<span style="font-style: italic">For simplicity's sake, I'm just going to keep the previous initiative rolls. Likewise, to speed things up, I'm going to take a page from the previous DnD games on these forums and post the defenses and hit point totals of the enemies, so you'll know if you hit or not.<br/><br/>One of the tricky things regarding 4E play-by-post is the various 'interrupts' that can be used on somebody else's turn. Since things would progress at a glacial pace if we only resolved one character or monster's action at a time, please set up conditional triggers for them, I.E. "If I'm targeted by one of (X enemy)'s encounter powers, I'm going to use (Y power)".</span><br/><br/>Bounding to it's feet, one of the sleek grey wolves looks directly at the direction of the approaching heroes. Its lips curl into an intimidating snarl. The other wolves take notice and rise as well, bristling and giving the intruders a preview of the sharp white fangs eagerly awaiting them. Alertness, it would seem, is not the lizardman's strong suit, for only when the feral watchdogs make a commotion does straighten up. He sucks in a huge lungfull of air and turns to the jagged hole in the inn's wall. "We'zse under attack!! The thievesss, they return! Get out here, Belle! Unleash the guardianss!"<br/><br/>With a spring in her step and no hint of worry on her face, a blonde bunny-girl carrying a bundle of spears slung behind her back bounds out of shadowy entrance, posing seductively as she sizes up the aggressors who advance swiftly now that the hope for surprise is gone. She mostly looks like a tan-skinned beauty of a human, but large, furry brown rabbit ears jut out from each side of her head. She's wearing very little besides a few silver pieces of jewelry and two-piece bronze 'armor' that covers perhaps five percent of her body. "Goodness," she says with a cruel smirk, "Two attacks in one day? Rella always said they were cowardly, but these bandits seem to be lining up for the chance to squirm down our throats." She pauses for a moment, leans over to the side, and seemingly starts gagging for a moment. A visible bulge travels up her throat, and with a muffled jingle, she spits up a wadded up suit of chainmail, once belonging to someone several sizes larger than her by the looks of it. "Hmph, they're wearing just as much armor as that guy I ate earlier... Oh well. We must do our duty to the Lord of the Earth, right? Speaking of which, GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE, BELLE!"<br/><br/>A blur of black and orange flashes through the entryway. Having launched into an unnecessarily acrobatic roll, a tigress shifter rolls on landing and ends up in a crouch. Unlike the bunny-girl's easy overconfidence, Belle's expression is deadly serious. "Coming here will be the last mistake of your worthless lives, interlopers!" she snarls, drawing a rune-inscribed greataxe that looks massively oversized for her. Nevertheless, she whirls it around her in an effortless display of strength. In contrast to her powerful armament, she seems to be wearing even<span style="font-style: italic">less</span>than the other, a cloth two-piece that only barely protects her modesty (if she can be said to have any). Unlike some shifters, her tail is the only furry part of her body, but her skin is orange with black stripes like a tiger's.<br/><br/>One last combatant emerges, not springing forward like the first two but slowly striding out with an economy of motion. Gripping a heavy greatsword that gleams brightly even in the filtered sunlight of the forest, a tall, powerfully built male human emerges onto the battlefield. "Thank Lunia," he says with a cathartic grin. "I was about to die of boredom in there, waiting for the boss to finish that damn ritual." He's ruggedly handsome with wild, untamed brown hair and stubble that accentuates his powerful chin nicely. Like his female companions, he either has been caught without his armor, or has intentionally forgone it: he has a belt to hold his loincloth in place, leather boots and a strap for his sword's scabbard, but nothing else.<br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">Note: Nutrions, magic items and rituals that provide magical substitutes for physical armor are more common in Gespinium than in some settings. Whether for mobility or vanity, combat attire that would be suicidally impractical in a world without magic is fairly common.</span><br/><br/>Forming up close to Saraphina, Salana and Marrok are a few of their more skilled allies: A male gnoll archer called Garhu, one of Hyra's Bloody Band, is watching Marrok's back and ready to shoot. Sophia seems to consider this group of enemies the best focus for her attentions, and she already has her swords and daggers at the ready. Sticking close to the rear of the group is a small but talented halfling adept named Tolren, one of the Enders. Even so, it seems unlikely that this handful of barbarians can stand up to the entire mercenary company...<br/><br/>...and then, Belle swings her greataxe into the ground with incredible force, causing the ground beneath the heroes' feet to rumble ominously. "Awake, footsoldiers of the Sleeping Lord of the Earth!" The mercenaries shout in panic as mounds of stone and clay erupt from the ground amongst them... and sprout clublike arms and legs, laying into the warriors with grumbling battlecries.<br/><br/>Earth elementals. These are clearly the runts of the elemental hierarchy, only about the size of a halfling, but there are a dozen of them; they probably can't defeat the mercenary band, but these durable beings will take some time to destroy. Plenty of time for the foes assembled before you to strike...<br/><br/>Initial map:<br/><img alt="Image" src="http://img829.imageshack.us/img829/5110/encounter1.png"/><br/><br/>Enemy Pictures:<br/><div style="padding: 3px; background-color: #FFFFFF; border: 1px solid #d8d8d8; font-size: 1em;"><div style="text-transform: uppercase; border-bottom: 1px solid #CCCCCC; margin-bottom: 3px; font-size: 0.8em; font-weight: bold; display: block;"><span onclick="if (this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display != '') {  this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = ''; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;hide&lt;/a&gt;'; } else { this.parentNode.parentNode.getElementsByTagName('div')[1].getElementsByTagName('div')[0].style.display = 'none'; this.innerHTML = '&lt;b&gt;Spoiler: &lt;/b&gt;&lt;a href=\'#\' onClick=\'return false;\'&gt;show&lt;/a&gt;'; }"><b>Spoiler: </b><a href="#" onclick="return false;">show</a></span></div><div class="quotecontent"><div style="display: none;">(Not mine, so I'm just going to link them from DA)<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=bunny%20girl&amp;order=9&amp;offset=72&amp;offset=120#/dj0wdz">Mirelle (bunnygirl)</a><br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://fc01.deviantart.net/fs32/i/2008/205/1/2/tiger_by_ReiRaven.jpg">Belle (shifter)</a><br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=barbarian&amp;order=9&amp;offset=120&amp;offset=168#/d1usmmn">Kelso (human)</a><br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=lizard%20man&amp;order=9&amp;offset=72&amp;offset=120#/dv4ijp">Marutok (lizardfolk)</a></div></div></div><br/><br/><span style="font-style: italic">I don't have time just now to roll initiatives for the NPCs and start the first combat round, so don't post any actions just yet (at least 1 NPC will probably beat the PCs in initiative). I should have the 'real' beginning of the encounter in a following post soon.</span>