Right, so what's the lizard up to? Question it from a safe distance (meaning one which permits me to sidestep behind a tree) about its needs.
It is laying in the recently vacated pool. "Hey there fella. Doing okay? Not feeling sad or anything are you? Fancy a song, ol' chap? or a game?"
the lizard yawns very wide at you, and blinks.
Where the action is.
Okay, you dart off after the rhino then. That seems to be the most action nearby. you catch up, then have to quickly elevate in order to avoid flying debris.
"Looks like you'll live for now. Stay safe, I'm going to find Dar."
I run down through the rhino's trail of destruction, attempting to catch up to Dar.
the going is a tad slow due to the obstacles in the way "underbrush, trampled vegetation, a few broken tree trunks tilted across the path (small ones, not like logs or anything) the sound gets a tad further away, before you hear the sounds of crashing and stamping, as if the thing found something to fight. You hear a loud, deep whine, and then a final crash, and then it goes still.
Apologies for this turn's structure, but I really don't want to make a dangerous assumption.
1.Does trying to cast a buff in the same turn as a jump away give a penalty to the leap check, due to multitasking?
2.Does clinging to the rhino require more rolls to maintain, or is it tiring over time or something? (If I'm not able to get the answer to this question, due to its meta nature, I'll assume yes)
If both are yes, just jump off without magical assistance. If 1 is no, and 2 is yes, cast the strongest dexterity buff possible, and jump off regardless of its success. If 1 is yes and 2 is no, cast the buff but don't try to jump off regardless of success. Finally, if both are no, cast the buff and jump off if it succeeds, but hang on otherwise.
Those are good questions, and I am going to roll Dar's decision on which to go with, because he is uncertain as to which would work best here. Well, let's see what Dar's will is. 2? okay, Dar avoids panicking and yanking himself free, and just clings to the beast, attempting to cast a dex buff - which fizzles. Dar fights off a wave of legarthy, and hangs on for dear life. Magic is getting difficult to cast at this point.
Fortunately for Dar, the Rhinobeast jerks itself to a sudden stop and rears up, then stamps the ground, snorts and begins shuffling around, before finally just rolling onto it's side and nosing it's foreleg. Dar takes a bit of a beating when the beast does this, but, like Fiddler, nothing is broken.