give the signal to fire. The archers would loose their arrows and Arms-brother Osred would call aid from the skies."
Pausing, considering some more, he takes Robert's crossbow from him and looks at it. "If you could load this, and lay on top of it... one of us would whistle when she was coming, so you could start to act like you are crawling. When I give the signal, you could roll over and get a point blank shot at her underbelly. Could you do this?"
OOC: If everyone seems okay with this, he will place the others according to the map attached.
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
OOC: I am ok with that plan but which one is Melani? She should be close to the Robert. Maybe hidden under the wagon. The reason is that she should be able to get a sneak attack and do an additional 2d6 of damage.
Mark
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
Pensive will take the southern-most bush.
From: Matt
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
OOC: The trick with Melani is that she's a good archer, yet she also has that sneak attack option. She can't really be an archer from under the wagon, and we can't really be sure that the witch will land - in fact, once she figures out what's up, she'll probably try to fly away.
Putting Melani under the wagon drops us one ranged weapon and gives us only the possibility of a sneak attack. From where she is at the top of the hill, she's a turn slide down to the bowl, if need be.
Rennik, however, would allow the Reth'tenn the priviledge of selecting her own spot, though he would quietly make his suggestion and opinions known to her.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
"Not a bad plan, halfling..." Osred says, trailing off. "Hm." He strokes his chin as though it were bearded.
"The bitch might notice, though, if all the bodies are from her side. What would you say to having a man or two of ours lying out, playing dead? Maybe around where Robert is. All three of them might be able to get off a good shot before she knows what's happening."
From: Matt
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
Rennik considers, and realizes that is a very good point.
"A smart idea. It might also be worthwhile if Arms-brother Robert put is own armor on the dead soldier he has taken his clothing from."
From: Scott
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
If Garyth or Osred think that unstrapping and restrapping armor might take too long (Ty at one point said that Garyth thought the witch might be 20 minutes away from us. . .), now might be a good time to voice those concerns.
From: Jake
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
Ty, how long has the talking been going on?
From: Mark
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
Melani can sneak attack with her bow from a range of 30 feet. My idea was to be under the wagon and sneak attack her with the bow, assuming she is with in 30 feet of the wagon. If she is not, Melani was going to move silently, assuming the witch's back is to her, and close enough to get the sneak attack.
So where does Rennick want her?
Mark
From: Raja
Subject: Re: Rennik sets positions
On the hood of his car, baby.
Er...