"Cut them down! Stopping their escape first, taking prisoners second!" came the order as the hoofbeats of the horses grew ever nearer. Now that they were even closer, the lack of any and all armour on the horses grew apparent. These were not animals for war, a slim glimmer of hope for the ones making their escape. After all, they might be easier to deal with in many ways, if they were not trained for situations quite as stressful as combat.

Their riders however, they knew exactly what the idea was. With their marks conglomerating into a single spot, they would follow suit and collapse on them. The leaders let their lower ranking brethren in first, to serve as a distraction to their own assault to come in only a few seconds. To their disappointment, that was largely what the riders were capable of doing. They all swung their scimitars, but none of them could land their blows. It was as if they had never fought on horseback before, the half-orc, bear and pink haired cleric alike surviving without a scratch. But as pathetic as that attempt at an attack may have been, the more elaborately garbed pair nodded at one another in some unspoken understanding and rode forth to deliver their own attack.

With their numbers fewer, they could not reach all members of the rescue party sent from Greenest. Thus they chose to prioritise. The first one to approach swung their blade first at the barbarian, the recent need to protect oneself against their ally proving to be a mistake easily capitalised on as the wicked scimitar sliced a nasty wound onto the muscle of the hand holding the javelin. This assault was not over, however, and the blade was soon plunged towards the hind quarter of the bear now serving as a mount to twice as many people, this attack drawing blood much like the former, but being already weakened by the earlier impact it would not cut quite as deep.

The other of the commanders made their own strikes, Brannor managing to deflect the first one descending on his person quite amiably despite the presence of the interfering cultist, but the second sliced through the man's hood and neck alike. The dragonclaw sneered in triumph, only for their visage to soon contort into one of confusion. Any man would have died of such a blow, delivered in the name of the very Queen of Dragons. But not Brannor. Well, to be fair, the champion of Greenest was not one's usual man.

[hider=Mechanics&Rolls]
The cultists approach the party, taking up the positions detailed in the map below. Each of them ordered their horse to take the Dash action, having taken over 60 feet to reach their destination. Attack rolls were made as follows:[list][*]Cultist #1 targeted Orchid, rolling a [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11655]5[/url] to hit. Missed.
[*]Cultist #2 targeted Kyra with a roll of [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11656]10[/url]. Missed.
[*]Cultist #3 targeted Torus with a roll of [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11657]7[/url]. Missed.[/list]
The Dragonclaws were the next to move, and with their horses needing no extra movement, they were instructed to take the Dodge action. It should be noted they gain advantage on their attack rolls thanks to their allies being nearby (Pack Tactics) and that they have their own variant of Sneak Attack (Fanatic Advantage) that only procs when they have advantage. For now, they indeed did. And they make two attacks per turn. Their attacks were as follows, damage number provided before any resistances or vulnerabilities were applied:[list][*]Dragonclaw #1[list][*]Their 1st attack struck Orchid with a roll of [s][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11658]13[/url][/s] [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11659]16[/url]. This attack dealt [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11660]13[/url] damage.
[*] The second attack was aimed at Torus, and landed with a roll of [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11661]18[/url] [s][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11662]14[/url][/s]. This attack dealt [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11663]7[/url] damage, with Fanatic Advantage already being expended.[/list][*]Dragonclaw #2[list][*]Their 1st was aimed at Brannor with a roll of [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11664]12[/url] (the second roll being a [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11665]duplicate[/url]) to hit. Missed.
[*]The 2nd attack, still aimed at Brannor, scored a [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11667]critical hit[/url] on the second roll, with the first having been [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11666]19[/url]. With all the dice doubled, the amount of damage ended up being a whopping [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/rolls/11668]32[/url].[/list][/list]

[hider=Current battle positions][img]https://i.imgur.com/fmEutNV.png[/img][/hider]

Next up is Kyra Shepard [@Norschtalen].
[/hider]