Deon watched the party turn into a wild hunt as Misty rode past him in, trying to show off by leaving him in the dust – in which she easily succeeded. Deon wasn’t the greatest rider and his horse, a brown cold blood gelding that went by the name of ‘Apple’, wasn’t exactly easy to spur into action. The speed of the ride and the ample blood on the ground had the horses excited but Apple just calmly trotted along the trail the lizardmen had left.<br/><br/>As they approached the Misty Forest, the ground became softer and the namesake light fog lay in the grass up to the horses’ knees, obscuring the ground underneath. Slowly, the meadows and light woods that lined the trade route became lizardmen territory. Deon didn’t like it, but Elora and Misty were almost out of earshot already and the gallop swallowed his shouts.<br/><br/>This headlong chase wasn’t exactly what he had meant when he had told Elora to ‘take the lead’. Leadership didn’t mean that you were the first of the fools in a charge; it meant that you made sure that it hit the right point in the enemies’ lines. As it were, Misty was the first to meet the enemy, but Elora was not short behind. The foe, in this case, being the swamp itself.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">Dice</div><div class="spoiler_body">Elora Spot: 1+4 = 5<br/>Misty Spot: 5+4 = 9<br/>-&gt;Both ride into the swamp and their horses stumble.<br/><br/>Soft Fall:<br/>Elora Ride: 7+11=18 Pass<br/>Misty Ride: 9+4=13 Fail, Misty takes 1D6=2 Damage<br/></div></div><br/>Fortunately, Lune was able to stop in time, as was Beatrice. Misty was shouting and covered in mud and long, black underwater grass roots. She had no trouble getting out of the murky pool again, though. Elora, on the other hand, hadn’t resurfaced yet; her full plate armour was dragging her down mercilessly.<br/><br/>Deon was just catching up when the rest of the party realized that this could be more than just a messy embarrassment like it had been for Misty. With her armour and gear – and without the barbarian’s strength to lift it – the swamp posed a real danger to the paladin.<br/><br/>A sound carried across the murky water, like a trumpet, only more… organic. A lizardman chieftain’s call to war. And then, a<em>hail</em>of barbed darts rained down on them.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button"> Dice</div><div class="spoiler_body">Targets distribution:<br/>Misty = 2 Hits = 8 Dam<br/>Lune = 2 hits = 4 Dam<br/>Beatrice = 1 hit = 4Dam<br/>Deon = 1hit 1 crit =7 Dam<br/>Misty’s horse = 1 hit 1 crit = 6Dam<br/>Lune’s horse = 1 hit = 3 Dam<br/>Apple = 2 hit = 2Dam<br/>Elora’s horse = 3 hit = Dam<br/></div></div><br/>The shooters were half-submerged in the murky water, only fully surfacing to fling their barbed darts. They were either a smaller breed of lizardmen, or probably their youngsters fighting as peltasts from the safety of the water. With everyone hiding behind their shields and looking for cover, it was hard to count the enemy’s number but<em>twenty</em>was as good a guess as any.<br/><br/>“We have to get back to the trees where we have cover!” Lune shouted and tried to turn her horse.<br/><br/>“No! Not without Elora! Find her! Get her<em>out</em>!” Deon commanded.<br/><br/><div class="spoiler_container"><div class="spoiler_header" onclick="hideSecond (this);" role="button">OOC</div><div class="spoiler_body">Elora can get out on her own with a swimming check, though with her armour the chances are not very good. Finding Elora shouldn’t be too hard, though: You saw where she went down and Misty is actually tall enough to just <em>wade</em> in the swamp pool, though the others are not. The party is gathered at the edge of the swamp pool with their horses. Misty is already <em>inside</em>, along with her horse which is currently rather panicked and trying to swim, as is Elora’s. Deon is maybe 20 feet to the back. <br/>There is no cover close by, though the trees that Lune spoke of start maybe 100 feet away from the current position and would offer cover. Also, the lizardmen darts probably don’t have much range.  </div></div>