Save the world or die trying (IC)

[raspberrybadger]

"Kostchtchie, the demon prince of wrath, has set out to destroy his enemies by striking at their potential worshippers and servants. He has sealed himself off in an impenetrable fortress, and has begun a ritual which for all intents and purposes can be considered to end the world, and you with it. However, there is a flaw in his preparation for this scheme. His fortress consists of a series of wards, each of which permits power and magic of no greater than a certain level. While this provides an absolute defence against powerful attacks from outside, it will not prevent relatively powerless mortals such as you from slipping into the fortress. This weakness has been foreseen, so each layer of wards is filled with demons of ever increasing power. However, each of you has been selected because you are a mortal considered to ‘punch above your weight class’. It is believed that a group of such mortals is the best hope for ending this ritual before the world is plunged into an abyss of death and ice.

You will be given whatever equipment you require, so long as it is nonmagical. Magical equipment will be given as well, but there are sharp limits on what can be sent. Demons are difficult to damage with the elements, and you have a great many enemies ahead of you, so choose wisely.

You will be brought straight through the outer layers of wards. You will arrive within the sixth ward. We have no hard intelligence on what may be found there, except that many demons were brought to the fortress before the wards were brought up.

Expect your initial opposition to be heavy on skitterdarks. While these should be relatively easy to detect and kill, keep in mind that they can detect magic, and so should not be underestimated.

More dangerous will be the ooze demons, both because they hit harder and because they can telepathically warn other patrols close by.

Lastly, there may be some barizou. Not only are these telepathic, they can be invisible and rather silent as well. Keeping them from calling aid to swarm you under will be your greatest challenge, at least until you pass beyond the next layer of the wards.

Should you penetrate to the seventh ward, you should expect it to be dominated by mehrim and shir. These goat demons can see the invisible, and are to be feared in combat, especially in numbers. Invisible azizou are also expected to be present, though in lower numbers. For fliers, you can expect hala demons, though these are judged to be less of a threat.

In the eighth ward beyond that, expect geruzou, invisible fliers, and significantly more dangerous than the hala demons.

Beyond that, the ninth circle awaits. While mortals of great boldness have a chance of making it thus far, it is not clear how you could be expected to survive this circle. Acidic babau are expected in great numbers, and between their invisibility detection, stealth, telepathy, summoning, and teleportation, it is not clear how you are to prevent them from finding you and swarming you. They are doubtless assisted by a number of gallu-demons as well. Before you make an attempt on this circle, it is imperative that you find some resource or stratagem available only within the circles themselves - but what this might be, we have no way to know before we send you.

Be aware that should you somehow acquire items, magic, or personal power beyond what you have now, you will not be able to get back through the wards to where you started. Similarly, the demons cannot summon aid from their more powerful kin - though nothing stops them from sending warning that you are coming, or from fleeing to the protection of more powerful demons.

There are two possible ways for you to live. First, you could somehow find a way to disrupt the death ritual or its participants. In that the ritual is expected to be guarded by balors, indirect means are suggested. At the very least, the frost giant participants are likely to be easier to disrupt than the demon prince himself, who is certainly required for the ritual.

Second, you could drop some or all of the wards. If you can drop enough of the outer wards, reinforcements and more powerful equipment can be sent to you. Dropping the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth wards would allow a team of shield archons to reach you with vastly more powerful equipment that might allow you to drop still more wards. Dropping nearly all of the wards could see a team of solars disrupting the ritual fairly directly.

We are quite aware that it is not clear how there could be any realistic chance of your survival, much less success. Know then, that your chances for living are that much lower if someone of lesser skill is sent rather than yourself. If the ritual is not disrupted, you and nearly everything else will be destroyed in forty eight hours."

The angel pauses for a good 10 seconds.

"The portal to the fortress will be opening shortly. We can send you with alchemical preparations, but not with any active spells or the like. Any questions?"

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima is obviously ready to go through the portal, and picks up her pack. She jumps and runs around on this side of the portal trying to see through to what awaits her. She is clearly excited to try something new. Olima is dressed in a common explorer's outfit, but it has three armholes to accommodate her extra right arm and a vest on the outermost layer that has a curious number of pockets. Wielded in her top right hand is a morningstar and on her forearm is a wrist sheath with a wand. Her other two hands are carrying a light crossbow and also have wrist sheaths (the lower right with a wand and the left with 5 crossbow bolts). A cape flaps around her as she is running and jumping in front of the portal, and if you listen you notice she doesn't seem to make as much noise as would be normal for a little ball of energy running around like she is. After a few seconds more of this fervor, she turns to look at the group and says What are we waiting on? Can I go through first? What's on the other side? Is it safe there for now? Do we know where any of the demons are? What direction should we start in?... She takes a deep breath, clearly ready to continue excitedly asking questions, unless someone cuts her off.

[raspberrybadger]

"Time is of the essence, but this will be your last opportunity for information or supplies for quite some time.

We must send you all at once.

On the other side is a fortress. We have no scrying data, but outside observers describe a fortress on a great expanse of ice, one which doubtless has many tunnels beneath it.

The demons are as listed by ward, though there may be things not listed. Within each ward, they can move around, and doubtless do.

We cannot perform divination on things within the wards, but I advise heading south. You will be sent to the boundary between the fifth ward and the sixth, on the west side."

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack

Grack nods slowly at the angel. "I am ready." he simply states and looks over his comrades.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan finishes rubbing in some Frost Ward on the parts of him not covered by armor or dense feathers which would be unwise to get coated.

"Ready to fly. While you see further Arnold, I suggest I go in first for an aerial view, and given my undoubtedly better stealth. I can squeeze your shoulder from above should I see anything in areas where I can fly high, before dropping down to alert you.

[Xhosant]

Arnold nods.

"Alright, here's the thing. We want this to work, we better come prepared. I'm gonna need daggers. 16 of em'. Half made of cold iron, half of adamantite, all worked with shilverseen. Adamantite for the cold iron, cold iron for the adamantite. I'll also need, and this is serious, Shiver. Yea, the addictive substance. 400 doses of it, half of'em waiting here, they're for medical use."

The fetchling keeps listing an assortment of gear he'll need for a few minutes.

"Oh, and I'll need 10 pounds of platinum ingots. Believe it or not, the stuff is really useful against demons."

That out of the way, he sets to build a demon-like disguise for himself, using his new Hat of Disguise as aid (hidden check at +21, -2 for changing my race)

Arnold has a PTSD'd aunt that suffers insomnia, since she is terrified of the thought of falling asleep (some stuff in the plane of shadow will do that to you). Shiver is the natural solution, since half of the time it'll put her to sleep, and half it'll stop her from being scared while falling asleep. Thus his experience with the drug.

[raspberrybadger]

In response to Arnold, the angel merely glances at a stone table in the far corner of the room. The things he had asked for are there, neatly stored away.

OOC: The disguise self bonus won't be applied until he has time to activate the hat on the other side - it counts as an active spell, which can't be used during transit. I'll let him activate it in a single round though once he gets there, the rest of the disguise being prepared to work with it with the hat on.

[raspberrybadger]

Everyone having picked up the equipment it needs and having been covered in frost ward gel, the angel directs you to a nearby ritual chamber, with robed angels and mortal archmages chanting in a circle. Right before you are in the center of the circle, he says to an attendant "Give the order for a simple but flashy probe of the outer defences starting immediately." After making sure you are positioned correctly, he too joins the chant.

After a minute of chanting, another mage activates some spell or item, and you are teleported to the air above the frozen wastes of the north. No sooner have you arrived than you begin picking up velocity towards the fortress, straight ahead. However, whatever strange magics are upon you are not merely hurling you into a collision with the wards, they are turning you upon some axis or in some dimension you did not so much as suspect existed. Once, twice, three times, four times, a fifth time, and then a little more, until you feel twisted around with respect to reality so as almost to burst from the strain. Then, immediately comes the collision with the first ward. You feel it pushing you back for the merest of instants before the ward instead untwists you a turn, in the process pushing you forward instead of back. The ward continues eating away at you, but instead of destroying you it continues to untwist you. Before you can process this, the same thing happens at the second ward, and then three more. By the time you have reached the sixth ward, you are moving much more slowly, and you are entirely untwisted.

The sixth ward does not stop you at all - you can feel yourselves passing through, but it allows such power and magic as you have. What velocity remains to you causes you to run straight over a large hole in the ground, ten feet square. Twenty feet below is the stone floor of an underground tunnel running north south, ten feet wide.

OOC:
Ref save DC 18 to catch onto the edge. Dropping after catching the edge would be a DC 15 acrobatics check or take 1d6 nonlethal damage. Dropping because you did not catch the edge would be 2d6 lethal damage.

[Athaleon]

Korbus was silent throughout the preparations. He couldn't think of any gear he'd need that he didn't already request, and he'd been deep in prayer the whole time anyways. It'd taken him a lifetime to subdue the impulses of his blood, and they hadn't tugged at the edges of his consciousness for years now. But he had never gone into the Abyss either, and it would take all his—

—The ritual was done, and he'd been flung with the rest into the icy heart of it.


[roll0] Reflex Save to catch the edge

If Successful: [roll1] Acrobatics to drop down without damage

[roll2] if taking nonlethal damage
[roll3] if taking lethal damage

**** me sideways, I didn't even see the link for the IC thread. I'd been waiting for it and even skimming our DM's recent post history. But I'm here now!

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack's stomach was doing flip flops and was surprised by the lack of ground. "ooohph"




catch ledge ? [roll0]

acrobatics [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

The four of you arrive safely in the cover of the underground. The tunnel is barely lit at all from the skylight, and soon fades into pitch black in the distance. The walls are all stone, very roughly dug out, ten feet wide and ten feet tall, going straight north south as far as any of you can see.

[Xhosant]

Arnold makes his graceful landing. He slaps his goggles on, flips the magic component of his disguise to active, and turns to the others. "How do I look?", he asks. Checking to make sure his drug-slathered daggers are in place, he unhooks a certain sack with 10 pounds of platinum and puts it down on the side. If he survives and makes it back here, he's retiring from the reagents market.

can the others roll for an estimation of my disguise's quality?

Unless contested, Arnold goes first.

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima barely notices that she is in a group of relative strangers. Besides having been called together by the angels, she knew very little of the others, but everything was so exciting that she barely cared. When she was ushered into the ritual chamber, she could barely stand still in the center of the circle. As the chanting was going on, all of a sudden she found herself flying toward the fortress. Her head felt all twisted on wrong as she was flung through the fortress and the first several wards. Feeling each ward process her and straighten her out was a little overwhelming, but with the sixth ward passed, she found herself being dumped out over and into a hole. She grabbed for the ledge, but missed entirely and found herself tumbling down the hole. The landing was rough for her, but she managed to get up, her pride hurt more than anything else. Rubbing her backside, she looked around at the tunnel trying to figure out where they should go. She then took stock of the group she had been sent with for the first time. She noticed they had all made it relatively unscathed and cursed herself for being overexcited and not taking in her surroundings. She turned to the group and whispered Hey, which direction do you guys think we should go?

Here goes nothing for a reflex save and acrobatics check. REF: Acrobatic: [roll1] damage: [roll]2d6

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack dusts himself off after making a particularly nimble landing as if it was nothing. He pauses a moment to get his bearings before answering the question about which direction to head. He takes note of the disguise Arnold assumes so as to not confuse friend and foe in battle.

"You look... hideous." he says quietly.






Looking and listening down either end of the tunnel


Perception: [roll0]

And use scent as well in case of invisible stuff.

[Athaleon]

Korbus caught himself on the ledge, but his armored bulk still landed badly on the floor below. After quickly dusting himself off, he asked the others, "How about my disguise? Everything still where it should be?". He still couldn't get over the irony; having spent so much of his life trying to disguise himself as an ordinary man, he now had to disguise himself as a demon. He hefted his great axe on its long haft for effect. "Am I going on ahead or following behind?"

[Xhosant]

Hideous? Perfect!

Seeing some of his allies take the landing badly, he offers one of the many ointments he brought.

[5ColouredWalker]

"Go on ahead, I'll follow close. Also, we were told South by the Angels, and I'd rather not end up walking the wrong way."

With that, the Strix disappears, becoming both silent and invisible as he takes to the wing, hovering lazily at the top of the tunnel as he follows the team's 'Demon'.

[raspberrybadger]

The tunnel continues mostly to the south, but begins bending subtly to the east as well. One hundred fifty feet beyond the entrance point, four skitterdarks come into view for those with 90' darkvision. They have clearly heard something suspicious, and are flying at full speed along the tunnel roof, 10' up, to investigate.

OOC:
They heard you, but cannot yet see you, so no surprise round. Roll initiative, and feel free to post a full round of actions as well, possibly contingent on whether the skitterdarks go first. If they have not yet seen you or been attacked they will fly 80 feet towards you with their action.

[5ColouredWalker]

Lacking the visual range, Feltan continues his slow flight, listening for their approaching foes.


If the group is sneaking at half speed, or full speed where our slowest guy only gets to move 20ft/round while sneaking, Feltan has a readied action to blast the closest demon if surprise attacked.
If the group is going full speed above 20ft/round, Feltan has no readied actions as he keeps up.

I'm presuming you're doing out perception and stealth checks.



Feltan lowers himself to the ground, crouching low, and readies a blast should the demons not buy the disguise of the loud guy in the rear.

[Athaleon]

Korbus just stalked along, doing his best impression of an idle Cambion (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/outsiders/demon/demon-cambion), wandering aimlessly. It wasn't a hard impression to make, for the differences between a half-blooded Tiefling and "pure" fiend Cambion were slight - A fact that Korbus was only too keenly aware of.


Initiative: [roll0]

Disguise: [roll1]

+4 CHA
+10 Hat of Disguise
+6 Skill Ranks
+3 Class Skill
+2 Circumstance (Disguise Kit)
+2 Trait
-2 Impersonating a different race

[Xhosant]

Arnold will pass on thw warning as previously discussed (which is standard procedure from now on), and act casual. At the first sign of aggression, he's drawing a blowgun and taking out a skitterdark not targetted by others (readied action).

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima is moving along stealthily, keeping an eye on the loud lumbering paladin behind her. If she hadn't been sent through with him, she would have a hard time telling he wasn't a demon pursuing them. Olima thinks to herself How did I get involved in a group lead by a demon and followed by a demon, to go fight demons? I guess so long as they are on my side, it can't be too bad though. Olima walks to keep an eye on the paladin, in case of trouble, but also to watch where she's going just in front of her. The half-orc next to her seemed to be able to hold his own in a fight, but she wasn't sure about how this group would fight once met with danger. She continued to walk in silence with her morningstar in her upper right hand and the crossbow carried down in her lower right and left hands.

Initiative[roll0], perception:[roll1], taking 10 on stealth for a 26.

[raspberrybadger]

The skitterdarks quickly close the distance, flying eighty feet forwards until they are 10 feet from the front of your group, and 10 feet off the ground. All of a sudden they see you almost on top of them, indecision and hesitation almost palpable in their frozen body language.

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima spots the skitterdarks and jumps into action. She runs up to just within 30 feet of the nearest living one, while switching the crossbow into her main hand and the morning star into her lower right hand. Stopping and aiming, Olima fires a bolt at the indecisive skitterdarks.

I know Olima is 3rd (as of right now) for initiative, but I didn't want to hold the group up, so with 4 skitterdarks, it seems unlikely that they will all be dead before she acts. I am pretty sure they should be within sneak attack damage (as they are all flat-footed), but not be more than 20 ft ahead, so here goes nothing: attack: damage:[roll]1d6+3d6

[Athaleon]

Korbus saw the skitterdarks come into view, alarmingly close to the lead party members. He sprung forward with unnatural speed for his armored bulk, and swing his polearm in an arc to catch the nearest one unawares.


10' from the front of our marching order looks like they're within charge range (thanks, Fiendish Sprinter!), so Korbus can move right under them and hit them with his reach weapon:

(Charge, Power Attack, Cold Iron weapon)

To-Hit: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Crit Confirmation: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[Xhosant]

Arnold draws two blowguns and fires 1 poisoned needle at each of two of them, hoping the poison dispatches them swiftly. He then drops the empty blowguns in favour of drawing his saps.

Initiative: [roll0]

[roll1] to-hit for [roll2] damage (cold iron) and [roll3] (1=sleep, 2=antifear) for [roll4] hours/minutes respectively and [roll5] Con damage, dc18 to use telepathy
[roll6] to-hit for [roll7] damage (cold iron) and [roll8] (1=sleep, 2=antifear) for [roll9] hours/minutes respectively and [roll10] Con damage, dc18 to use telepathy

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan stands up, suddenly he fades back into view, surrounded by crackling energy and dancing lines, which shoot out to the rearmost demon, attempting to send him flying.


Ceased suppressing Elemental Overflow, spend a move action using gather power to mitigate 1 burn, then using Foe Throw to move the second one to the roof above our big noisy guy, slamming him against it. If successful, this causes the demon to fall prone, sending him to the ground.

DC 18 Fort Save resist negates.
Hit: [roll0] Rolling vs the AC 5 of the square I'm targeting. -4 if it counts as being in melee combat.
Damage: [roll1] Bludgeoning to both the square and the demon. I believe this bypasses magical damage reduction being a Su ability.

[raspberrybadger]

Feltan's crackling magic overtakes his foe, who ceases flight momentarily straining against the hostile power - and then fails, slamming into the ceiling and then the floor.

Korbus however fails to connect, his weapon failing to penetrate the demon's foul hide.

Arnold meanwhile drops two more to the floor, drugged into insensibility.

Olima hits her target as well, but the damage is not enough to incapacitate the demon. It starts screeching and pointing to Feltan and calling for a swarm to descend on him - but then it looks around and sees no-one left beside it, turns on its tail, and flies 70 feet away.

[5ColouredWalker]

Seeing the demon flee, Feltan gives chase, this time ethereal lines reach into the bag at his side and fling a piece of metal after the demon, though those specific lines might be hard to pick out among those that blur around him.


Move 40ft up, into visual range. Then using Telekinetic Blast.

Hit: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack

Grack frowns slightly as the demon retreats away from him. Grack sees the incapacitated demons fall to the floor and pounces into action. Lacking a good range attack he says "I'll leave the runner to you guys."






Delayed turn - double move action to get next to the poisoned demons



Since we are posting 2nd round actions :

2nd turn : coup de grace one of the demons with his kama

Auto hit.

Damage : [roll0] (cold iron)

Save vs die DC 24 fort save

[Xhosant]

Arnold drops his saps in favour of drawing another pair of blowguns with a flourish, and dashes after the creature before pinning another pair of thorns in it.

Move towards the runner, and:
[roll0] to-hit for [roll1] damage (cold iron) and [roll2] (1=sleep, 2=antifear) for [roll3] hours/minutes respectively and [roll4] Con damage, dc18 to use telepathy
[roll5] to-hit for [roll6] damage (cold iron) and [roll7] (1=sleep, 2=antifear) for [roll8] hours/minutes respectively and [roll9] Con damage, dc18 to use telepathy

[raspberrybadger]

Grack slices the demon in front of him almost in half - and then somehow it is awake and screaming on the ground at his feet.

[Athaleon]

"Bring it down!" Korbus growled in frustration as one demon fled in spite of the punishment it had taken. He quickly dropped his poleaxe, drew his bow, and loosed an arrow at it before it could spread the warning.


Drop axe, draw bow, standard action attack.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] Cold Iron

[raspberrybadger]

The flying demon falls to the ground incapacitated with an arrow in it. There remains one asleep, one prone, and one nearly dead on the ground.

[Athaleon]

Korbus breathed a quick prayer of gratitude as he retrieved his poleaxe and hurried to the demon he had just shot, intending to finish it off before it could recover.

[raspberrybadger]

The two demons retaining consciousness quickly surrender, attempting to arrange for their lives to be spared in rapid Abyssal.

[Xhosant]

"You wanna live? Start by telling us how to drop this layer's ward", says Arnold in Infernal as he gathers up his dropped equipment and reloads his blowguns.

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima hears the demons trying to surrender and then Arnold's reply in some other language, that Olima would have to guess was Infernal from the similarity to Abyssal. To save from a miscommunication, Olima says to Arnold (and the rest of the group) in common "They are trying to surrender and beg for their lives, what do we want to do with them". She then turns to the demons and says "ivkkb avr b b'q iad v rb v'd iuvr , b'o r dvv d'o."

Surrender now and don't say another word until spoken to, or die where you lie.

[raspberrybadger]

It takes some visible effort, but the conscious demons cease all movement and noise.

[Athaleon]

In the meantime, Korbus brought his axe down on the third demon, and after a moment's pause, began looking for a place to hide the body. This was not his forte.

[Xhosant]

Puzzled at the apparent miscommunication, Arnold turns to see his ally's success.

"can you get them to tell us where the wards' base is and how to kill it?"

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima nods at Arnold and turns to find Korbus. Seeing him off finishing the escaping demon, an idea comes to Olima. She rushes over to Korbus and says"Hey you're pretty scary looking and you already fried one of them, why don't you try getting information out of them? I can translate if you don't speak the filthy language." Then seeing Korbus looking around and back at the body he just chopped up, Olima adds "Are you worried about having killed it or what to do with it now? If the former, then why come on this mission, but if the latter, I can take care of that for you."

[Athaleon]

Korbus gave Olima an odd look. "We should keep the bodies hidden as long as we remain undetected. Don't know what else you might be suggesting." He turned away, and in a flash his expression turned to fearsome rage as he brandished his axe. He growled at the surviving demon, [Abyssal]"As my comrade asked: Where is this ward's base, and how do we destroy it? Answer truthfully, lest you wither beneath Celestial light."


Intimidate: [roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

The mostly dead skitterdark squeaks out in Abyssal:

"tunnel, back the way we came... don't hurt me, no need, I'm not going anywhere most powerful masters."

[Xhosant]

"Ask them the distance, directions, and what it's like, or how it breaks."

[Athaleon]

"Do we follow this tunnel all the way or take a branch? How far is it? And how does one go about breaking it?"

[raspberrybadger]

The thing whimpers, then replies in Abyssal "A few thousand feet around the bend. No branches except upwards until you get to the base on the south part of the ward. I don't know how you would break anything here, so much solid stone. I just fly where they tell me. You leave and spare my life now?"

[Athaleon]

Korbus relayed the new information for the benefit of those blissfully unlearned in the Abyssal tongue. "Anyone else have questions for it?"

[Xhosant]

If the answer to that question is no, Arnold will deliver the group's mercy, in the form of two doubled nonlethal sneak attacks.

[raspberrybadger]

Arnold is able to quickly beat the demons until neither is conscious.

[Xhosant]

"Grab the unconscious, and let's go", he says as he begins heading south.

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima quickly thinks back to how she has seen half eaten demon carcasses in the past and then tries her best to disguise the bifurcated carcass. She then sees the group getting ready to leave and quickly takes her place in the middle next to the surprising quiet half-orc.

Knowledge(planes) check: [roll0] disguise check: [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

OOC: Can anyone else see those rolls? Also, I'm assuming the whole group is moving south until something else of note is seen.

[Xhosant]

Arnold, noting how these 'rolls' seem damaged but replaced elsewhere, leads the way south.

[raspberrybadger]

An eighth of the way around the circle there is another skylight. A patrol of skitterdarks flies overhead, and will likely see Korbus if noone else - there is enough cover involved that stealth will be an option for the rest of the group.

[Xhosant]

We'll use Korbus as 'bait' so they end up surrounded. How does that sound?

[Athaleon]

Korbus nodded at their plan, trudging on like a demon hating its lot in life. He muttered softly in Abyssal about being stuck on guard duty, and all the colorful things he'd do to whatever entity had bullied him into this position, if he only had the strength. In his attempts to lace his speech with curses, he realized that there was nothing lower to sink to. It seemed every syllable hinted (at the very least) at profanity, in the truest meaning of the word.

[raspberrybadger]

A flight of four skitterdarks flies down through the skylight into the space right around Korbus, loudly demanding in Abyssal "Who are you? What are you doing here?".

OOC for all Stealth checks vs DC 19 to get a chance to strike in the surprise round, except Korbus who gets to act anyway because of his disguise. Also, initiative rolls please. The skitterdarks got a 17.

[Xhosant]

[roll0] stealth, [roll1] initiative!

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack



Stealth : [roll0]
init : [roll1]

[rogue_alchemist]

Just for continuity sake, I am going to try rolling in this thread again. Stealth (which I can't fail with a +16, but anyways): [roll0] and initiative: [roll1]

[rogue_alchemist]

As the creatures descend to investigate the disguised Paladin, Olima lines up her shot, but waits to take it. If the Paladin can talk them into leaving the party alone and they go back to their hiding place, then Olima will just sneak by them, but if a fight is unavoidable, then Olima will fire her crossbow at the most obvious target.

Olima has a readied action to fire, if a fight is unaviodable (either someone else in the party attacks or the skitterdarks attack the paladin), but otherwise will let them go back to hiding in the ceiling so that the party can keep moving. attack: damage: [roll1]
EDIT forgot about sneak attack damge: [roll]1d6

[Athaleon]

"I am Korbus. My lord has placed me here as a sentry. I serve. Leave me be."


Bluff check? [roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

One screeches "No way!". Another, "Prove it!"

[Athaleon]

"I have all the proof I need to show you right here," Korbus growled as he brandished his axe. "Begone, pests!"


Intimidate: [roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

At the word 'begone', the things give out loud frightened screeching sounds and fly upwards out of the skylight.

You travel around the bend of the tunnel, so far as you can tell more or less following the curve of the sixth ward boundary, until the tunnel is running east west more than north south. The tunnel begins curving northward for a hundred feet or so, then curves back to the east. The location of the base described by the surrendered skitterdark is just ahead. Since that last skylight, the tunnel has been eerily silent.

[Xhosant]

Knowing their first objective is close, Arnold keeps his senses open and scanning

Perception: [roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

OOC I stopped to find out if you wanted to get 90' from the location using the same formation as usual, or if anyone wanted to do something different.

[raspberrybadger]

The tunnel takes a bend to the right so it is now heading east. Almost immediately a pair of lesser ooze demons comes into view standing guard side by side in the tunnel.

[Xhosant]

Arnold delays to take 1 shot at each in the case that his team acts aggressively, or fails to act subversively.

[roll0] to-hit for [roll1] damage (cold iron) and [roll2] (1=sleep, 2=antifear) for [roll3] hours/minutes respectively and [roll4] Con damage, dc18 to use telepathy
[roll5] to-hit for [roll6] damage (cold iron) and [roll7] (1=sleep, 2=antifear) for [roll8] hours/minutes respectively and [roll9] Con damage, dc18 to use telepathy

[Athaleon]

Strictly, the guards have only 60' of darkvision, so they haven't seen anyone yet - if Korbus wants to stop, he's got plenty of room to do so. Or, people can follow him in.

Edit: Korbus stopped and waited to see if his companions had a way to put the guards down without making a commotion.

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima sees Arnold stop, but can't see why. She cautiously walks up to Arnold and sees he has his blowgun aimed into the darkness ahead. Unsure what is there, Olima readies her crossbow to fire at anything that comes through the tunnel.

[Xhosant]

Realizing his goggles allowed him to see more than his allies, Arnold signals them to back up a bit.

Once they're, say, 60ft back and safely out of earshot, he whispers:

"Alright, two ooze demons at the gate. How do we go about this?"

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack

"Charge in!" Grack said as quietly as he could muster. From what he could tell of the group, that likely wasn't going to be an option. He resigned himself to follow suit on a more thought out plan involving stealth.

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima chimes in If you give me a minute, I can make another invisibility extract and two of us can sneak by. Maybe you" she indicates Korbus "and you" she indicates Arnold "should try bluffing them. Yall can talk about your bluff strategy while I make the extract, but you should try to let whoever is invisible sneak past the guards in the tunnel, and then you two approach and get the guards out of the doorway, so we can sneak into the room. Who wants to be sneaky? Olima asks this last question and looks around at Grack, who is the only other visible character. She knows there is another guy flying around somewhere, as evidenced by the occasional gust of wind, but she can't see him.

[Athaleon]

"Sounds like a plan. What do you think, try to convince the sentries they're relieved?"

[Xhosant]

"Best case scenario, yes. Failing that, just keep them guessing until the ward is down or we're needed elsewhere."

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan nods, despite his invisibility.

"I can do some preliminary scouting while you two prepare."

[raspberrybadger]

Feltan and Olima scout out the heavily guarded area invisibly. They see the tunnel branching off to the north to the shimmering seventh ward, shir on the far side of that ward, and several more ooze demon guards. There are two little side tunnels with pots of some liquid, each manned by a schir. To the south there is a door of sorts made of smoother stone than the tunnels.

No sooner have the scouts reached the door than the ooze demons guarding it begin attacking the area in front of the door. They seem rather skilled at the art of attacking the air, but they are attacking at ground level, so the scouts are safe for the moment. The guards had been utterly motionless right until the scouts were near though, so that safety might be temporary...

[Athaleon]

Korbus felt like cursing as the sentries began blindly swinging their weapons in the doorway. So much for that. They were unable to see the scouts, but they knew a hostile, invisible enemy was attempting to sneak through the doorway. The jig was up. "Give 'em a volley, then we charge in?" he whispered to his companions.


Unless someone suggests differently, Korbus will Delay until the ranged attackers get their shots in, then he will charge the demons.

[Xhosant]

“So it would seem", said Arnold as he let 2 darts fly, one for each.

Had i rolled earlier? If not, roll when i get home. Phone doesn't like roll code.

Edit: yes i had. That's one sleeping and one annoyed, if we use the readied action rolls from before

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima is surprised when the guards start attacking the ground beneath her and Feltan, but very glad they they can't actually see her. Olima remembers the alchemical substance she had bought for just such an encounter, and deftly pulls out an alkali flask and drops it on the guard to the left of the door.

touch attack:[roll0]damage:[roll1]

[Athaleon]

Korbus waited for the nod, then sprinted down the corridor hoping to catch the sentries with their weapons extended into the doorway.


Charge and Power Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Xhosant]

Alfred rushes after his big ally, his two saps drawn faster than you'd notice and swinging with surprising speed.

Charge and swing, twice at one demon if they can take it, once on each if the first drops. Charge makes them flat-footed:

[roll0] to-hit for [roll1] cold iron nonlethal damage, and [roll2] nonlethal, cold iron, good-aligned SA damage.

[roll3] to-hit for [roll4] cold iron nonlethal damage, and [roll5] nonlethal, cold iron, good-aligned SA damage.

Those are against flat-footed AC

[raspberrybadger]

Olima shimmers into invisibility as she hits her target.

Korbus mangles one demon but does not drop it.

Arnold hits only once, but this is sufficient to drop his target.

OOC: Grack can charge too if he has a higher init bonus than Korbus, which I assume he does.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack


Grack sees his opening and charges past his new friends. He grits his teeth as he focuses his Ki and precision of his technique.





Grack will charge through allies using dragon style and punch at the critter blocking the passage.

Attack :[roll0]
unarmed : Damage [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

Grack's target drops.

OOC: I think that's actions from everyone but Feltan so far.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan pulls up when the Ooze demons begin swinging, and upon realizing the jig is well and truly up with the other's attacks, Feltan drops his invisibility. Gathering strands of power around him with a thought, Feltan attempts to send one of the nearby ooze demons flying further down the hole.


Move action to gather power, negating one burn. Activating Elemental Overflow.

Foe Throw against the Ooze demon in X13, attempting to strik the demon in AD13.
Fortitude save DC to completely negate the throw: 18
To hit the second Ooze: [roll0].
Damage to both: [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

Surrounded by a thunderous whirl of power Feltan throws one demon into another. When the collision is over, there is ooze flying everywhere and two dead demons. Mostly just ooze flying everywhere.

The injured demon makes an attempt to summon more of its kind, but fails.

The schir behind the eastern pot tips it over, sending flaming oil onto the floor beyond the barrier. It looks like the flow is still spreading too.

The remaining ooze demon moves out of visibility to the east.

OOC: Anyone on the ground in the yellow regions needs to make a DC 10 acrobatics chcek not to fall over and takes 1d6 fire damage, DC 15 Ref save vs catching on fire. Flying people are unharmed.

[5ColouredWalker]

Staying aloft Feltan's wings quickly carry him and Olima after the demons.


Move: Move up to 40ft trying to get to the demons.

If they aren't visable, I do the same, if they become visable before hand, I'll target one with my blast.

Hit: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Xhosant]

Arnold picks up the oozy corpse of the demon they downed and starts dragging it over to the ward limit, intending to use it as a sandbag against the oilflow.

[raspberrybadger]

The fleeing ooze demon comes back into sight range, facing Feltan and tensed for action.

More disturbingly, just at the edge of what he can see, the corridor begins bending south again. There, in the air, is another flight of 4 skitterdarks.

Edit:

OOC Feltan can make his shot now, and Olima can take a full round of actions from this new position.

[Athaleon]

Korbus breathed a silent prayer in the hopes that Feltan and Olima could catch the fleeing demon before it could sound the alarm. In the meantime, he efficiently dispatched the remaining ooze demon that hadn't had the courtesy to die of its wounds.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan halts mid-air, firing off a quick shot with a piece of metal from his pockets, but the rushed shot misses the Skitterdark by far.


Rolled my attack earlier and scored a 12. I don't see it hitting the Skitterdark.

[rogue_alchemist]

Seeing the demon come into range, Olima aims her crossbow at the ooze demon. She fires her shot and then tells Feltan "Hey, put me down, so we can split up our attack. I think we can handle him more quickly that way."

attack against ooze demon:[roll0] damage(with +2 from Demon Slayer):[roll1]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack

Grack nimbly hops over a dead demon body and rushes to engage the next.
He looked over at the burning ground. "One problem at a time" he mumbles to himself.




Move to T12

Attack the ooze demon at U13 (looks still alive on the map to me)

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

The demon's ooze like toughness defeats Grack's blow, but not Arnold's sap to the knee. It falls, unconscious.

The burning oil continues its slow spread and Grack and Arnold feel the flames.

The remaining ooze demon moves near Feltan and Olima.

The skitterdarks swarm onto Feltan, but only one of them manages to connect with a claw. The claw itself barely draws blood - but something about this thing's demonic nature sears Feltan's very essence. For the briefest moment, he feels the weight of evil rest on him, the power of the Destroyer... and then it is over.

I rolled an attack with a sap for Arnold, since he said in OOC that if that demon was still up he wanted to charge it.

Feltan takes 5 damage, 4 of it profane damage if that matters for anything.

Feltan and Olima get an attack of opportunity on the skitterdarks.

Grack takes 2 fire damage, Arnold takes 1 fire damage. Athletics checks to not fall over.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan grimaces as the blow is quickly redirected from him by his force ward, leaving only the lightest scratch. Looking to keep the number of foes that can actually attack the pair to a minimum Feltan tries to throw a Skitterdrk into another to knock them out of the air.


Feltan lacks a weapon and doesn't want to be hit by 4 AOOs, so will not be taking his. I'll be correcting that oversight later.

Feltan looses 5 Temp HP. Feltan lacks any vulnerabilities or resistances. I've also just remembered that Feltan's HP moves up and down by 6 every time he changes the status of elemental overflow, but I'm going to ignore that unless his HP gets really low.

Feltan cannot fail the save to avoid falling 10ft after being attacked while flying.

Move Action to negate Burn.
Standard action to use Foe Throw on one Skitterdark, targetting another.

DC 18 Fort Save negates.
Hit: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Note, Foe Throw causes the thrown to land prone in the last unocupied space on it's path, meaning if my attack is successful the thrown will fall to the floor as well. It'll take two move actions for him to return to the fight, to my joy (Move to stand up, then another to fly high enough to attack us.).

[Athaleon]

Korbus rushed through the fire to help put down the swarm of skitterdarks. He trusted his fiendish blood to keep him safe from the flames.


Running should take Korbus to square AC 12 thanks to Fiendish Sprinter.

Acrobatics to not slip: [roll0]
Reflex to not catch fire: [roll1]

[Xhosant]

Acrobatics balance thing! [roll0]
Don't-ignite-save-thing! [roll1]

Trying to brave the flames, Arnold continues with his plan to wall off the flow with this newly limp body

[rogue_alchemist]

As the skitterdarks fly in to attack Olima and Felta, Olima raises her morningstar and swings at the first one she can connect with, then continues her assault on whichever one is still in range of her morningstar. She is glad Feltan hasn't put her down yet, but hopes she and Feltan can flank the ooze demon to cause maximum damage before he becomes too much of a problem.

AOO (first attack): [roll0]damage:[roll1]Attack on Olima's next turn:[roll2][roll3]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack


Grack was fairly certain the skitterdarks were 'handled' but he thought he would help out just in case. He quickly dashes through the hallway doing his best to pick his way through the hot burning liquid.



double Move to AC 12

Reflex : [roll0]
acrobatics: [roll1]

[raspberrybadger]

Arnold drags the demon bodies into the general area of the ward boundary and begins constructing a low wall with them to stop the flow.

Feltan knocks out two skitterdarks, and Olima damages another.

The two remaining skitterdarks respond with a flurry of claws and bites aimed at Feltan missing more often than they hit - but both of them get through once with a claw, and it hurts if possible even worse than before.

OOC: I'll let Arnold get away with his project, but I'm ruling he has to spend next round doing it as well to shut off the flow.

Two of you tried to move to one square, so I put Grack one square down.

Feltan took 12 damage, 10 of it profane.

[Athaleon]

Korbus swung his poleaxe in wide arcs through the air, hoping to catch one the skitterdarks as it swooped down to attack.


5' step back to AB12 if necessary with the Reach weapon

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Attack: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack

Grunting softly, Grack attacks the annoying demons, his hands and elbows a blur of motion. A drip of sweat forms on his brow, either from the fire or exertion - it was tough to tell.





Grack will use flurry of misses (with hammer blow) against any skitters he can reach. He'll switch targets or take a five foot step as needed between attacks.


Attack : [roll0]
Damage : [roll1]

Attack : [roll2]
Damage : [roll3]


Attack : [roll4]
Damage : [roll5]

[rogue_alchemist]

Olima rears back to swing at another skitterdark, trying to catch it unaware as it focuses its attack on Feltan and is being attacked by her allies. She swings through beating at the remaining foes.

attack on a skitterdark:[roll0]damage:[roll1]. Since Feltan and Olima are 10' up, can it be said that we are flanking the skitterdarks with the guys on the ground (it would be 3D flanking from above and below)? If so here are some extra sneak attack damage:[roll2] If not just ignore the extra damage.

[raspberrybadger]

Arnold quietly finishes his project to cut off the flow of oil.

The skitterdarks go down in a flurry of blows, making a haphazard pile below Feltan and Olima. With their screeching ended, the tunnel is utterly silent, lit by the blaze of the burning oil.

OOC: Arnold takes one more fire damage. The oil has stopped spreading, but it is still there and on fire.

[Xhosant]

The job done, Arnold retreats out of the inferno to wait out the oil. By the time it burns out, their job should be easy.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan flies over to the doors, hovering over the flaming oil as he rubs his one scratch. After a moment he begins looking them over for traps.


If I can't take 20, and taking 10 is also impossible. Feltan has hover, so he's in no danger of falling.
Perception: [roll0]

[rogue_alchemist]

Seeing the skitterdarks were dispatched, Olima was relieved, but one ooze demon still got away. This irked her, and she was a little worried, it might come back and cause problems for them. She said to Feltan "If you bring me close to the door, I can see through it to make sure what's on the other side." As Feltan got to the door and started searching, Olima placed both of her hands on the door and mumbled quietly to herself. She then looked around for a few seconds to check out what was on the other side. After confirming that, Olima joined Feltan in searching the door for any traps and a way to open it.
perception for other side of door:[roll0]perception for traps and way to open door after reconnaissance:[roll1]. Olima uses one round to see and hear through the door, then if Feltan is taking 20, that means it will take him several rounds to search the door. As Olima is under no threat I suppose she could take 20 to find traps and a way to open the door (and I will, if you allow it), but if not, then use the second perception check above.

[raspberrybadger]

Neither searcher sees any traps. The door is unlocked, having a notch in it which can be used as a handle to move it. Beyond the door, Olima sees a 5' tall 5' wide corridor of adamantine 10' tall 10' wide corridor of ice stretching as far as her darkvision can see. 50' down the corridor the floor looks suspiciously like it would trigger something - what that is would require closer observation.

OOC: Yes, taking 20 is possible, especially since others were waiting for the flames to die down.

The door requires a DC 10 strength check to open (yes you can use aid another on that), or you can try breaking or more inventive methods of getting in. You can't make that strength check while flying though. The required force is way over your weight limit - thus the strength check.

[rogue_alchemist]

Not seeing a threat on the other side of the door, or any traps on the door itself, Olima reports to Feltan There is something a bit suspicious about 50' in, but it is hard to make out from here. I also don't see anything overtly dangerous on this side of the door. There is a notch to open it, but I sure can't get it to budge. Maybe we should go fly over to the others and report what we know. Then we can come back and open the door with everyone once the flames die down. Olima was cursing her short stature, but knew if need-be, she could easily move that door. She was willing to bet the loud-clanky-man could too. With nothing more to do , Olima is just waiting for Feltan to decide how to proceed.

[Athaleon]

"You need the shoulder into it? Just say the word." Korbus whispered as he gestured to the door. "The jig will soon be up either way. I can do it right now, a little fire like that doesn't bother me much."

[5ColouredWalker]

"No, I more than have this."

Feltan shifts so that one of his hands is free. Once again power builds about him with a roar, and then he points to the door, ephemeral strands launching themselves against it, pushing it.


Move: Gather Power to negate burn.

Standard: Basic Telekenisis affected by upgraded Telekenetic Haul. I then target the door with a mage hand limited to 6000lb, if the door is lighter than that I open it, if not, than we'll have to wait.

[raspberrybadger]

The door does not budge when the telekinesis is applied.

[Athaleon]

"Try it again, on three." Korbus grit his teeth as he waded into the flame. His fiendish blood rendered him all but impervious to mundane fire, but enough time spent in it could hurt.


Korbus has Fire Resist 5, so 1d6 fire damage/turn might still hurt him on a 6.

Strength check combined with the telekinesis?

[roll0]

[raspberrybadger]

Korbus opens the door, his resistance protecting him from the flame.

Ahead of him is a 10' high 10' wide corridor of ice. With the flames behind him, his shadow stretches far into the distance.

[5ColouredWalker]

"Stay back while I check the potential trap. The ice may be too slippery for the rest of you to assist me."
Feltan places Olima down out of the pool of burning oil, before turning invisible, his wing beats also becoming magnitudes quieter.

Flying down the tunnel of ice, Feltan begins investigating the ground roughly 50ft in where the trap was indicated to be.

Using Telekinetic Invisibility, then going down to search. First take 10, then take 20 if I find nothing.

[raspberrybadger]

Feltan discovers three things. First, the door has no handle from the other side. Second, that trap 50' from the door is a tilting floor trap, a 10' by 10' area of floor that dumps people down below somewhere. Third, the end of the ice corridor is walled off with an adamantine wall with a 5' by 5' adamantine door.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan frowns at the Adamantine wall, having concluded the nature of the sliding-floor trap he calls out his findings, telling everyone to be careful if they come in. He also calls that unless someone has a better idea, he's going to search for any hidden switches.


Taking 10 Perception vs Adamantine Wall, looking for ways through, if that doesn't work I then do it for each section of wall. That'll take a while.

[Xhosant]

"If you can fly, the trap should be harmless, right? Should you trip it?"

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan frowns a moment as he pauses his search.
"Grab a couple of demon corpses to the entrance and I'll drop them. The trap may reset though... I should have kept my cords of the mule's back.

[Xhosant]

Arnold provides a currently-unused corpse.

[raspberrybadger]

Feltan sees that the door has a small handle and a keyhole.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan turns from his position at the door, he might not have spotted any traps, but that didn't mean there weren't any.

"Found a keyhole. I'll try to pick it shortly."

Grabbing the demon corpse telekenitically, he first flings it at the door. Should nothing happen, he then flings it at the section of ground that is trapped.


Foe Throw on the corpse at the door as a trap test. If nothing happens, then at the trapped section of floor.

[raspberrybadger]

A demon corpse bounces off the door with no visible result. When it is tossed onto the suspicious area of floor the floor tilts, the corpse slides down into some sort of pit or chute, and the floor rights itself again.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan frowns as he watches the floor right itself, having hoped it wouldn't so it'd be nice and obvious where one should leap.

"... I'm testing the door. With luck, I won't have to carry you over. If you can find some other solution, I would be thankful."
There's a soft sound as Feltan flies over to the locked door, retrieving his lockpicks.


First, Feltan tries his Skeleton Key. [roll0]
If that fails, Feltan takes 10 to try and open the lock himself, scoring a 22 (MW tools.)
If that fails, he takes 20 for a 32.

[Athaleon]

While Feltan worked, Korbus anxiously leveled his polearm at the hallway behind them.

[raspberrybadger]

The door unlocks and a horrible rune glows briefly into visibility around the keyhole. Feltan can feel it's power rushing into him.

OOC DC 16 Wil save, spellcraft to ID the spell.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grack


"I need to get me one of those." motioning towards the pit trap. Grack whispered. "Make cleaning the monastery so much easier."

He scratched gently at the minor burn he had suffered and fell into line.

[raspberrybadger]

The spell does not take hold of Feltan. The ice corridor is now dark, the flames having died down completely.

[5ColouredWalker]

Feltan quickly ducks his head in the room, trusting his invisibility to protect it as he gazes into the darkness, waiting a moment before he calls out his find.

"Demon!" Feltan jerks his head back as a claw swings for his head, flying back to behind the trap.


Moving back 40ft.

[Xhosant]

On hearing Feltan's distress call, Arnold draws an adamantite dagger and enters the corridor. In the event he slips and ends up moving down the corridor towards the trap, he's prepared to drop to the ground and stab the dagger in it piton-like.

Action readied. Also, inevitable reflex save: [roll0]

[rogue_alchemist]

When Feltan yelled out demon, Olima went into high alert, and readied her crossbow to start attacking anything besides Feltan that came out of the darkness beyond the trap. Seeing Arnold start in, Olima wanted to yell to her to be careful, but he was already going before she could say anything.

Olima has a bolt readied to shoot at any threats entering her field of view. I know she can't quite see past the trap, but she's ready from the entrance should something come out.

[Athaleon]

Korbus stepped out carefully onto the treacherous ice to cover Arnold while he got back to his feet, stopping at the edge of the pit with his weapon leveled forward.


Is Reflex still needed to move slowly across the ice? In case it is: [roll0]

Edit: Going up to the edge of the pit and readying an action to attack if a demon comes chasing Feltan.

[Xhosant]

((I didn't make it to the trap, i rolled and failed vs the ice.))