Vanalis Chronicles: The Aftermath IC

[GuyFawkes]

It had been a grueling week.

The edict had come from Odys Soum himself: another target is to be eliminated for the cause at the last day of the month. This of course stirred the Shadow Hand - the secret group composed of Soum loyalists - and the search had begun for who to send in for the job. No name was mentioned, but one thing had been clear: this was no ordinary assassination.

Sure it followed that this target was someone of high rank and in some way or another had placed his or herself in the Mage Council head's bad graces. But one thing that had been stressed over and over again was that the degree of difficulty laid not on the location or the number of bodyguards around the target. It was that the target himself/herself was the danger.

Of course speculations came aplenty, with most of them thinking it had to be the new High Commander of the Royal Dragoons himself, Wylan Gorodos. Gorodos ticked all the boxes: a high ranking official with a penchant for undermining the value of the Council with every chance he got. And certainly a very dangerous man. Others posited it to be Hydros Tares, the High Commander of the Royal Sentinels, very loyal to the High King, and vaunted as the strongest warrior of the High Kingdom. There have also been those who thought it was Horrim, King of Naerys who would be the target. Hot-blooded, arrogant, and also a legend in his own right. In the end, all of those were simply speculations.

The difficulty of the task at hand though, was not. The search began for who would comprise the three-man team to do the job, and soon after the intensive screening began, a battery of tests to ensure they would pick the right people. Missions into foreign lands, dungeon raids, a two-day march across inhospitable terrain. Slowly but surely the number dwindled, and by the end of the week only five groups remained.

It had been a grueling week.

In fact, grueling is an understatement. Be that as it may, you made it. And now you stand in a dark-lit cavern, yards away from the last door you have to enter to finish the entire ordeal. The only thing left standing in the way is a hulking monstrosity of horns and spikes and thick, leathery skin. Two orbs of fiery purple are fixated at you, and you hear a low, reverberating growl that seem to make the stones around you hum in resonance.

No big deal. The only left standing between you and your victory is a demon.

Roll for initiative!!

[meemaas]

Rellin

Rellin leaned on his cane, looking up and down the demon in question. With a nonchalant gesture, he spoke calmly to it. "You wouldn't consider surrendering and letting us spare your otherwise premature departure to our plane, would you?" Taking its gestures as a no, he prepares himself to fight.

Rellin's Initiative [roll0] (Expending a first level slot for Nerveskitter)

Knowledge (The Planes) Check to identify the specific demon [roll1]

Rose

Rose floated behind her brother, just a few steps behind him, floating about five foot in the air with a small burst of fire at her feet keeping her afloat. She shakes her head watching her brother try to negotiate, and gets ready in case it attacks

Rose's Initiative [roll2]

[Savior]

Erebus

The large humanoid was cloaked in his signature juggernaut astral armor. He was large, and floated a clear ten feet off the floor. He held his scythe in his right hand, and was the front line, even before the foolishly brave Rellin. With no words, the symbol of death readied his large scythe for battle.

[roll0]

I'll go ahead and list my prepared spells for the day.

0 level:
1.Detect Magic 2.Read Magic 3.Stabilize 4.Spark

1st:
1.Sanctify Corpse 2.Shield of Faith 3.Inflict light wounds 4.Compel Hostility Domain:Cause Fear

2nd:
1.Angelic Aspect 2.Blessing of Courage and Life 3.Shield Other 4.Blessing of Courage ad Life Domain:Death Knell

3rd:
1.Daylight 2.Bestow Cure 3.Bestow Curse 4.Dispel Magic Domain:Command undead

4th:
1.Rest Eternal 2.Rest Eternal 3.RevenanceDomain:Death Ward

5th:
1.Breath of Life 2.Major Curse 3.Spell Resistence Domain:Slay Living

6th:
1.Heal 2.Chains of light. Domain:planar binding (inevitables only)

[GuyFawkes]

Rellin's quip is replied with a loud roar, and then the demon raises its pincers and points at your general direction. Suddenly, something tugs at your minds, creeping in and slowly trying to overtake your consciousness.

ROUND 1

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95874)

INITIATIVE:
Demon
Rose
Rellin
Erebus

TACTICAL:
Black squares are the bottomless pit.
Everyone must succeed on a DC 19 Will save or be confused.
From its appearance, you identify the demon as a glabrezu. You remember glabrezus to typically lure their prey to ruin with power or wealth, although this one seems ready to fight at the onset.

[meemaas]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95970)

Rose

Rose lifted herself a few feet higher into the air, spinning gracefully as she launched a current of electricity towards the demon with a smug look on her face.

Move action up 10 feet and forward. Rose is now 15 feet in the air.

Standard: Heightened Shocking Current

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]
Spell Resistance [roll2]
Fort Save DC 23 or be paralyzed

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95971)

Rellin

Rellin watched his sister take the lead, and then, following her, he'd start forward, sliding a blade out of his cane to ready it against combat as he waved his hand to cast a spell to defend himself against it.

Move action: Move forward. Still on the ground.
Standard action: Cast Greater Blink on myself.

Attack roll [roll3]
Damage [roll4]
If successful, Will Save DC 24 or be cursed. All damage the Glaberzu deals is also dealt to it for 9 rounds.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95972)

[Savior]

Erebus

Erebus made no noise, he hovered the clean ten feet off the dusky floor, and traveled forward in haste, still managing to look still and vertical in his flight. After traversing straight at the ghastly demon, he descended to the floor, placing his cold metallic soles onto the stony floor.

Made a triple movement and ended turn.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=95984)

[GuyFawkes]

Rose starts things off for the group, rising up and charging electricity as she spins. She channels it towards the demon, but the spell doesn't seem to have any effect. Rellin notices this and remembers that this monster is immune to electric types of attacks. But before he could say anything, the demon inches forward and slams its massive pincers at Erebus, one of which connects hard. Not to give the cleric a breather, it follows up its attacks with swiping claws. Both miss, but they give enough distraction for the follow up bite, catching Erebus' shoulder.

ROUND 2

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100263)

INITIATIVE:
Demon
Rose
Rellin
Erebus

TACTICAL:
Black squares are the bottomless pit.
Erebus is hit with 19 bludgeoning and 11 bludgeoning, slashing, and piercing damage.

[meemaas]

Rose

Rose lifted to the left, recognizing her bolt didn't effect the creature, she waited for an opening in its attacks on Erebus to launch a new one. "Hey Rellin, why didn't you tell me this thing wouldn't be effected by my attack? For that matter, anything you do want to tell me!?!?!" As she yells, she spins around once more, gathering flames around her this time, before launching them at the demon, black smoke trailing behind it before fogging out around its impact.

Move: As on the map
Standard: Choking Smoke

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

If hit, the creature suffers from a 50% miss chance on all its attacks for the next three rounds. In addition, at the beginning of each turn, it must make a Fort DC 23 save or be nauseated for that round.

Rellin

Rellin pulls his cloak around him, vanishing into it as it goes afterwards. He'd find himself on the far side of the creature, his blade already slicing at it with a black aura surrounding it, the weight of his past miseries. "Maybe next time you should ask me before you start flinging crap at it dear sister!!" As he yelled, he bent his blade to reflect some unknown light, his image multiplying amongst his blinking.

Move action: Teleport to behind the Glabrezu
Standard action: Huntsman's Curse strike

Attack roll [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

If successful, DC 26 will save or be staggered for 12 rounds, afflicted with half move speed, and a -1 penalty to AC, attack, and reflex saves.

Swift action: Activate Infinity Mirror Stance, I now have 3 mirror images as per the spell.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100544)

[Savior]

Erebus

Erebus stands toe to toe with the monster and swung his large deep crystal scythe at the beast.


Free five-foot move action, and then full attack

Attack 1: [roll0] Damage: [roll1]
Attack 2: [roll2] Damage: [roll3]
Attack 3: [roll4] Damage: [roll5]

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=100705)

[GuyFawkes]

Rose's flames impact the demon, the black smoke wrapping around its huge frame. A split second later, its huge pincers swings left and right and clears the smoke. This, however, gives enough time for Rellin and Erebus to close in and attack. Both deal damage, but whether the attacks themselves are effective or not, the beast does not show any signs of it. Rellin's magicks, though, seems to have taken effect: the demon's movement have slowed considerably, and it seems to lumber forward instead of the quick step it did earlier. Nevertheless, it goes at Erebus with one gigantic pincer. This time, the cleric is ready for it and blocks the attack.

ROUND 3

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=101208)

INITIATIVE:
Demon
Rose
Rellin
Erebus

TACTICAL:
Black squares are the bottomless pit.
Demon is staggered for 12 rounds.

[meemaas]

Rose

Rose moves to hurl another ball of fire towards the demon when she catches her brothers hand raising up at her. Recognizing the gesture, she sighs and floats a bit further away. "Why do you let him have all the fun?"

Rose is delaying her action.

Rellin

"Because we've already won. Erebus is the messenger for Mordeus remember? I allow him the pleasure of proving his gods place in the world. It has more meaning that way." As Rellin lowered his hand, he'd skip backwards, giving himself a wide berth of space between him and the demon to allow Erebus to fight it alone.

Take a withdraw action.

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=101320)

[Savior]

Erebus

The incarnate of Lady Death stood Stoic and proud. Turning the long black stem of his purposeful weapon, Erebus slung the blade at his monstrous foe with haste and vigor.

Full-attack with Quickened attacks customization (Haste)

Attack 1:[roll0] Damage:[roll1]
Attack 2:[roll2] Damage:[roll3]
Attack 3:[roll4] Damage:[roll5]
Attack 4:[roll6] Damage:[roll7]

[GuyFawkes]

Erebus bears down on the handicapped monster with full force, and he could feel his first two swings bite into the thick demonic skin. The demon seems to pay no mind though, as he simply issues a deafening howl in response. Out of thin air, two humanoids that resemble over-sized birds-of-prey materialize to its right. One prances forward towards Rose and opens its beak wide, emitting a shrill and piercing scream. The other spreads its wings before bursting towards Rellin, catching him off-guard with its sharp claws.

ROUND 4

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=101678)

INITIATIVE:
Demon
Bird Demon 1
Bird Demon 2
Rose
Rellin
Erebus

TACTICAL:
Black squares are the bottomless pit.
Demon is staggered for 11 rounds.
Everyone must succeed on a DC 22 Fort save or be stunned for 1 round.
Rellin is dealt 15 piercing and slashing (chaotic and evil) damage.

[meemaas]

Rose

Rose bolts backwards and laughs, spinning as she puts together a way of flames to fling towards the nearest demon, laughing as she yells at her brother. "Can i kill this one at least brother dearest?"

Move: Move backwards out of range
Swift: Critical Mass
Standard: Oppressive Heat

Attack roll [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Fort save DC 23 or take a -4 penalty to AC and lose 10 feet from its speeds

Rellin

Rellin brushes off the attack with ease, letting it hit one of his images instead of himself, and slides around it, reaching out his own magical energy to surround all of the demons, he then lashes out with his attack again, dark energy surrounding his blade as he attempts to break it like he had the Glabrezu

Swift Action: Claim all three creatures, recover my manuevers
Nonaction: Five foot step
Standard: Huntsman's Curse

Attack roll [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

DC 26 will save or be stagged and all the other goodies the Glabrezu suffered.

All creatures take a -3 penalty to attack Rellin

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=101894)

[Savior]

Erebus

Erebus stays squared off with the massive monster, and readies a more brutal assault with flashes and searing pains.


Deep crystal ability, pay two power points to deal a extra [roll0] points of damage on the next hit.
Attack 1:[roll1] Damage:[roll2]
Attack 2:[roll3] Damage:[roll4] Expend psionic focus for Greater psionic weapon [roll5] Attack 3:[roll6] Damage:[roll7]
Attack 4:[roll8] Damage:[roll9]

[GuyFawkes]

Rose's flames connect and burn the bird demon. As it shakes off the little sparks off its skin, it glares at Rose and opens its wings. With one powerful downward beat, the demon launches itself up and towards the floating arcanist and swings at her with one of its huge claws. The attack is powerful, but slow, and Rose deftly avoids it. However, the attack leaves a trail of strange spores that engulf Rose, sticking to her clothing and skin. When they contact her, her skin begins to tingle, then itch, and a slight burn.

The other winged demon continues to go at Rellin despite his attack connecting. It goes at him, or one of his images, with a barrage of claws, its beak, and its talons. The varied angles surprise Rellin (or his copy), and all but one hit its target. Also, like the other demon attacking Rose, this one spreads a mist of spores as it attacks, coating Rellin (and his copies) and burning his skin.

Erebus remains standing in front of the larger demon, swinging mightily with his weapon. All but one of his attacks penetrate the massive demon's defenses though, but this one hits hard, and he could almost see the creature wince from the blow. Before he could relish the thought though, his quarry retaliates with one pincer swing. The attack seems to be faster than his previous one, catching Erebus offguard, making him block instead of stepping away. But the momentum of the swing blows through his defense and rocks his body as it connects squarely against his chest.

ROUND 5

MAP (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=103761)

INITIATIVE:
Demon
Bird Demon 1
Bird Demon 2
Rose
Rellin
Erebus

TACTICAL:
Black squares are the bottomless pit.
Demon is staggered for 12 rounds.
Bird Demon 1 has reduced AC and speed.
Rose takes 3 damage from the spores.
Rellin is dealt 10, 15, 6, and 9 chaotic/evil/slashing/piercing damage. Roll for which image each attack connects (if an attack does not find Rellin immediately). He also takes 7 damage from the spores.
Erebus takes 22 chaotic/evil/piercing/slashing damage.

[meemaas]

Rose

Rose laughs as the demon tries to attack her and fails, sliding in closer to it she'd spin around, swinging her hand into it like a karate chop, the hand trailing flames behind her as she did. As her hand pulls away, she pulls her knee up into it to follow up her attack, flames trailing off it as well.

Nonaction: Five foot step in the air to the demon
Swift action: Recover Formulae
Standard Action: Spellhand Strike, using Disciples Strike to expend my Sparkflash Formula

Touch Attack roll 1 [roll0]
Damage [roll1]

Touch Attack roll 2 [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Rellin

Rellin smiles as the creatures attacks miss him, until one gashes him clean on the shoulder. Infuriated, he pulls his cloak around him, causing himself to vanish, but not before the creature could strike out at him, and reappears some distance away, gesturing at it as a quick crystal of ice starts to form around it.

Move action: Move 55 feet away through the demon through teleportation
Standard action: Cast Ice Crystal Teleport: Will save DC 25 or be paralyzed in ice for [roll4] rounds

Map (http://pyromancers.com/media/view/main.swf?round_id=104266)