Servants of the Thrallherd IC [3.5, high speed]

[J-H]

You are servants - true believers - in Jon Il-Kim, a charismatic half-elf who will bring great things when he rules the continent of Cora. Unfortunately, not all share in the great vision. The Emperor who rules in Josen resists. Josen, located in a great valley that is the only trade-worthy pass in the Hwacha Mountains that divide the continent in two, is under siege. It is a great and powerful city, able to hold out for years. Wyvern riders, shapeshifted arcanists, and others regularly test and often pass the siege lines.

You have been granted a personal audience with Great Il-Kim. He radiates a tangible power that you can feel and smell, and the presence of his mind is almost overwhelming to those with open minds. He is flanked by his three 'shadows,' powerful warlords in their own right.

"Unlikely though it may seem, our victory is not certain. The might and magic of Josen is powerful. Their walls are thick and strong, their wards ancient and powerful - for this place has been the navel of Cora for millenia. Only by my constant presence here can the enemy forces be kept in check." Your master sighs, seeming tired; it's quite disturbing.

He gestures at one of his three shadows, a great and powerful cerebremancer. "Through careful divination and astral reconaissance, Irfan here has detected what he believes to be an artifact-grade weapon left over from the War of Sundering. It is far to the north, somewhere beneath the mountains. Find it, and bring it to me.

I send only a few of you, my faithful, for the road is long and the enemy has many scryers. A small force moving quickly may escape detection where a battalion would not. The road will be long and hard, and will pass through many wild lands, but I know you will not fail me. I have placed the direction to the artifacts into your minds. You will leave shortly after the fifth bell tomorrow morning. We will launch a heavy magical attack on one segment of the walls; wait about five minutes, and then go. Your passage will be unnoticed."

He lays his hands on each of your heads in turn. "Be careful, my children."

[J-H]

Reserved for future use

[J-H]

An aide awakens each of you early the next morning. Gathering your packed equipment, you find your horses saddled and ready. They are equipped with light armor, as would be used by a scout or careful traveler on any side of a conflict. You finish securing your saddlebags just in time, as a great flash of light from the direction of Josen makes day turn to night. A low rumble follows a few moments later. Other sounds follow, and if you look, you can see the bright lights of spellfire, psionics, and eldritch energies criss-crossing the distance between the siege lines and a great rent which has been torn in the wall, visible even from your position a couple of miles away. The ancient wards are making the wall rebuild itself, but the destruction seems to be matching or exceeding the pace of repair, for now.

You begin your long ride north. Looking back, you can tell that the battle is still going; more and more lights have taken to the air, as the wyvern-riders and other flyers of Josen battle against flying warlocks and glowing constructs. The flying foes could probably see you, but you feel safe knowing that they are very well distracted.

You ride for hours, stopping only briefly. By lunchtime, you’ve reached the edge of what is known to be friendly lines, regularly scouted and watched over to prevent any sort of incursion. From here out, you may encounter foes. The group crests a hill, and looks ahead; the low but thick mountains rise to the east, gradually diminishing in the west as the land slopes downwards.

In your minds, the compass points to the north, and slightly to the west, a slight pull that you can ignore or sense any time you choose. It will take a couple of days of riding to get to the River Yal, which runs from east to west into the Chuman Sea. You have a choice:

You can bear a bit to the west, and ride through the foothills and plains, which will be a bit faster going, but which are also more open and more heavily populated, even in these troubled times.

Alternatively, you can bear a bit to the east, and take the tracks and roads through the mountains. There are marked and explored paths, but the cliffs, crags, and peaks are still known to be dangerous territory; bandits hold little sway in the face of the creatures that make their nests in the inaccessible places, and the civilized forces which might find or stop you may be less common.


http://www.d20srd.org/srd/movement.htm#overlandMovement
Overland travel rules – you can only travel around 8 hours per 24 hour cycle unless you obtain remounts (in which case, 12 hours), or unless you have another way to extend the speed or endurance of your horses. Overland travel speed is also reduced by a third at night when mounted, unless you have good lighting or a way to grant your horses darkvision or low-light vision.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas silently gazes into the distance. First to the west, then the east. Dozens of options and arguments are being reviewed in his swift mind and soon he comes to a conclusion. "The west road is faster and potentially safer, or rather the problems we may face may be more familiar to us and therefore more easily dealt with," he speaks softly but with determination, "however, our safety is not as important as the covert nature of this mission, I would say." He pets his horse on the side of its neck and looks at his companions. "What about we went east? We may encounter some interesting and unknown creatures...." Perhaps his choice is mostly driven by the last words he spoke, and not so much the argument he brought forth.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis mulls over the two possibilities. "We can't be sure what lies in either direction so we might as well take the shorter route. " he shrugs, not entirely convinced.


The Xeph brushes off some fluff from his shoulder with a disdainful look. "If at least two of you disagree, then we can go the other way. No need to explain your reasoning to me. Debate would be a waste of our master's time. " Grassis watches the other horses to see if they are led the opposite way. He doesn't look up at the riders. " My powers have a limited range, that may be a factor in the days to come."




Grassis is leaning towards the shorter route but doesn't want to cause a tie vote or cause a long drawn out conversation discussing the merits either way. In the end he doesn't care that strongly. His only real concern is getting the relic.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas

I would prefer to go East. Shorter sightlines mean we can evade the enemy where they are strong and ambush them while they are weak. And feral humanoids and monsters mean less to us than warrens settled by enemies of th the Great One.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas nods stoically at ZrabHas.

[J-H]

The group travels on, heading towards the mountains. By mid-afternoon their horses are tired and plodding slowly; if you continue much further, they’ll probably start to suffer. The road you’re on has narrowed to a rocky track only about 10 feet wide, nestled between a low rise with trees on one side and a steep, rocky hillside on the other. A signpost an hour ago told you that a “trader’s spring” would be coming up soon.

A few rocks clatter down the steep hillside, with no obvious source.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis remains quiet and keeps an extra watchful eye out.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas

Perhaps we should go on foot until we reach the spring. It would be easier on the horses, plus.... (nods at noise)



without waiting for a response, she unseats her mount and begins leading it along.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis nodded though it went unseen. He stayed mounted in case they needed to flee quickly.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Slightly alarmed, but mostly interested, Joas scans the hillside.

[roll0]

[J-H]

A few moments later, a slightly blurry human figure, hooded and cloaked, steps near the edge of the cliff, her upper torso visible and her lower body concealed by a rock.

A mellifluous voice rings out: “Good afternoon weary travelers! Merchants, traders, something else?

I am happy to report that the well-known Trader’s Spring is just ahead, and with it a greensward to feed your horses and soft grass and pine needles on which to rest your weary heads. You are doubly lucky today, for the Spring and its enivrons are in fact under my protection, with the aid of my good and very strong friends--” She gives a grand gesture to her left (your front), and an ogre lumbers into view next to her, holding a javelin and a spear. It gives what is probably supposed to be a friendly smile.

Another ogre holding a greatclub comes around the bend in the path just ahead, blocking the path.

“So no monsters, bandits, tax collectors, or any other sort of rabble will bother you while you sleep in complete safety! There is a slight toll, but given the danger one can find in these mountains, it’s a fair price. 100gp per head, plus 50gp for each horse. If you find yourselves low on funds, my friends will be happy to take one of your horses in payment for…about half the amount due.”

She waits for your response.


The woman has partial cover from the rock, and is approximately 30’ up and 15’ to the side of the path, and is even with the 2nd member of the group. The ogre with the spear and javelins is also approximately 30’ up and 15’ to the side of the path, and is just a couple of feet ahead of the first member of the group.

The ogre with the club on the path is about 40’ ahead of the first member of the group.

Each square going up the steep (~60-65*, rocky) counts as triple movement and requires a DC15 balance check to move your normal speed (2 squares for a 30’ move character). Failing the check by more than 5 means you fall and slide down one square. It also requires a DC15 Balance check to come down, or you have the same result. You’re flat-footed while balancing. Jump might also be used to go up, if needed.

The cliff gets a bit less steep as the trail curves around it, but that’s beyond the ogre.

Grassis recognizes the effects of a Blur spell on the woman.

Joas knows that ogres are Large humanoids with reach, and are usually strong in the body but not in the mind.

If this goes to combat, I’ll put up a map. Please specify if you’re mounted or dismounted (dismounting is a move action, although we’re not in combat).

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas looks to her companions, apparently for a cue as to the next action. Mentally, however, she is using adaptive style to alter her readied maneuvers to ones more useful in this situation.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas remains mounted and sighs. "Oh boy," he mutters under his breath, "Don´t suppose we can do this without bloodshed, eh?" It is not in his nature to initiate combat, not even with someone who obviously is asking for it. He looks at the others, hoping that one of them has a witty remark that can defuse and sort this situation.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis, still invisible calls out "Strange. The springs are under *our* protection. You should be paying us 100 gold per head. Anyways, how can you claim to protect the springs ....without any weapons ? "


Grassis gentely leads his horse forward and utters a word of Dark Speech.








Bluff : [roll0] (more for an arrogant air of authority then anything)



He'll cast baleful utterance on the club of the ogre blocking the path up ahead.


Since the club is 'attended', it would use the Ogre's will save.


Ogre needs to make a DC 15 Will save or his club shatters. If the club shatters the ogre needs to pass a DC 15 Fort or be dazed for one round.


I believe this is technically an attack so Grassis would turn visible at this point.

[J-H]

Trouble on the Trail, Surprise Round

Grassis speaks a Word, and the ogre’s club explodes, spattering him with small splinters that fail to penetrate his skin.


Will DC 15 to negate shatter [roll0] fail
Will DC 15 or dazed [roll1] saved

The woman shouts "Get them!"

Zrabhas is dismounted and psionically armored.
Joas & RexThaun are mounted.


The party has won initiative.
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-surprise-rd.jpg

Woman, blur, partial cover from most of the party (+4ac)


=> Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas climbs up to GN 331 and activates her Belt of Growth.

Balance check [roll0]

[BelGareth]

Rex bowed as he moved into the throne room, showing proper respect to the his Liege Lord. He nodded in kind as he was commanded to go, thoughts swirling in his mind, looking to his soon to be companions, he wandered how they would meld as a group, how they would become a team.

It would be soon to coming.

The next day, he was packing his horse, closing the strap on his saddle bags, making sure his gear was secure, and then the sounds echoed throughout the skyline. He scanned the area, eyes narrowing as he picked up the details of the walls destruction, he grimaced as it rebuilt itself and he then watched the sky as the fliers attacked each other. He grimaced, but set out with the team, pushing his mount to keep up with everyone. He made sure to keep up his awareness, boosting everyones ability to see and spot things.

As the woman stood out, he almost forgot himself, not speaking up in time, and audibly groaned as one of his companions decided to 'shatter' one of the ogres weapons.

He would need to talk to them in the future....

"Grassis, we really could have talked first, actions have consequences my friend, as we shall see, and words have power as well." he said, emphasizing the last part with a sarcastic dry tone.

He switched his internal power to boost the climbing speed of his friends and himself, and breathed deep, exhaling his breath at the woman with a line of acid bursting forth.


Swift to - Swiftness +10 ft bonus to climb, swim, and fly; +2 to climb, swim, & jump checks

Standard action to breath acid in a 30 ft line towards the woman's square (lines up perfect at 1 down and 1 across)
[roll0] DC 19 Ref for half
[roll1]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


Grassis paused to consider Rex's words. "Perhaps you are right. Next time I'll let you get a word in edge-wise - if there is a next time. I apologize."


He fixes his eye on the other ogre and his weapon. "Shatter" he mumbles in Dark Speak.




Grassis will cast 'Baleful Utterance' on the weapon of ogre up on the ridge.


You mention he has a spear and javelin. On the off chance the spear is a longspear (aka has 20ft reach) he'll focus on that. Otherwise he'll focus on the javelin.


DC 15 Will save to sunder the javelin, if this saves fails, then the ogre also needs to do a DC 15 fort save vs daze.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

To Joas, it looks like the situation may be under control soon. With the ogres losing weapons and a dragon on the assault he hopes that the lady will see the folly of her plan. Nevertheless, better safe than sorry. He slides off his mount so that it provides him with some cover and manifests a defensive power.

Move action to dismount and end up on the eastern side of my mount. Then, standard action to manifest Vigor, augmented to 3 PP, which I´ll share with my psicrystal. We both have 15 temporary hp


+15 temp hp (me and psicrystal)
-3 PP

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 1 Results

RexThaun breathes a line of acid at the woman, who manages to duck quickly behind the rock, which takes the brunt of the attack.


16 acid damage, DC 19 half
Reflex [roll]1d20+9 including a +2 for cover saved, 8 damage


Grassis attempts to shatter the other ogre’s longspear, but fails.

Will [roll0] to resist shatter save
Fort [roll1] to prevent daze


Zrabhas gets halfway up the slope, while Joas dismounts.



Woman, 8, blur, cover


Joas, +15t

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 2

The woman points briefly at Grassis and shouts, and then chants a longer spell, attempting to bind the front half of the group in magical chains.


Grassis is able to identify both spells.

Distract Assailant, Will DC 14 or flat-footed
Grassis Will [roll0] fail, flat-footed, 1 round

Slow, Will DC 16 or slow (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/slow.htm) for 6 rounds
Grassis Will [roll1] pass
Horse Will [roll2] fail
RexThaun Will [roll3] fail
Horse Will [roll4] pass


The ogre uphill holds his longspear in one hand, and chucks his javelin at Zrabhas with the other, stepping slightly to the south as he does so and drawing another one.


Attack [roll5] (includes -1 for range increment) vs AC15 (no dex while balancing, -1 size) hit
Damage [roll6]


The ogre with the shattered greatclub pulls out a shortspear and rushes forward, but instead of using the spear, reaches for Grassis with a giant hand.


Move to GP318/GQ319
Starting a grapple provokes an AOO, but the ogre has reach and Grassis is not adjacent, so the AOO can’t happen.
Melee touch to attempt grapple [roll7] vs AC 15, or vs AC10 if flat-footed from spell hit

Opposed grapple checks
Ogre [roll8]
Grassis [roll9] ogre victory
If ogre wins, damage [roll10] as unarmed strike
If ogre wins, moves into Grassis’ space as a free action to maintain grapple, provoking horse AOO
Horse AOO [roll11] (add a -1 for Slow) hit for [roll12] damage



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-rd%201%20end.jpg

Note: The ogre isn't really 'uphill', but I had to offset it somewhere since it's not occupying the horse's space. The horse does not like ogres and will attack again next round unless someone uses Handle Animal to move it.

Woman, 8, blur, cover from most
Downhill Ogre 6, grappling

Grassis 9, grappled
Zrabhas, 13
Grassis Horse, Slowed
RexThaun, Slowed
Joas, +15temp hp


=>Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas deploys Cloak of Deception, then uses Battle Leader's Charge technique against the woman, reaching her at the end of a double move. then reappears right beside the mage.

Balance to gain the top of the hill [roll0]
To hit the woman [roll1]
Base Damage (if applicable) [roll2]
Sneak attack (if applicable) [roll3]
To confirm a crit, if applicable [roll]1d20+11[
Bonus critical damage, if applicable [roll4] and, because you should scrag the mage first, every charge in the devastaion gauntlets [roll5]

[BelGareth]

Rex watched with chagrin as the woman dodged his attack, with resignation, he focused on the ogres add she chains them with eldritch manacles, slowing him considerably. He felt sluggish, but he knew he had to move and act.

He urged his horse forward while drawing his sword, gathering his strength, mustering a reserve to fight.

Slashing at the monster, he bellowed with all his might, "YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU HAVE UNLEASHED, BE GONE BEFORE OUR ANGER FULLY WAKES!"


5ft step to gp322
Attempt to demoralize opponent vs ogre
[roll0] (includes -4 penalty for ogres size)
Vs 1d20 + character level or Hit Dice + target’s Wisdom bonus [if any] + target’s modifiers on saves against fear
If successful, the foe cowers in fear for 1 round and is shaken in the following round.(per imperious command)

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Hmmm...." looks like we got something on our hands here. Joas identifies the woman as the main threat and decides to send a construct her way. He expends his focus to swiftly summon his favoured construct, which attempts to stomp some sense into her while Joas attempts to regain his focus.


Swift action: Summon personal construct in square GL 326, take [roll0] overchannel damage.
Move action: regain psionic focus [roll1]
Standard action: none

Construct attack on the woman (not using power attack): [roll2], damage [roll3]. If hits, trip attempt: [roll4] (can not be countered)

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"Gah! get off me you smelly brute." Grassis barks. He closes his eyes momentarily and the disappears and reappears in a flash. He summons a wisp of energy around his fingers and fires it at the ogre.






Free action: Activate anklets of translocation and teleport 10 ft northeast to GR320

Standard action: He will fire an Eldritch Bolt at the ogre and use his mortal bane ability.


Ranged Touch Attack: [roll0] (Point blank shot, Precise shot)

Damage : [roll1]


Move action : retreat a little to the south along the line of trees, GR3223 (15 feet of movement at 2x cost)

[J-H]

Round 2, Part 1

Zrabhas vanishes from sight, re-appearing right next to the female spellcaster, denying the longspear-carrying ogre a chance to stab her.

RexThaun gets in the ogre’s face from horseback, causing it to freeze in momentary paralysis, as Grassis teleports out from under it, fires a blast of energy at it, and moves back, keeping the horses between himself and his foes.

The ogre is cowering until Round 3 part 1; will be shaken during the party’s next turn.
16 damage inflicted.


An ectoplasmic humanoid forms next to the caster and attacks her, but misses due to her magical concealment.

Blur miss chance [roll0] misses on 1-20
Opposed roll to prevent trip, [roll1] vs DC24



I moved Zrabhas over to the west 1 set of squares so that the AC wasn’t on top of her.

Woman 8, blur, cover from some
Downhill Ogre 22, cowering

Grassis 9, grappled
Zrabhas, 13
Grassis Horse, Slow
RexThaun, Slow
Joas, +15temp hp

[J-H]

Round 2, Part 2

“No, please!” The woman pleads for mercy as she steps back, Zrabhas is filled with a momentary surge of compassion for the poor lady, and refrains from attacking. A cloud of golden motes then fills the air, making Zrabhas and the astral construct glow gold.


Will save rolled in OOC thread, failed. ZrabHas can’t attack her for one round. I am assuming this is out of sight for Grassis, so he doesn’t get a shot at IDing it, and Zrabhas rolled a 1 on her spellcraft check (I use physical dice for that to avoid clutter-posting).

She steps back, and suddenly, Glitterdust!
Zrabhas [roll0] vs DC15 to negate blindness fail
Astral Construct [roll1] vs DC 15 to negate blindness fail


The longspear-wielding ogre then stabs at Zrabhas, who dodges it out of some sixth sense.

Attack [roll2] misses thanks to Uncanny Dodge
Damage [roll3]


The other ogre cowers on the ground, still afraid.


http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-rd%202%20end.jpg

Woman 8, blur, cover from some
Downhill Ogre 22, cowering

Astral Construct, blind, 6 rounds
Grassis 9 damage out of 48
Zrabhas, 13 damage out of 50, blind, 6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow 1/6 rds
RexThaun, Slow 1/6 rds
Joas, +10 temp hp


=>Party

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis moves further south and focusses again on the ogre with the spear. "Break!" he shouts in Dark Speak.






Move to GQ325


Use baleful Utterance on the Longspear of the ogre up on the ridge.


DC 15 Will save to sunder the spear. If this fails DC 15 fort save to daze the ogre.


Note: Grassis teleported out of the grapple so he isn't grappled any more.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas decides that, if she is going to be blind, so will everyone else! She takes a five foot step backwards, then uses Control Light to plunge every square from GJ 320 to GO 325 into total darkness.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Hmm, I could have sworn that attack would´ve hit. We´re dealing with a proficient magician, it appears. Joas keeps a close eye on the battlefield, making note of allies getting wounded. Otherwise, he does not see direct options to intervene in this combat aside from having his construct continue its assault.


Joas: Nothing other than keeping an eye on the combat as it progresses

Construct: Slam attack [roll0], miss chance [roll1] (50 and lower misses (assuming Blur has no effect on blinded attackers) otherwise 60 and lower misses), damage [roll2], if hit: trip attempt [roll3] (can not be countered)

[J-H]

Attack of Opportunity
As Zrabhas pauses her motion to manifest Control Light, the ogre senses a moment of weakness and stabs at her with his long spear and long arms, but it misses.


Reach weapons double a creature's natural reach, giving him 20' reach.

AOO attack [roll0] vs AC21 (-2 for blind, even with uncanny dodge) miss
AOO damage [roll1]
Concentration check if hit [roll2]

[BelGareth]

Rex looked back and then forward again. There was no way he was going to be traversing the rocky hill, he would need to deal with the ogre before him, if he was going to be any help at all.

Mustering what energy he had left, as the magical manacles sapped him of it, he lunged towards the cowering ogre, hoping to wound the thing seriously enough before it got its remaining wits about itself.

He yells to the others "Get the women, I'll handle this ogre!", as he does so, he switches his internal power to amplify their strength, bolstering their ability to rend and kill.


He should be in GP322 from last turn (5ft not provoking), so he'll swing from his mount.
swift action: aura change to power (+2 damage)
Standard: attack cowering ogre (includes -1 from slow)
[roll0]
[roll1]
Rounds left for breath attack 3

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 1

Grassis shatters the uphill ogre's longspear, just before that area at the top of the ridge is plunged into darkness.

Will [roll0] vs DC15 to break
Fort [roll1] vs DC15 to avoid daze if broken

Astral construct 5’ steps to attack, and misses due to blindness.


Grassis’ horse attacks the ogre, which is now shaken, but fails to hit. RexThaun lands a blow with his sword.

Horse Attack [roll2] Includes -1 penalty from Slow miss
Damage [roll3]

Rexthaun hits for 9 damage (1d10+5 based on 1 magic + 2 strength + 2 aura – you rolled +4)



Woman 8, blur, cover from some
Downhill Ogre 31, now shaken
Uphill ogre, no more longspear

Astral Construct, blind, 1/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 13 out of 50, blind, 1/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 2/6 rounds
RexThaun, Slow, 2/6 rounds
Joas, +10 temp hp

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 2

Out of the darkened area you hear the woman’s voice. “Jabber, move back towards camp a bit so that you’re not totally covered in this abominable darkness!”

The uphill ogre, able to see thanks to its Darkvision, moves along the edge of the cliff and throws a javelin at Zrabhas.

Attack [roll0] vs AC 21 hit
Damage [roll1]


You hear the woman curse as she bumps into a rock on her way out of the darkness, and then she chants a spell. Although shaky, the downhill ogre seems to move faster as he moves back to a fighting posture and attacks RexThaun twice, but both attacks bounce of of the dragonborn's armor.


Attack 1[roll2] -2 from shaken, +1 from haste vs AC 18 (-1 from Slow) miss
Damage [roll3] -2 from shaken

Attack 2[roll4] -2 from shaken, +1 from haste vs AC 18 (-1 from Slow) miss
Damage [roll5] -2 from shaken



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-rd%203%20end.jpg

Woman 8, blur, haste
Downhill Ogre 31, no greatclub, shaken, haste
Uphill ogre, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 1/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 1/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 2/6 rounds
RexThaun, Slow, 2/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp
=>Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas sighs. His construct is in the darkness, no trace of the lady. He decides to move towards Zrabhas, as it appears she could do with some healing, and maybe he can spot the lady from there. "Where did that wench go?" he mutters under his breath as he arrives. He also mentally commands his construct to move to his new position.


Move to GL328. If one move action is enough to cover that distance, he will also manifest Touch of health, 3 PP for 6 points of healing for Zrabhas. Command construct to come to him (GL327)...no idea how and if that works with the blindness and all :smallwink:.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas maintains the power while backing twenty feet backwards, to the south. that should make it harder for the orgres (or whatever they are) to keep stabbing her.

[BelGareth]

Rex wished he was bigger, so as to scare the bejeezers out his opponent, but alas, that was not going to happen. Maybe they should have talked about combat maneuvers before this? He shook his head slightly, and grimaced as the Ogre swung and missed him several times.

Narrowing his feline like eyes, he growled at the ogre, and bellowed out loud while attacking. "I WILL HACK YOU LIMB FORM LIMB, AND DRINK YOUR BLOOD WHEN I AM DONE!" he had a malicious gleam in his eye, as if to drive the point home.


Intimidate as a move action [roll0]
Attack as standard
[roll1]
[roll2]
2 rounds until breath attack

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis beging moving up the hill to try and regain sight of the women. He fires off another shot at the injured giant-thing for good measure.

"ah-ha foul beast! Die!"




Move carefully to GM326


Using Eldritch blast with mortal bane.

Ranged Touch attack : [roll0] (Precise shot/ Point blank shot)

Damage: [roll1]

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 1
Rexthaun lands a mighty blow, and Grassis follows up with a ray of magical energy. The creature falls to the ground, dead beyond any hope of revival.

Combined damage of 41.


The other two members of the party reposition.


Woman 8, blur, haste
Downhill Ogre DEAD
Uphill ogre, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 2/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 2/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 3/6 rounds
RexThaun, Slow, 3/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 2

“Clubber! Argh, you should have just paid the stupid toll! The price just tripled – or you can serve me!”
The woman repositions, and casts a spell at RexThaun. It fails to have any effect.

Nobody with spellcraft is viewing range.
Will save [roll0] vs DC16
RexThaun is immune to paralysis, so the spell has no effect.


“No!” The remaining orc quickly draws out and throws two javelins at his only target before stepping behind a rock. Both hit, biting into RexThaun's flesh.

Attack [roll1] includes +1 from Haste, vs AC 18 including -1 from Slow crit not confirmed
Damage [roll2]
Attack [roll3] includes +1 from Haste, vs AC 18 including -1 from Slow
Damage [roll4]




http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-rd%204%20end.jpg

Woman 8, blur, haste
Remaining ogre, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 3/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 3/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 4/6 rounds
RexThaun, 18 damage out of 96, Slow, 4/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp

=>Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas drops the light control and goes into a full-defense action. Better to be embarrassed than dead.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


Grassis continues his long trek up the slope, carefully picking his footing. He looks for an opening to shoot again.






Move action to move to GN326 (5 ft)


Standard action:


Can't tell if he has a clear shot to the ogre or not. If he does, he'll shoot at the ogre, if not he'll opt to turn invisible.


If Grassis can see the ogre:

ranged touch attack : [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[BelGareth]

Rex grins savagely as the ogre falls to the combined efforts of Grassis and his own blow, he turns to regard the others and is unable to avoid the incoming javelins, which thud into him like huge pin cushions. He barks as he wrenches them free, almost a laugh "HA! You will need to do better than that!" he yells, eyeing the scene and determining what to do.

He spurs his horse onward, not caring to scamper up the embankment for the next ogre, but eyeing the woman, blurring in his vision.


I'm sorry for not being more specific, but Rex is still mounted.

He moves his mount as a double move, ending in GO310.

Breath attack is available next round.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

With nothing much to do at the moment, Joas decided to move a bit further in his search for the woman, guiding his construct along. "My friend here wishes to enlist, but does not know where to join you. Where do I send it?"

Move to GI 326, mentally dragging my construct along.

[J-H]

Round 5, Part 1

The group repositions; ZrabHas drops the field of darkness, and Grassis goes invisible.


Woman 8, blur, haste
Remaining ogre, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 3/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 3/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 4/6 rounds
RexThaun, Slow, 4/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp

[J-H]

Round 5, Part 2

The woman calls out to the remaining ogre: "Help!”

It moves towards her and throws another javelin at RexThaun, while the woman is surrounded by numerous copies of herself.


Attack [roll0] includes +1 from Haste, vs AC 18 including -1 from Slow hit
Damage [roll1]

Mirror image [roll2]
Mirror image (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/mirrorImage.htm) rules



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-rd%205%20end.jpg

Woman 8, blur, haste
Remaining ogre, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 4/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 4/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 5/6 rounds
RexThaun, 30 damage out of 96, Slow, 5/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp

=>Party

[BelGareth]

Rex takes another javelin to the side, and wrenches it out, scales and armor screeching as he did so. He gritted his teeth, he had been in far worse situations.

Barking again, he looked to the woman who then multiplied before him, it was as if she knew what was coming....he spun his horse around and moved back a bit, and then opened his mouth towards the unlikely duo, breathing acid on them.


Move down 10 ft to GP312
Breath attack [roll0] DC ref 19 for half
[roll1]

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas rubs inneffectually at her eyes. Is there anything I should be doing!? no action.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Aha...." The psion finally finds his foe. Interestingly, she is next to her Ogre pet....four of her even. This opens up new avenues. "Gotcha," he mumbles. The high-pitched "zing" of two blades sliding along each other can be heard as he manifests yet another power. Power he was hoping to conserve, but it seems like it is needed at the moment. He wills a ring-like opaque wall structure around the lady and the Ogre, which starts to emanate intense cold to the inside. He also directs his astral construct towards the newly fashioned wall.


Manifest Energy wall: Cold, a 15 ft radius ring centered on the interection 311/312_GJ/GK, which should envelop and affect both lady and Ogre. Cold energy emanates towards the centre, dealing [roll0] cold damage to all within 10 feet of the wall (on the inside), half if more than 10 feet from the wall. Fort save DC18 for half damage. Passing through the wall causes 2d6+8 (Fort DC18 half) damage.

I also send my astral construct to the wall perimeter (GK315), if that even works with it being blind.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


Grassis finishes moving up the hill and closes a bit with the ogre. "Its not too late to surrender." he offers.




Move action to GL322

He fires his eldritch blast at the ogre.

Ranged touch attack: [roll0] +9 normally, +2 for being invisible, ogre is flat footed
Damage : [roll1] (mortal bane)

Grassis turns visible when he attacks.

[J-H]

Round 6, Part 1

The female spellcaster and the ogre are assailed by both cold and acid, as RexThaun launches a spurt of green fluid from his mouth, and Joas creates a wall of energy that radiates cold inwards.

12 cold damage, Fort DC18 half
W [roll0] fail, 12 damage
O [roll1] save, 6 damage

Acid jet miss chance on W [roll2] fail on 1 (technically, you shouldn't know whether it damages or not on an AOE, but the outcome of the battle is not much in question, so it shouldn't matter. I may handle it differently in the future)
14 acid damage, Reflex DC19 half
W Reflex if needed [roll3]
O Reflex [roll4] fail, 14 damage


The Astral Construct advances, as does Grassis, who ends up shoulder-to-shoulder with it. Grassis tags the ogre with an eldritch blast, doing significant damage.

Hit, 18 damage



Woman 20, blur, haste, mirror image
Remaining ogre 38, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 4/6 rounds
Grassis 9 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 4/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 5/6 rounds
RexThaun, 30 damage out of 96 Slow, 5/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp

[J-H]

Round 6, Part 2

The woman flees out the west side of the wall of cold, shivering as she goes, but stops to cast a spell at Grassis.

She takes [roll0] damage, Fort save DC18 half. 15 damage
W Fort [roll1]

Grassis barely identifies it as Hold Person.
Will save DC16 or paralyzed for 6 rounds.
Grassis Will [roll2] saved


Following her lead, the ogre launches a javelin at Grassis, drawing his last one as he runs through the wall of cold.

Attack [roll3] +1 for haste, -1 for distance crit confirmed in OOC
Damage [roll4] 15 total damage

He takes [roll5] cold damage, Fort Save DC18 half
Ogre fort [roll6] saved, 6 damage



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-trail-rd%206%20end.jpg

Woman 35, blur, haste, mirror image
Remaining ogre 44, no longspear, haste

Astral Construct, blind, 5/6 rounds
Grassis 24 out of 48
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50, blind, 5/6 rounds
Grassis Horse, Slow, 6/6 rounds, expires on round 7 part 2
RexThaun, 30 damage out of 96 Slow, 6/6 rounds, aura of Power (+2 damage)
Joas, +10 temp hp

=> Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas's monastic patience is at an end! She wants to do something, anything, to bring low the foes of Great Leader! ZZHaaHaRRRAAAsss!!


She charges forward, attempting a Bullrush at whatever might happen to be in the way. Unfortunately, the woman, once in her likely path, is long gone, and the only target is the astral construct, who might be pushed forward a space before ZrabHas stumbles on a rock.

Strength Check [roll0]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis moves with blinding speed towards the woman. He fires another shot at the ogre. "Yield or die woman - Your magic is strong but not strong enough against the four of us."





Free action: activate Xeph speed burst (+20 ft movement for the next 3 rounds)

Move to GG314

Ranged touch attack : [roll0]
Damage : [roll1] (mortal bane)




Grassis has DR 1/cold iron - has that been calculated into the damage he has taken so far ? Also doesn't at least 1 of the mirorr images disappear due to the breath attack.

[J-H]

The ogre almost dodges the ray of energy - but not quite. It strikes, and the ogre arches its back as deadly energy flows through it, before flopping to the ground, quite dead.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas agrees with Grassis. With her helpers down and all of us still standing the situation is looking grim for her. She is probably smart enough to give up and fight another day. Should we let her, though? His construct is about to whisk out of existence, so he stops concerning himself with it. The Energy wall is useless now, but it has served its purpose. Joas decides to hang back and watch his team mates finish off the lady.

Move to GH 319

[BelGareth]

Rex is eager to spur his house forward, and run the woman down, but his energy was still bein sapped by these infernal manacles. He looked, and see his other companions, only one was chasing. Perhaps, it is best to let her go, it was only slowing down their quest.

He shook his and barked out loud "Grassis, let her go, she has learned our power this day, and it does not further our quest, let us recover and move on"

[J-H]

The woman moves away, heading down towards the trail and in the direction you were already going; she's moving as fast as a horse until she moves out of sight.

The group rapidly checks the bodies and remounts.


1 large javelin
2 large sets of hide armor
Amulet of Natural Armor +1 (on the club-wielder)

Grassis 22 out of 48 *fixed due to DR 1/ci
Zrabhas, 24 out of 50
RexThaun, 30 damage out of 96


Are you going to head down the trail, or do anything first?

[BelGareth]

Rex switched his internal power to healing, as they all gather the equipment. He then goes to both Grassis and Zrabhas and lays his hands on them, healing them as much as he can.


he'll lay on hands 12 hp each, putting them at:
Grassis 38/48
Zrabhas 38/50


Once done, he switches it back to enhance senses as usual. He mounts back up, sheathing his sword, "we should head out, get some distance from this fight before we rest for the day, just in case she is stupid enough to seek her own death."

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"I agree, Rex" Joas says. "One wonders, though, if it would not have been better to finish her off." He shrugs apologetically, realizing the statement might seem a tad blunt. "Who is to say she won´t be back tomorrow with new minions, perhaps ambushing travelers less talented than us. Moreover, she has seen us and knows where we´re heading. Probably not that important, but we do aim to travel unnoticed, not?" Joas is uninterested in the loot and mounts up. "Let´s get going."

[BelGareth]

He turns his head sideways, almost dog like, as Joas talks and then smiles. "We could only be so lucky if she did gather new cohorts, perhaps she would ambush those who are inevitably following us?" He barks out loud, something you are all coming to find is either a laugh or angry noise. "What is done, is done, and out of our hands"

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas smiles: "Right....always look on the bright side, eh. Anyway, it is done, you´re right, no point in lingering on the matter."

[J-H]

Mounted again, you round the curve on your weary horses, and follow the trail for just a few more minutes before it opens out into a small, green bowl-shaped valley. A stream emerges from a hillside, feeding a three-acre pond that in turn feeds a small stream that meanders off through a crack on the eastern side of the hills. The rest of the bowl is lush and green, with soft soil and scattered trees. Bees buzz in the clover, and your horses act ready to stop, drink, and eat.


You only get 8 hours a day cross-country from a horse before it starts taking 1d6 lethal damage per hour. They can’t go any farther unless you want to have to heal them. Overland travel rules.


On the far side of the pond, you see a high-quality tent with its door flapping open in the wind, sitting a short walk away from a much cruder structure made of logs, sticks, and a couple of sheets of canvas.

The stream has a rock-filled ford area, and old ruts indicate that traders have, in fact, used this spring often in the past.

Approaching the tents cautiously, you find no traps or tricks. The ogres’ shelter seems untouched, although their crude pallets are smelly. The fine tent has several items knocked over; you suspect that the woman fled here, gathered some items in haste, and ran on. She left behind a small, heavy chest filled with a mish-mash of coins, as well as several other items that she must not have been able to carry.


Copper, silver, and gold coins totaling [roll0] gold; most are silver coins.
3 empty potion bottles (CLW)
5 flasks of holy water
2 tanglefoot bags
Disguise kit
1 set of banded mail barding for a horse
Masterwork lance
Half Plate +1
Restful armor crystal
Warhammer +1
Composite Longbow (str+3)
[roll1] arrows
Silver holy symbol
Blessed Bandage
Power stone of Skate (2 uses)
Power stone of Body Purification (1 use)
A small barrel of salt, for flavor (not worth a huge amount of gold)

Bones from several horses, two smashed carts, miscellaneous rain-damaged trade goods


You entered from the southeastern corner. Two roads lead out. One, to the northeast, has recent tracks, and appears to wind uphill. The other, going northwest, is broader (probably a cart-path), but has little sign of recent use, judging by the grass growing along it.

You will probably need to camp for the night before you can take your horses further.


Where in the valley will you camp? Watch order?
Which way will you go the next morning?

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Well, there´s tents here, and this looks like a nice place to stay." He looks around a bit and returns to the same conclusion. "What do you say? The horses are worn, and I guess we are as well?". Joas is obvioulsy in favour of camping here. When rummaging through the loot his attention is drawn by two crystals. "Ohhhh...power stones...if noone else knows how to use them, I would like to have them.".

"I could use a full night´s sleep...don´t know about you? The last battle drained enough of my power....Maybe tomorrow we can head that way?" He points towards the less-traveled path.

I need 8 hours of rest, but if needed I can carry on on crippled PP reserve tomorrow.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"We should probably camp here" Grassis suggests. He wasn't happy the woman got away but his mood improved as they found the ogre's possessions. "I'll take first watch." he offers. He paused and thought for a moment. "We can really only push the horses for eight hours a day, given we have left an enemy alive out there, I wonder if we should run double look outs tonight."





Grassis will use 1 charge of his healing belt on each of himself, Zrabhas, RexThaun. For some reason I thought I had brought a wand of lesser vigor but looking at my sheet its totally not there. Guess we need to find or buy one along the way.


Grassis: [roll0]
Zrabhas: [roll1]
RexThaun: [roll2]


Grassis will offer to carry the loot while we decide how to distrubute it since he has a Handy Haversack. (Except for the lance and barding - too heavy)

Loot:

amulet of natural armor +1
3 empty potion bottles (CLW)
5 flasks of holy water
2 tanglefoot bags
Disguise kit
1 set of banded mail barding for a horse
Masterwork lance
Half Plate +1
Restful armor crystal (Rex is likely the only one who can use this)
Warhammer +1
Composite Longbow (str+3) (No one is strong enough to use this)
(4d20)[57] arrows
Silver holy symbol
Blessed Bandage
Power stone of Skate (2 uses) (Joas ?)
Power stone of Body Purification (1 use) (Joas ?)
A small barrel of salt, for flavor (not worth a huge amount of gold)

[BelGareth]

Rex moves around the tent, and nods at his companions. "I agree, but something in me worries, did this 'tax collector' really flee? or is she setting us up?" he says frowning, running a clawed hand down his head. He nods to Joas "I have no need of those stones, I shall take this lance, however, if we are to be on horse back, it will come in handy. As well as this Amulet, unless someone else would like it?"

He shrugs and moves out of the tent, "This is as good a place as any, why not use it. I can take middle watch, I can see in the dark, which serve us well if something comes this way."

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"I could potentially use that amulet as well." Grassis muses. "I can see in the dark just fine as well." He waves a hand flamboyantly in front of his face and disappears from sight.

[Feathersnow]

I could find use for the shiny warhammer and the ogre's out-sized javelin. The rest, I don't know. I would be glad to keep a gluebag, against the possibility it comes in handy, I am a fair toss compared to most.

I agree it would be wise keep a double guard in case the enchanter subdues one of us unawares. I will stand the second watch, if you wish. I feel I must atone for my failures earlier. She has looked embarrassed about failing to land a single blow during the battle.

[J-H]

The party rests overnight without incident, although the cries of a few distant creatures do carry through the still and cool night-time air.

Which route will you take?

[BelGareth]

Rex wakes from his corner while still wearing his armor, he flexes as he does and smiles, "Ah, this crystal is a life saver, I will be happy to hold onto it!" he rummages through his clothes and pulls out the amulet pointing it to Grassis "Here, take this, I have a feeling you need it more than me." Once situated, he mounts his warhorse, and looks to either path and frowns.

"Logic would dictate we take the well worn path. But we might be accosted by more bandits."

[Feathersnow]

Yes. Let us take the fastest route. A slight note of bloodthirstiness creeps into her oddly accented voice. She might like to meet more bandits, if it meant redeeming herself.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Like we discussed before, there are pro´s and con´s for either route. Only time can tell what the best choice is." The psion mounts up, yawns and stretches. "I have a personal preference for the unbeaten path, but if you don´t feel up to that I am fine with using the other one."

[BelGareth]

"So be it." Rex says, as if his word was final, and he had decided to take the advice of Joas with a good thinking about it. You can tell its not out of self pomp, or eagerness to lead, but more of a need to get going, and desire to form as a team.

He pulls on his horses reigns and guides it towards the unbeaten path, leading the group away from the tent.

[J-H]

The next morning
After consuming your nutritious, magically-generated breakfast, the group saddles its horses and rides up the narrow, winding trail. It twists back and forth with the curve of the mountain. Several times, you end up riding along a narrow path with a cliff on your right and one on your left. Occasionally, you can see the cart-path below; at one point it disappears into a dark canyon that appears to be liberally festooned with spiderwebs. You think you see motion, but it’s a few hundred feet down.

After riding for about two hours (6 miles – 25% speed penalty for uphill/narrow road) you hear shouts and a few roars ahead. With the wind against you, it’s impossible to make out anything detailed, but some of the shouts definitely don’t sound like they come from a human throat. You round the a curve and come upon the tail end of a battle.

A large number of brownish spikes are embedded in the trail in front of you. Some of them pin a bloodied and unmoving figure to the ground – one whose cloak matches that of the spellcaster you fought yesterday. Beyond the body are two slightly injured manticores, covered in glowing gold dust and moving uncertainly. A third is perched 40’ uphill on a ledge, and glares down at the group. It raises its rear end up and appears to be aiming its tail-mounted spikes at you.
http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/1/1b/Monster_Manual_5e_-_Manticore_-_p213.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20141113120840


It’s approximately 150’ to the manticores, and 90’ to the body. The trail is 10’ wide, with a sheer drop on the left and a cliff on the right that only Grassis has a chance of climbing.

No need for a map until next round. The party wins initiative.
You know that manticores are magical beasts with a limited ability to fire spike volleys from their tails. Some spikes have obviously been launched at the beguiler.
Manticores are large, with 5’ reach. You know that they can fly, but not well. You're happy you rolled 17 & 19 on your knowledge checks.

You recognize the effects of glitterdust on the two manticores on the trail.

No surprise round. The party wins initiative, but nobody is flat-footed.

RexThaun is in front, followed by Grassis, Joas, and ZrabHas respectively. Everyone is mounted.

=>Party

[BelGareth]

Rex pulls on the reigns slightly, slowing his horse to a slow trot. He regards the scene before him with scrutiny.

"I don't think it is a trap, but stranger things have happened. Seeing as we have the opportunity, should we discuss a plan of attack?"

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"Well I put the odds of this being a trap at 50/50. We have no way to determine if its a trap in a timely manner. That is to say by the time we figure it out, the trap will be sprung or the spell blinding those manticores will wear off - in the event they are real. This is the sort of landscape manticores prefer so this is a plausible situation. I recommend attacking at once and but spreading out a bit more so we don't get whammied by a well placed spell. If we sit around and debate, we may end up letting the manticores recover and then find ourselves in a spot of trouble. For now, scatter, as one has seen us and can hit us from here. Let me know if the spikes you get hit with are real."


"Its probably best to let me scout ahead."

Grassis dismounts and begins moving over to the manticores, trying to distance himself from the group as quickly as possible.

[BelGareth]

Rex was about to rebuke in kind, to include targets for everyone and assignments and then Grassis had disappeared. His mouth opened and closed.

"Fine then" he said to himself, wheeling his horse. He had gripped his new lance, ready to use it for the upcoming battle.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas nods absentmindedly. His attention seems to be mostly focused on the manticores. There is not so much fear in his eyes, mostly a keen interest. "Yes, yes...split up may be wise." He moves so that the group is not bunched up, but also makes sure that he is not the one to move towards the manticores (if possible). Briefly, his whole body is covered with a thin milky layer of ectoplasm that immediately evaporates.

Move to a proper position. Doesn´t really matter: away from danger, preferably.
As a standard action manifest Vigor for 3 PP, shared with my psicrystal (+15 temp hp).

[Feathersnow]

I think our best course is for me to get big, toss the javelin at them, then attack from the front, while everyone else flanks or shoots magic from cover.

I dismount, holding the warhammer, and activate the belt of Growth. I am in Island of blades stance.

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 1

Grassis dismounts and moves forward. RexThaun readies his lance but doesn't move up. Joas moves back, and manifests a power, with a faint odor of ozone. Zrabhas grows, doubling her size; luckily for her horse, she dismounted first.


Grassis Invisible (I assume)
Joas +15 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 2

The manticore uphill yells down in a raspy common. "Oi, wankers! Get o'vr it. More meat's here! Manflesh and horse both! Straight ahead, three men and four horse!" It then fires a volley of spikes at the foremost target, RexThaun.


Attack [roll0] damage [roll1] vs AC 19
Attack [roll2] damage [roll3] vs AC 19
Attack [roll4] damage [roll5] vs AC 19
Attack [roll6] damage [roll7] vs AC 19
Attack [roll8] damage [roll9] vs AC 19
Attack [roll10] damage [roll11] vs AC 19
3 hits for 18 total damage
Crit confirms if needed
Attack [roll12] damage [roll13] vs AC 19
Attack [roll14] damage [roll15] vs AC 19



The other two manticores stumble ahead blindly. "Don't act better, you were just lucky."


http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-mant-rd-1.jpg

RexThaun 18 (plus any pre-existing damage) out of 96hp.
Grassis Invisible (I assume)
Joas +15 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged

Please confirm current hp status if you didn't start the battle full.

=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas decides to bring forth one of his constructs. Not his Personal construct this time. No, he would be in need of something that flies. He aims to place it as far ahead towards the manticores as possible, to close the gap but also to distract from Rex. Just because he can, he decides to shape it like a manticore. A milky white manticore.


Manifest Astral construct, augmented to 7 PP, take [roll0] damage in the process, aiming to put it in Q319 (I think that´s as far as I can reach). Takes one round to manifest.

It will have the Improved Fly (Fly 40ft, average) and Muscle (+4 Strength) menu abilities.

Craft (sculpting) check to have it resemble a manticore: [roll1]

[BelGareth]

"Dammit", rex says as the hail of barbs batter against him, he was beginning to regret ever handing over that amulet.

He wheeled his horse as they landed about him, as several found marks, sinking deep. Growling, he cast aside the laid plans and spirred his horse on.

He double moves forward to r303
Swift activates chaos devotion [roll0]
Odd is attack bonus
Even is ac

Hp: 69/96
AC: 19

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis moves forward towards the manticores, then starts scaling the wall.




Free action: activate Xeph speed for +20 movement speed.

1st move action: move to R304 (50 ft of movement)

2nd move action: climb the wall 20 ft (have 20ft climb speed)

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas gets out the large javelin that she kept for just this eventuality. Having that, she starts moving towards the Manticores with calm deliberation.

[J-H]

Round 2, Part 1

Joas begins manifesting a power, not moving.
RexThaun moves his horse forward, and Zrabhas follows, drawing a javelin. Grassis, invisible, moves forward and begins to climb the wall.


RexThaun 27 damage out of 96hp.
Grassis Invisible
Joas +12 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged

[J-H]

Round 2, Part 2

The elevated manticore fires another volley of spikes at RexThaun, leaving it with a tail bare of any spikes, and takes to the air.


Attack [roll0], Damage [roll1]
Attack [roll2], Damage [roll3]
Attack [roll4], Damage [roll5]
Attack [roll6], Damage [roll7]
Attack [roll8], Damage [roll9]
Attack [roll10], Damage [roll11]
3 hits totalling 16 damage


The other two manticores move forward blindly, the golden motes around them dissipating. One of them growls “Finally!”


Glitterdust has expired.
http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-manti-rd-2%20end.jpg

RexThaun 43 damage out of 96hp.
Grassis Invisible
Joas +12 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged

=>Party

[BelGareth]

Rex grimaces again as yet more barbs bang off his armor, shield, and a few more thud into him. Growling in anger, he aims his lance and charges the closest monster that just recovered.


Swift action aura to power.
Charge action to square (10 ft reach) 295R
[roll0]
[roll1]

AC: 21
Hp: 53/96
Chaos: round 2

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas continues forward as a double move.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas´ construct appears. It is still far away from the combat, however, so he sends his white construct-icore bolting through the air so it can participate in the next round.

Self: None
Construct: Run action to Q 294

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis continues his climb and then fires off a quick attack at the flying manticore. "Ugly flying kitty-kats" he says.




Ganis will climb another 20ft up the wall and fire at M1.


Ranged touch attack : [roll0]
Damage: [roll1] (mortal bane 1/5)


This should turn him visible.

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 1

RexThaun charges ahead, spearing one of the manticores with his lance. Zrabhas tries to catch up, and is passed by the ectoplasmic construct, which lands in front of RexThaun, shielding him from one of the manticores.

Grassis turns visible, firing a bolt of energy at the flying manticore and hitting it.


M3 19 damage
M1 25 damage

RexThaun 43 damage out of 96hp
Grassis Invisible
Joas +12 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 2
A volley of spikes from the rear manticore assails Grassis, right before the flying manticore roars in pain and tries to swipe at Grassis as he flies by. “Kill wizards first!”


M2 spikes vs Grassis
Attack [roll0], Damage [roll1] hit for 6
Attack [roll2], Damage [roll3]
Attack [roll4], Damage [roll5]
Attack [roll6], Damage [roll7]
Attack [roll8], Damage [roll9] crit not confirmed, hit for 8
Attack [roll10], Damage [roll11] hit for 7

M1 makes a flyby attack. Spider Climb specifies that hands must be free (ie empty) to climb, so no AOO from Grassis.
Claw attack [roll12] miss
Damage [roll13]


The other manticore steps past the Astral Construct and attacks. It claws at Rexthaun, trying to bite him, while it also takes a swipe at his horse with a clawed paw, but none of its attacks hit.


5’ step, full attack.
Attacking RexThaun
Claw attack [roll14]
Damage [roll15]
Bite attack [roll16]
Damage [roll17]

Attacking horse
Claw attack [roll18]
Damage [roll19]



The Manticore is right over ZrabHas.

http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-manti-rd-3%20end.jpg

M3 19 damage
M1 25 damage

RexThaun 43 damage out of 96hp
Grassis 21 damage out of 48hp. Not Invisible (map error)
Joas +12 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged

=> Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas shifts into Iron heart stance, to do more damage but lose AC.

She then tosses the Javelin at the closest Manticore (M1)



Damage (if applicable) [roll]1d8+1d6+1

[roll1]

bonus damage (if confirmed) [roll2]

Then, she goes forward another 30 feet while drawing the tanglefoot bag.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas silently observes the battle as it unfolds. Partly to monitor the health of his teammates, but also out of curiousity: how do these Manticore creatures fight, what seems to be their motive?. In the meanwhile, his Astral Constructicore tries to pound on the Manticore next to it (M3).


Self: Nothing
AC: Attack [roll0] (20 x2), damage [roll1]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis was annoyed with being called a wizard but let it go. Grassis fades from view and continues up the wall.




Standard action : Turn invisible

Move action: Continue moving up the wall. If he reaches a flat surface, he move towards M2 and M3

[BelGareth]

Rex, smiling at not being targeted for once, rears his horse up, and smashes down with his lance as he comes down yelling. "Flee from me, you wretched scum, or I shall wear your hide as a cloak!"


Aura: power +2 to damage to allies within 30ft. (Including horse and Astral construct)
Chaos: +3 to attack

Standard action
Attack
[roll0]
Damage
[roll1]

Move action, intimidate, if manticore fails, it is cowered for 1 round, and shaken the round after.
[roll2]

Horse will also attack, if able. (If it requires me to full attack, then I'll do the above actions only)
Attack
[roll3]
Damage
[roll4]

AC: 19
HP's: 53/96

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 1

Grassis vanishes from sight and climbs up higher. The only ledge he can see is the one closer to the battle, which is now below him.

Zrabhas makes a difficult throw look easy; her javelin travels almost straight up to hit the flying manticore (M1).

RexThaun stabs the manticore with his lance, then berates it while his horse and the greenish ectoplasmic manticore both strike it.


Manticore is now cowering.
9 damage from lance, 7 damage from horse, 17 from astral construct = 33 damage inflicted.



M3 52 damage, cowering
M1 29 damage, in flight

RexThaun 43 damage out of 96hp
Grassis 21 damage out of 48hp
Joas +12 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 2

The flying manticore (M1) folds its wings and descends with a roar. “No, this wizard, not the, the, the spider-manling on the wall!” It takes a hoof in the side as it descends, but lands a swipe on Joas that rips through his armor.

Charge attack. At 40’ up and 90’ away it starts at 98’ from Joas, with a 100’ speed on a charge. Instead of working out the exact grid cost I used Pythagoras to figure out if it was doable.

Attack [roll0] +2 from charge, vs AC16 hit
Damage [roll1]

Joas’ horse gets an AOO as the manticore passes low overhead. I’m assuming light warhorse for the small xeph.
Attack [roll2] hit
Slam [roll3]


The manticore next to Rexthaun does nothing as it fights to recover its equilibrium.
The one behind it, blocked in by a glowing construct and a cowering ally, growls in frustration and launches itself out over the canyon, firing spikes at RexThaun’s horse as it passes by. Most of them land, and blood runs down the horse's side in streams.


M2 spikes vs heavy warhorse (ac14 +2 barding = 16)
Attack [roll4], Damage [roll5] crit confirmed for 13
Attack [roll6], Damage [roll7]
Attack [roll8], Damage [roll9] hit for 6
Attack [roll10], Damage [roll11] hit for 5
Attack [roll12], Damage [roll13] hit for 9
Attack [roll14], Damage [roll15] hit for 5




http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-manti-rd-4%20end.jpg

M3 52 damage, cowering
M1 34 damage, on ground, -2ac from charge

RexThaun 43 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse 38 damage out of 44hp
Grassis 21 damage out of 48hp
Joas +2 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp

=> Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas shifts back into Sea of Blades Stance and advances forward to rank 303, then tosses the tanglefoot bag at the second manticore.
[roll0]

[J-H]

The flying manticore (M2) dips out of sight as it frantically tries to tear the goop off of its wings.

Reflex [roll0]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


Grassis eyes lock on the manticore as it falls from view. "ba-ahahahaha" he lets out a deep evil laugh. Composing himself he continues his crawl along the wall.




Ganis will crawl forward towards M3 and move slowly downwards, he's hoping to make the 'ledge area' next turn. He'll take a double move action and climb 40 feet. I figure he ends up at S289 at 50 feet up off the ground. 30 feet travel 'north', 10 feet 'down'.

Describing 3D movement is always tough. Basically he wants to move closer to M3 to shoot it next round. Not sure if the xeph speed boost applies to climb speed or not. *shrug*

Also Grasis has about 3 hps more than you have listed due to his DR.

[BelGareth]

Rex cries out as his horse is attacked. He was going to have to dismount, and protect Roger!

He lept from his saddle, attempting to dismount fast.

He then, drops his lance, not able to use it any more, and draws his bastard sword, stepping forward toward his cowering foe.


Ride attempt to fast dismount, dc 20, if fails, then dismount as move.
[roll0]
Swift action aura to vigor, fast healing 2 up to half.
Free action 5 ft step to Q296

Attack
[roll1]
Damage
[roll2]

AC: 19
HP's: 53/96

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Hey!" Joas, in vain, tries to avoid the Manticore´s attacks. "Wizwhat? I am not a wizard...". Stoically, he looks at the Manticore while he mentally directs his Construct to come to his aid. It looks like he will be taking some more damage soon, so he decides to reinforce his ectoplasmic buffer, this time trying to hide the display, but it seems he is too distracted to do that.


AC: full-round move run to Q324. He should be able to make that. If not, then he´ll come as close as possible.
Self: Manifest Vigor, defensively [roll0] (DC16), shared with Psicrystal, for 5 PP: 25 temporary hp, hiding display [roll1] (DC16)

[J-H]

Round 5, part 1

Zrabhas throws a canvas bag at the flying manticore. On impact, it explodes into strands of goo that bind the manticore’s wings. It falls down into the canyon, struggling to pull apart the goop.

RexThaun steps down and attacks the manticore.

Hit for 8 damage

His horse’s wounds close slightly.


Grassis continues to move invisibly along the cliff.


Joas manifests a power, making more life energy available. His construct lifts into the air, taking a claw to the leg in its distraction, and flies over RexThaun and his horse, to land behind the manticore.
M3 gets an AOO
Attack [roll0] -2 from shaken, vs AC 22
Damage [roll1]




M3 58 damage, shaken
M1 34 damage, on ground, -2ac from charge

AC 9 damage out of 70hp
RexThaun 43 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse 36 damage out of 44hp
Grassis 18 damage out of 48hp
Joas +27 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp

[J-H]

Round 5, Part 2

Angered, the manticore facing RexThaun strikes back, landing one hit, while his horse backs up nervously.


Assuming horse isn’t suicidal.

Claw attack [roll0] -2 from shaken
Damage [roll1]
Claw attack [roll2] -2 from shaken
Damage [roll3]
Bite attack [roll4] -2 from shaken
Damage [roll5]


The one facing Joas also attacks him, landing blows that send a surprisingly small amount of blood flying.

If I really, really wanted to kill you, I’d attempt a bull rush. But they want to eat you instead.

Copy paste error
Claw attack [roll6] -2 from shaken = 18
Damage [roll7]
Claw attack [roll8] -2 from shaken = 16
Damage [roll9]
Bite attack [roll10] -2 from shaken = 21
Damage [roll11]
all 3 hit for 24 total damage


The horses around the southern manticore attack it.

Attack [roll12] hit
Slam [roll13]

Attack [roll14] miss
Slam [roll15]



[roll16]



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-manti-rd-5%20end.jpg

M3 58 damage, shaken status expires on RexThaun's turn
M1 41 damage
M2 Out of sight

AC 9 damage out of 70hp
RexThaun 47 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse 36 damage out of 44hp
Grassis 18 damage out of 48hp
Joas +3 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp

=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas is under the impression that while savage and evil, these monsters are also quite intelligent, especially the one who is momentarily clawing at him. Therefore, he thinks he can appeal to the common sense of it, while his construct assaults it. "Anyway...you will have noticed that your attacks don´t quite hurt me. Let´s say that´s because I am a wizard. Moreover, your friend has fallen," he points downward, "figuratively and literally." He nods in the distance. "Your other friend is bleeding badly and surely will be feeding the maggots tomorrow." Joas shrugs. "My friends will be here any moment. I´d fly away and live another day." Joas smiles at the Manticore, a smile that is actually sincere. "I don´t really care whether you live or die, but maybe if you survive we can have tea and some nice discussions some day?"


My temp hp don´t stack I think, so I am at +1 temp hp, but that aside.
Not rolling a bluff check, because I am not lying and truly believe that he had better save his hide. If you require one, feel free to roll it for me (+0 bonus).

Self: None, well, a lot of talking
AC: 5 ft step and attack the Manticore. Slam [roll0], damage [roll1].

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas takes a double move south. There isn't room for her to fight the 3rd manticore, and M1 is threatening the horses and squishies. At the moment.

[BelGareth]

Rex, frustrated. Screams at his target, "WHY. WILL. YOU. NOT. DIE!" as he does so, and to accent the point, he breaths a line of acid towards his target.


Aura: Vigor (fast healing 2 to all under half, I'll include the beguiler in this as well)

Move action to demoralize
[roll0]

Standard action, Breath acid
[roll1] DC 19 Ref for half

AC: 25
HP's: 49/96
Chaos: 5/10 rounds
Breath weapon: [roll2] rounds

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis fires a bolt at the nearest manticore and begins to climb down.






Ranged touch attack vs flat footed AC : [roll0]

Damage : [roll1]

Becomes visible if he attacks.


It's probably likely the manticore is already dead, if that is the case, he'll just double move down the wall now that he has confirmed nothing is perched up here.

[J-H]

Round 6, Part 1

Joas attempts to talk down the apex predator, while his astral construct steps forwards and gives it an ectoplasmic boot to the hindquarters.

15 damage inflicted.
If you have a weapon, your construct gets +2 for flanking.


Zrabhas runs south.

In the future, please give me coordinates instead of making me figure out where you’re going.

Grassis fires a bolt of energy at the northern manticore, while RexThaun yells at it, spraying it with acid spittle. It slumps to the ground, barely conscious and unable to move.


11 damage from Eldritch Blast

Resist Intimidate [roll0] vs DC25 fail

Acid breath, 11 damage, Reflex DC 19 half
Reflex [roll1] includes -2 for shaken; Cowering doesn’t inflict a save penalty as far as I can find (other fear effects explicitly do), but eliminates dexterity bonus, which also has a -2 effect… so it doesn’t likely matter. fail, 11 damage




M3 80 damage, cowering, disabled, 0 hp. (It had 84 hp but started the battle with 4 points of damage)
M1 56 damage
M2 Out of sight

AC 9 damage out of 70hp
RexThaun 47 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse 34 damage out of 44hp
Grassis 18 damage out of 48hp
Joas +1 temp hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp

[J-H]

Round 6, part 2

“Shut it, meat-mouth!” The manticore bites and claws at Joas again, even as the horses to the side rear up and kick at it again.


Manticore
Claw attack [roll0] miss
Damage [roll1]
Claw attack [roll2] hit
Damage [roll3]
Bite attack [roll4] hit
Damage [roll5]
14 damage

Horses
Attack [roll6] includes +2 from flanking
Slam [roll7]

Attack [roll8] includes +2 from flanking
Slam [roll9]
7 damage



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/th-manti-rd-6%20end.jpg
M3 80 damage, cowering, disabled, 0 hp. (It had 84 hp but started the battle with 4 points of damage)
M1 63 damage
M2 Out of sight

AC 9 damage out of 70hp
RexThaun 47 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse 34 damage out of 44hp
Grassis 18 damage out of 48hp
Joas 13 damage out of 36 hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp
=> Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas moves to rank 320 while drawing the warhammer. She then readies an action to activate Burning Brand and hit the Chimaera if it comes into range.

[BelGareth]

Rex sighs as the manticore slumps.

He moves back to Roger, jumping up, he wheels back to the way he came, spurring the horse on.

He yells at zrabhas, "get in there, joas is no fighter!"


5 ft towards Roger the horse
Move action to mount
Double move to 314, right behind zrabHas
Aura is vigor, fast healing 2 up to half
[roll0]
Breath 2 rounds

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


Grassis continues downwards to the path and looks over the side to see if he can spot the third enemy.





Move to Q300

spot [roll0]

[J-H]

Round 7, Part 1 & Part 2

Zrabhas & RexThaun move back towards Joas.

Horse heals 2hp

Grassis peers over the edge, and sees the manticore off to the south, ascending slowly. It will take several rounds to return, at best.

The Astral Construct attacks the manticore.

Attack [roll0] includes +2 flanking
Damage [roll1]



M3 80 damage, cowering, disabled, 0 hp. (It had 84 hp but started the battle with 4 points of damage)
M1 79 damage
M2 South of the map, 330’ down.

AC 9 damage out of 70hp
RexThaun 47 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse 32 damage out of 44hp
Grassis 18 damage out of 48hp
Joas 13 damage out of 36 hp
Zrabhas Enlarged, at 44hp

Battered and bloodied, the manticore dives off the cliff and attempts to escape.


It uses the Withdraw action and is 100' away from its previous position

=> Party
If anyone has a ranged attack and wants to take a shot at it, please post as such. Otherwise, the battle ends with two nearly-dead manticores escaping to the south. You still get full XP for defeating them even if they aren't dead.

[BelGareth]

Rex bellows as the manticore leaps into the air, he throws his sword down, careful to do so next to the wall, and not the edge, draws his crossbow, and takes aim.


I got one shot!

free action drop
move action draw
Standard attack

[roll0] -2 for 2nd range increment
[roll1]

[J-H]

The bolt hits, but the manticore flies on.

Manticore at 82hp.

[BelGareth]

Rex growls a deep throaty angry growl, and dismounts, ignoring the fleeing manticores for now, if they came back, they would deal with them.

He picks up his sword after reloading his crossbow, and slinging it back on his back. He then looks to everyone, making sure to be projecting his aura of vigor, and makes his way back to the beguilers dead body.

He kicks her, almost gently, as if regretting her death, but also making sure she is actually dead, and not feigning it. Once convinced, he kneels down on one knee, and searches her body, taking the time to be thorough.


Take 20 for a 22

[J-H]

The party is now 1/3 of the way to level 7 by XP...and almost halfway to level 7 WBL. That beguiler was a pretty successful robber.

Eternal wands function 2x/day.

Cloak of Resistance +1
Ring of Protection +1
Unidentified Brooch
Masterwork Alchemical silver short sword
Masterwork dagger
800gp

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

The party is now 1/3 of the way to level 7 by XP...and almost halfway to level 7 WBL. That beguiler was a pretty successful robber.

Eternal wands function 2x/day.

Cloak of Resistance +1
Ring of Protection +1
Unidentified Brooch
Masterwork Alchemical silver short sword
Masterwork dagger
800gp




Does the broach or either of the weapons radiate a magical aura? Grassis has detect magic at will and Spellcraft: 9

[Feathersnow]

I'll trade the hammer for the short sword and the ring, unless someone needs it more. Having usethe dagger for throwing might be good, but anyone needing a side arm is a better use.

Chimaerae aren't The Enemy or Jossenites. Their death isn't regrettable, but it isn't especially desirable, either. At least outside of Great Leader's lands. Lets move on.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


"Such a waste of talent. " Grassis says darkly looking over the body of the mage. "We should keep moving."




Grassis will burn 2 charges on his healing belt for Rex and 1 on himself

Rex: [roll0] hp
Rex: [roll1] hp
Grasis: [roll2] hp

Grassis will also take possession of the wand of lesser vigor (UMD + deceive item 'taking 10' on check = 22 UMD to activate wand )

1 charge on Joas = + 11 hps
2 charges on Rex's horse = +22 hps
2 charges on Rex = +22 hps

[J-H]

Rexthaun's horse heals to 22 before being cured, I assume.

RexThaun 8 damage out of 96hp
RexThaun's horse fully healed
Grassis 5 damage out of 48hp
Joas 2 damage out of 36 hp
Zrabhas 6 damage out of 50hp

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas is thankful for the healing. "Well, that was close..." he says while he wipes his clothes clean "...always a hassle when monsters decide to come at me physically." He smiles. "Anyway...we made it!" When the loot is being divided Joas is not too much concerned. "Our first priority is to get you guys well armed and defended." And the second to keep me out of harms way. "Let`s keep moving, aye."

[J-H]

Riding on

The trail continues along the face of a cliff for another quarter-mile, and then becomes almost straight as it goes uphill and towards one of the peaks; Joas remembers that the mountains are highest close to the Yal river. The group rides on for another 3 hours (total = 5 hours riding, 15 miles covered). A couple of giant eagles pace the group for a while before losing interest.

You come to a split in the trail just past lunchtime. The stone cairns marking the trail diverge. Luckily, it’s on a small raised area, so you have a good view.

One path, narrow but steep, goes almost due north up a ridgeline. It’s in the direction you most want to go, but it looks like it may reach into one of the snowy areas.

The other path runs eastwards – looking that way, you can see that it winds its way around several shoulders of the mountain. You think you can see several routes up and down into the valleys around the mountain, but they’re miles away so you can’t tell for sure, even in the cold, clear air.

Off to the west, the good visibility lets you see a couple of wyvern-riders (probably from Josen), scouting the hills along the edge of the mountains. They are far away, and below you.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas

I think we should go east. If the Wyvern riders figure out what we are about, there is no way our presence could remain undetected. Regret and grim determination colors her breath.

Actual enemies. ZrabHas had trained her whole life for battle, but this was nearly the first time an actual Mind Flayer uh, Jossenite was before her. Could even the cause of Gith er... needs of Great Leader be cause enough to forgo the great glory of life? It seemed so. She hoped the others talked her down...

Her head hurt, but she couldn't remember why.

[BelGareth]

~before leaving~

Rex nods and hands the ring over to Zrab, "Here take it, you took far fewer licks than me, and seem much worse the ware for it" He then reaches down and takes the dagger, it felt good, and you could never have to many good daggers. He nods to Grassis as he heals him, letting his many wounds heal up and the energy wash over him, it felt good. He was a tough one, but no matter how tough he was, he wasn't immortal.

The battle had been enlightening, he need to bard his horse, Roger, better, and so he stopped to do so, making sure the animal was protected felt like a good investment, they couldn't have one of their mounts be killed, it would slow them down incredibly.


He takes the masterwork dagger, Bards his horse with the banded barding and also takes the bow and arrows from the previous encounter.


As they head to leave, he nods to Joas, "Yes, you should never have been that close. We should be working better as we go, hopefully no one will die during that process." he says, flat faced, and deadly serious. "And on that note, Zrabhas, my friend and fellow companion, I believe you and I should talk...." he says as they move on, up trail. He talks about tactics and procedures, how the two can work well together, his perceptions of everyone, what each person should, etc..

He reigns in Roger while looking at their options, and then the Wyverns.

"Wyvern riders are bad, we cannot fight them, and they could report our position....I suggest we move up the mountain, that snow would be great cover for us, and points us in the right direction."


AC: 19
HP's: 82/96
Mount AC: 20 <- My horse has a better AC than me!!! :smallbiggrin:
Mount HP's: 44/44

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"Not sure how well the horses or us would fair in the snow. I say we go east for now." Grassis speaks up.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas nods gravely at Rex. He agrees that he should not ever be the focus of melee combat. Still, he appears to be rather composed, as if confident he would have been able to sort it on his own in then end. You never know with these magician-types....best to assume they can and would have.

Joas looks up at the mountains and snow and then down to the longer (but warmer) path.


Knowledge nature: [roll0] to figure out whether the horses can take the high mountain path.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas.

Er, yes? What would you like to talk about..?
She looks creastfallen.

Oh no, here it comes. I'm not pulling my weight. I need to do better. It's worse than thee weight room at the monastery, because me failing is letting down Great Leader...

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Grassis has a good point. The horses won't take the high mountain route well. Therefore, I suggest to take the alternative route."

[J-H]

The group heads east; leaving the ridgeline area, the trail winds back and forth along the side of the mountain, following its natural curves. There are occasional shrubs and scrubby trees, a few of which the horses can get some nourishment from. You sight a few goats or sheep on the mountain, but they stay well away.

Close to the end of your riding day (total = 7.5 hrs riding, 22.5 mi covered), you notice a cave set about 20’ above the trail, up the hillside. In fact, as you approach it becomes difficult to not notice it due to the foul stench. Joas can’t think of any monster or civilized species that would want to live in such a smelly place.

Do you continue past, or do you investigate this as a place to spend the night?

[BelGareth]

Rex sighs, this Democratic reasoning was going to be their down fall, he wasn't sure the Lord ruler Jon Il-kim would have approved, he should have appointed a leader, then this team wouldn't falter at every opportunity.

He moves on taking a moment to heal his own wounds that were left.

Once they arrive he sniffs the air and growls quietly.
"I'm not sure we should entertain this cave our not, how are we feeling about our resources for the day?"


Touch of vitality the rest of my lost hp's (14)

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Hmmm...choices, choices. I must admit that I am curious to find out what lives up there. One might argue it is not relevant for our mission, but we also don't want to find out what it is when it goes out for hunting in the night, eh?" Joas looks at the cave. "Should we run into trouble, I have some reserve left to fight."

[Feathersnow]

I could fight it well enough, but it seems like a risk worth avoiding.

She is cheered up by the idea she is still a valued member of the Rrathmal, er, raiding party, and trying to surpress her natural bloodlust. Huh, what was that...?

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"The horses will need to rest soon so no matter what we will be camping in what is likely walking distance to the cave. Not sure I could sleep with that terrible smell or that the horses would tolerate it. On the other hand if that smell is something ..well, mobile, we may be exposing ourselves with an indefensible camping spot out in the open. I can see an argument for doing either. No one seems keen on charging into the cave so perhaps we shouldn't."

Grassis shrug indicating he didn't care much either way.

[BelGareth]

Rex hears the comments, they made sense. He smiled, they were coming together as a team. Finally.

He nodded "You make sense Grassis, I think we should go in and investigate, with Zrab and I in front, we should be able to take care of most things."

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"Lead on..." Grassis says with a sinister lear. With a wave of his hand, Grassis disappears from sight once more. He slipped off his horse and looked for somewhere secure to tie it up and gave it a small amount of feed to keep it occupied. " I'll be right behind you.... mostly. "

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Obviously excited by the prospect of finding out what lives in the cave, Joas smiles. "Yes, good idea. You guys take the front, I´ll be right behind you. Alternatively, we can try to lure it out, so we get the jump for a change. If the creature is curious enough, we should be able to do that."

[BelGareth]

Joas' idea had merit.

He turned his head towards him "I like the idea, but the cave should allow us to force a front, and provide cover for you two, whatever's in there will be at home, yes, but we avoid being outmaneuvered"

He jumped off Roger and found a place to tie him up, like Grassis, hefting his sword and shield, he pulsed his aura of senses, hoping to provide the edge they needed to detect their enemy.

He motions to Zrabhas, "Let's go Zrab, I'll lead the way, you watch my flank." and then starts to head for the cave entrance.

[J-H]

Investigating

Leaving the horses behind, the group ascends the path to the mouth of the cave. It grows swiftly dark inside, and widens to about 20’ wide. There’s just enough light for even Zrabhas and Joas to make out a group of about half a dozen javelin-wielding medium humanoids crouched behind and on some rocks, with more behind them. Their skin is colored like the rocky walls, so it’s hard to make out details for some of them.


Joas rolled a 15+8=23 and recognizes the humanoids as troglodytes, cave-dwelling primitives that probably speak draconic (as most reptilians do) and that can emit a foul, debilitating stench.

Grassis rolled a 28 on his sense motive (17+11) and can tell that they are very nervous.

(I rolled this dice 3 times for the other Sense Motive checks and it came up 17 each time. I need to swap it out for another one.)

=> Party

[BelGareth]

Rex pulls up, holding a hand out rest the group.

He speaks to them in Draconic "we mean no harm, we are traveling, and seek shelter, we thought this cave was a good place. We had no idea you were here. Is this your home?"


[roll0]

[J-H]

The troglodytes relax slightly, and one in the back speaks. “You speak tongue of Kings! Yes, this our nesting place. Nothing here you want. Travel safely on you may.”

[Feathersnow]

Thank you for your hospitality. We shall not impose.

Reasonably people!! I didn't know there were any in this plane.

[BelGareth]

Rex turns to relay what they had said.
He regards Zrab with a raised eye. I under estimated this one

"They don't want us here, but they seem happy to let us go." he said, in common to the others.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas


Joas nods at Rex and smiles at the troglodytes. "Then, indeed," he says in draconic "we shall be on our way. Good night and fare well."

[J-H]

The group moves on, leaving the smelly cave behind. Shortly, your horses begin to tire, but the track continues on through the hills.

(8 hrs riding, 24 miles covered).

You can stop where you are, or if you dismount and lead the horses, you can proceed at a slower rate, and the horses will take 1d6 non-lethal damage per hour instead of lethal damage.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

The troglodyte cave is a mile, maybe two behind them, so Joas considers them safe from troglodyte ambush. "We can look for a suitable place to camp here, no?"

[BelGareth]

Rex nodded in agreement, Roger was still strong, but he could tell the horse could use a rest.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis nods in agreement though he was still invisible. "Yes, we should camp. I doubt the Trogs can sneak up on us even if they wanted. We should do double watchers again just in case."

[J-H]

You look around at the trail in front and behind of you; it goes along a rocky, sloping hillside. There are occasional scrubby trees, but no water in sight; if you make camp, you'll have to water the horses yourselves, and will be exposed to whatever the wind blows in during the night. If you make a fire, it'll be visible for miles, so this might be a cold and dreary night.


Anyone have a tent?


Go ahead and camp?

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas.

Back in Limbo, we had deal with far worse. You Material Plane guys have it easy. Kip up!

Forced cheeriness abounds in her voice. She hates this as much as everyone else, possibly more.

[BelGareth]

Rex snorted, she was right of course, but this didn't make this any better, and wouldn't make his back not hurt in the morning.

"We need to rest, either way, this isn't going to be fun, we need to pack it up, and suck it up, we're not here for our entertainment." he says, as he dismounts, and moves Roger to the side where he thinks the horse will be well suited, against the wind, and then ties him up before prepping the camp sight.

[J-H]

The group spends a chilly and windy night on the side of the mountain. If the weather gets any colder, the horses will need some protection or will start taking cold damage during the 3 coldest hours of the night. The cold keeps you from sleeping well, and you hear the distant noises of animals throughout the night. You rise with the sun, riding east above the fog-laden valleys.

After two miles of riding, you come down a ridgeline to a cleft in the mountains; the trail is steep enough that those who aren’t skilled riders must dismount, and only quick reflexes prevent a couple of slides. After going down, you continue on into a forested area. It ends abruptly at a mist-covered pond. A herd of elk is nearby, and they notice your approach. Most of them flee, but a huge bull elk takes exception to your presence. He bellows loudly and shakes his horns, which have a span longer than a horse, in challenge.


When I say huge, I mean Huge.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"We should try avoiding eye contact and go around I guess." he whispers to the group. The cold night seemed inconsequential to Grassis.





Re-apply invisibility in the morning.


He also uses endure elements every day via eternal wand so he's good down to - 50 F.

[J-H]

That reminds me - 1 charge of eternal wand used this morning to ID the brooch as a Brooch of Shielding with 22hp of Magic Missile absorption left

[BelGareth]

"Agreed, we do not need to fight this creature if we don't have to." he says, from on top of Roger.

"Should we back up, or merely skirt around him?"

[J-H]

The group successfully disengages from the huge elk, moving slowly away from it and around the other side of the pond. The trail continues around the mountain, rising only slightly from the forested area. It’s probably a longer route, but at least there are no cliff-side trails where falling means certain, instant death – although there are crevasses and steep drop-offs.

A rumbling noise catches your ears, and you look up-hill to see an avalanche coming towards you, with a large creature coming right behind it! Grassis identifies it as an Avalancher, a magical beast that uses the harsh mountain terrain to weaken or kill its prey.
http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/eberron/images/e/eb/82966.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20120128150303

Surprise Round
Avalanche started!

Round 1, Part 1
(Avalancher wins initiative)

The avalancher waves its legs and stomps the ground, sending out a wave of magical power that Grassis and Zrabhas can both identify as Transmute Rock to Mud.

This spell turns natural, uncut or unworked rock of any sort into an equal volume of mud. Magical stone is not affected by the spell. The depth of the mud created cannot exceed 10 feet. A creature unable to levitate, fly, or otherwise free itself from the mud sinks until hip- or chest-deep, reducing its speed to 5 feet and causing a -2 penalty on attack rolls and AC. Brush thrown atop the mud can support creatures able to climb on top of it. Creatures large enough to walk on the bottom can wade through the area at a speed of 5 feet.



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/avalancher%20rd%201%20pt%201%20end.jpg

=> Party

[Feathersnow]

"G'Yup!! Horse! Back and away!"

ZrabHas attempts to turn the Horse backwards and away from the avalanche. It could probably outrun it for a while. Forward is the only bad direction for horses. ZrabHas wishes she knew what she was doing...

[roll0]

[BelGareth]

Rex urges Roger forward, he kicks the horse as much as possible. Trying to get out of way.


He double moves forward 5 twice, ending at bm264

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis spots the danger far too late to warn his friends. " Avalancher!" he calls out. His eyes dart up the slope at the incoming rocks and then down at his horse. A look of pity cross his face.

"Sorry old girl, yer on your own." he gently pats the horse with affection to reassure it. Grassis draws his magical energies around his fist and fires a blast into the approaching threat. He instantly teleports onto stable ground and scrambles to safety, leaving the confused horse behind.






Attack action: Fires an eldritch blast at the monster.

Ranged touch attack (vs flat footed AC ) : [roll0] point blank shot

Damage : [roll1] (mortal bane + point blank shot)



This causes Grassis to turn visible.


Free action : activate anklets of translocation, teleport 10 ft to BI - 263


Move action : Move 30 ft to BN263

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas notices that he is trapped in the middle, in the mud, with an avalanche on its way. Fleeing might work, but deciding to do so may also be his death sentence. He thinks swift and comes up with a solution to the problem. That is, hopefully a solution. The "zing" of blades that you heard before can be heard again, as an opaque sheet of ectoplasm forms between the group and the avalanche. It emits a low booming sound. Then, Joas tries to maneuver his horse out of the mud.


Standard: Manifest Wall of Energy (sonic) of 60 feet in BA-BM 262, sending sonic waves towards the avalanche. Rocks in line 260 and 261 take [roll0] sonic damage, ignoring hardness. Rocks behind are too high up, I guess. Rocks passing through the wall take [roll1] sonic damage, ignoring hardness. I guess every bit of rock that comes to row 263 takes that cumulative amount of damage. Don´t know how many rocks there are, and with all their various sizes this is a mess, so feel free to wing something to represent the effect of this power :smallsmile:.

Move: 5 ft north and then as far westward as I can get.

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 2

Joas throws up a wall of sonic energy that breaks many of the smaller stones, blunting some of the force of the avalanche. He manages to maneuver his horse out of the mud.
Grassis fires a bolt of energy at the Avalancher.

Hit for 13


The other two members of the group force their horses to struggle through and out of the mud

Round 2, Part 1

The avalanche continues to grow as it moves downhill; much of it slams into the wall of sonic energy, which breaks the smaller stones and cracks the larger ones, but it still rolls into the party. Especially combined with the sonic wall, the noise of hundreds of rocks rolling, bouncing, and clattering downhill is nearly deafening, and the air is chocked with rock dust.

Most of the group makes it through okay, but Joas's horse trips and falls, sending the human to the ground; rocks and boulders pile up over both Joas and his horse.


The avalanche spreads in a cone; everyone gets hit, but the damage is reduced from 2d6 to 1d6. Initial Reflex save reduced by -2, follow-up by -4. Stone has 15hp/ft, so anything under 10” or so is destroyed by 13 damage, and boulders over that size become a bit smaller.

Avalanche damage [roll0] Reflex DC 13 half.
Grassis [roll1] has DR 1/ci pass & negated by DR
G horse Reflex [roll2] pass, 1 dmg
Zrabhas [roll3] pass, 1 dmg
Z horse Reflex [roll4] pass, 1 dmg
RexThaun [roll5] pass, 1 dmg
R horse Reflex [roll6] pass, 1 dmg
Joas [roll7] fail, 2 dmg
J horse Reflex [roll8] fail, 2 dmg
(using Heavy warhorse Reflex)

Anyone whose horse fails its reflex save and falls takes [roll9] damage from falling to the ground, with a Ride check DC 15 to land softly.
Z Ride [roll10]
R Ride [roll11]
J Ride [roll12] fail, 1 dmg

Anyone who fails their save and falls under the rocks must make a Reflex save, DC 16 (was 20) or be buried under the rocks. Buried characters take 1d6 non-lethal damage per minute (once per 10 rounds) until unconscious, and then are at risk of lethal damage once per 10 rounds.
Burial, Reflex DC 16 negates

Grassis [roll13]
G horse Reflex [roll14]
Zrabhas [roll15]
Z horse Reflex [roll16]
RexThaun [roll17]
R horse Reflex [roll18]
Joas [roll19] fail, buried
J horse Reflex [roll20] fail, buried


The Avalancher rides the wave of rolling stones down unharmed until it takes damage from the vibration emanating from the energy wall. It digs its claws into the ground and stops there, lashing out at ZrabHas with a long front leg.

[roll21] sonic wall damage, Reflex DC 18 half
Reflex [roll22] fail, 6 dmg

Slam [roll23] vs AC23 hit, 16 dmg
Damage [roll24]



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/avalancher%20rd%202%20pt%201%20end.jpg
Map only shows edges of the avalanche.

Avalancher 19 damage

G horse 1 dmg
Z horse 1 dmg
R horse 1 dmg
J horse 2 dmg, buried under rocks
Zrabhas 17 dmg
RexThaun 1 dmg
Joas 3 dmg, buried under rocks

The rules don't give definitions for being buried, even when discussing natural avalanches. The good news is that a real avalanche does 8d6 and 3d6 damage, where this one just does 2d6 no matter what!

For manifesting/casting purposes, consider it being pinned (Concentration DC20).

To get free, Strength check DC30 to burst out on your own. The horse takes a -4 penalty for being on its side.
Otherwise, 40 damage (rock has 8 hardness) to rocks overhead, or cumulative full-round action strength checks totaling 70 for others to remove enough rocks.


=> Party

[BelGareth]

Rex dismounts from Roger, trying to jump from the saddle in haste. Joas was down, and Zrab was facing it alone, he needed to get to it now!


Dismount to BL263, if not possible dismount to BM263, which needs a balance check [roll0]

He then casts spider climb on himself as a spell like ability.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas stands up in the saddle and leaps at the... Yeti? What it is isn't important, only that it will die!

While springing to pounce, she activates Punishing Stance, then leaps like an Astral Panther at the... Bear? using Claw at the Moon technique to hit the .. whatever.
Either way, I am at a -2 to AC

[roll0] versus AC

[roll1]
Damage [roll2] Plus [roll3] if successful at the wild leap off the horse

[roll4] with a +4 if the jump worked
Damage
[roll5]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

A large rock bounces off Grassis stomach, leaving a dusty print. "Oooph." He moves up the slope and tries to get around the avalanche of rocks. He brushes himself off indignantly.




Move to : BK 261 (20 ft movement via spider climb, stepping up the slope and avoiding the avalanche squares)


Eldritch blast

Ranged Touch attack : [roll0]
Damage : [roll1] (mortal bane 2/5)

[J-H]

Round 2, Part 2

Grassis fires a ray of eldritch energy, causing a boulder nowhere near the Avalancher to explode. Zrabhas has more luck, making a leaping sword-swing off of her horse that lets her strike from above.

14 damage inflicted

BelGareth casts Spider Climb and then dismounts.

I fixed the order of actions so you don't have to worry about the failed balance check.


The avalanche continues down the hill; Joas’ sonic wall rattles the Avalancher’s teeth, but also catches Grassis as he moves through it and uphill.

[roll0] sonic damage, Reflex DC 18 half
Reflex [roll1] fail, 4 damage
I’m moving this to your turn since it makes more sense.
Grassis damage rolled OOC. Saved, 4 damage.


Round 3, Part 1

Rocks continue to rumble downhill, past the party.
The Avalancher steps up and to the side, away from the annoying sonic wall, and lashes out with two legs at ZrabHas.

In defiance of what I understand the rules to be, this monster is listed as having two slams.
Did ZrabHas get Inertial Armor manifested? I don’t see there having been a chance for it to be up, so I’m going to assume AC 19.
Attack [roll2]
Damage [roll3]

Attack [roll4]
Damage [roll5]
both hit for 27 damage



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/avalancher%20rd%203%20pt%201%20end.jpg

Avalancher 37 damage

Grassis 0 damage
G horse 1 dmg
Z horse 1 dmg
R horse 1 dmg
J horse 2 dmg, buried under rocks
Zrabhas 44 dmg out of 50hp
RexThaun 1 dmg
Joas 3 dmg, buried under rocks

=> Party

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas retaliates with an immediate action to burn the creature! Fire Riposte Technique! She decides to deliver it with her monastically trained unarmed skills instead of the traditional touch attack.

She kicks deadly fire at the creature!


1d20+10
Damage 1d6+1 and another [roll0] fire damage

Then she takes a withdraw action to BC 263. She can try to help Joas next turn, if nothing else.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Doh! Joas starts summoning a construct to dig him out.

1 round: Astral construct (I), trip, +10ft land speed. Appears in 1 round and starts digging me out.

[BelGareth]

Rex drops his shield and lance and swiftly changes his aura to propel those of the party forward if they were climbing.

He then takes to the rough ground and moves as swiftly as possible, around the wall of ectoplasm, and back towards the monsters. He shook his head, when where they going to fight someone who would stand in front of them? That would be too easy though, why take an easy foe, when you can have an avalanche!


Swift action to emit - Swiftness aura: +10 ft bonus to climb, swim, and fly; +2 to climb, swim, & jump checks
free: drop shield
free: drop lance
Move: move around wall to BL261, right behind Grassis
Move: Move through (squeeze?) to BF261?


He moves with some alacrity, scaling the wall like a spider, using all 4 limbs and with great speed. "I'm coming!" he says periodically, as if he was late for an appointment

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis fires off another shot, this time hoping to hit the creature.





Ranged touch attack : [roll0]

Damage : [roll1] (mortal bane 3/5)

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 2

Zrabhas slaps one of the Avalancher’s arms with a fiery palm right as it strikes her. The impact deals no damage, but she still succeeds in burning it before she retreats.


The Avalancher is immune to bludgeoning damage.
9 fire damage inflicted.


Grassis tags the Avalancher with a blast that its it in the mouth, causing an angry grumbling roar.

22 damage inflicted. Mortalbane is not worded like sneak attack regarding extra damage dice, so I’m letting it be doubled.


Joas begins sculpting ectoplasm together from his place under the rocks.

Please post what size/level construct it is and how many PP are expended. Astral Construct I just looks like a 1st-level construct, which may not be correct.


Joas’s sonic wall continues to emit energy.

Anything within 10’ of the wall takes [roll0] damage, no save. That includes Grassis and RexThaun. I may have missed this last round. I’m revising the map to make this more clear.
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/energyWall.htm



Avalancher 68 damage

Grassis 5 damage
G horse 1 dmg
Z horse 1 dmg
R horse 1 dmg
J horse 2 dmg, buried under rocks
Zrabhas 44 dmg out of 50hp
RexThaun 6 dmg
Joas 3 dmg, buried under rocks

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 1

The Avalancher looks around, then picks a yummy target.

It rushes down the hill at Zrabhas’ horse, slamming into it and shoving it off of its feet and back. It pushes the horse 10’, far enough that the horse is left with its front half over a 10’ drop. Lacking any chance to recover its balance, the horse falls into the cleft in the rock.


Improved Bull Rush
A Opposed strength check [roll0] includes +4 from IBR, +4 from size
Zrabhas’ heavy warhorse opposed strength check [roll1] includes +4 from size. Forgot +4 for 4 legs, so 15 total.

1 point of falling damage



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/avalancher%20rd%204%20pt%201%20end.jpg

Avalancher 68 damage

Grassis 5 damage
G horse 1 dmg
Z horse 2 dmg, prone
R horse 1 dmg
J horse 2 dmg, buried under rocks
Zrabhas 44 dmg out of 50hp
RexThaun 6 dmg
Joas 3 dmg, buried under rocks

=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Aye, I meant a first level construct, 1 PP, with Astral construct I. It is small, Str 15, AC18, 15 hp.

Joas directs his construct to start digging him out. As soon as it appears possible and feasible, he will help by digging himself out.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas is really not in a good way. And dying here won't help. She]takes a double move to BO 263, or there abouts, depending on whether she succeeds the balance check.

[roll[1d20+13[/roll]

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis


Grassis fires off another bolt at the large monster. "Hurry up and die !" he urges it. "Ugh!" he mumbles as he gets hit with the sonicwall. He obviously wasn't expecting that.






Ranged touch attack : [roll0]

Damage : [roll1]


Movement, Will move 3 squares East and 3 square south, having trouble making out the exact grid coordinates. Basically go back around the sonic barrier and head back towards the path we were on. Let's say BM264

[BelGareth]

Rex scrambles across the rocks towards the monster, finally getting to even ground he draws his weapon the moment his 2 feet touch the ground, ready to fight the thing in earnest.


double move to AZ263
free action to draw weapon once standing on the move.
swift action to change aura to power: +2 damage.

AC: 18 (no shield)

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 2

Grassis and Zrabhas move towards the east end of the mud pit; Grassis sends another bolt of energy at the Avalancher, destroying another harmless rock. Joas’ construct appears and begins removing rocks.


1s and 20s on that EB…
Zrabhas auto-passes the balance check.
AC strength check [roll0] need to total 40 to remove


RexThaun closes in on the Avalanche-causing beast, although it kicks out with one of its six clawed legs as he approaches, but the blow slides off his armor.

It has reach. AOO.
Attack [roll1] vs AC21 miss AC 18, hit for 13
Damage [roll2]


Round 5, Part 1

The avalanche steps around the crevasse, attacking both RexThaun and the panicked horse lying on its side.

Vs RexThaun
Attack [roll3] vs AC21 hit
Damage [roll4]

Vs horse
Attack [roll5] vs AC12 (-4 for prone) hit
Damage [roll6]



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/avalancher%20rd%205%20pt%201%20end.jpg

Avalancher 68 damage

Grassis 5 damage
G horse 1 dmg
Z horse 16 dmg, prone
R horse 1 dmg
J horse 2 dmg, buried under rocks;
Zrabhas 44 dmg out of 50hp
RexThaun 32 dmg
Joas 3 dmg, buried under rocks, 32 str check remains

=> Party

[BelGareth]

Letting the Chaos of the moment overtake him, Rex does what he does best, and growls while hacking at the monster, this was no small manticore!

"You will Die beast, by my sword or my companions magic!"


Swift action to initiate chaos: [roll0] odd is bonus to hit, even is AC
free action: 5ft step towards avalancher
Move action: [roll1] (thing needs to understand me for it to work, and not be of animal intelligence)
Standard: [roll2] Flank with the horse?
[roll3]

AC: 24
Chaos: 1/10
Damage: 32/96

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis moves closer to get a better shot at the creature.





Movement: Move to BG 263

Ranged touch attack: [roll0]

Damage : [roll1]

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas re-assesses the situation and heads to BL 263. and activates inertial armor. She also shifts to Sea of Blades stance

[J-H]

Round 5, Part 2

RexThaun chases the creature, yelling threateningly before cutting a rent in its rocky armor his sword.


Hit for 11 damage
Intimidate DC 26 or cower; on
Opposed check for this creature is d20+ base +7, +4 size, +4 not a humanoid type, +4 language barrier (it doesn’t speak Common), +6 from damage inflicted on you… total d20+25, so it succeeds on a 1. Too bad you rolled a 2 on your check.


Grassis fires another ray of energy at it. The eldritch energy enters through the cracks in the creatures armor and hits something vital; a spray of what looks like mud emerges from the far side of the Avalancher, and it collapses, its corpse rolling downhill for a ways before coming to rest.

Hit for 12 damage


The Astral Construct continues to work to free Joas.

Str [roll0] 32 remaining



Grassis 5 damage
G horse 1 dmg
Z horse 16 dmg, prone
R horse 1 dmg
J horse 2 dmg plus [roll1] non-lethal dmg, buried under rocks;
Zrabhas 44 dmg out of 50hp
RexThaun 32 dmg
Joas 3 dmg, buried under rocks,


It takes almost half an hour to remove all of the rocks, free Joas and his horse, calm and retrieve Zrabhas’ horse, and get back on the trail beyond the permanently muddy section.

Inspecting the Avalancher’s body yields no treasures, although it has large, well-marbled joints around the six shoulders, and you suspect they would make excellent roasts.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis immidately helps to dig out Joas and get the horses settled. During a break in the rock clearing, he pulls out the wand of healing and makes the rounds.



Z Horse - 1 charge +11 hps
Zrabhas - 4 charges +44 hps
Rex - 3 charges +33 hps

[BelGareth]

Rex slumps down as the beast falls to their combined might, holding onto his sword with the point planted downward.

That was a lot of work.

He hauled himself up, and took to getting the horses and Joas, tossing boulders and move the general detritus of the avalanche. Once released, he looks back at the monster that had attacked them, and moves to what seems to be a good dinner. He starts to hack off the shoulders with his dagger, "Anyone know what this creature is? It's flesh looks like we can eat it, should be good eating tonight at the very least."


He grabs all his dropped gear

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"I believe this is an avalancher. They are usually quite edible - least according to the dwarves. " Grassis shuddered at the corpse. He didn't find it particularly appetizing. He unconsciously confirmed he still had his everlasting rations on him. He waved his hand and disappeared from sight once more, taking his sour expression with him. "Those dwarfs will put anything in their mouths..."

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas isn't sure what to think. She is used to fighting enemies who flesh was slow death by corruption. But, on the other hand, eating meat is one of the luxuries of being Rrathmal, er, a favored servant of Il-Kim that most lesser Githerazai Corans don't get but rarely. But cannibalism was the worst possible sin, something in her remembered this, if she couldn't name why. It was right on the tip of her tongue. Oh, well, the important thing is she act, properly, not that she know why...

Hmm.... It wasn't, like, sentient, was it?

[BelGareth]

Rex looks up from carving the shoulder hocks. and frowns "So what? People eat dragon all the time, they carve their bodies up and wear their shells as armor, use their bones as weapons, use their eyes and eggs as spell components, eat their meat to make them strong. All dragons are sentient, what does that have to do with it?"

He shook his head and continued slicing off the shoulders, if his companions didn't want the meat, he would take them anyway, it was good meat and they were on the road, they needed the protein.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis was momentarily tempted to lie - but changed his mind. He wasn't fully aware of ZrabHas belief system and decided to err on the side of caution truth for a change. She was much, much taller than him and more than a little scary.


"Smarter than your horse but dumber than a halfling. Tricky and clever ambusher hunters but you probably couldn't have a game of cards with it." he said in a wishy-washy way. Grassis viewed 'sentience' as a slope rather than a yes/no proposition. He decided to let ZrabHas decided for herself.

Grassis shrugged an invisible shrug, forgetting that no one could see his subtle gesture.

[Feathersnow]

No, G... someone. said that is the thing we must never do. I thought it was Great Leader, but I can't remember. It doesn't matter, though, if it is just a beast. We should eat as much as we can, and carry more.


It was weird that she was thinking about this. It hurt, like a missing tooth in her brain. That sent another chill into her, but she couldn't remember.

She starts hacking up the corpse, if only not to think about.... whatever it is.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Once his friends have digged him up, Joas cleans himself up. "Thank you. I made a judgement and misjudged, and ended up under a pile of rock. That won´t happen again." When the discussion turn more towards the quality of meat and ethics of eating, Joas gets more and more curious about how avalancher soup might taste: "I´ll have a bite of that."

[J-H]

After harvesting the meat and bypassing the mud, you ride on. After just half an hour, the trail bends and descends, joining what appears to be a cart track from the southeast. You know you need to go north, so you turn that way. Shortly, you begin to see signs of mining – clusters of removed rock, and shored-up mine openings. You pass several dwarves driving mule-pulled carts of ore, and at least one goliath. They look at you suspiciously and warily, especially given the battered and dusty state of some of the party members.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas smiles friendlily at the Dwarves and Goliath. No reason to distrust them, or to feed their suspicion.

I am under the impression that Joas has 3 damage (and a dusty cloak). Lemme know if that is somehow wrong.

[J-H]

The track eventually straightens, and you see it descend slightly before vanishing into a gap that Joas thinks is probably a great canyon cut by the Yal river. Those carts must be going somewhere, but you can’t tell where yet, although you do see some signs of smoke ahead in the distance, so there’s probably some form of civilization nearby. Your horses are beginning to tire (7 hours of riding time so far today), and it’s been some time since you’ve seen a water source for them; at least the mountain air is cool and crisp.. Based on the number of mine entrances you’ve seen, this area must be riddled with small-time miners, each working their own claim.

It’s getting on towards late afternoon – the peak to the west makes for short days. You smell fish, pan bread, and sizzling fat, as some of the miners have ventured outside and are beginning to light fires to cook their dinners. Others are setting up their lean-tos over the mine entrances against the cold of night. Most are dwarves, although you see a couple of goliaths – their size means their mine shafts must be larger, but their muscle helps make up for it.

You hear screams from a mine-head just a hundred feet ahead. A few of the miners in sight grab tools or weapons, stand up, and start heading that way. A dwarf, carrying no tools or weapons, runs out of the entry screaming something panicked in Dwarven.

(Joas is able to understand it: Aaaah! It got Kimel and Zairen! We broke down a wall and it was just – this thing with – things! Eaten alive aaagh!).
The dwarf runs across the track, veering downhill and away from you. In his panic, he trips and falls on the rocky ground, but scrambles back to his feet and keeps running.

You hear a babble of other voices distantly from the mine; it sounds like there are several creatures talking at once.


You are approximately 100’ from the mine exit, which is 5’ wide and dark. The track is 15’ wide, and bordered on both sides by 5’ to 25’ of sloped, rocky terrain (difficult, but no balance check). Mine exits are set back from the cart track into the hillside or the face of a cliff, and typically have cleared, flattened terrain in front of them, often accompanied by a tent or at least a covered cooking area.

There are a number of NPCs approaching, and most of them appear armed. You may take up to two full rounds of actions before we enter round-by-round combat.

[Feathersnow]

Oh [untranslatable Gith curse]!!!
What is it this time!?
Every fight seems to be her getting savaged, but finally dying to some monster that doesn't even want to target her Rrathmal(?) specifically would be worse, somehow. Better be ready this time. She draws her sword.


ZrabHas actives Inertial Armor and Sea of Blades stance. Drawing a sword is a move-equivalent.

ZrabHas is 1/ + a healing spell\ HP, right? I remember healing being discussed, but I don't recall numbers.

[BelGareth]

Rex sighs, this was not their fight, but winning the locals over might help them out.

"Let's go, these locals can help us"

He charges Roger forward, towards where the dwarf came running from.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"It sounds like someone was attacked in the mine," Joas translates and informs his companions. This looks like trouble. Joas summons inner power to protect himself and then heads towards the mine. "What happened?", he says in Dwarven to the miners...."Maybe we can help."


In the 2 full rounds, I would like to
-Manifest Vigor, 4 PP (20 temp hp), hide display [roll0] DC16 to not spook the Dwarves (also do this manifesting first, so at a distance)
-Move to the entrance of the mine
-Dismount
-Talk to the Dwarves.

[J-H]

Round 0

Grassis, invisible, dismounts and approaches on foot, staying 60’ away from the mine entrance, just in range for his eldritch blast.

RexThaun & Joas ride, mounted, to the mine entrance. Joas inquires in Dwarven, but merely gets puzzled answers from those in range. Nobody seems to know what’s going on except the dwarf who ran off to the north in a panic.

Zrabhas stays back, mounted, waiting to see what happens.

The sounds intensify as a…thing…emerges.

http://cdn.obsidianportal.com/assets/194897/gibbering_mouther.jpg

Nobody is quite sure what it is.

Without hesitation, RexThaun charges it. His lance scores a hit, but the creature sort of squishes around it, absorbing some of the blow and spreading throughout its amorphous body.

Charge attack [roll0]
Damage [roll1] - DR = 4 damage inflicted

You think a bludgeoning weapon might be more effective.


The creature is covered in mouths of all sizes, all…talking, it seems, but it’s very hard to follow what it’s saying as the words creep into your brain and sit down, kicking their feet up into your eyes and making your ears spin.

Everybody in 60’ range has to make a Will Save DC 13 or be confused for 1d2 rounds.

Dp1 [roll2] or Confused [roll3] rounds, confusion result is [roll4] fail, attack nearest 1 rd
Db1 [roll5] or Confused [roll6] rounds, confusion result is [roll7]
Rex [roll8] or Confused [roll9] rounds, confusion result is [roll10]
Roger [roll11] or Confused [roll12] rounds, confusion result is [roll13]
Joas [roll14] or Confused [roll15] rounds, confusion result is [roll16]
J Horse [roll17] or Confused [roll18] rounds, confusion result is [roll19]
Grassis [roll20] or Confused [roll21] rounds, confusion result is [roll22] fail, stand and babble 1 rd


Confusion table:
d%
Behavior
01-10 Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons (or close with caster if attack is not possible).
11-20 Act normally.
21-50 Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51-70 Flee away from caster at top possible speed.
71-100 Attack nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of the subject’s self).

Most of the people in range, including both horses, Joas, and Rex, are able to fight it off and focus.


http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/gib%20rd%200-corr_1.jpg

UGH 4 damage; Gibbering: anyone entering 60’ radius must save or be confused.

Zrabhas 46/50hp (2 + 44 healing from last battle)
RexThaun -2AC from charge
Joas +20 temp HP

Attack nearest:
Dp1

Babble 1 rd:
Grassis

Immune to UGH's Gibber:
RexThaun & horse
Joas & horse
Db1

=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Interested, Joas regards the creature, that resemblebiddibiddiblablarghl NO!. Just in time, he realizes the mental assault and regains his mental faculties. He hopes his friends were also able to do so, and decides that this threat needs to be stopped. His favoured personal construct appears next to the monster and starts to attack, while Joas focuses on the sound and tries to put it where noone can hear it. Then, he retreats back, out of harms way.


Swift: Summon personal construct in T49, 7pp, taking [roll0] damage.
Standard: Control sound, 3pp, to mute the gibberish
Move: move to N54

Construct slam attack: [roll1], [roll2] magic, bludgeoning damage. If hit, trip [roll3], though I am not so sure this creature is susceptible.

Personal construct:

Special menu abilities: (B) Muscle, (A) Power attack, (A) Trip

Medium construct
70 hp
+2 initiative
40 Sp
AC 22 (touch 12, flat-footed 20)
Attack: 1 slam +9 (PA 3)
Damage: 1d6+19
Sp: Darkvision, low-light vision, Trip +9
F+1, R+3, W+1
S29, D15, C-, I-, W11, C10

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas has the horse trot to 0 67 and adjusts her prepared maneuvers to ones designed to charge or resist mental effects.

[BelGareth]

Rex snarls and throws his lance to the side, seeing its effectiveness. He pulls out his sword, and, thinking at the last moment, breaths flame acid upon the abomination!


Free drop lance
Move draw weapon
Standard breath acid: [roll0] DC 19 Ref for half
Swift power +2 to melee damage

AC: 21
Damage taken: 0/96

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 1

Strange babblings in the Xeph tongue from thin air startle a nearby dwarf. Zrabhas moves her horse up slightly, readying her mind for the battle to come while staying well back.

The babbling suddenly gets quiet, as the creature is muted. In the sudden near-silence, you hear distant noises, as though other voices are still talking within the mind.

An ectoplasmic construct appears and lands a heavy blow on the thing, as RexThaun spits acid at it.

Punch for 19 damage.

Acid breath, 11 damage, Reflex DC 19 half
[roll0] fail


Most of the nearby miners move closer, trying to get a good look at their enemy. One fires a crossbow bolt and misses, while a confused dwarf attacks the lone goliath with his pick, drawing blood. The goliath charges the creature, wielding a giant sledgehammer but only hitting a rock nearby, which explodes into fragments under the might blow.


Dp1 attacks goliath with his pick.
Attack [roll1] hit
Heavy pick Damage [roll2]

Goliath charge
Attack [roll3] miss
Goliath Greathammer Damage [roll4]

Db1 attacks with light crossbow & reloads
Attack [roll5] miss
Damage [roll6]



UGH 34 damage; Gibbering: temporarily suppressed

Goliath 5

Zrabhas 46/50hp
RexThaun -2AC from charge

Immune to UGH's Gibber:
RexThaun & horse
Joas & horse
Db1

[BelGareth]

Rex Grins, dripping a little acid out of his mouth as the creature takes the brunt of his breath attack. He focused, willing the gibbering sounds away, but it would seem someone, or something had quieted the thing? He wasn't sure, he still heard screaming and yelling, and talking. Shrugging his shoulders, he surged forward, attempting to bat at the monster with the flat of his blade.


Roger attacks
[roll0] +2 if flanking with the Astral construct (i think I am)
[roll1] Bludgeoning

Rex attacks with the flat of his blade
[roll2] +2 if flanking with the Astral construct
[roll3] Bludgeoning

[roll4] -1 for this round
AC: 21
HP's: 0/96

[J-H]

Round 1, Part 2

The creature spits acid at RexThaun from one of its many mouths.

Ranged touch [roll0] hit
Damage [roll1] acid
If hits, DC 18 fort save or blinded for [roll2] rounds
RexThaun Fort save [roll3] saved


It reaches out a pseudopod and pulls itself forward. The mouths all around it extend on pseudopods and try to bite every warm-blooded creature within reach.


Vs RexThaun AC21
Attack [roll4] for 1 damage miss
Attack [roll5] for 1 damage miss

Vs Goliath AC 10
Attack [roll6] for 1 damage hit
Attack [roll7] for 1 damage hit

Vs Roger the horse, AC 20
Attack [roll8] for 1 damage miss
Attack [roll9] for 1 damage hit



http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/gib%20rd%201%20end.jpg

UGH 34 damage; Gibbering: temporarily suppressed

Goliath 7

Zrabhas 46/50hp
RexThaun 3 damage
Roger 1 damage

Immune to UGH's Gibber:
RexThaun & horse
Joas & horse
Db1
=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Some confused dwarves aside, the situation seems pretty much under control, so Joas is satisfied to watch events as his constructs continues to fight, while he maintains concentration on his Control sound power.


Self: Maintain concentration

AC: Attack slam [roll0], damage [roll1] magic, bludgeoning.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas assumed the creature would come out to the middle of the road. If her friends have it pinned, there is little she can do to help. And it is entirely possible the dwarves and other, larger dwarf-like creature might not need to be killed, so she will not attack them first. She rides on as a double move to 0 51.

[J-H]

Round 2, Part 1

RexThaun misses with his sword, but Roger lands several good kicks, which are punctuated in turn by another blow from the ectoplasmic construct. The silenced creature sags and stops moving, leaking who-knows-what kind of fluid from its mouths.

25 damage inflicted, putting UGH at 59 total damage and dead.

Grassis reorients himself & shakes his head (invisibly) just in time to see the thing stop moving. ZrabHas moves up on her horse.

The dwarves, seeing the threat neutralized, move closer to investigate.
Most of them are double-moving

Round 2, Part 2

Two globs of acid fly out of the darkness at the astral construct, followed moments later by the splops, heaves, and squelches of two more of the disgusting creatures exiting the mine. These two look fuller, in the way that a snake might after devouring some prey. The racket of confusing voices returns and intensified, filling the air with far too many words to process at once.

The Astral Construct attempts to hit one, but merely hits the air. The goliath isn't so lucky, as one of the mouths bites him on the shin.


Acid spittle 1
Ranged touch [roll0] vs AC 12 miss
Damage [roll1] acid plus DC 18 Fort or blind for [roll2] rounds
AC Fort [roll3] (a 70hp creature with a +1 save, really?)

Acid spittle 2
Ranged touch [roll4] vs AC 12 miss
Damage [roll5] acid plus DC 18 Fort or blind for [roll6] rounds
AC Fort [roll7]

If it can still see, the Astral Construct gets an AOO on ICK, the first one through.
Slam attack [roll8] miss
Damage [roll9]

ICK makes a single attack against the Goliath hit
Bite attack [roll10] for 1 damage vs AC 12



Everybody in 60’ range has to make a Will Save DC 13 or be confused for 1d2 rounds.
Everyone gets two rolls. In the case of a conflicting confusion result, I’ll manually reroll if there's not a 'make the most sense' result. If you save against one of them, you are immune to that creature’s babbling for 24 hours.
Rolls are for ICK first and YUK second.

Dp1 [roll11] or Confused [roll12] rounds, confusion result is [roll13] fail
Dp1 [roll14] or Confused [roll15] rounds, confusion result is [roll16] fail, stand and babble
Da1 [roll17] or Confused [roll18] rounds, confusion result is [roll19] save
Da1 [roll20] or Confused [roll21] rounds, confusion result is [roll22] save
Db2 [roll23] or Confused [roll24] rounds, confusion result is [roll25] save
Db2 [roll26] or Confused [roll27] rounds, confusion result is [roll28] fail, attack nearest creature, 2 rounds
G [roll29] or Confused [roll30] rounds, confusion result is [roll31] fail
G [roll32] or Confused [roll33] rounds, confusion result is [roll34] fail
AC is immune
AC is immune
Db1 [roll35] or Confused [roll36] rounds, confusion result is [roll37] save
Db1 [roll38] or Confused [roll39] rounds, confusion result is [roll40] save
Da2 [roll41] or Confused [roll42] rounds, confusion result is [roll43] fail
Da2 [roll44] or Confused [roll45] rounds, confusion result is [roll46] save
Dp2 [roll47] or Confused [roll48] rounds, confusion result is [roll49] save
Dp2 [roll50] or Confused [roll51] rounds, confusion result is [roll52] save
Rex [roll53] or Confused [roll54] rounds, confusion result is [roll55] save
Rex [roll56] or Confused [roll57] rounds, confusion result is [roll58] save
Roger [roll59] or Confused [roll60] rounds, confusion result is [roll61] fail
Roger [roll62] or Confused [roll63] rounds, confusion result is [roll64] fail
Joas [roll65] or Confused [roll66] rounds, confusion result is [roll67] fail
Joas [roll68] or Confused [roll69] rounds, confusion result is [roll70] save
J Horse [roll71] or Confused [roll72] rounds, confusion result is [roll73] save
J Horse [roll74] or Confused [roll75] rounds, confusion result is [roll76] save
Grassis [roll77] or Confused [roll78] rounds, confusion result is [roll79] save
Grassis [roll80] or Confused [roll81] rounds, confusion result is [roll82] save
ZrabHas [roll83] or Confused [roll84] rounds, confusion result is [roll85] save
ZrabHas [roll86] or Confused [roll87] rounds, confusion result is [roll88] fail
Z Horse[roll89] or Confused [roll90] rounds, confusion result is [roll91] fail
Z Horse[roll92] or Confused [roll93] rounds, confusion result is [roll94] save


Confusion table:
d%
Behavior
01-10 Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons (or close with caster if attack is not possible).
11-20 Act normally.
21-50 Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51-70 Flee away from caster at top possible speed.
71-100 Attack nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of the subject’s self).




http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/gib%20rd%202%20end.jpg

Dp1 Babbling in place for 2 rounds
Db2 Attack nearest creature, 2 rounds
Goliath 8 Attack nearest or caster, 1 round (roll d2 to select which on next turn)
Da2 attack nearest, 1 round
Z Horse, attack caster (ICK) 2 rounds
Roger, Flee 1 round, then attack nearest creature 1 round
Joas, Babble 1 round
Zrabhas 46/50hp, attack nearest creature 1 round
RexThaun 3 damage
Roger 1 damage

Immune to ICK babble
Da1
Db2
Db1
Dp2
Rex
J horse
Grassis
Zrabhas

Immune to YUK babble
Da1
Db1
Da2
Dp2
Rex
Joas
J horse
Grassis
Z Horse

=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Mmmmmbeep, beep, graeftlafel. Pudding, pudding. pudding!"


Self: Babble and lose concentration of Control sound

AC attacks ICK, unless my temporary idiocy prevents it from acting.

Slam: [roll0], damage [roll1] bludgeoning, magic.

[BelGareth]

Rex Scowls as more of the jibbering things come from the tunnel, Roger suddenly bursts away, not able to handle the foul mouthed things, and Rex drops off the horse, hoping he doesn't hurt himself too much.

He turns and looks at the monster, taking another swing at it, with the flat of his blade.


Roger runs off

Rolled in OOC
Attack - (1d20+3)[13]
Damage - (1d10+5)[7]

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas sees the horrid things more clearly than before. Something in her seethes. The world is wrong, it is a sin that existence can contain these, these things. Her horse goes mad in rage, and, though at least somewhat coherent, she joins in in her mounts mad charge at ICK!



1d20+ 14
damage
1d6+10

Warhorse's attack
1d20+4
damage



[roll] 1d20+16
[roll1]

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 1

Grassis becomes visible as a lance of energy reaches out from his fingertip towards the southern creature.

EB ranged touch [roll0] vs YUK hit for 9
Damage [roll1]


Joas makes some very confusing sounds; his horse gets a bit nervous, but stays still. The Astral construct attacks the closest creature, but misses, as does RexThaun, who rolls off his horse and onto the attack.

ZrabHas’ horse makes a confused charge straight at the northern creature, and she takes advantage of that to make an attack of her own as she stays mounted, punching the same creature.

Both attacking ICK
Fixing rolls
Horse attack [roll2] for 3 damage crit not confirmed with phys dice, hit for 3 bludge damage

Attack [roll3] (base 10, +2 charge) hit for 13 bludge/punching damage
Damage [roll4]


Roger the horse runs to the north.

The Goliath, confused, swings its mighty hammer at the Astral Construct, but misses

Attack [roll5] vs AC22 miss
Goliath Greathammer Damage [roll6]


One of the dwarves holding a pick stands still, talking nonsense; another dwarf, equipped with a bow, shoots at a nearby dwarf that’s holding flasks of acid, sending a bolt in front of his face. The dwarf curses back at him in the dwarven tongue, but doesn’t retaliate, focusing instead on the foes.

Db2 attacks Da1
Attack [roll7] vs AC 11 miss
Damage [roll8]


To the south, one of the acid-flask carriers throws it at a nearby dwarf, then pulls out another one. The flask hits to the northwest, splashing acid on both the thrower and its intended target

Da2 ranged touch [roll9] vs AC11
Damage [roll10] acid
miss, I rolled an 8, hits in the square northwest of the target. Da2 & Db1 both take 1 acid damage


Several of the other dwarves, clear-headed, assault the strange aberrations. An acid flask flies right past one enemy and into the mouth of the mine, while another crossbow bolt hits a boulder and breaks.

Da1 moves up.
Da1 ranged touch [roll11] vs ICK
Damage [roll12] acid if hits, plus 5’ radius splash for 1 damage.
If miss, 2 range increments in [roll13] direction with 1 being north, 2 being northeast, etc., and deal splash to everyone around that square.
miss,

Db1 crossbow attack vs YUK
Attack [roll14] -4 for shooting into melee miss
Damage [roll15]




ICK 16 damage
YUK 9 damage

Dp1 Babbling in place for 1 rounds
Db2 1 damage; Attack nearest creature, 1 rounds
Da2 1 damage
Dh clear

Goliath 8
Z Horse, attack caster (ICK) 1 rounds
Roger, Attack nearest creature 1 round
Joas,
Zrabhas 46/50hp -2 AC, charge
RexThaun 3 damage
Roger 1 damage

Immune to ICK babble
Da1
Db2
Db1
Dp2
Rex
J horse
Grassis
Zrabhas

Immune to YUK babble
Da1
Db1
Da2
Dp2
Rex
Joas
J horse
Grassis
Zrabhas
Z Horse

[J-H]

Round 3, Part 2

The air continues to reverberate with the sounds of dozens or hundreds of voices in several languages.

Everybody in 60’ range has to make a Will Save DC 13 or be confused for 1d2 rounds.
Everyone gets two rolls. In the case of a conflicting confusion result, I’ll manually reroll. If you save against one of them, you are immune to that creature’s babbling for 24 hours.

Dp1 ICK [roll0] or Confused [roll1] rounds, confusion result is [roll2] save
Dp1 YUK [roll3] or Confused [roll4] rounds, confusion result is [roll5] fail, attack nearest1 rd
Db2 YUK [roll6] or Confused [roll7] rounds, confusion result is [roll8] fail, flee 1 rd
G ICK [roll9] or Confused [roll10] rounds, confusion result is [roll11] save
G YUK [roll12] or Confused [roll13] rounds, confusion result is [roll14] save
Da2 ICK [roll15] or Confused [roll16] rounds, confusion result is [roll17] fail, babble 1 rd
Roger ICK [roll18] or Confused [roll19] rounds, confusion result is [roll20] fail, attack nearest 1 rd
Roger YUK [roll21] or Confused [roll22] rounds, confusion result is [roll23] fail, attack nearest 1 rd
Joas ICK [roll24] or Confused [roll25] rounds, confusion result is [roll26] save
Z Horse ICK[roll27] or Confused [roll28] rounds, confusion result is [roll29] save
Dh ICK [roll30] or Confused [roll31] rounds, confusion result is [roll32] save
Dh YUK [roll33] or Confused [roll34] rounds, confusion result is [roll35] save


Confusion table:
d%
Behavior
01-10 Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons (or close with caster if attack is not possible).
11-20 Act normally.
21-50 Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51-70 Flee away from caster at top possible speed.
71-100 Attack nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of the subject’s self).



The two creatures fling acid and bite at their foes, content to stay where they are with plenty of yummy foods coming to them. The Astral Construct takes a gob of acid to its ectoplasmic eyes, blinding and clogging them. The Goliath gets two more bite marks on his legs.


ICK
Spittle ranged touch [roll36] vs Astral Construct (AC12)
Spittle damage [roll37] acid + Fort DC 18 or blind
AC fort [roll38] hit for 2 and blind for 3 rounds

Bite [roll39] for 1 damage vs Astral Construct AC 22
Bite [roll40] for 1 damage vs Astral Construct AC 22
Bite [roll41] for 1 damage vs Goliath AC 12 hit
Bite [roll42] for 1 damage vs Goliath AC 12 hit
Bite [roll43] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas AC 21
Bite [roll44] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas horse, AC 16

YUK Everything misses
Spittle ranged touch [roll45] vs RexThaun AC 11 miss
Spittle damage [roll46] acid + Fort DC 18 or blind
Rexthaun Fort [roll47]

Bite [roll48] for 1 damage ZrabHas AC 21
Bite [roll49] for 1 damage ZrabHas horse, AC 16
Bite [roll50] for 1 damage vs RexThaun AC 21
Bite [roll51] for 1 damage vs RexThaun AC 21
Bite [roll52] for 1 damage vs RexThaun AC 21
Bite [roll53] for 1 damage vs RexThaun AC 21
If YUK hits with a bite, it will attempt to start a grapple, free action/improved grab [roll54] vs RexThaun’s opposed grapple of [roll55].
ICK has too many yummies and can’t decide if it wants to grab one or not.




http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/gib%20rd%203%20end.jpg

ICK 16 damage
YUK 9 damage

Dp1 Babbling in place for 1 round, or attack nearest creature 1 round
Db2 1 damage; Attack nearest creature, 1 rounds, or flee 1 round
Da2 1 damage; babble 1 round
Dh clear
Goliath 10 damage
Z Horse, attack caster (ICK) 1 rounds
Roger, Attack nearest creature 1 round
Joas,
Zrabhas 46/50hp
RexThaun 3 damage
Roger 1 damage
AC 2 damage, blind for 3 rounds

Immune to ICK babble
Da1
Db2
Db1
Dp2
Rex
Joas
J horse
Grassis
Zrabhas
Z horse
Dp1
Goliath
Dh

Immune to YUK babble
Da1
Db1
Da2
Dp2
Rex
Joas
J horse
Grassis
Zrabhas
Z Horse
Goliath
Dh
=> Party

Please be sure to specify targets, squares moved to, abilities used, etc.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas swings her sword at the abomination designated YUK on the map. She use Mountain Hammer, bestowing 2 extra dice and bypassing damage reduction (which ZrabHas should have figured out is a factor, but hasn't, yet, for various reasons. However, this maneuver does the most damage without requiring a move action.)

She is still mounted and does not move this round.

[roll0]
Damage
[roll1]

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"Mmmmm", with a sudden, mysterious craving for pudding, Joas comes to his senses. He looks around and sees that the situation is not as well under control as he had hoped, but not hopeless either. He stays put, concentrating to regain his focus and stays ready to move away should something come his way.


Self: Concentration to regain focus: [roll0] DC20
AC slam ICK: [roll1], damage [roll2], miss chance [roll3] 1-50 is miss.

AC round 4, 2 more rounds of blind.

[BelGareth]

Rex grimaces as the gibberish assaults his sense, but he is able to withstand it still, he moves up slightly, avoiding tentacles, and breaths more acid upon one of the abominations.


5ft step up to S51
breath acid on YUK
[roll0] DC 19 Ref for half
[roll1]

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 1

ZrabHas dismounts from her horse, planting her feet on the ground before striking at one of the aberrations. Her blow hits, and seems to resound like a hammerblow even though she’s using a sword.

ZrabHas hits for 16 on YUK.

AOOs vs AC 23
ICK Attack [roll0] for 1 damage
YUK Attack [roll1] for 1 damage

Hz attack ICK
Attack [roll2]
Damage [roll3]


Joas recenters himself, while his Astral Construct flails blindly and misses the creature in front of it.

RexThaun breathes acid on the creature, hitting it square-on.

Sorry, the only way I can adjudicate ZrabHas’ attack is if she lands in S51, so no 5’ step to that space is available.
15 acid damage, Reflex DC 19 half.
Reflex [roll4] fail, 15 damage


Grassis fires another blast of energy at the closest enemy.

EB ranged touch [roll5] vs YUK
Damage [roll6] hit for 15


A dwarf with a crossbow fires it at Roger, who returns the favor by prancing over and kicking at him. Both miss. Nearby, a dwarf with a pick mumbles strange things in the Dwarven tongue.

Db2 attack
Attack [roll7] vs AC 18
Damage [roll8]

Roger vs Db2
Attack [roll9] vs AC 11
Damage [roll10]


A dwarf with an acid flask throws it at the northern creature, hitting it squarely. It bursts, spraying acid on everyone nearby. The last bit of acid is just too much for the southern creature, which groans from all of its mouths and goes limp.

Da1 moves up.
Da1 ranged touch [roll11] vs ICK
Damage [roll12] acid if hits, plus 5’ radius splash for 1 damage.
Hit for 6 on ICK
1 damage each to AC, G, Hz, Zh, and YUK
If miss, 1 range increments in [roll13] direction with 1 being north, 2 being northeast, etc., and deal splash to everyone around that square.


The Goliath swings his mighty hammer once again at ICK, and yet again misses.

Attack [roll14]
Goliath Greathammer Damage [roll15]

One of the pick-armed dwarves begins to work its way around through the rocks next to RexThaun. “That’s it, boys! Hold the line and kill ‘em all!”

To the south, one dwarf stands still, talking nonsense; another fires a crossbow bolt into the melee but missing, while a third, hammer-equipped dwarf closes in.

Attack [roll16] firing into melee vs YUK miss
Damage [roll]1d8/roll]



ICK 22 damage

Dp1
Db2 1 damage
Da2 1 damage; babble 1 round
Dh clear
Goliath 11 damage
Z Horse 1 damage
Roger
Joas,
Zrabhas 45/50hp
RexThaun 3 damage
Roger 1 damage
AC 3 damage, blind for 3 rounds

Immune to ICK babble
Da1
Db2
Db1
Dp2
Rex
Joas
J horse
Grassis
Zrabhas
Z horse
Dp1
Goliath
Dh

[J-H]

Round 4, Part 2

The remaining creature seems to get louder as it spits acid and bites furiously at everything in range.

ICK
Spittle ranged touch [roll0] vs ZrabHas AC17 miss
Spittle damage [roll1] acid + Fort DC 18 or blind
ZrabHas Fort [roll2]

Bite [roll3] for 1 damage vs Astral Construct AC 22
Bite [roll4] for 1 damage vs Goliath AC 12
Bite [roll5] for 1 damage vs Goliath AC 12 hit for 1
Bite [roll6] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas horse, AC 16
Bite [roll7] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas AC 23
Bite [roll8] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas AC 23 hit for 1



Will DC 13
Da2 ICK [roll9] or Confused [roll10] rounds, confusion result is [roll11] save
Roger ICK [roll12] or Confused [roll13] rounds, confusion result is [roll14] fail, neigh incoherently for 2 rounds

Confusion table:
d%
Behavior
01-10 Attack caster with melee or ranged weapons (or close with caster if attack is not possible).
11-20 Act normally.
21-50 Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51-70 Flee away from caster at top possible speed.
71-100 Attack nearest creature (for this purpose, a familiar counts as part of the subject’s self).





http://i257.photobucket.com/albums/hh221/jonathan8883/gib%20rd%204%20end.jpg
ICK 22 damage

Dp1
Db2 1 damage
Da2 1 damage; babble 1 round
Dh clear
Goliath 12 damage
Z Horse 1 damage
Roger, neigh incoherently for 2 rounds
Joas,
Zrabhas 44/50hp
RexThaun 3 damage
Roger 1 damage
AC 3 damage, blind for 2 rounds

Immune to ICK babble
Everyone but Roger

=> Party

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

It seems again that the team is gaining the upper hand. Joas stays where he is, alert for danger, while his astral construct keeps on slamming ICK.

Self: None
AC slam attack: [roll0], damage [roll1], miss chance [roll2] 1-50 misses.

2 rounds left on AC, 1 of which blinded

[BelGareth]

Rex steps closer to the monster, stepping on the oozing body of the first, and then slashes at the remaining monster, intent on ending this nightmare.


5ft step T51, if i can
[roll0]
[roll1]
Aura is power, so everyone is receiving +2 to melee damage.

AC: 21
Damage: 3/96
Breath 3 rounds left

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas uses Claw at the Moon on the abomination!

jump vs AC

[roll0]

She kicks viciously at the monster while stomping and flailing like a woman possessed.
(Attacks with Unarmed Strike)


[roll1]
Damage
[roll2]
Bonus damage
[roll3]

[J-H]

Round 5, Part 1

The Astral Construct misses again, although RexThaun hits the creature with his sword, and ZrabHas makes a leaping attack that slams it to the ground.

RT hits for 8 after DR.
ZrabHas hits for 13.


Grassis fires another burst of energy at the creature.

EB ranged touch [roll0] vs ICK hit for 10
Damage [roll1]


The Goliath and Zrabhas’ horse both attack ICK as well, but neither connect.

Attack [roll2]
Goliath Greathammer Damage [roll3]

Hz attack ICK
Attack [roll4]
Damage [roll5]


Roger neighs incoherently; all but one of the dwarves attack the creature! Crossbow bolts, a hammer, and a flask of acid all fly in.

Dp2 moves up and attacks. (invalid, map error)
[roll6]
Damage [roll7]

Dh throwing hammer
[roll8]
Damage [roll9]

Da1 ranged touch [roll10] vs ICK
Damage [roll11] acid if hits, plus 5’ radius splash for 1 damage. hit for 6, splash damage on AC, G, Hz, Zh, Rt
If miss, 1 range increments in [roll12] direction with 1 being north, 2 being northeast, etc., and deal splash to everyone around that square.

Db1 attack
Attack [roll13]
Damage [roll14]

Db2 attack
Attack [roll15]
Damage [roll16]




ICK 51 damage

Dp1
Db2 1 damage
Da2 1 damage
Dh clear
Goliath 13 damage
Z Horse 2 damage
Roger, neigh incoherently for 1 rounds
Joas,
Zrabhas 43/50hp
RexThaun 4 damage
Roger 1 damage
AC 4 damage, blind for 2 rounds

Immune to ICK babble
Everyone but Roger

[J-H]

Round 5, Part 2/End

The creature spits at the leaping, punching foodthing. Mouth-tipped pseudopods extend in all directions, attacking everything at once.

ICK
Spittle ranged touch [roll0] vs ZrabHas AC17
Spittle damage [roll1] acid + Fort DC 18 or blind
ZrabHas Fort [roll2]

Bite [roll3] for 1 damage vs Astral Construct AC 22
Bite [roll4] for 1 damage vs Goliath AC 12
Bite [roll5] for 1 damage vs Goliath AC 12
Bite [roll6] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas horse, AC 16
Bite [roll7] for 1 damage vs ZrabHas AC 23
Bite [roll8] for 1 damage vs RexThaun AC 20
Goliath is hit for 1


Surrounded and greatly outnumbered, the creature is reduced to pulp soon after.


It has 4 hit points left. Someone’s going to hit it.

Dp1
Db2 1 damage
Da2 1 damage
Dh clear
Goliath 14 damage
Z Horse 2 damage
Roger, neigh incoherently for 1 rounds
Joas,
Zrabhas 43/50hp
RexThaun 4 damage
Roger 1 damage
AC 4 damage, blind for 1 rounds

Immune to ICK babble
Everyone but Roger

[Feathersnow]

Die!! Die!! Die!! ZrabHas knows, without knowing why, that the creature SHOULD NOT BE!!! She kicks it until reality is healed of its affront.


After a pause, she stops to catch her breath. Uh, I needed that. her breath. She wipes some sweat off of her brow. Uhhh...
Hello, Dwarves...

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas looks around to identify casualties. Then, he asks in Dwarven: "Is everyone all right?"

[BelGareth]

Rex smiles as the abomination is put down to their mighty team work. It was good to see such authentic coordination, even the miners were pitching in, it was a good feeling. Looking around, he saw most everyone was ok, and so did not switch his aura to healing, instead to heighten everyones perception, lest they be taken unawares again.

He moves to intercept Roger, careful to see whether or not he would calm down, or he needed to put him down. He had no idea if the monsters maddening affect was a permanent affliction of the mind.


He'll touch of healing his 4 points of damage away
switch aura to perception
go look for Roger

[J-H]

RexThaun is able to calm down Roger quickly, and leads him back to the others. Most of the miners ignore the strange appearance of the party (a Xeph, a dragonborn, a Githzerai, and a lone human) and crowd around them, thanking them for killing the creatures.

The Goliath, who introduces himself as Anderstone, is rather shamefaced – not only did he fail to hit anything the entire battle, but he’s also the most injured, with the tough skin on his legs covered in bite marks and acid burns.

A couple of the dwarves – some form of second or third cousin you think – check the corpses of the aberrations and find dwarven bones (partly dissolved), which confirms the fate of the other two miners who were working that claim. As they mourn, one of the other dwarves takes charge; the dwarves begin moving loose rocks and stacking them in the door of the mine, bracing them in place with timbers.

You find out that if you follow the road for another half-mile, it dead-ends into the canyon through which the great Yal river flows. Magically strong cables stretch across that canyon; a sky ferry large enough to hold four loaded carts at a time goes back and forth to the town of Helane, which is located in a slightly larger canyon on the other side. Helane is the departure point for the ores produced at the mine, as well being as the local center of commerce and recreation.

Do you guard the door until it’s blocked, or do you head straight on for Helane? Any other questions or things to do? Questions for the miners about Helane?

[BelGareth]

Rex quickly soothes Roger, healing what wounds he had. They were superficial at best, but he could see the panic fade from his eyes. He lead the horse back and tied him to some timbers close by, watching the dwarves investigate the creatures and confirm their suspicions.

He moved to the Goliath and attempted to console him. "You fought well Anderstone, you never gave up, and did what you could, there is no shame in that, I am glad and honored to have fought by you, and with everyone here" he says, speaking up at the last bit, so everyone could here. "I am well glad that you all were able and ready to fight, for I fear we might have been overwhelmed if were not for you fine folk!"


[roll0]

Bluff, if needed for the last part
[roll1]


He suggests they stay and guard the tunnel as the dwarves pile the rocks. As he does so, he moves about and lays hands on those who need healing, causing their wounds to close and fuse shut.


Heals:

Db2 for 1 damage
Da2 for 1 damage
Goliath for 14 damage
Z Horse for 2 damage

Leaving me with 1/24 touch of vitality

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

"I agree, Rex. A terrible stroke of misfortune occurred, with you losing some of your kin, he also adresses the Dwarves, "but we should also recognize the fortune that we ran into each other at this moment. We may have saved each other´s lives. Let´s stick together until this site is secure."

[J-H]

The mine entrance is blocked successfully, and you hear talk of carving a sign above it to prevent someone from re-opening it in the future.

Anderstone is heartened and smiles at RexThaun's encouragement. He gives him a tooth-rattling backslap and says "For a guy who looks like a lizard, you're pretty good. Now I don't have ta go see Tilghman. He's no slouch himself, but he's a little, ah, picky about healing us after a bar fight. Still, lawman and priest both, he can lay down the hurt on the real low-lifes."

An old grey-bearded dwarf driving a cart stops by, and offers that the creatures were probably left-overs buried in the ground from the War of Sundering, and that his pappy fought two of them off singlehandedly, right after saving his mammy from some bandits.

From the comments of some of the other dwarves, Smitson has a story for everything, and most of them are old gem tales ("It was thiiiiis big, no, really!")

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas helps seal the whole against further abominations. She doesn't talk much. Dwarves make her uneasy, she knows neither her blood-kin, half-elves like Great Leader, nor the nation of Cora are good friends to these miners. But they were siblings in battle against Abomination, and, if there is no friendship, there is no cause for unpleasantness, either.

[J-H]

After some whispered discussion, the group decides to spend the night with the miners instead of using the cable cars to cross into town for the night. Since you have your own bedding, all you need is a tarp or canvas for added shelter from the elements, and that’s easy to come by. Smitson promises to carry word into town that the problem has been dealt with.

Some of the avalancher meat makes an excellent contribution and many of the miners join you for a dinner that is both celebration and a wake for the two dead. Tales are exchanged deep into the night by a few. A few bottles of ale are on offer for any who drink, but not enough to inebriate anyone.


The next morning, the miners awaken with the dawn, cook a quick hot breakfast, and get back to work. You mount up and ride down to an open area overlooking a great canyon. The Yal river, the first major obstacle, has been reached. A large, shining cable extends from the cliff face above you, where the rock seems to have grown around it, and stretches across the canyon to Helane.

A curious contraption is coming your way – a ferry barge, suspended from the cable, carrying several carts and several loaded mules, plus a number of passengers. It moves slowly but steadily, and bumps to a stop at a nearby stone ramp, where the passengers are offloaded. You approach the ferry – the only passengers thus far.

The ferryman is aware of who you are – Smitson must have passed on the story, with who knows what embellishments – and offers to take you across for free. The view is incredible.

http://anothernomad.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/P1020666.jpg


Feel free to add anything else you did/wanted to do this night. Do the horses get on the sky ferry without any trouble?
I'll let this sit for at least a few hours and then will do the arrival at Helane. Be thinking about what you want to sell and buy.

[J-H]

The Town of Helane
After waiting a little while, the sky ferry takes you, a loaded cart, and a hunter returning to town with a giant pack stuffed with pelts across to the town of Helane. The ferryman is very particular about where the cart and your horses stand – he says the sky ferry must be balanced more carefully than a ship, whatever that means.

The town of Helane is squeezed into a narrow valley that runs downhill.

http://www.amoeba.com/admin/uploads/blog/Eric_B/upperjamestownsqueezedintothevalley.jpg
Similar to this

There’s one major road, about 30’ wide, that winds down the canyon. A smaller side street appears and disappears repeatedly on both sides. The side streets have stairs instead of a slope, and appear to contain only residences and boarding houses; quite a number of the homes are either tiny, or are partly bored into the rock.

At the upper end of town, nearest to the sky ferry, are taverns, drinking houses, restaurants, and other such establishment designed to separate bored miners from their wealth. Downslope from there are general shops, stores, and artisanal establishments, including a smithy with a smoking chimney and a cartier, as well as a squat building with a sign that proudly proclaims itself as the “Miner Guild.” You’re likely to find any magical or adventuring items the town has to offer in this area. Capping off the market area is a sort of town square that takes up a large part of the width of the valley, and contains a few hardy apple trees. A blocky looking building with barred windows is on one side, and a temple is on the other. Beyond it, you see a few small garden patches, and the town transitions to a series of ware houses and other large establishments that apparently ship products out of or into town. Beyond that, the track continues down and out towards what you are told is a hilly region of mixed forest and moors, with shepherds and lumberjacks and smallholdings.


What do you do?
Where do you go in what order?
Do you split up, or stay together?
What do you want to buy?

Assume the town has almost anything you want up to 1500gp. Beyond 1500gp, the probability of an item being available depends on how relevant it is to the area (+5 snowshoes? Yes. +5 parasol of desert heat resistance? No.) and the value.

=> Party

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"Ah civilization.." Grassis says with a hint of irony creeping into his voice.

[BelGareth]

Rex looks at the cable car with curiosity, he had never seen anything like it, and he wandered if it were magical, mechanical, or a hyrbidized version of both.

Shrugging his shoulders, he moved Roger along, walking him by the bit to where he was indicated, he could tell the balance of the lift was important, as everyone was told where to stand, and not move. He enjoyed the ride, Roger not so much, and he pulled up his blinders to calm him down, the open air, the rush of being so high, perhaps this was what it was like to fly? he thought as they neared the small town, nestled in the crevice of the valley. It was a nice place, and didn't seem to bad. Although, Rex knew better, there was always something in a city, never did they seem as they looked.

But such was life.

Sighing slightly, he moved Roger off and down the street, heading towards the market area, intent on selling the loot they managed to get on their way here. Once he had sold their gear, and tired from the bartering and mind games, he moved towards the Miners guild, hoping to talk to the cleric that he was told about.

<heads inside miners guild>

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas isn't sure what to do. She decides that it would be a bad idea to look for people who might actually recognize a Gith, and clerics of a subterranean warrior race are near the top of the list.o
Rex, Grassis, I am going to have some beer and fried things that should be raw at one of these famous Dwarf Bars. No one with any experience with extraplanar incursions and hidden lore would be at such an establishment, so I should pass as some obscure kind of elf.

[J-H]

The group splits up to shop or relax, as the case may be.

As RexThaun nears the miner’s guild, he sees old Smitson sitting on the front porch, wearing a coat and enjoying the sunlight as he talks with a couple of other dwarves. Smitson points at him, and then gets up, stomps over to the door, and yells something inside.

A dwarf and a bespectacled halfling dressed in slightly nicer and cleaner clothes walk out. The dwarf motions to the halfling, who starts talking eagerly. “Smitson told us what you did yesterday. Andery came across with him – he’s the one who lost family members to those things. I’m sure he’d thank you, but he’s not feeling himself at the moment.

We do have records of things like this being dug up occasionally in the deeper mines throughout the mountain range. These unnatural beasts are always hungry, yet never die of famine, it seems. Most of the time, they kill everyone in range and take a concerted effort to put down. You and your friends probably saved a dozen lives or more yesterday with your fearless and quick-thinking actions.”

The dwarf takes over, with a slight smile. “There are tales of dwarves and gold being inseparable, but they aren’t all true. The miner’s guild has a cooperative fund to deal with emergencies – sickness, maiming, impoverished family members, and the like – and we’ve decided that a token of our gratitude is in order.”

He hands RexThaun a pouch containing eighty platinum pieces (800gp).

The group finishes up shopping and meets ZrabHas back at the inn. The combination of a dragonborn, a xeph, a human, and a gith draws a few strange looks, but news travels fast in a small town. The group enjoys a heavy lunch of real, non-magical, cooked food as their horses graze at a hay trough outside.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

In the town, Joas´ mind mostly wanders off thinking about the cable car. How it must work, and how it could be improved. He enjoys the lunch and taps his belly once finished eating. "So, do we want to move on, or is there other stuff to be done here?"

[J-H]

Heading north and downslope, you reach the town square. The main road is made of level, undressed stones pressed finely together (obviously the work of dwarven masons), while the side paths are mostly cobblestone; there are mid-sized trees growing in gaps in the cobblestone, casting shade in the cool mountain sunlight.

On the west side is the blocky, barred building made of stacked and mortared brown stones. Although the exterior is rough and polished only by the weather, it appears study and strong. It has several doors, and appears to be both the barracks for a detachment of Josenite troops and the town jail. A couple of soldiers are on duty in light armor, and a few more are enjoying a late lunch at a table in the sun.

The east side is a large grey temple cut into the rock. Several large stained glass windows face west, each with a different holy symbol, including the Hammer of Fortubo; A stray cloud lets you barely tell that the glass windows are lit from within as well as from without, and might be quite bright at night-time.

A teenage boy in the outfit of a temple novice carefully leans his broom against the wall and walks quickly to a large wooden door in the grey stone of the temple at your approach. He leans inside, telling someone inside something before taking his broom up, half-heartedly sweeping while really watching you. A few moments later, a middle-age Goliath clad in a chain shirt steps out. The powerfully built humanoid has both a large, ornate hammer at his side, and a large sap. It’s hard to tell in the afternoon light, but his eyes may have a slight glow to them. He studies the group for a few moments, and then speaks.

“Good afternoon to you, travelers. Thank you for helping yesterday. You did some good work.

I am Tilghman, priest of Fortubo and the voice of the law in this fine town. I’ve a few questions for you; please let me offer you the meager hospitality of my office for a few moments.”

He motions to the door he emerged from. There’s a line of hitching posts nearby that you can use, if you want to.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas is inclined to trust and follow the Goliath, so he shrugs and raises his eyebrow questioningly at his companions: Why not? Coming? Who knows what the man has to say, they might learn a thing or two.

[Feathersnow]

Earwax!! Tilghman ambushed us before I slipped away? Play it cool, ZrabHas, after Slaadi, Goliaths are nothing.

Outwardly, the Githerazai ascetic is a mask of calmness and benevolence. think elfy thought, think elfy thoughts

I am totally not an extra-dimensionalraider Coran saboteur.

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

"Questions ?" Grassis repeated to himself. "No thank you. We really must be going."
He answers politely.





Sense motive (if applicable) : [roll0]

[BelGareth]

Rex frowned at the guards, there wasn't many of them, but if they got into trouble, they could get overwhelmed pretty easily.

He nodded to the Goliath as he approached in respect, but then turned his head sideways as he asked them to come with him, he nodded as Grassis dismissed the man, "Agreed, we need to leave this respite was nice, but we must be going."


[roll0]

[J-H]

He gives a broad-shouldered shrug and walks towards you. “I’m a bit curious as to why you are in such a rush, after spending your morning here. It’ll take you most of the afternoon just to get down and out of the canyon onto the plains.

But I won’t waste much of your time. You did help some of our people yesterday, and for that I am grateful. There are dangers on the road ahead you should be wary of. I’ll tell you, if I can just get a couple of my concerns answered first. I’ve got a bit of magic that should help speed things along so that you're not unduly delayed.”

He grasps his hammer and mutters a few words; it glows as he does.

“One of your members has a dark heart; Fortubo has revealed that much. That makes me wary. Wary also am I of travelers, armed for war, who come through the wild tracks of the mountains, not along our usual trade roads. Although you helped, I must still know your purpose, for my duty is clear and I cannot let a bandit or murderer pass. If you are innocent, I apologize, but I must ask your purpose.”

He waits for your reply.


Unless some one acts to stop him, he’ll get his spell off, and he’ll keep walking so that he’s not far off your path out of town. He’s not blocking the path, but he’s close to it.

[Feathersnow]

ZrabHas thinks quickly.

Reverend? Surely you do not need to use any spells at us? It seems very inhospitable. Look, I am not "armored for war" as you say. I have a ceremonial sword made of jewlery metal, and some magic vestments to help me run faster. Any roving warband would have outfitted me better and more offensively. Any bandit wouldn't dare be so brazen. Please, let us pass unfettered by your God's might.

I might further add, that, as good as your Deity is, to you, as Atheists, we Githerazai resent being subject to any divine magic without explicit consent. If you persist, your Almighty may receive a formal letter of complaint from the Monasteries of Limbo. Should the Enemy ever threaten your homes, this may impact how quickly we can send help. (taps head)


[roll0]

[BelGareth]

Rex was afraid of this, but he kept his thoughts positive.

Dark heart? he thought to himself, but steeled his will, he did not want to fight this cleric, he seemed like a good man.

"I am well glad that you are thankful for our service, and would like to warn us of danger. Do know, we did so out of no intention for reward, we were simply in the right place, at the right time. I hope you can sense, with magic, your gods might, or by intuition, that my words are true. But do know, if we had a choice about it, we would have passed along our way, for we are indeed in a hurry, and our master demands much of us. I will not say anything else, just that we are not bandits, and mean no ill will to you, or anyone in this town. Unless they bear arms against us." he eyes the Goliaths hammer. "But I will attempt to tell you our 'purpose'. We are travelers, sent by our master in great haste, and our's is a mission of most importance." he gives a tooth grin "I know, not much to go on, but I am hoping your magic can see the truth in my words."


Oh, how i want to intimidate him...:smallbiggrin:

[Ragnarok'n'Roll]

Grassis

Grassis sighs deeply as if he was indulging a child's whim. He remains where he is and keeps his hands in plain sight.

"I think I do understand your concern. I assure you we are not bandits. We have been the victims of bandits and been ambushed more than once the last few days. Probably the only reason we still breath is being armed as we are. Only fools and dead men wander about the mountains unarmed and ill prepared. I wish only to pass in peace and go about my business. My private business. I have no interest in hurting you or anyone in town that is under your charge. I also have no interest in banditry or murdering innocent folks or breaking any just laws. I believe we have done your people a service and if you know of any dangers ahead I think it would be the right thing to do to warn us ahead of time, don't you?"






While Grassis could probably resist the spell, he'll try using the truth for now as it suits him. I don't think anything he said is a lie....

While Grassis is evil, he is lawful and generally law-abiding.

[Autopsibiofeeder]

Joas

Joas lets the others do the talking, there is not much he can add at this point. He merely eyes the cleric stoically.

[J-H]

The goliath priest looks at each person in turn as they speak.
“You speak well, and mostly true. I think you are not telling me everything, but few do. There have been problems with werewolves in the plains – mostly to the west of here, but the last few traders to arrive report howling in the night, and being stalked by wolves. We think the were-creatures may be working with wargs, dire wolves, or some other fell creature. Silvered weapons are few; not even all of the Emperor’s garrison is equipped with them. An old friend of mine, another Paladin, was on his way through the mountains to aid us, but he is weeks overdue and I fear he’s lost.

His voice continues, carrying clearly across the entire square. The soldiers eating lunch have paused in their conversation and are watching.
There is a very cunning individual threatening Josen and the heart of the empire, so I must delay you for another moment. Answer this question and I will wish you well on your journey: Does your lord, who gave you this mission, intend any harm or disruption to the Empire, its people, its boundaries, or its ruler and government? A simple Yes or No, please.”

He waits with one hand outstretched, and the other on the handled of his warhammer/holy symbol.