Journey [IC]

[Ridai]

The world feels so different now. It hasn't been long since you felt like you awakened to something invisible, inaudible. Always there, but never allowing itself to be placed. Only ever feeling the draw of a place that doesn't exist for most. A hole in the world, now filled, yet remaining unknown. And wherever you go, you feel like you are inevitably steering closer and closer.

Even in but a few years of lifetime, you have left your mark on the world, succeeded against incredible odds, forged a path, unknowing of where it would lead next. The strength of your unity was challenged often, by others, by terrible monsters, unspeakable horrors of mankind and sometimes yourselves. But it was too stubborn to falter. Whether as heroes or adversaries, the people elevated you, but you were still a mortal among mortals. Now, the line has become hazy. Much of the world does not hold a challenge for you anymore. The world feels strangely quiet, cold, like colors dimmed and conflicts muted. The world seems to step back from you and in turn, the mists draw ever closer.

Now, standing at the edge of the large lake, knowing the one path through the waters ahead, despite your eyes not seeing it, the Mists Eternal are like a wall touching the grey sky before you, a gigantic yawning maw for you to enter. Apart from the cool breeze ruffling your hair and clothes, there is hardly any sound. No one to see you off, even though many might await your return. It is a lonely border into the unknown, but it is one that is crossed nonetheless.

Time soon becomes hard to keep track of as your feet make it through the strangely silent waters, the wind your occasional companion. Always forward, not even sure if you are still going straight ahead. You try to listen for any sounds out in the grey mass surrounding you apart from this distant deep groan of the wind. Perhaps your eyes are playing tricks on you, sometimes recognizing other walking shapes where there are none, hearing footsteps and calls where nobody goes. Your mind wanting to avoid the deafening silence. But yet, even without any markers, you know you are moving closer. You can feel it. Always forward.

When another shape forms, you at first dismiss it, until it becomes bigger. Somewhere ahead, something big looms in the mists, rising above and becoming broader with every step. Then, a soft light, gently swaying back and forth. Cold and wet, your feet feel a harder surface underfoot, soon finding a small set of steps out of the water, onto weathered stone, the lantern hung from an old pole on the narrow pier. A few more steps and you see a staircase leading up the side of a stone wall that has withstood the waves for a long, long time. Your eyes are guided further up, seeing the hazy outlines of walls, buildings and towers reach up into the mists against the diffuse light, silent watchers of the waters.

At the top of the stairs, you find a place of a little, but welcome shelter, a small patch of grass in the backyard of a house, the walls partially overgrown plants finding their way up and down. The sound of the wind is still with you, but you are momentarily free of its embrace, the ground soft. It is a lonely, but perhaps peaceful place, the only way onwards marked by an old door hanging ajar, the design simple and gracefully aged, the doorway leading into the cellar of the home that hasn't welcomed anyone for what feels like an eternity.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Allister Spyre

Allister Spyre, battle veteran, arrives at the top of the stairs and stops, staring at the strange shelter. It's been an uncommon journey with the team, and looks like the place was going to be a fine place for rest.

"Well ladies and gentlemen, apparently this should be our first stop," he says. "We need to check it out first to avoid any risk while we sleep or take watch. However, for some reason, I think I've seen this place before..."

OOC

A History check to see if I've heard/read about this place [roll0]

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, taking this Journey in the waters of this hazed and untouched area, finally comes to a set of stairs. She hesitates for a moment, but then she takes the first step and the others come easier. Necia has never been one to hesitate, instead jumping into the heat of battle, but this place makes her.....uneasy. She has roamed the lands for many years now, doing what she can to survive and live her life out. One could say that she charged into battle to try and end her life so that she would no longer have to live with the shame of her master's death.....but one wouldn't want to mention that to her face.

Following her current companions up the stairs to the broken house type thing, she lets out a little sigh. Not of of fear, but more one of boredom. Allister makes a remark about looking around, and of course he means carefully, but Necia has never been one for "being careful." She immediately goes to the door hanging ajar and opens it up, walking to the house and looking around.

[roll0] perception check to look around the little house

[Dimers]

Inh Truthwalker

Inh finishes tightening the sashes on her patterned robe, having held it up out of the water while wading. "Yes ... whatever that boundary was, it feels as though we're fully beyond it now. I expect little risk from opening my vision again." As she has many times in the past months, she re-settles her body minutely, her stance taking on a sort of alert curiousity, her breaths shallow and rapid but quiet. A second later, her eyes darken as she starts to experience the hidden world.

Entering peer through the void stance. I'm not trained in perceiving things, so I'll just use my passive score, for 23.

"Oh! ... the colors always surprise me."

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis circles the house, hammer in hand, alert for possible threats.


[roll0] Perception

[Infernally Clay]

Silently, Thorn searched the nearby area for wood suitable for burning. For someone so large and tree-like, he moved rather quietly. Bramble, the Displacer Beast that had been Thorn's closest friend for as long as he could remember, watched its master with curious eyes and a tilted head. When it finally realised what Thorn was doing, it set about helping him in his task by walking down into the cellar and ripping planks apart with its tentacles before returning to Thorn with what could only be described as the scariest smile most have ever seen.

With a brief nod of thanks, Thorn started the fire and began examining nearby foliage to see if there was anything that was safe to eat in this strange land.

Nature: [roll0]

[Ridai]

The backyard is surrounded by the high, weathered and overgrown walls, the only side that isn't pointing out towards the misty lake. The faint sense of familiarity evoked by the sights and sounds feels a little more alien rather than recognizing something thought forgotten, easily attributed to the otherworldly feel suffusing everything in this place.

The world as envisioned through her expanding senses looks strangely washed out to Inh, when it should be vibrant and in constant flux. This place is almost still, the only real motion coming from her companions, the vines' leaves quietly swaying in the wind and the even flow of the air, painting a tranquil picture.

Parts of the backyard might once have been a garden, too, upon closer inspection, judging by the bushes and other growths against one of the walls and part of the lower wall on top of the edge of the pier-wall. The remains of a scant few tools and broken hanging pots are only further evidence of this. At the least, a few edible roots, perhaps some berries or tubers might be found there, but nothing all too noteworthy.

Inside the cellar, Necia finds a few dark, somewhat damp rooms, most of them storage and some work-oriented furniture. An old net, fishing lines and hooks as well as a spare paddle seem to point to either a hobby or part-time occupation of the inhabitants of this home. The visitor passes a few racks with several bottles of what is most likely wine in them, as it is hard to see through the glass given the opaque layer on each one due to what they have been exposed for some time now. The wooden staircase creaks, but holds, the upstairs levels revealing what must have once been a nice, small family home, Necia identifying a living room with dusty and grimy furniture with the requisite picture frames, though the images are beyond any sort of recognition. A kitchen, bath rooms, bed rooms, all still images, old and untouched for a long time, making it look like the inhabitants just left at some point, belongings and tools still lying around the house as if only temporarily put down. Windows show a mostly empty small street, with other houses similarly vacant and forming a dead end to the left, the street leading further to the right otherwise.

Suddenly, the serene quietness is harshly disrupted by Bramble decimating one of the cellar tables, by accident collapsing a part of one of the wine racks, the sounds of splintering wood clashing against cracking glass. Inh perhaps feels it the strongest, the sudden burst of sound like a distorting wave ripping through the environment. The resulting crackling campfire is like a bright, colorful source of chaos, out of place. Even as the silence eventually returns, the burst does make it feel much more eerie than before, at least for the moment.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia winces at the sudden sound of the table's destruction, along with the crashes of the wine bottles. Being a somewhat sneaky and quiet person, this kind of annoyed her, but as there didn't seem to be anyone here, she let is slide. Grabbing a couple of the bottles of wine that hadn't been destroyed, Necia takes a seat in the living room and pops one open, "Well, what do ya think we should be doin'? Might be a nice place to lay down for the night, doesn't seem to be anyone around usin' it. What do y'all think?" Necia takes a long swig from her bottle, and waits for the others input.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis comes to the door just as Necia finishes speaking. "Should search area first. Why house empty? Might be mist. Might not. Feels like old mine at midnight."

[Wdwune]

"Indeed, the mists," replies Cpt Spyre as Brandis ends his sentence. "That's a good point, Brandis. For some reason this place looks as if the people who lived here just... vanished leaving their tools abandoned," he points at the bottles Necia's holding, "and apparently, their supplies too."

He turned to Inh. "What do you think, Inh? Could this mist be some sort of sentient, magical phenomenon that makes people disappear somehow?"

Cpt Spyre already knows that he can trust Inh to know a lot about magic, the same as he can always count on Thorn to handle the knowledge that has to do with the environment and nature. Brandis showed his resourcefulness by fighting like a true soldier with his hammer and toughness, but he also seemed very knowledgeable about the gods, immortals, undead and far realms. And Necia's strengths were both combat, subtlety and honor, however Spyre could always count on her to do any task as fast and efficient as possible.

All four of them are like different metals: Thorn and Bramble are two different entities who work as one, just like strong and flexible Steel made out of different minerals. Brandis is the extremely tough and hard one, almost unbreakable and able to overcome any obstacles, just like Adamantine. Necia is the light and strong Mithral, someone easy to work with, beautifully effective and durable, and Inh is the extremely rare and carefully forged Cold Iron, an otherworldly mineral which has unusual properties and is very effective against the unknown terrors.

"And yes, Necia," he adds. "Once we have the perimeter clear, we should be able to camp here for the night before continuing forwards. Come on, I'll lend you a hand."

And the captain scouts the surroundings to aid his teammates with the small recon.

OOC

Insight and/or Perception checks to aid whoever of my teammates in checking the place out for possible dangers:
· Perception: [roll0]
· Insight: [roll1]

Result of 10 or more adds a +2 bonus to the ally's check. :smallsmile:

[Dimers]

"What do you think, Inh? Could this mist be some sort of sentient, magical phenomenon that makes people disappear somehow?"

"I ... don't think so, Captain. The mist feels to me like a boundary ... or a passage. A place, not an active force, not thinking. If people disappear into the mist, it would be because they walk in, not because the mist comes and takes them. And while I admit I felt something calling me to walk this way myself, it would be most odd for someone to build and live in a house here and suddenly leave to answer a calling."

She chuckles, a high and light sound. "Of course, it would be odd for someone to build a house, live in it and suddenly leave for any other reason as well. We can keep looking for clues, but morning may bring more insight, or perhaps the dwellers. May I start to set up to stay the night?"

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis circles the house one more time, getting a feel for the place, then goes in to help Inh with getting things set up for everyone. "Stay the night? Will take long watch."

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia shugs, sets down her bottle of opened wine, and accompanies the Captain outside and looks around the perimeter. They explore the backyard a little more, but then they look out the front windows to the house. It seems as though there is an entire town, at least from what they can see in the mists, outside the house. Necia grabs her bottle of wine and asks the others, "Well, Y'all be carin' to explore this place? Might get a little borin' just sittin here!" With that she starts for the door.

Perception check outside, looking for anything that might be hostile or anything that might become hostile - [roll0], so a 34 with Wdw's assistance.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre

After helping Necia in her search, inside the building the captain discovers something like the main door of the hut. Even if the mists are somehow creepy, Inh's words calmed his thoughts. He glanced through the window and noticed a town outside. "Well ladies and gentlemen, it looks like civilization waits for us outside," he says with a smile.

He opens the door and, with his glance and a courteous hand gesture, invites everyone to follow him outside. "Let's go take a look."

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis moves out with Necia and Spyre. "May be barracks or keep. Should see. Might be a clue."

[Ridai]

With Thorn staying by the campfire, the rest moves through the house, the front door creaking loudly as it opens from years of disuse, echoing through the street beyond. Out there, the sound of yawning wind rushing through enclosed space is almost everything you hear. The visibility is quite poor, the white soup around the group revealing the opposite row of houses and what might have been (work)shops, facing the one behind you that is similarly composed.

You think you can make out a slightly downward slope to your left, with something quite long and thick reaching into the air at a slightly ajar angle, barely recognizable at this distance. You feel a mostly evenly paved street at your feet, but you can barely make it out, either, swathes of fog choking the street. Overall, the ravages of time have done their damage in parts, plants overgrowing some buildings and parts of the street, the pavement uneven or broken in places, the facade and roofs of several houses damaged. Regardless, the craftmanship displayed still seems remarkable, even if most of the buildings are built mostly functionally and not to impress. All throughout the street, there are old waggons, crates, a few stands, wildly distributed, a lot of them broken down.

To your right, you see another dark silhouette, but much closer and much bigger. A giant tunnel like a black mouth, built into the side of yet another high city wall, the huge entrance firmly blocked by a similarly tall gate. Looking up, seeing the vague outlines of towers, roofs, battlements, you almost feel like the mists are, imperceivably slowly, pouring down on you. Or perhaps they are streaming up? It is hard to tell, just as your sense of time is all but gone, seeing no sign of a day and night cycle. There is just diffuse light, not especially bright, but unchanging.

To the left of the gigantic gate, your eyes crossing over a few wooden structures leaning against the stone wall, you see a tower reaching up the wall, the door open, the inside dark.

Ihn, Necia
Out of the corner of your eye, you think you registered movement to your far right. When you look there, everything seems still. Perhaps the mist are playing tricks on your senses?

Necia:
Also, the wine has a very strong, earthy taste. It is hard to tell whether it is supposed to be that way or if it is just plain old. In hindsight, perhaps you were lucky it wasn't pure vinegar.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre

"Probably," the captain replies to Brandis as he looks around noticing the plant activity slowly devouring the surounding buildings, "but they're surely empty. Either way, I hope the former citizens could have the kindness to leave some supplies at least."

He walks again inside the house "Hey Thorn, you have to see this!" he calls as he points at the plant-covered blocks, and then he heads back to the street.

He then notices the gigantic gate and the wooden structures aside. "That sector is... intriguing. He turns to Necia, the stealthiest of his teammates: "Do you think you can do a small recognaissance over there? I don't think that door just opened on its own..."

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia looks around the street, not exactly sure as to what it is she is seeing. The wine tastes ok....but she has definitely had better. It seems to taste old and not very tasty, she plugs the top and tosses the bottle on the grass in the front yard. She takes a wine skin from her pack and takes a draw from it, swishes a little wine around in her mouth, and spits it out. "Wine is very old, on the verge of going bad.....even being sealed in the bottles. This place is....." and she trails off, shooting her head to the right. Everyone watches Necia just stares to her right for an uncomfortably long time, then the Captain broke the silence. Even after him speaking Necia's gaze didn't falter from the right of her. She then turns back tot he group and speaks, "Yes, we should investigate the tower. However we should not do it alone. There is something in the mists, at least some movement my eye caught. It might have just been the swirling of the fog.....but my experience tells me not to ignore my instincts. And my instincts are telling me to be very cautious." Necia then crouches down a little and starts to walk to the towers and the other structures, "Come, follow me." She picks up a couple of smaller rocks and keeps them in her hands.

Stealth - [roll0]
Perception - [roll1], to keep a very, very strict eye out for any more movement

If, and it is probably a big if, I happen to see any movement that isn't my party, I am readying an action to automatically throw a pebble at it. Not trying to harm whatever it is, just to get its attention. Ridai, feel free to roll any attack that might come from this and just let me know what happens.

[Dimers]

"Wine is very old, on the verge of going bad.....even being sealed in the bottles. This place is....." and she trails off, shooting her head to the right.

Inh immediately looks to Necia's left as well as scanning the misty skies, an old habit many youths in her village had developed for their games in the mists. Misdirection is a time-honored tactic for war as well as play.


"There is something in the mists, at least some movement my eye caught. It might have just been the swirling of the fog.....but my experience tells me not to ignore my instincts. And my instincts are telling me to be very cautious."

Inh nods in agreement about the movement. "There is an odd feeling here. My mind's eye sees no creatures other than us, but you know my mind's eye is not without limitation. Perhaps we should silence our speech as we continue?"

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods upon hearing Inh's suggestion.

("Stick with Necia,") his mind communicating with Inh's. ("Maybe with your blindsight you can spot something that will give anything away. Brandis and I will go right behind you, and Thorn and Bramble will be the rear scouts.")

OOC

We should move slowly while Thorn and Bramble appear. :smalltongue:

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis moves slightly to the right, hammer in a high grip and eyes narrowed as he peers into the mist.


Perception [roll0]

[Dimers]

Inh contacts the troupe silently, saying <Captain says Necia and me in front, Thorn and Bramble watching the back. Captain, I just had a thought -- there was a lantern burning outside the house. How could that be? We should go back and examine the magic.>

If nobody objects, I'll take a look at the lantern and also make an Arcana check to detect magic in the area: [roll0]

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods and sends back a message to Inh's mind. <Go ahead, Inh. But try to be swift; that gate gives me a bad feeling. Brandis, Necia and myself will stay here and watch the spot and you'll know immediately if something's going on.>

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis moves to the side of the street and takes a low stance, waiting quietly. His eyes search the dark, mist-filled spaces along the street.

Perception [roll0]

[Ridai]

Inh moves back through the house, through the cellar and onto the backyard again. Despite being called, Thorn and Bramble still sit there as before, tending the campfire. Down the staircase, the lantern is still there, lonely swaying back and forth in silence. Her senses wrapping around the little light, taking in the soft brightness, Inh doesn't feel the workings of the arcane or the touch of the divine within. Though no one is around, it is just there, as if placed with deliberation, the only thing that welcomed you all in this place so far. In the abscence of any hard truth, interpretations do shine brighter.

-------

On the street, still within the fog, the group spends several quiet moments, the looser parts of their equipment and hair ruffled by the wind, wet from the mists which swathes flow around your legs. Necia's eagle eyes are peering into the murky white wall and towards the dark door to the tower, still open as it has always been, as if daring them to investigate. But all the while, the huge black gate looms, much like the maw of the mists when you first entered them, but this one swallowing all light, the wind sharply flowing in and out of it like the distorted breath of an unimaginably large beast one can only hope is sleeping tightly, far away.

Necia
Though looking for movement, Necia thinks she spots something else. A shape, leaning against a distant wall near the tower door, but so hard to make out in the mists, as if almost part of it. It is hard to keep track of despite being perfectly still.

Also, the winds of the black gate are becoming more and more unnerving. She is not sure if her sense are playing tricks on her with the sounds or when she might have seen a little reflection through the thick bars blocking the giant entrance.

[Infernally Clay]

Once the area was prepared to Thorn's standards, he motioned quietly to Bramble to follow him as he joined the rest of the group. Putting his hands on their shoulders as he approached, lest they mistake him for an enemy, Thorn helped to scan the area and spot any possible hints or threats. After a few moments, the Druid began to make his way towards the black gate.

"Caution to the wind..." Thorn whispered, his eyes carefully watching the gates as he approached in case of danger.

Perception: [roll0]

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis thinks to Inh "Ask others what now. Look or settle."

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia stares at the gate and the wall, straining to see and figure out if she saw what she thought she saw. "Ihn," she thinks, "I am not sure, because this places seems to play tricks on my senses, but I thought I saw someone leaning against the wall near the gate. And....I thought I saw some sort of reflection through the bars of the gate." She then pauses, giving that a moment to sink in, "Also, this winds coming from the gate are worrying me more and more. We need to figure out what the hell this place is, and soon."

[Dimers]

Inh leaves the lantern untouched, perhaps wanting unnamed others to be welcomed too. Moving back toward the street, she sends, <No magic here. The lantern simply ... is. Like the idea of a lantern, rather than a specific object. Everyone is itching to move. Necia says she might have seen someone leaning by the gate.> When she reaches the ronin's side, she adds, <Ready. Let's move,> and cautiously slides forward.

Stealth: [roll0]

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis, hearing Inh's thoughts, goes and pokes the lantern.

As he does so, he sends back to Inh "Go. Will come if trouble."

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nodded to Thorn's whispers as he felt the wind on his face. While Inh was off he remembered old tales regarding solitary places with unusual climates. Like wind in the mist, he thought as he scanned the field with his glance.

At first making a camp in the house of the shore seemed like a good idea, just like a vacation on a quiet, exotic place. However, now that he saw the lonely town, camping didn't seem like a good idea anymore. Once Inh returned, he nodded as he transmitted his thoughts to her. <Right, it's too dangerous to settle here. We better keep moving, and be prepared for ambushes.>

He takes a center position, right after the forward scouts, and moves with the team, his shield ready.

OOC
Perception check to aid Thorn: [roll0]

...And just in case, an (active) Insight check: [roll1]

[Ridai]

Brandis examines the lantern, finding it slightly warm to the touch, but his small push only causes the swaying to slightly alter for a few moments before the wind takes control again.

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

Up on the street, the group spends tense seconds creeping through the lazily swirling mists, still accompanied by the wind moving to and from the yawning black gate which feels like it is becoming more and more towering as they approach. Having abandoned caution at least partially, Thorn has taken point, closely followed by Bramble, with Necia and Inh not far behind, Cpt. Spyre securing the group against attacks from the rear.

Though the feeling of having no real cover to hide behind and no cover of darkness to shield from watchful eyes would unnerve most infiltrators, Inh is familiar with treading fog and mist, even with the otherworldly, unnatural feel of this place. Her companions are still vaguely aware of her position, but the githzerai masterfully blends into the mists, a phantom only rarely and fleetingly exposed to the eye, silent as the swathes floating by.

There is little in the way of revelations as their eyes look into the all-consuming blackness of the gate or the interior of the tower, but they slowly begin to realize that Necia's sense did not trick her. Against the far corner of the row of houses to the left leans a figure, shrouded in fog which only reveals the outlines of a humanoid body, its armor most likely damaged by battle and time, but not smelling of rot and decay. Slightly slumped against the wall, it was somehow kept upright by the weathered spear in its death grip. The thought of an obfuscated still life enters your minds momentarily, lonely and abandoned, preserved for unknowable times to come.

That is, until it begins to move. With the muffled, distant clanking and creaking and rustling of rusty, damaged armor pieces and chainmail, the figure begins to slowly lifting itself back into a steady stance, leaning on the old spear. Once standing freely, the figure, still somehow shrouded in a blanket of mist obscuring it, grasps its weapon in a readied stance. To your left, further onward and behind a haphazard pile of crates and barrels, you hear similar muffled metallic sounds, though no sounds a being would make, only the equipment. Two of them are becoming visible, similarly armored figures, though armed with pitted swords and partly broken shields bearing a long rendered unrecognizable sign. It doesn't take much of a leap of logic to recognize them as city guards, regardless. In the distance, just where the gate begins, Thorn's sharp eye spots a crossbow slowly being loaded behind a large crate.

Soon, the three figures nearby and more or less visible turn their heads to the group, their eye sockets more black spots of shadow. You get the feeling their mouths are moving, but no sound comes to confirm such theories.

And then they begin to step towards the group.

If you want to roll initiative, you can do so. Since Brandis is still down at the pier, he can enter the map in round 2.

The enemies will act as one block of shared initiative (most of the time) and depending on your initiative rolls, you will act before or after that block. Likewise, PCs before/after the enemy block also form a block. The order in which the PCs act within those blocks is up to you, but the order in which you post IC is what counts in the end. So, essentially, if some PCs roll lower and some higher than the enemies, they are split into two groups in the first round, the faster group able to act before the enemies. After the enemies' first turn, the PCs essentially become one initiative group again. Coordination about who takes his turn when is okay as long as it doesn't slow down the game or become super-cheesy.

Keep in mind that during combat, the preferred post rate is 1 post per day (so pretty much 1 round per day). I'll wait up to two days at most for everyone to get their posts in, but those who don't step up will find their characters doing very basic maneuvers.

Here is a map (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtJ0GfBEYFa5dHNpUUZBS2xWMVdpOFlJY2dQYTZ5V 2c#gid=0) of the area, which is also linked in the OOC opening post. When you move on your turn or move an enemy due to forced movement, please change the positions on the map accordingly.

Here is the combat tracker (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtJ0GfBEYFa5dHB5MnIyNm1uZkpIVDN0WmF1RlN6a 2c#gid=0) (also linked in the OOC). Here, you can enter your attack results in the fields labelled AC, Fort, Ref, Will. You will then be told if you hit or not. Please enter the damage you do in the lower case "dmg" columns and enter all other effects (status, ongoing damage etc.) in the column to the right.

If you use powers or items or actions that give you temporary bonuses/penalties, enter them in the respective column of your character with the duration. You can see a few notation guides when you mouse-over the fields between the PC and enemy blocks, namely the fields EoNT, SE and EoE.

Lastly, sorry for the delay. The first few fights might very well be sort of "calibration fights", as I am trying to figure out how to best build enemies (and I am also trying out a different HP formula for them).

[Infernally Clay]

"Five. Three swords. Crossbow. Spear," Thorn said, listing the number of enemies and their weapons, "Surrounded."

Initiative: [roll0]

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods at Thorn. "Noted," he mumbles as his mind quickly started to develop a strategy and a formation against those things.

We need to hold them off until Brandis arrives, he thinks for himself as he slowly shakes his head. He then whispered a short message to Inh and Necia, both ladies next to him: "Necia, Inh..." and he gestured curdly, even if Inh hid pretty well amongst the mists. Heh, fogs are like a second home to her, he thought.

OOC

Initiative: [roll0]

And I use Battlefront Shift power, targetting Inh and Necia (Improved Battlefront Shift allows me to choose two targets):
· Both ladies can shift 3 squares right away, before the start of the combat. :smallbiggrin:

[Dimers]

Inh moves past the witch's son and his beast. She mentally tells her comrades, <The swordsman here will be my guest if he attacks.>

Shift from K10 through Bramble and Thorn to N9.
The move requires another Stealth check at -5 for speed: [roll0]

Inh puts her foot down on something sharp and unseen, muffling an intake of breath too late. Her position is now clear to the watching guardsmen.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia sees the body on the wall with the spear, and she is slightly worried about it....then it moves. "****," she whispers to herself. Well, nothin' to do now but take 'em out. I am kind of relieved, she thinks to herself. Automatically looking at the Captain, Necia takes her queue and shifts up the battlefield to the nearest skeleton, seeming to come out of the fog at it.

Initiative : [roll0]

Necia will shift up to K6, and also use Iaijutsu(Encounter) and finish shifting to the soldier to K5 and "draw her weapon" :smalltongue: Here is the power: You can draw a weapon and shift up to a number of squares equal to half your speed. If you end this move adjacent to an enemy, you gain a +2 power bonus to the next attack roll you make against that enemy before the end of your next turn.

And the reason why I am rolling Initiative: If your initiative is higher than every enemy's initiative, any melee weapon attack you make during your first turn of the encounter can score a critical hit on a roll of 18-20.

The Trigger for the power is that I roll Initiative.

[Ridai]

Sluggish as whatever these beings are, the group is too much a well-functioning unit to give them the chance of first blood. However, they now seem to be aware of Inh's presence, as hard as it is to tell with these beings' discomforting lack of body language.

As promised in the interest of full disclosure, I rolled a 1 on the enemies' initiative check, so all of you have beaten their score quite easily.
I rolled Inh's initiative and put it into the tracker.

Since I feel it is important for keeping the game alive, coordination is fine, but if it slows the game down so that we go over the 1 day, 1 round pace, it is not worth it! And at that point, we are probably reaching uncomfortable amounts of metagaming.

Everyone who wants to detect the crossbow guard on their turn can try to do so as a minor action and with a Perception check.

[Infernally Clay]

OOC:
I'm on my phone and won't be able to get to my laptop until tomorrow, so can someone update the combat tracker for me? Thanks.

Thorn had seen many strange things in the past, all manner of beast thought myth or fairy tale, but these things were unlike anything he had ever seen before. In truth, it terrified him. The eerie mists, the empty houses, these strange creatures... Thorn liked new experiences but this wasn't quite what he had in mind. Yet he was given strength by the land itself and his senses were needed to guide his allies in this strange land, so fear was the last thing on Thorn's mind.

He was still a predator and before him was his prey.

With a great burst of speed, Thorn dashed towards his chosen enemy... and began to grow larger. His armour became flesh and his muscles writhed and contorted as they became covered in fur. None of his allies had seen him do this and, to them, it probably looked excruciating painful, but Thorn had mastered the art of shapeshifting into his beast form and so the transformation was over before he even reached the creature that had been to his left. The large man had become an even larger beast, lean as a wolf but powerful as a bear. Thorn loosed a mighty slam that would have killed a normal man. Yet as quickly as he had arrived, his eyes were set on a second target, and he charged forward and slammed the spear wielding foe with an equal amount of force.

Actions:
Free: Wild Shape
Move: To L4
Standard: Predator's Flurry

Encounter, Beast Form, Implement.
Melee touch. [roll0] vs Sword Guard 1's Ref.
[roll]1d6+13[roll] damage, dazing the target until the end of your next turn, then shift to N4 and make secondary attack.
[roll1] vs Spear Guard's Ref. [roll]1d6+13[roll] damage, dazing the target until the end of your next turn.
If either target is dazed, Thorn gains a +2 bonus to all defences against their attacks while they are dazed.

[Ridai]

Necia and Thorn sprint through the mists, making it swirl around their bodies and in their trails. Thorn's feral assault is fearsome to behold and both he and his companions know that little in the outside world has any hope to withstand or even dodge it, just as with what others can bring to bear. They were unchallenged, as if a line was crossed, now seperating them from all the others.

However, even with its slowness, the guard intercepts Thorn's pounce with its broken shield, the old wood withstanding, even if some splinters are flying accompanied by a wooden thunk that eerily rings through the street. In a way, it feels like this is not how it is supposed to be.

Not slowing down, the druid quickly redirects himself and pounces at the spear wielding guard in hopes of finding purchase there and reaffirming that the defense just moments ago was just a fluke. A second surprise lies in wait for him, though. Pulling back its spear, the guard slashes upwards as Thorn leaps through the air, stopping the man-turned-beast cold, even pushing him back, Thorn landing hard and soon back on his feet. However, he is still reeling from the blow, able to remain on his feet, but barely so. Moving out of the guard's reach, or further into it, is far from his mind right now, the guard only watching on with his features hidden in the mist, the black sockets with a sign of any reaction or emotion.

Thorn misses with both attacks. As he moves adjacent to the spear guard, he triggers an immediate interrupt attack. The guard rolls a 27 vs AC, hitting Thorn.

Thorn is dealt 28 damage, pushed 1 square to M4 and is immobilized until the end of the spear guard's next turn.

[Dimers]

I rolled Inh's initiative and put it into the tracker.

I rolled right at the top of OOC post 48. Believe me, when there's tactical combat happening, I am alllll OVER it. I love this stuff.


Initiative: [roll0] {Interesting. And now I know not to quote a roll when I'm also making a new roll.}

I'm entering temporary hit points for use of the Restful Bedroll, on the assumption that this is our first encounter of the day: [roll1] {You get the idea.}

Inh doesn't have cover (for purposes of Stealth) from Sw1, Sw2 or Sp. If the mist provides concealment, I can stay hidden from them for now. But we don't yet know whether those enemies can even see the mist.

Players, remember that we have never encountered undead, ever. They don't exist in the world we come from. These are hideous and shocking creatures starting to brandish weapons at us.

Having perfect proof that the armor abominations are willing to act with violence, Inh launches into action. She makes mystic ties to two of the horrors she can see, then makes a dodging sprint through the mist to hack viciously at the spearwielder.

Minor action: aegis of assault on Sw2
Minor action: oath of enmity on Sp
Standard action: charge N9-O8-P7-Q6-P5, double-rolling my overwhelming strikeMBA against my oathie, using Power Attack for +6 damage at no penalty thanks to storvakal path feature. First round of combat, +2 attack +4 damage from Spyre. [roll0] or [roll1] to hit, [roll2] damage, and if I happen to get a crit then add [roll3] for ki focus.

The brutal blow sweeps the spearman around, Inh's momentum forcing it to move against its will.

Overwhelming strike requires a shift-and-slide, so I shift to P4 and slide Sp to where I was.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia narrows her eyes, knowing that these creatures couldn't have been any good. The one in front of her stirs and starts to look like it is ready for combat.......she happily obliges.

Actions
Throwing out a daily since I have a nice +4 to attack! (Hopefully it still works out :smalleek:)
Standard - Steel Warrior Technique [roll0], and I mark the target, save ends. And a Crit on an 18-20.
Damage - [roll1], and Until this power's mark ends on the target, it takes damage equal to your Strength modifier (4) whenever it hits you. Also, if I hit him, he is dazed, per my feat Dazing fist.
Free - If I hit add [roll2]
No Action - Fury of Blows, if I hit add 7 dmg + another 4 damage due to my feat Violet Awakening
Move - Shift to L5

No guts, no Glory.......So here goes nothin'!

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre

Spyre took its time to make the next move. His companions were doing pretty well, but in order to wait for Brandis, the team would need to either buy time or finish them off quickly. By my calculations, he will be here in a few seconds, he thought as he made his choice.

He moves quickly to help Inh finish off the Spear-guard. With help of his shield -and a special ability hidden in his baldric- he managed to keep the enemy warrior distracted for a fraction of time.

<Now,> he transmits to Inh's mind.

OOC

Move: Move to O5

Minor: Use my Baldric of Tactical Positioning item power: The square P6 is considered an ally for flanking purposes. It last until the end of my next turn, it's marked as an "x" on the map.

Standard: Commander's Strike: As a free action, Inh gets a basic melee attack vs the Spearman, but she adds a total of +3 bonus to attack roll and +6 bonus on damage (this already includes the combat advantage bonus). :smallwink:

[Ridai]

The group's opening strikes are quick and brutal, with Necia delivering a bone-crushing blow against her chosen prey, feeling the body beneath the armor give a bit, accompanied by a sickening, but ghostly distant crunch. Somehow, it does not go down, despite something that would have killed a man twice Necia's size.

Inh and Cpt. Spyre coordinate like they have many times before, with the former a devastating instrument of destruction, swiftly cutting down her target in mere seconds, cleaving the body nearly in half. Falling into the swathes of mist, the body quickly gets harder and harder to see until it blends in entirely, but Inh still gets the feeling that it was bleeding. Bleeding white fumes, if anything?

The remaining guards show no real reaction to the death (?) of their companion. The crossbow guard, hidden from anyone but Thorn thus far, fires from its position at Inh, but the shot goes wide, unable to keep up with the whirling dance of death, the bolt dragging a line of fog behind it.

The sword guard under the effects of Inh's aegis follows her, suddenly rushing forward and slamming its sword into her body in a wide, flailing manner as if the cutting tool was a club, the being stumbling and moving in an awkward manner, her morning preparations cushion the blow a bit, but the guard still deals her quite a bit of pain.

Its companion hidden behind the boxes follows suit, but in regards to Necia, flanking her and half hitting her with its sword, half ramming into her, leaving a serrated wound. Meanwhile, the misty being so badly wounded by Necia before starts a flailing assault at its assailant, broken bones distantly cracking beneath the armor. The first slam goes laughably wide, almost inviting laughter, if the follow-up didn't hit its mark with deadly accuracy just as Necia is reeling from her first wound, cutting and ripping deep. Whatever these beings are, they are not lacking in strength or viciousness, far exceeding most of what they faced in the outside world.

With the carnage in full force, Brandis barges out of the front door of the house the group was in just minutes ago, ready to charge into the fray.

I assumed that Inh applies Power Attack to her granted attack. And she promptly kills the spear guard.

Crossbow guard shoots at Inh, rolls a 2 and misses. Is revealed to everyone.

Sw2 moves and charges at Inh (moving to Q4), hitting her with a 32 vs AC and dealing 23 damage (15 after substracting THP).

Sw3 moves and charges at Necia (moving to M6), flanks Necia with Sw1 and barely hits her due to CA with a 28 vs AC, dealing 26 damage.

Sw1 uses a double attack power against Necia, rolling a natural 1 and a 19 (for a final result of 38 vs AC), dealing 28 damage. Takes 4 damage for hitting Necia, saves against both effects.

Brandis is placed in C12 and can now act in the fight.

Go players!

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis rounds the corner and sees the foes the others are fighting, and their unnatural nature checks his stride for a moment, but then he surges forward, determined to end this threat to his comrades.


Move action to H10
Charge to L6
MBA against Swordsman 3: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1], Marked.

[B]Lawbreaker's Doom
Free Action
Target: One enemy you just marked - Swordsman 3
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit the target with an attack, you deal extra damage equal to your Wis modifier and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: When the target is reduced to 0 hit points, you regain the use of this power.

Action Point

Come and Get It
Standard Action
Close Burst 3
Target: Each enemy you can see in the burst - Swordsman 1, Swordsman 3
Martial, Weapon
+17 vs Will
You pull the target up to 2 squares, but only if it can end the pull adjacent to you. If the target is adjacent to you after the pull, it takes 1[W] damage
[roll2] vs Swordsman 1 [Miss]
[roll3] vs Swordsman 3
Damage: [roll4], Swordsman 3 takes an extra 3 damage from Lawbreaker's Doom and is immobilized.
Pull Swordsman 1 to L6

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia is hit from behind, and then hit again from in front. Her training keeps her cool in the heat of battle, and her psionic powers even protect her a little and how her how to inflict more pain on her target.

Actions
Standard - Strike the Avalanche on #1 vs fort [roll0]
Damage - [roll1], then I slide him to N6,and make a secondary attack on SW3
2nd Attack - vs Fort
#3 - [roll2]
Captain - [roll3]
Damage - Target is knocked prone
Move - Shift to K6
Necia sends another fist into the chest of the skeleton in front of her, cracking its chest underneath her fist. The skeleton crumples around he fist, her arm still extended into where its chest used to be.

[Infernally Clay]

Seeing Thorn hurt, Bramble leapt into action of its own accord and quickly moved between Thorn and the sword-wielding monster close to him. With a roar, Bramble's tentacles lashed out at the creature. Encouraged by Bramble, Thorn reverted to his human form and pushed forward. If he could not move to engage the enemy, then perhaps he could force the enemy to do it for him.

Actions:
Move: Bramble moves from L9 to M5.
Standard: Tentacle vs Sword Guard 3

Attack: Melee 1 (one creature); [roll0] vs. AC
Hit: [roll1] damage, and the displacer beast gains partial concealment until the end of its next turn
Free: Wild Shape, reverting back to human form.
Action Point: Charm Beast vs Sword Guard 2

Attack: Ranged 5; [roll2] vs Will. You gain a +2 bonus to the attack roll when using this power against a beast.
Hit: The target is dominated until end of your next turn.
Miss: The target is dazed until end of your next turn.

[Dimers]

Disturbance shows on Inh's face at the nature of her foes, but she tries to concentrate on ending their threat.

Whether I succeed or fail on my standard-action roll will determine my other actions this round. So let's see what happens with this --
Standard action: probability travel in a blast 5 that includes Sw2, C, and unfortunately no allies.
[roll0] vs Will of Sw2, hit deals [roll1] damage and teleports to K5.
[roll2] vs Will of C, hit deals [roll3] damage and teleports to P4.

Back to the original plan, since Thorn's move didn't interfere with anything I was attempting. So that's some damage and a teleport on the crossbowman, and he's now within range for Sw2 to swat for us. NOTE: Since Sw2 is still marked, that means its attack will be at -2 and a hit will trigger Inh's aegis response! "If your marked target makes an attack that doesn’t include you as a target ..."

So my other actions this round will be:
Minor action: Oath of Enmity on C
Minor action: herbal healing on myself. I use my second wind, spend a surge to heal back to full, don't have anything to save against, get a damage bonus from Healing Fist feat and a defense bonus from the second wind itself, and shift from P3 to Q3 due to my Shifting Fortunes racial trait.

A quick mental strike brings the crossbow-user comfortably within striking range ... for her and Spyre both. Relieved, Inh refocuses her ki and adjusts her position slightly.

[Wdwune]

As Cpt Spyre stands up he speaks to Necia in an inspiring way that would help her endure her wounds. "Remember, 'the pain is in the mind.' Wasn't that what you taught me back then?" he says with a genuine smile.

Then he turned on the crossbowmen that suddenly appeared at his side. <Thank you, Inh. Let's do this...>

He swings his sword with a fast slash that would give the crossbowman little chance to escape.

OOC

Move: Stand up

Minor: Inspiring Word on Necia. She may spend a Healing Surge and regain extra [roll0] hit points.

Free: Use Student of te Sword feat to get +1 attack and the chance to mark my next target.

Standard: Viper's Strike vs Crossbowman
· Attack: [roll1] vs AC (includes flanking bonus)
· Hit: [roll2] damage, mark the target. If the target shifts, it will provoke an oportunity attack from Inh. The next attack against it (before the end of my next turn) gets a +3 bonus on damage.
· Miss: Mark the target.

End of the turn: The Baldric effect ends

I was forced to change tactics, since now a chance to pulverize the crossbowman just appeared! :smalltongue:

[Ridai]

Brandis storms forward, slamming into the swordsman just as Necia crushes her fist through her chosen target. However, opposite of her expectations, she doesn't just feel ancient splintered bone. Instead, there does seem to be flesh, but wet and deathly cold, making her stomach knot in disgust, the body quickly blending into the mists as it bowls over Cpt. Spyre after being thrown into the general direction.

Meanwhile, Bramble's quicksilver assault bears fruit, giving his master enough time to ensnare another swordman's mind, though touching it feels, for the lack of a better word and due to the sheer strangeness of the experience, suffocating, like a blanket of wet coldness was about to wrap around the druid's mind if he wasn't strong enough.

Inh's expertise draws forth the crossbowman through the mists it has been hiding in, opened up for her captain to further bring into a deadly trap as the gith licks her wounds and closes the openings in her defenses.

The sword guard before Inh, its alien mind steered by the druid, is hampered even more in its staccato movements, missing with the forced attack on its crossbow wielding companion, though remaining unfeeling, just the defender of the attack which reverses its grip on its ranged weapon to club Spyre over the head with it, but the attack is easily dodged as well. The remaining guard, facing a great many opponents, simply slashes again and again at Brandis, missing as much as it hits, drawing mul blood.

Sword guard 2 misses crossbow guard (natural 1).

Crossbow guard tries a melee attack against Spyre, but misses, too.

Sword guard 2 attacks Brandis twice, hitting the first time (even with Bramble's bonus in place), dealing 26 damage, and missing the other time due to Bramble's bonus.

[Infernally Clay]

Thorn merely grunted when the Sword Guard failed to kill its ally, lifting his staff and unleashing a torrent of thorny spikes at them both.

Actions:
Move: Thorn moves to O4.
Standard: Thorn Spray

Close blast 5 (from P4-P9 to T4-9)
Target: Each creature in blast
Attack: [roll0] vs Crossbow Guard's Fortitude
[roll1] vs Sword Guard #2's Fortitude
Hit: [roll2] damage, and the target takes a -5 penalty to all defenses until the end of your next turn.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis takes one slash from the foe's sword, but turns the next hammering blow aside, then swings back with a powerful blow of his own. The swordsman lurches, knocked off balance by the hammering impact.


Parry and Riposte
Immediate Reaction
Melee
Target: Swordsman 3
Martial, Weapon
Trigger: An enemy misses you or an ally with a melee attack
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] +3
Target grants CA to you and your allies until the end of your next turn.

[Nightgaun7]

Taking advantage of his opponent's imbalance, Brandis shifts his grip on his hammer and then lifts it up to bring it crashing down on the swordsman's shoulder.


Shift to M7

Brash Assault
Standard Action
Melee
Target: Swordsman 3
Martial, Weapon
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Effect: You grant combat advantage to the target until the start of your next turn

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, have giving a smile and a nod to the Captain, focuses herself, feeling immediately better, her psionic powers responding greatly to the Captain's words and healing her wounds. Her eyes snap open, and she launches towards the enemy farthest away from her, grown ever more feral looking and enraged. She darts around Brandis and the skeleton in front of him, leaving Brandis to handle it. She seems to hop, twist, and turn her way to the other skeleton, finally landing in a squat a some feet in front of it. She then launches toward it, her hands stiff and rigid in the shape of tiger's claws, and she slashes at the skeleton.....her psionic energies making what looks like long claws on her hands.

Actions
Move - to P7 avoiding OA's
Standard - Charge to Q5 with Tiger Claw Rake vs Ref on #2 [roll0]
Damage - [roll1], and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn. If the target moves more than 2 squares on its next turn, it takes 5 damage.
(Forgot to add)No Action - Flurry of Blows for 7 dmg

[Dimers]

Glancing meaningfully at Necia past the armored thing between them, Inh studies her foe for a moment, then strikes, following up with a quick cut back.

Minor action: Oath of Enmity on Sw2
Standard action: angelic alacrity. No need to shift, since Necia was so kind as to flank with me. Take the better attack roll of [roll0] and [roll1] vs AC, hit deals [roll2] damage.

EDIT: I knew I was missing something in that damage -- Power Attack for +6. I'll mark damage in the tracker under the assumption that the teeny retcon is okay.

No action: on a hit, also use flurry of blows for 7 damage and slide to P5 for easier access.
If I hit and slide, then I'll also use a move action to shift to Q4. If a miss, I'll shift to R4.

Her quick blows force the creature into the middle of the party.

[Wdwune]

"I must say your abilities are impressive," he says to Thorn, filling him with confidence.

"Alright, time to finish this," says the captain as he invites Brandis and Bramble, and rises his sword, preparing to make a final blow. However, the attack is just a feint intended for Necia to make a deadly kick that makes the body of the creature crumble to dust.

OOC

Minor: Inspiring Word on Thorn: He may spend a healing surge and regain [roll0] additional hit points.

Move: Reorient the Axis: All my allies can shift 4 squares as a free action.
· Everyone keeps their positions except for Brandis and Bramble, who shift to O6 and P6 respectively.
(Over all, this was just for flavor. It's an encounter power after all... :smalltongue:)

Standard: Surprise Attack:
· Attack: [roll1] vs AC
· Hit: [roll2] damage and Necia makes a melee basic attack vs the swordsman (with +4 bonus on her attack roll):

Necia's attack: [roll3] vs AC
· Hit: [roll4] damage

[Ridai]

Ganging up on the remaining misty guards, the group's combined forces quickly rip the beings apart, making them as eerily depart as they entered, their bodies disappearing in the mists.

With the shortlived outburst of violence over, the last of the battle sounds echo across the street before everything returns to how it was, mist slowly drift across the stone, the wind howling into and out of the black gate which is closer than ever, towering over the group. All remaining signs of the battle are the wounds sustained.

[Dimers]

Watching the last foe collapse and vanish in the mist, Inh breathes a deep sigh of relief. "Those creatures are ... frightening. I've only heard of walking dead in children's stories. And even then, they never used weapons. A creature long-dead, yet still aware and able to apply a skill?" She shakes her head.

Inh takes a minute to unfasten the sashes holding her robe in place, closely examining the sword cut she had taken. "Good. Looks like clean blood. I'm not bleeding mist, like I thought I saw one of our enemies do."

And since I'm checking the wound anyway, a Heal check to confirm that I'm not under some long-term necrotic effect from the blow, or something weird like that. [roll0]

After re-tying her outerwear, Inh stares at the space a creature had been not long before, feeling for currents of hidden truth.

Another detect magic check: [roll1] I'm perfectly willing to hear about the gate, the tower or whatever else might be around, too.

[Ridai]

Inh examines her wound and simply finds that the wound looks unpleasant due to the pitted blade that inflicted it more ripping and crushing than cutting. The wound felt cold at first, but that has passed with the blood flowing.

As she looks at where the being fell, all truth lies bare. A misty street, a black gate, a tower leading up the wall, the ambience thick and unrelenting.

[Infernally Clay]

"The dead don't walk by themselves," Thorn said solemnly, patting Bramble on the head and whispering words of thanks and encouragement before turning back to the rest of the group and motioning towards the black gate, "Maybe they were meant to stop us."

With that, he walked towards the gate and pushed it open, saying "Knock knock."

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis treats his wound as best he can, then waits patiently with the butt of his hammer resting on the ground and his hands folded over the head.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, full of rage and fury, heaves heavily as the battles ends. She looks from ally to ally with wild eyes and clenched fists. She then realizes that the battle is over and Necia takes a very, very deep breath. She sits on the ground where she stands and crosses her legs. She places each palm on each corresponding knee and a psionic shield seems to surround her. Energies start to heal her wounds and bounce around her. Necia seems to calm and get back to her old self. After some minutes pass, the shield dissipates and she stands up. She takes her wine skin out of her bag and takes a long swig from it, "Alright, lets figure out what the hell is going on here, and if we can, what the hell those things are."

Necia follows Thorn, closely, to the door and is right behind him when the opens the doors, Ihn very much close behind her, just in case they can help Thorn spot anything.

Ok, 5 min rest, use a healing surge to get to full, so I am 7/9 in HS's

Perception check with Thorn [roll0] AND
Stealth check to blend in while searching [roll1]

[Wdwune]

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, the first of our victories in this strange land," he says as he inspects the recent battlefield. "And apparently not the last one."

Cpt Spyre was practically unharmed (well, except for Necia's blast), so he didn't need to heal his own wounds. Instead he walked slowly around the field checking his comrades' status and stretching his legs, readying his body and mind for any future combat, but still without withdrawing his sword yet.

"Perhaps those units were the guardians of the city," he finally says scanning the field with his glance. "I'm not an expert, but I've heard tales of powerful wizard-kings who controlled soldiers to guard something important." He pointed his sword to the black gate. "Perhaps inside's the answer. What were they trying to protect?"

Said that, he withdraws his sword.

OOC
Short rest! :smallsmile:

[Ridai]

The black gate does not move an inch and even with your combined strength, it looks like it would be much too heavy to open it. Thorn feels his hand quickly going numb while touching the cool metal, the heat of his arm starting to follow.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre thoughtfully glances at the tower. "Necia, could you please swiftly check that tower out? Maybe there's a clue about how this gate is opened," he turns to Inh. "Perhaps you should go with her, maybe you can notice a sign of magical influence that will give out something."

He notices Thorn's hands. "Are you alright?"

OOC

Insight check to see if I can notice Thorn's feeling: [roll0]

And an active Perception check on the tower: [roll1]

[Dimers]

Inh nods. She closes her eyes and focuses mentally, and when she opens them again, they've become darker and cloudy, telling the party she is seeing in her different way.

Peer through the void stance for exploring the tower.

Inh asks Necia, "Do you sense any dangers -- tripwires, bad footing, smells of fire or corrosion?"

[Infernally Clay]

"Fine," Thorn said after reflexively snapping his arm back, sharing a warning with the group about the gate's feel, "Cold. Numb. Don't touch."

As the others in the group attempted to scout out the area, Thorn tried to figure a way to get a little closer. Having figured out a possible solution, Thorn informs the group. "I might be able to get past the gate to the other side."

OOC:
In other words, Thorn might be able to use this power to get around the gate and to the other side. He can't bring anyone with him, though, so he'll probably need some sort of guidance along the way.

Feywild Sojourn
Encounter Utility.
Primal, Teleportation.
Move Action. Personal.
Effect: You teleport to a safe place in the Feywild. While you are there, you can't take any actions other than using your second wind and wild shape. At the end of your next turn or as a move action before then, you reappear in an unoccupied space within 10 squares of the space you left.

[Nightgaun7]

After a few minutes, Brandis takes matters into his own hands and pokes his head into the tower.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, too, starts into the tower, following Brandis in there and taking a look around.

Perception if needed again [roll0], if not ignore it :smallsmile:

[Dimers]

Inh motions for Allister to precede her into the tower. "My sense of the unseen is unhelpful when walking up a spiral. Thorn, will you and Bramble watch our backs?"

[Wdwune]

Cpt Allister Spyre nods, inviting Thorn and Bramble to join the rest of the team in the tower exploration, just as Inh said.

He draws his sword just in case and readies his shield, staying alert. "Let's go," he mutters.

OOC

Perception check if necessary: [roll0]

[Infernally Clay]

Still rubbing his arm, Thorn followed the group into the tower with Bramble close behind.

[Ridai]

The tower is strewn with clutter and some rubble, the stairs mostly intact, btu many edges chipped, well-worn or missing pieces. The air streams coldly and quickly through the interior, making you squint. It is hard to see much of what lies above, no kind of railing guarding those that ascend from plummeting to their death when trying to lean into the middle. The steps feel a little slippery, the group's marching echoing upwards. Sometimes a tiny bit of dust (most likely) gets shaken loose, gliding down past the warriors, down into the depths towards the blot of light further and further below.

Tense minutes are spent on the ascent, the pace slow and careful, until light is seen more brightly again. Before long, the outer wall lies open, a large hole ripped into the exterior by what seems to have been tremendous force, revealing a wide view onto the mist-choked lake and the lower city at the base of the high city walls. The houses remain fairly close to the walls as they quickly reach the edge of the waters. In the distance, a basin is seen like an incision into the city, a large bridge leading across, high above the surface, seamlessly connected to the upper edge of the wall. In the mist, a tower-like structure marks the end of the bridge, rising higher still than the city walls. The entire view, even as poorly visible as it is, is absolutely awe-inspiring in so many ways, hinting at a city of a scale you have never heard of. How could something like this ever be forgotten, erased from all minds and records? Finally, as you let your eyes wander, you think you see a faint light in this huge tower in the distance.

Up above, there are not many steps remaining, the doorway leading onto the battlements in sight. But whatever has ripped this hole into the tower wall, it has also crushed part of the winding staircase. A wooden makeshift bridge has been constructed, leading right across the abyss that is the middle of the tower, up to the last few steps.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis looks back at Inh, then points at the bridge.

[Dimers]

"Is the bridge unsafe? I can teleport you across, but it's unwise to use the power of the spirit when the power of the legs will do. We don't want to risk attracting magical attention when we're highly visible above the city." Inh looks to the agile Necia to test the structure.

I can hit the party with a blast5 that allows teleportation and doesn't harm allies, but ... yeah, nothin' wrong with shanks' mare.

[Wdwune]

"That's a good point, Inh," says Spyre as he scans the wooden structure with his gaze. "It looks like the bridge was constructed with haste, and impromptu way. And moreso, someone's still living here after whatever tragedy happened in this city."

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia does have a worried look on her face when she sees there is a light on in the tower.....How could anyone still be livin' here?, she thinks to herself. "Well, ain't nothin' but to do it." And with that Necia starts to wade out onto the bridge, taking her time and testing the structure of the thing as she inches out onto the impromptu bridge.

I don't know what check to make to test the reliability of the bridge so just let me know Ridai, but here is an acrobatics check in case anything happens [roll0]

[Ridai]

Stepping onto the bridge, the wood creaks deeply, Necia most likely being the first in a long time to step on it. Still, after applying a bit of pressure, the bridge seems to hold, and it still does when she completely steps on it, not bending either. Still, the creaking and groaning never goes away. Little step by little step, Necia moves further from the saving stone steps, out over the depths below, seconds feeling agonizingly long, the air still streaming past the half-orc, making step feel more treacherous, especially with the upward angle of the bridge.

But eventually, she reaches the other side, solid stone under her feet again, the door out of the tower not far anymore.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia finally reaches the other side, relieved to be on solid ground again. "Come on over, tha' waters fine! Though I'd come over one by one if I were you all!"

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis tentatively marches across.

[Dimers]

Inh scoots to the back of the group and prepares herself to react to the possibility of someone falling.

I'll move to where I can get the bridge and as many allies as possible in my blast5, and Ready An Action for probability travel to react to someone starting to fall. If it triggers, everyone in the blast can teleport 5, which might get someone else across -- or someone might choose to go back DOWN, to try to catch the falling person.

[Infernally Clay]

With a brief motion, Thorn tells Bramble to go ahead. Once his companion is across, Thorn takes one last look around to check for movement before crossing himself.

Perception: [roll0]

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre, being a courteous gentleman, lets everyone pass before taking his turn. He's likely to make an exception on Inh, since she's preparing an emergency teleportation ability.

[Ridai]

The bridge groans quite a lot more beneath Brandis' feet, but it holds. The armored warrior has more difficulties making it up the sloped wood, but eventually manages.

Bramble and Thorn are next, with the druid stopping a moment when he hears a rush of wind, half expecting a small gust to hit him, but apparently it didn't quite reach them, false alarm.

Spyre makes it across without incident, soon followed by Inh, already halfway across as something suddenly bursts through up above through the corner of the outer wall and roof. Readied, Inh manages to teleport out of the way, moving herself and the others further up the stairs just as the body of a seemingly more heavily armored mist guard and a lot of heavy rubble hit the bridge, the wood loudly cracking and tearing down several steps with it.

Running through the falling debris, the group tries to avoid it as much as that is possible on the narrow stairs until they finally get outside, hearing the rest of the debris falling down the tower, the cacophony echoing in the depths. Standing on the inner city wall, they find it is incredibly wide and even more finely crafted than the lower city they have come from. Looking ahead, they might have expected a glimpse at the city beyond the inner walls, but instead they are staring into a thick dark gray wall of fog, reaching high up into the sky and looking up it almost makes you fear that it could collapse on you, dizzying in its dimensions.

To the right lie a collapsed building and tower. You also see small lifts on the edges of the wall, possibly to bring small amounts of various things to and from lower town. A bit ahead and to the left of you lies a staircase seemingly leading along and down the wall, though from your current point of view, you cannot see where it leads, hidden by the edge of the city wall. Your eyes follow the city wall further to the left, to the point where it makes a sharp right as the wall reaches the basin, though even before the wall disappears into the wall of fog, you can see that a large part of it has crumbled, the beginning of a chasm somehow torn into it. Looking back to the corner of the wall, you see the huge tower in the distance, light still weakly shining, the bridge you have seen before connecting the wall and the tower. Debris, old weaponry, pieces of armor, unrecognizable bodies and war machinery (part broken down, part theoretically functioning) litter the wall and bridge from what you can see, the mists somehow a bit lighter than before (even despite the thick wall of gray before you).

Everyone is subjected to an attack vs. Reflex from the falling debris, losing a healing surge when hit. If you have powers/abilities that could reasonably prevent you from taking damage or that would give you bonuses against the attack, you can make your case about them and how they apply to the situation. Creative solutions, skill usages etc. also welcome.

+14 vs. Necia, result 33 = hit (edit: Miss, due to acrobatic stunt (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=15982690#post15982690))
+15 vs. Brandis, result 20 = miss
+16 vs. Thorn, result 20 = miss
+17 vs. Spyre, result 20 = miss
+18 vs. Inh, result 34 = hit

The attack modifiers used to be two points higher, but Inh's prepared power applied a -2 penalty to it, because of the shorter distance to the exit. And yes, those were a natural 5, 4, 3 in the middle, rolled in that order. I'm not even kidding.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis checks to make sure everyone else is ok, then takes stock of the situation. He points out the bridge and the tower.

[Wdwune]

Even if his mind anticipated to the collapsing bridge and his body reacted in consequence, Cpt Spyre still realized Inh was likely to fall if it were not because of her psionic teleportation ability. He felt relieved to see her fine and on the right side of the wall.

Just like Brandis before him, he briefly helps in check the status of everyone, and then he takes a look at the surroundings. Despite the decaying bodies lying down there, his eyes feel somewhat attracted to the old weaponry. As he slowly walked to approach the stairs, his mind reviewed the pages of his books back in the Spyre lands, and maybe he will remember something about similar artifacts.

"Well," he finally says. "It looks like we managed to cross.We should take a look at those stairs over there," he points, "and then we can go check the way to that illuminated tower..."

OOC

I'll make a History check to see if I can recall some relevant information on the machinery and weaponry: [roll0]

And if anyone uses Perception to explore, I'll aid the character: [roll1]

[Dimers]

Inh takes a minute to quietly rub her calves and her temples. She seems mildly pained by the strain of suddenly rushing out of the way of the debris.

One surge subtracted in the combat tracker.

Soon she signals her readiness to move on with a mental sending. <Ready. Walk to the stairs in our usual single-file? Or should Necia scout ahead?>

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia got to the other side of the bridge and waited for the others to get across as well. Just as they were starting to all get over to her side, a large *BOOM* happened above her and the stone from the tower started falling all around, and on, them. Necia immediately jumped into action, quite literally. Seeing the stones coming down, she jumped up straight in the air and kicked off the stonework right behind her. This launched her forward as she brought her hands above, now in front, of her, landing on them and using them to flip herself. She flipped and cartwheeled herself to the doorway of the tower, landing inside of it just as a large piece of rock slammed down on the ground behind her. Necia dusted herself off and looked at Inh massaging her hurt parts, whispering to her, "Well....next time you should probably dodge them rocks, and you wouldn't be hurtin' so much." She winks at Inh, giving her a smile, and falls into her place in line, keeping to the shadows and looking around for anything suspicious.

Perception [roll0]
Stealth [roll1]

[Nightgaun7]

As the group ponders their next move, Brandis says, "Why rocks fall now? Been there long time."

[Dimers]

Inh replies in silence, <Might have been shot at us. Some force drove part of the wall inward; that didn't all come from straight overhead. I wonder whether we were spotted climbing and fired upon by a trebuchet.>

[Ridai]

Looking down the stairs, the steps keep widening, ultimately leading to a small garden against the side of the wall in front of a tall mausoleum, grand and immaculately designed in its apperance, the gate open. The garden is free of the damages, debris and corpses that litter the wall, idyllic in appearance, the entire place a tranquil, beautiful sight, seemingly untouched by time.

[Infernally Clay]

Thorn couldn't deny that seeing green lifted his spirits a little, but he also couldn't deny that the area was strangely untouched. He had to make sure the area was safe before letting his guard down.

Nature: [roll]1d20+16[/b] (to check if the area is unnatural or if the greenery reveals the place to be unsafe)

[Infernally Clay]

Nature: [roll0] (to check if the area is unnatural or if the greenery reveals the place to be unsafe)

[Ridai]

To Thorn's sense (and gut feeling), the power of nature must be strong in this garden to survive like it does and shine through the washed-out surroundings in all its beauty as it does. From what he can tell, the garden has been created to be just that, a garden. Calming, soothing, and in honor of whoever this place is dedicated to, perhaps also to represent their nature.

Looking at the machinery, Spyre sees various general types familiar to him, first and foremost ballistae. He isn't exactly an expert in how they are constructed, but even he can easily tell that they seem much more sophisticated and potentially powerful, some of the ballistae apparently having magazines of bolts attached. Also, he can't help but notice how far some are angled upwards. Others seem to lack any kind of ability to fire bolts, raising the question what their purpose was.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre just frowned upon noticing the ballistae. Strange, he thought as his gaze went from the horizon, to straight up, as if looking for distant or flying menaces. Then he turned to his teammates. "Apparently this whole area was like a second line of defense," he says pointing at the siege weapons. "Judging by the aiming angle of the artillery, the residents were fighting either a distant enemy, or..." he pauses for a second as his hands points up. "Or something airbone-based. Either way, their opponent -or opponents- were not your usual troops."

As he walks towards the stairs, he notices the untouched garden. "Impressive," he says in admiration. "So this is what they were trying to protect. But, for what reasons?"

OOC

A Perception check to see if I can directly see/hear any signs of enemy activity on the distance, or from right above us: [roll0]

EDIT: Not a very perceptive soldier I guess. :smalltongue:

[Ridai]

No movement or sign is detected in their surroundings. Just the cold wind.

Anyone wanting to do something?

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia can't help but stare at this garden in the middle of all of this grey and nothing. "I'd like to go check out that garden. It seems to be the most out of place in this whole damned ghost town. Now that we can't go up these stairs."

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods. "Sure, let's all go," he says. "Stay alert for possible dangers, while Inh detects the presence of magic and Thorn examines the plant activity. Brandis, and I will be on our guard in case something happens." He looks up as if his previous thoughts still haunted him.

[Nightgaun7]

"Spyre top." Brandis makes his way down to the garden, alert for threats.

[Dimers]

Inh goes down the stairs last, following the party's usual marching order. At the bottom, unable to stay focused on both the open mausoleum and the hidden world, she begins looking into the hidden world as Spyre suggested.

Activate peer through the void stance. Then if I see nothing out of place with passive Perception, and nothing interrupts me during the minute required to detect magic, my Arcana check will be [roll0].

[Ridai]

The garden is a peaceful place and within its bounds, the mists have no place, lazily flowing around it. There is a spiritual warmth suffusing every part of the garden, the air clean and filled with the wonderful smells of the flowers hining with bright colors. Almost subconsciously, you slow your steps, each one taken more carefully as to not disrupt the idyllic atmosphere as you walk on the immaculate marble path through the garden and you don't want to remain for long, almost feeling out of place in this presence.

To Inh, the hidden world is similarly tranquil, but with her senses sharpened, some of her impressions are more intense than before. She detects a bit of magic, that of nature itself, protecting and nurturing the plants like an always present, dutiful caretaker. Meditating in such a place would be an experience to be remembered, for sure.

[Wdwune]

As he walks down the stairs, Cpt Spyre takes a moment to admire the natural beauty of the peaceful garden. Not wishing to interrupt Inh's concentration, he just mumbles for himself: "So quiet... And yet so unaffected by the violence outside..."

The place reminded him of the monasteries at the outskirts of the kingdom, which were unlikely to be attacked by anyone (including bandits) and no one knew why. Perhaps those places inspired fear? Or maybe it was the so-called power of Peace itself that make warriors refuse? Whatever it is, he thinks for himself, this place is very similar to those ones back then...

Then he suddenly remembers the plant activity that was enveloping the buildings when they just arrived to town. That's it, he thinks. This place is undoubtely the source of it, a sort of natural defense. He turned to Thorn. "What do you know about place like these ones?" he inquires as both hands signal the surrounding plants. "Could this be a kind of defense agains intruders like those statues from before?"

[Infernally Clay]

OOC:
I'm just going to assume that you guys gave Thorn the ritual components he was missing, since there's no point dragging this out.

Taking cue from Captain Spyre's question, Thorn gently sat down on the grass itself, then began to reach out to the primal spirits. They had guided him his entire life and, here, his connection to them felt stronger than within the Mist. Bramble, as if knowing what its master was doing, sat opposite him and watched carefully.

Ritual: Commune with Nature
Nature Check: [roll0] (three questions)

Thorn then spoke clearly, asking the primal spirits for guidance. "Teachers, I have questions...

This mist, are you protecting this place from it?
Is what happened in this town because of the mist?
In the distance, there is a tower pouring out light. Is someone there?"

[Ridai]

The plant life answers in many little voices forming one chorus.

"No."

"We do not remember."

Instead of speaking to answer the third question, Thorn feels his mind's eye moved to look at the tower, feeling a sensation of unbelievable, all-encompassing grandness, overwhelming him with awe and knocking him out of his trance.

[Dimers]

Inh jumps, struck from her own rest by Thorn's sudden shock. "What is it?" she says aloud. Then, bringing back to mind the potential danger of the place she is in, she silently adds, <What did you hear?>

[Infernally Clay]

"The Tower," Thorn said shortly, "We need to go there now. Something is there. Something incredible."

Standing up, he turned to Spyre and said "This place isn't protected from the Mist. Perhaps the Mist simply dares not touch it?"

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre touches his chin with his hand, thoughtful. "Agreed," he replies to Thorn. "If the spirits who talked to you don't have to do with the mist and strange events, perhaps the answer is there," he points at the tower.

"Let's get moving, comrades," he adds. "Stay alert against possible dangers, and keep an eye for any passages that might take us to the tower."

OOC

Since it's now clear to me that Perception is not my strong point, I will aid the first character that makes a Perception check. :smalltongue:

Perception (aid): [roll0] (adds +2 to the character's skill check)

[Infernally Clay]

Nodding, Thorn whispers to Bramble and asks him to keep an eye out for dangers while Thorn himself keeps a sharp eye out for passageways or paths that lead to the tower.

Thorn's Perception: [roll0]
Bramble's Perception: [roll1]

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, seeing that a ritual was going to start, sits down in front of a nearby tree and slips into a state of meditation. She lets her mind reach out to the power that has kept this place as it is and tried to communicate with it. She stays in this state until she hears Spyre say they should keep a move on. With that she hops up, gives him a nod, and takes her place in their group. Sneaking and searching her way around the area.

Stealth - [roll0] Apparently not so stealthy :smallamused:
Perception [roll1]

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis, unaffected by whatever the others sensed, merely says "Bridge above to tower. Faster." and marches back up the stairs.

[Ridai]

Leaving the garden and no longer disturbing its tranquility, all the group can do is head up the stairs back to the bridge, the one way across the waters far, far below.

[Ridai]

The walk across the bridge is a long one, the thick wall of fog always to their right, looming over them. It's height is still dizzying and one is well-advised to stop before looking up, lest their feet guide them off the side of the bridge. Similarly, a gaze below would be just as dangerous, the group so far above the waters at the bottom. It is nigh inconceivable that the bridge holds, even with its supreme craftsmanship. Unrecognizable corpses, blackened bodies without definition, abandoned and broken weapons, small crates of supplies, pieces of broken artillery, all these litter the way to the tower, with ballistae lining the sides of the bridge, many broken beyond use, some seeming like they might still work, mounted upon a thick axis that might allow for rotation, a seat and strange controls built into the back of each.

The tower similarly rises to awe-inspiring heights before them and they can soon see many details of it. Spires rise up along its sides everywhere, with many a gorgeously crafted statue eternally watching from the outer wall of this grand edifice. The windows are tiled and those you can see light through reveal their faint color. The portal into the tower lies open, just far enough to enter through and to let some warm light seep out into the cold mists, a welcoming sight in a realm where these are few. Whatever this place is, the sense of loneliness, but also haunting beauty are strong to all those who cast their eyes upon it.

When the group draws closer to the entrance, something blocks their path. All across the bridge, but not the narrow ledges to it's side and further down, they are met with a barrier. Thirteen spears have been rammed into the stone, each one having a charred and blackened corpse like the rest impaled on them, the bodies having fallen into still poses, the ground below black and uneven. Even with the lack of details on these figures, it is a grizzly sight.

Suddenly, Bramble stops... and growls, eyes and tentacles pointing before this barrier, towards one of the ballistae. Looking closer, the group can first see nothing, before they see movement. The walls of the bridge where the ballistae are standing above are richly decorated, but the group can see something standing out. Before and beyond the ballista, they think they can see stony claws, latching into the wall, arms leading down, twitching every once in a while. The torsos connected to them are also made of stone, heavily ravaged, nothing attached below anymore, the beastly heads malshaped, broken, half-blinded, dust falling from their forms with every movement. Twisting their heads to the group in a sickening angle, eyes glowing red, they screech as if they could wake the dead, the sound echoing eerily.

Roll initiative in the OOC, post any actions that are triggered during rolling initiative here.

Tracker updated, also includes the link to the new map.

edit: Also, sorry for the delay and any strange sentences. My sleep periods aren't kind to me lately.

[Wdwune]

Even if he was holding the shock of the gruesome view of the corpses, Cpt Spyre scowls as he stares at one of the statues. "We have some company," he says. "Brandis, can you keep that thing busy?"

Almost at the same time, he transmits some thoughts to Inh. <Go ahead. Help him finish it off.>

OOC

As I roll initiative I use Battlefront Shift on Brandis and Inh so they can shift 3 squares.

If no objections exist, Brandis will shift from J7 to K9 (outer bridge, adjacent to ) and Inh from E7 to H8. If not, you both should feel free to move them to more adequate positions. :smallsmile:

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia narrows her eyes and moves closer to the broken, stone watchers, and preps herself for a, hopefully, short fight.

Shift from F7 to I8

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis warily moves towards the creature of stone, certain that it can't be a well-wisher.

[roll0] plus any ally modifiers.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, seeing Brandis having one covered, stalks over to the other animated stone, striking at it and hoping to push it away from them, and off the bridge.

Actions
Move - from I8 to N9
Standard - Fallen Needle vs Ref [roll0]
Damage - [roll1]
Minor - Fallen Needle minor Action (will use if I hit and kill my target) I will move 3 squares to N8

Well, that didn't work out at all :smallsigh:

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis decides to end the threat as quickly as possible and get back from the edge of the bridge. He mutters an oath under his breath, then jabs at the stone creature with the butt of his hammer. As it fends off the feint, Brandis reverses his grip and brings the hammer whirling around in a terrific blow, powering the strike with his whole body, then quickly steps back into a less vulnerable position as the beast staggers. After a moment, the cracks in its form widens and it slowly crumbles.



Oath of Emnity
Minor Action
Close Burst 10
Target: M2
Keyword: Divine
Effect: When you make a melee attack against the target and the target is the only enemy adjacent to you, you may make two attack rolls and use either result. This effect lasts until the end of the encounter or until the target drops to 0 hit points, at which point you regain the use of this power.

Brash Strike
Standard Action
Melee
Target: M2
Martial, Weapon
Attack: [roll0], [roll1] vs AC
Damage: [roll2]
Effect: You grant combat advantage to the target until the start of your next turn

Lawbreaker's Doom
Free Action
Target: M2
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit the target with an attack, you deal extra damage equal to your Wis modifier and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.

Apply mark to M2

Move from K9 to K8

Edit: Gargoyle is dead according to the tracker, so the following is probably irrelevant.

If the gargoyle hits me, I'll use my Strikebacks encounter power.
If it attacks someone other than me, I'll use my Dispensed Justice attack.

Melee Basic
Standard Action
Melee
Target: M2
Attack: [roll3], [roll4] vs AC
Damage: [roll5]

Dispensed Justice
Immediate Interrupt
Melee
Target: M2
Fear, Weapon
Attack: [roll6], [roll7] vs AC
Damage: [roll8]
Effect: target takes -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn
Special: You can instead use this power as an immediate interrupt with the following trigger
Trigger: the target of your lawbreaker's doom power is adjacent to you and makes an attack that does not include you.
Effect: You can shift 1 square and slide the target 1 square into the space you left.

[Dimers]

Inh sizes up the stony creature Necia faces. <Maybe they're not rock through-and-through? How could they bend if they were?> she projects. She moves to stand behind Necia and hexes the odd creature's stone limbs with a quick spell. Then she angles her massive blade up with both hands, leaning back to counterbalance. A shining red-silver bolt streaks up the blade, leaps off the end and bursts over the head of the foe, showering it with silver fire. The arcane flame sparkles in the air for several seconds ... an oddly pretty sight against the backdrop of mist.

Move action: walk from H8 to N8.
Minor action: swordmage aegis on M1.
Standard action: argent rain centered on O11 (don't want to damage the ballista!). [roll0] vs Reflex; hit deals [roll1] fire to M1. Creatures that enter the burst area (N/O/P, 10/11/12) or end their turn there EONT (Inh-2) take 10 fire damage.

EDIT: If it doesn't have fire resistance 12+, then here's more flavortext:

The arcane flames crack several shards of rock off the already crumbling creature, and it falls to pieces, the broken stone clattering loudly against the bridge.

[Ridai]

Note about outer bridgeAs mentioned in the map, this part is narrow and thus requires an Acrobatics DC 20 check to move along it. Going from the bridge to the outer bridge does not require a check or vice versa, and neither does standing still. However, since you are effectively balancing (or rather, there is barely any room to maneuver), you grant CA while on the outer bridge.

You can use your standard action to grab the ledge above while in the outer bridge, allowing you to move along the outer bridge without the need of making an Acrobatics check during that turn, but still at half speed.

Brandis and Necia burst forward and hop down to the outer bridge without (too much) fear of heights and while the graceful Necia doesn't quite manage to slam her fist into the miserable stone creature, Brandis' hammer crushes it against the wall below the ballista, the creature quickly crumbling, but still somehow managing to slash through the mul's mighty armor in a last act of defiance before its pieces plummet into the misty depths and Brandis climbs back onto the bridge.

Enraged, the other gargoyle screeches another time, slashing Necia in vengeance for its fallen ally, the claw leaving behind bloody streaks. When silver fire rains down onto the creature, it flails and screeches viciously, effectively being melted by Inh's sorcery. Before it dissolves entirely, it manages to grab onto Necia's leg, heated claws digging into the flesh before melting away, the remains dripping down along with the magical fire. The magic dancing in the air contrasts the burst of violence hard, the rain of light and fire illuminating swirling mists, painting a dance of light into the air.

However, the following moment of silence is shortlived. Screeches manifold rip through the air and four winged creatures emerge from beneath the bridge, red eyes fixing the group, powerful stone wings creating constant gusts. Two of the four are utterly riddled with swords and spears and bolts, points and blades sticking out of their bodies, and their deafening howls reverberate in the group's minds, with Spyre, Brandis and Bramble feeling fear like claws jabbing into their beings and tearing at them as if they will only stop until their very hearts stop.

The other gargoyles bear many, many serrated chains on their bodies, some physical, some looking like they were made of cold air and the mists, the spikes jabbing into their stone bodies and where their eyes used to be, crammed into their maw and around every limb and wing. In their blinded rage, one lands beside Spyre, Inh and Thorn and the ghostly mist chains seem to start reaching out to them just as the creature swings some of the physical chains at Spyre, who barely manages to get out of the way.

The other latches onto one of the ballistas and rams its chain down at Necia, who manages to dodge despite having very little room to maneuver between the wall on one side and the abyss on the other.

Suddenly, Spyre, Inh, Brandis and Bramble feel a sudden sense of doom, their vision distorting as nerve-wracking echoes of a ghostly scream rip through their minds. No longer do they see their allies, instead being surrounded by horrible monsters, each of them either lashing out in self-defense, engaging the foul creatures to stop their madness or fleeing in terror. In a heartbeat, the visions are gone and they realize what truly happened. Thorn barely managed to evade a swipe from Spyre's blade, but instead feels the bone-crushing impact of Brandis' hammer in his back, just as Inh's blade has drawn Spyre's blood. Bramble barely managed to stop on the outer bridge, inches from jumping into the depths.

Their eyes widening at what they have done, Spyre and Brandis feel something pierce into their minds yet again and half being propelled, half running in terror, they are flung towards the egde of the bridge, both barely managing to grab the edge and hoist themselves back up instead of falling to their deaths. Up on the bridge, close to Inh and Thorn, another gargoyle materializes, its body and visage horribly distorted in ways that should not be physically possible, its entire form shrouded in ghostly mists, its gaze piercing and its screams as if they came from far away.

Necia, Inh and Thorn feel ghostly chains wrap around and into their bodies, and though they do not slow them as they lack matter, the pain is excrutiating, every sensation painfully amplified.

Brandis kills the damaged gargoyle (M2). Death triggers a basic attack, the gargoyle hitting Brandis with a 30 vs AC (thanks to the CA), dealing 8 damage. The death also triggers a free action attack from the other gargoyle, hitting Necia with a 30 vs AC and also dealing 8 damage.

Inh kills the remaining gargoyle, triggering its death attack, hitting Necia with a natural 20, dealing 8 damage.

Five more gargoyles emerge from beneath the bridge.

H1: Move to H4, Howl over G5- K9 (clost blast 5, fear, psychic), attacks Will.
27 vs Spyre, hits.
25 vs Thorn, misses.
26 vs Inh, misses.
24 vs Bramble, misses.
35 vs Brandis, hits.
Spyre and Brandis receive ongoing 10 psychic and grant CA (SE both).

H2: Move to I11, Howl over G6- K10 (clost blast 5, fear, psychic), attacks Will.
29 vs Thorn, misses due to Bramble.
27 vs Inh, misses.
27 vs Bramble, hits.
Bramble receives ongoing 10 psychic and grant CA (SE both).

C1: Move to E9, Chain at Spyre with 25 vs Ref, misses.

C2: Move to M10, Chain at Necia with 22 vs Ref, misses.

D: Move to I9, uses Echoes (close burst 2, charm, fear, psychic), attacks Will.
35 vs Spyre, hits.
25 vs Thorn, misses.
31 vs Inh, hits.
30 vs Bramble, hits.
38 vs Brandis, hits.

Everyone hit is slid up to 2 squares and makes an MBA or RBA vs 1 creature.

Spyre MBAs Thorn with 22 vs AC, misses.
Inh uses Overwhelming Strike on Spyre with 27 vs AC, hits for 15 damage.
Bramble slides I7 -> K5.
Brandis slides K8 -> I8 and MBAs Thorn with 32 vs AC, hits for 21 damage.

D uses Gaze (close blast 3, fear, psychic) over G6-I8, attacks Will.
25 vs Spyre, hits.
20 vs Thorn, misses.
27 vs Inh, misses.
27 vs Brandis, hits.
Spyre and Brandis take 13 psychic, Spyre gets pushed G7 -> G5, Brandis gets pushed I8 -> L5. Both succeed their saves against going over the edge and instead fall prone in the last square on solid ground.

Inh, Thorn and Necia are affected by the chain gargoyles' aura at the start of their turn. Until their EoNT, they take -2 to all defenses and gain vulnerable 5 all. On the start of their next turn, affected characters inflict these penalties on all adjacent allies, the effects again lasting until their respective EoNT.

[Wdwune]

What the- ??!

Upon hearing the first sounds of the howl, Spyre instictively used the power of his heirloom cape to disappear out of the gargoyles' reach.

That was close...

OOC

As immediate interrupt vs H1's Howl, I activate the power of my Cape of the Mountebank: I teleport 5 squares to L7 (far from the gargoyles) and H1 grants CA vs me until the end of my next turn.

[Ridai]

Spyre manages to evade harm, but watches as Inh stabs Thorn a moment later just before Brandis slams into the druid.

As Spyre isn't there anymore, Inh's attack gets redirected at Thorn.

[Dimers]

Part of Inh's mind feels detached as she undergoes the mental attack, and even while she sees her body slash at her friend, she automatically responds to the source of the trouble with a mental jab.

I'll use the daily power of my amulet of psychic interference to deal 10 psychic damage to D as an immediate reaction. There's no attack roll.

[Dimers]

<I'm so sorry! Not my intent!> Inh thinks at Thorn. The message comes with tinges of horror and sorrow.

No emotion shows on the githzerai's face, though, as she enters a battle frenzy that approaches a meditative state. Spells fairly burst from her skin as she hacks at the twisted stony image before her.

Seeing that neither Wdwune nor Clay is signed in at the moment, I'll go ahead.
Minor action: swordmage aegis on C1, lasts until slain.
Minor action: oath of enmity on D1, lasts until slain.
Standard action: no respite, pushing chain gargoyle 1 from G8 to D11 before attacking distorted gargoyle 1 with Power Attack, better of [roll0] or [roll1] vs AC, hit deals [roll2] damage. Crit damage would add [roll3] to max damage of 40.
Action point! I get Spyre's bonus to the first attack roll, and I get to save against all saveables (all zero of them).
Standard action: vanishing blade with Power Attack and Spyre's bonuses against distorted1, better of [roll4] or [roll5] vs AC, hit deals [roll6] and marks until the end of my next turn, miss half and no mark. Crit damage would add [roll7] to max damage of 44. The attack then allows me to teleport, which I don't, and it turns me invisible (but not hidden, plus the chain guys probably have blindsight anyway) until the end of my next turn. For the rest of the encounter, my melee hits allow me to teleport3 as a free action.
EDIT: and on a hit, I want to use my 1/encounter flurry of blows to damage distorted1 as well.

One of the animate statues is hurled away from the bridge as Inh lands an accurate blow against the distorted gargoyle. Suddenly, invisibility hides her emotions even more effectively than the battle-trance had. The two closest gargoyles must take her seriously as a combatant ... if they can find her.

[Wdwune]

Spyre carefully meditated the situation, so he stepped close to the balista, ready to operate it. I know this machine, I can use it...

While he moved, he shouted some words to Thorn: "Stay alert, Thorn! And get ready to blast these things off!"

Aiming carefully, Spyre pulled the trigger and a large bolt with a chain was fired to the first gargoyle that attempted to howl on him. However, the stone was harder than he thought. Darn it! Is that or these devices are older than I imagined...

OOC

Minor: Inspiring Word on Thorn: He spends a Healing Surge and regains a total of [roll0] hit points (surge value included).

Minor: Use the Boots of the Fencing Master power to shift to L8, gaining +1 AC and Reflex

Standard: Use the Chain/Bolt Ballista vs H1:
· Attack: [roll1] vs AC
· Hit: [roll2] damage and pull target to M9

Action Point: Concentrated Attack vs H1, using Battle Action (so that all of my allies get another +1 bonus on attack rolls until the start of my next turn)
· Attack: [roll3] vs AC
· Hit: [roll4] damage
· Effect: Necia makes a MBA vs H1:
· · Attack: [roll5] vs AC
· · Hit: [roll6] dmg (+3 dmg if target is bloodied)

Note: I missed the Balista attack, so I won't be spending an AP. Bad roll, sorry. :smallsigh:

[Ridai]

The chain-wrapped gargoyle immediately punishes Spyre's exposed back, it's claws digging bleeding tracks into his flesh as it punches through the armor.

C2 hits with its OA with a 36 vs AC, dealing 19 damage.

[Nightgaun7]

Those who have worked in a mine shaft have little to fear from any stone smaller than a mountain; Brandis shakes off the aftereffects of the psychic attack, levers himself up and back onto the higher part of the bridge through main strength, and moves to defend his comrades. He makes a menacing gesture with his hammer, and the three gargoyles closest to his friends see that they will have to deal with the plate-armored stalwart before continuing their attack. They move forward, but Brandis is ready for them. He jabs at the closest but only scores a glancing blow. The other two gargoyles aren't quite swift enough in making their approach, and are met by a hammer arcing through the air and striking both a resounding blow. Brandis then backhands the chained gargoyle, a hit hard enough to stun even the stone beast. The others can see its motions are slow as it tries to recover.



Incredible Toughness
No Action
Personal
Trigger: You start your turn
Effect: You end any ongoing damage or any dazed, slowed, stunned, or weakened condition currently affecting you.

Acrobat boots
Stand from Prone as a minor action

Move Action
L5 to J8

Come and Get It
Standard Action
Close Burst 3
Target: D1, H2, C2
Martial, Weapon
Vs D1 - Attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1] Hammer Rhythm does 5 damage.
Vs H2 - Attack: [roll2] Damage: [roll3] , pull to J9
Vs C2 - Attack: [roll4] Damage: [roll5], pull to K9
You pull the target up to 2 squares, but only if it can end the pull adjacent to you. If the target is adjacent to you after the pull, it takes 1[W] damage

[B]Lawbreaker's Doom
Free Action
Target: C2
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit the target with an attack, you deal extra damage equal to your Wis modifier and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: When the target is reduced to 0 hit points, you regain the use of this power.


If C2 uses an attack while adjacent to me that does not target me, I'll use Dispensed Justice on it as an immediate interrupt. I can't foresee things well enough to set it up better than that via this medium.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, now a bit more worried than before, jumps back onto the bridge with her usual agility. She then moves over to just beside the ballista, centers gerself, and then unleashes a blast of pscionic energies at the gargoyles nearest to her.

Actions
Move - from N9-M8-L7-K8
Standard - Steel Wind vs Ref
C2 - [roll0] CRIT!
H2 - [roll1]
Damage - [roll2], 18 For the crit + 15 extra
No Action - Flurry of Blows, if I hit at least one of them
C2 - 7dmg, 11 dmg if not hit
H2 - 7dmg, 11 dmg if not hit

[Infernally Clay]

Watching their enemies lined up by the attacks of his allies, Thorn rushes to their sides and calls Bramble to join him. Then, with a quick incantation, he speaks the words of the trees and hardens Necia's skin against attack before lifting his staff up and loosing a barrage of thorns at the gargoyles.

Move: Thorn to I8, Bramble to I7.
Minor: Barkskin, targeting Necia

Encounter. Minor. Ranged 5. You or one ally gain a +2 power bonus to AC until the end of your next turn.
Standard: Thorn Spray (G9-K13), vs Fort

Standard. Implement. Close Blast 5. Wis vs Fort. 1d6 + Wis mod damage and the targets take a -5 penalty to all defences until end of your next turn.
Attack Roll vs Distorted Gargoyle 1: [roll0]
Attack Roll vs Howling Gargoyle 2: [roll1]
Attack Roll vs Chain Gargoyle 2: [roll2]

Damage Roll: [roll3]

[Ridai]

In a flurry of violence, the group retaliates harshly, scattering the gargoyles into all directions and reducing two to rubble, ghostly and real chains falling far, far below as the distorted creature screeches another time, further contorting and shifting in improbable ways before half dissolving, half breaking apart. The tide has turned quickly and drastically.

However, the howling gargoyle before Brandis retreats more quickly than Brandis can react, flying backwards and letting loose another howl, this time piercing the minds of all but Necia, the wave of sounds even pushing back loose debris and weapons. But it seems that was only a distraction for the real danger. The bolt and chain fired at the other howling gargoyle is still in its grasp and it has moved behind the unknown ballista behind the group. With one mighty yank on the chain, the metal of the ballista Sypre is still standing next to screeches before being ripped from where it stood, pulled right across the bridge and smashing the group to the ground, Spyre almost falling to his death if the ledge wasn't in the way.

Before the captain can recover, the remaining chain gargoyle has closed in, whipping its chain towards the fallen commander, the spikes ripping into his body and pulling him off the ledge. For a moment, the group thinks he will fall, but instead he is still caught and held in the chains by the flying gargoyle, ceaselessly shredding his body.
H2: Sheds mark and shifts J9 -> M12, recharges Howl and uses it on all characters, attacks Will.
31 vs Inh, hits.
Natural 20 vs Bramble, hits.
34 vs Thorn, hits.
33 vs Brandis, hits.
18 vs Necia, misses.
33 vs Spyre, hits.
Inh, Bramble, Thorn, Brandis and Spyre take ongoing 10 psychic and grant CA (SE both).

H1: Move H4 -> D3, rips off ballista with chain, drags ballista to F6-G7, Reflex attack vs all in path.
36 vs Inh, hits.
34 vs Bramble, hits.
29 vs Thorn, hits.
32 vs Brandis, hits.
26 vs Necia, hits due to aura effect.
31 vs Spyre, hits.
Inh, Bramble, Thorn, Brandis, Necia and Spyre take 22 damage (+5 for Inh, Thorn and Necia). Spyre slid L9 -> K9. Everyone hit knocked prone.

C1: Move D11 -> I11, chain (melee 2) on Spyre with 28 vs Reflex (includes mark penalty), hits, pulls K9 -> J10, grabs and deals 14 damage.

Inh, Thorn, Bramble, Brandis, Spyre gain aura effect EoNT. Either due to starting next to a chain gargoyle or next to Inh, Thorn or Necia. And yes, those affected can be reaffected.

Players' turn. Go save the captain!

[Wdwune]

Spyre felt the siege weapon exploding nearby, but before he could react he was chained and dragged by the flying gargoyle.

"Gah-!! This- is not-!"

With a great effort, Cpt Spyre keeps calm as the gargoyle draggs him in mid air, and with resolve, he renewed his energies as he reached his sword as his left arm firmly grabs the chain and makes a decisive cut in a weak point of the gargoyle that forced it to retreat for a brief time. "Retreat, monster!"

As the gargoyle passes over the remains of the destroyed balista, Spyre takes advantage of the brief distraction and manages to unchain himself quickly and roll back next to Bramble and the rest.

"Are you alright?" he asks concerned to everyone, wiping the blood from his lips with his left arm, but without taking his eyes off the gargoyle. "We need to counterattack quickly," he announces. "And remember, in case of an emergency, I know first aid techniques."

OOC

Take the ongoing 10 psychic damage, dropping my hp to 23

Standard: Second Wind. I regain 22 hit points and get +5 bonus on all my defenses (+2 base, and another +3 because of my Defensive Sword)

Free: Grab myself tightly to the chain (flavor!)

Action Point: Force Retreat using Student of the Sword
· Attack: [roll0] vs Reflex
· Hit: [roll1] damage and push the gargoyle to F7, and mark it. I'll go with the gargoyle as well, landing adjacent to it (G8).
· Miss: Mark the target

(Also, all allies get +1 bonus on attack rolls until the start of my next turn)

Move: Escape from the grab using Athletics: [roll2] vs Fortitude
· Success: Shift to H7, gaining +1 AC and Reflex (item properties), and another +1 to all defenses (because now I'm adjacent to Bramble)

Minor: Stand up (if applyable)

Save vs ongoing damage and CA: [roll3]
(Note: If I fail the save, I'll use the Circlet of Second Chances power to reroll: [roll4])

[Dimers]

Still caught up in her battle trance, Inh refocuses her chakras as she gets to her feet. She spins back along the bridge past the chainbearer, sweeping her massive blade in a symbolic arc that her allies have seen her use to teleport foes.

I save versus the psychic effect at the start of my turn due to the amulet of psychic interference property. If I fail, I take 5 psychic damage (my helmet gives me resist 5 psychic) and do not also roll a save against the same effect at the end of my turn. Save: [roll0].

Move action: stand from prone.
Minor action: herbal healing utility on self: second wind plus a save.

Cure 23 hp damage
+2 to all defenses EONT (Inh-4)
Save [roll1] if the one at the start of the turn failed
+5 damage EONT (Inh-4) from Healing Fist feat
shift half speed = 3 from Shifting Fortunes racial feature, from H8 to E8

Standard action: probability travel in a blast5, D3-H7. My attacks have CA from invisibility if the enemies can't see me, but I'm assuming they both can so I'm not adding it in. +1 from Spyre's use of AP.

Gargoyle H1: [roll2] vs Will
Gargoyle C1: [roll3] vs Will
Hit deals [roll4] psychic. If I hit one, teleport it to J7. If I hit both, teleport howler1 to J7 and chain1 to K7.
Teleport Spyre to J6 for flanking purposes.


Two of the animated statues appear in the midst of the party, well within reach of Inh's allies, now howling with a new anguish. Though Spyre couldn't follow Inh's invisible movements, he is familiar with the feel of her technique, and he uses Inh's burst of mental movement energy to flash to a position boxing in the stony pair. Finally Inh reappears in the spot her trail of footsteps had suggested she might be.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis rolls to his feet and throws himself at the monsters attacking his allies. A vicious hammer blow gets the attention of the howling one, and although Brandis only knocks a small chip from the chained one, it's enough for it to whip it's head round and focus on Brandis for a moment.


Acrobat Boots
Minor action to stand from prone.

Glowering Threat
Minor action
Close burst 2
Target: H1, C1
Martial
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, each target takes a -5 penalty to attack targets other than you

Lawbreaker's Doom
Free Action
Target: C1
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit the target with an attack, you deal extra damage equal to your Wis modifier and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: When the target is reduced to 0 hit points, you regain the use of this power.

Hack and Hew
Standard Action
Melee
Invigorating [5], Martial, Weapon
Primary Target: H1
[roll0] vs AC
[roll1] damage
Effect: Make a secondary attack.
Secondary target: C1
(1d20+18)[6](24)] vs AC
[roll2] damage Takes 5 damage from Hammer Rhythm instead

Contingencies:

If either of them attack me, Strikebacks.
If either of them attack me or an ally and miss, Parry and Riposte.
If C1 is adjacent to me and makes an attack that does not include me, Dispensed Justice.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia wipes the blood from the mouth and cuts she as acquired now. A smile grows on her face and she looks at the Gargoyle in front of her. Necia puts her hand on the ground behind her head, and from there jumps up to a standing position. She then unleashes psionic energies, punching the actual stone with her bare fists.

Actions
Move - Stand up
Standard - Resounding Strike vs Fort against C1[roll0]
Damage - [roll1] Crit! 31 + 7 (FoB) + [roll2], The next time the target takes damage before the start of your next turn, it takes extra thunder damage equal to 7
Free - If I hit, Furious Assult + 1d8
No Action - Flurry of Blows, 11 goes to H1
Necia's fist goes through the middle of the Gargoyle, exploding the stone all around her, hitting the other gargoyle with its own kind, damaging it as well. She then turns to hit with a murderous look in her eye and gives it a mischievous and knowing smile.

[Ridai]

The bridge is engulfed in a flurry of motion as the chain gargoyle is propelled to the side, slamming into the side of the bridge on the way up with Spyre barely managing to cushion the impact before sliding across the floor and yanking the chains out of his body, even with the psychic claws digging into his mind. As he stands, he is shunted into a different position along with the gargoyles nearby, carrying the unmistakable signature of Inh's handywork, though only the stone creatures have to endure her powers tearing at their psyches, making them shreek in monstrous agony, the sound not helping Inh's healing process, but her morale all the more.

Brandis' crushing swings deal out swift punishment, the muffled slams followed by the sound of stone cracking, driving both beasts into blind rage at the mul before them. They do not see Necia coming one bit. She would make her master proud, the attack simple, direct, but so very fast and deadly as the air compresses around her fist, the resulting miniature sonic boom coinciding with her fist driving itself straight through the chain gargoyle, the sheer force ripping it apart as the shockwave sweeps across the bridge, making the mists swirl and billow.

Thorn shifts into his mighty bestial form, reinvigorating Bramble just as it starts to dematerialize and retreat back into Thorn, but the combined shock of the psychic pain and the ghostly chains misdirect his strike, slamming his body into the many serrated blades jutting out of the howling gargoyle.

The remaining gargoyles simply throw themselves at Brandis, the first utterly missing and receiving a retaliatory hammer blow to its howling visage, the second however using the opening and briefly jumping onto Brandis' back, digging its claws into the warrior, its fury withstanding Inh's mental assault.

Thorn: Takes O15 psychic (10 + 5 due to the aura). Bramble dies from O15 psychic. Wild Shape, minor action to bring Bramble back with 20 HP.
Grasping Claws at H1 with Natural 1, misses, Thorn takes 15 damage.
Save vs ongoing for Thorn with 8, misses
Save vs ongoing for Bramble with 11, succeeds.

H2: Move M12 -> J9, claw at Brandis with Natural 1, misses.
Triggers Brandis’ Parry and Riposte with 37 vs AC, hits, deals 20 damage, H2 grants CA EoNT.

H1: Claw at Brandis with 36 vs AC, hits.
Triggers Inh’s Dimensional Vortex with 20 vs Will, misses.
H1 deals 25 damage to Brandis.

Brandis, Bramble, Necia, Thorn, Spyre gain aura effect EoNT.

Go Team!

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis, grappling with one stone beast and clawed by another, struggles to make a counter-attack. Entangled as he is, his hammer swings have minimal impact, but he manages to break free and move out from between the monsters.


Dwarven Armor
Free action to regain hitpoints as though you spent a surge.

Footwork Lure
Standard Action
Melee
Target: H2
Martial, Weapon
Attack: [roll2] 25 (Forgot the +2 from Parry and Riposte and +1 from Spyre)
Damage: [roll3] damage
Effect: You can shift 1 square (J8->K7) and slide the target 1 square into the space you left.

Move Action
Shift J8->K7
Yikes, not a good turn! Each of them take some damage from Hammer Rhythm, but still.

[Infernally Clay]

Thorn breathed heavily. The wounds were taking their toll, but the end was in sight. His bestial senses could smell it. With a great howl, Thorn unleashed a flurry of blows.

Move: Thorn stands up from prone, Bramble crawls to J8.
Standard: Predator's Flurry (+5 attack bonus on first attack due to Bloody Determination, +1 attack bonus from Spyre, H1 and H2 granting combat advantage to Thorn thanks to Bramble's aura)

Primary Target: One creature
Primary Attack: [roll0] vs. Howling Gargoyle #1's Reflex
Hit: [roll1] +[roll2] damage, and the primary target is dazed until the end of your next turn.
Effect: Shift to J10 and then make a secondary attack.
Secondary Target: One creature other than the primary target
Secondary Attack: [roll3] vs. Howling Gargoyle #2's Reflex
Hit: [roll4] +[roll5] damage, and the secondary target is dazed until the end of your next turn.

Proper rolls here (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=16097374&postcount=303).

[Dimers]

As Thorn rises to strike his vicious blows against the enemy, Inh sees that the continued mental assault from the stony beasts is too much for him to take alone. She rushes to his side and props him up, touching curative pressure points and whispering a spell of health. Then she glares at the impossibly flying, moaning masonry, sending a psychic slap to redirect its scattered attention toward her. Inh has fallen out of her brief battle-trance but still appears ready for combat, hefting her blade high again.

Move adjacent to Thorn and Bramble, first aid Heal check autosucceeds (Thorn spends second wind to go from -7 to 18 hp but gets no defense bonus because it's only first aid), minor action to impose aegis of assault on H2.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia spins around as the last Gargoyle flies to just behind her. Her hand then forms into a paw, psionic energies actually coming out of her hand and forming into claws. She strikes at the Gargolyes, hoping to finish it off.

Actions
Standard - Tiger Claw Rake vs Ref [roll0]
Damage - [roll1] 41 for the crit +16+3+7= 67 total, and the target takes a -2 penalty to attack rolls until the end of your next turn. If the target moves more than 2 squares on its next turn, it takes 5 damage.
No - 7 damage
The monk again claws through another Gargoyle, sending stone flying everywhere. She brings her hand back to herself and sits down. She then crosses her legs and tries to find her balance again.

Five minute rest anyone? :smallamused:

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods in approval after Necia finishes the crumbling gargoyle with her martial arts. "These ones were a tough challenge," he says, reminding when he managed to escape from the gargoyle's grip, a maneuver that saved him from an almost-certain death. "I was used to ride steeds, but gargoyles? Never."

He then turns on Thorn. "I'm glad to see Bramble is fine. This battle could have been a lot tougher if you both weren't supporting. I appreciate that," he says with encouraging words.

Then, he looks around, concerned. "We should make sure no other flying statues are nearby..."

Before the short rest I'd like to burn the remaining Inspiring Word on Thorn, he spends a healing surge and regains [roll0] hit points total.

And, as always, aid on Perception check to whoever makes a check: [roll1]

[Dimers]

Inh puts her fullblade in its sheathe across her back, sighing heavily. She blinks back a few tears of relief. "Allister ... did you really fly out over a yawning chasm held up only by a weapon ... a weapon wielded by flying statuary? I am so intensely glad I was in an altered state then; I would have been frozen with terror if I'd actually thought about the danger you were in."

She turns a critical eye to the group's many wounds, also drinking in the signs of destruction scattered everywhere. Stone broken into chips and boulders and dust. Jagged bits of metal. The wall of impaled corpses still before them. A smashed machine of war. Splatters of blood -- and more still flowing freely from her comrades. Inh begins the work of tending to wounds, a function calming to her in its familiarity. As she does so, she murmurs thanks to each friend for standing with her. Once the area proves safe enough for the moment, she too takes time to rest, centering her breath and recovering her energy.

The gith then pulls from her pack a beloved artifact the party have seen her use several times in their travels -- a rectangular leather map, about two cubits on one side, a cubit and a span to the other. "I think we might be well served now to gain another view of this strange land. Perhaps the Venturing Map will have some insight as to what lies within that fog." Kneeling and placing the sheet before her on a patch of ground she has swept clear, Inh dangles a crystal on a chain over the map and murmurs a mystic chant. A birds-eye view of a fortification the party had fought through two weeks earlier fades magically from the map. The gith watches the surface with anticipatory curiousity, as ink begins to stain its surface in a new pattern representing the lands around her now.

The pattern resolves as finely-rendered drawings of clouds of mist.

Inh sits for a minute, blinking, the blank look on her face slowly making a transition toward consternation, not quite hearing her allies. "The Venturing Map ... will not venture a guess? That does not bode well. I suppose it bodes nothing at all, but it surely does not bode well."

She repacks her supplies and prepares to leave, still looking troubled.

Short rest to recover encounter powers. And since I've got plenty of surges left and no IC expectation of imminent disaster, I'll spend one on recovering those last four hit points, bringing me back to 95. I didn't remember to subtract my AP from the tracker before, but since we just reached a milestone, I have one AP again anyway.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis, though scored by claws and battered by stony limbs, appears unperturbed as he adds new bandages to the collection started after the fight with the possessed suits of armor. Indeed, the remarkable physique of the half-breed is evident as the blood streaming from beneath his armor clots and the gouges in his flesh almost seem to close before the eye. He stands impassively, waiting for the others to recover before continuing.


Spend 3 surges, bringing me up to 92.

[Wdwune]

"Allister ... did you really fly out over a yawning chasm held up only by a weapon ... a weapon wielded by flying statuary? I am so intensely glad I was in an altered state then; I would have been frozen with terror if I'd actually thought about the danger you were in."
Spyre smiled in return. "I confess for a moment I was freaked out, but fortunately I managed to control myself. Survival instinct I guess?"

Then he sees Inh retrieving her map and, after noticing her troubled expression. "Hmmm... Not showing anything?" he mumbles. "First sign, the walking construct we fought (twice). Second sign, these siege weapons ready to be used. Third sign, the strange message Thorn got from the nature spirits at the untouched, peaceful garden... And now the map can't show us a thing."

As he renews his energies, he adds: "Ladies and gentlemen, if that shining tower doesn't have the answers we're looking for, then I don't know what could."


Short rest and milestone! :smallsmile:

· Spend 2 healing surges and that brings me back to full hp.

· Regain all used encounter powers.

· Gain 1 Action Point.

· Regain the use of my Cape of the Mountebank.

[Ridai]

Mobilizing another time to end this fight, the weariness of the group is more than visible, with Brandis missing his target only to stumble into the weaponry jutting out of the creature while Inh aids the struggling Thorn. Rising from the ground, the druid's fury is almost aimless, yet swiftly pulverizes one of the two remaining gargoyles in a savage assault and battering the other almost incidentally. Once again it is Necia who deals the fatal blow, her fingers stronger than stone as she rips the gargoyle apart in a manner quite similar to Thorn's display, though much more destructive. As the last of the stones pound onto the ground and quietly roll off the bridge, all is quiet again. The sudden silence save for the wind, their constant companion, is so very noticable after the cacophony of violence they endured and contributed to.

No one disturbs their rest, though the corpses, the wall of fog, the abyss close by and the statues on the tower walls loom over them, the light of shelter nearby as they tend to their many wounds, telling stories of their hard-won victory.

[Infernally Clay]

"Thank you," Thorn said to Inh and Spyre, before turning to Bramble once more. Within a few minutes both man and displacer beast seemed to be ready to continue onwards, which Thorn signalled by scouting ahead.

Perception: [roll0]

Thorn spends two healing surges, bringing both himself and Bramble to full health, and leaving himself with four more. As with everyone else, he also regains all his encounter powers and gains an Action Point.

[Nightgaun7]

"Find out what other bolt-throwers do." After saying this, Brandis marches over to the line of corpses across the bridge and inspects the blockade.

[Ridai]

All lies still around them, no danger in sight. Brandis takes a closer look at the grisly sight, all of them apparently people like the other corpses along the way. The spears and bodies should be easy to clear with some effort and force.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis takes hold of one of the spears, then breaks it with a hammer blow and a yank. Laying it down carefully, he moves on to the next, until a space wide enough for a man to pass has been cleared.


Just going to clear O6 for now.

[Dimers]

"Find out what other bolt-throwers do," Brandis says.

Inh nods and slides over toward the closest intact war-machine, stepping lightly through the wreckage of the more familiar ballista. She takes a guess at how to fire the machine and aims at a distant target, barely seen in the mist.

Standing at F5. I'll leave the description of the loading and firing to you, Ridai, as I have no idea what to expect.

[Ridai]

Moving into the seat, Inh has trouble figuring out how to work this machine, seeing no obvious controls whatsoever. There are two spheres next to the seat on which she rests her hands, but nothing seems to happen at first. Trying to look a bit over the ballista, she suddenly feels a bit of a pull on her hands, making her sit down as the ballista aims lower, the seat rising accordingly, yet Inh remains snug in the seat despite the angle. She feels a pull on her energies she channels in battle, both her divine inspiration and her arcane ingenuity, feeling them flow from her mind to her hands into the machine, golden pulses running down previously invisible lines starting from the spheres all across the ballista to the hole in the pointed center of the front.

With a few more experiments, Inh can direct the ballista with her thoughts, though doing so still takes a lot of effort, rotating the ballista, making it rise and lower, lean up or down. Finally, she tries to concentrate on firing the weapon, which at first feels like nothing is happening again, but with a lot of effort, she can feel the siege weapon hum, her energies being drawn from her and collecting in the barrel. Trying to direct the weapon at the distant target, the roof of one of the slightly bigger houses, the gith tries to let the charge loose, though it is becoming more and more difficult to focus on such a small thing, but pushes on as suddenly a golden bolt of lightning shining with divine radiance shoots forth, an almost deafening boom accompanying it as well as a wave of light around the muzzle, down into the lower city, veering off-target and slamming into something, probably a house wall. It is hard to tell what damage it might have caused as the golden line in the air slowly fades, probably the only thing well-visible at a distance.

[Dimers]

Stepping gingerly out of the seat, Inh says nothing. But her wide eyes, shallow breathing and goosebumps are commentary enough.

[Wdwune]

"Are you alright?" Spyre asks Inh, concerned. Still, the blazing energy fired by the arcane-balista was enough to make the captain rise his eyebrows in surprise and shock. "When the gargoyle captured me, I was about to ask you to fire that thing against it. Luckily, I wasn't insane enough to let that command to come out from my mouth..."

"Well," he turns to Brandis, who's clearing the path. "That's what that weapon does..." he shrugs. "If more constructs appear a third time, I'm pretty sure Inh could blast them before they can even join the party..."

He pays attention to the intact bolt-chain balista. And I will not make a tactical mistake again.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
After a moments pause, Necia stands back up and watched the power of the ballista. "Well, that might be useful in the future," giving a chuckle as Inh steps off in a somewhat awkward fashion. "Well, shall we move along? Lets gets these bodies out of the way, and get on with figuring out where the heck we are." Necia then starts to take down bodies, making a hole for them to get through safely.

[Wdwune]

"Right," replies Cpt Spyre to Necia's suggestion. After Brandis clear a section of the gruesome wall of corpses, Spyre approaches it and takes a look the corpses from afar. "I wonder if they " he points to the corpses "have any answer of what happened here."

With those words, he cautiously walks closer to the tower. Whoever lives there knows about us already, he thinks, it's not that battling against some gargoyles can be easily done with discretion...


If anyone wants to check the corpses out, Spyre will aid him/her:
Perception: [roll0]

Err... Nope! :smallredface:

[Ridai]

Nothing but a gruesome death is revealed from the corpse, forgotten and desecrated in a place nonexistant to the common mortal. Even as the group passes the corpses, they glimpse a few spears that are "unoccupied". If the tide of battle had been in another's favor, it is not hard to imagine who else might be adorning this chilling display now.

The last few meters to the tower door are a tense and slow affair, the sounds of changes in the wind guiding a hand to the grip of a sword or feet into a stable stance, but nothing else follows, no screech, no grinding flapping of stone wings. A few looks into the abyss are inevitable to ensure no further creatures hide below, each time with the hope that nothing will stare back.

Few steps before the warm light streaming from within the tower, the surroundings seem so much darker and bleaker, putting the door into a strong focus. With caution, the door is opened, no threat revealing itself. It is subtle, but a certain warmth is greeting them, the second welcoming sign in this city, so different from the wet coldness outside or the forbidding garden.

Inside, the room is only illuminated by the light of numerous candles on the walls, in lanterns, alcoves, around the feet of statues, the flames swaying in the intruding winds from outside. There is not much brightness all in all, but the shadows cast lack the looming threat, the air sending shivers down your spine as it warms your tired, bruised bodies.

The flames stop flickering. You notice the door has closed silently, but you do not feel locked in, more... protected. Looking around, it is not hard to recognize that the room is built along the outer wall (even with the huge size of the tower), but doesn't penetrate all too deeply towards the center. To your left, you recognize what could be a gate, but it is wrapped in chains over and over, including its surroundings, the chains seemingly coming from somewhere in the center, but nothing grants you a look beyond the inner wall. To your right, you see a single staircase, gently curving up along the wall, leading to a brighter source of the same, warm light, perhaps even more so than what you are experiencing right now.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre felt some relief and comfort when the group entered the tower, but still looks concerned about the door that closed behind them. "Either that door is magical or someone's controlling it from here... Or probably both."

He paid attention to the chained gate to the left. Are they hiding something behind that gate...? No. They're preventing someone from entering here...

He turns to his allies. "Alright ladies and gentlemen, apparently we've been welcome by someone who wants us to be here in the first place," he says as he lowers his sword, without withdrawing it. "We don't know if our host is friendly or not, but we must be careful. Let's be diplomatic, but don't lower your guard." He points at the stairs with his sword.

History check to see if I know something interesting about the chain and/or the gate: [roll0]

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis goes and shoves the door that closed behind them.

[Ridai]

Try as he might, but Spyre cannot recall anything about gates and chains beyond the fact that both gates and chains have been used by various races for a long time now. As far as he can tell, he is looking at a regular gate somehow wrapped in a thick layer of chains.

Brandis shoves the door and nothing happens.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia looks at the chained door for a moment, then something occurs to her, "Maybe the point of the chains is not to keep people in.....but to keep something out. Maybe we should just continue up the stairs?"

[Dimers]

Inh nods at what Spyre and Necia indicate. "My intuition is no perfect oracle, yet I think we have little more than intuition to guide us here. I feel safer. The stairs seem right." The 'sound' of her psychic voice continues in her companions' minds: <Though our Captain shows his usual wisdom in keeping weapons at hand. Brandis, you should watch for signs of mechanical traps as we go up, too.>

[Nightgaun7]

"Main door won't open. Go up." So saying, Brandis mounts the first few stairs.

[Ridai]

Slowly you ascend the stairs, eyes and ears searching for signs of hidden dangers known all too well to the seasoned adventurers. Steps echo as it gets harder to see what lies around them with the warm light from up above coming closer with each moment. Soon, the stairs make a sharp left, now pointing towards the middle of the tower, walls to either side. Moss and vines have overgrown the sides completely, concealing the stonework below, the stairs likewise soften each step as feet set down on a layer of green plantlife. By this time, everyone has to squint against the light from above, even Inh as she peers into the hidden world. But their feet carry them higher regardless, feeling no danger.

When their vision begins to clear, they are standing on a patch of rich green grass, the air pure and refreshing, feeling a gentle breeze whisk away their weariness as sunlight warms their forms. This garden surrounds them and all their eyes are moved to the towering shape before them. They can only see what must be the upper part of it, the rest extending far, far below. A tree, monumental in size, reaches far up before them, its majestic crown touching the skies just like its branches reach far and wide, taking the breath of any mortal away that is directly in its presence. A bright haze obscures your vision as you take in the vibrant colors of this awe-inspiring sight until all of you glimpse the figure floating in front of the central part which feels almost like a throne to you, even if it is just the trunk splitting into the branches holding the crown.

You cannot see anything clearly, but your minds fill in the blanks: the flowing green hair, floating weightlessly in the most beautiful patterns, a dress of leaves, bright and proud, worn by an immaculate being striking green eyes. Beauty like you have never seen, could have never imagined, her smile making you feel like you have finally returned home, all sorrows falling away, so full of life, suffusing your beings.

The next moment, the light feels much colder, the tower walls once again rising up above you, obscuring the mist-choked skies. The grass covering the entire level looks much more pale, struggling to remain alive. Bramble howls in utter sadness, pained by what it sees, hears and feels. You can barely recognize the trees, wrapped over and over in heavy, thick chains, obscuring almost any sign of life, branches bending under the weight as superfluous chains hang off of them, leaves nowhere to be seen, metal having replaced the crown as pale light seeps through the gaps above. High above, where the figure was, you see the outline of her body beneath the chains, smaller, finer ones, but pinning her to the tree nonetheless, even wrapping around her neck and head. You see only a very shallow rising and falling of her chest, a few pale, thin fingers reaching through the chains, a few locks of white hair, her throne now more resembling a mourning deathbed. And still you feel her sheltering you.

Many a soul would have despaired at the sight, their soul wrenching itself apart. For the group, the sensations are still overwhelming and for Thorn, these sights strike far too close to home, making the druid want to scream, cry and shout at the same time as his companion continues to howl.

[Infernally Clay]

Almost instinctively, Thorn ran forward with his mind set on only one thing. He had to pull her free. Such terrible pain, such sorrow. How could something so pure, so gentle and protective, end up like this?

"Who did this?!" he cried, barely audible over Bramble's howls, "We'll get you free!"

He grasped for the fingers, trying to give her comfort. He grasped for the chains around her face and neck, trying to pull them off her. He didn't even turn, yet shouted to the rest of the group to help him.

[Nightgaun7]

"Ask first, why chained?"

Brandis takes up a defensive position by the door, figuring that prisoners usually have guards.

[Wdwune]

For the love of-!!

Upon seeing the sad scene, Cpt Spyre felt a small glipse of grief before regaining his resolve and focus on the priorities of the situation.

"Necia, Inh," he said as he swiftly looked around, "help Brandis in watching the place for incoming menaces. We cannot allow to be ambushed as this lady is in danger. Thorn and myself will help her."

He turned to the chained woman. "We mean no harm, my lady," he speaks gently in Common, hoping the woman inside would hear him. "Can you speak?" Then he followed Brandis' suggestion. "Can you tell us who did this to you?"

He says the sentences in both Common and Deep Speech, both languages Spyre knows, but very slowly so that the lady can understand him.


A Diplomacy check to make her cooperate: [roll0]

And an Insight check to see if I notice something else about her: [roll1]

[Ridai]

As some of you begin to climb the chains up to the figure beneath the metal, they are violently thrown off and all of you feel a sensation like freezing knives are being jabbed into your very beings and viciously dragged further, ripping with a mental sound similar in effect to claws screeching across metal. Between the blankness brought by excrutiating pain, you glimpse a scene of swirling shadows and light, a figure standing with sword in hand between a sea of unrecognizable bodies flickering in and out of existance, opposite of a group of tall, imposing figures shrouded from clear sight, a sea of floating arrows and swords over them pointing at the figure.

All of you find yourselves lying in the grass, gasping for air as the pain has disappeared, but its memory still reverberates in your minds. You see a blue glow surrounding each of you and as you glimpse up at the figure, you see her face and neck free, a good amount of the chains having been torn away by whatever this blue energy is, also hearing a rumbling further below similar to the sound of the chains being ripped away. The woman's beauty is similar to the vision you experienced before, but all of her hair is snow white, as is her skin, her breathing a bit more calm than before, more even.

You instinctively know you are all of the same kind, sheltered by this woman and safe in her haven, a point of light in this lost city. And you feel a sensation like you are drawn into a certain direction, though you can't quite pinpoint the location. It is a good bit lower than where you are now and somewhere past the city walls.

There are more of your kind.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia gets up off the ground, having gone through the weirdest vision she has ever had, and shakes out the weird feelings. She looks up at the woman and an overwhelming feeling of both sadness and wanting to beat the stuffing out of whoever did this to her washes over Necia. "Does.....does anyone feel the need to travel over there?" Necia points in the direction of the thing that pulls at her.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis hunches defensively and looks in the direction of the tug, looking for any clues about what's causing the feeling.

[Ridai]

The feeling comes from far away, outside the tower, slowly becoming less defined and more a general feeling of direction and distance and ultimately staying at that level for now.

However, you now feel more in tune with yourselves, with the mysterious woman up above and the garden surrounding you. There is little certainty, but you feel as if you have become more, as did your tools.

I actually forgot to mention this earlier.

Everyone of you gains two levels. Yes, two (2).

Everyone of you can upgrade (add +1) one of your main items (weapon/implement, armor or neck item) and you also get your choice of one item up to level 15. The latter can be used to upgrade an existing magic item (whether main item or other) or change an existing magic item into a new one or change a mundane item on your person into a magic item. Stay reasonable with the latter (no "OF COURSE I always have spare arrays of complete body armor with me, duh!"). It also means that you don't gain new items from thin air.

Also, all of you can make slight (as in subtle) aesthetic adjustments to the appearance of your characters and changed items if you like, whether these changes look realistic or are more of a fantastical nature. Think about how your characters would want to look or think they actually look like.

[Nightgaun7]

Little change is visible in appearance at first, but on a second look Brandis appears sharper, his bones standing out more in his face and the corded muscles beneath his armor looking almost chiseled, the light glinting from his eyes disconcertingly crystalline. Though Brandis has always been fast for a man of his size, those around him see a curious thing if they watch his motions - he seems to be both heavier and faster, actions more precise and controlled, as if his talent for finding the one point to strike is slowly spreading to everything he does. He fingers his ring, as if it feels differently around his finger than it did a moment ago, and his hammer looks like it almost dents the rock he rests it on.

As the others come out of the collective reverie they all seem to have been under, Brandis hefts his hammer and points in the direction the psychic tug is coming from. "Go there. Fault."

[Dimers]

Inh lies paralyzed in the grass for a time after the sensory onslaught, the muscles in her back and arms clenched tight. Even her toes are curled with tension. Then suddenly, with no external cue, the gith sighs and releases her tautness and reopens her eyes. She takes in a few deep breaths before retrieving her blade, rising and speaking.

"She did not seem to want to be released from these chains. I don't understand that at all, but the unconcern was clearly communicated, and I have learned the folly of trying to free those who are not asking to be freed." Inh pats herself down, checking the baubles in her pockets and feeling briefly for signs of injury taken while in the world of the vision. "Yes. That direction, somewhere beyond the bounds of this shattered city. There we might find community."

As the blademaster moves -- rising to her feet, gesturing in conjunction with her words, adjusting her clothing and equipment -- she seems quicker than just minutes before, but does not seem to have noticed.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre feels a brief moment of calmness and relief at the time the group appeared at a peaceful grass field. His armor seems to change the material what is made of; from the hide of an earthly creature to the scales of a wyrm. Spyre himself feels slower, but tougher, and his sword is now sharper than before.

He stares at the direction, with a trace of confusion in his eyes, but frowning as he tries to use his willpower to figure this situation out. "A lady willingly accepting martyrdom... Where have I seen it before...?"

After a while, his mind finally clears. "Then there's where we're going, ladies and gentlemen." He turns to Brandis. "I'm aware you're familiar with certain religious customs. Could the actions of that lady have a special purpose?"


If necessary, I'll aid Brandis in a Religion check (+10 modifier, auto-success)

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis ruminates for a moment, trying to recall any similar scenes from his wanderings.


Religion [roll0]

[Ridai]

Brandis recalls displays such as self-flagellation, dying in the name of their deity as well as self-immolation among some of the more fanatic worshippers of which there are a few across the lands, but nothing like this comes to mind. Comparing this particular being with the dealings of the deities and their followers does carry a sense of inaccuracy or incomprehension, however.

[Nightgaun7]

"Don't know." Brandis begins moving in the direction of the pull, alert for threats.

[Dimers]

With a concerned glance back at the chained figure, Inh lightly follows the solid, stolid warrior.

[Ridai]

All of you walk down the stairs once more, leaving the mysterious woman in her prison. In the hall you entered before, you see a new path down on the far end, the chains blocking the way having retracted into the walls or disappeared. Descending the stairs behind this newly opened gate, you come into a large gathering hall with locked doors to several rooms and candles warmly illuminating the stony interior. The candles surround several pillars and cover most of them, shaping the columns of stone into an almost organic form.

You are standing on a walkway overlooking the hall, several of them below you before you would get to the floor. The distant feeling draws your eyes to another door in the outer wall, which leads into a tunnel a few meters wide with a stained glass ceiling. It is difficult to see where exactly the tunnel leads, but it should lead to a different part of the inner city walls.

It takes a while to reach the end as the tunnel ends in another gate, locked from the side you are on. Undoing the lock and opening the door, you emerge between tall, finely crafted houses, a definite step up from the coastal area you entered the city in. The streets here are cleaner, less cluttered than the ones now far below and away, giving the place a sense as if it was frozen in time. The gates barring entry to the tunnel you came from are easily opened and soon you are standing on a crossing, the street winding both to your left and right, though the mists are concealing where they lead. However, you can still see the huge wall of grey fog looming high above the top of the houses as you look straight onwards.

By now, the distant feeling has moved closer, but also has spread out quite a lot, making it impossible to really pin down anymore. With no real direction, which way to go might as well come down to a game of chance.

That is until a barely visible ephereal figure runs straight through the group, passing through your forms and quickly fading into the mists once more. It is hard to discern much about the figure, it is even hard to tell if the figure was made out of the mists or was a ghostly apparition, but you were able to spot a feminine figure and a hood. Still, your eyes linger on the path to your left, where the figure went.

Assuming you all want to move onwards, so moved things right along.

[Nightgaun7]

"Where she came from, or follow?"

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia walks with the others, determined to find out what this feeling is. Then they get to a point where the feeling has spread out, and this frustrates her. Right as she is about to let out a huge, frustrated sigh...a spirit, or something, shoots through them all, and she follows it with her eyes. She doesn't get much, but she does see a woman in a hood. In answer to the question presented, she simply says, "Follow," and with a smile shoots off after the apparition.

Perception to track [roll0]

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre follows the feminine ethereal figure with attention, hoping to get any clue about it. However, he finally decides to support his allies' preference, and nods. "Let's follow her," he says. "At this point it's pretty obvious we're being led by someone who wants us to see these things. The strange thing is... The more information I get, the more confused I become."

He lets the mist surround his armored right hand. "Perhaps she is -or was- pursuing something important. We don't know, but we will."

Pursuing something important. Or running away from something...

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis looks hard in the direction the apparition came from, then marches after the ethereal figure.

[Dimers]

Inh waits for all her allies to file past as she broadens her senses again, then follows them quietly through the light mist.

Seems like as good a time as any to turn on the Arcan-O-Vision. And here's a Stealth roll: [roll0]

Since Inh is at the back of both versions of the marching order -- post 196, middle of OOC page 7 -- it doesn't matter for my post whether the streets are narrow or wide.

[Ridai]

You race after the ghostly figure, unsure of its intentions, passing through the eerily still streets, the multi-storey houses looming over you, sometimes with ample space to move on a street, but many alleys become more claustrophobic. You catch glimpses of the figure along the way, not having much time to deliberate. Finding your way back at this point might become difficult.

You reach another crossing and you briefly stop. Before you is a long avenue, seeming like it leads to a distant plaza. There is construction scaffolding against the high houses and the arc connecting the left and right sides of the street, leaving a passage way in between to walk through. The figure seemed to head through there. However, this isn't why you stopped.

To your right is a dark alley, unremarkable by itself. You can barely see anything with the mists and darkness, but at the end, you think you see a figure, tall, imposing, unmoving. Just standing, watching. With every passing moment in its gaze, you feel more unnerved, yet it doesn't seem to make any threatening moves yet, a still guardian.

[Dimers]

Inh catches up with the group as they pause at the intersection. She had moved a little slower to keep an eye on two states of being ... and to mark some walls along the way with a lavender stick of eternal chalk, once it was clear she might have trouble remembering the twists and turns. As she comes close enough to touch their minds, she asks, <Did we lose the ghost?>

And then, as she sees the ominous figure down the alley, she adds, <Is that her? No -- who is that?>

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia runs with the others, doing her best to keep up with the "ghost" that they stumbled upon. At a crossroads, she stops, yet though she knows where the spirit went, there is something else that has caught her attention. A dark figure is in an alley catches her right eye. She slowly turn her head, and subsequently her body, to face it. It doesn't say anything, but nor does it advance in a threatening manner. Necia is intrigued, so she take a couple of steps towards it and then stops, "Hello. Are you a guardian here? We are following someone, and have seen the great sacrifice that the lady has made for the sake of this place. Can you tell us what has happened here?"

[Ridai]

The figure is unmoving (as far as you can tell) and silent. The figure is clad into black knight armor from head to toe and what little isn't covered by the helm is just blackness, at least in the current environment. Necia does feel watched, very much so, but no aggressive action is taken. Neither does it menace her more, beyond its admittedly intimidating appearance, towering over even the tallest members of the group. She can, however, see an entrance behind it, one she hasn't seen any other window or door into.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre gasps as he sees Necia advance forward to meet this guardian, but he feels relief as he notices the tall armored man is not doing anything at all.

"Careful here, ladies and gentlemen," he mutters. "Let's proceed in a cluster formation. Slowly."

He draws his sword and readies his shield in a defensive stance.


I'm suggesting Dimers' formation for open field if there's enough space for all of us. If not, the straight line formation should be fine.

Perception check to aid anyone who wants to: [roll0]

[Ridai]

The figure is clad in black steel, a standing suit of armor, easily standing almost three meters tall, a sword in hand (medium-sized for it, huge in terms of your size) and holding the blade sideways in front of it, knuckles down. You can see absolutely nothing where something should be within the helmet, as small as those parts you can look through are. The figure just towers over you as you stand several meters away.

[Dimers]

Inh uses her helmet's mind-link to ask the captain, <Do you want me to advance close enough to touch his/its mind? Perhaps he/it simply doesn't understand our words.>

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods back at Inh.

<Go ahead, but be careful. We don't know if it's a sentient being or just a deadly weapon.>

[Dimers]

The gith woman pauses a long moment, gazing toward the arch where the ghostly figure was last seen. Then she seems to gather herself up and she walks closer to the massive black-armored statue. When close enough to try to make mental contact, Inh projects toward the thing, <Can you understand what I am saying? I am the small person approaching you, and I am speaking to your mind.>

[Ridai]

Just before Inh can start telepathing, the figure moves to hold its blade at a downward angle. It doesn't favor Inh with a response.

[Dimers]

"No answer, compatriots. I imagine we've lost the ghost now, but this statue-man seems set to guard the entrance behind it. Where should we go?"

While saying so, Inh focuses on the subtle, slippery task of intuition -- of feeling the sensation that brought them this direction from the chained woman's tower. Where, where, where should we ...

[Nightgaun7]

"No guard for nothing."

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia looks quizzically at the guard, then speaks, stepping forward to 5 ft in front of it, "We have been called to help. We followed someone and they led us here. Will you let us pass? We have been summoned." Necia turns around to the others and mentally thinks to them, <"Well, worth a try!">

[Ridai]

(Don't say I didn't give enough foreshadowing, warning signs and "this is a bad idea" adjectives)

As Necia steps closer, suddenly, faster than the group can react, the figure's sword swings at her, surrounded with mist, slashing into the half-orc and sending her flying. The force is so great that she slams through the side of one of the adjacent houses, crashing into an abandoned living room, pinned down by fog which threatens to freeze her to death. The black knight merely assumes his last position, sword pointed down, menacingly towering over the group, silent as death.

Surprise attack when Necia gets within 2 squares of the black knight, with a roll of 41 vs AC. Necia is dealt 48 damage, pushed 5 squares, knocked prone. She is restrained and takes ongoing 15 cold damage (save ends both. Aftereffect: Dazed (save ends)).

Initiative if you want to.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, after being throw through a building which wasn't the first time this has happened, finds herself getting colder and colder and not able to get up. In a horse voice she yells out to the others, "Ummmm, a little help here?!! Can't move!!"

I don't really want to battle this thing yet, so I am not rolling initiative as of yet.

[Dimers]

Inh is stock-still for a moment, with part of her mind simply cataloging the quick events, part recoiling in horror, and part studying the giant's maneuver with appreciation for its graceful economy of movement. But her friend's words snap her out of it, and Inh skates to Necia's side to lend a helping hand.

No initiative here. I wasn't sure from the IC hints, but as soon as I saw "hit with a roll of 41", I knew this wasn't where I should be :smalltongue: So Inh is applying herbal healing to Necia, allowing second wind and a saving throw.

[Wdwune]

"Watch-!"

Cpt Spyre instinctively drew his sword when he saw the statue send Necia flying. However, without appropiate planning, the team was no match for that thing.

"Retreat!" he commands, rising his shield as his glance is focused on the statue, never looking away.

If my guessings are correct, this thing was made to protect whatever is beyond this alley. Let's hope he'll not follow us...

Once he sees Inh quickly aiding Necia, he nods as he transmits her. <That was quick. Good thinking, Inh.>

"Come on, get up, Necia!" he says as Inh helps the monk. "We need to pull back!"


No initiative here either. However, I spend an use of Inspiring Word to heal Necia. She may spend a healing surge and regain [roll0] hit points.

Inspiring Save seems a nice warlord feat! I will consider it on the next levels. :smalltongue:

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia, aided by her friends, starts to feel better after the hits she took. "Those walls tend to hurt a bit, eh?" she says with a smirk. Feeling quite drained, Necia speaks up, "I'm thinkin' we might need to find a place to rest. I am starting to feel quite drained. All these attacks and then that big bastard, haven't been challenged like this in a while. Kind of nice......"

Necia will take the 2nd wind, as well as the HS and the 30HP, which should get her back up to full, even while taking 9 ongoing dmg, she resists 6 ongoing dmg. However, she is now at 2 HS, which could get her though one more fight, but she will need an extended rest soon to recover them.

Save granted [roll0]
Save at the "end of my turn" [roll1]

[Ridai]

There is a sound of wood cracking and a wooden structure collapsing out on the street and around the right corner.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis moves to investigate this potential new threat while the others help Necia.

[Dimers]

"Challenged? Kind of nice? Necia, you do need to rest -- clearly you took a hard knock to the head when you hit that wall with it." Inh shakes her head with amused dismay, then glances back to the ebon giant to make sure it hasn't moved again. She has to squint to confirm its location while the hidden world is open to her.

Hearing the snap of wood, Inh stands quickly and replaces her chalk with her blade. "Brandis? What do you see? Keep talking -- attacks happen without warning here!"

[Ridai]

Brandis looks around the corner and sees the upper part of one of the scaffolds at the houses leading towards the plaza you all have seen before has collapsed as if violently broken. Not only that, but he also sees mistbound figures similar in that quality to what they first encountered in the city, though these look much more agile, quickly moving around the scaffolds. Suddenly, one at the top of a scaffold is lifted of its feet, launched across the street, slamming into the scaffold on the other side of the street. The ghostly figure is standing (and apparently fighting) up from where the creature was launched.

[Infernally Clay]

Realising there is nothing Thorn can do to help Necia, he silently commands Bramble to stay with her and the others while he follows Brandis.

"Should we offer help?" Thorn questioned Brandis, only to make his way towards the ghostly figure.

[Infernally Clay]

Perception to see the quickest route to the ghost: [roll0]

[Wdwune]

"Let's observe first," Cpt Spyre mutters as he slowly advances close to Brandis. "That ghostly figure might or might not have the answers we seek. We don't even know what they're fighting for."

"Thorn, Bramble, Brandis, with me. Necia and Inh, could you scatter around scan the battlefield unseen? Return quickly if you sense danger."

And I'm starting feeling nervous with this huge statue lurking so close...



If Spyre can see the scene, he'll make an Insight check to see if he can see the overall intentions of the fight, or if he can recognize one of the creatures as the ghostly figure we saw before: [roll0]

[Dimers]

"Allister, I sense danger without even going. I'll try to find out whether the misty creatures, the ghost-girl or both will attack us, though." As Inh moves toward the scaffolding and puts away her sword to climb, she mentally adds, to the whole party, <Necia -- it may be easier for you to stay unseen if I am obvious. Everyone try to warn me if you see weapons pointed my way!>

Inh moves toward the half-seen ghost's position in the most direct way she sees. She doesn't try to avoid any creatures but does stay ready to dodge if any attack her, and she makes her movement obvious so as to distract attention from Necia. If Inh gets close to the ghost without triggering combat, she'll use peaceful body language and try to talk to it with telepathy.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis moves forward a few paces as well, obvious but not threatening yet.

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre nods as Inh walks away. He mutters to Brandis and Thorn: "Keep an eye for any threat on Inh. We should be ready to step in with haste if she's in immediate danger. Just tell me if you see something menacing, and we will ."

He rises his sword, ready to quickly gesture a command if something happens.


Insight check: [roll0]

Also, an aid on Perception for Thorn or Brandis: [roll1]

...And, if I'm allowed, I want to ready a Reorient the Axis right after I (or my teammates) sense some threat to Inh. If successful, I can use that action to make my teammates within 5 squares to shift 5 as a free action.

[Nightgaun7]

My Guardian theme power lets me sense when Inh is in danger.

[Ridai]

The mist creatures, animalistic as they are, are creeping upwards, coming after the ghostly figure who stands atop the arch over the street, looking unarmed. She gives a look back, towards the plaza, seemingly considering the scaffolds leading into the direction, but turns back to the mist creatures moving up to her.

Inh boldly moves into the street, seeing the launched creature that has crashed through the scaffolding still in the process of getting up, while another of the creatures gives a distant snarl from the lowest level of scaffolding to Inh's right and hurls itself at her, claws and jaws ready to strike.

Updated tracker and map. Aggressor here is M3.

I won't even bother with rolling an attack, as Spyre's power will be triggered.

Roll initiative.

[Wdwune]

"Now," Spyre commands as his sword points forwards, creating a chance for Brandis, Thorn and Bramble to move into a more advantageous position, but still at a safe distance from the creature's claws.

At the same time, he transmits mentally a warning to Inh: <Step back! It's coming for you!>

Once the ghostly monster approaches and Inh reacts quick, Spyre moves next to Bramble as he speaks to Brandis: "Let's surround it and keep it busy!"

As he looks up keeping an eye for any incoming danger, it's clear that the captain is planning an immediate counterattack against the creature before reinforcements arrive.



Triggered reaction: Reorient the Axis. Close burst 5, so it affects everyone but Necia and myself (yeah, Spyre can't target himself with it and Necia is too far from the range).
· Inh shifts to D4
· Brandis shifts to C7
· Thorn shifts to C5
· Bramble shifts to B6

Initiative: [roll0] and Battlefront Shift targetting Brandis and myself.
· Brandis shifts to F7
· I shift to C7

Reminder:

� Tactical Presence: Whenever an ally (that Spyre can see) spends an AP to make an attack, that extra attack gets +2 attack, +5 damage

� Cry Havoc: The first round (and surprise round), everyone in 10 squares of Spyre gets +2 attack.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis raises his hammer in brief salute before moving to intercept the creature attacking Inh. As it bounds towards the slight Githzerai, it's rudely interrupted by a whistling hammer that smashes into its side. Brandis settles in for a long battle, his hammer leaping to attack in minor openings like a live thing.


Brash Strike
Standard Action
Melee
Target: M3
Martial, Weapon
[roll0] vs AC
[roll1] damage (+4 from Brutal 5 for 34 total)
Effect: You grant combat advantage to the target until the start of your next turn

Lawbreaker's Doom
Free Action
Target: One enemy you just marked
Effect: Until the end of the encounter, whenever you hit the target with an attack, you deal extra damage equal to your Wis modifier and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: When the target is reduced to 0 hit points, you regain the use of this power.

Rain of Steel
Minor action
Personal
Martial, Stance, Weapon
You assume the Rain of Steel stance. Until the stance ends, any enemy that starts adjacent to you takes 1[W] damage, but only if you're able to make OAs.

[Infernally Clay]

Spotting the other mist creature ahead of the group, and realising Spyre's intent, Thorn and Bramble moved to intercept. As he charged, Thorn's form shifted and warped. A few hours ago, he had seemed to transform into a wolf the size of a bear - now his form was less defined, with black mist almost falling behind him as he moved. Once upon the mist creature, Thorn lashed out with his claws.

Move: Bramble moves to G4.
Free: Wild Shape
Charge: To H4, using Grasping Claws as the melee basic attack.

Target: M1
Attack: [roll0] vs. Reflex
Hit: [roll1] + [roll2] damage, and the target is slowed until the end of Thorn's next turn.
Note: +2 attack roll bonus due to Spyre's Cry Havoc, +2 attack roll bonus and +1d10 damage roll bonus due to combat advantage, +1 attack roll bonus due to charge.

[Dimers]

With the captain's timely warning, Inh slides away from the aggressive mistform. She releases a sigh rather than a battle-scream. "I'd expected no better, but I had hoped."

She vacillates a moment, deciding which foe to address first, but seeing Thorn take matters into hand on the ground, she heads toward the nearest ladder and starts climbing. She murmurs a word and flicks her fingers at Thorn's target, and its head swivels to track her movement as she races down the plaza. She appears to be targeting the furthest of the visible foes -- although getting underneath the arch might also be a goal.

I'm unarmed at this point -- I just can't see climbing a ladder while wrangling a weapon almost as long as my body.
Move action: move from D4 to T4, going up via the ladder without rolling.
Minor action: swordmage aegis on M1.
Move action: move from T4 to X4.

If I'm subjected to a fear or charm effect, I'll use Mental Block to try to remove it right away. This doesn't require an action. The others need immediates, so whichever of them happens first is triggered and the others are invalid.
If anyone misses me with a ranged attack, I'll use wind of reprisal to redirect it to M2.
If anything hits me, I'll interrupt with iron mind for +2 defense until EONT, possibly turning the hit into a miss (but the power is useful even if I know the enemy rolled a 20).
I won't actually respond to a mark violation this time, being unarmed. It wouldn't be as beneficial as just staying in position to tackle M2.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia runs up to the first shadow being. She strikes out at it with her fists, sending a wave of psionic powers into it.

Actions
Standard - on M3 vs Fort [roll0], crit on an 18-20
Damage - [roll1], The next time the target takes damage before the start of your next turn, it takes extra 7 thunder damage.
Non - flurry of blows, M3 takes 7 more damage

[Ridai]

The first stages of pandemonium soon erupt in this street scenery. Thorn's chosen target jumps to its feet, snarling and screaming and digging its claws violently into the druid, raking what flesh it can maul. Much in the same manner, the creature flanked by both Inh and Brandis flies into a screaming frenzy, all but jumping at Brandis and digging its claws into the warrior with wild abandon, uncaring about any notion of defense.

Up above, one of the creatures leaps wildly at Inh, only to be deflected in midair. Bouncing off the defense, the creature hits the wall, but is back on its feet as it touches the ground, snarling at Inh.

Necia hears another scream from above and quickly sidesteps out of the way, with the creature unceremoniously hitting the ground, flailing and already working on getting back up, leaving itself open for the monk's retaliation.

High above, it is hard to see what exactly is going on, but there is a lot of sound and fleeting shadows, the remaining three creatures closing in on the ghostly figure. Two of them surround her on the arch, leaving only the way down. However, she is quick on her feet, dodging a claw swipe and retaliating immediately. And how she retaliates.

Suddenly, a giant fist jets forth from the top of the stone arch, slamming into the attacking creature and smashing it off the arch before retracting back into the arch with the same cacophony of stone grinding on stone as when it appeared. However, the creature manages to catch itself on the scaffolding, or rather slams into the edge of it, breaking the wood in several deep, loud cracks. Both the hurled creature and the one that stood on the splintered part plummet down onto the next level, with the one hit by the stone fist dangling off the edge, clawing at the wood.

M1: Stand up, attacks Thorn with a natural 20, deals 44 damage

M2: Starts on Z4. Attacks Inh, rolls 22 vs AC, misses, shifts to X3

M3: Uses Feral Assault, rolls 6 on d6, adds +6 to all attack rolls until its EoNT and grants CA until its EoNT
Attacks Brandis, rolls 45 vs AC, deals 23 damage

M4: Plunging attack on Necia from R4, rolls 23 vs AC, misses, falls prone in C5
Provokes OA from Necia, takes 9 falling damage

M5: Moves from G18 to T18. Falls to F18 after MG broke the scaffolding above, takes 6 falling damage.

M6: Moves from S19 to X18, attacks MG, misses

M7: Moves from R15 to X15


MG: Attacks M6, hits, deals 21 damage, knocks off it off the arch to T17
M6 makes Dex check, succeeds, but the force of the attack smashes T18. Hangs off edge of F18, takes 11 falling damage.

Begin Round 2
It's the PCs' turn

[Wdwune]

Here they come...

Spyre takes advantage of the apparent distraction of these newfound opponents and moves quickly (even with heavy armor) to flank one of them with the help of Necia.

"Brandis!" he shouts, expecting for the fighter to read his intentions, and swings his sword in a low cut made to unbalance the stance of the misty creature.

Next he slides under the reach of his opponent, ready to repeat the maneuver on Brandis' opponent. He swings his sword again, in a distracting thrust. "Now!" he shouts and Thorn seems to get the message: The druid reacts quickly and uses a brief moment of distraction of his opponent to tear the incorporeal flesh of the misty creature that's fighting him.

The team members feel bolstered by the captain's resolve.


Move: Walk from C7 to B5, avoiding M4's reach.

Standard: Warlord's Favor vs M4 (flanking with Necia)
· [roll0] vs AC
· Hit: [roll1] dmg and Brandis gets +6 power bonus to attack M4 until the end of my next turn.
· Miss: Nothing

Minor: Shift from B5 to D6 (using Boots of the Fencing Master item power), I get +1 AC and Reflex

Action Point and Battle Action: Surprise Attack vs M3
· [roll2] vs AC (forgot to include the CA bonus, so that's a hit on a 30)
· Hit: [roll3] and Thorn attacks M1 with combat advantage and a +5 bonus:
· · Thorn's Grasping Claws: [roll4] vs AC
· · Hit: [roll5] plus [roll6] dmg, and M1 is slowed until the end of Thorn's next turn
· Battle Action paragon effect: Allies within 10 squares of Spyre get +1 attack until the start of Spyre's next turn (remember that, guys!)

Note: I chose Brandis to be affected by Warlord's Favor because he PM'd me with a plan. :smallwink:

[Nightgaun7]

Trading blows with the creature in front of him, Brandis batters it down and finishes it. Looking to his allies, he sees Thorn's bloody wound and Spyre's opening. He makes a menacing gesture with his hammer and calls a challenge to the two creatures nearby. Both of the remaining mist creatures move to accept, and regret it. A storm of hammer blows smash through their forms, even their misty nature unable to protected them from the rage-fuelled fighter. As he finishes the last one with an oddly sickening sound, Brandis looks to Spyre. "You say, I do. Bring more!"

Starting position: F7

Strikebacks
Immediate reaction [triggers before Spyre's turn]
Target: M3
[roll0] vs AC
[roll1] damage
Immobilizes M3 if hit thanks to Pinning Challenge

M3 takes a hit from Rain of Steel Stance for starting its turn next to me.
[roll2] 9 damage for the 1[W] with no mods

Move to F5

Come and Get It
Standard Action
Close Burst 3 [Centered on F5]
Target: M1, M3, M4
Vs M1: [roll3] vs Will
Vs M3: [roll4] vs Will
Vs M4: [roll5] vs Will

You pull the target up to 2 squares, but only if it can end the pull adjacent to you. If the target is adjacent to you after the pull, it takes 1[W] damage

M1: H3->F4, [roll6]
M3: [roll7]
M4: C5->E5, [roll8]

Red Death
Minor action
Close burst 1
Target: M1, M3, M4
Effect: The target is marked and is subject to your lawbreaker's doom power until the end of your next turn.

Action Point
Hack and Hew
Standard Action
Melee
Invigorating, Martial, Weapon
Primary Target: M4
[roll9] vs AC
[roll10] damage
Effect: Make a secondary attack.
Secondary target: M1
[roll11] vs AC
[roll12] damage.
+5 THP from Invigorating keyword.
M4 and M1 are immobilized by Immobilizing Action paragon feature if hit.

End position: F5

Contingencies:

Dispensed Justice on the first monster to attack someone other than me, or on the monster that attacks Thorn if that occurs. If necessary, use Guardian's Counter instead to protect Thorn. Targets killed.



Brutal rerolls:
[roll13]
[roll14]
[roll15]

[Dimers]

In an eerie state of calm, Inh grasps her blade and dances with it. She cuts into the mist monster, pushing it close to the edge of the platform, then follows through with a whirling kick that knocks it clean off. With no dismay she follows it down, landing on it blade-first and bouncing away.

Minor action: draw fullblade
Minor action: Oath of Enmity on M2
Standard action: Executioner's Cloak on M2 with Power Attack. Better of two -- [roll0] or [roll1] vs AC. On a hit, deal [roll2] damage and become invisible to M2, save ends, with an aftereffect of one more round of invisibility to M2. Miss: half damage and invis to M2 EONT.

If I hit with this standard action, I'll use flurry of blows to dish out another 7 damage and try to slide M2 over the edge. Saving throw to fall prone instead: [roll3]. No Dex check because it's only falling 10 feet before it hits. A fall deals [roll4] damage.

And if I use flurry, I'll also activate my quick strike ki focus to MBA M2, with CA because it's prone whether it fell or not: [roll5] or [roll6] vs AC for [roll7] damage If M2 DID fall, this is a plunging attack that will deal [roll8] damage to either it or me depending on whether I hit. If M2 DIDN'T fall, the overwhelming strike moves me X4-->W3 and moves M2 X3-->X4.

Whoops, just realized those coordinates have us hovering in midair. So. When I flurried, I slid the enemy from X3 to Y4, which means it fell in K4. Then I moved out of X4 to likewise fall in Y4, succeeded in the plunging attack, and shifted myself from K4 to K5. Clear?

If Inh is hit, iron mind. If she's missed with a ranged attack and M2 is still up, wind of reprisal to redirect the attack to M2.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia sees the shadowy figure in trouble, battling one of the monsters, and decides to go help her.

Actions
Double move - Start at D5, to E3 [roll0] for one move per square, to stairs at W3 [roll1] to get up those, and then end at H14, and should have 1 square left to move, using 11 movement points. I will edit this if my rolls don't do well in climbing up the stairs.

Movement Edit: Ok so here is the updated Necia movement: Start at D5, move up the ladder, move to the other ladder at W3, then up in 1 square and end up at H14 with 2 movement squares left.

[Irish Musician]

*pending*

Acrobatics [roll0]

Athletics [roll1]

so,if my math is correct, I am able to get up to 11.6 ft up. Does that get me dangling on the edge of the ledge? :smallsmile:

[Infernally Clay]

With a strange roar, Thorn leapt at the mist creature once more seeking blood.

Standard: Charge to J4, using Savage Rend as MBA.

Target: M2
Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]+[roll2] and slide the target 1 square to L4.

[Ridai]

Thorn rips the creature in front of him apart, the corpse dissipating as its mist loses coherence.

The creatures up above notice the carnage down below and quickly hurl themselves straight down with sheer ferocity, jumping onto Brandis and Spyre and slashing and ripping viciously at their bodies. The remaining creature on the arch manages to get through the ghostly figures' defenses, digging its claws into the ethereal (?) flesh, the figure looking like she is screaming in pain and is suddenly beginning to abruptly shift in appearance, for only heartbeats at times seemingly becoming corporeal before phasing back, flashes of the sound of heavy breathing and shouts audible. Spurred on, the creature leaps at her yet again, raking and slashing at her, those below seeing blood flying and the figure becoming entirely corporeal.

They hear the tail-end of an abruptly starting shout of pain as the young woman violently kicks the monster off the arch, the beast failing to grasp a scaffold to stop its fall as it passes Necia. Before it can hit the ground, a fist comes up from the ground below it as another races down from the underside of the arch, smashing the monster midair in between before quickly retreating back into the stone they came from. The young woman seems to be in bad shape, bleeding and breathing heavily as she curses in a language foreign to your ears.
M5: Activates Feral Assault (+3 to attacks & grants CA EoNT), moves F18 -> T16
Plunging attack vs Brandis with 36 vs AC, hits, deals 26 damage + 21 falling damage and knocks prone
Shifts to F6
As the attack bloodied Brandis, triggers Insane Bloodlust, attacks again, rolls 42 vs AC, deals 25 damage

M6: Pulls itself up onto F18
Activates Feral Assault (+2 to attacks & grants CA EoNT), moves F18 -> D17
Plunging attack vs Spyre with 38 vs AC, hits, deals 27 damage + 10 falling damage and knocks prone
Shifts to C6

M7: Activates Feral Assault (+2 to attacks & grants CA EoNT)
Moves X15 -> X16, attacks MG, hits, bloodies, attacks again, hits

MG: knocks M7 X16 -> I5 (M7 fails save and Dex check), deals a total of 49 damage (including falling damage). M7 provokes an OA from Necia on the way down if Necia succeeds on a Dexterity DC 25 check (because why not, the fight is pretty much over).

(Yes, you can take your turns now)

[Dimers]

As the mist-monsters fall, Inh judges their trajectory and starts into a whirling dancing motion. She spins past the creature that crashes beside Thorn and rushes up to strike Brandis's raging attacker. Her blow all but splits it, draining its lifeforce quickly while it rushes away with the force she imparted. The creature is so dissolute by the time it crashes through its ally's square that neither is knocked over by the collision.

Once again in a position to see the top of the arch, Inh raises a hand in a swift greeting and salute to the cursing ghostly woman before returning her attention to combat.

Move action: walk from K5 to K6, J7, I7, H7, G7.
Minor action: Oath of Enmity on M5.
Standard action: Dervish Strike with Power Attack and CA against M5. Better of [roll0] or [roll1] vs AC. Hit: [roll2] damage* +5 radiant and necrotic damage**, and push from F6 to E5, D5, C6, B6. Since I push through M6's square, the power lets me try to knock over M6, also with CA since they were kind enough to grant it: [roll3] vs Fortitude, hit knocks prone.

The critical allows me to shift 1 thanks to a special effect of the quick strike ki focus, so I'm shifting from G7 to H6 to flank with Thorn.

* Critical makes it 53 plus the 16 I rolled OOC.

** My damage bonus total is Wis +5, enhancement +3, Gith Blade Master +3, Power Attack +6. Painful Oath adds the separate radiant+necro damage.

I'll use iron mind if hit, or wind of reprisal to smack the most damaged enemy within 5 squares if I'm missed with a ranged attack.

And now that I'm back in range of the party, if an enemy hits my ally in melee, I'll interrupt with dimensional vortex to redirect the strike to another enemy.

[Wdwune]

Being knocked down from above, Cpt Spyre only can carefully stand up as he realizes that there were two enemies nearby.

"Get up, Brandis!" he shouts as he quickly swings his blade in a precise slash that leaves a small mark on his opponent. "You can finish these things off!"


Move: Stand up

Minor: Inspiring Word on Brandis.
· Brandis may spend a healing surge and regain a total of [roll0] hit points

Standard: Viper's Strike vs M6 (using Urikite Staff Practice feat)
· [roll1] vs AC
· Hit: [roll2] and M6 will receive +3 extra damage on the next attack vs it



I'll use the Cape of the Mountebank item interrupt but only when an attack hits me when I'm bloodied, or when the attack it's going to reduce me to 0 hit points or below.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis rolls to his feet, shakes off the worst of the blows taken, and begins lumbering towards the mist creature attacking Spyre. Building up steam, he closes with it and delivers a tremendous blow that disrupts its form for a few seconds.


Deleted previous post, should have just edited it : /

Begin Turn F5

Minor action to stand using Acrobat Boots

Move to C5

Anvil of Doom
Standard Action
Melee
Target: M6
Martial, Weapon
[35] vs AC
[38] damage, target is stunned until the end of your next turn.

Mark M6
Lawbreaker's Doom on M6

Rain of Steel Damage:
M5: [roll0]
M6: [roll1] [10 after Brutal reroll]


Contingency:
If M6 does anything, smack him with Dispensed Justice as an immediate interrupt.

If an enemy hits me I will use my second wind as an immediate interrupt.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Seeing the ghosts flee her, Necia goes after them.....by launching herself off of the scaffolding and doing her best to land on one of them.

Actions
Standard/Move - Jump off from 4 squares up on M7, Fallen Needle vs Ref [roll0]
Damage - [roll1], I land in J5 knock M7 prone

I don't know if it is in your rules Ridai, but normally you can make an acrobatics check to help mitigate damage. If I can here it is if I miss the enemy [roll2], if not then ignore this check :smallsmile:

If I miss and fall prone, I'll fall to J5 as well.

Minor - If I hit I will use my Fallen needle Minor and shift to J6, if I miss and fall, I will use my boots to stand from prone.

EDIT: Forgot my flurry of Blows, for an extra 7 dmg

Woot, D-E-D, dead!

Everyone sees the monk look down at them and then jump off the scaffolding head first. Their breaths sucks in for a moment, not knowing what will happen next. As she falls through the air, her body moves into an attack position and she lands directly on the shadowy figure below her. She seems to just crush the thing with her feet, and then does a backflip off of it landing next to it. The figure, on the impact, seems to disperse into nothingness, and Necia stands there with a smile on her face, "Boy that was fun!"

[Infernally Clay]

Sensing the end of the battle was near, Thorn turned and dashed towards the rest of the group.

Move: To B5 (Bramble to E5).
Standard: Clinging Drones

Close blast 5
Target: Each creature in blast (A-6 to C10)
Attack vs M5: [roll0] vs. Fortitude
Attack vs M6: [roll1] vs. Fortitude
Hit: [roll2] damage, and the target is slowed and can't shift (save ends both).

If that doesn't kill them both, then...

Free: Wild Shape, revert to human
Action Point: Thorn Spray

Close blast 5
Target: Each creature in blast (A-6 to C10)
Attack vs M5: [roll3] vs. Fortitude
Attack vs M6: [roll4] vs. Fortitude
Hit: [roll5] damage, and the target takes a 1 + your Dex mod (5) penalty to all defenses until the end of your next turn.

[Ridai]

The young woman finishes the last creature off much like she attacked before, a stone fist grinding it to paste against the street. Stabling herself, she looks uncertainly to the horizon beyond the group before letting her fall off the arch. In midair, she is grabbed by one of the stone appendages, safely setting her onto the ground. Examining the group, holding a hand to a profusely bleeding wound she seems to try to heal with a green glow from her hand, she seems a bit cautious at first.

"The Earth Mother's blessing upon you." she says in thanks, with a noticable accent, especially rolling the R. "Have you been hunted?"

[Wdwune]

Once the spectral woman finishes off the last enemy, Cpt Spyre briefly takes a last look at the battlefield. He's about to clean his sword as usual, but he stops when he realizes that ethereal creatures have no blood.

He turns to the woman, curious. "Hunted? What do you mean-?" then he interrupts himself, momentarily regaining his courtesy habits. "Please forgive my rudeness, milady. I am captain Allister Spyre, and they are my faithful squad partners," he adds by introducing them one by one. "Inh, Necia, Thorn (and his companion Bramble), and Brandis, one of the bravest men I've ever met."


Yep. Those compliments on Brandis are because I use the remaining Inspiring Word on him before getting a short rest. He may spend a Healing Surge and regain [roll0] hit points. Now he's no longer bloodied.


He withdraws his sword afterwards. "You just said 'hunted'. By whom could we be...?" Spyre pauses, remembering a few moments ago when they were ambushed by gargoyles at the bridge. "Well, we've been attacked by flying constructs before, but..."


I spend 2 healing surges to heal me back to full-hp.

[Infernally Clay]

"The Earth Mother's blessing upon you as well," Thorn replied, stroking Bramble's chin. While he didn't recognise the name specifically, the spirit of nature, of the world upon which man walked and breathed and died, had different names in different places - why would here be any different? "We believed you to be hunted and in danger, not us. You were surrounded and we sought to help."

Thorn spends a healing surge, leaving him with 3 remaining and bringing his hit points up to 74.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis tends to his own wounds, then looks over the others as they talk to the woman.

Spend a surge, back to full.

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia gives a nod and a slight bow to the woman, "Me? Hunted? Ha! You don't understand....I am the hunter, not the prey. Things that try to hunt me tend to be sorry they did." She cracks her knuckles and does a few stretches, getting ready for the next fight. Necia may be tired but she will fight until she falls.

[Dimers]

"The Earth Mother's blessing upon you." she says in thanks, with a noticable accent, especially rolling the R. "Have you been hunted?"

Inh offers a respectful curtsy at the woman's words. As her compatriots respond, she watches the stranger's face and keeps an ear out for trouble behind. After a moment, she realizes that may be a little silly (mist tends not to make much noise), and focuses on the conversation.

[Ridai]

"My name is Ravastra. A beast is out there, hunted me the moment I left the fog's clutches, seperated me from brother, chased me past the houses and streets, across the river, up the wall to this hanging city. It knows only lifeblood on its hands-" Suddenly, Ravastra stops herself, looking past the group into the direction they all came from, adjusting her bare feet as if trying to feel for something. Then, she squats down, placing a hand on the ground. Moments later, her eyes widen.

"It is coming." Her own wounds patched up, she is soon standing up. "Run." Ravastra dashes off to the plaza and in that moment, the group can hear distant stomps, huge, shaking the ground, quickly closing in. The next moment, they hear a thunderous growl that makes their surroundings tremble, reverberating through the street and the group's bodies. Something is indeed coming. And it is big. Very big.

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis asks the woman, as he begins to move forward a few paces in the direction of the sound, "Fought thing before? Tell all!"

[Irish Musician]

Necia (http://iplay4e.appspot.com/characters/agdpcGxheTRlchQLEgtDaGFyYWN0ZXJWMhiI490IDA), Ronin of Sin'aren
Necia stands her ground and is the last to slip out with the others, making sure everyone got out of there without incident. As she runs, she looks back, trying to keep tabs on this "beast" that is chasing them, and trying to keep to the shadows as much as possible.

Stealth [roll0], I know we are running, but she will do her best to stay in the shadows and behind stuff, so use that how you will Ridai :smallsmile:

Perception [roll1]

[Wdwune]

Cpt Spyre guesses there's no much time to think before the unknown huge thing comes this way.

<Inh,> he transmits to his githzerai friend, <help Necia in her recon, perhaps he will not notice us, or we can be ready to ambush it and buy some time if he does.>

"Thorn, Brandis, he says as he draws his sword, "since we're not the stealthiest of the team, we need to find a safe place to hide and cover. Get ready your weapons just in case."


Aid another to the next of Brandis or Thorn who makes a Perception check: [roll0]

Heh, I guess Spyre's helmet dulls his senses somehow. :smalltongue:

[Infernally Clay]

"...Fine," Thorn said, a quick wave telling Bramble to hide. Even if Thorn needed to hide, he would still try to see what this monster really was. Running to somewhere out of sight, Thorn peered out.

Perception to discern information about the beast: [roll0]
Stealth to remain hidden: [roll1]

[Wdwune]

"Come on, Brandis," Cpt Spyre calls swiftly as he looks up. He quickly moves to the nearest stairs and climbs up, attempting to hide at the scaffold of the second floor.


Using the latest map as a reference, I'd say Spyre will be hiding at T8.
Skill checks (if necessary):
· Athletics (to jump or climb): [roll0]
· Stealth (to hide): [roll1]

Just as I guessed, Dexterity is my weak point. :smalltongue:

[Nightgaun7]

Brandis moves to a position of cover at ground level, hoping that it will conceal him from something looking down.


If I recall rightly then there are doorways and such on this plaza. I will stand just inside one under the scaffolding if possible, somewhere around H3.

[Ridai]

Tense moments are spent hidden beneath the scaffolds, staring into the mists. The pounding becomes louder and louder, the ground shaking stronger. Another growl, much closer, heralds its arrival. The mist seems to become thicker, but at the same time you can make out a shape, vaguely humanoid in shape, powerfully built, covered in what might be a carapace of jagged rock or steel (or both), claws as large as a grown man. Charging straight towards the street you are in, aiming to head to the plaza, letting nothing in its way stop it.

Another entry in the series of experiments to crash and burn hopelessly.

If you'll direct your attention to the last comabt map, you'll see six red squares on the left side of all four map parts. Those are the outermost squares of this creature.

You have one turn before it enters the street at running speed.