Erebus; the Arrival [epic planehopping]

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The unrelieved darkness of the plane reverberated with evil power and ancient magic. Erebus, the plane of Midnight, was aptly named; for those that could not see in the dark it was naught but a featureless Void in which all wanderers were lost. For those that darkness was not an obstacle, the plane was little different; an empty wasteland of scorched earth, black soil and rocks stretching forever in every direction, titanic mountains that dwarfed anything on the Prime reaching for the starless skies and bottomless fissures gaping wide every few miles.

Few that now lived knew that the plane was not natural. Once, long ago, mighty mages gathered to form a sanctuary for themselves and others where none could normally enter. Nobody knows what caused the mistake that led to the plane's current form-or if there was a mistake-but ever since Erebus has balanced precariously between the Abyss and the Far Realms. Millenia have passed for the Prime since that time but for the Plane of Midnight and its timeless darkness it has been time immemorial.


In a circle of thirteen standing stones each more than six hundred yards tall and about half as wide, the darkness was disturbed by flashes of blue light, whorls of magical energy and fluctuations of time and space. Slowly, ever so slowly, what was instantaneous to its plane of origin manifested over a course of minutes in the massive crater between the stones. The darkness convulsed and disgorged one by one the forms of living creatures, a very rare occurence for the plane of Midnight. And in the broken lands around the circle empty eyes turned towards the stones where the fires of life were burning again in their vision. For contrary to all appearances, Erebus was far from empty...



Your characters enter one by one in the plane. There's darkness covering everything and light seems to be swallowed by it but describe your characters anyway. You appear close enough to eachother that you can notice the others-but your surroundings appear covered by a fine haze of black ash more than two hundred feet away or so.

Enviromnental conditions include abysmal cold (the plane is not actually ice-dominant, it just lacks a source of warmth such as the sun) so take 1d10 cold damage per round. Erebus is also majorly negative-dominant. Every round you must make a DC 25 fortitude save or take a negative level.

Consider these environmental conditions your first "encounter" for the campaign. Assume 2 rounds between appearances of characters.

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

The first of arrivals, the old shadow dragon Winnowshade takes form among the stones. At last! Long have I sought a way to this world, and now I am here! Then the old drake flinches. It is a tad bit cold here, though. I need time to plan.

Mumbling a few arcane words out loud, the shadow among shadows procures a rope from his possessions. This should do nicely. The rope fastens itself into thin air, and with the aid of his wings, Winnowshade ascends to his own safe haven. After seeing more shapes taking form, he decides to leave the rope hanging, but melds into the shadows inside the extradimensional space. The fact remained: he was not adequately prepared for these conditions, and so he needed... he hated to admit it, help. It would take much too much trouble to shift back to the material planes and back - it had not been easy to gain access to this place.

Yup, you've got it. Rope trick. I'll describe the appearance of my character in detail once he is forced to show himself.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Winnowshade enters the rope trick... only to find himself in a featureless void with the exact same conditions as the plane itself...


Knowledge: the Planes DC 30 to realise what's going on and why the Rope Trick didn't work exactly as it should.

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

Well I'll be damned. Now the black drake really wished that one of the newcomers had a method to counteract this cursed cold - though his natural healing closed the wounds caused by the frostbites almost immedietly, it was not comfortable, and in the long run, it might prove to be lethal. He could, however, do something to alleviate the pain. With a grumble, the dragon casts another spell and descends from the rope trick. Immedietly the pain of the cold disappeared, but he knew the shield was being worn down swiftly. Hidden by the shadows, the dragon awaited.

Cast Protection from Energy (cold), protects from 120 cold damage. Got 45 on the knowledge check, rolled in OOC.

[Fan]

Adjusting to the cold with his necklace of adaption, and a set of shifting into his favored form of a Balor to resist the cold, and gain with his armors natural ability to shift with him he also retained its ability to ward off the negative energy of this plane.
The Balors voice rumbled as he mumbled to himself about the difference between a short cut, and a short coming.

[Frog Dragon]

"No thissss issss not the..... plane...! ssss"
The Yuan-Ti's natural darkvision pierces the shadows of the place, but reveals little, but more shadows, and a balor. He feels the bite of frost, but his cloak shields him from things other than mild uncomfortability. He then feels the tendons of negative energy reach him "SssSS!" Slishye grimaces Fort Save[roll0] as negative energy tries to harm him, failing. He then looks at the balor with a suspicious glint "Who, sss are you" drawing a white curved sword as he speaks.

[Fan]

"I'am Nikolai. Shepherd of the planes, and if I may be bold enough to inquire your name?"
Social manners are tantamount even in a near lethal situation...

[Frog Dragon]

"I am Slishye, Disssciple sss of the Jade Phoenixss sss"

[Fan]

"A pleasure. Now, do you wish to stay here in this plane of darkness, or do you wish to leave with me here shortly?"

[Frog Dragon]

I am here.. sss... becausse I...." He then seems to think he has realized something "Why you asssk..? Being sss of the darknessss... are you trying to trick me ssss?!" He refrains attack for he does not want fight with a balor nif it can be avoided
And yes my character only sees a Balor

[Fan]

"TEXT TO BE ENTERED HERE!~."

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

A vortex of darkness opened up and spat out a large draconic humanoid like a missile of light. The figure landed on the ground with a loud crunch, and it was as though someone had brought a beacon of light into the midnight as the cleric radiated the holy light of Celestia itself.

He brought himself up to his full height and his draconic eyes shifted as his darkvision activated. The cold fled from him like leaves in the wind, and even the life-draining properties of the plane could not reach him.

"Hm. This is not the Abyss. How peculiar... I was sure that I was being dragged there."

He appeared to not notice those around him for a moment. When he did, he turned, looking somewhat surprised to find others in this place. "May the Platinum Dragon's blessings be with you all." And simply by his request, they were.

His eyes narrowed as he realized what stood before him, and he spoke the command word to Platinum Bastion that activated its animation. Bringing the spear in front of him, he tightens his grip and growls, "A Balor and a Yuan-ti. Perhaps not." His eyes flash platinum as he glares at them.

Albrecht is immune to cold and negative energy, and has Endure Elements active. Therefore, he is unaffected entirely. Also, using his Bless spell-like ability, followed by Detect Evil on the Balor and Yuan-ti.

Knowledge: The Planes to figure out where he is. [roll0]

[Belial_the_Leveler]

And NONE of those would detect anything. You should have asked me first via PM before mentioning any player knowledge as PC knowledge. In fact, if you had detected anything, I'd have said so already. So, can the two of you edit your PMs to discuss about something else.

For example, why are a Balor and a yan-ti socialising? How do you know Slishye can see through your shapechange?

[Fan]

"Peace, worhsipper of the platnium dragon... I'am merely a shepherd of the planes who assumes the form of a being of darkness for safety purposes, and I sense that the Yaun ti's heart is lacking malice* as well."


*This is a gut feeling.. If the Yaun-ti was the kind of evil that wished to attack it would have already.

[MikelaC]

The stones glow again, and this time, an almost impossibly beautiful woman steps out. Despite the fact that she is dressed in nothing more than a flimsy robe, she seems totally unaffected by the cold. She examines her shoulders critically

"Damn, I worked hard to earn that cloak....well, not hard, but I did earn it. Stupid Korvan."

She looks up at that point, and summons up her most dazzling smile.

"And who do we have here? What is this place that I find myself in?"

Someone who shall remain nameless has really screwed with MY computer. I cannot type in color for some reason and some Windows Antivirus 360 takes a fit whenever I try to open anything. I cant seem to find how to get it off, I dont want to buy it, but its screwing everything up.

[Heliomance]

Once more, there is a blue glow from the stones, though the new entrant is far less attractive than the previous one. An Eye Tyrant soars through the portal in some hurry. Looking around, he mutters to himself in Beholder.
<Hmph. Erebus. Well, it's better than the Far Realms. Not very pleasant, though.>

His eyestalks wave briefly, and one of them glows with magic. The Beholder settles slightly, far more comfortable now. He looks around, seeming to only now notice the others. He speaks again, this time in Common.

"Greetings. I am Gakarellek. What brings you here?"

Gakarellek has a +41 to Knowledge (The Planes), so he can't fail the check to work out where he is. The spell he cast was Attune Form, rendering him immune to the adverse environmental effects of the plane.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

You realise this new plane you find yourselves in is disjointed from the Astral; magic that would use Astral links to work has to use the plane itself. There is no telling how each individual spell will be affected-if you knew the properties of the plane you could make an educated guess. Rope trick-and possibly other extradimensional spaces as well-would share the same planar conditions with the plane, if not its environmental ones.

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

How bizarre, the dragon thought. A yuan-ti, a balor, a servant of the Platinum Dragon, a female human - a mage perhaps? - and an eye tyrant. And to his great surprise, there wasn't an instant battle. Winnowshade listened closely, and with great curiosity, for they spoke.

Surprise, surprise. Apparently the balor was no balor. The yuan-ti might be here by accident... as well as most of the others. Winnowshade remained most concerned about the beholder - they were notorious for their insanity, and though this one appeared lucid enough for the moment, they were also known for their unpredictability.

Winnowshade decides to conceal his presence, for now. At least until the servant of the Platinum Dragon calmed down, and even afterwards it might be better for him to hide his true identity: Platinum Dragon did not take a forgiving view of the so called evil dragons.


Can I make either Knowledge (the planes) check or a Draconic Knowledge (the feat from Draconomicon, works like Bardic Knowledge) check to find out more about Erebus, it's conditions and it's inhabitants?

If I can, Knowledge (the planes):
[roll0]
Draconic Knowledge:
[roll1]

For future referance, ongoing spells:
-Magic Aura on all magic items - Winnowshade casts it twice a day each morning, recovering the spell slots with Memento Magicas. If I've understood correct, this will prevent detection by Arcane Sight or Detect Magic.
- Protection from Energy (cold), 120 points

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek grinned, his pointed teeth showing below the remains of his ruined central eye.

"It seems someone is shy! Come out, come out, Mister Dragon! I know you're there! You're very good at hiding, but I'm even better at finding."

Assuming you're within 100ft, I spotted you with Mindsight. Darkstalker only protects against blindsense, blindsight, scent and tremorsense.

[DMBlackhart]

DM BelialI dont really have my sheet fully done. But I figured I will post anyways to keep pace with anyone else. If the DM rather I wait then just erase my post.

Grans days of planar solitude most have gotten to him. He has seen many worlds before, but nothing like this. This world was cold, and what he would have though lifeless. However he looks about the area, at the other creatures. Hmmm, Dragon. He mumbles under his breath. The full effects of this darkened plane had not been immediatly clear to Gran. With a slight shiver the cold begins to set in, and so too does an odd feeling od despair.Fort Save 1d20+28

Gran is a vernerable human, with dark brown skin. He dresses in many items of blue, his robes in particular. He wears a hooded cloak, as to hide his person at all times. The man lacks hair of any kind. His bald head is tatooed with unorthodox symbols and shapes. The man hasent bathed in what would seem years. Nor does it look as if hes changed his cloths in awhile. Gran, a planar tramp.

[Adumbration]

With reflexive speed, the dragon of shadows takes to the skies, rising good 150 ft directly up in the air. It had been a long, long while since anyone had detected his presence without him wishing it. Bringing his wings to cover his body, Winnowshade prepares for the eye rays about to cut into his body.

After a few seconds, when nothing happens, the drake opens it's wings again, hovering, ready to bolt. Perhaps this one was not quite as insane as he had thought. Or in the other hand, he might've crossed some crucial distance where the beholder could not detect him anymore. Either way, his presence was now known. To all. Including the servant of the Platinum one. But perhaps not all was lost - the beholder had not named what dragon he was.

With a twist of his claws, Winnowshade summons a cantrip for his use. Targeting the beholder alone, he whispers: "Why should I come forth? Beholders are not known for their trustworthiness - and neither are balors, or anyone pretending to be one. And servants of the Platinum dragon are fanatic about... evil dragons."

Cantrip called Message.

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek waves his eyestalks again, and the area around the party brightens somewhat. The small buckler floating in front of him begins to glow brightly, shedding light in the area. Not seeing the dragon, and no longer able to detect his mind, he began to float up in the direction the creature's mind had been going - straight up. As he rose, he spoke aloud.

"Skulking's rude, did you not know? I can't vouch for the Balor, but I'm sane, as such things go. And obviously the finest specimen of Beholderkind you'll ever see. We've managed not to kill each other so far, have we not? Good, evil - just words, if you ask me, no matter what Mr Shiny down there thinks."

Spell cast: Daylight

[Adumbration]

Message, continuing:
"Let's be reasonable, shall we? You put out your little light and stop attracting eldritch horrors, and I'll come down for a little chat. I reserve the right to remain unseen, however: this is no picnic area, and I'd rather avoid those eldritch horrors."

The shadow dragon moves, as a precaution, another 150 feet upwards.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The relatively minor light does not illuminate the plane more than a dozen feet-the air itself seems to be drinking it down every moment. A peculiar trait, one you recognise as predominant in the Plane of Shadow. Perhaps this plane has some link to it?

The light, however, does more than banish the darkness from around the beholder and its shield. Almost half a minute after the light is ignited, a horrible screech can be heard faintly from some place beyond your point of arrival into this new world. Whatever made it, if it screamed as soon as the spell was cast and the air is no denser in this plane than the prime, must have been a dozen miles away or more. And if you judge the distance correctly, the screech must have been as strong as a thunderbolt if not stronger...


About half a minute has passed since your arrival. Roll collectively for the following;
Energy Drain; If you're not benefiting from Deathward, Undeath's Eternal Foe or similar magics or are not otherwise immune to energy drain, make five DC 25 fortitude saves. Each failure amounts to a negative level. This is a planar trait.
Cold Damage; Roll 5x 1d10 cold damage. Apply resistance/immunity to each roll separately (so, if you have resist 10, you take no damage). This is an environmental trait.

Oh, and you've attracted one eldritch horror.

[Heliomance]

The Beholder rolls his eyes - an impressive sight - and floats down to the ground again. Dispelling the light spell - the shadowy illumination only stretched as far as his natural darkvision anyway - he speaks.

"Happy now? The eldritch horrors in here are better than the ones I saw on the way, anyway - I came via the Far Realms."

Wait - Attune Form doesn't protect me from the cold? In that case I'll have cast Resist Energy when I first arrived. Misunderstanding on my part.

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade drops like a stone, halting his descent with his wings at the last moment, before landing softly near the beholder. Though he is still not in sight, he is no longer trying to hide the sounds of his movements, which makes him rather easy to pinpoint.

Out loud, he says: "Say, you appear to possess magical powers. The cold is rather biting here - could you consider casting Resist Energy, cold on me? It's a small price, but it might forge some trust here."

On second thought, I don't like Impact. It makes the text a bit too hard to read. Experimenting on other fonts now, since black is THE color to have for a shadow dragon.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Eldred curses as his vision goes suddenly black after completing the final gestures and incantations of his new spell. Success doesn't usually involve the loss of sight. Damn. And damn this cold! Eldred speaks a spell of seeing, and jerks in surprise when he sees the balor, the yuan-ti and the dragonborn. "Who are you, and what is this place?" he asks in a tone that is accustomed to obedience. While waiting for an answer, he speaks two spells of protection and then keeps his hands poised over his component pouches.

Eldred is a tall man with rich chocolate skin. His face is narrow; he has a long narrow beard, a bald head and hard dark eyes. He wears a loose sleeveless red tunic, sandals, a sack on his back and silver hoops in his ears.
Darkvision, Endure Elements and Attune Form.

[Frog Dragon]

"Ssss? More? And who are you that I cannot ssseee?"Slishye calls on the power of his stormcrow amulet. Large crow wings spout from his back and with one powerful flap, he takes sixty feet to the featureless sky for a better vantage point at whatever might be coming.

I rolled fort already. And the wings are functionally the same as those from the ring of Solar Wings. Just refluffed to fit an item that is called Stormcrow amulet. It's a combination item.

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek floats silently down behind the man. "Ah, another newcomer," he says suddenly. "Getting quite crowded in here. At least you seem to have the skill to protect yourself from the conditions."
One of his eyestalks glows, and Winnowshade feels a lot more comfortable.

Cast Resist Energy.
Spells cast so far: 1x4th level, 1x3rd leve, 1x2nd level.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

Hearing the scream in the distance, Albrecht lowers his spear and his eyes shift back to their normal azure. "Unsurprising. The denizens of this place have no love for the light. Gather around me and I shall grant you all protection from the negative effects of this plane."

Hearing the dragon, he points his spear at its location. "I surmise that, given you are so at home in the darkness, you are, at least in current form, a Shadow Dragon. I do not fear you, nor should you need fear me unless you give me cause to be fearsome. Lower your resistances to magic so that I may protect you before this denizen of the darkness approaches. I do not lie."

If/when the others gather around him, Albrecht casts Planar Tolerance, granting them protection from the planar traits of Erebus, followed by Mass Conviction (which grants a +5 morale bonus to all saving throws) and a Permanent Status. He then casts Omen of Peril. If Safety, he casts nothing else. If Danger, he casts Eyes of the Avoral and Sign on himself. If Grave Danger, he casts Fortunate Fate on the party member with the least hit points and Divine Insight.

[Heliomance]

"Protection without having to spend my own spells? I like this idea."

[AmberVael]

Azira

The plane was dark, far darker than anything had a right to be, but Azira did not mind it- after all, it was her element. In a brief flicker of magic she appears among the others, but her own power over shadow- combined with her innate skill at remaining undetected, should hopefully keep her concealed until she consciously decides to reveal herself. She notes a surprising number of people, and while they babble and speak suspiciously to each other, she quietly murmurs the incantation to a spell to protect herself from the effects of the plane, strengthening her bond to the shadows as she attempts to determine what manner of meeting she's stumbled into.

Should anyone manage to see her, they'd see a light skinned woman with disturbingly red eyes, a thin devil's tail twitching behind her as she contemplated them all, twirling a dagger between her fingers.

Casting Attune Form to protect from planar effects. (Costing me one inspiration point, but since there doesn't seem to be a fight yet, that shouldn't matter).

Notes on Azira's current status in terms of detecting her...

-One of her magic items completely prevents her from being detected by Darkvision and Scent, so anyone using that is probably out.
-Anyone with Blindsight, Blindsense, or Tremorsense (Or scent, but that's already covered) has to make a spot or listen check to detect me (Darkstalker feat).
-Azira has Hide in Plain Sight as long as she has two points of Essentia invested in Embrace of Shadow. She needs nothing to hide behind to use her hide skill.
-She has continual Mindblank going, so that should also help things out...

Current Points invested in soulmelds and abilities:
Lucky Dice (5) (+5 to skill checks, or +5 to most any roll if I get a seven: [roll0]
Worg Pelt (4) (+8 to hide and move silently)
Embrace of Shadow (3) (30% concealment and hide in plain sight)

Oh, and here are her rolls to remain unseen:
Hide: [roll1]
Move Silently: [roll2]

She'll also slip into her Assassin's Stance, just in case...

[MikelaC]

"Protection from the negative elements of this plane? That sounds like a good idea to me, especially with the approach of....well, whatever that is"

Linteshar walks with a sway, more than close enough to Saint Albrecht to gain the effects of his spell.

"By the way, I suppose I should introduce myself, my name is Linteshar Zadrin, perhaps you have heard of me? The dancer and singer of The Golden Rose. Oh, but then, seeing as this is hardly Erandol, I suppose you might not even hail from that plane."

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

After a moment of hesitation, the voice sounds: "Well, I suppose your kind is not known for oathbreakery. But please, do not try anything funny." You can only tell by the flux of air that the great beast hovers above you.

"Saw that flash of blue light? I think another one has joined us."

Winnowshade lowers his SR, for now, getting it back up again immedietly after the buffs. And since I forgot to add it to the original buffs, he casts Nondetection spell like ability on himself.

[Frog Dragon]

The Yuan-Ti hears the servant of Bahamut's suggestion and responds
"Ssss... I would be grateful ss for your protective ssspellsss for I do not possssesss the meansss to protect myssself from the sss negative energy of thisss plane. Sssss My cloak only absssorbssss the cold.. sss." He glides next to the servant of bahamut, landing, but does not call back his wings.

My boots give me tremorsense so Spot&Listen here
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]

[Fan]

Mikolai rumbled to himself about fools errands, and protecting people who randomly wander into planes as dangerous as these.
"Anyways, I suggest we leave this plane soon. I'AM prepared for its dangers, and can shift myself, and others out of this black abyss if you so please... I'm sure you don't all want to be stuck in this realm of nightmares."
(I also have a crazy Knwoledge (the planes) check +30 infact.. so I can't fail.)

[Tequila Sunrise]

Eldred agrees. "Why bother fighting if we can simply plane shift away?" Eldred gladly accepts the dragonkin's protections, and asks "Does anyone know what is attacking us? I haven't heard or seen anything dangerous...besides you all, of course."
K (the Planes): What's stopping us from simply plane shifting out?: [roll0]
K (the Planes): What kind of creepy crawly thing screams from miles away?: [roll1]

[Iethloc]

The arrival of the next (un)lucky one was much more noticeable. A flash of blue light, an agonized moan, and then a ground-shaking THUDDDDD as some several-ton weight hits the ground. Nsahorek shifts into halfling form as he gets up, preferring not to be in his largest form while on an obviously hostile plane. He quickly notices the small congregation not far away.

He currently appears as a halfling with black hair and blue eyes, short and with a child-like build, like all halflings. He looks somewhat homely, but has that halfling, almost child-like charm about him. Most of his clothing is humble, only the runes on the gloves, and the glittering of the belt, rings and boots give away the fact he is magically equipped. Anyone with True Seeing would see the faint form of his true Titan form, much taller with pure white eyes and golden hair, and far more beautiful than his assumed form.

"It's a mite chilly here, isn't it?" he said.

The ring gives me cold resistance 30, and thanks to Steadfast Determination, he doesn't fail my fortitude save on a 1. Hs Knowledge (The Planes) Modifier is +39, so he'll know this is Erebus. I only need worry about Eldritch Horrors.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Yet another scream echoes from the impenetrable darkness surrounding you, this one much stronger and thus closer; Saint Albrecht does not need the dire warning of his spell to realise something terrible is approaching. You can't help but feel blind, sitting ducks in the darkness. You can't see farther than a couple hundred feet even with magic but what if whatever's approaching can?

[Adumbration]

"I don't know about you, but I'm not here by accident - I intend to stick around for a while. And I'm not about to be cowed by a screecher in the night. Stay here while I go and see what lurks in the darkness." One beat of wings, and the dragon is gone.


Before leaving, Winnowshade buffs up with Scintillating scales, making his touch AC 60, regular AC 70. Then he goes directly up to about 600 feet, and flies toward the sound of the scream. Listen check to determine the exact direction: [roll0]

Hopefully on his way to that direction, he will be able to determine the exact location by sound. If necessary, another Listen check: [roll1]. Then, since his darkvision is only 120 ft, he will swoop down - double the speed for downward motion - just enough to see what's down there. He will then promptly rise to 450 feet and return the others.

All the while, he will be Moving Silently at a -5 penalty - accounted already in the roll.

Move Silently check:
[roll2]

Wish me luck, folks. :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: Do I need even mention that he will be using Shadow Blend, and thus has Total Concealment? No kind of spot check can detect him, not even with blindsight or their ilk. Tremorsense won't work, he's flying. Arcane sight can't detect his magic items due to Magic Aura spells, and if I'm not wrong Buckler of Invulnerability gives immunity to mind-affecting - though the wording is a bit hazy. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything.

EDIT 2: To be frank, I'm still a bit concerned. Belial's monsters are not known for their forgiving nature.

[Fan]

"Well, it is my duty to see those endangered within the planes to safety as a Planar Shepherd, but I can't attempt a shift without appropriate time, so I think we might wish to discover the nature of this beast of nightmare before we attempt any such journey."

[Belial_the_Leveler]

As Winnowshade flies away from the place of arrival, he narrowly misses a huge vertical column of black stone too wide and tall to fit in his narrow field of vision. He gets the feeling, from how the sound seems to echo around him, that the group's point of origin is surrounded by a number of those huge vertical stones.

In any case though, the scheeches come from beyond the circle and drawing nearer at a great speed. It is not long before the dragon nearly stumbles upon a black humanoid form almost as large as himself-or so it appears against the darkness. No sooner he notices the figure than boulders begin to rain upwards against him.



The Forsaken pulls a Darth Vader; defend yourself against insane boulder attack!

Each boulder does 5d6 damage-you roll it if it hits. I'm rolling attacks;
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
Note that you don't have miss chance against the Forsaken.

[MikelaC]

"I am here by accident, well, actually I was running from a situation that was rapidly getting out of my control. But when I used a plane shift, the stupid wizard hit me with a meteor swarm, and somehow, the blend of magics tossed me here, instead of where I was intending to go. If you dont mind too much, I'll just stand behind you if I may"
*moves behind Saint Albrecht*
"And from here, I can do my spells thing, seeing as I am not a melee combatant.
By the way, I cast my spells by singing, dont be alarmed."

[Adumbration]

Getting three severe hits from boulders that hit spot on, Winnowshade veers back and flies at full speed to report.

It appears that three of those hit, due to natural 20s. I'm assuming they have a crit modifier of x2.

Critical confirmation 1:
[roll0]
Critical confirmation 2:
[roll1]
Critical confirmation 3:
[roll2]

Certain damage:
[roll3]

Possible damage:
[roll4]

Winnowshade will fly back to the others either with combinations two move actions, or if possible, a run actions. And this time he won't even try to move silently.

Knowledge (the planes) for information about those things:
[roll5]

Total damage taken if DR/magic applies: 33.
If it doesn't: 63 damage.
HP: 430/493 (or 460, if for some quirk, DR applies)

[Heliomance]

As soon as Albrecht's spells go off, Gakarellek begins flying upwards again. Height is an advantage in nearly all situations.

[Fan]

Well, considering no one can see winnow shade do jack because of his constant hiding... Nikolai slips into the stance of perfect mind ready for a attack with the recent cacophany caused by the gravity dicated fall of ALOT of boulders.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"It comes, whatever it is. Bahamut, grant me the sight to do battle with thy foes, grant me the strength to strike them down, and grant me the grace to live and continue serving you."

Albrecht casts three more spells, the second (only after all have returned) of which causes even the pain of the cold to subside and a sense of extreme well-being to come over all those assembled.

The third causes a translucent shield of light and holy power to coalesce in front of him, swirling about with his mithral shield.

"If any desire the freedom to move without impairment in the battle, speak now!"

Casting Ebon Eyes to see normally in the darkness.
Spot: [roll0]
Listen: [roll1]
Also casting Sublime Revelry on everyone -- 1/2 damage from melee and ranged attacks.
First person to ask for it gets an Extended Freedom of Movement spell.
Also casting a Divine Spell Powered Extended Shield of the Archons. I'll have to roll in the OOC thread since I already rolled in this post.

[Iethloc]

"Ah, by the Gods...I'm thrown onto a hostile plane and now I have to fight for my life before I can even put my feet up. I'll take care of this one," Nsahorek says casually. Once he finished speaking, he shed his assumed form, becoming an enormous Titan once again. Then he holds both hands above his head, and, in a blaze of ethereal fire, an enormous hammer appears in his hands, larger than even him. The enormous weapon would shed quite a bit of light if it weren't for the stubborn darkness of Erebus; instead, it merely glows dimly.

Whether through the sheer power of his confidence or something more esoteric, Nsahorek's mere presence could lend motivation, like he was trying to do right there and then. "Whatever's coming, I'm sure I'll have seen worse...it won't be any problem to deal with any tricks it might have," he commented.

I'll extend Resilient Troops to everyone, so that's +1 to all saves to those within 60ft, and I will also spend a Swift Action to activated Determined Caster, granting anyone within 60ft a +13 bonus to overcome Spell Resistance.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Winnowshade flies as fast as he can back to the group, the strange creature keeping pace with him in eerie silence. It seems to be slipping through the darkness like a man's shadow moves across a wall, never moving itself, never affected by wind or barriers. As soon as the dragon comes within sight of the group though, the thing pauses for a moment and falls behind...

...and suddenly Linteshar, Azira, Nikolai and Gakarellek feel an invisible force thrusting them away from the group and towards the darkness beyond the returning dragon. And before they can blink, a terrible black figure, nothing but an empty cloak made of darkness wrapped around nothingness, towers above them and screams, the horrible screech hammering them like a titan's maul.



Everyone roll initiative except for Winnowshade and the Forsaken-for them combat has already started.

Strength checks against the above characters. If you fail you're moved 5 feet plus 1 foot per point of failure;
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

Also, make a DC 38 fortitude save or take 10d6 sonic damage, be deafened for 4d6 rounds and be stunned for 1 round. A successful save negates the stun, and halves the deafness duration and the amount of damage.

[Heliomance]

As he hears the monster getting closer, Gakarellek's eyestalks begin to weave in and out of each other rapidly, and he starts to sing an eerie, keening song.

Casting Nerveskitter, +5 to Initiative.
Initiative: [roll0]
Strength check: [roll1]
Fort save: [roll2]

Damage: [roll3]
Deafness: [roll4]

I assume the monster is now within 100ft. Assuming it's not mindless, I know where it is, what type it is, and what it's int score is. What is it's int score and type?

More actions to come based on the result of my save.

Incidentally, are we roling initiative before or after that attack, and what initiative was the attack at?

[Adumbration]

Now that the dragon had reached his friends - right alongside with the monster, which was unexpected - he prepared for battle.

Initiative: [roll0]

[Iethloc]

"Hrm, this seems to be one of the trickier beings I've seen," Nsahorek comments. That didn't make him any less ready, however. He firmly gripped his hammer and prepared to charge into battle.

[roll0]

[Frog Dragon]

Initiative: [roll0]
Shlishye casts a spell almost faster than you can see. He then takes twenty feet to the air and soars towards the form bringing to bear a powerful, focused strike.

Mechanically quickened true strike followed up by a move action of going 20 feet up and spending the rest of the move straight towards the form hitting it with Nachrachum using greater insightful strike. If this can't hurt I don't know what to do.
Attack: [roll1]
Damage: [roll2]

[Heliomance]

As the howl came, Gakarellek's eyes widened. His singing rose in intensity, and he seemed to blur slightly in speed. Several of his eyestalks glowed as he began to discharge spells. Though his mouth is busy with his spellsong, the others hear resounding in their minds, "The thing's undead, and as smart as a pit fiend! Choose your spells carefully!"

Casting Lesser Celerity (2nd level spell) to get a move action.
In the move action:
Casting Summon Elemental Monolith (9th level spell) - summoning an Earth monolith
Casting Summon Monster VIII (8th level spell) - summoning a Colossal Fiendish Monstrous Centipede
Casting Summon Monster VI (6th level spell) - summoning a Gargantuan Fiendish Monstrous Centipede
Casting Attune Form (4th level spell) on all three summons.

Just beneath him on the ground, three portals open briefly, and new creatures appear. Two great centipedes and an earth elemental, all of them ridiculously large. Gakarellek swoops down and brushes against all of them, protecting them from the effects of the plane, before ordering them off to attack the beast.

The shockwave from the howl hits them at that point, and magic discharges on the Beholder, protecting him somewhat. Alas, the summoned creatures are not so lucky, they get hit.

Howl triggered my contingency, so I now have Energ Immunity (Sonic) up. If I take no damage, am I still subject to the stun and deafness?

Strength checks for the summons:
Earth elemental: [roll0]
Colossal centipede: [roll1]
Gargantuan centipede: [roll2]

Fort saves:
Elemental: [roll3]
Colossal C: [roll4]
Gargantuan C: [roll5]

Damage:
Elemental: [roll6]
Colossal C: [roll7]
Gargantuan C: [roll8]

Deafness:
Elemental: [roll9]
Colossal C: [roll10]
Gargantuan C: [roll11]

Elemental is not subject to stunning.

[Fan]

Strength check DC 21.. .easy enough...

[roll0]

Intiative:
[roll1]

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade, reluctant to close in melee yet, draws forth a handful of pebbles, muttering an incantation. Then he hurls one of the pebbles at the monster - and suddenly, the pebble is a boulder. "Let's see how you like your own medicine," he mutters to himself.

Let's see what's the AC on this thing... The spell is Giant's Wrath, Spell Compedium page 105. Range increment is 120, add penalties if necessary - although I'm assuming that Winnowshade is within 120 feet of the thing.

Ranged attack:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"Foul beast of shadow! In the name of Bahamut, I will destroy thee!"

Faster than lightning, the light radiating from Albrecht coalesces into a lance of pure energy and he hurls it towards the monster, the bolt of light streaking through the darkness towards the monster.

He then points a clawed hand at the beast and a green ray flies from his hand, seeking to bind the monster to this plane.

Using Metamagic Rod of Quicken to cast Lucent Lance. Albrecht's square is always Bright thanks to his Protective Aura, so it deals 15d6 damage.

Initiative: [roll0]
Ranged Touch Attack for Lucent Lance: [roll1]
Damage [roll2]
If it hits, the creature is blinded for a round and dazed for another, no save. Also, even if it's immune to everything else and it's sensitive to bright light somehow, it's affected as though it had been exposed to bright light for 1 round.

Ranged Touch Attack for Dimensional Anchor: [roll3]

[AmberVael]

Azira

Azira attempts to resist the howl as best she can, holding her arms up in front of her, remaining in the shadows as best as she can as she makes her way towards the monster, creeping through the blackness before hurling her dagger at it, attempting to test its defenses before she went in for a more powerful strike.


I'm not sure how I was spotted... if it overcame my hide check, then I have something to be worried about, but in the meantime-

Here's my roll for Lucky Dice on this turn- if it's a seven, add a +5 luck bonus to my fort save, otherwise... it only adds to skill and ability checks (as it has been for the last few rounds, including when I first arrived)
Strength Check: [roll0]
Initiative: [roll1]

Fort Save: (Spending an inspiration point to add my intelligence modifier, which takes no kind of action at all) [roll2]

-Azira's turn-
I'm still in Assassin's stance, which means that I add +2 to my attack with my dagger, and I've decided to use Insightful strike, which means I add another +2 to my attack with my dagger (since it is a Shadow Hand/Diamond Mind dagger), putting my total attack bonus with it at +35.

Also, I'll reallocate my essentia like so:
Lucky Dice (5) (+5 luck bonus on attacks, or on everything if I roll a 7: [roll3]
Worg Pelt (3) (+6 hide/move silently)
Embrace of the Shadow (4) (I gain a 40% miss chance, and have hide in plain sight, as usual)

My attack bonus is at +40, and now I'll spend an inspiration point to add my intelligence modifier, making it +50.

I'll use 25ft of my move speed to get as close as I can, and then chuck my dagger at it (it has a 20ft range increment, and automatically returns to me). It's also effective against incorporeal combatants, and after one strike will change to bypass any damage reduction they might have.
[roll4]
If that hits, I'll deal:
[roll5] damage. Add 5 to that if I rolled a 7 for lucky dice.

I'll use the Snipe rules to try and hide again.
Hide: [roll6] (-20 already added in)
Move Silently: [roll7] (-5 already added in).
Add 5 to both rolls if lucky dice got a seven.

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

Chaos broke out all around Nsahorek. Spells were thrown, creatures were summoned, advice was shouted. Home, sweet home. Hammer in hand, the Titan charged towards the Forsaken, fast as the wind. If the hammer hit, it would topple nearly any creature.


Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Trip: [roll2]

EDIT: Oh, I forgot to add that this is a charge attack, so that's +2 to the attack roll. I assumed it was more than a 5ft step away.

Any crits, or if I successfully trip it and get a free attack (thank you, Improved Trip) will be rolled in the other thread. Greater Truedeath Crystal gives +1d6 damage and lets me crit it normally.

[Fan]

The Balor will charge the Forsaken using his emerald razor manuever to make his attacks sink through the beasts skin no matter how tough, hwoever other defenses will still be of use against him.

attack

[roll0]
Damage if it gets through
damage
[roll1]
If crit
[roll2]
confirm roll
[roll3]
No pounce as I'm a AC monkey, and once I can get a full attack off. >.>

[MikelaC]

Linteshar staggers back from the howling attack on her, shakes her head and tries to concentrate.
Focusing on the beast, she breaks into song, and a blue white ray of cold and ice flies toward the creature.

polar ray, ranged touch attack

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Azira, despite being mostly human in some regards, reacts nearly twice as fast as anybody else and sends a dagger spinning right at the towering undead horror. The dagger flies true but before it can strike, the shadow-thing turns faster than the eye and bats it away with a midnight-black, blade-shaped shaft as long as Azira is tall. The assasin could swear her adversary wasn't holding any such weapon a split second before. The dagger, parried out of its course, vanishes and returns to Azira's hand.

Saint Albrecht smites the fiend with holy magic in the name of Bahamut seeking to blind it, blast it away and bind it to this plane. The creature reacts as it did with Azira though, flicking its blade left then right and catching both magics upon the black shaft. The spells seem to dwindle, shrink and be absorbed by the darkness with no effect.

Shlishye flies up and away from the abomination and first casts a minor magic to foresee how a single blow can be guided to strike true. That done, he slashes out at the shadowy being... but his blade passes harmlessly through.

The massive titan Nsahorek charges at the undead horror, his massive hammer striking downwards with great force and hitting. In his hands the resistance is more akin to striking a big sponge or a mass of water than a living being and the little damage Nsahorek manages to do vanishes before his eyes as the creature seems to shrug it off-or somehow heal it away even as it's being done.

A slightly smaller warrior, the stranger shapeshifted into a Balor, enters the fight and lashes out with his own weapon-this attack too seems to pass harmlessly through like Shlishye's before him...

The beholder mage Gakarellek steals time from the future to act against the attack that has already been launched, the being's horrible scream. He summons several creatures at once, defending them from the adverse planar conditions and his own magical protections absorb the physical impact of the scream if not the shock and disorientation. Two of the summons are stunned as well but the massive elemental that towers over the field absorbs the blow without even flinching.

The shadow dragon Winnowshade uses his own version of a barrage of boulders but, due to sheer dumb luck, misses.

Linteshar the spell-singer is slower to react than the others and is caught in the shade's horrible scream, momentarily stunned.


The twisted shadow warrior stares with its empty gaze at the mortal creatures arranged against it and laughs, its hollow voice echoing even against the emptiness of the plane. The laughter creeps you out; whatever else it may be, the undead is quite insane.
Brandishing its black sword in one hand it reaches with the other towards the largest of the two monstrous insects the beholder mage summoned and the right sleeve of its empty cloak comes about a foot from the thing's face. In a flickering pulse of blackness like some twisted version of a flashfire, the insect's own shadow is drawn into the eldritch horror's form. For a split second, the being's previously unseen hand flashes ebony black as it touches the insect and then fades.
With a screech of its own, the summoned insect blackens, shrivels and dies, its remains vanishing as the spell that brought it here ends. The black warrior laughs again and now it seems a little bit taller, a little bit wider, a little bit blacker and more clearly defined.

A dozen boulders from all around the group rise into the air and pelt everyone in the vicinity, the summons and the black horror itself exluded...



A DC 41 Knowledge; the Planes check reveals why your weapons are less than effective and in some instances don't work at all.

A DC 31 Weapon Drill or DC 21 Epic Gamer check reveals how the creature is deflecting your attacks.

A DC 30 spellcraft check reveals the creature is using quickened telekinesis SLA to hurl around stuff and that its screeches are Greater Shouts. (and before you ask, I did roll spell resistance for them)

A DC 31 Psionics or DC 41 Religion or DC 46 Arcana check reveals the creature has Assimilated the summons. Roll once for your best skill modifier only. If you beat the check by 10 or more you realise the creature is somehow draining additional lifeforce from the touches, similar to but stronger than a vampire's touch.

[Tequila Sunrise]

"I'm liking this place less and less by the minute." Eldred says before acting.

What exactly is this thing? K (religion) [roll0]
Move Action: Dark Knowledge (Puissance) grants everyone +3 on saves against this thing for 1 minute.
Standard Action: True Strike-Greater Disrupt Undead [roll1] vs. Touch AC, SR check if necessary [roll2], damage [roll3]

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek is still reeling slightly from the force of the howl, but the great elemental he summoned trudges solidly forwards. Great speed it might not have, but momentum it certainly does. It breaks into a lumbering run, and sets its arms to tackle the monster.

Elemental tries to overrun the monster.
Strength check: [roll0]

Knowledge (the planes): [roll1]
Spellcraft auto succeed
Knowledge (Arcana): [roll2]

[MikelaC]

[roll0] Know Arcana
[roll1] Know Planes
[roll2] Spellcraft

[MikelaC]

Linteshar breaks into song, seemingly weaving two songs together and a large black tear in the universe appears in the form of a crackling ebony sword. The blade swings in an arc at the creature

Combine metamagic:Black Blade of Disaster + True Strike

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

The boulders dissipate against Albrecht's body, reduced to nothing more than sparks. He had wards of his own, of course. He moved closer to the monster and reached out to touch it, saying "May you forever be bereft of the light of Bahamut. May he strike you down and bind you against your foes. May he make you weak and vulnerable."

Moving 35 feet towards the creature and casting Greater Bestow Curse on it, choosing the 25% per round chance to act option. DC 32 Will Save negates. If the touch attack hits, Albrecht's Holy Touch ability also deals 1d8 damage.

If it's too far away for that, instead Albrecht will cast a Flame Strike on it, DC 30 Reflex half.

[roll0]
[roll1]

[roll2]

EDIT: Oh, obviously I'm casting defensively. Auto success, so no need to roll.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Eldred frowns as his ray gets batted aside like a twig. "I really hate it when the first spell doesn't work." He says, and then tries another.
Standard action: Ghost Trap: If the thing is within 120' it becomes corporeal. Theoretically, of course. If it works, it'll help anyone without ghost touch attacks. Theoretically, of course. :smallfrown:

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

The dragon growls with frustration, but as he sees all ranged weapons fail against the undead beast, he whispers a word of power, and drops like a stone on the thing. His maw is translucent as it strikes.

If this won't hit, I don't know what will. Cast Wraithstrike, Charge and PA for 22 damage. This attack is also considered to be as if under a Ghost Touch effect. The charge brings Winnowshade 15 feet away from the beast - his bite attack has a reach of 15 ft.

Bite attack (melee touch attack, ghost touch):
[roll0]
Bite damage:
[roll1]

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

The Titan had little to worry about from the boulders. Those that did manage to hit would bounce off his supernaturally tough hide, inflicting little damage, if any. "Blasted thing! I'll get you before long!" Nsahorek declared. His hammer still in hand, he began swinging it wildly at the Forsaken a total of four times, each blow strong as the last. After this flurry of attacks, however, he seems to drop his defense, despite the fact is enemy is right in front of him.


This will be a lot of rolls.

Boulder Attacks:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

Boulder Damage:
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]

Hammer attacks:
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
Add +2 to these attack rolls if Flanking bonus applies.

Hammer damage:
[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]
[roll13]

I'll also be activating Robilar's Gambit. And if this thing CAN be tripped, I'll roll those in the other thread.

[Frog Dragon]

Slishye flaps fifty feet backwards and casts a swarm of shining blue missiles at the monster. He then repeats the feat again in an instant right after.

You guessed it. Magic Missiles. First one is maximised, and the second swarm is quickened.
Maximised SR penetration. [roll0]
Quickened SR penetration: [roll1]
Damage for maximised: 25
Damage for quickened: [roll2]

[MikelaC]

Linteshar breaks into song, seemingly weaving two songs together and a large black tear in the universe appears in the form of a crackling ebony sword. The blade swings in an arc at the creature

Combine metamagic:Black Blade of Disaster + True Strike

Linteshar misses the most important note of her song, and her blade dissipates before completing its attack.

[AmberVael]

Azira

The flung boulders merely crumble against Azira's wards, and she makes an impatient gesture that bats the shards of stone away, while she steps forwards, raising her hands in gesture that seems strangely pious and holy- and then, perhaps disturbingly, actually becomes so- sending a wave of divine energy at the undead being in an attempt to drive it back a little.

Seeing as melee weapons are having little- if any- effect, Azira is going to instead going to spend an inspiration point to use her factotum ability Opportunistic Piety.
It should deal 46 positive energy damage.

[MikelaC]

Forgot to do the boulder attack

The boulder rains down on Linteshar
[roll0]
[roll1]

EDIT: Ha, at least Linteshar was able to dodge the boulder shot.

[Frog Dragon]

A boulder flies at Slishye

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Peltinng him across the torso. Still, the hardened snake-man is not nearly out of the fight

[Heliomance]

Boulder vs Gakarellek:
[roll0]
[roll1]

The boulder just about manages to hit Gakarellek, bouncing off his hide and knocking the stunned Beholder back slightly. He spits out a fragment of stone and tries to shake of the muzziness in his head.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The flash of light from Azira's hands strikes the undead horror and with a sickening sizzling sound begins to burn at it-but the lifeforce the creature stole from the summoned insect makes it strong enough to fight it off.

The dragonborn paladin realises that touching the creature while it is incorporeal-or more-isn't going to work. He calls instead upon the power of the Platinum Dragon to smite down the unholy with sacred fire. The silver-red blast strikes true and while the shade dodges much of it, some of the flame does land and begins to burn at its form-but the shadows comprising it seem to linger, fueled by stolen life-force.

The mage Eldred calls into being a spell that disrupts planar connections, forcing incorporeal and Ethereal creatures fully into the physical reality. The plane of Erebus though doesn't have an Ethereal plane-ethereal magics work through the plane of shadows instead. Thus, the ghost-trap forces the Forsaken fully into reality from the Plane of Shadows where it resided.

You can all see the horrendous creature fully now; where there was once only an empty cloak filled by darkness, a gigantic humanoid corpse resides. Out of skinless, blackened flesh stand out open wounds like little mouths that seem to breathe the darkness in and out. A skeletal face with empty eyesockets and a lipless, cavernous mouth full of scythe-like fangs stares at you, a tongue of shrivelled flesh and shadowstuff darting in and out of it. The thing's hands are mostly human in shape if you disregard the blackened flesh-except for the nails; like its teeth, they are more than a foot long and scythe-like.

The snakeman mage Shlishye casts two spells in quick succession and ten bolts of magic strike out at the horrible creature. The undead flicks one clawed hand almost contemptuously and the ten bolts revert in direction and strike back at their caster!

Nsahorek smiles as the enemy is forced into the physical plane and, hefting his giant hammer, rains down a barrage of blows that could shatter stones. Unfortunately, the creature being back into the physical plane means an attacker would have to contend with its physical armor or hardened flesh and all but one of the titan's strikes are turned aside as if by armor as hard as dragonscales. The blow that lands gouges a shallow hole into the undead being's form but the last of the stolen energy heals back the wound completely.

Gakarellek's Elemental Monolith charges the eldritch horror but the enemy's black blade swings wildly through the emental's path and the summoned creature is nearly cleaved in two. For a moment it continues to charge then it flails wildly, falls and vanishes...

Winnowshade the Shadow Dragon uses his own magic to allow his bite to strike like a shadow's touch. Being a transmutation rather than dimensional magic, the spell is unaffected by the ghost-trap. Biting down wildly, the dragon snaps at the Eldritch Horror but the thing is far too quick on its feet for its size; Winnowshade misses by a couple of inches. Not by much-and if he'd been a little bit more careful the bite would have landed-but the old saying proves true; an inch is as good (or bad) as a mile.

Lintheshar begins a new, more complex spellsong but being unable to hear her own voice since the monstrous scream deafened her, she doesn't realise she's missed a note. A floating black blade-actually an unstable planar void shaped like one-manifests for a moment and Linteshar can't help but notice that her spell and the Eldritch Horror's blade are almost identical. Then her own blade bursts into a puff of darkness and fades away.

For the first time since the battle was joined, the undead creature speaks in a terrible, unearthly voice like a thousand nails screeching against a wooden plank. The words-which none of you seem capable of understanding-seem aimed directly at Eldred;
AMARU EA LA IRKALLI
For a brief moment Eldred sees the world, those around him, even his own ideas and memories from the point of view of the very ancient, very evil and unquestionably insane being before him. He feels those thoughts squeezing around his own mind, seeking to crush any trace of reason and logic.

That done, the eldritch horror glides a hundred feet backwards and out of the area of the ghost-trap then makes a wide gesture with his right hand, encompassing half the battlefield before him then pointing at the titan. Shlishye, Linteshar, Gakarellek, Saint Albrecht and Azira feel a powerful force suddenly thrusting them right at Nsahorek!


Explanations and rolls at the other thread

[Adumbration]

Suppressing the urge to trumpet a shout of frustration, Winnowshade takes to wing again. Again he whispers the words of power, as he flies - over the undead monster. Diving down behind it, the huge dragon aims another bite, seeking to sever the beast's neck.


Swift action to cast Wraithstrike, fly over and behind the thing - 150 ft movement should be enough to go far enough to avoid any attacks of opportunity - and use bite attack against the thing. Melee touch attack, considered magic and ghost touch. PA for just 10 damage. The distance between Winnowshade and the Forsaken is 15 ft.

Attack:
[roll0]
Damage:
[roll1]

[Frog Dragon]

Slishye grits his teeth as his own missiles attack him. He then hisses as he is forcibly thrust at Nashorek, trying ot fight back. He yells "He'ssss afffected by Ssssspelll turningg ssSS"


Spellcraft: Autosuccess :smalltongue:
Will Save with the buff I received earlier
[roll0]
Damage:[roll1]

[MikelaC]

Linteshar bounces off the form of the great titan and shakes her head to clear the cobwebs. She gathers herself up and prepares for her next series of attacks.

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek curses fluently at the utter waste of spells that his summons had been, and ceases his concentration on the one remaining centipede. It vanishes with a pop, as the eye tyrant begins his spellsong again. It rises higher and more frantic than before, the keening noise an irritation to any that can still hear.

The area around the Forsaken was illuminated by a massive flash of light, blinding in its intensity. It was carefully aimed so that the monster got the full brunt of it, but it was still bright enough that everyone had to squint to look at it. As the light cleared, there was a rumbling, and a huge wall rose up on the far side of the beast. The wall was formed from hundreds and thousands of gears, with flailing mechanical parts that battered at the monster.
If anyone had been looking at Gakarellek when the flash went off, they would have seen his flesh grow pallid and lifeless, before he vanished from sight entirely.

Okay, this is a lot of spells going off.
Assay Spell Resistance: (Level 4)
Spell Failure: [roll0]

Maw of Chaos: (Level 9)
Spell failure [roll1]
SR [roll2] Subtract 10 if ASR failed
Damage [roll3]
Will save DC 34 or be dazed for a round
Concentration check DC 25+spell level to cast a spell or use a spell like ability.

Sunburst: (Level 8)
Spell Failure [roll4]
SR [roll5] Subtract 10 if ASR failed
Damage [roll6]
Reflex save DC 33 or be blinded, success halves damage.

Wall of Gears: (Level 6)
Spell Failure [roll7]
Damage [roll8]
Reflex save DC 31 halves damage

Shroud of Undeath: (Level 2)
Spell failure [roll9]

Greater Invisibility: (Level 4, cast in a level 5 slot)
Spell failure [roll10]

Maw of Chaos fizzled, everything else got off. More actions to come.

[Heliomance]

Though he was no longer visible, Gakarellek's keening spellsong could still be heard. The disembodied voice soared towards the monster, taking care to stay out of the way of the wall of gears. As it reached the thing, a strange symbol appeared on the Forsaken's forehead. Gakarellek instantly fell silent as the mark appeared, and it was impossible to tell where he was.


Fly: (Level 3)
Spell failure [roll0]

True Strike: (Level 1)
Spell Failure [roll1]

Sonic Snap: (Level 0, because I can)
Spell Failure: [roll2]
1 point sonic damage, Will save DC 25 or deaf for 1 round.

Limited Wish: (Level 7)
Imitating Mark of Justice
Triggering condition: Attacking a living creature by any means.
Chosen penalty: 50% chance to lose action
Attack against flat footed touch AC: [roll3] (subtract 20 if True Strike doesn't go off)
Spell failure: [roll4]
Spell resistance: [roll5]

Sonic Snap failed, everything else got off. If any of them had to fail, I'm glad it was the cantrip.

Fly is to increase my speed to 60ft so I can actually get in to touch the monster. Shroud of Undeath means I no longer register as alive - I shouldn't be turning up on that thing's Lifesight. So no AoO for it!

I'm then using the fact that I have Flyby Attack to get out of range just in case it can detect me somehow.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"Enough is enough, foul beast! No longer shall I brook your impertinence! This will not fail!" Albrecht's eyes flashed an icy indigo as divine energy surged about him as he moves towards the Forsaken. His holy aura surged with a platinum light as he raised aloft his shield, brandishing the star of Bahamut towards the Forsaken.

"Great Bahamut, Lord of the North Wind. Bind this fiend to this plane so that he may not hide in his cloak of shadow and villany! Thy will be done!"

A cloud of platinum dust falls over the Forsaken, the particles seeking to draw the creature from its home plane and trap it for good.

Activating Prayer Bead of Karma for a +4 to CL for 10 minutes, then moving 35 feet towards the Forsaken.

Casting Miracle to cast a Divine Spell Powered Amplified Mass Make Manifest. Mass Make Manifest is a 6th level cleric spell; amplification will give Albrecht a +4 to overcome SR. Turning check for Divine Spell Power: [roll0]: +4 Caster Level

Mass Make Manifest allows no save.

[roll1] + 51 = 70 on the SR check. Take that, stupid insane incorporeal thing. I'm pretty sure there's no way it has higher than SR 70, so it's corporeal for 32 rounds.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar draws a breath and begins to sing again, drawing from her memory and trying not to let the lack of hearing the notes distract her from her casting. She signs one song only for a moment (swift action)

assay resistance

and then sings a pair of songs, intertwined with each other

Black Blade of Disaster + True Strike

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

The enormous warrior stood strong as his companions were thrown at him; he could take legendary amounts of punishment. "It'll take more than that, creature!" he declared. At that moment, he focused to activate his enchanted headband. His form suddenly blurred with activity, surging forward, his feet pounding against the ground, shaking it slightly as his hammer rained down upon the beast faster than ever before.


Activating Headband of Battle for two overall Full-Round Actions, one charge and one full attack. Damage rolls from telekinesis and trip rolls will be in the other thread.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]

[Gorgondantess]

Kasibel floats through Erebus, as he had done the past month or so. He made no fuss, and its inhabitants made no fuss over him; he was small, intangible, and seemingly insignificant. All in all, the place was rather bland; he wouldn't be there if he wasn't compelled to do so. Finally, he feels the tugging of his Coil, showing him the way; he concentrates for a while, and in a flash he disappears, blinking into existence in the midst of the battle. A group of misfits fighting an eldritch horror... though not a familiar one. Not a related one. Realizing what he must do, he glides in, near the fray, watching for a bit. He stands, or rather floats, as a small elven child, no older than adolescense, with an angelic, exotic face. His hair is waist length, fine, but tangled and wild. He wears beautiful fineries, clothes above that which a king would wear, Though worn, tattered and ancient, well past its prime and beyond; various pouches and apparatus hanging from his belt. Tattered, limp, useless wings hang from his back. Aside his disheveled look, there is something inherently unnderving about him, inconprehensible and non-euclidean- whatever it is, it isn't readily apparent. A stream of pure magic made manifest coils around his upraised arm, like some kind of ectoplasmic, featureless snake. It dances as he raises his arms, weaving incantations, then slips inside his robes as he swings his arms forwards; a wave of pure chaos emmanates from his arms, invisible but destructive, and then a bolt of fire after the first connects, going along at the speed of thought.
Well, I certainly hope this was an appropriate time for my entrance. Lesseee... casting Mage's disjunction, centered on the thing first; no need for me to roll anything, as it bypasses SR and all that good stuff. Afterwards a quickened energy missile, with 22 PP spent (of course) for 22-6=16 towards the effect; that's [roll0] damage, with a reflex save DC 42. I am going to assume I did something terribly, terribly wrong, either something stupid, against the rules, or counterproductive. Ah, well, we live and we learn.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Eldred takes a moment to study the now corporeal creature, shouts instructions to his strange allies and then casts a spell.

Move Action: Dark Knowledge (Tactics) gives everyone a +3 bonus to hit the creature.
Standard Action: Black Blade of Disaster. Touch attack [roll0]; SR [roll1]; Damage if Hit [roll2]; Damage if Miss [roll3].

[AmberVael]

Azira

Azira winces as she hits Nsahorek, but instantly leaps to her feet, backing off as she keeps her hands raised.

Same Essentia investment as before.
Tumble DC 35 to stand from prone, I can't fail it.
Using Opportunistic piety again. Take another 46 damage.

[Fan]

Nikolai rather confused as to what to do lashes out with his Balor forms fiery whip in a attempt to trip the beast channeling a sapphire nightmare blade with it (If I make a concentration check that I can't fail (have a +96 to it.) the creature is flat footed, and I deal a extra 1d6 untyped damage with it.)

Anyway Trip attempt against his flat footed touch AC. (which most types of AC don't apply to.)


Trip attempt
[roll0] (get a +4 to the attempt for the whip being a trip weapon, and I don't provoke a AOO.)
Damage from my free attack against it, deactivating my fiery whip as a swift action.
Roll to hit
[roll1] against prone AC not sure if they are also flat footed on this occasion.
damage
[roll2] (3d6 large greatsword... 2d6 holy, if he happens to be of chaotic alignment I nail him for a additional 2d6.)


Now to make up time.
Last round I buffed myself with a true strike that went off as part of my trip (auto make concentration once more.), and then I activated my fiery whip
(Balor Supernatural weapon that they get.) holding my free action to drop it once my trip was finished next turn... this is valid due to the full round action clause found in the D20srd stating that I can begin a action on one turn, and finish it in another.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The formerly human assasin decides her blast of divine energy is the best way to harm the abomination. Striking out once again, her power burns against the undead horror's essence, sizzling and flashing against the shadow that forms it. Strangely enough, the same dark energy that countered most of her blow before does so this time as well. Azira frowns. She'd thought the stolen energy expended...

The servant of the North Wind calls upon his lord's power to bind the fiend into the physical plane. His most powerful magic acts as a bridge for the divine power that finally manages to anchor the horror onto the same reality as St Albrecht himself.

Eldred's own magic brings into existence a blade-shaped planar rift for the third time since the battle begun. The black blade of disaster takes a swing at the now fully corporeal creature... and misses.

While Shlishye is recovering from the latest blow, Nsahorek the Titan launches himself at the terrible being before him and strikes half a dozen times. Most of the blows are turned aside as if by an impregnable wall but the first lands solidly on the creature's torso and with the snapping sound of bones and unliving flesh gouges quite a deep blow into the thing.

The beholder mage decides to unleash a powerful storm of magic at its enemy. Eyestalks waving to the tunes of a keening spellsong, magic after magic blasts the eldritch horror; first a spell to determine the best way to overcome its magic resistance-which for some reason yelds no results. Secondly, a blast of sunlight carefully aimed beyond the creature so that only its edge catches the intended target and none of it catches the rest of the group. Then a conjured wall that falls on the creature from behind before the beholder fades from sight. Finally, a spell that burns a strange arcane sign on the creature's forehead. Slightly battered and smoky from the barrage the horrible creature stares daggers at the beholder, proving beyond doubt that it is somehow able to see Gakarellek despite the invisibility and cloaking magics. But either due to its madness or some tactic that is beyond your understanding, it had chosen not to counterattack... until now. Gakarellek feels the creature thought his magics would have no real effect but his last spell, unexpected and surprisingly effective, has changed the creature's mind... and now the beholder mage might have become its primary target.

A newcomer enters the fray; the image of an elven child suddenly manifests before you and launches a powerful wave of chaos-magic that distorts and unravels constructed spells and might destroy magic items. The wave strikes out right at the terrible creature... then vanishes, swallowed by the darkness of the plane. A split moment later, a missile of essential fire strikes at the undead and disspates.
Visibly, the newcomer's attack has done nothing. But if you look more closely you notice that the Eldritch Horror is no longer staring directly at Gakarellek's location as if it has lost its bearings. And the darkness that makes the creature's form is now dimmer, once again not much darker than when the battle begun. Last but certainly not least, the fiery missile hurled by the newcomer may not have caused any damage but neither was it reflected right back at him...

When Winnowshade begun his attack, he had been certain his blow, being no better than one that missed before, would not land. But as an unexpected spell unravels the enemy's magics, the dragon's fangs land solidly upon the creature's forcibly manifested form. Jagged teeth cut into undead flesh and Winnowshade gets his first taste of Eldritch Horror; a fetid, rotten thing with tiny wiggling things Winnowshade doesn't even want to contemplate, let alone swallow, and a horribly acidic aftertaste...

Linteshar's magic conjures-successfully this time-the highly destructive blade-shaped planar rift. The spell slashes at the shadowy giant and drills through its torso, leaving behind a hole the size of a fully grown human; a wound about three times as large as the one Nsahorek's hammer dealt. Still, the Eldritch Horror seems to shrugg off the attack as no more than a minor pinprick; Linteshar feels she might be needing a dozen such blows to fell the thing...

Finally deciding to act, the warrior in Balor's form lashes out with a fiery whip at the undead abomination faster than the eye can see. Having seen the thing's previous reactions, the warrior is sure it might have been able to anticipate and deflect the blow as it did with ranged attacks but this time something seems to be lacking-maybe it is the magic-stripping spell the newcomer used?
Nikolai doesn't really care. He trips the enemy with the whip and then smashes down at it with his own blade. However, the blow is deflected by the thing's iron-hard skin...



The Forsaken screams. No longer being able to see its intended target, it instantly vanishes from before Nsahorek and reappears in the center of the group behind the Titan like a formless shadow, already reaching out with one unseen hand and simply touching him. The earth is torn asunder below the Titan's feet but the fissure goes beyond the physical; it draws in Nsahorek's bulk with immense force, crushing him down relentlessly. In but a moment, the Titan is gone.
Still howling in anger, the huge undead warrior screams left and right, waves of magic and malice smashing into you along with the screams. The earth shakes and tears still and two dozen rotten forms rise from the fissures just beyond the screams' edge...



A blinding light flashes from beyond the edge of your sight and pushes back the plane's darkness. For the first time you can see, really see, for as much as a mile in all directions. You see the gigantic stones forming the circle around you, you notice that your place of arrival is the center of the circle. And you notice a blonde human woman in flowing red robes three hundred feet away shouting at you with amazing intensity;

"GET CLEAR! ALL OF YOU!"

[Fan]

Nikolai complies throwing down a entangle on the forsaken before fleeing into the air his fiery form giving him some basic illumination (like a light spell... as you said it gives light out to something less than 10ft.... Which is all I'm using.) as he gets away from the no doubt horrible asplosion thats about to happen.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

Such was the Saint's determination that even though the explosions of sound were loud enough to deafen him, they could not harm his form. His ears ringing, the Saint smiled. Undoubtedly his impromptu allies were not all bound as he was to the path of righteousness. However, the creature had just guaranteed that they would not hear the Words of Creation he would now utter.

First, he sacrifices some of his power to draw upon a spell of pure good, causing a second set of wings to sprout from his back: those of an Astral Deva.

Albrecht moves away to ensure the monster was still within earshot, but also close enough to one of the groups of mummies that had just arisen (as well as to ensure that no allies would be within hearing of his word of power, just in case), Albrecht's form surges once more with holy power as he channels Bahamut's divine power to fuel his spell. Then, he spoke. Albrecht spoke a word so holy, so infused with the redeeming power of good, that it may well have been used during Creation to create positive energy itself.

Having had his say, he continues his flight away from the combat as per the woman's instructions.

Sacrificing Blindness/Deafness to cast Celestial Aspect to gain a fly speed of 100 feet (good). It's at CL 29, so he retains the wings for 29 minutes. EDIT: But it failed. So... yeah.

Then, Albrecht moves 35 feet away from the Forsaken in a direction that excludes any other party members from being in the radius, while also putting as many mummies as possible within the radius of his effect. Then he uses the Words of Creation and Divine Spell Power to cast a CL 34 Quickened Extended Holy Word. If the mummies within the radius of the effect are 24 HD or less, they're instantly destroyed. Otherwise they take penalties as normal for Holy Word, but twice as long. I noticed that the Turning check for Divine Spell power has a +3 bonus, so Albrecht can get a minimum check result of 22, meaning he automatically casts at +4 CL.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]

[AmberVael]

Azira

Azira, disgusted with the futility and uselessness of her actions, simply attempts to avoid the affects of the stunning and hindering shouts, and swiftly moves away, taking to the shadows once more as she lets someone else take care of it.
The light doesn't matter to her- she'd seen the entire scene the whole time, thanks to her ability to see through darkness.

217/282 HP

Essentia assignment:
Lucky Dice: 5
Embrace of the Shadow: 3
Worg Pelt: 4

Double Move action to just get away from everyone else.
Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]

[Adumbration]

Ignoring the woman, for now, irritated by the shouts, Winnowshade flaps his wings, backing away only slightly. Then he whispers a word, and his limbs grow slightly longer. Invoking the magic hidden in his amulet, his movements quicken to impossible speeds, rending the air before him. And then, it is all released on the fallen abomination.

Apply range penalties and such when necessary, I'm not sure exactly how far Winnowshade is. Everything is ghost touch and magical, and the tailslap are adamantine.

Bite #1 attack:
[roll0]
Bite #1 damage:
[roll1]

Bite #2 attack:
[roll2]
Bite #2 damage:
[roll3]

Claw #1 attack:
[roll4]
Claw #1 damage:
[roll5]

Claw #2 attack:
[roll6]
Claw #2 damage:
[roll7]

Claw #3 attack:
[roll8]
Claw #3 damage:
[roll9]

Claw #4 attack:
[roll10]
Claw #4 damage:
[roll11]

Claw #5 attack:
[roll12]
Claw #5 damage:
[roll13]

Claw #6 attack:
[roll14]
Claw #6 damage:
[roll15]

Wing #1 attack:
[roll16]
Wing #1 damage:
[roll17]

Wing #2 attack:
[roll18]
Wing #1 damage:
[roll19]

Wing #3 attack:
[roll20]
Wing #1 damage:
[roll21]

Wing #4 attack:
[roll22]
Wing #1 damage:
[roll23]

Tail slap #1 attack:
[roll24]
Tail slap #1 damage:
[roll25]

Tail slap #2 attack:
[roll26]
Tail slap #2 damage:
[roll27]

[Heliomance]

Recognising what is about to happen, Gakarellek blurs with speed again - or at least, he would do were he visible. The keening spellsong rises again, and several more spells go off.

Lesser Celerity: (2nd level)
Deafness: [roll0]

Glass strike: (7th level)
Deafness: [roll1]
SR: [roll2]
Fort save DC 32 or become a glass statue

If it's not a statue after that:

Maw of Chaos: (9th level)
Deafness: [roll3]
SR: [roll4]
Damage: [roll5]
Will save DC 34 or be dazed
Concentration check DC 25+spell level to be able to cast anything. Includes SLAs.

Dimensional Lock: (8th level)
Deafness: [roll6]
SR: [roll7]

Solid Fog: (4th level)
Deafness: [roll8]

--------------------

Followed by moving 60ft straight up, which I believe puts me out of range of those shouts.

Gakarellek (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=107892)
- LN Beholder HD/Beholder Mage/Divine Oracle/Mindbender, Level 11/1/8/1, Init +12, HP 275/296, Speed 5ft, Fly 20ft (good)
AC 58, Touch 26, Flat-footed 58, Fort +28, Ref +29, Will +32, Base Attack Bonus 13
Bite +13/+8/+3 (2d4, 20/x2)
Greater Mage Armour, +5 Mithral Buckler (+6 Armor, +6 Shield, +11 Dex, -1 Size, +20 Natural, +5 Deflect, +1 Misc)
Abilities Str 14, Dex 32, Con 30, Int 40, Wis 18, Cha 18
Condition Contingencies:
Trigger: Attacked in melee. Effect: Dimension Door. AoO will not trigger.
Trigger: Subjected to an attack that deals fire damage. Enchanted weapon will not trigger. Effect: Energy Immunity (fire).
Trigger: Subjected to an attack that deals cold damage. Enchanted weapon will not trigger. Effect: Energy Immunity (cold).
Trigger: Subjected to an attack that deals electricity damage. Enchanted weapon will not trigger. Effect: Energy Immunity (electricity).
Trigger: Subjected to an attack that deals acid damage. Enchanted weapon will not trigger. Effect: Energy Immunity (acid).

Caster level 22 (28 for the purposes of overcoming SR)

[Frog Dragon]

Slishye uses the large crow wings to fly behind, but above the woman.
He then waits for her to act.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar attempts to use her Celerity spell to buy herself the chance to teleport to safety, but once again, she misses a note due to the Forsakens horrid screeching, and the spell fails. The stunning effect of the shout leaves her unable to make her retreat.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

While St Albrecht destroys had a dozen mummies and Winnowshade and Gakarellek blast the abomination with magic, the rest of you try to distance yourselves from the enemy. Linteshar, stunned by the creature's scream, is unable to retreat.

The unexpected ally teleports right next to where the huge undead warrior used to be and frowns first at the whirlwind of chaotic energies and the solid fog that covers it then at Gakarellek's direction.
From up close you can easily see she appears as a relatively young elven woman with curly strawberry-blond hair clashing with a red silk dress that looks unassuming and cute-but where elves and powerful mages are concerned, looks can be deceiving. Deciding on a course of action after a momentary pause, she raises her sleeves in preparation and enters the solid fog.

A sixty-feet-wide dome of bluish light surrounds the solid fog and whatever lies therein, its edge no more than a foot from Linteshar's stunned form. The blindingly intense light the woman had previously created is immediately confined by the barrier, somewhat dimmed by the solid for as well. There is another blinding flash and for an instant the bluish dome blazes with the itensity of the sun. Shockwaves shake the ground for as far as the eye can see and cracks spread from the dome, breaking the stones under your feet for almost five hundred feet. Then the blinding flash is gone.

Where once stood the huge undead warrior now only wisps of black smoke linger. The black stone of the plane has been burned away to the limits of the glowing orb, forming an almost perfect half-sphere sixty feet deep. A momentarily dazed Nsahorek is standing in its depths, the unconcious form of an elven woman lying at his feet. You get the feeling that, if not for the barrier, the magical blast might have annihilated a significantly larger area...

[Fan]

The Balor does a dive for the elven lady, and will plane shift with her in one hand while touching Nashorek to the Plane of Ysgard.. If he doesn't want to get out of here then he can make a will save, and unconsious creatures are alaways considered willing for spell effects like this.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Nikolai passes through the blue barrier and feels the magic on him flickering, in danger of dispersing. As he then tries to plane-shift the elf and the titan to Ysgard, his plane-shift fizzles...

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

Albrecht rushes to the circle, in awe of the magical devastation that just took place. His ears still ringing, he kneels beside the woman, checking her over to ensure that she is alive, and looking for any signs of outward injury.

[roll0]

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Saint Albrecht quickly realises the woman isn't dead; she was never alive to begin with. Pale skin-even for an elf, freezing body temperature, pointy teeth. The paladin recoils when he magically scans her, too; the aura of undeath radiating from her is at least as strong as that of the shadowy warrior the group had just fought...

[Fan]

Well, damn.... Anyways will a maxed out knowleedge (the planes) work to know why?
[roll0]
Anyways I'm useless here in the need of negative energy I have spells that smite undead not heal them.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Saint Albrecht and Winnowshade keep examining the uncounscious "elf". She is, quite obviously, a vampire. But from her perfectly normal looks, if you disregard the pointed teeth, you realise she isn't a normal vampire; she doesn't look feral, her eyes have a normal (for an elf anyway) color, and she appears to be breathing normally and her heart is beating.

She's either a dhampir-the half living spawn of a mortal and a vampire-or a vampire lord-a vampire powerful enough to imitate normal life. If she weren't unconscious and able to actively conceal herself, you'd probably have missed her true nature completely.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar slowly recovers from her stunned state
What was that thing, it screeches worse than some of my worst students, and what rescued us?
Linteshar suddenly realizes that she still cannot hear properly and that no answer could make sense.
And could somebody do something about my hearing?
Looking down at her body, she adds
And some of the rest of my injuries?

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

Nsahorek was fairly dazed after getting locked underground. It didn't matter that he would resist the Balor's attempt to Plane Shift him, but he did take notice of the Elf Lady. "What, is everything here undead?" he asked rhetorically. In a blaze of harmless flames, the hammer was once again stored in his gloves, and the Titan shifted into his Halfling form. Then he turned to face the rest of the group. "Is anyone injured?" he asked, holding up both hands as they glowed with positive energy.

[Fan]

"I don't think we should be staying here long though... There may be more of those things coming soon."

[AmberVael]

Azira

Azira continues to skulk in the shadows, ignoring her own wounds since they aren't terribly serious yet. It's quite likely that some of the group saw her during the fight, but it is also possible that she remained hidden most of the time- especially since the plane was naturally so dark.

Now, however, she's quite neatly hidden, dagger in her hand as her eyes flick over everyone, examining them with her magically enhanced sight.

Just glancing over everyone with trueseeing to see if they're what they seem.

[Tequila Sunrise]

Eldred smiles at the elven woman. "It seems we owe you thanks. But first, is there anywhere civilized on this plane to talk?"

[Fan]

Nikolai

The Balor looks like a Balor under true seeing as I don't think that True seeing gets through wild shape.
Anyways, he will conjure up some goodberry idly
[roll0], and munch on them while people do things.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

While Nsahorek and Nikolai heal the group, Azira looks over the group with her ability to see things as they really are. Apart from the dragon, whom she can't see at all, and the vampire woman, on whom her divinations seem to be failing, she sees through the disguises of everyone else. Before she has time to scan the entire group though, she jumps back when she sees an empty void looming over the crater. A vaguely man-shaped void. She can't see wihin it-her true sight seems to be failing again-but she can see around. Physically, the vague outline is not even there, except for the black smoke that remains from the destroyed Eldritch Abomination. Then Azira does a double-take; the tiny motes of dust and darkness are slowly but steadily coalescing together, the pattern of the regeneration obviously leading to the vague shape she's seen...


Oblivious to Azira's finds, the rest of the group is trying to question the vampire. However, Eldred realises the woman is unconscious or dazed, unable to answer his questions or do much else.


True Seeing does see through Wildshape. People that don't have Nondetection or some other cloak against True Seeing should post their characters' true descriptions in a spoiler in ther next posts.

Oh, and 2 rounds have passed. 18 more to go. :smallamused:

[Gorgondantess]

Kasibel reels from the force of the scream, readying his magics; however, by the time he was about to cast, the thing was already finished. Dissapointed by the short bout, he casually floats down towards the rest of the group, looking around. He concentrates, reforming his essence, then waves a hand, casting a spell to reveal the magical nature of the residue of the eldritch horror. As he floats, the stream of light spins around his form, swirling around his arms, then his face for a time, then tucking back into his robes- all the better to hear these varied folks with. As he nears the ground, he examines the blasted ground where the thing used to be, keeping an ear out for potentially interesting talk.
Quickened arcane sight, 21 point body adjustment for [roll0] restored hp, and my familiar is casting remove blindness/deafness (having a pocket 5th level cleric is always nice.) Should I roll some knowledge rolls?

[MikelaC]

Linteshar smiles her dazzling smile at Nsahorek
I could use a whole bunch of healing sweetie, and if you have the power to do something about my hearing, that would be really great. Whatever that thing was, it cant sing nearly as well as me, but its stupid shouting took out my eardrums, hopefully only momentarily

Linteshar is an unbelievably beautiful woman with shoulder length blonde hair, laughing green eyes and an eye-popping figure. She wears almost nothing in the way of clothing, a diaphonous robe with gems strategically sewn into it to cover what she must. To all appearances, she would seem to be human, however bat-like wings unfurl from her back; and a sharp tipped tail along with slightly feral teeth are hidden in her shape shifted form

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek shakes himself down and floats back to the group. As a precaution, he maintains his invisibility, but he is perfectly evident to those with True Seeing. As Beholders go, he's fairly representative - a large globe floating through the air. His mouth is large and filled with crooked, sharp teeth, capable of giving a nasty bite. Above the mouth is his central eye - or where it used to be. The eye is no longer there, the socket ruined and scarred. The scars seem strangely regular though - almost as if they form an arcane symbol of some sort. His eyestalks glow slightly with arcane power, and they weave constantly, ever vigilant, ever watching.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

As the others gather about, Albrecht attempts to heal their wounds and remove the deafness from the extreme noise, channeling the holy energy of Bahamut to heal their wounds. He also waits until the mummies are close enough to catch them within the spell.

"Well, that was quite... bizarre."

He rises up to his full height once more, somewhat unsure of what to do with the mysterious vampiric woman that had come to their aid; he had no spells prepared that would... aid... undead.

"I am Albrecht DelaCroix, humble servant of the Lord of the North Wind, the Platinum Dragon Bahamut."

Albrecht is a dragonborn of even more regal stature than a standard draconian, and he towers at nearly 15 feet. His scales are a distinctive platinum, reflecting the favor of his god, and he is heavily armored from head to toe. Every available surface has had holy symbols and scripture of Bahamut emblazoned on it, and as others near him, his presence seems to shelter them somewhat from the surrounding evil.

Albrecht's head rotated slightly to glance at Linteshar. His eyes had returned to their placid azure, and the calming light flooded slightly out of his greathelm. "Your disguise cannot deceive my azure sight. You have given me no cause to slay thee, and I exercise prudence in these matters, but let me make it clear that I am not interested."

[roll0]

Casting Mass Heal, everyone is healed 240 hit points and adverse conditions are removed (like deafness).

The mummies need to make DC 34 Will Saves or take 240 damage. Otherwise they're just dropped to 1 HP.

Appearance Notes for those with True Seeing
Albrecht makes no real effort to hide his true form, as it's relatively immaterial, but those with True Seeing can tell that he is actually only about 7'5"

[Fan]

Hmm, seeing as healing is taken care of...
true apperance for those with true seeing

Nikolai is a tall, well built man with rgged features, and a onyx robe with scriptures on it of a sect that only people with significant knowledge (Nature) can recogonise as anything other than spell based babble. He is also covered from head to toe in the same odd hide armor that he seems to be wearing in Balor form despite most druids not being able to keep equipment in that form.


I'm also casting a bull's strength on myself in case anything ELSE decides to happen.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar sighs slightly and starts to hum soflty while rubbing at her eyes. After finishing, she looks over each member of the party, also looking in the area for any other hidden allies...or enemies

true seeing

[Belial_the_Leveler]

One by one the rest of you also notice the black smoke slowly reforming into a vaguely humanoid shape-if only in Erebus' equivalent of the Ethereal plane. You realise that soon, very soon, a certain abomination will have fully regenerated...
... and the vampire sorceress who saved you still seems to be dazed.


Every time all characters have acted once (or should have acted once) plus an additional time per real-life day I am going to advance an out-of-combat "turn". The Forsaken has less than 2 minutes left (less than 20 updates) to fully regenerate.
So yes, even out-of-combat, time is going to be pressing.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"I suggest we get out of here before that abomination manages to fully reform." He looks at Nsahorek. "Noble Titan, you are undoubtedly the one who would be least inconvenienced by carrying our unconscious benefactor... the question is, where do we go?"

Albrecht speaks a few words of holy power and his draconic wings shift into feathered wings.

Sacrificing Bestow Curse to cast Celestial Aspect: Astral Deva.

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

"Yeah, it won't be any problem to carry her," he said. Before picking her up, however, he shifted into a humanoid form, well over 7 feet tall; a half-giant. "A halfling carrying a full-grown elf could draw undue attention," he commented as he effortlessly picked up the elf vampire. Before the group decided where to go, however, Nsahorek glanced over the landscape, his incredible eyes and ears capable of picking up anything the group may have missed.

Listen and Spot are at +47, paired with True Seeing. I'd be worried if I actually had to roll. :smalleek:

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Nsahorek can't see very far in the dark plane. But even if he could, he's not come here before and he doesn't know the lay of the land. An experienced ranger or planar explorer could guess the presence of geological features by the sound of the wind, the tilt of the ground and the minor alterations of wear and tear upon the rocks that would reveal planar weather patterns and the major paths the creatures of the plane often take-but such skills are not Nsahorek's primary strength and in any case to get a full image quickly someone able to scan a wider area either through speed or long-range darkvision would be required...


Yeah, survival challenge. How often do you get those in an epic game? I need 10 survival checks, 1 for every 200x200 square scanned. Someone with just True Seeing and a full-move speed of less than 200 ft would need 1 minute to make them (because he'd need to move around). High speed or long-range darkvision would be needed.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar sighed.
Before we move too far, I have something to say. At our power level, we all have ways to stay unseen. And we all have ways to penetrate others hiding. And we have ways to defeat that seeing, and ways to defeat that defeat, and so on ad nauseum, until we are spending all of our power hiding from each other.
I dont know why we are here, but Im sure its for some purpose and if not, we still need to survive. To get anything done, we need to trust one another. Look at that abomination, alone, none of us could have dealt with it
But, of course, trust is hard to come by. Who will make the first move? The answer is, I will.

Linteshar's form promptly shimmers a bit, then refocuses. She is still an unbelievably gorgeous woman, but now batlike wings unfurl from her back and a sharp tipped tail curls around her.

I am a succubus, but no longer in anyway connected with the demons of the Abyss. I have seen a better way.

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

Moved by the succubus' effort, after a moment's hesitation, the shadows that have covered the old shadow dragon so far vanish, revealing the drake in his full glory. "I suppose I should show myself, as well, then. I can only assure you that I am not evil - I suspect that any divination against me will fail."

http://http://www.wizards.com/dnd/images/mof_gallery/MonFaePG43.jpg

The dragon is huge. Unlike many other dragons, he wears clothes - although not for modesty's sake. It is apparent from the superb craftsmanship, and several of them are obviously magical, such as the shroud that circles his body, and the mantle that shrouds his outlines. His claws are enhanced with artificial blades, his fangs are a steel trap, and his tail is covered in adamantine bands. After everyone has taken a good look, Winnowshade vanishes back into the shadows.

"Now, unless someone has a way of binding the creature's soul, I suggest we either leave or prepare for battle."

[Frog Dragon]

"I ssss belive I can fffind the sssstrenghts of that creaturesss" I glide withinn 25 ft of the black smoke and cast know protections at it.

[Gorgondantess]

Kasimir glides down to the point that he appears to be standing on the ground normally, and walks around a bit. The illusion is foiled by his being 2 feet off thye ground.
"While I would relish the chance to get a better look at this creature, I think I might be able to get rid of it." He concentrates, weaving his magics...
Casting imprisonment. It might not work, but even if it doesn't entomb the thing under the earth due to the plane's guards against that stuff, it should still put him in temporal stasis.

[Fan]

Nikolai frowns being unable to unveil himself from his Demonic form, lest he fall prey to the effects of the chill of this plane (my cold resistance barely keeps it away.), and since anybody with true seeing can see me anyway it shouldn't be that big of a deal.

Before I do anything though I'm going to go investigate the circle that brought us here.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Shishye's magic searches the black smoke and reveals... nothing. Shlishye realises that his magic is blocked and from the nature of the blocking, his spell reveals at least one protection the creature has; it must be concealed by a supernatural form of nondetection innate to its nature, rather than from an additional effect.


Spell fails but as a targeted spell, you know why it failed.

[MikelaC]

Fine, few people trust in this group, save the dragon. Including all the people who arrived after me. I dont know who or where you are, but I know youre here because I saw the flashes. But I suppose that doesnt matter now. What does matter is putting plenty of distance between us and that thing. And reviving the 'person' who saved us

With that said, Linteshar unfurls her wings and prepares to take to the air, to put as much distance as she and the party can between them and the battle site.

[Fan]

"I would reveal myself if most of you could not already see, and this damn plane wouldn't kill me off faster than a lilly in winter."
Nikolai will b e taking off as well, putting distance between himself, and the other flyers to prevent a wave taking them all down at once.

[AmberVael]

Azira

Azira continues to stay in the shadows, tempted to reveal herself, but feeling too comfortable there to actually leave them. She didn't know these people- she had no reason to trust them... but they did seem like they were capable of surviving, and even while unseen, it is best not to travel alone.
She keeps with the majority of the group, whichever way they decide to go.

[Adumbration]

"I shall see if I can find a path - I don't have much experience in this kind of terrain, but I know a thing or two." A flap of unseen wings, and Winnowshade flies off, scanning the ground.

I think you mentioned Survival checks? I don't have any ranks, but I do have a big modifier. Moving at 150 ft, perfect maneuverability, and with 120 ft darkvision. Before taking off, though, Winnowshade casts Heroism for another +2 to skill checks. Another +2 from synergy bonus for knowledge skill.

[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek's voice comes from the air, as he gradually fades into view, his invisibility spell's duration up.

"I am not untrusting; I am as I appear, no more, no less. And I suggest doing something more permanent about that monster - we already know it can move a lot faster than us. Allow me to attempt to imprison it."

He keens his spellsong for a moment, and two of his eyestalks flash.

Casting True Casting (Level 1 spell)
Casting Imprisonment (Level 9 spell)
SR: [roll0]
Will save which it will prbably make: DC 34

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"It should be apparent that it is unnatural for me to be this size, but this is no illusion, merely a practicality. I hide no secrets. O Lord of the North Wind, grant me guidance. You teach to show hospitality to those that show you hospitality. This woman, undead as she is, came to our aid. I would now come to her aid, but the path is not clear. Show me the path, O Great Bahamut, that I may do thee glory!"

See OOC for what spell is cast.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Winnowshade is not experienced enough in wilderness lore to find a path towards a city just by studying wear and tear from the passage of creatures on bare rocks while he can't see the whole field at once and has no landmarks to guide him.
But where skill fails, magic provides a more immediate solution; St Albrecht divines a path through the power of his patron but understands such spells cannot account for the presence of creatures or even rapidly changing environmental conditions; the path will be neither easy nor safe and at least someone from the group should keep an eye out.

The beholder mage attempts one last time to imprison the Abomination... but fails. Gakarellek himself might have resisted the spell-the much stronger creature easily rejects it. And being an abomination, trying again and again for the stroke of luck where the spell succeeds isn't an option; such creatures manipulate reality to a point that phenomenally bad luck would never affect them.


The Forsaken cannot fail on a 1. Stop trying.

[MikelaC]

Lead on then, St. Albrecht, at least in a city we can get our bearings...for whatever it is we are here for.

Linteshar will attempt to position herself in the middle of whatever 'marching' (or flying) order that gets arranged.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

Through his deity's guidance, Albrecht divined the fastest path to civilization. Perhaps not safety, but at least to civilization. His angelic wings beat the shadowy air with an urgency as he rapidly led the unlikely band away from the rapidly reforming abomination.

"Follow me. The Platinum Dragon has shown me the path! Sir Shadow Dragon, if you would be so kind as to take point with me, your eyes are no doubt keener than mine and would do well to keep a watch for any new foes we might face."

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

"Sounds like a plan." With one last loud beat of his wing, Winnowshade settles a fair fifty feet above the servant of the platinum dragon, and then even the sounds of his presence fade away as he makes an effort to conceal them. His eyes scan the horizon of his vision.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Nearly two minutes after the abomination's temporary destruction at her hands, the vampire mage stirs in Nsahorek's hands, jumps out of his grasp and to an upring position, standing on her own two feet... ten yards above the ground. Hands on hips, she scans the group and rolls her eyes.

You're escaping one of the Forsaken on foot, you're traveling in the dark unable to see farther than a hundred feet guided by a divination spell, you're walking the face of Erebus uncloaked from the senses of the dead...
She pauses for a moment, considering.
I'm impressed! You should have been dead a couple of minutes after your arrival.
She frowns deeply in obviously false puzzlement then mild anger replaces that false mask.
Oh wait! You already would have been, if not for me. What were you thinking, acting like that? At least tell me you got rid of the Forsaken!

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"I am surprised you've recovered so quickly. You'll have to forgive me, I am unfamiliar with this place, as too are, I should think, the rest of us. And while I am grateful for your intervention in this matter, I think that we would all be better served treating one another civilly.

As for this "Forsaken," it was rapidly reforming, and with you unconscious, we decided it would be most prudent to evacuate. Several attempts were made at destroying the beast, but none were successful.

I am Albrecht DelaCroix, servant of the Lord of the North Wind. You are?"

[MikelaC]

And welcome to you too. My name is Linteshar. As for what happened, we, or at least I didnt ask to arrive here. I was attempting to plane shift from a fight gone badly, but found myself here because my opponent cast a spell at my portal. That put me here, and the Forsaken attacked right after.

[Gorgondantess]

Kasibel hovers along by the elf vampire, humming tunelessly. "Tsk, tsk. I prefer the good old days, before you dusted that thing. At least it wasn't so rude. Quite a nice conversationalist, actually, once you get to know it. Very good fellow, lovely singing voice, excellent geometries. A tad dull, but not so much as yourself, lady. So what brings you to these parts, anyhow?"

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek snarled a Beholder epithet irritatedly, the intent ringing in everyone's minds even if they didn't understand the exact word.
<<We were doing fine against that thing. Had you not turned up we would have beaten it handily. Perhaps it would have taken us a mite longer than you spent, but we are no helpless babes to be coddled. Do not dismiss my power lightly. From what I have seen - and I am good at seeing - these others have some skill in their own way, also. We are able to handle ourselves.>>

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The vampire mage sighs tiredly and rolls her eyes towards the black skies.
Why me? A thousand generations spent coddling ignorant children have not been enough for you?
Naturally, the black skies offer no reply.
Right. she says. First things first; this is Erebus, the plane of Midnight. That is no idle name; both in a physical and metaphysical sense, it is always midnight here. So, and here her voice turns to acid as she stares at the beholder if you were up against an undead abomination that returns to life every day at midnight, you'd be in trouble. Of course, if you believe you can handle something that literally can't die, be my guest; the Forsaken still is where we left it and will be for a few more minutes. After that it will rise fully healed, kill you and eat your souls.
Allowing a moment for that to sink in, she goes on;
Which brings us to the second problem; Erebus is a world dominated by the dead in all their forms. You are alive. And I, along with any single undead monstrosity nearby can see your life-force like a raging forest fire. Care to bet from how far a raging forest fire is visible against the darkness of the plane?
The vampire sorceress smiles, showing her fangs.
Now, to answer your questions; I did not recover from any wound-I had to steal time from my own future to blast the Frosaken to ash. That can leave one winded you know. I found you the same way the Forsaken did; through lifesense. And I was nearby because I was hunting it away from a nearby city, nearby being a relative term.
She turns to St Albrecht and smiles again.
You have performed admirably given the resources at hand but your magic will lead you to your doom. Erebus is near-infinite; the closest city is more than a thousand leagues away. You'd be worse than dead long before you reached it.

Measuring all of you in turn with her gaze, she frowns as her eyes look back to where the battle took place.
If you have magics to conceal your life-force and increase your speed, I suggest you use them. I can transport all of you to the plane of shadows so our travels will be easier, faster and with less nightmare content but we have to get going in less than a minute. Any longer and your little dark friend might catch up with us.

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

"If the distance is truly that long, then indeed what you're saying is reasonable. I could fly us all with ease there in about a month - and fairly safely, if no one is opposed to flying extremely high and without stops, but that would be troublesome." Pausing to ponder for a bit. "Now, if a few of you are unable to improve your speed greatly, I might consider carrying you through the plane of shadows."

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"I believe I can be of assistance on all counts. Once again, if you would all kindly lower your spell resistances..."

Divine energy surges through Albrecht, exceeding that even of what normal mortals should be able to channel. A supernatural wind stirs the party, and each creature's flame of life is covered as though a lid had been placed over a candle.

Casting a Divine Spell Powered Amplified 12th level Miracle to cast a CL 32 Spellforged DelaCroix's Rapid Exit, which combines Hide from Undead, Air Wind Walk, and Wind at Back. Each spell retains its usual duration.

Party members will be Hidden from Undead for 320 minutes, their overland movement speed will be doubled for 12 hours, and they gain the benefit of an Air Walk spell for 32 hours. In gaseous form, the party will be able to travel at 120 mph for 12 hours, and at 60 mph for an additional 20.

[AmberVael]

Azira's lips twitch in a faint snarl as she listens from the shadows. It was clear that the woman was full of herself- and Azira can't stand that kind of arrogance. She knows some people are more powerful, she knows some people use that power to intimidate and lord over others- but when someone is just exasperated that anyone else isn't as "exaltedly powerful" as them, it becomes intolerable.

Of course, what else should she expect from a vampire? They are almost always prone to sneering and contempt. Dry veined bastards.

She slips out of the shadows, figuring it needless. Most of them had inferred her presence- the vampire knew she was there, if not her exact position, and to take advantage of their magic and aid (if they will be traveling by supernatural measures), she'd need them to be fully aware of her. With no introduction, she simply moves towards the party, tail swishing behind her as she sheathes her dagger.

"Cut the condescension; despite your power and knowledge, you will not gain respect if you continue to act that way."

Azira says, red eyes examining the vampire with curiosity and a bit of distaste, one hand resting comfortably (but not threateningly, strangely enough) on the hilt of her dagger as she stands near the rest of the group.

"However, you did prove to be useful against that abomination, and so you have my thanks..." Here Azira gives a faint hint at a bow, though her eyes remain riveted on the vampire, marking her every movement, "...though your sudden arrival and urge to usher us elsewhere leaves me quite curious as to your intentions. Indeed, the fact that so many of us appeared in such a friendless plane at the same time and place is a remarkably strange coincidence- along with your sudden and convenient arrival.
"Mark this- I will journey along with you no matter your goal, for even if you plot my enslavement or eventual demise, it is a better promise than what the other creatures here will offer..."

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

The "half-giant" didn't resist at all when the vampire got out of his grip. "Given more time, we would have crushed the Forsaken. Your help is appreciated, but one way or another, we would have succeeded, he said. Once Albrecht requested, Nsahorek let his spell resistance drop, since he had no reason to be suspicious.

"I got here because I stole this hammer from a God, and that angered his pet Prismatic Dragon. Not a very pleasant trip at all," he commented.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar lowers her spell resistance to allow St. Albrecht to cast his spell on her, and smirks at the final appearance of Vael. When she notes the tail of the woman, her eyebrow quirks slightly, this is a woman worth getting to know, one perhaps the same as her.

"Im glad you finally chose to join us, hiding from foes is valuable, but not from potential allies

She turns to face the vampire lady.

This woman's words make sense to me, and reflect my views to a degree. Yes, you know more of this plane than we do, and we welcome your aid. But we are not ignorant children, as you just called us. I, for one, would be interested in travelling with you to see what it brings me, but not as a second class citizen.

With that said, Linteshar moves closer to Vael, eyes watching both her and the vampire.

[Gorgondantess]

Kasibel chortles, floating along leisurely. He carries a whimsical lilt to his voice, intoning matter-of-factly, "Oh... oh, my. You're just as rude as her, aren't you? And really, I don't see what the fuss is about this place. Sure, it's a bit bleak, and the folks around these parts can be a bit antagonistic, but mostly harmless... and as my mother always said, don't judge anything before you get to know it. A wise, wise woman, my mother. Lovely singing voice."
Hmmm.... wouldn't lifesense be ineffective in detecting, say, a ghost?:smalltongue:

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"While there are certain sentiments that would be well served to be aired, would it not be more prudent to perhaps air them while taking to the air? We accomplish nothing but allowing the Forsaken to reform by standing here and arguing over manners."

[AmberVael]

Azira

"I am afraid I am not so quick to trust, nor am I prone to civility and frivolous words when blunt truth and perception will suffice."

Azira states in response to Linteshar and Kasibel. She then nods to Albrecht curtly.

"True enough. We should get moving, unless anyone has objections or reason not to."

[MikelaC]

Linteshar pauses for a moment, then looks back to the vampire lady.

"Wait just a minute. When you started in on us, you described this "forsaken" as an undead abomination that literally could not be killed, and would rise again fully healed every day at midnight. You then went on to say that you were hunting it.
Why would you be hunting it? What purpose does it serve to hunt something that you cant kill? What purpose does it serve to attempt to destroy something that you KNOW cant be destroyed? This alone gives me cause for suspicion."

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The vampiress smiles sweetly at Linteshar and with a motion of her hands like parting heavy curtains, opens a Gate to the Plane of Shadows.
There are ways to defeat the unkillable. Your kind, for example, have melded iron with their own blood for eons beyond rememberance, granting the metal their ability to devour souls.
From somewhere in the folds of her red robe, the woman produces the handle of a sword attached to a foot of broken and blackened blade, frayed and melted away at the edges. Her mocking smile twists in distaste.
But every attack has a counter. I was hunting my enemy down until it fled in your direction. I intervened too soon though-and I failed.

[Frog Dragon]

"Ssss... Why would you hunt thissss beassst?" The Yuan-Ti flapping above them hisses. "Why would you hhelp usssss?" the Yuan pokes out a forked tongue, like a snake and hisses "And finally Sss... Why ssshould we trussst you?"

[MikelaC]

Linteshar mutters softly as she moves into position to use the Shadow walk...

my kind, my kind, always the my kind...see one succubus and we're all the same, soul sucking evil harlot slut...just once I'd like to be not prejudged....you dont hear me talking about blood sucking vampire wenches

Linteshar lets voice trail off as she readies to enter the shadow plane.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"Once again, I would reiterate that it is unwise to stand here talking while the Forsaken reforms, not to mention wasting the precious few hours we have before the first of my spells begins to wear off. May we please proceed?"

Albrecht looks expectantly from one adventurer to another before stepping through the gate after Linteshar.

[AmberVael]

Azira

Azira raises an eyebrow so very slightly at Linteshar's reaction. Curious- the vampire speaks of history and fact, and the succubus blows up at her defensively. Very interesting- she must be extremely touchy about her nature and the stereotypes surrounding it; Azira didn't know how the knowledge could come in handy, other than avoiding upsetting the woman, but she filed it away in the back of her mind for future reference... just in case.

Deeming the lack of response to her query to mean there were no reasons why she shouldn't get to traveling swiftly away, she takes the smart course and follows Linteshar and Albrecht, staying right behind them- looking back at the vampire as she moves through.

"I doubt you want us to call you "vampire," so how would you like us to refer to you?"

She'd ask for her name, but Azira had learned a long time ago that there were numerous people who preferred to go by titles, pseudonyms, or just random words. Better just to ask what she'd like to be called to avoid any confusion or clarification. If she DID respond with a name, well, that's fine, but if she didn't want to... this gives leeway for that too.

[Iethloc]

Nsahorek

"Whatever happens with the Forsaken, I'd rather not be in this place any longer. That one Forsaken is bad enough, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if there were more...a lot more," he comments. Before he walks into the portal, he changes his appearance once again, reassuming the form of a halfling. "I wouldn't recommend lingering here anymore. Come along," he says right before he steps in.

[Heliomance]

Gakarellek grumbles bad-temperedly, his dissatisfaction ringing clearly in the minds of the party.

<<I suppose the nightspawn is right. No matter what I think of her company, facing that thing once was enough to be getting on with.>>

He floats into the portal after the others.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Alarra, High Evoker of Erebus.

The vampire sorceress laughs again out loud and follows the group into the Gate. Once all of you pass inside-assuming you want to follow-she lets the gate fade away. Should you wait for more than three minutes, she leaves without you.

In the plane of Shadow, the vampiress adresses Linteshar again;
Prickly aren't you, about your nature? I suggest you keep your race and origins a secret, child of Malcanthet, lest others where we go capture you and bleed you dry to fuel their sorceries. Demon's blood is, after all, a valuable magical substance we here in Erebus lack.
She leads the way in the Plane of Shadow, a single step taken propelling her five dozen. So that was how the Forsaken moved at that incredible speed.
Well, what are you waiting for, an invitation?
She takes another step, instructing you how to best utilise the resonance between the Shadow and the Material to acheive that amazing speed.
Oh, one last thing; The name's Alarra and I don't drink blood.


Everyone gets a point of wisdom damage unless they are immune. You don't realise that has happened unless you succeed in a sense motive check (roll in your posts). I'm telling you so you can adjust sheets. That's psychic vampires to you.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar follows Alarra's instructions for moving, as her form shifts back to human, hiding her succubus nature.

While we are on the topic, do not refer to me as a child of Malcanthet. Even when I was in the Abyss, I did not follow her, she was always my enemy. If there was any queen I followed, it was Nocticula, and even that was tenuous,and now totally gone. Contrary to what rumours abound about her, Malcanthat was certainly not the only succubus queen, and not the most powerful one either.

[Frog Dragon]

Slishye steps through the gate.
"Ssss... Wheere are we going?"


Sense Motive: [roll0]

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade follows lead, flying quietly inside the portal - the Plane of Shadows, though he has rarely visited there, feels almost immedietly at home.

Sorry for not posting sooner and more, but at the moment I'm in a hurry. More will follow later, in another post.

Sense Motive:
[roll0]

And if the wisdom damage does allow a save, Winnowshade will use Ruin Delver's fortune for additional +15 to the check.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"Lead on, Alarra."

Albrecht's form shifts into an discorporated gas over the course of the next 30 seconds before rocketing off with an extreme sonic boom. Pretty much wherever they had to go, at this speed, it wouldn't take long.

[AmberVael]

Azira

Though she keeps moving along with the others, Azira narrows her eyes. Something strange was up- and she had little doubt it had to do with their recently acquired guide. She glances over the others, but sees nothing obvious among them...

The others had given little or no interest in her so far, except for the succubus, but she at least seemed rather focused on her own ordeals, and as far as Azira knew, there was no power a succubus had that would be so subtle.
She suspected Alarra was the cause, mainly because she seemed to be the one taking initiative around here, and did not seem very trustworthy at all. Possibly suspicion was thrown on her because she was the only figure who seemed an obvious culprit.

There was only one thing that Azira could definitely put her finger on and say was off though, and so she pounced on it.
"Drinking blood is the hallmark of a vampire... how do you manage to get by without it?"

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Alarra smiles at the other woman's questions.
Why, blood is only one of two ways common vampires can sate themselves and I am far from a common vampire. Blood, life-force, willpower, thoughts; they're all kinds of food. And you know what they say; a balanced diet consists of varied food groups.

She then stares at the snake-man and nods towards their destination far off in the darkness ahead;
There are cities in Erebus, places where civilisation persists even under such adverse conditions. We will reach one such shortly.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar turns to Azira after the vampires words, whispering to her.

[Heliomance]

Becuse I'm nosy:

Listen check to hear the whispered conversation: [roll0]
Spot check to read lips: [roll1]

Sense Motive check on vamp: [roll2]

[Gorgondantess]

Kasimir floats through the portal, a bored look on his face."Yes, let's go; I have a mind to see one of these cities you speak of. Also, if we were to enter this gate, and this place is strongly connected to the plane of shadow... wouldn't it draw the attention of these beings you're so keen on avoiding? If so, then lead on."
Wisdom damage? Wisdom damage? PAHAHAHAHAH... oh, that's a good one. Anyhow, wouldn't the vampire get kindof sick from trying to eat Kasibel's will? It's a class ability of mine, you know.

[Belial_the_Leveler]

Alarra shrugs at Kasibel.
They could try to follow, I guess. But seeing as the cities have been permanently warded by the creator of my Order, I don't think anyone short of a major deity would be able to magically slip through if we don't want them to.
Turning to Linteshar, the vampire smiles again.
So keen to avoid your heritage are you? If you're covertly trying to relay messages shouldn't you be using your telepathy?


@Gorgondauntess;
Give the vampire lady some credit. She's hunted down eldritch abominations for a thousand generations. She has her defences.

[AmberVael]

Azira continues along quietly, not responding to Linteshar for some reason. Possibly because she could care less about what she's saying, or possibly because she doesn't want to be overheard.
She just gives the vampiress a slight glare and continues moving.

[MikelaC]

Linteshar shrugs and turns her attention back to Alarra.

"So, this 'city' you are taking us to. Will we 'ignorant children' be able to recognize it as such? Will there be what we expect to see in a city, shops, inns, living people and such or does this plane define a city differently?"

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The vampire sorceress casts a spell using an archaic incantation so old you barely recognise it and shadowstuff coalesces into a cloud beneath everyone's feet. Like a charriot, the clouds propel you through the Shadow at immense speeds, the landscape beneath you little but a blur. You vault over massive ravines and black rivers while mountains higher than any on the Prime are left behind in the blink of an eye. With the charriot of black clouds and the plane's distortion ofspace you feel as if you've crossed a continent in only minutes.

As the spell disperses, you come before a circle of mountains, its massive bulk outlined against some source of brilliant light. The mountains of black stone are more than two leagues high each, with massive keeps and battlements at their tops sized for titans. A solid black wall bridges the keeps and fills in the gaps and ravines between the mountains, so impressively enormous it would fit the stronghold of a god. The light, brighter than that of the sun, blooms like a nova in a dome above the massive complex but abruptly stops at the walls' edge as if cut by a knife. Whatever the light is, it is definitely not natural.

The vampiress slows down as a powerful ward violently drags you from the plane of Shadows and back onto the surface of Erebus. Nodding at you she agrees.
Indeed. I imagine you'll recognize my home as a city. Brightfire is its name and it is a stronghold unconquered for eons beyond rememberance. You'll do well to remember that before you cause any trouble.

[MikelaC]

Who said anything about making trouble? Im just looking to get my bearings in this world. I come through a gate that I didnt ask for, get tossed amongst people I dont know and then some god killing abomination tries to make me its dinner, only to be saved by a vampire sorceress. Who wouldnt be a little confused?

*Eyes the impressive stronghold with a look of awe*

Unconquered for eons? I can see why. In fact, who would be foolish enough to even attempt such a hopeless task? Oh, thats right, you said most everything that lives here is undead, and likely insane.

*shields her eyes against the bright light*

Im going to have to get some shades.

[AmberVael]

Azira looks at the city with narrowed eyes, guessing it a source of many powers... but also a place of great danger. It would be a gamble to do anything but play it safe.

"I don't suppose you'll leave us to our own devices now that you've escorted us here?"
She asks Alarra a bit dryly.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"I am grateful to you for your assistance, Alarra. Could you possibly direct me to the temple district? I should hope that Lord Bahamut has a temple devoted to his worship here, and I would like to make my introductions to the people there.

This is an impressive city indeed."

[Adumbration]

Winnowshade

"Trouble? Oh, heaven forbid." The dragon eyes the city, intrigued. After seeing the great lights shine, he abandons his cloak of shadows as futile. "Now that we're here, though, I have to ask: what next? Now that you've valiantly saved us" the sarcasm is palpable "what do you plan to do with us?"

[Belial_the_Leveler]

The vampiress stares off at the city in the distance and sighs.

You cannot enter the city with me, for reasons I cannot explain. The main gate is up in the wall not far from here; go there and they'll direct you to the council's chambers for investigation. Every visitor is checked by the council and you should as well. More than that I cannot say.

As for your questions, what I will do with you will have to be answered at a later time. There are no temples in Erebus as no deity has dominion here; only outsiders can call upon divine powers. Once you become a permanent denizen of the place, the deities can no longer help you. You are, of course, free not to enter the city but out here on your own you won't survive for long.

[Karsh]

Saint Albrecht DelaCroix the Platinum

"You suggest that I should forsake Bahamut's grace in order to make my home on this godless plane? I will do no such thing."

[MikelaC]

I dont think shes saying you will immediately lose the power of your deity, it will only happen when and if you become a permanent resident. We're only applying to be visitors.

Linteshar turns to face Alarra once more

These guards and the council, are they like you, I mean, undead and such. Or will we be dealing with living beings such as ourselves?