As I'm sure you've probably figured out by now, this is a fight between two of the three factions who will likely be your enemies for the opening storyarc. Whereas the NPC characters represent the petty warlord who rules Delium now, the PC characters represent the diehard followers of the primal gods Lunia and Centrius who roam the land in disorganized bands, pillaging and feasting on settlements who venerate the civilized gods and those who have become too "soft". Unlike Karun the Red's soldiers or Ansarra's gang, their motivations and goals are simple. They care less about glory or loot than about sating their hunger. Gnolls, shifters (furries), dragonborn and goblinoids make up the majority, but there are members of the other races along. Assuming that these villainous PCs defeat the marginally-less-villainous NPCs, you might run into them later on (rebuilt as monsters, of course) as Rella's lieutenants.<br/><br/>The first to rise from the brush as the barbarians sprung their ambush was a wild-eyed, silver-furred wolf girl, her jaws wide open as she howled enthusiastically to the crescent moon. The coat of chainmail that protected her tall, athletic body was highly polished, and the blade on the end of the wicked-looking scythe she held was shaped like a crescent moon and glistened like silver.[/i] ((Lunia, the goddess of the moon, desire, fertility, and animals [especially predators] is associated with silver. The moon is her domain, and she seldom ventures to the surface of the world these days.)) "Oh great lady, we devour the unworthy in your name!" she cried in near-ecstatic tones. Her mail looked rather loose around the neck...<br/><br/>Right alongside her rose a statuesque beauty of a dragonborn. Even though Darro was near-paralyzed with fear, he felt a shiver of excitement; scaly or no, this female (Sophia, though he didn't know that) had a figure that put both the women he'd been lusting after to shame. Sophia was over six feet tall and the thick armor she wore did little to hide her more-than-ample assets. Her body was covered with fine, smooth forest green scales, and her face ended in a blunt, rounded snout, with a long forked tongue hanging out in anticipation. Like many dragonborn, she had a human-like head of hair that hung down behind her in thick locks. "Surely, Lunia has blessed us! Three of us, and three of them. How very perfect."<br/><br/>A deep, coarse chuckling rumbled from a short distance to her south. He was the one who had cursed and ordered the attack, an imposing bronze-scaled dragonborn that towered over his two female companions, tall though they were. He wore armored bracers and leggings of dull chainmail, but his chest was bare to the warm night air, displaying rippling muscles marked by old scars. "Let's get to it." he said simply.<br/><br/>"I couldn't agree more..." Livia hissed as she drew a dagger from her belt with her left hand and crept forward...[/i]<br/><br/>As I said, since this is just a demo, I won't describe the fight in detail, but rather will let the dice speak for themselves. The houses are blocking terrain. The trees provide cover. The bushes provide concealment against ranged attacks only. The well and fire will trap/damage whoever enters their square. The piles of logs are cover and must be climbed over.<br/><br/>Livia: Circles around the farmhouse to I-8. Throws a dagger at Gorlon, who has cover from the tree in his square, for a total +9  bonus. Dagger throw (1d20 + 9): 11 + 9 = 20, hit. Dagger throw (1d4 + 4): 1 + 4 =<span style="font-weight: bold">5 damage</span><br/><br/>Gorlon: Designates Livia as hunter's quarry (minor). Decides he's hungry and wants to end this quickly, moving up to Livia (H-9) and using Jaws of the Wolf, his daily.<br/>Battleaxe (1d20 +<img alt="8)" src="./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"/>: 7 + 8 = 15<br/>Battleaxe (1d20 + 7): 11 + 7 = 18<br/>Both attacks miss, but still do half miss damage.<br/>Battleaxe +1 (2d10 + 6): 3, 8 + 6 = 17<br/>Hq (1d8): 8<br/>(25 / 2 =<span style="font-weight: bold">12 damage</span>)<br/>Battleaxe (2d10 + 5): 5, 9 + 5 = 19<br/>(19 / 2 =<span style="font-weight: bold">9 damage</span>)<br/>As you can see, single-target dailies can be nasty even if they miss.<br/><br/>Yula: Moves to A-9. Uses 'Guardian of Faith', summoning a minor servant of Lunia, to D-4.<br/><br/>Milla: With the three enemies spread out, Milla's encounter powers are less useful, so she plays conservatively for now. Launches a magic missile at Yula, but the shifter cleric has superior cover, giving Milla a -5. Magic missile (1d20 + 2): 12 + 2 = 14. Even with superior cover, Yula's reflex is so crappy she gets hit. Magic missile (2d4 + 4): 2, 1 + 4 =<span style="font-weight: bold">7 damage</span><br/><br/>Sophia: The dragoness-chamion's eyes light up with gluttony when she sees the cute young man with the halberd. Double-moves to E-4, then spends an action point to attempt to grapple him.<br/>Grab (1d20 + 4): 7 + 4 = 11. She misses his reflex defense.<br/><br/>Darro: Shifts to C-2. Uses powerful strike on Sophia.Powerful strike (1d20 +<img alt="8)" src="./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif" title="Cool"/>: 12 + 10 = 22. Hit by one!<br/>Powerful strike (1d10 + 7): 3 + 7 =<span style="font-weight: bold">10 damage, and Sophia is knocked prone</span>.<br/><br/>HP:<br/>Gorlon: 33/38<br/>Sophia: 33/43<br/>Yula: 34/34<br/><br/>Darro: 47/47<br/>Milla: 42/42<br/>Livia: 48/69<br/><br/><br/><span style="text-decoration: underline">Round 2</span><br/><br/>Livia: Uses 'Slash and Dash', making 1 longsword attack, then shifting 2 to I-6, then a dagger attack on Gorlon. Longsword (1d20 + 11): 7 + 11 = 18 , Dagger (1d20 + 11): 11 + 11 = 22<br/>Longsword (1d8 + 4): 2 + 4 =<span style="font-weight: bold">6 damage</span>, Dagger (1d4 + 4): 4 + 4 =<span style="font-weight: bold">8 damage</span>. Ouch.<br/>Then, uses her move action to move to E-5 (Sophia can't make an opportunity attack because she's prone).<br/><br/>Gorlon: Gets pissed off. And hungry. Moves 6 squares to E-6, intending to make a meal out of this cheeky half-elf lass. Tries to grab her. Grab (1d20 + 5): 4 + 5 = 9.<br/><br/>Yula: Move action to move the guardian to D-1. Standard action to cast Sanctuary on Gorlon (+5 AC until he attacks or the end of Yula's next turn).<br/><br/>Milla: Seeing her chance, rolls athletics (untrained) to try and get over the logs (it's an easy 12 dc, fortunately).<br/>Athletics (1d20 + 2): 19 + 2 = 21. She makes it to C-6 (the logs cost double movement to get over, but the trees don't fill a full space, so you can 'cut corners' around them) and uses Dancing Lightning to target all three PCs with seperate attacks vs. reflex. Only Gorlon has cover.<br/>Lightning vs. S (1d20 + 7): 17 + 7 = 24<br/>Lightning vs. Y (1d20 + 7): 4 + 7 = 11<br/>Lightning vs. G (1d20 + 5): 17 + 5 = 22<br/>Hits everyone except Yula. Lightning vs. S (1d6 + 4): 3 + 4 =<span style="font-weight: bold">7 damage</span><br/>Lightning vs. G (1d6 + 4): 4 + 4 =<span style="font-weight: bold">8 damage</span><br/><br/>Sophia: Move action to stand. Uses Fearsome Smite on Livia, who is flanked by her and Gorlon.<br/>Fearsome smite (1d20 + 11): 2 + 11 = 13  Oh jeez, Sophia...<img alt=":roll:" src="./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif" title="Rolling Eyes"/><br/><br/>Darro: Hits Sophia with halberd. (1d20 + 10): 10 + 10 = 20. Halberd (1d10 + 3): 6 + 3 =<span style="font-weight: bold">9 damage</span>. Sophia is now at 17 hp and bloodied.<br/><br/>HP:<br/>Gorlon: 11/38!<br/>Sophia: 16/43!<br/>Yula: 34/34<br/><br/>Darro: 47/47<br/>Milla: 42/42<br/>Livia: 48/69<br/><br/><a class="postlink" href="http://yfrog.com/msdemomap1p">The battlemap as of the end of round 2</a>.<br/><br/>At this point I realize that I may have made this encounter too tough for the PCs. However, I am pleased that it seems vore is certainly not overpowered, since, as we can see, trying to land a grapple is pretty difficult against an unbloodied enemy and might get you torn up by their counterattacks. If our intrepid villain-protagonists want these tasty humies (and half-humie) in their bellies, it looks like they'll need to do so as a finisher instead of an opening gambit. They still have a decent chance of winning, but they'll need to get serious; two of them are bloodied, but none of their enemies.