[3.5E] Heretic's Bane Icewind Dale

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Now that the decision about parley seemed to have been taken out of his hands, Johannes shrugged. Sighting the hobgoblins in the doorway - the farther back the better, although this was occasionally difficult given the nature of parabolas - he smoothly drew back his bow and launched a trio of arrows at the hobgoblins.

"Really, there's a kind of purity to Hjalmar's management style. You've got to admire that."

I'm assuming that Johannes can step to a point where his targets are within 110' of him. Full attack, using rapid shot. Switching targets if one falls, obviously.
Shot 1 attack: [roll0] Damage: [roll1] acid damage [roll2]
Shot 2 attack: [roll3] Damage: [roll4] acid damage [roll5]
Shot 3 attack: [roll6] Damage: [roll7] acid damage [roll8]

[thorgrim29]

Thordrek

Sure, let's ignore strategy and charge in like bloody orcs, the gods are on our side, what could possibly happen?.... Nothing to do now, everyone, attack as best you can, priority is getting them all before they can escape

Thordrek charges at the goblins, making a lot of clanging noise as he trots towards and, if he's going too slowly, beyond, the one-eyed paladin.

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega

Damn one-eye Nega takes up the charge mace and shield ready as she runs towards the hobgoblins.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

"Well, you can tell 'dat to Hjalmar, 'den," Wyatt said to Thordrek and shrugged as he weaved behind allied lines for the approach. "Sometimes the most straightforward plans are the best ones. Only one way to test 'dat for sure..."

AC is 34 on the move, not including any potential cover bonuses from using 'Dwarven Shield' tactic. :smallbiggrin:

[sonofzeal]

Bundok

Another battle. Hurm. The line of battle was no place for a Ranger. Bundok slipped off to the side, circling around to identify any hazards that might threaten the flank.

Hide: [roll0]
Move Silently: [roll1]
Spot: [roll2]

[mshady]

Triage Central

Nalrak continues to work on Tasster’s son, but it is bloody and slow work. Having an assistant, simply to pass him tools or a towel would have helped immensely to avoid breaking his concentration, but unfortunately that was not an option. First Mace Nega would have probably been the best trained, he assumed considering her Order’s association with the Silver Knightingales.
It was going well though, although more could still happen and most of his friends had left. It was him, a few others and Tasster. Oh, and that drow still…

Tasster watches him the entire time, his eyes focused on the bloody work and Nalrak sincerely hopes he doesn’t get the wrong idea. Healing magic could only cure so much, and many did not understand that. His two sons sit at his side. At least that nasty arm wounds seems to not be killing him at least…

Nalrak can wrap up the surgery now.

Buelyir watches the surgery as well, and paces back and forth between that scene and where Carmard sits. Grathalmor and Duervar stand where Carmard and Buna are laying down. Arman is also in the area, keeping a watchful eye on the other group of slaves as the drow organizes them.

“So Grath, where did the rest go?” she smiles up at him, sweetly for a moment. “It’s about time things began, isn’t it?”

Buelyir watches the minotaurs lug the box and their prisoners over and motions to Duervar.

“Duervar, hey there. Can ye go over to the minotaurs and grab the two prisoners from’em before they go causing mischief? They’d be Kaladus and Regina, the damn mages from Sigil that tried to get the Stoneburner after Carmard let it loose” Buelyir says, and his teeth grind in frustration at the last point.

“I know that the ‘lot of ye are upset I took over from Carmard and now he’s hurt and all, but that would have never happened if I was there. Or Glorian was. Not much he could have done, someone else should have come from the start. This was too damn important” Buelyir grumbles to himself.

[mshady]

Battle Map

Hjalmar advances forward towards the enemy position, heedless of the hail of fire. His hammer blazes with a righteous glow and he draws the complete attention of the enemy guards.

With his heavy armor and shield, he is nearly invulnerable as he approaches. By making himself their most obvious target, he shielded his comrades from the enemy fire as they were far less protected than he. Especially at this point...

Pick your position on the map and I'll move on from there. Not going to run this turn by turn but it will help with the structure :)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/round1x.jpg/

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5628/round1x.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/29/round1x.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/5628/round1x.jpg

[Grodech]

“So Grath, where did the rest go?” she smiles up at him, sweetly for a moment. “It’s about time things began, isn’t it?”


"Soon." Grathalmor replies, sort of absently. His attention was changing between the slaves, the group of dwarves approaching the armory and his cousin's field surgery. "It looks like dey're getting ready ta storm da armory so dey can outfit da slaves fer da trek out. Once da slaves are outfitted, we can probly get movin, assumin Nalrak's done tendin wounded."

If needed: Spot:[roll0], Listen:[roll1]

[mshady]

Battle Map

Hjalmar advances forward towards the enemy position, heedless of the hail of fire. His hammer blazes with a righteous glow and he draws the complete attention of the enemy guards.

With his heavy armor and shield, he is nearly invulnerable as he approaches. By making himself their most obvious target, he shielded his comrades from the enemy fire as they were far less protected than he. Especially at this point...

Pick your position on the map and I'll move on from there. Not going to run this turn by turn but it will help with the structure :)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/52/atkround1.jpg/

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/754/atkround1.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/52/atkround1.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

http://img52.imageshack.us/img52/754/atkround1.jpg

Reposted the Map!

[Strangie]

OOC: Let's see if this works.

Here's the REAL map.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/934514/Atk%20Round%201.jpg

I've encased the image in a spoiler so it doesn't screw with the margins and stuff.

[Gryndel]

Magnum

The Alaghor made sure his position was nearest to the middle of the allies gathered, marching toward the enemy right next to Hjalmar (H30). Shield in hand, he drew Arctis and activated the Frost effect, ready to meet whatever the enemy offered for resistance.

His only words were, "Mercy be a quick kill." before Magnum began to chant a standard verse of the Ehontar to begin this minor skirmish. He decided to save the last charge of his Mass Shield of Faith Rune for a battle he considered more of a threat, hoping whatever skill at archery the foes held was minimal or hindered by the reported evidence of illness.

[Gryndel]

OOC: A repeated encore for those who've been here a while, and all new stuff for others... I present two stanzas of the Ehontar I personally wrote for Mag!

Goblins or hobs, dark blood greases blade,
Armament hard and ever kept sharp,
Short life it robs, dark souls now fade,
Sing to guard heart and mind from warp.

Strike sure with hammer and axe,
Spear thrust and mace maul,
To confer the mortal facts,
Foes meet our war call.

[mshady]

Duervar

Acknowledging his orders, Duervar grumbles to himself about having to deal with Buelyir again and heads off to where the other two minotaurs are.

He finds Three Horns (who only had 2 horns) and Biter with the hefty trunk, just as they are setting it down. The two minotaurs are slick with sweat, having once again had to move the massive chest. Duervar estimated it probably weighed close to half a ton, but he couldn't be sure.

Attached to a heavy chain, he sees the two captured mages. The thick chain links are looped around their necks, their hands are bound, wrapped in gauze and a manacle secures their legs. A gag is in each of their mouths, but at least the blind fold had been removed. While they both apparently hated each other, they certainly had a mutual dislike for the dwarfs now. That, and some serious cramps although Duervar doubted the old man and woman would be exchanging massages anytime soon.

According to what he had been told, the two mages were probably every bit as powerful as Carmard and than some.

Buelyir wanted to see them, presumably to talk to them and not cut their heads off. Duervar wouldn't put it past him though...

"What do you want, dwarf?" Three Horns asks. "We drop box where big dwarf says. Glad it to be gone. Missed all the murder" the massive minotaur growls to Duervar, clearly frustrated at being reduced to a mule for what must have been at least a couple weeks now.

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega
Position H 37

Berronar may my mace strike true in yer name
Runs up in a line a little to the right of Hjalmar

[thorgrim29]

Thordrek

Figuring the old paladin could take a few arrows if he so insisted on charging harebrained, Thordrek follows him, staying a few paces behind him. (so, 5 feet behind Hjalmar, will 5 foot step to the right when we get to charging distance and do just that)

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Being bunched up with a lot of other people at, say, a party could be tremendously enjoyable. That time with the four dwarven woman and the halfling...that had also been enjoyable. But being clumped up together with a lot of smelly and battle-weary dwarves when you were about to start trying to kill a bunch of people...not so enjoyable.

Johannes sidles off to the left of the rest of the group and begins a steady barrage of cover fire for those who were charging in. He watches Hjalmar, Magnum, Thordrek and the others dive forward. There was something admirably direct in their thinking. Suicidal in the long run, of course, but admirable nonetheless. He glances across at Wyatt and Sable and gives a wink.

So, taking up an initial position about 20' east of the edge of the map. Johannes will leave at least ten feet between himself and the edge of the pit. Ideally behind a boulder or something. And then start rapid-shotting until something more interesting occurs to him, or an enemy starts to come towards him.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

Wyatt remains well behind the dwarven rushers - he knows full well he could outrun the lot of them any day of the week, and so keeps his distance in the back to avoid making himself a target.

He nods back to Joh. "Ah, reminds me of the old days with Vikari... nothin' like a strategy of runnin' up and cracking some eggs to make some omelettes, know what I mean?"

He gives his bat a quick whirl around his wrist. "And by eggs I mean faces and omelettes I mean a dead guy."

G34, about 20 feet behind Hjalmar, to start. He'll weave back and forth behind the dwarven lines until they get into combat range, then use his Spring Attack and skirmishing to the best of his ability in melee to harass enemies that engage with the more steadfast dwarven fighters.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar looks up at Three Horns. "Just here to grab these two for now. Buelyir wants to talk to them. Would one of you be able to help me bring them over?" He looks over the bindings on the two.

[mshady]

Buelyir and Grathalmor

Standing at the edge of the crowd, Buelyir looks at the knot of the more monstrous former slaves. He watches the drow giving some sort of speech, orders or threats to the group as they worked on getting organized. The humanoid slaves are doing similar, but with Eoin's absence it is bit more chaotic. As in, they were mainly milling around as much as they were getting organized.

With a sigh and a frown, Buelyir returns his attention to his own group and walks over to where Carmard is. He squats down next to the sleeping Arcanii and looks at him for a moment. His head is lowered, and he might possibly be even praying. Well, Buelyir was a bastard but no one ever said he was faithless, did they?

With his contemplation over, he lifts up the blanket covering Carmard's reduced leg and looks at the rudimentary stump cap that has been placed over it. Slowly removing his glove, he glances to see if Nalrak is looking than touches it with his finger. Than, he leans over and sniffs the wound several times. The only reason to do something like that would be to check for the start of rotting, of gangrene. Since it had only been a few hours though, such signs may not show at this point anyways.

"Grathalmor" Buelyir says and waves him over to his side.

Buna looks up at Grathalmor and nods, than pushes herself to her feet and follow him. As they two approach, Buelyir gives them a look of consideration.

"We'll be needing to wake him up soon" Buelyir says. "With how wild it might get, I think hav'n him flying, especially if he's still not settled from this, might be more trouble'd than it be worth. It'd also draw attention to him. I think you and Sable can carry him out. Ye because yer best for defend'n him. Her because I want steel front, and we got Bundok for the scoutin' the next part. Now, could ye be so kind as to tell Nalrak that when he sews up his latest victim, could he please bring smell'n salts?"

[mshady]

Duervar

Duervar looks up at Three Horns. "Just here to grab these two for now. Buelyir wants to talk to them. Would one of you be able to help me bring them over?" He looks over the bindings on the two.

Three Horns and Biter exchange a look, and than Three Horns grabs both chains and gives both mages a hard pull. It was a wonder it didn't break one of their necks.

"Come, you two! Time get riddance of you!" Three Horns snarls at the two mages. He drags them along to where Buelyir is, dragging them along roughly. They stumble as they go, and their eyes are wide from fear now.

[Gryndel]

Oh yeah...

Ehontar
Perform (DC 10) 30' Radius: [roll0]
Dwarven Allies: +1 Attack/Damage/Save (under affect of Remove Fear spell)
Enemies: -1 Same (1 HD or less Cause Fear as spell, Will save DC 15)

[loopy]

Eoin Shatterbond

After hastily fastening a new set of leather armour, Eoin follows the others out towards the site of the new battle, with Viktor and Tec'Lic at his side. Seeing the freedman running around with enthusiasm and little else, he sighs. "Gods, these men will all get themselves killed without someone to organise them."

Roaring out a deep-cheasted bellow, Eoin organises his new band of fighters. "Right, you lot! This is the day that we show the Gods that we deserve the freedom that we've been given! I want to see five rows of six, shields up and shortswords out! I don't care if it's your brother, your wetnurse, or your worst enemy, stick near the rest of our forces!"

Intimidate: [roll0]

"Viktor and Tec'Lic will be my eyes on the ground, making sure you lot do what you are told. I'll be nearby at all times. Do your jobs well, because I'll be watching you, and the forces of the Patriarchate will be watching me."

"Follow me, do what you are told, and maybe we'll get out of this alive. You are stubborn sons of whores, I've seen that already from the slave pens. I wouldn't rather have any other group at my back. So let's get some revenge!"

Intimidate: [roll1]

To the Passenger, Eoin mentally laughs. Hope they buy it. What odds do you give that any of these men will survive the battle?

[Grodech]

Buelyir and Grathalmor
"Grathalmor" Buelyir says and waves him over to his side.

Buna looks up at Grathalmor and nods, than pushes herself to her feet and follow him. As they two approach, Buelyir gives them a look of consideration.

"We'll be needing to wake him up soon" Buelyir says. "With how wild it might get, I think hav'n him flying, especially if he's still not settled from this, might be more trouble'd than it be worth. It'd also draw attention to him. I think you and Sable can carry him out. Ye because yer best for defend'n him. Her because I want steel front, and we got Bundok for the scoutin' the next part. Now, could ye be so kind as to tell Nalrak that when he sews up his latest victim, could he please bring smell'n salts?"

"Aye." Grathalmor replies "That I'll do." He turns to Buna. "Why don't ya stay here with Carmard while I see if'n me cousin needs a hand." Assuming she agrees, he'll go over to Nalrak "Anythin' I can do ta help?"

[mshady]

The Passenger

"I am an odds maker now?" the voice grouses, than he feels the presence in his mind withdraw a moment in contemplation.

"Many battles are won by force of will as much as force of arms. Those freed prisoners survived this long and have a will to live. I would expect many to die gloriously and the rest to live on humbly.

I would give them better odds than you surviving. Now focus on your task and stop bothering me for prognostication. Idle questions are not what I'm for" the Passenger says.

Eoin feels a jolt, like a sudden, sharp migraine sting his temples and he feels a blinding pain. His vision goes white for a moment before the pain withdraws.

[mshady]

The Attack on the Cathedral of Ice

With the impetuous paladin Hjalmar leading the way, the rest of the group follows his attack. Magnum, Thordek, Nega and Eoin’s two companions follow him forward but let the determined paladin stay in the front. Magnum’s booming Ehontar echoes through the dimly lit halls as they move ahead.

Not all follow the direct path, however. Johannes and Arum split off to the left of the group, and the two rain arrows and crossbow bolts down on the enemy position. Unfortunately, the enemy at least took the time to set up hard cover to shoot behind. Johannes shoots a full quiver of his basic, and most easily replaceable arrows and Arum shoots off 5 more in the time it takes for their allies to get close enough. Johannes accounts for 4 of the hobgoblins, and Arum might have accounted for one other.
Bundok and Sable, not the easiest of company for the other due to some polite rivalry, split off. Buelyir goes to the left and tries to loop around the armory again and see what he can find. Sable goes off to the right and disappears into the inky blackness very quickly.

Only Wyatt moves ahead of Hjalmar, racing ahead in a random zig-zag and a blur of movement, and the few arrows that get shot his way are hopeless misses…
The hobgoblins, for their part, slam the door shut to the cathedral with a great bang. The hobgoblins let fly with dozens of arrows, and most are directed at the massive Hjalmar and his blazing hammer. They can clearly see the holy symbol of Moradin on his shield and they knew what they were defending, and they didn’t want to face the dwarf in combat. Unfortunately, they did not have much luck as none of the short bows they were firing were strong enough to drive through Hjalmar’s thick armor or find a gap in his armor. Arrow after arrow pounds off his metal skinned shield and armor. Without a ballista of some sort, they had little chance against him and they soon knew that.

Hjalmar arrived first, and he slams his shield right into the waiting lieutenant of the hobgoblin, who was probably their senior remaining commander now. The rest fall against the hobgoblin’s line, moving between obstacles and quickly facing wounded hobgoblins and even a few small goblins. Thordek finds himself squaring off against a hefty bugbear, but he was all strength and no finesse and Thordek quickly disembowels him. Nega pounds her way through several enemies as well, driving a couple towards Magnum, who kills them quickly. Magnum cuts down two more of the enemy before pressing the side of the hobgoblin’s last remaining leader as Hjalmar hammers at the desperate hobgoblin until the hobgoblin turned the tide on Hjalmar, ringing blow after blow with his two handed sword off of the dwarf’s shield and armor. When Magnum moves to help, Hjalmar bellows at him to clear out, and watches the hobgoblin drive Hjalmar back. Just when it looked like the hobgoblin might score a deadly blow as Hjalmar’s shield was knocked wide by a blow, the paladin punched forward with his squat hammer and the blazing blow lifted the hobgoblin off the ground. Hjalmar surged forward, and a few powerful blows drove it to the ground and then he caved its head in with a hammer blow.

….and that was the end of the combat.

Standing in front of the heavy gates, the group stops to assess their losses and finds there were none. Not even a serious wound, this time. Sable and Bundok return and report no reinforcements or anything else unusual. Dragon sign but no dragon, they say.
Eoin’s former slaves had been held back, for the arrow barrage might have claimed several of them being so poorly armored. Now, Eoin is free to send them into the armory and the dwarves are free to go in as well. The temple door is closed as well, but when Hjalmar gives it a hard push, he hears some frightened yells inside. Apparently it was being held by no more people pushing on it…

[Gryndel]

A final deep grunt ended the Ehontar as the last foe fell to the holy hammer of Hjalmar. Respect for fellow dwarves devoted to a deity different than his own was deeply ingrained into Magnum, Moradin held highest among them all of course. So he had no issue whatsoever stepping aside for the paladin to administer the last stroke to those who dare defend the desecrated temple.

Magnum nodded and grinned at Nega, always seemingly happier to fight with her nearby - though it would be hard to tell given his absolute devotion to battle itself. Ready to assist in whatever way wisdom pointed, the Sum Alaghor stood slightly behind and to the side of Hjalmar.

If he failed to open the door, Mag will use his 1/day ability to add cleric level to strength and aid in a second try.
[roll0]
besides, I just wanted to roll something... :smallbiggrin:

[loopy]

Eoin Shatterbond

"Wayward Sons! Secure the armory!" Eoin commands his unit, quite pleased that he didn't actually have to risk himself to combat. He'd amassed a small fortune working for the Sons, all of which had been lost to him when he'd been taken by the slavers.

Even with the leather armor over his rags, he still felt almost naked. Hopefully there would be some decent gear left to be taken in the armory. With Viktor and Tec'Lic by his side, he continued forward. Life was starting to look up after all.

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega

Looking at Hjalmar she sighs and makes ready for him to open the door. Then she suddenly straightens as she hers the screams.
Wat in da nine 'Ells was dat! I wonder ifn dere be more to dis ting den we tink. Sometin just took a meal in dere an it didn't mind it being raw. Nega frowns at Hjalmar. Well dis gonna be darn trouble. I'd like to 'ear ye now one-eye. Running like mad. Maybe we may send a scout? She laughs and look at the group. Prepare fer battle and dis will be blood on ye all.
She steps up to the left of Hjalmar ready for his push.

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Making a mental note that he'd also need to visit the armoury soon to replenish his stock of arrows, Johannes settles another bundle into the quiver at his thigh. The early departure of Buelyir and Sable was interesting, but perhaps impolite to note at this point.

He walks forward cautiously, bow still in hand, and stopped about forty feet short of the now-closed doors to the temple. Already, Eoin and the other mercenaries were falling to plundering the armoury. Perhaps it would be best to push the point and eliminate the rest of the defenders before they forgot about the remaining hobgoblins altogether.

"Master Hjalmar! After such a virtuosic display of determination, surely you will not be stayed by something as simple as a door, sanctified though it may be? Are we liberating the temple or not?"

He prepares to fire above the others' heads at things on the other side of the door.

[mshady]

The Assault on the Ice Cathedral

Standing at the foot of the temple, before the massive gates of the former Temple of Moradin. Looking skyward, they can see flakes of snow fall and a crack of daylight from the top of the cavern. This was where the dragon would come from to reach its lair, which could only be inside the Temple itself.

Two massive statues stand in front of the door, one of Moradin and one of Berronar. The two grim, old statues are covered in a shimmering blue ice in places and rough tapestries of Auril hang from their weapons. Someone had taken a chisel and knocked in the holy symbol of Auril into the shields of each, as well as on the faces of both statues, maiming works that must have taken years. Above the door is the holy symbol of Moradin AND Berronar, linked together.

Hjalmar, Nega and Magnum at least immediately recognize the significance of that. Only small shrines where space were limited included the mark of more than one God. A bigger temple patronized by two were of a much higher significance. There could be no higher patrons than the All Father and Mother Berronar. That marked the temple as a place of significance of some sort, and nothing of that significance had been found this far north. With the exception of mighty Sunderhelme itself.

Growling at Johannes, Hjalmar marches towards the door and gives it a hard push. In response, he hears shrieks and yells inside. Sounds of fear and terror inside as the door rocks and is pushed back into place.

"Huh" Hjalmar says, looking at the door.

[mshady]

The Armory

Eoin and his followers rush into the armory pell mell, pushing each other and running for the weapons and armor sitting on the racks. Swords, chainmail, breastplates, boots, cloaks, clothing, boxes of dried rations and tons of canned fish stacked in crates. A full two hundred short bows line the wall with thousands of arrows and bolts in more crates. 50 gallon drums of oil, lanterns, leagues of ropes, climbing gear, tents, sleeping bags, and other goods. All neatly arranged and stored, up until the moment nearly a hundred desperate slaves fell on to the area.

Towards the back wall is a massive adamantine vault with a large door in the center of it. A large lock in the middle of it, and the vault is locked fast. A spinning wheel sits on the side of it. It is the kind of vault one might find at a bank in a place like Waterdeep, only built with the pinnacle of dwarven engineering and paranoia.

Eoin looks at the locked vault with frustration and dismay while the rest of the slaves whoops and cheer with joy as they pillage the Aurilite armory...

[Strangie]

Wyatt

Wyatt clocks some hapless sap during the battle, swinging his bat wildly at the poor bastard. "Oh, 'DAT's a skull fracture for sure." Bonk.

Once the battle is concluded, he regroups with his allies, and waits for something of interest to come up. He notes Eoin sending the Wayward Sons' new army into the armory to seize what items they could, and then walks up next to Eoin, sizing up the vault door.

"Well, what've we got here?" he asks, gesturing at the vault. "Unfortunately, I handle traps, not locks. I'm a woodland scout, not some two-bit thief. Any ideas?"

[loopy]

Eoin Shatterbond

As Wyatt asks about the door, Eoin watches Viktor push two of the Wayward Son's aside as he finds a claymore that catches his eye. "Tec'Lic, make sure everyone gets equipped. See if you can stop anyone fighting over gear, there are plenty of supplies to pick from."

To Wyatt, "It's been a long time since I had to break through anything this complex, if ever. I don't have the tools required, though this would be the place to find them." He looks around, trying to find a set of lockpicks, stopping only to warn off a group of the Sons who were in the process of demolishing a slab of salted fish. "Don't gorge yourselves, with the scraps of food we've recently, you'll only make yourselves sick."

Presuming he can find something that can function as a lockpick (or, depending on the size of the monstrosity, a crowbar), and a cup he hunkers down and begins the long process of breaking into the vault. After searching thoroughly for traps, he flips the cup on it's end and gives the wheel a test spin. Ear to the cup, he listens for changes in the sound of the mechanism.

"Wyatt, if you'd do me a favor and go tell the rest about what I've found? Anyone who can pick a lock would be useful."

Eoin takes 20 on Search/Open Lock rolls for a result on 25 each.

[mshady]

Talamir and Black's Company

Having given Marcus food for thought, Talamir falls in line and marches with Black's Company towards "Triage Central" where Buelyir was, last Talamir knew at any rate.

As they make the short trek, Santana falls in line next to him. The human ranger is chewing on some tobacco leaf and spits on the ground just before he addresses Talamir.

"Heard what ya said to Mark" Santana says, and pauses a moment for another chew or two. "I don't trust these dwarfs one bit. Marcus just saw coin and sold us on a pile of gold trade bars that Buelyir brought us in a satchel. He's trying to play us off Sable... or something. You ran with her for a bit on yer flank. If it came to it, how tough ye think she is? How 'bout this Buelyir? If it came to it, o'course..." he smirks at Talamir through blackened teeth, than spits on the ground once again, as they walk.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

One final stitch, and the operation on Tasster's son was finished. "He's as good as I can make him, Highness," he says with a compassionate smile to Tasster. "Now let's see about your arm." The doctor looks over the Prince's arm, administering additional healing if necessary.

Taking 10 on Heal checks for a result of 25.

As Nalrak finishes up, he bows slightly to Tasster. "You'd do well to rest now, m'lord, both you and your kin. I need to tend to the gray elves now." Absent any dissent from the prince, Nalrak bows again and scurries over to the dark elves. Along the way, his disposition changes. Good people had died today, good dwarves too. Tasster and his son could have as well, had Nalrak been tied up tending to some shoddy excuse for dwarves like the duergar.

He knows that these were not the pure thoughts of a healer like himself, but at this moment he just doesn't care. He wants to be back home mixing up a barrel of hops and barley, not trudging through dead bodies to get to another crowd of near-dead ones. He desires to smell the fermentation at work, rather than the pungent aroma of sweat and death that lingered after battle. He doesn't want to be the dwarf he is "called to be" right now--he just wants to relax and be the dwarf that he is.

As he approaches the dark dwarves, he tries to feign a smile, but with little success. "I'm here, Sonnolir," he addresses Stonebreaker. "How can I help? It looks like my mates have already been able to tend to most of your wounded."

[Grodech]

OOC Regarding NalrakAt this point, Grathalmor and Magnum should have already been here to tend those with the Sonnolir using the potions Grathalmor had and the wand of lesser vigor that Magnum had.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

"You're best askin' Sable about picking the lock on 'dis thing. She's pretty good with 'dat stuff. I'll head on back and report to the others... If I see her on the way out, I'll let her know the scoop. Don't be surprised if she finds you first, 'dough!"

With that, he darts off, first relaying the information to anybody of significance (Patriarch dwarves and other PCs) who came with them, and attempts to pin down Sable or Buelyir's location and let them know of the situation as well, if he can find them, and then running off to report of the mission's success to the Triage Center. He weaves a path back past the Patriarch's soldiers out of the armory, with a quick "Comin' through! Got a report to deliver!" as he passes.

On the way back, he remains wary of being intercepted by an Aurilite or some other being. He makes sure to avoid making himself obvious, blending in with his surroundings whenever possible.

Camouflage, go! Allows me to make Hide checks whenever in natural surroundings, even without cover or concealment.

The moment he arrives at the Triage Center, he waves down the first Patriarch dwarf he can find, and relays the report of the battle. "The way's clear up ahead. Whenever you guys are ready to move, let's do it. 'dere's still people inside the big temple of Moradin and Berronar up 'dere, 'dough - dunno who is in it. Sound like scared people. Noncombatants, maybe? And 'dere's a big locked vault, but locks aren't my thing. Hopefully gonna have Sable on 'dat..." he rambles on.

Whoever at the Triage center wants to respond to Wyatt first, go ahead. :smalltongue:

[Katasi]

Arum mutters to himself. "It's been a blasted long day, I'm exhausted." he says, yawning deeply.

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Since Hjalmar and the others don't seem inclined to enter the temple, perhaps for some holy-holy Moradin-priestysuchthing that eluded him for now, Johannes is delighted by Wyatt's news.

"A vault, you say? This warrants a look."

Nodding to the yawning Arum as he goes, Johannes jogs on over to the armoury, sliding his bow back onto his back as he goes. Inside, he nods to the mercenaries and slides nimbly among the hordes of looting slaves. Looking for shafts of the right length, he quietly slips four bundles into his small packsack. Then, as an afterthought, slides a sleeping bag in as well.

Sidling up close to the other mercenaries by the vault, Johannes smiles.

"Nice work finding this. A bit ostentatious, you know, adamantine doors. Worth more than the stuff in side, maybe. But that's dwarves for you."

He leaned in close to get a better look at the door and its surroundings.

Starting with a search check before he starts touching anything. Looking for traps or other nasty surprises. Burning an inspiration point on the skill check. [roll0]

[mshady]

Nalrak

One final stitch, and the operation on Tasster's son was finished. "He's as good as I can make him, Highness," he says with a compassionate smile to Tasster. "Now let's see about your arm." The doctor looks over the Prince's arm, administering additional healing if necessary.

Taking 10 on Heal checks for a result of 25.

As Nalrak finishes up, he bows slightly to Tasster. "You'd do well to rest now, m'lord, both you and your kin. I need to tend to the gray elves now." Absent any dissent from the prince, Nalrak bows again and scurries over to the dark elves. Along the way, his disposition changes. Good people had died today, good dwarves too. Tasster and his son could have as well, had Nalrak been tied up tending to some shoddy excuse for dwarves like the duergar.

He knows that these were not the pure thoughts of a healer like himself, but at this moment he just doesn't care. He wants to be back home mixing up a barrel of hops and barley, not trudging through dead bodies to get to another crowd of near-dead ones. He desires to smell the fermentation at work, rather than the pungent aroma of sweat and death that lingered after battle. He doesn't want to be the dwarf he is "called to be" right now--he just wants to relax and be the dwarf that he is.

As he approaches the dark dwarves, he tries to feign a smile, but with little success. "I'm here, Sonnolir," he addresses Stonebreaker. "How can I help? It looks like my mates have already been able to tend to most of your wounded."

Nalrak

Having finished with the latest surgery, he stitches up Tasster's son, cleans up and approaches the burly dwarf. The potions had tended the wound mostly, but he was clearly weakened by blood loss. Not that he was not dangerous still, but his endurance would be seriously lacking and where they were going, it might very well get very cold, very quickly. Advising him to take it easy for awhile, Nalrak packs up his gear and heads towards the duergar, wishing he was brewing something up rather than stitching wounds and wrist deep into yet another dying dwarf. His talent gave him a responsibility, but you didn't always have to enjoy it. It was damn tough, and why so few could do it. This entire assignment had been to hopefully take him away from the big battlefields. No such luck...

Putting a brave face on his inner grumble, Nalrak greets the Sonnlinor. By his nature, the cleric was a gifted healer himself and while Magnum and another had stopped by with potions, these issues were probably a trifle more serious.
The Sonnlinor nods in respect toward Nalrak and sighs heavily.

"Yes, well I am glad you finally made it. I understand ye had to take care of ye and yours first, o'course" he says, a bitter edge in his voice for the first time Nalrak recalled in his short travel with the cleric.

"Wyclef died, but three others still live. The potions your friends brought at least sustained them. One needs an arm amputation, for the tourniquet has been on too long. The other an arrow into the eye socket that needs withdrawal. Another is gut shot, and I have little hope for him at this point" he says and sighs. "Please... do what ye can"

Nalrak will need a DC15, DC20 and DC25 to make each surgery, failure to make a roll, make 5 more for that surgery.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

Nalrak's face is blank as he is informed of Wyclef's passing, and he doles out a pithy comment empty of his usual compassion: "May the gods guide him now," he says while digging through his surgical kit. The necessary tasks are almost second nature to Nalrak now, and his hands operate swiftly, as if independent from the rest of his body.

The arm is the easiest, as it isn't Nalrak's first amputation of the day. Tiny bits of guilt tug at his heart: had this tourniquet been removed earlier, this arm could have been saved. However, he comforts himself by thinking between this darkie's arm and Tasster's son, I think I made the right choice.

The eye is a mite harder (and a heap more gruesome), but Nalrak knows what needed to be done. In one fluid motion, he extracts the arrow with the eyeball along its shaft, snips the optic nerve, and cauterizes the wound. A cord and a patch of leather make a crude eyepatch; by the time the Sonnolir's man can scream, Nalrak is done.

The gut requires the most work, but after operating on the drow earlier Nalrak feels practiced and rehearsed. It had been a while since he had to sew up a bowel, and now he had faced two in one day! While the intestine is torn in different places, a serpentine stitch pulls it delicately back together without much harm. Nalrak pulls out thicker sutures for the skin and a cloth bandage to cover the field.

Without the need of any magic, he is done three surgeries in less time than it took him to operate on Tasster's son. Nalrak can't remember the last time he enjoyed a drink, but he promised himself a pint of mead at the next tavern he could find. If the gods wouldn't reward him for a day of arduous service, the grog would. He washes his hands and starts toward the rest of the party at the Ice Cathedral. "There you go, Stonebreaker," he spits, "I've done what I could." Silently, he adds, ...and it's a far sight more than you could. Now get me away from these damned dark dwarves. It's bad enough having one around, though Duervar has at least proven his worth.

Taking 10 on all Heal checks for a result of 25.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

The half duergar stands over the tied mages after the minotaur dumps them. Looking over at Builyir for a second, he crouches down and addresses them face to face (or at least as close as possible). "I'd advise you to be as polite and helpful as you can. Builyir over there isn't as nice as Carmard and the rest of us. You do that, someone might just be able to talk him out of cutting your throat as soon as he's done with you." He pauses for a moment, then smirks at Kaladus. "Well, maybe not you. Not sure if any of us'll forgive your betrayal. But play nice, you never know." He stretches his shoulders and stands upright again.

Where'd that damn doctor get off to? I lost him when I had to go pick these two up...

[thorgrim29]

While waiting for Sable, Thordrek takes a few people and explores the temple.

[King Tius]

OOC: I have to say, that cinematic depiction of Hjalmar was truly bad@$$.

Motioning with his hammer, the grumpy old Dwarf makes sure he has a little clearance about him before squaring his shoulders with one of the temple doors. Raising his hammer high above his head, he brings it crashing onto the ground with an unnaturally-loud thud. The ground before him shakes and rumbles as the shockwave rushes out from the point of contact and under the door. Hoping that the surprise Quake knocked more than a few of the people behind the door onto their backsides, Hjalmar wastes no time driving his shoulder into the door, determined to have it open at once.

OOC: Ref save DC 17 or knocked prone by the quake. I can roll a strength check if you need it!

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega
Nega stumbles and falls as Hjalmar smahes his hammer into the ground.
Frowning she yells out
Will someone get me back up on me feet. Now wat did dat gain us 'Jalmar?

[Gryndel]

Magnum

Grabbing Nega by the collar of her armor, a little quicker to react than he might had it been another, Magnum scowled and grunted gruffly, "On yer feet, First Mace."

Giving her a friendly nudge once she was standing, he stepped back and chuckled softly before growling out in a gravelly, baritone, bantering tone, "Dis be no time fer layin' 'bout, steady now."

The Alaghor moved up behind Hjalmar, ready to assist if needed to open the door and face whatever they might find behind it.

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Completing his own examination of the vault door and mechanism, Johannes turns to the cup-holding Eoin.

"So, what do you think? Try for the combination, or go in from the side? It's been a few years since I've had to liberate anything in this way, but it seems like you know what you're doing."

Mike, any noteworthy results from the 38 on his search check?

[mshady]

Buelyir and Duervar

“That’ll do, Duervar. I think you frightened them enough about me. Now I’ll do it myself” Buelyir says from behind Duervar. The dwarf never heard Buelyir approach him from behind. Last he was aware, the dwarf was over 40 feet away with his back turned. He walks past Duervar and gives his shoulder a squeeze, in what might almost be considered a convivial fashion. Maybe?

“Now, my next order of business. You two, please be seated. I’d apologize about the hard floor, but honestly… you’re discomfort doesn’t concern me overly much” Buelyir informs them with a steely smile.

Taking the hint, Regina sits down but Kaladus remains standing, even stiffens in defiance. Sighing, Buelyir shakes his head and walks up first to Regina and removes her gag carefully than does the same for Kaladus, although not quite so gently.

“Now, sir… I asked you to be seated” Buelyir tells him in a very firm, quiet voice.

“I’d prefer to remain standing, thank you very much. A hammer to my leg and hip makes sitting painful, and I am, as you see, an old man”

“Oh, how old sir?” Buelyir replies, curious at the number.

“71 years, in your reckoning” Kaladus informs him pointedly.

“..and which leg was hurt? I’ll have Nalrak look at it for you” Buelyir offers pleasantly, a trace of concern in his voice.

“My right, dwarf” comes the stammered reply.

“Ah, I see” Buelyir smiles and shakes his head pleasantly.

As quick as snake, a whip kick to the right leg sends Kaladus tumbling to the ground, where he smashes the side of his head on the ground. His cheek starts quickly bleeding and he howls from the pain, wailing almost. Buelyir stands over him with a smile and crosses his arms.

“Next time I say sit, you sit! If I have to train you like a dog, I will. As for your age, you may as well be an unruly child to me and I don’t spare the rod. Got it?” the dwarf informs Kaladus, a disgusted scowl on his face.

To his side, Regina snickers at Kaladus’ predicament. The two rival mages had little love for each other, although apparently they did at one time. It was the only explanation for the dislike the two held for each other.

“Now, I’ll leave you with Duervar until Nalrak comes back to begin a little interrogation. I heard he can do amazing things with a meat hook. I’d say he’s like a surgeon, but he actually is one” Buelyir smiles at him, laughing at the last as like it was a joke.

“You bastard dwarf! What more do you want to know? I thought we bought our life by fixing your Stoneburner?” Kaladus snarls at Buelyir as he holds a hand to his bleeding cheek.

“I think that was more of a temporary reprieve, Mage. Nalrak’s going to help me determine which of you I’m going to keep alive. Two of you, with what comes next, are far too dangerous for me to bother with” Buelyir politely informs the two.

Kaladus and Regina share a look of shared horror for a moment, as they realize Buelyir is deadly serious.

“He’s right, you are a bastard” Regina replies.

“Am I? I knew my parents quite well, thank ye. Since your both traitors, I’m within my rights to have ye both dead for it. You caught me on a good day though. So for now, I bid you farewell. Think hard, your life depends on it” Buelyir smiles, clicks his heels together and bows to them, than walks away, back towards Carmard.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar shakes his head when Builyir kicks Kaladus' leg out from under him. "Apparently I didn't scare that one enough."

After the unusual dwarf leaves, Duervar looks back at the two mages. "It's just poor luck on your part that he's arrived now. Carmard probably would have let you go much sooner than he's likely to." He shrugs and shoulders his pick again. "Best of luck to both of you, though I hope you don't take offense to the fact that I'm hoping he keeps her alive," he points to Regina. "At least she didn't lie to us and send us into a killing zone with the intention of breaking her promises."

At least not to my knowledge. I'm pretty sure she was just trying to trap the stoneburner in a maze, it was Kaladus who lied to and betrayed the dwarves, right?

[mshady]

Duervar and the Prisoners

"Well, I appreciate the endorsement" Regina tells Duervar, and for what it was worth. "If my life wasn't in play here, he just would kill Kaladus and be done with it" she says and sighs.

"You wearing doe eyes doesn't suit you, Regina" Kaladus snidely informs her. "You'll just prostitute yourself to whomever will keep you alive, because if its not power, it's self preservation"


Regina looks at him and smiles slightly at Kaladus.

"Why Kaladus, you almost sound jealous of my abilities" she purrs.

"Jealous of a whore? Hardly. I doubt that dwarf cares less about your feminine wiles, nor my own"

"A whoremonger jealous of a whore? Well I suppose that's professional pride talking, isn't it. I'm hardly your type either anymore, I hear. You and all those fit young men as your attendants?" he says and snickers at him, and that makes Kaladus go red faced.

"What of it, woman?" Kaladus snaps at her, not bothering to defend the accusation while only causes Regina to raise an eye brow.

The two say nothing for a moment and Kaladus watches Buelyir from a distance, as both more or less ignore Duervar for the moment. Finally, Kaladus says something in a calmer tone.

"I felt something strange about that dwarf, this Buelyir" Kaladus finally says. "A tingling, a pull towards him. When I looked at his eyes, I..." Kaladus seems to be at a loss for words for a moment.

Regina nods in response to him.

"Yes, I felt it too. Not before, but I did this time. I didn't like it" she says and bites her lips before turning back to Duervar.

"Your leader, who or what is he? Can we speak to Carmard?"

[mshady]

Opening Doors at the Cathedral of Ice

With a slam of his hammer into the ground, the ground shakes as he sends a wave of force rolling forward that turns the ground into a trampoline. The force buckles the doors and their hinges scream, and to his left the unprepared Nega goes tumbling to the ground, cursing on the way down. On the other side of the door, Hjalmar can hear screams of shock, surprise and terror as well, which was just the sound he was looking for when he struck his hammer. Not that he bothered to tell people what he was doing, being in a relentless and bloody minded mood.

Far quicker than one would expect an old dwarf to move, Hjalmar charges at the door and throws his shoulder into it. There is a mighty bang as he connects with the door and the door to the cathedral flies open, the hinges screaming the entire way.

Hjalmar rushes through the gap, and the one humanoid standing near the door gets smacked with his shield and sent tumbling to the ground. He stops and plants his feet, than returns to his stance with hammer and shield ready as he looks into the temple and sees what he never expected, but probably should have.

Over a thousand, possibly as many as two thousand, women, children and the infirm, along with some wounded, are all crowded on the floor of the Temple. There are many orcs and hobgoblins, even a few female frost giants with younger giants at their heel.

A wave of panicked screams greet the old paladin as the crowd tries to fall back from the door as fast as they can. The crowd of civilians push each other out of the way to get as far back from the door now as they could, shrieking in fright.

Hjalmar stands there at the entry to the door as the human boy he batted aside with his shield runs into the crowd. With his hammer blazing and his battered, blood shield bearing the Holy Symbol of Moradin, the old paladin takes in the scene as the crowd runs away from his as fast as he can.

Description: The temple itself looks fairly normal, as temples go. The stone beams are frosted with ice and the place has a chill air to it. Old tapestries with the snow flake of Auril and the face of a white dragon hang alternatively on the sides of the temple. Across the crowd on a stage, Hjalmar spies a massive old anvil encased in a blue block of ice, that now serves as an altar to Auril.

[King Tius]

Before he makes any moves, Hjalmar activates his innate ability to Detect Evil, scanning the crowd scrambling before him to determine if there are any worth saving from his righteous fury.

I'll wait for the result of detect evil before he does anything.

[mshady]

Hjalmar

The response to his casting is fairly inconclusive. It is more like a straw poll of the audience than a scientific review.

The response is fairly nauseating, as there is a lot of what he might consider "evil", but it was really indicating more someone's faith than who they were. Beyond that though, many were women and the children barely seemed to register.

Fully a quarter of the group were humans as well, either followers or converts taken from the area it was hard to tell.

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega
Getting back to her feet she looks into the Cathedral seeing all the females and children. She walks forward her mace in it's hook her shield by her side.
'Jalmar wait! 'Old yer ground my friend dis time ye will yield to my command and keep still. Nega raises her voice and speaks in the giant tongue:I am Valkyrie of Berronar ye will not be 'Armed if ye follow my words. Lay down yer weapons and surrender. Da leader come fort' and we will parley. She thens looks at Hjalmar and puts her hand on his shoulder and whispers inn his ear(in the dwarven tongue):Step back but keep yer weapon ready if dis fails. We will not kill females and c'ildren. Dat is an order from da First Mace Valkyrie of Berronar Paladin of Moradin.
Keep calm all we can talk em to surrender. No blood spill in dis temple of da Fat'er and mot'er

She puts down her shield and mace at her feet and walk forward a few steps with her arms out wide.

[mshady]

Eoin and Johannes

Johanness's search is quite through, but he doesn't actually discover a whole lot he did not already know. The vault was big and made with very solid metal. If it wasn't solid adamantine, it was certainly sheathed in the incredibly hard metal. A key was required to open the vault, of that much he was certain.

Eoin's Passenger chimed in as well...

"Yes, you'll need a key for this. You'll need THE key, as only a key with the right runes engraved on it will spin this lock. Assume the key is somewhere, either in the temple or on a body on the battlefield. The Aurilites have been here long enough that, if they didn't have the key, they would have forced it somehow..."

Around Eoin, the chaos of the freed slaves grabbing every weapon, armor and supply they could manage is a cacophony of noise in the room. It gave Eoin something of a headache...

[mshady]

Nalrak

Nalrak's face is blank as he is informed of Wyclef's passing, and he doles out a pithy comment empty of his usual compassion: "May the gods guide him now," he says while digging through his surgical kit. The necessary tasks are almost second nature to Nalrak now, and his hands operate swiftly, as if independent from the rest of his body.

The arm is the easiest, as it isn't Nalrak's first amputation of the day. Tiny bits of guilt tug at his heart: had this tourniquet been removed earlier, this arm could have been saved. However, he comforts himself by thinking between this darkie's arm and Tasster's son, I think I made the right choice.

The eye is a mite harder (and a heap more gruesome), but Nalrak knows what needed to be done. In one fluid motion, he extracts the arrow with the eyeball along its shaft, snips the optic nerve, and cauterizes the wound. A cord and a patch of leather make a crude eyepatch; by the time the Sonnolir's man can scream, Nalrak is done.

The gut requires the most work, but after operating on the drow earlier Nalrak feels practiced and rehearsed. It had been a while since he had to sew up a bowel, and now he had faced two in one day! While the intestine is torn in different places, a serpentine stitch pulls it delicately back together without much harm. Nalrak pulls out thicker sutures for the skin and a cloth bandage to cover the field.

Without the need of any magic, he is done three surgeries in less time than it took him to operate on Tasster's son. Nalrak can't remember the last time he enjoyed a drink, but he promised himself a pint of mead at the next tavern he could find. If the gods wouldn't reward him for a day of arduous service, the grog would. He washes his hands and starts toward the rest of the party at the Ice Cathedral. "There you go, Stonebreaker," he spits, "I've done what I could." Silently, he adds, ...and it's a far sight more than you could. Now get me away from these damned dark dwarves. It's bad enough having one around, though Duervar has at least proven his worth.

Taking 10 on all Heal checks for a result of 25.


Nalrak and Sonnlinor Stonebreaker

The Sonnlinor, also a duergar, looks shocked for a moment at what Nalrak had said to him. He may as well have slapped the duergar, but after a moment he sighs and comes to understand somewhat.

"Me apologies 'or the misconception. I had thought, being a learned healer, you at least might have been able to look past our race and instead see we share fellowship and cause with you. Or that we risked our lives to aid you on a task of no benefit to our own and half my force has been killed or crippled. All on the word of your Patriarch to prove ourselves and aid his cause" he says and bites his lip with anger. "Obviously I'm mistaken"

The Sonnlinor crosses his arms and regards with Nalrak with frustration and disappointment.

"You should go. Inform Commander Buelyir we will depart in half an hour's time for the tunnels and will need several hours to clear the area. I realize his hurry and that we have no doubt held up his plans, but I hope he will remember our assistance and delay his actions, rather than destroy us during the escape. I thank you for your assistance, and hope we have no need of it in the future" the Sonnlinor says, and his glare indicates that Nalrak is no longer welcome.


When Nalrak leaves, he will be returning straight to Buelyir where he waits with Regina and Kaladus.

[mshady]

Grathalmor, Buelyir, Carmard and Buna

The quartet of dwarfs are a hundred feet or so removed from where Kaladus and Regina sit (not stand). Nalrak has yet to return to the group, as he finishes his surgeries on the duergar.

Buelyir stands, arms crossed against his leather long coat, and regards the two prisoners from a distance with a fairly nasty look on his face.

"Good job kicking an old man there, Buelyir. Why'd you do that?" Buna remarks, finally breaking the silence on that issue. Buelyir turns and looks at her and shakes his head.

"I told him to sit. He didn't listen" Buelyir growls at her. "Carmard tried to reason with him, Johannes tried to interrogate him and broke a finger on'em. Still, he just... his defiance gets under my skin. He's a betrayer, and I've no sympathy for dwarf killer"

"Yes well, he's still an old man" Buna tells him. "Far be it from me to say something is rash, o'course" she says and smiles, than winks at Grathalmor.

"He's an old man who is an Archmage who is as strong as Glorian, I expect. He's not helpless" he says and snorts.

"Ever think he's defiant because he's scared? I think he knows how this is going to end for him. All he has left is his pride, and a sharp tongue" Buna replies, trying to be soothing.

Truthfully, Buelyir scared her. His reputation always had, and in the flesh was much the same. Buelyir regards her and shrugs in response.

"Fine" he says after a moment. "He gets to me. I'll let Nalrak handle it from here, but I expect he'll get his due shortly. The Question is more for Regina... but I have an open mind" he says and pauses for a moment and rests his hand on his sword's pommel for a moment. "I may need one of them"

[mshady]

Grathalmor, Buelyir, Carmard and Buna Continued

Buelyir looks at Carmard and taps his foot on the ground, and his eyes sweep the area for Nalrak again. He was probably still elbow deep in duergar blood, Buelyir assumed.

"Shalestone" he curses, and looks at Carmard. "We need to get him going" Buelyir announces, and reaches into his path and withdraws a small container filled with a white powder.

"Grathalmor, hold his head up for me will ya? Going to have'em take a sniff o'smelling salts, see if I can startle him awake"

[King Tius]

Hjalmar Crownshield
The grumpy old Paladin stands locked in his defensive posture. The aura of the crowd was...disappointing. Deep down inside, he'd been hoping that they'd all been truly evil. It would have made things a great deal less complicated. Now, despite his steadily growing impatience, he stands his ground at the First Mace's order and waits to see what transpires.

[loopy]

Eoin Shatterbond

Eoin nods at the Passenger's answer, and stands hefts himself to his feet, using the safe to balance himself. His head throbbed painfully still, though he was able to push it aside with the help of the spirit inside his head... most of the time.

Eoin leaves the Armory under the capable hands of Tec'Lic, and the less capable but undeniably enthusiastic Viktor, who was now a walking armory of his own. He begins a systematic search of the bodies left outside the temple, and presuming that he doesn't find the key, proceeds into the temple to search there, ignoring everyone unless questioned.

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Johannes straightens from his examination of the vault. He turns to Eoin.

"Well, that's frustrating. It seems that..."

But the strange man was already on his way out the door, a bit wobbly, it seemed. Odd. But then, there was odd, odder and there was this whole mission, so a background layer of 'odd' was to be expected.

Shrugging, Johannes deftly inserted himself into and stepped among the looting horde. While he continues to extract a few more bundles of arrows, little more dried food for the journey, his main purpose now is to look for anything in the nature of the right sized key for the vault. He rather suspected that it wouldn't be this close at hand, but sometimes there were happy surprises.

Scavenging a little more survival gear, and looking for the key. [roll0]

[thorgrim29]

Having a sudden tought, Thordrek checks to see if any of the items he looted from the wizard's body fit in the keyhole.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

Wyatt returns from his reporting duties to the armory. Hearing the shouts of scared folks, he moves toward the noise. He realizes its the cathedral full of folks who were pushing back against the door earlier.

He walks up next to Hjalmar, and peers into the crowd of fleeing noncombatants.

"Well, 'dis is different," he remarks plainly. "'dere's quite the assorted crowd here. Not to mention a LOT of 'dem... more 'dan I thought 'dere was gonna be. Now what're we supposed to do...?"

He rubbed his chin in thought and frowned. They were already taking on so many extra folks from the slave group. Were they going to move these people too? And what about the bomb? He glanced at Hjalmar, wondering what was brewing in the old paladin's mind...

[Gryndel]

Magnum
Nodding to Nega, the Alaghor shrugged and stepped close to the old one eyed paladin and said in a low tone, "Let da First Mace deal wid dis rabble, dat anvil needs fixin'. O'course, soon all dis'll be buried rubble anyway."

[mshady]

Thordek, are you the Key Master?

Thordek thinks for a moment about what he recovered from the enemy wizard. It seemed like he was in charge here, but it was hard to tell who the enemy commander was here. He seemed a good fit...

Thinking that he never really went over the wizard's cloak, he pulls it out of his pack and lays it on the ground. He crouches down and starts rummaging through the pockets, and finds a few random things. Almost ready to give up that particular search, he reverses the cloak and runs his hand along the inside of the fabric...

...and there he feels an interior pocket and something solid, something metal. He allows himself a brief moment of satisfaction and fishes out the key with his fingers. The key is old and tarnished, and it could use significant polishing. By the weight of it, it would have to be made of mithril; he would have noticed an iron key by the weight alone.

Now where could someone use a key like that?

[mshady]

The Chant of Auril

Hjalmar stands in front of the door, holding his shield and blazing hammer as the crowd. He glares out at the crowd, and the sheer intimidation of the massively armored dwarf and the holy symbol of Moradin seem to keep the crowd at bay for now.

A rock flies at Hjalmar and bangs off of Hjalmar's thick sallet style helmet, than falls to the ground. The blow hardly bothers Hjalmar, and he merely growls in response. Just to test how much he had intimidated them, Hjalmar steps forward a few feet and the crowd of women, children and infirm shriek in terror and fall back away from him, just when some started looking brave.

There needed to be a bigger show of force in here soon though, and they all sensed it. Three dwarfs only went so far...

Nega and Magnum fall in behind him, and he even hears the First Mace's protestations and Magnum's subsequent council. Both were young enough that, back home, their council would barely merit an elder's recognition but these shield dwarfs had such different notions, even on that.

While the older dwarf is concentrating on the crowd, the younger Magnum's hearing picks up on something over the crowd noise, the wave of terrified..not quite humanity in front of them.

Back by the altar, Magnum say several robed figures on their knees and swaying back and forth and calling out a name. He couldn't make it out at first, and he strained to her.

"Ur..!"
"In.."
"Sh.."

What were they saying? Some kind of prayer chant, obviously.

Than the words clicked...

"Xurshin! Xurshin! Xurshin!" they cried out.

They were crying out Xurshin's name. The Chosen of Auril himself in The Spine of the World. The name they were briefed not to say, for speaking a Chosen's name might draw their attention. Allow them to hear some of the words said around them. Glimpse the surroundings.

What was most trouble, is that they could have been at that chant for hours...

Looking up, Magnum could see the massive hole in the roof where the dragons had shattered the ancient dome over the temple to allow access to it. Above that, daylight that seemed faded, distorted, yet ice crystals and flecks of snow filled the air...

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

Arriving back at the central triage area, Nalrak is glad for a moment to be done with the surgeries...until he sees an all-too-familiar look on Buelyir's face. He salutes the elder dwarf and turns to the Aurilites. "Buna, Carmard," he says, "how fare ye?" The doctor maintains his salute as he addresses the mages, both out of respect for them and fear of Buelyir. Nalrak always felt uneasy around Buelyir, finding him to be a bit of a sadist. Granted, there was the fact that Buelyir routinely asked Nalrak to perform interrogations, which only served to cement his views of the commander.

Nalrak was used to theological inquisitions--matters of doctrine and dogmatics--not military interrogation. Sure, the more devout heretics were often tortured until they recanted, but that was done by lesser acolytes who didn't have the mind for the philosophical discussion that always preceded the pain. Still, he had learned a thing or two about extracting information, and had come to consider it a surgery of a different sort. The best information was gained by extracting gently, carefully, and with much care not to leave the patient with any physical or emotional scars.

"Let me guess, sir," he says to Buelyir with a sideways glance to Regina and Kaladus, "they're not speaking freely so you've been awaiting my return?" Without waiting for a response, he nods his head sadly. "I'll get your information...but I'l get it my way. We need to keep them separated and isolated. I may need to call you in, but can I trust that you'll defer to me?" Sheepishly, Nalrak adds, "solely for purposes of the interrogation, of course." Buelyir often had an odd complex about respect and authority, and Nalrak didn't want to be the one to touch that nerve. Eager to change the subject, he asks, "what do you need me to learn from them?"

[Grodech]

Grathalmor, Buelyir, Carmard and Buna Continued

Buelyir looks at Carmard and taps his foot on the ground, and his eyes sweep the area for Nalrak again. He was probably still elbow deep in duergar blood, Buelyir assumed.

"Shalestone" he curses, and looks at Carmard. "We need to get him going" Buelyir announces, and reaches into his path and withdraws a small container filled with a white powder.

"Grathalmor, hold his head up for me will ya? Going to have'em take a sniff o'smelling salts, see if I can startle him awake"

Grathalmor looked briefly again to Buna, then moved to Carmard's head and kneeled down. "I'd rather wait fer Nalrak." he said to Buelyir, "He said he'd be back after da Sonnlinor, but if ye want ta do it yerself..." he stopped at that. His job was to protect the arcanii, but they really did need Carmard awake. He gently lifted Carmard's head from behind the neck and scooted himself in so the arcanii's head laid in his lap. Luckily, by the time he had finished, he saw his cousin headed in their direction.

[Gryndel]

Magnum pointed out what he observed to the paladins and declared, "Dey be chantin da name o'da Chosen o'Auril in da Spine o'da World. We need ta stop em! Dar be a shaft above em, apparently open ta da outside."

[ithildur]

Meanwhile...


Talamir and Black's Company

Having given Marcus food for thought, Talamir falls in line and marches with Black's Company towards "Triage Central" where Buelyir was, last Talamir knew at any rate.

As they make the short trek, Santana falls in line next to him. The human ranger is chewing on some tobacco leaf and spits on the ground just before he addresses Talamir.

"Heard what ya said to Mark" Santana says, and pauses a moment for another chew or two. "I don't trust these dwarfs one bit. Marcus just saw coin and sold us on a pile of gold trade bars that Buelyir brought us in a satchel. He's trying to play us off Sable... or something. You ran with her for a bit on yer flank. If it came to it, how tough ye think she is? How 'bout this Buelyir? If it came to it, o'course..." he smirks at Talamir through blackened teeth, than spits on the ground once again, as they walk.

Talamir regarded Satana with a fairly neutral expression, though he allowed a small snort.
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"You waste your energy playing at such games - I believe back in Silverymoon they would have called it a 'contest of who has the longest sword' or some such, though they had a less polite way of putting it in Sundabar."

The elf's golden brow furrowed a touch as his thoughts returned to Beulyr. Talamir had been pondering the fact that his last exchange with the dwarf was completely incongruent with earlier interactions, particularly the conversation they had had on the barge; there was obviously more to it than what was apparent on the surface, but what exactly?

Looking back up, he shrugged and spoke in a tone that suggested he had no further interest in wasting time pursuing Satana's line of thought.

"If it came to it? I would consider it a grave and deadly mistake for you to underestimate the strange dwarf's skills. As for Sable... I have reason to believe she would make your life quite unbearable if you crossed her enough..."

"Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

Apparently without awaiting for a reply, Talamir turned his sights elsewhere as they approached the triage area, giving a nod to Arman as he took in the sight of the wounded being tended to. He had been aware, of course, of the fact that this strange mix of folks, even the unusual Duergar, were better company than the likes of Marcus and Barakas. His newly regained clarity only served to highlight that fact, and Talamir determined that he would depart Black's Company for good if they managed to escape this place alive.


((apologies, things have been busy. one bit of clarification, would Beulyr, two mages, etc have been within sight/hearing range of where Talamir and most folks in the Triage area would be?))

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega
Nega picks up her shield and mace. I guess we can't allow dat c'antin. Wyatt you da best wit' dq range of us rite. Give da c'anter a rock will ya.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

"You want me to what?" Wyatt replies to Nega, raising an eyebrow. While he certainly did have a good eye for range, even this was a little absurd for him. "I don't know if 'dat will even work... and I don't have the advantage of height 'dis time."

Wyatt shrugs, and begins weighing his options to do what he is asked. He mutters, "I hope someone's got a better plan 'dan just stoning 'dem to death."

So how far away are the chanters from the door where we stand? If I can figure out that, I can determine if I can maybe hit one with some kind of projectile.

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega
I don't want ye to kill em Wyatt I just want ye to break ems c'ant. Distract em Wyatt.

[mshady]

Talamir




Talamir regarded Satana with a fairly neutral expression, though he allowed a small snort.
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"You waste your energy playing at such games - I believe back in Silverymoon they would have called it a 'contest of who has the longest sword' or some such, though they had a less polite way of putting it in Sundabar."

The elf's golden brow furrowed a touch as his thoughts returned to Beulyr. Talamir had been pondering the fact that his last exchange with the dwarf was completely incongruent with earlier interactions, particularly the conversation they had had on the barge; there was obviously more to it than what was apparent on the surface, but what exactly?

Looking back up, he shrugged and spoke in a tone that suggested he had no further interest in wasting time pursuing Satana's line of thought.

"If it came to it? I would consider it a grave and deadly mistake for you to underestimate the strange dwarf's skills. As for Sable... I have reason to believe she would make your life quite unbearable if you crossed her enough..."

"Does that satisfy your curiosity?"

Apparently without awaiting for a reply, Talamir turned his sights elsewhere as they approached the triage area, giving a nod to Arman as he took in the sight of the wounded being tended to. He had been aware, of course, of the fact that this strange mix of folks, even the unusual Duergar, were better company than the likes of Marcus and Barakas. His newly regained clarity only served to highlight that fact, and Talamir determined that he would depart Black's Company for good if they managed to escape this place alive.


((apologies, things have been busy. one bit of clarification, would Beulyr, two mages, etc have been within sight/hearing range of where Talamir and most folks in the Triage area would be?))

Spoiler Response: Within sight, probably. It's a big, flat area. Earshot? No.

Santana looks at Talamir and shakes his head, than rolls his eyes at the elf.

"Going soft, or just sweet on the runt brigade?" Santana says and snorts. "You been 'round them enough. Bet yer arse they asked them same questions 'bout us. Professional courtesy, tis all" he smiles darkly at Talamir.

The elf gets the impression that if Santana bothered enough to think about how to kill someone, it was a dark sign of respect for someone.

"Suspect yer right though, all the same. Rather hop'n to avoid that dance, know what I mean?" he says and smiles with tobacco stained teeth and spits on the ground as they finish the walk towards "Triage Central"

Talamir can see the two minotaurs standing by the dwarf bomb, the one they talked about blowing up but never seemed to get around to. Half of the escaped slaves, the more monstrous ones, stood a couple hundred feet away from triage central and were led by the drow. The treatment area itself was largely cleared out now, save a few wounded recovering from Nalrak's attentions. That included Tasster and his sons.

Nalrak arrived just before he did and reported to Buelyir, so Marcus called a halt and waited until the dwarf had a moment. Talamir was a bit surprised he didn't just barge in.

The Company's mage sidled up next to Talamir as well. Weedle crossed his arms and looked across the way with an intent look. He seemed a decent fellow, another soul lost to gambling and drink he knew, as he often joined Talamir.

"I sense things drawing to a conclusion here" Weedle said. "Those other two mages, the ones in shackles? I never learned what they did besides cross the dwarf warden... but I don't envy them right now"

Talamir and Weedle watched as Buelyir was addressing the two mages and seemed quite... polite to the elder of the two. Up until a swift kick to the leg sent the mage toppling to the ground. Buelyir was crouched down and on the man like a drill master on a fresh recruit. It had the looks of an ugly scene, but perhaps Nalrak's arrival might change things?

"No... I wouldn't envy them at all" Weedle says, his voice quiet but showing little emotion beyond his observation, this time.

[mshady]

The Temple - Note

I would say you area good 400 feet away from the altar, and it is not a stone's throw distance. You can hear and see it, but it's a big, big structure.

There is about 300 feet of "crowd" between you and the altar as well.

[mshady]

Nalrak

Arriving back at the central triage area, Nalrak is glad for a moment to be done with the surgeries...until he sees an all-too-familiar look on Buelyir's face. He salutes the elder dwarf and turns to the Aurilites. "Buna, Carmard," he says, "how fare ye?" The doctor maintains his salute as he addresses the mages, both out of respect for them and fear of Buelyir. Nalrak always felt uneasy around Buelyir, finding him to be a bit of a sadist. Granted, there was the fact that Buelyir routinely asked Nalrak to perform interrogations, which only served to cement his views of the commander.

Nalrak was used to theological inquisitions--matters of doctrine and dogmatics--not military interrogation. Sure, the more devout heretics were often tortured until they recanted, but that was done by lesser acolytes who didn't have the mind for the philosophical discussion that always preceded the pain. Still, he had learned a thing or two about extracting information, and had come to consider it a surgery of a different sort. The best information was gained by extracting gently, carefully, and with much care not to leave the patient with any physical or emotional scars.

"Let me guess, sir," he says to Buelyir with a sideways glance to Regina and Kaladus, "they're not speaking freely so you've been awaiting my return?" Without waiting for a response, he nods his head sadly. "I'll get your information...but I'l get it my way. We need to keep them separated and isolated. I may need to call you in, but can I trust that you'll defer to me?" Sheepishly, Nalrak adds, "solely for purposes of the interrogation, of course." Buelyir often had an odd complex about respect and authority, and Nalrak didn't want to be the one to touch that nerve. Eager to change the subject, he asks, "what do you need me to learn from them?"

Buna looks up at Nalrak with a sour look and than gestures at Carmard. Grathalmor is down by Carmard, and despite an apprehensive look on his face, is holding Carmard's head up. Buelyir is standing by Carmard and turns his attention to Nalrak for a moment. In his hands are smelling salts; at least that is what it looks like.

"Ah, glad yer here. I was just about to try and wake up Carmard there" Buelyir says and shrugs. "Reckon you ought to handle that? I know he should probably be sleep'n things off, but we gotta get a move on and I need him up for when we light the fuze"

"As for those two mages, I need ye to determine how dangerous they'd be to us. I can't march'em all the way home in shackles and no tell'n what spells they've left. They're guilty as hell of a lot, but I don't want us gett'n back doored again by either one o'them. If either one or both can't be trust enough, they ain't comin' with us. I don't have much hope for Kaladus, but maybe Regina. She's still a snake though. At the least, see if ye can determine who has what spells left, 'case we need them to fight in defense for some reason"

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega
Nega moves forward towards the alter. She moves slowly.
Sorry Wyatt I tink I overestimated da distance. 'Jalmar, Magnum come wit' me. Wyatt ye stay at 'Jalmars back Nega tries not to look menacing since Hjalmar can fill that position for now.

[Gryndel]

Magnum

Judging the distance with squinted eyes and furrowed brows, the Alaghor considered the chance of hitting with his heavy crossbow as he pulled out the weapon and cast Magic Weapon it. The rapid autoloading mechanism would allow him to fire and move, albeit not as fast, and he commented with a wry grin "I could give it a few shots, First Mace. Ultimately I'll get lucky, eh?"

OOC Heavy xbow rge 120, so up to 480 would be -6 hit, still +1 total

[thorgrim29]

Oblivious to all that's going on, Thordrek tries the key in the door.

[mshady]

Nalrak - Continued

Buelyir looks over at Kaladus and Regina with a frown, and than taps his head, looking skyward in frustration.

"Aye, sorry. Got caught up in this other thing" he says, gesturing to Carmard with the smelling salts.

"If ye want to interrogate those two, it's on yer terms. I promise I won't interfere with it, but I may 'ave to end it anytime for a few reasons. Alright? Ye can talk nice to'em or pull a Johannes and break another one'o Kaladus' fingers for all I care. Just get what I need to know."

[mshady]

Duervar and the Prisoners

Sitting on the ground and watching Buelyir from afar, Kaladus tries to get Duervar's attention.

"Good Dwarf!" Kaladus calls out. "My apologies for not recalling your name, but can you loosen these bindings around my old arms and hands? Your leader is a sadist, and rude to boot, and I accept all that but my hands are turning blue as well? I'm am an Arcanist, and I'm of no use to you if my hands cease to work!. As much as I ever hate to say such a word, "please" would be appropriate" Kaladus asks of Duervar. Since Buelyir left, his usual sarcasm had turned into head hanging and muttering to himself for fear had finally caught a foothold within him.

He holds his hands up to show to Duervar, and his hands and fingers are indeed slightly discolored. Especially the broken finger, which is a purple mass now, even with a rudimentary splint around it.

[mshady]

Oblivious to all that's going on, Thordrek tries the key in the door.

Thordek and the Vault

Thordek takes the key in hand and heads back into the armory, curious about what he will find. He heads into the mad house of looting with the key, and sees Eoin and Johanness on his way in.

He heads in and moves straight for the vault, interested to see what was inside of it. A pile of gold and precious gems? Powerful magical artifacts kept locked up? Some kind of chemical explosive that gnomes favored and were best kept locked up in a vault such as this?

As he inserts the key, he smiles to himself as it seems to fit. It seats itself with a click, and than he turns it. He can hear the old mechanisms grind as the key turns, for the lock clearly needed to be oiled properly, but spin the tumblers inside do. Thordek hears a satisfying *thunk*, a sound not unlike a crossbow shot.

Leaving the key in the slot, he grabs the handles on the door and swings it open...

Light spills into the vault, and he sees about what he was hoping for. There is no bed of gems or anything, but a dozen neatly organized chests along the wall. Good sized chests. Hanging on the wall, he sees three swords hanging and he guessed at least two of them belonged to the drow. The other was a smaller, slimmer blade. There are other sets of armor and weapons, clearly enchanted, judging by the runes. A bow hangs on the wall as well. There are a few more objects as well.

He also sees four massive blocks of ice towards the back, with ropes around them. Inside, he can see the frozen figures of a man, a woman and two children. It reminded him of the ice blocks by the altar when the orc shaman had use them to summon the ice devil. Apparently sacrifices cames packed in ice, for the sake of convenience apparently. He remembered the ice had a blue tinge to it though, so it was not exactly regular ice, was it?

[thorgrim29]

When he passes Eoin and Johannes, Thordrek shows them the key


I think this is the key, found it in the wizard's cloak. Come with me

((and then the rest plays out, only with them there))

[ithildur]

Santana looks at Talamir and shakes his head, than rolls his eyes at the elf.

"Going soft, or just sweet on the runt brigade?" Santana says and snorts. "You been 'round them enough. Bet yer arse they asked them same questions 'bout us. Professional courtesy, tis all" he smiles darkly at Talamir.

The elf gets the impression that if Santana bothered enough to think about how to kill someone, it was a dark sign of respect for someone.

"Suspect yer right though, all the same. Rather hop'n to avoid that dance, know what I mean?" he says and smiles with tobacco stained teeth and spits on the ground as they finish the walk towards "Triage Central"

Talamir can see the two minotaurs standing by the dwarf bomb, the one they talked about blowing up but never seemed to get around to. Half of the escaped slaves, the more monstrous ones, stood a couple hundred feet away from triage central and were led by the drow. The treatment area itself was largely cleared out now, save a few wounded recovering from Nalrak's attentions. That included Tasster and his sons.

Nalrak arrived just before he did and reported to Buelyir, so Marcus called a halt and waited until the dwarf had a moment. Talamir was a bit surprised he didn't just barge in.

The Company's mage sidled up next to Talamir as well. Weedle crossed his arms and looked across the way with an intent look. He seemed a decent fellow, another soul lost to gambling and drink he knew, as he often joined Talamir.

"I sense things drawing to a conclusion here" Weedle said. "Those other two mages, the ones in shackles? I never learned what they did besides cross the dwarf warden... but I don't envy them right now"

Talamir and Weedle watched as Buelyir was addressing the two mages and seemed quite... polite to the elder of the two. Up until a swift kick to the leg sent the mage toppling to the ground. Buelyir was crouched down and on the man like a drill master on a fresh recruit. It had the looks of an ugly scene, but perhaps Nalrak's arrival might change things?

"No... I wouldn't envy them at all" Weedle says, his voice quiet but showing little emotion beyond his observation, this time.

Talamir did not bother replying further to Santana, instead taking time to observe what was happening around them while keeping a hand close to his blade at the sight of the Drow. He gave a nod to Weedle, watching the scene with the mages with one golden brow slightly raised. He was beginning to think either the Beulyir was cracking under the pressure of the situation, or that there was far, far more to all of this than he could currently guess at.

The elf hoped it was the latter, and noted the older human referred to as a mage was not gagged. He wondered at this, quite aware of the dangers that someone well versed in the Art posed, no matter the bonds or frailty of appearance. One eye would have to be kept on that one, Talamir thought to himself.


http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Perhaps," he replied to Weedle's remark, nodding once more as he pointed at the strange dwarven bomb. "Though if that thing goes off and we are not prepared with means of escape, none of us will be in an enviable position."

"I don't suppose you have a Dimension Door or Teleport prepared?"

[mshady]

Talamir and Weedle

"Um..." Weedle says and he looks around nervously. "No, I do not" he informs Talamir. He regards Talamir with a wary look. Trust was in short supply in this group. If Weedle had a way of escaping, why wouldn't he leave the rest of this group behind? The only one he seemed remotely close with, was Sable... The reaction reminded Talamir a bit of when he asked Arman about what spells he had prepared as well. Some mages liked to play things closer to than vest than others, it seemed.

"Why do you think the dwarfs will set that off without a means of, uh, escape? Is there something you would wish to share with me that uh, Marcus may not understand about things?"

[loopy]

Eoin Shatterbond

Provided Thordrek catches Eoin before he wanders away, he stands beside the newly opened vault and lets out a low whistle. "Looks like they have all the loot they took from us and then some. Nice to see a nicely organised vault for once, it'll be so much easier to pillage."

Provided Thordrek and Johannes have no objections, Eoin looks around the vault, trying to make a mental inventory of items that were either useful, valuable, or items that had belonged to one of his companions before their capture.

[ithildur]

Talamir and Weedle

"Um..." Weedle says and he looks around nervously. "No, I do not" he informs Talamir. He regards Talamir with a wary look. Trust was in short supply in this group. If Weedle had a way of escaping, why wouldn't he leave the rest of this group behind? The only one he seemed remotely close with, was Sable... The reaction reminded Talamir a bit of when he asked Arman about what spells he had prepared as well. Some mages liked to play things closer to than vest than others, it seemed.

"Why do you think the dwarfs will set that off without a means of, uh, escape? Is there something you would wish to share with me that uh, Marcus may not understand about things?"

Talamir eyed the mage for a while, noting the wary look. If he did indeed have a spell of teleportation whether short or long distance, it seemed unlikely to the Bladesinger that Wheedle would prefer to escape alone, unless his repertoire was limited to lesser forms of the spells. Odds of survival were exponentially better with more than one - but then, he was looking at this from a perspective quite different from the mercenary mage likely was.

Talamir contemplated a response to the nervous query, again taking measure of the mage. I've learned to take nothing for granted, was the reply he considered silently. It would not surprise me if the dwarves were quite willing to be inconvenienced for the sake of accomplishing their goals here, to the point of regarding survival as a second thought.

"I assume nothing for the present, Wheedle," was the reply the Bladesinger gave. "That is all I will say for now."

No use in possibly panicking the fellow, Talamir reasoned. It would do little good, and possibly some harm; better to wait to hear what Beulyir would tell Marcus.

For more than one reason he found himself somewhat eager to hear that conversation, and moved towards Marcus, motioning for Wheedle to follow.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar and the Prisoners

Sitting on the ground and watching Buelyir from afar, Kaladus tries to get Duervar's attention.

"Good Dwarf!" Kaladus calls out. "My apologies for not recalling your name, but can you loosen these bindings around my old arms and hands? Your leader is a sadist, and rude to boot, and I accept all that but my hands are turning blue as well? I'm am an Arcanist, and I'm of no use to you if my hands cease to work!. As much as I ever hate to say such a word, "please" would be appropriate" Kaladus asks of Duervar. Since Buelyir left, his usual sarcasm had turned into head hanging and muttering to himself for fear had finally caught a foothold within him.

He holds his hands up to show to Duervar, and his hands and fingers are indeed slightly discolored. Especially the broken finger, which is a purple mass now, even with a rudimentary splint around it.

Duervar

The half-duergar doesn't even look over at Kaladus. "As much as I would like to show kindness and help you, I don't trust you further than the gnome could throw you. You've betrayed us once, and you're desperate enough to try anything at this point. You're unpredictable, and I don't like you enough to bet on you not screwing me over or killing me. The doctor will probably losen your bonds at some point anyway, and might even repair that finger for you if you play nice."

[OMG PONIES]

Triage Central

"I'll do as you bid if you drop those phosphors," Nalrak says to Buelyir. "We agreed on a plan to carry Carmard out by sled and let him rest; I honor the rank you hold, but ask that you respect the talent I bring, Commander. We let him rest and only rouse him if need be--otherwise we'll be down a mage we know to be friendly and still faced with two we don't." He looks suspiciously at both prisoners; he'd never be able to pry any real information from either of them if they stayed together. "I'm going to speak to the Demios first; please take Regina elsewhere while he and I chat."

Nalrak, Duervar, and Kaladus


I'm am an Arcanist, and I'm of no use to you if my hands cease to work!

Nalrak chuckles as he hears these words while approaching the half-duergar and the old Demios. "Don't think that just because the boy's a fighter you can fool him, Demios," Nalrak calls to Kaladus, "he knows well enough what can happen when your hands do work. They may cut your circulation a bit, but you're in no grave danger."

Take 10 on Heal for a result of 25 to check the status of Kaladus' wounds.

"That finger should be of more concern to you, though," the doctor clucks. "If it heals bent, your fireballs shall forevermore slice to the left." The dwarf crouches before the mage and takes a look at his wounds. A quick bit of lotion on a bandage covers the cut on his cheek and stings as it fights off infection. The leg looks almost as bad as the finger, and Nalrak stares Kaladus in the eyes with compassion.

"I apologize for our Commander's actions," he sighs. "He doesn't hold much hope for redemption. But me? I believe that everyone deserves a second chance--even you. Third chances, however, are more rare to come by, so let's not squander this opportunity. I'll ask you a question; do your best to answer honestly. True blue answers get you the best care I can provide in setting and dressing your wounds, as well as medication for the pain. Answer with deceit, and I'll still heal you...but we'll be doing it the quick and dirty way.

Either way I'll tend to you, but only one way helps me build a case for why Buelyir should spare you his blade immediately afterwards. I'd hate to see all my efforts go to waste, and I'm sure you're still short of your ascension--" Nalrak does his best to conceal his scorn of the Godsmen's quest for divinity. "So let's work together to make this worthwhile, aye? First question: what spells do you still have ready to cast today?"

[thorgrim29]

Thordrek

Feel free to rummage around, I doubt we can take it all anyways, but as I found the key and killed the wizard I think it's only fair I get first pick. Johannes, can you see if we might close the door without locking ourselves in? I'd prefer not to be interrupted by the drow and his cronies

Thordrek begins by opening the chests to get an idea of what kind of currency they hold. Then, he looks over the magical items. If one seems to be of immediate use to himself or another member of the strike-force, he either takes it or puts it aside. If he judges a particular item is not immediately useful and is worth more then the equivalent mass and volume of whatever best currency is in the chests, he takes it. Then, he fills the rest of his backpack with the most value he can. (Heward's handy haversack, holds 120 pounds of stuff or 8+2+2 cubic feet, currently holds... the wizard's stuff and an axe, a lot of which could be worn on Thordrek's belt instead)

[Toliudar]

Johannes

Johannes looks impassively around at the assembled riches. Only the doubling of his heartbeat and a faint tremor in his hands betrays his excitement.

"What's that? Oh, check the door - yes, yes. An excellent suggestion. Bravo, sir. Bravo."

He goes to take a look at the vault door, placing a sizable rock in the path of the hinges, just in case. If he deems it completely safe, he'll swing the door almost closed - otherwise, he'll leave it half-open, but in either case he retrieves Thordrek's key for him. That completed, he slides over to the swords and, nodding to the other two to confirm that he wasn't just pocketing them, slid them into his pack for safekeeping. A drow without his swords was a less troublesome drow, after all. From there, he does another assessment of the vault - this time from the inside.

He then unpacks most of the extra gear that he'd just added to his pack, and loads it up with what he deems the most valuable stuff, pound for pound.

Search to confirm about the door: [roll0]
Search for traps inside: [roll1]
Appraise on the gear/treasure: [roll2]

After discounting the existing contents of his pack that he's unwilling to part with, Johannes has about 70 pounds of capacity to work with in his pack.

[mshady]

Triage Central

"I'll do as you bid if you drop those phosphors," Nalrak says to Buelyir. "We agreed on a plan to carry Carmard out by sled and let him rest; I honor the rank you hold, but ask that you respect the talent I bring, Commander. We let him rest and only rouse him if need be--otherwise we'll be down a mage we know to be friendly and still faced with two we don't." He looks suspiciously at both prisoners; he'd never be able to pry any real information from either of them if they stayed together. "I'm going to speak to the Demios first; please take Regina elsewhere while he and I chat."

Nalrak, Duervar, and Kaladus



Nalrak chuckles as he hears these words while approaching the half-duergar and the old Demios. "Don't think that just because the boy's a fighter you can fool him, Demios," Nalrak calls to Kaladus, "he knows well enough what can happen when your hands do work. They may cut your circulation a bit, but you're in no grave danger."

Take 10 on Heal for a result of 25 to check the status of Kaladus' wounds.

"That finger should be of more concern to you, though," the doctor clucks. "If it heals bent, your fireballs shall forevermore slice to the left." The dwarf crouches before the mage and takes a look at his wounds. A quick bit of lotion on a bandage covers the cut on his cheek and stings as it fights off infection. The leg looks almost as bad as the finger, and Nalrak stares Kaladus in the eyes with compassion.

"I apologize for our Commander's actions," he sighs. "He doesn't hold much hope for redemption. But me? I believe that everyone deserves a second chance--even you. Third chances, however, are more rare to come by, so let's not squander this opportunity. I'll ask you a question; do your best to answer honestly. True blue answers get you the best care I can provide in setting and dressing your wounds, as well as medication for the pain. Answer with deceit, and I'll still heal you...but we'll be doing it the quick and dirty way.

Either way I'll tend to you, but only one way helps me build a case for why Buelyir should spare you his blade immediately afterwards. I'd hate to see all my efforts go to waste, and I'm sure you're still short of your ascension--" Nalrak does his best to conceal his scorn of the Godsmen's quest for divinity. "So let's work together to make this worthwhile, aye? First question: what spells do you still have ready to cast today?"

Pausing a moment, Kaladus glares at Nalrak suddenly. It reminds him of looking into the eyes of some wild predator that has been cornered by something beyond it's understanding. It is a wild intensity, but one filled with anger and emotion. Fear?

"If I answer with deceit or truth, how would you you know? Go with your gut? Oh, because your master and commander would believe that!" he snorts derisively.

"Perhaps I'm a liar of vast experience, that he decides your questioning of me is useless? Or perhaps I'm completely honest with you. My very cooperation is viewed as deceit. If I tell you I've seen the error of my ways and throw myself at your mercy, beg forgiveness and tell you anything you need to know, offer you both a blow, and fight by your side from here straight into the Hell so we can all go say hello to that Hextros?"

The old Demios looks over at Regina and shakes his head slightly.


"Your questions are pointless because you can't believe any of my answers, so why do I bother? So you'll heal my boo-boos, than cut off my head? Please. I'd rather not.

Now, tell me why you want to know what spells I have left and what you want me to do. It sounds rather like your Commander thinks I have something he might want" Kaladus says, and this time he smiles at Nalrak, thinking he had... if not turned the tables, evened them up.

"Now, let me share my perspective on what happened back in Sigil. The home you kidnapped me from. All of us Godsmen, we are minding our own affairs, having our little fights. We're pulling down anyone higher than us, only to be brought down ourselves, all the time knowing it's all a big show our leader watched for the sheer frakking entertainment. A rat's nest with some profitable ideological slavery on the side for any berk or dum-drum with delusions of grandeur, who at some point realizes how happy he is to be there instead of sold off as whores to a pit fiend's brothel.

All the same, we're minding our own business. Than... you idiots let loose your Stoneburner and the poor soul inside it thought that if it came to us, we'd make it a God. We all start sharpening our knives. Finally, some change to that sick joke of a faction!

Regina, prostitute that she is, tells her she will help her if it just remembers the small assistance she provided. I just want it to steal it's power, or maybe even stick my own soul in it, because that plan just might work. The Factol tries to take out Regina, and she unleashes it, only to find out it doesn't give a damn about her. So she tries to Imprison it and settle for exactly what my plan was.

As soon as I realize it is locked down, I decide to kill Regina and her forces and take it for myself. All of a sudden, in you idiots march, trumpets blaring and looking for what you lost. What? You want to go get it too and brought your own army of dwarfs and yugoloth mercenaries? Of course, let's work together.

When you looked to be winning, and able to take it with you, well I couldn't allow that. I crossed wands with the Factol. Regina might still live. If I didn't have it, I could be a dead man. So yes, I attacked your forces. Your own mistake destroyed the sick balance in the Foundry and inserted yourselves into the heart of our politics. We all acted in our best interests, given our own politics, because they were our politics. Sorry you got caught in the crossfire, but it's your own damn fault.

Now, what are my best interests? Well, staying alive and getting these damn bindings loosened. That's what. So, tell me dwarf. What are YOUR interests?"

[King Tius]

I am doing this to Mike (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3h8ZnXLsRg)

The Temple

Hjalmar hefts his shield into a more defensive position as he falls in behind Nega. Magnum, too, assumes a flanking position with the Gold Dwarf, forming a "flying V" of sorts with the First Mace and the one-eyed grump. Wyatt falls in close behind, using the small wall of Dwarves as cover from the crowd. As Nega brandishes her mace the small formation pushes into the gathered masses, headed towards the altar. The rabble in the temple quickly part the way as the group moves forward but soon there is little room to move and the crowd presses in on all sides. Drawing nearer to the altar (now only 200 feet away) the chanting can be clearly heard, coming from several deep and sonorous voices. Even more disconcerting than the sound of the priests is the slowly building chant happening all about you. One by one, timidly at first but quickly gaining strength, the crowd begins to chant along.

"Xurshin! Xurshin! Xurshin! Get them! Xurshin! Xurshin! Filthy Dwarves! Xurshin! We'll feed you to our master! Xurshin! Xurshin! XURSHIN! XURSHIN!"

Was the chill that just ran down your spines from ominous crowd, or was it actually getting colder in the temple? Wyatt looks back towards the door and sees that the crowd has surged around them, forming a living wall blocking your escape. He watches with growing worry as the great doors of the temple slowly close with a resounding thud.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

Wyatt smacks his buckler hand against his forehead in disbelief. "Damnit. Hey! 'dey're tryin' to lock us in here!" he alerts to his dwarven comrades and anybody else who might be nearby the temple outside before the door is shut on him.

He sighs, and shakes his head. He draws his mace quickly, watching the dwarven group's rear and holding his buckler shield and mace in front of him defensively. "Great. If one of you has a plan, you'd better start putting it to action or telling me what it is. Really fast."

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak and Kaladus

The doctor listens patiently as the old mage rants, smiling with compassion the entire time. "My interests are getting everyone out of here and limiting our casualties any further. I have no desire for your name to be added to our list of fatalities, so at least one of our interests are very much aligned." Nalrak scratches his beard as he eyes the Demios' bindings. "I wish to afford you the comfort of loosening those, but I'll need your word that you'll not be casting any spells if I do so. I've studied a bit of magicks myself, so I'll know if you're trying anything and I'll have my boy Duervar here conk you if you muster so much as a cantrip. He might look like a duergar, but he hits like a dwarf. Consider it my first sign of goodwill and your first test of honor.

You see, Demios, I've got a bit more to go on than gut alone. I've sat on the review board of many a heretic and false teacher, so I can spot a lie...even if the poor soul's convinced himself it's true. No trained liar can hold a candle to that. As for the past, it's just that; we can't do a thing to change it, so I'll not concern myself with it. I'd ask that you do the same. You acted out of self-preservation then, and I encourage you to act out of self-preservation now."

The dwarf turns his gaze to match that of Kaladus, who is shaking his head at Regina. Two of the company come and lead her away, somewhere out of Kaladus' sight. "Don't you think she will? If you don't help me, I'll be having the same conversation with her. If she is the harlot you claim her to be, I'm sure she'll have no trouble aligning herself with us...even if only for a time.

Let me be frank with you, Demios: you have nothing we can't get elsewhere. Buelyir wants to know the remaining spells you've prepared only to see if you'd save our mages from the need to use their magic; he views you as nothing more than a walking scrollcase, and he sees fit to dispose of you once emptied. I, on the other hand, see you for what you are: a powerful mage who made a simple miscalculation in going against the Jilkers. You counted the costs and the possible benefits far outweighed them, but you were unable to reap those benefits." Nalrak pauses for a moment and stares off into the middle distance, reflecting on Kaladus' pessimistic approach.

"You're right, after all," the dwarf continues after a silent moment. "Even if you have a grand conversion and become a priest of Moradin this very day, Buelyir won't believe a word from you. That bridge is burned to him." The doctor raises a finger, as if presenting a counterpoint to his own argument. "But you see, he trusts me greatly as one who can pluck out the strand of truth in a web of lies. My commander's prepared to let one of you live: you or Regina. He's not prepared to extend that kindness to both of you. However, the question of which one of you lives is something he's left in my hands. You telling me your remaining spells? That's the first step towards my answer, and in exchange I'm prepared to loosen those bindings if I have it on good faith that you won't be casting any spells on us. What say you, Demios?"

[roll0] to gauge Kaladus' reactions to the things Nalrak mentions to see what presents the greatest motivation (self-preservation, threats, Regina, etc.)
[roll1] to express the gravitas of the matter
[roll2] to ascertain the truthfulness of Kaladus' forthcoming response

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega in the Temple
Nega hears Wyatts words and the sound of the door closing.
Dis is place of moradinsamma no Auril will contaminate it ifn ye say bout it. Berronar I'll cleanse dis temple in yer name. Brandishes the mace high over her head and continues forward towards the altar at a steady pace.

[Gryndel]

Magnum

With a glance back at Wyatt and the door, the Alaghor glared at the masses now surrounding them as they began to chant. He'd only considered them another unfortunate result of the cold evil that had usurped this area until they proved themselves part of it, categorizing themselves as potential enemies in his mind. He shrugged, "Da rabble's only relevant if dey interfere directly."

Offering Wyatt his repeating heavy crossbow, now enchanted, Magnum muttered to the halfling, "Know how ta use dis lad? Better in yer hands if'n I need ta use da scrolls."

He winked, either handing the loaded weapon to Wyatt or shouldering it, and pulled out the scroll of Blade Barrier*. Judging the distance to the circle of chanters around the desecrated and frozen anvil, he began to sing his best Ehontar deep and loud and marched proudly in place behind Nega.

Ehontar (30' Radius)
Perform (DC 10) [roll0]
Dwarven Allies: +1 Attack/Damage/Save (under affect of Remove Fear spell)
Enemies: -1 Attack/Damage/Save (1 HD or less Cause Fear as spell, Will save DC 15)

*Scroll CL? - range is med (100 +10/CL, so min is 210')

[Strangie]

I think a Medium creature's heavy crossbow might be too big for Wyatt to use, because he can't use a two handed weapon sized for someone larger than himself. If this is not the case per DM rule, let me know.

Wyatt

Wyatt shook his head at Magnum, speaking lowly in reply. "Sorry Mag, but I think 'dat's a bit too big and clunky for me to handle. 'dat's like tellin' a dwarf to pick up a ballista and use it."

Thinking of an alternate plan, he reaches inside of his vest with his buckler hand, taking hold of a thunderstone. "I can make a little noise and try to break up 'deir chant if you want, if I can get within about a hundred feet or so..."

Range increment on a Thunderstone is 20 feet, which means I can lob this thing pretty far. All I need to do is hit the right square too, and with Wyatt's high Dex and overall accuracy I don't think that will be terribly difficult for him.

[mshady]

Nalrak


Nalrak has managed to get Kaladus' attention, at least. He understands the gravitas of the situation. Self preservation is just about his only motivation, it would seem. Threats only concern him, insofar as it effects self preservation. Any mention of Regina immediately gets his ire, because of the impact to his self preservation. Clearly the two were rivals, and while Regina has not played it up, Kaladus hates her with passion. It's quite possible he'd be willing to die, if only he took her with him.

The old mage leans back and curls his lips in a bit of a defiant (or was it desperate?) smile.


"Tell me, Doctor Dwarf... why can only one of us live, eh? Are we both not walking scroll cases? Or is he afraid if we were both freed, we might attack each other? Or is he just being arbitrary? Certainly, we could stay chained and left on a road somewhere. Why not that? Hmm? I don't think you know"

Kaladus sighs and draws a deep breath.

"Your Buelyir, I am aware he'll try to kill me" Kaladus smiles at the prospect, but there is no joy in the smile. "He might want to consider what contingency plans I have for that prospect" Kaladus says, and holds Nalrak's eyes for a moment. "There's no point in having a deterrent if others don't know, now is there?"

"Still though, I'll play your game. dwarf. I'll not bore you with the standard things, and most of my basic combat magics are expended during our prior... altercation. I am a Conjurer by specialization, and have eschewed Illusion and Divination. Regina, on the other hand, is a Necromancer, at least in part. She mocks my choice of companions, but she raises some of her servants. As for what I have prepared still? A Gate, a spell to stop time for a moment, various summoning and teleportation spells, poison gases, flames, cold and so on. If I MUST write out a list, I will, but I think you get the idea, do you not?"

[mshady]

Black's Company and Buelyir + Talamir

While Buelyir is standing by Carmard, conversing with Grathalmor and Buna, Marcus trots up and looks at the area, with the wounded slaves and dwarves. He gives a mocking salute to Tasster, who growls in response. Marcus himself seems barely wounded from the combat, although he apparently saw his share of it.

50 lbs of steel armor probably helped in that regard.

"So, what do you want? The Elf sent me over here" Marcus growls at Buelyir. "Got some questions for ye too, 'bout all this"

Buelyir sighs, turns and looks up at Marcus and rubs his hands over his face. He wears the look of exasperation, for he has been running between issues for quite some time now.

Sitting near Carmard on a stool, Talamir sees Arman, who waves at the other Elf politely, even smiles in a slightly friendly fashion. Still, he is too far to converse with unless Talamir wants to check with him.

"Oh, you finally got here. I've got an interrogation goin' on and seeing to Carmard, now you too. Shouldn't ye be at the Temple?" Buelyir says with annoyance.

"Should I? You sent for me" Marcus growls at Buelyir.

"Ye should, which is what I was goin' to remind ye, but ye took so damn long to get here, some o'my own went over there. Hold ye ain't miss'n out on fill'n yer coffers"

The two glare at each other for a moment, and while Marcus physically towers over the dwarf, Buelyir seems the larger in the conversation.

"I'll go" he says with a nod. "I want to know what's the plan for this bomb I hear about. The elf tells me it's big and he doesn't know how we're gett'n clear. Ye told me this was just a raid, we'd do a little demolition and clear out. Why don't ye enlighten me a bit, eh? What's yer plan?"

"I don't think I could ever enlighten ye, without a match and a barrel o'oil" Buelyir snarls at Marcus. "Plan's simple. We set it off, and get outta here. Figure its a long fuze, takes an hour 'fore the bang. Clear enough for ya? Ye want to get to the temple now?"

"Maybe I will" Marcus says, glaring at Buelyir. "You better not be lying to me, dwarf, and omission is lying too. I just want to know if you're here on some sorta suicide attack. It rather has that feel"

"Suicide attack?" Buelyir huffs. "Pfft. No. I'd rather not, but everything's a danger. If it wasn't dangerous, I wouldn't have paid ye so well. Now, get going alright? I'm busy" Buelyir says, and gestures to the resting Carmard.

Marcus nods stiffly, not sure if he can trust Buelyir but not sure what else he can get out of the conversation besides angering the little bastard more.

Marcus walks back to the group and sees Weedle and Talamir standing together and directly addresses Talamir.

"Hope ye heard all that. Ye've any thoughts or we let it rest and head for the temple?"

[ithildur]

Talamir had indeed been listening intently, though also attempting to take in whatever he could of the exchange between Nalrak and Kaladus.

An hour, thought the Elf to himself.

A good length of time, at least it would be with a smaller, more mobile group, if no surprises or setbacks ensued.

Somehow, looking about at the motley crew of various ex-slaves, Drow, and the wounded, an hour did not seem like a very long time at all... a feeling that for some reason grew stronger as the Elf considered Kaladus. Regardless, it would be a testament to dwarven organization, and the leadership of one or two dwarves in particular. Talamir decided either Buelyir had supreme confidence when it came to it, or that the unusual dwarf really was cracking under pressure.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Good enough," Talamir replied with a curt nod to Marcus. "Shall we?"

Along the way Talamir strode close enough to Arman for him to hear, giving a crisp nod and touching his fingers to his forehead in a rather formal gesture.

"We shall speak again soon, Seldarine willing," the Bladesinger spoke in Elven. "May Corellon Larethian watch over you."

[mshady]

Arman

Arman hears Talamir's words and nods in reply to him as he passes.

"May Corellon Larethian watch over you, as well" Arman tells Talamir as the other elf heads off towards the temple.

Arman decides now would be a good time to sit down, and finds a piece of fallen stone to make a rough seat and stretches out his aching leg. He looks across at the temple and watches the scene for a moment there, squinting to see what is going on.

Than the door to the Temple closes again.

"Uh, Buelyir?" Arman asks in polite and toneless voice. "What is supposed to be happening at the temple? The doors were just slammed shut again..." Arman says and points across the way.

"What?" Buelyir replies, irritated at another distraction. He processes the words for a moment and takes out his spy glass and looks across the distance at the scene there.

"Now what the hell is goin' on over there, now?" he snarls. In his hand is the bottle of smelling salts that Nalrak told him to put away. He clenches it for a moment and puts it back into his satchel for a moment.

[Grodech]

Grathalmor waits patiently with Carmard's head in his lap as the decision is made whether or not they will try to revive the arcanii. When it appears that it will not happen, he gently lays Carmard's head back onto the ground and gets up again. He is a bit torn on what to do next - stay with Carmard and Buna, or get in on some of the action over at the temple. Ultimately, he decides to stay put.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak and Kaladus

The dwarven doctor raises an eyebrow at the Demios' posturing, unsure how much of a serious threat it poses. Judging by the spells he still has prepared, the mage has the ability to cause some serious pain to Buelyir and those in his command. Nalrak looks deep into the mage's eyes and watches for any tic or twitch of his facial muscles, hoping to ascertain his truthfulness:

[roll0] on everything Kaladus has said.

The doctor nods contentedly at Kaladus' laundry list of high-powered spells remaining, trying to look unaffected by the level of the old man's skill with arcana. "Indeed, that gives me quite the idea of both your utility and your talent," he says, hoping that even a small compliment would go a long way to distinguishing himself from Buelyir's "facts and insults" method of interrogation. "I also appreciate your information about Regina. Not only does it mean I have to offer her less for the information, but it also means I have at least one surefire way to prove your truthfulness.

I'll do the courtesy of answering your questions, but in exchange I'll be asking one of my own. The reason Buelyir won't kill both of you is that it places us at a tactical disadvantage; one of our mages is currently incapacitated, so while it's risky to keep one of you alive, it helps keep our magical support at full strength. I know that matters not to you, so let me present a facet of your cooperation that should hopefully strike a chord: it curries favor for you with the Patriarchate if we can show that you supported us. It might even cause them to overlook your previous actions, especially if a dwarf like myself could explain your motivations, which you've helped me to understand. After all, even Buelyir takes orders from someone." Nalrak pauses long enough to flash Kaladus a warm smile, an attempt to let the old man know that the malicious commander was not the only author of the mage's fate. However, as he continues, the smile fades.

"Leaving the two of your both alive, though," he shakes his head, "now that's a liability. Either you'll continue looking for a chance to destroy each other (which puts us at risk), or we leave you both to die somewhere. Not only do I find that morally reprehensible, but it's unwise tactically; we waste the magical potential of both of you and we leave you entirely unsupervised with a common enemy in ourselves. I've heard enough bard's tales to know how that one would end."

Kaladus' mention of a contingency plan keeps nagging at Nalrak; while the dwarf isn't sure if the Demios is lying, he has to probe the man's mind to see how such a contigency would work--even if one doesn't exist. "Now, I've answered your questions, Demios. Do me the courtesy of answering mine just as frankly: what contingency do you have prepared in the event that Buelyir tries to kill you? The possible consequences might sway my opinion in whether the commander takes his blade to you or the necromancer."

[mshady]

While Nalrak's response has Kaladus at least interested and not making snide remarks for once, the last part evokes a reaction.

"Really? You want me to tell you what Contingency spells I have prepared? That'll be most helpful to Buelyir if he finds a stool and decides to shorten me of my head. He can kill one of us if he wants, so long as it isn't me. If I tell him what they are, then he can disarm them, and I have no deterrent. So where does that leave me, eh? He won't like it though. It'd stay with him awhile" he smiles nastily at Nalrak.

Nalrak thinks over his words for a moment. It would stay for awhile? That could mean a curse. There were all sorts of curses out there, and some spells which were also unpleasant. Even clones were possible, although that seemed against the Godsmen' ethos.

"So, good dwarf. Say you let me free, to serve as a walking scroll case for your commander? What stops me, first chance I get, from leaving?"

[mshady]

Loot in the Armory

The group inside the armory, which also includes Arumfaerwed and his badger at this point, take a look at the treasure chests now that Johannes has closed the door.

There are a dozen of them, and they are unlocked, for why bother locking them inside a locked vault?

They look inside, and in 10 of them, they are jammed to the walls with gold and silver coins. In the other two, a collection of precious gems. Johanness makes a quick estimate as thinks it can't be less than 100,000 in coins alone.... The gems could be a lot as well.

[mshady]

A note on Duervar

Just to clarify, Duervar is standing right by Nalrak and Kaladus now, after leading Regina to sit in her own little corner. He can participate in the conversation as he sees fit.

[mshady]

Buna to Grathalmor

Sitting on her haunches and still looking hazy, Buna watches Nalrak and Kaladus with rapt interest now that the mercenaries had left...

"I don't trust that one, Grathalmor. Not at all" she says quietly, trying not to wake Carmard, as silly as that sounded. "I at least know he's a bastard though. I can't get a read on Regina at all. She's letting Kaladus hang himself and playing it cool, I think. She wanted that thing as bad as he did. Did you ever speak with her? Do you think she believes their garbage about power and ascension?"

[Toliudar]

Eoin, Thordrek, Arum, Johannes

They look inside, and in 10 of them, they are jammed to the walls with gold and silver coins. In the other two, a collection of precious gems. Johanness makes a quick estimate as thinks it can't be less than 100,000 in coins alone.... The gems could be a lot as well.

Johannes finishes loading the blades and a couple of especially attractive sets of armour into his pack, then slides the bow in as well for good measure. A backup was always useful. He filled the rest of his pack's pockets with gems, and his pants pockets as well.

Gesturing towards the frozen family of four at the back of the vault, Johannes casts a questioning eye to his colleagues.

"I don't suppose any of you have a fire source handy? I'd feel better knowing whether they were dead or just, you know, waiting. Rather not leave them for the, um."

He shrugs, not knowing if Eoin knew about the bomb.

[King Tius]

The Temple
The chanting in the temple grows louder and louder, reaching a nearly deafening level and drowning out the sound of Magnum's mighty song. The crowd begins to surge forward towards you in short spurts, not unlike a ring of animals trying to bait you to a fight. As things seem like they are about to take a turn for the worst the chanters around the alter stop their chanting and quickly motion for the crowd to do the same. Silence falls on the temple almost immediately. It is an eerie sort of calm with all these people standing in such silence.

Just when it seems like the silence will break there comes a noise from far away. At first it is almost too distant to hear, muddled by the distance and the trickery of the temple roof and rocky cavern. When it happens a second time, much louder already, there can be no doubt.....

EVERYONE
No matter what you are doing, be it raiding an armory, arguing with minotaurs, or petting your badger, everyone hears the terrifying roar that comes echoing down the gaping hole to the sky. The sound is deep and primal, full of ancient power and terrible force. Though most of you have never heard this sound before in your life, there can be no doubt: a dragon is coming!

The Temple Again
At the sound of the dragon roar the temple erupts into chaos. The crowd explodes around you in a flurry of movement and sound. Most of the women and children scream and run for the corners of the temple, looking for cover. Many who are too scared or too stupid to run simply look upwards towards the hole in the temple ceiling. Those around the alter begin their chant feverishly, swaying back and forth with their hands stretched skyward. Hjalmar breaks his silence at long last by looking towards the sky and letting out a hearty laugh. "About time." He grumbles as his laughter dies away as quickly as it had come. He strides towards the altar, easily knocking aside any panicked people that get in his way.

OOC: For the sake of my sanity I'd ask that everyone please make it clear what your characters are doing. I don't want to stifle anyone's roleplaying here, so if your post is quite verbose please include an italicized summary at the bottom of things I need to know for map placement, spells, etc. It'll make my life a LOT easier as I juggle all these things at once.

[Toliudar]

Johannes - Armoury

A roar. A roar that seemed to send a terror tingling in parts of his body that had not heretofore tingled. There is a faint vibration in the vault, the sound of thirty thousand coins shifting ever so slightly. This many coins. Enough to be the hoard of...oh, dear.

The slender dwarf bobs his head to his fellow looters. He slides his bow off of his back, passing it from hand to hand.

"Well, this has been fun. May I gently suggest that inside a very strong box with a lot of gold and no means of exit is a very, very ill-advised place to be at this moment."

With a speed that belied the casual nature of his words, Johannes squeezed out of the mostly-closed door of the vault and out into the armoury. He looked around at a hundred ill-organized slaves and former prisoners. Johannes glanced up to the ceiling, where chinks showed open air beyond. While still picking his way among them, the foppish dwarf raised his bow and shouted out.

"Listen, everyone. I've freed you once, and may do it again before the end of the day. After a long time in prison, you have a choice to make. You can scurry into holes and wait for that thing out there to come in and pop you up for snacks. Or you can grab bows and crossbows off of these walls, head to the windows and roof of this building, and fill it so full of wood that it's going to think it's a bush. Who's with me?"

He dashed for the stairs. On the way up, Johannes cudgeled his big brain. His magnificent brain. His brain, that had saved his firm and shapely arse a hundred times before. Striking out on his own was too dangerous. There might be more Aurilites further down the passage, and fanatics, even defeated ones, were just humourless enough to be dangerous. Retreat back towards the bomb was equally untenable. So...like it or not, it was time for Johannes to become a good little soldier.

TL/DR
Round 1: free action to speak, move action to leave the vault, standard action diplomacy check on the crowd.

Round 2: continuing to talk, moving towards a stairwell up. If this building didn't have significant numbers of arrow slits or small windows (I'm assuming that as an armoury it has defensive emplacements, but am not sure), assume that he's instead sending them outside and telling them to spread out. Johannes will head towards the roof and look for a way up and out.

Round 3:
Once on the roof, if there's no dragon yet- perhaps the same area where Bundok was?:
Get out his rope and attach one end to a promontory or double hole where dragon claws pierced the roof.

Round 4:
If at least a few of the freed captives join him up on the roof, he pulls his tiny ballista out of his pack, sets it up on a stable place in the direction of the noise, and enlarges it. He gives the prisoners a cursory lesson in the firing of a ballista ("point it just above where you want it to go, don' stand right beside it, and after you've fired it once, forget about trying to reload it - just use it to hide behind") and then moves away to give them space - and so that they don't accidentally shoot him.

Round 5:
Then pull out his wand of Hunter's Mercy and Hide:[roll1] behind a parapet or some other architectural feature. Wait for dragon to appear. [spot]1d20+12

[King Tius]

3-5 rounds of anticipated actions would be great. Anything that needs to be handled round-by-round can be done so.

[Strangie]

Wyatt

Wyatt winced at the horrid noise. He'd heard this once before, or at least thought he did. He knew what a half-dragon sounded like when he was angry, at least. But a full one? Well... this could be very bad.

"I'm thinkin' maybe we should get out of 'dis temple here and, oh, I dunno, get out of here. Forever. Just a thought!" Wyatt hurriedly says to his dwarven allies.

He focuses for a moment, attempting to pinpoint as much information about the oncoming monster as much as he could... and then he followed in line behind Hjalmar, thinking about doing something about those chanters. "Hjalmar, buddy, 'dat chanting is starting to piss me off, to be perfectly honest. Can we do something about 'dat?" He spins the thunderstone in his hand idly as he awaits the gruff paladin's command...


Round 1: Spend the round attempting to spot and listen for clues about the distance of the dragon, and anything else of note.

Spot 1: [roll0]
Listen 1: [roll1]

Spot 2: [roll2]
Listen 2: [roll3]

Round 2: Follow behind Hjalmar, keeping a thunderstone ready.

Round 3 and onward: Continue following Hjalmar. Throw the thunderstone into the group of chanting idiots when he is in range if Hjalmar gives him the signal to do so (within 100'). Otherwise, stick behind Hjalmar unless Hjalmar tells him to do something else.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

There's a moment of silence after the roar, then Duervar laughs loudly. "Builyr, our time's up! Start the timer and make your decisions quickly, I have the feeling they're about to be made for you." He swings his pickaxe up over his shoulder. "Kaladis, now's not the time to be coy or cagy. Now's the time to be blunt and honest. I feel like you'll have a better chance if you can convince us you can do something to that beast. Otherwise, expect to be thrown into a pit somewhere and left here for the fun to end." He whirls in Regina's direction and yells loudly enough that she should be able to hear it. "Same goes for you missy! Better act convincing and quick, or you'll end up in a pit!" He looks around whoever's left behind. "Get everyone who can't or won't fight under cover, everyone else head towards the temple. We've got a big lizard that's not going to be happy with us, and I've got a feeling that'll be it's first landing spot." He turns to march off in the direction of the temple, whistling jauntily.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

Nalrak follows Duervar's directive, hoisting Kaladus to his feet as gently as possible. If Kaladus is still favoring the leg that Buelyir didn't strike, Nalrak will offer himself as a human--er, dwarven crutch.


"So, good dwarf. Say you let me free, to serve as a walking scroll case for your commander? What stops me, first chance I get, from leaving?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves, Demios," Nalrak says with a smirk, "there's worlds between letting you live and letting you free."

Nalrak curses his luck and tries to gauge how far off the dragon is; he wishes he had been able to talk to Regina as well. While she has served as more of a steady enemy compared to Kaladus' turncoat, she also seemed less directly defiant now. Perhaps Duervar's approach was beneficial; pit them both against the dragon, and let the cards fall where they may. This is why Nalrak always hated interrogations...For the first time all day, he wishes there was something as simple to deal with as a dying child.

[Chepe Nolon]

Nega in the Temple

Nega runs towards the altar and turns to look out towards the room when the dragon lands. Nega has seen Dragons before and is strengthen in her faith that dragons can be dealt with.
She will the prepare to talk to the dragon if it opens up that possibility. If not she will have to take action as the Dragon react. She will try to avoid battle if she can:). She will cast spells and act when it is necessary.
((King Can we talk on SKype or MSN Live about this :*)))

[Grodech]

Buna to Grathalmor

Sitting on her haunches and still looking hazy, Buna watches Nalrak and Kaladus with rapt interest now that the mercenaries had left...

"I don't trust that one, Grathalmor. Not at all" she says quietly, trying not to wake Carmard, as silly as that sounded. "I at least know he's a bastard though. I can't get a read on Regina at all. She's letting Kaladus hang himself and playing it cool, I think. She wanted that thing as bad as he did. Did you ever speak with her? Do you think she believes their garbage about power and ascension?"
"I wouldn't trust either one o' 'dem any further 'den I can throw 'dem." Grathalmor replies "Power messes wit' people's heads..." he is interrupted by the scream from above. "Well 'DAT can't be good." He peers up into the darkness, then around them to see where they'd be able to take some cover.

ooc: I don't know if Grathalmor had ever spoken to Regina before. Grathalmor's first action would be to get Carmard and Buna to cover, then to ready his heavy crossbow.

[mshady]

Grathalmor

Hearing the roar, and knowing exactly that it must be, he looks around at the area suddenly. For a moment, the monstrous slaves lead by the two drow look towards the temple.

Black's Company, having just departed, halt in their tracks.

Looking back the way he came, he can see the fallen wall of rubble where the tower fell. The curtail walls, however, are still intact and fairly close. It had the advantage of opening the distance between the presumed attackers and Carmard. To the left, he can see living quarters carved into the walls. They're almost certainly vacant and carved into the stone so presumably sturdy and small. The downside to them is that, if there were not more tunnels in there, it would be easy for them to get cornered. Thay they are vacant is an assumption.

Or, he could take them both to Sonnlinor Stonebreaker and have them get them clear. While the duergar had been fixing to leave, now they were scrambling to load crossbows and grab weapons as the Sonnlinor rallied his remaining soldiers. Of course, it was important to get him clear too, but he was here to fight so that might take convincing.

"Grath!" he hears to his south. It's Prince Tasster, standing now and shouldering his axe. "I've got to get my son clear, I can take them too. Where do ye go here?" the dwarf asks, looking around wildly. His every instinct was to fight, but he was a father too and some things came before that.

"Huh? No, Grath. I have to stay!" Buna protests, as she levers herself off the ground with her own urghosh. She had traded hers for Grathalmor's bent one. "We knew this could come and I've been holdin' on to a spell to drop one out of the air and plug their draconic breath. Get Carmard clear, but I NEED TO BE HERE!" she protests, her eyes alive with intensity. With her furnace roaring now, the cobwebs of concussion at least seemed to be moving away. Even if she stumbled and seemed woozy a bit still...

[mshady]

Nalrak, Duervar and Kaladus

Hearing the sound, Kaladus cranes his neck to look towards the temple and laughs darkly at the sound.

"Enter the dragon" Kaladus reflects, a gleam in his eye. "Get the feeling your Buelylir was expecting them and wanted an extra mage? Now what?"

With no dragon yet in sight, he returns his gaze to Nalrak and Grathalmor.

"Free and allowed to escape are two different things, yes. I rather think I'd not want your Buelyir and his hunting dog, Ms. Sable, on my tail and I've few places to go at the moment. Cut me loose and haul Regina away, and I'll help you. I offer because otherwise, I think you've leave us both as bait and I'd rather you get her clear so I can kill that bitch later. What do ya say, help out an old man?"

Standing 40 feet away and drawing his sword, Buelyir calls out to Nalrak.
"Figure it out and get ready! Get some damn armor and a shield too!" Buelyir roars at Nalrak.

[mshady]

Inside the Armory - Johanness Speech

"Listen, everyone. I've freed you once, and may do it again before the end of the day. After a long time in prison, you have a choice to make. You can scurry into holes and wait for that thing out there to come in and pop you up for snacks. Or you can grab bows and crossbows off of these walls, head to the windows and roof of this building, and fill it so full of wood that it's going to think it's a bush. Who's with me?" Johanness calls out to the slaves.

His trained voice immediately grabs their attention, and they all look at each other. The very sound from above had struck fear into their hearts. They had all heard the roars before. They knew of dragons here. Some of them had been taken from the mines and given to the dragon even.

"I am!" an older man said, covered in chainmail and probably not a day younger than 50. He is winding the windlass on a crossbow.

"I am!" another calls out.

More join in the clamor, ready to defend themselves. Extra loot was dropped or heaved away now, as they look around. Dozens of them are now readying, cheering even.

They were slaves of the Aurilites.

They had scores to settle too.

Along the walls was an open walk way with holes carved into the side to allow the armory to be defended from the inside. With the mostly opened roof to the rear though, a dragon could probably crash through the ceiling here. It had already done a number on the roof, according to Bundok, and that was just staying there. If it dropped into the center though... it would be surrounded by arbalests..

It could work. Maybe...

Suddenly, spontaneously, the slaves started their own chant that echoes the one inside the temple.

"Xurshin! Xurshin! Xurshin!" they started chanting and cheering suddenly. As speeches went Johannes judged it effective...

More posts coming tomorrow. Stay tuned. Post reactions. Have fun!

[Grodech]

Decisions, decisions....

Grathalmor gives Buna a concerned look, but he knew as well there would be no changing her mind. He'd seen that determined look before. "Can ye cast yer spell from there?" he asks her, pointing to the tower ruins. Regardless of the answer, he turns and yells to Prince Tasster "Get yer boys to da tower ruins!" He points to the area before he scoops up Carmard and heads there himself. "I'll be back." he says to Buna as he goes.

Once there, he tucks Carmard as safely as he can behind the curtail walls to shield him from anything that might happen out in the field. Once Prince Tasster arrives with his boys, he tells them "Stay put. Any harm comes ta him because ya didn't, and ye'll be answerin' ta me." The threat was as much for their own good as it was for Carmard's. Both Carmard and the boy needed to rest unmolested, and the Prince wasn't in good shape himself. Once assured they would stay, he heads back to Buna.

ooc: Next actions will depend on whether or not Buna needed to stay where she was or could cast her spell from the cover of the walls.

[Gryndel]

Magnum

Determined not to let the crowd interfere with their progress, Magnum prepared to use one or both scrolls if needed to clear the way through the mob. He remained close to Nega and merely shrugged at Wyatt as he nodded for him to follow, ready to part the masses if needed.

Upon hearing the dragon roar that drowned out his voice, he continued to sing and prepared for another battle.

Continues Ehontar unless one of the following apply...

Use scroll of Sleet Storm to clear some of the rabble if they try to block our passage.

Use scroll of Blade Barrier on those surrounding the anvil.

Use rune with Mass Shield of Faith (CL12 so +4 AC) once the dragon appears, prepared for battle with Arctis (waraxe of Frost) and shield in hand.

[ithildur]

Talamir stopped in his tracks along with the rest of the crew, his head snapping towards the direction of the great roar. His next glance was back towards the direction of the mages, all of them, including Kaldus.

Several questions then raced through the Bladesinger's mind: how old was this wyrm, and how would Marcus and the company respond to this dangerous a foe?

With a slight shrug, the Elf turned back to face the temple and spoke in an even, calm tone.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Our objective seems clear enough. Shall we get on with it?"


Actually I've no idea what the objective was for Black's Company (i.e. why they were supposed to head to the temple) but I'm guessing at this point everyone's is pretty much: deal with the dragon until it's time to go.

Assuming that Black's company moves forward towards the temple, Talamir will obviously do the same, which I'm guessing will take several rounds (not sure what distances are) - the doors are shut atm I believe?

It's a dragon after all, I suppose there's always the chance the company falls apart into chaos - not sure how well trained they are at working together/willing to follow Marcus, etc. vs a more dangerous situation.

Approaching the temple would Talamir see the stairs and the Armory? I'm guessing he won't have any idea that the Armory is an armory from distance/without looking inside, but what would it look like from the outside (and how big)? Is the stairway within a passage?
i.e. looking for ways to deal with the dragon in a more confined area (than the huge temple).

[mshady]

Talamir and Black's Company

While Talamir seems primed to run head long at the sound of the dragon, Marcus places a hand on his chest to restrain him physically, if not his enthusiasm.

"Our objective's clear, alright. Staying alive." Marcus advises Talamir. He reaches for his greatsword from his back hilt and unlimbers the sword. The old warrior looks around the area, seeing what to do.

"I hear it, but its not here yet. Must be comin' down some tunnel or passage" he notes. "There's enough room here for a younger one to fly, or at least hover and move. Everyone, get our yer ranged weapons and fall back towards the dwarfs. Bet they were expect'n this, and I'm expect'n them to be ready. Being split up like this be bad. They're on their own past the bridge, for now. Come on, boys! Back!" Marcus orders them, motioning them to return to the triage area and other slaves.

[ithildur]

Knowledge Arcana check for information about White Dragons

[roll0]

Talamir knit his brow slightly glacing back towards the Triage area, then regarded Marcus searchingly. He seemed to be expecting the wyrm to fly out to this area, but why...? Perhaps the dragon somehow knew there were wounded and mages out here and desired to take them out first, but still... was it possible Marcus was simply wishing to avoid dealing with the dragon at all?

[ArmanMadero]

Fatigue was definitely setting in now. His leg had gotten some rest but now that he was moving again, it was painful. The vicious kick that he had taken from the drow was causing some discomfort as well.

He mentally went through his spell list, and double checked it when he heard the call of the dragon.

This was going to be interesting that was for sure. He unslung his bow from over his shoulder and readied an arrow. He would have to conserve his magic and hope that he wouldn't need it soon.

Arman stayed behind the leaders of the group a bit, trying to make sure he had a clear shot in front of him, and watching for anything ahead.

Kind of lost since its been a while since I posted. I caught up as best as I could, which was a lot. Is there an updated map that I may see so I can figure out where to place Arman?

[mshady]

Decisions, decisions....

Grathalmor gives Buna a concerned look, but he knew as well there would be no changing her mind. He'd seen that determined look before. "Can ye cast yer spell from there?" he asks her, pointing to the tower ruins. Regardless of the answer, he turns and yells to Prince Tasster "Get yer boys to da tower ruins!" He points to the area before he scoops up Carmard and heads there himself. "I'll be back." he says to Buna as he goes.

Once there, he tucks Carmard as safely as he can behind the curtail walls to shield him from anything that might happen out in the field. Once Prince Tasster arrives with his boys, he tells them "Stay put. Any harm comes ta him because ya didn't, and ye'll be answerin' ta me." The threat was as much for their own good as it was for Carmard's. Both Carmard and the boy needed to rest unmolested, and the Prince wasn't in good shape himself. Once assured they would stay, he heads back to Buna.

ooc: Next actions will depend on whether or not Buna needed to stay where she was or could cast her spell from the cover of the walls.

Grathalmor and the Prince

The Prince frowns at Grathalmor and shakes his head.

"Nay lad, I may not be look'n too good but I'm rested and 'ave some healin' in me. If its a dragon, my two other sons and I and com'n for that fight. I'll not sit on my arse with a chance for such an honor on the field. I've fought a wyrm before. Have ye? No? Well, best I be at yer side!" the Prince tells Grathalmor furiously. "It's one thing to get my son clear, but now that be done, its time blood to run! Arr!" he exclaims and beats his chest.

Pushing Grathalmor aside, the Prince strides away from the wall back towards Triage Central, with his two remaining sons in tow. They both bear those overly long pikes, points sticking high into the air. It was unorthodox, but Grathalmor had saw that they were covered in runes as well. Such weapons could have a use...

Unable to argue with the Prince, Grathalmor can only follow him back to the triage area, where Buna waited. Buna who had smiled sweetly to him. Or perhaps it was just the effects of her concussion?

[thorgrim29]

((So, how about that loot? I don't want to act just yet, something in it might affect my strategy))

[mshady]

I'll look at it tonight, King hold off on the drop until I post a reply :)

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak, Duervar, and Kaladus


"Free and allowed to escape are two different things, yes. I rather think I'd not want your Buelyir and his hunting dog, Ms. Sable, on my tail and I've few places to go at the moment. Cut me loose and haul Regina away, and I'll help you. I offer because otherwise, I think you've leave us both as bait and I'd rather you get her clear so I can kill that bitch later. What do ya say, help out an old man?"

[roll0] is Kaladus serious about not running or 'porting away? The following occurs only if Nalrak believes he is.

Nalrak exhales a heavy puff of a sigh. "You make fair points, and I try to be a fair man, Demios. Get Regina to cover with Camard!" Nalrak shouts back over his shoulder to Buelyir, "I'll talk to her later." The doctor looks back to Kaladus, unsettled by the happiness this coming dragon has brought him. "I want to make it abundantly clear that this is not me assenting to keeping you alive over Regina; this is merely a temporary arrangement, though one that could serve to better your case. Cast anything but spells that help us fight this dragon and..."

Nalrak shakes his head, remembering Kaladus' previous betrayal. Even with the reasons the old man had outlined, it was still a dangerous precedent. "...well, let's just say I'm as fair in judgement as I am in mercy, eh?" The doctor picks up his bastard hammer and dons his armor, then turns to the old man and carefully begins to undo his bindings. As they are loosened, Nalrak stares Kaladus in the eye. He speaks with equal parts admonition and encouragement: "I firmly believe in redemption, Demios. No matter what a person's done, they deserve a second chance to make it right. This is yours." As he finishes his sentence, Kaladus feels blood rush back to his hands as the bindings are finally removed. However, Nalrak stows them in case they need to see use again.

[ithildur]

Sense Motive (in case I roll a 20 and in case of whatever, just because I can!) vs Marcus
[roll0]



"Ranged weapons...?" Talamir eyed Marcus searchingly, then looked towards the Company's wizard. "Weedle, I hope that you've prepared a spell of Flying today."

[Grodech]

Grathalmor and the Prince

The Prince frowns at Grathalmor and shakes his head.

"Nay lad, I may not be look'n too good but I'm rested and 'ave some healin' in me. If its a dragon, my two other sons and I and com'n for that fight. I'll not sit on my arse with a chance for such an honor on the field. I've fought a wyrm before. Have ye? No? Well, best I be at yer side!" the Prince tells Grathalmor furiously. "It's one thing to get my son clear, but now that be done, its time blood to run! Arr!" he exclaims and beats his chest.

Pushing Grathalmor aside, the Prince strides away from the wall back towards Triage Central, with his two remaining sons in tow. They both bear those overly long pikes, points sticking high into the air. It was unorthodox, but Grathalmor had saw that they were covered in runes as well. Such weapons could have a use...

Unable to argue with the Prince, Grathalmor can only follow him back to the triage area, where Buna waited. Buna who had smiled sweetly to him. Or perhaps it was just the effects of her concussion?

So much fer that idea.... Grathalmor thinks. He had been counting on the Prince and his boys to protect the unconscious Carmard as well as his own injured son. Now it looked like Nalrak was sending that Regina over there as well. She needed to be watched so she didn't kill Carmard and run off, and Grathalmor highly doubted Buelyir would do it himself, though he might be inclined to assign someone else to it. He turned to Buna, and again asked "So can ye cast yer spells from over there or not?"

[ithildur]

Didn't want to edit post with diceroll

Talamir prepares to move back with the rest of the Company for now, though a subtle furrow is visible on his golden brows. Regardless, he quickly checks to see that his seldom used longbow is strung tightly and ready for use.

[mshady]

Sense Motive (in case I roll a 20 and in case of whatever, just because I can!) vs Marcus
[roll0]



"Ranged weapons...?" Talamir eyed Marcus searchingly, then looked towards the Company's wizard. "Weedle, I hope that you've prepared a spell of Flying today."

Weedle looks at Talamir with the same suspicious regard as before. Deciding that flying might make him more of a target to a dragon, or whatever was coming, he nodded to Talamir.

"I do" he admits, with some latent hesitation. "What do you intend, elf?" he asks with that same creepy calm voice of his.

Black's Company returns to the outskirts of "Triage Central", and Marcus immediately falls out of the ground and heads towards Buelyir. He calls out at the dwarf from a distance.

"Hail, dwarf!" he roars at Buelyir. "Figure yer orders might have changed and better fer us all to go in together. What do ye think?"

"Just stay here a minute and lets see what happens. They may need help at the temple, but I can't leave the trunk here or the wounded. Get yer shooters out and lets see what happens, eh?" is Buelyir's reply.

[mshady]

Nalrak, Duervar, and Kaladus



[roll0] is Kaladus serious about not running or 'porting away? The following occurs only if Nalrak believes he is.

Nalrak exhales a heavy puff of a sigh. "You make fair points, and I try to be a fair man, Demios. Get Regina to cover with Camard!" Nalrak shouts back over his shoulder to Buelyir, "I'll talk to her later." The doctor looks back to Kaladus, unsettled by the happiness this coming dragon has brought him. "I want to make it abundantly clear that this is not me assenting to keeping you alive over Regina; this is merely a temporary arrangement, though one that could serve to better your case. Cast anything but spells that help us fight this dragon and..."

Nalrak shakes his head, remembering Kaladus' previous betrayal. Even with the reasons the old man had outlined, it was still a dangerous precedent. "...well, let's just say I'm as fair in judgement as I am in mercy, eh?" The doctor picks up his bastard hammer and dons his armor, then turns to the old man and carefully begins to undo his bindings. As they are loosened, Nalrak stares Kaladus in the eye. He speaks with equal parts admonition and encouragement: "I firmly believe in redemption, Demios. No matter what a person's done, they deserve a second chance to make it right. This is yours." As he finishes his sentence, Kaladus feels blood rush back to his hands as the bindings are finally removed. However, Nalrak stows them in case they need to see use again.

"Redemption for what? Difference 'tween that and a man sing'n for his supper, or his life for that matter" Kaladus advises Nalrak. He rubs his hands together, as circulation returns to his fingers.

"Now prattle, pray and go away, good dwarf and I say thank you for the release. Now what do ye want me doing? What about Regina?"

[mshady]

Inside the Temple - Loot Check

As the slaves try to work themselves up in the face of imminent danger of the dragon's arrival, Thordek is hard at work inside the vault trying to figure out if there was anything useful.

The drow's blades and armor were there, and Eoin was frantically donning equipment from another old trunk, along with Tec'lis and Victor. While this was once a dwarf place, it was such no longer. The amount of gold and gems here was already fairly stupefying, although he did not understand exactly why it was here and not in the dragon's lair. The people in the ice blocks would simply have to wait. They were not going anywhere.

One thing that did catch his eye was a rack of 4 harpoons with a black metal chain, possibly adamantine, attached to red rods attached to the ends of the chain. A belt hung over it, and it looked very fine and very old indeed. It could have been a dwarf belt at one time. Thordek figured the only thing that made sense was that the rods were "immovable rods".

A fine looking bow hung on a rack as well, with quiver next to it as well. Arrows stuck out of the top of the quiver as well, and they seemed to shimmer.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

The dwarf smiles and shakes his head at Kaladus' refusal to admit that he had been a turncoat. He reminds himself that sometimes the only way to see eye to eye is to look from the same perspective, and drops the issue. "As for Regina, someone'll be keeping a watchful eye over her. You are not to interact with her unless you are getting her to aid us. If she is to die during this conflict, do not think it shall secure your life. It might just make me mad enough to let Buelyir kill both of you, tactical disadvantage notwithstanding.

As for what I want you doing, well that's simple. You follow our lead and act at all times in our support. If we parley, you aid or cast any spells you might have that assist in that regard. If we fight, you fight against the dragon alongside us. If we run, you help put whatever gap you can between the dragon and the whole group. If the whole group lives, I can make a case that it was thanks to your support. If any in our company perish, that case becomes harder to create." Nalrak turns to join the others at Triage Central, but catches himself and turns back to Kaladus. "Lastly, you are to stay within twenty feet of me at all times. If you prove that you can be trusted with a leash of that length, we can discuss a longer one."

[King Tius]

The Temple
The three dwarves and halfling continue to press on towards the altar. As the crowd parts before you, it is obvious that the population is thinning as people frantically run to other parts of the temple. Wyatt looks to the ice-covered hole in the ceiling, trying to get a read on the incoming dragon. Though he doesn't see any shadows or changes in lighting to announce the dragon's arrival, he does notice something peculiar about the way the roars are echoing down into the cavern and temple....

Wyatt

At first the echoing effect made it sound like there were several dragons en route to eat you but you could have sworn that was just a trick of acoustics. As you crane your neck to listen you hear one roar overlapped by another, distinctly different, distinctly deeper roar. Your stomach drops as you realize that there are definitely more than one dragon headed your way....


Now within throwing distance, Hjalmar gives the signal to Wyatt. The thunderstone goes sailing through the air and connects solidly with the giant frozen anvil. The thunderclap that ensues rings out loudly in the great chamber and promptly stops the chanting. Just as you reach the base of the steps to the altar you see the robed chanters running down into the crowd, holding their ears.

The great anvil before you is nearly twenty five feet across at its top and is encased in solid ice. The square pedestal it sits on has a series of large stairs leading up to it, elevating the anvil considerably and giving you a great view of the temple area. As Hjalmar steps onto the uppermost platform two rings of runes ignite on the altar. They glow with a deep and powerful light that gives everyone a moment's pause. The Gold Dwarf pays them no mind as he walks towards the altar. Barely breaking stride the old Paladin hefts his warhammer and begins smashing the ice on the anvil, huge chunks splintering and falling away as his hammer's flames lick at the ice.

Both Nega and Magnum recognize the magical etchings around them to be rune circles, used in areas of great importance for things like bolstering defenders, aiding healing, and increasing the potency of summoning spells. The outermost circle glows much brighter than the inner one and you all feel uplifted by the beneficial magic it projects.

As Hjalmar sets to cleaning off the altar and the roars of the dragon ring in your ears, you finally notice what lays on the other side of the altar.... Fifty feet from the base of the altar's steps is a low wall, built as a divider between the main congregational area and the rectory behind it. Just beyond that, piled nearly ten feet high and three times that in diameter is a massive mound of gold. The glint of jewels, weapons, and other trinkets sparkle from within the small mountain of gold coins. The fleeing crowd seem extremely careful to avoid this huge pile of wealth sitting right before them. In fact, the crowd doesn't even seem to glance at it as they desperately try to cram into the smaller chambers that adjoin the great hall......

The Map

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/7483/temple1.png


Map Details: You approached from the bottom of the map. The ice-covered hole in the ceiling is now directly over you and encompasses the entire area of the map.

[Toliudar]

Inside the Temple - Loot Check

SNIP

A fine looking bow hung on a rack as well, with quiver next to it as well. Arrows stuck out of the top of the quiver as well, and they seemed to shimmer.

Previous post on this topic (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=12968466&postcount=3859). If Thordrek would like to have taken the bow, arrows and drow swords, just let me know and I sub in other acquisitions. Otherwise, I'll go on the assumption that Johannes took em, along with an unspecified suit of armour and crapload of gems.

Up on the roof of the armoury, Johannes does his best to organize the ragtag unit of would-be archers into something approximating an effective fighting force. This is only marginally hampered by the fact that he has never done this before.

"You five, over there. You lot, climb up there. Spread out as much as you can. No, you three stay with the ballista, but keep those crossbows close in case you have time to switch to them. My goodness, gentlemen, you'll be ready to face down that so-and-so in no time at all."

[loopy]

Eoin Shatterbond

Eoin hurriedly equipped his old equipment as the ominous sounds grew closer. Each item holding deep significance in his past life, back in his possession once more.

The armor went on first, black leather stolen from a nobleborn fop of a duelist, who turned out to be much better at bragging than actually wielding a blade. The gloves that had been provided for a exceptionally successful burglary. An awful shame, truly, that his employer had seen none of the rewards.

Over that slipped the black and bronze cloak he'd stolen from a peddlar of magical items, as well as his purse and the virtue of his daughter. It fell from his shoulders, swaying hypnotically as he moved.

Around his neck he wrapped the strange sigil-inscribed cloth he'd found at the shrine of the Passenger. It was exquisitely stitched in Dwarven runes, and while he could speak Dwarven, this old dialect escaped him. Finally, the twin shining daggers were sheathed in his belt, and he felt a smile spread over his face.

"I FEEL MYSELF AGAIN!" He roared, uncharacteristically eager for combat, blue-black energy crackling from his fingers. "VIKTOR, TEC'LIC, AT MY SIDE!"

[Strangie]

Wyatt

Something terrible dawns on Wyatt as he listens to the echoes of the roar of dragons. It almost takes a second to register, but his eyes go wide and he bites his lower lip as he hears it again. "Hell no. Oh HELL no. I hate to break it to you guys, but I think 'dat dragon is bringin' family wid' 'em. Just... just a heads up." He says a little shakily.

He shakes his head, taking a deep breath, as he tries to motivate and recollect himself. "Okay, got to focus. Not even me and Vikari fought a damn dragon, much less two or three of 'em, but it ain't nothin' I can't handle..." He snaps back to reality and realizes Hjalmar is giving him the signal to throw his thunderstone, and without a second thought he chucks it at the anvil, which makes a loud SNAP! and promptly shuts everybody up in the chamber. "Finally!"

He follows the dwarves into the anvil chamber, and watches for a moment as Hjalmar whacks away at the ice covering it. He notices the obvious magical effects of this room, though not exactly knowing what they are due to his lack of magical training. "What is all 'dis...? Kinda feels like the sanctity of 'dis place is still kinda intact, eh?"

That train of thought is immediately cut off by the enormous pile of wealth sitting across the room. "... oh, damn." is about the only thing that Wyatt can think to utter at the sight of this. He quickly turns to the dwarves. "What's the plan? I don't think 'dose dragons are quite here yet, but 'dey're comin'. Oh, 'dey are comin'..."

[thorgrim29]

((Nah, take the bow))

While at first scared by the dragon, Thordrek's natural curiosity takes over as he looks around, looking for an edge.

Thordrek, intrigued, goes to examine the harpoons. He tries to activate the rods, and checks to see if throwing them is supposed to activate them. Once he figures it out, he dons the belt and stuffs his backpack full of gems. (any other notable magic items?)

I have an idea that might work.... go organize the defence, I'll be right with you

[ithildur]

Weedle looks at Talamir with the same suspicious regard as before. Deciding that flying might make him more of a target to a dragon, or whatever was coming, he nodded to Talamir.

"I do" he admits, with some latent hesitation. "What do you intend, elf?" he asks with that same creepy calm voice of his.



Guessing that between the knowledge arcana check, Talamir's background having spent time in Silverymoon, etc it'd be reasonable to assume he'd at least know White dragons have some kind of cold based breath weapon? I'll revise if not.


Talamir approached the triage area, his emerald eyes considering the various immobile, or half mobile allies.
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"I'm no sage when it comes to White Dragons, but I know this," replied the Elf as he turned back to Weedle. "It has wings, while none of us do. Unless we can keep it from flying through Art or other means, someone may need to take to the air."

"Elves know the value of skilled archers better than any race," he added, looking at his expertly crafted longbow, then turning his gaze pointedly to the minotaurs. "But few here could be considered such; certainly not myself. It may be about as effective as throwing pebbles at one of them."

Talamir continued to eye the Minotaurs keenly as a thought passed through his head, but he dismissed it, for the moment at least, and turned back to Weedle with resolve in his eyes.

"Buelyir may have a plan; still, I may need you to cast the Fly spell on me at some point. It may be there is enough arcane firepower to deal with a wyrm, but it needs to be kept occupied so spells can be cast safely. Summons may not be enough, or an option. And Weedle..."

The Bladesinger paused, his gaze softening somewhat.

"Don't get stuck standing in a nice tight cluster that makes for a convenient target." Talamir gave a faint smile to the untrusting mage. "But I'm sure you already know that."

[mshady]

Black's Company

"Yes, the thought had occurred" Weedle said, and took two steps away from Talamir. "Do you think this is sufficient?" he asks and smiles slightly. His voice is the same unflappable calm, oddly toned voice as always. He always did have a very dry sense of humor.

The mage smiles again humorlessly and rubs his hands together and sparks of magic jump into the air. Talamir can feel the electric tingle of a mage readying his magic, and he had tasted that sensation before from Weedle. He was no amateur, that was for certain. Alas, no archmage, either.

Talamir turns and sees Buelyir standing by Marcus now, as the two converse loudly.

"What do ye mean I didn't pay ye to fight a dragon? I paid ye to fight, dammit! Do I need to specify every critter and crawler we meet? Are there separate rates? Look how many we got, will ya? One dragon'll? We'll blast it outta the air and cut it up fer steaks. Reach down and find yer balls, grab a bow and spread the frak out!" Buelyir yells at the reluctant Marcus. It would seem the withdrawal was for mixed reasons, but it was at least apparent Buelyir was glad they came back, even if Marcus needed some convincing.

It was hard to blame the man. There was a dragon coming, right?

Marcus snarled something at Buelyir in reply, and than the leader told his remaining men to spread out.

Spreading would seem their only defense, for there was no cover here...

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar laughs some more as everyone begins scrambling about. The mercenaries looked to be losing their nerve, Buelyir was yelling at their leader now. Duervar settled to a stop a short distance away from everyone else and looked over the mess. The temple was pretty far away, and he didn't really intend to wander the distance alone. A single target would be very tempting to an angry dragon. For now he waited to see where everyone was intending to go.

[Gryndel]

Magnum

Standing within the aura of such Divine power surrounding the Holy Anvil was not entirely unknown to Magnum, though at the moment he couldn't recall ever experiencing anything quite like this! Thinking to add to the defenses, he used the last charge of the rune stone to activate the Shield of Faith stored within

OOC: CL 12 so +4 to replace his own shield... unless he thinks there might be such protection already there?

Grumbling softly to himself as he observed the situation, he pulled out his magically enhanced heavy repeating crossbow and loaded it with a clip of silver bolts. Glancing at the pair of paladins he thought what an odd sort of situation for an Alaghor to find himself in, yet somehow very comforting and encouraging. Though it had become one he had known more often recently, and somehow found inexplicably enjoyable.

Shaking off such thoughts, he put his full attention to the task apparently at hend, or directly above as it were. He knew his weapon had a range far beyond his vision in current circumstances, and while he was not about to waste a lot of ammo on such chances, one shot might tell a lot about what truly approached. Firing directly up the hole above, he reloaded quickly and began to chant his favorite Ehontar.

Attack [roll0] adjust for rge (120' incrememnts)
Damage [roll1]
includes Magic Weapon enhancement
Clip = 5 bolts, load as free action 1/rd

Perform (DC 10 Ehontar) [roll2]

AC 30
HP 90/90

[King Tius]

Temple Group, please move over to This Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?p=13053656#post13053656) for the remainder of this fight.

Armory Group, please move over to This Thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=239429)for the remainder of this fight.

Triage Group, I haven't forgotten about you! Going to try and update the triage map with everyone's positions soon. Since there are more people at the Triage area, we will be staying in the main thread.

[Grodech]

Having not gotten a response from Buna about whether or not she could move to the wall where he had stashed Carmard to cast her spell, he assumes that she's going to stay put. Having no intention of leaving her here by herself, Grathalmor gets out his heavy repeating crossbow and makes sure the case is full [5 bolts]. Satisfied that he was as ready as he could be, he turns his attention to the roof of the cavern and looks for the source of the noise.

ooc: I don't see anything for a Jilker Rep. Heavy Crossbow vs a regular repeating heavy crossbow, so I'm assuming the standard 5 bolt clip, and am assuming he doesn't have any spare clips.

[mshady]

Sorry about that...

Buna and Grathalmor

Buna shakes her head at Grathalmor's request.

"Nay, I 'ave to be closer to the bugger. Not real close, but sure not that far, unless yer bringing the fight to me. That case, ye might want to move the others. So we're trusting Carmard sleep'n with Regina? Really?" she shakes his head, thinking Buelyir's starting to miss details.

"Oi! Red Bull! No, not ye Three Horns, the other one! The Whathisname-a-taur! Get over to the wall and 'ake sure that lady doesn't harm Carmard. She tries anything, ye can kill her and eat her, or eat her and kill her, alight?" Buna yells across the 30 feet or so between her and the minotaurs.

The Whathisname-a-taur replies with an angry growl and a rude gesture and heads off towards where the others are going to be holed up.

"He'll thank me later, when he's the only one of them who survives this" she reflects darkly and has a distant look in her eye for a moment.

[Grodech]

Sorry about that...

Buna and Grathalmor

Buna shakes her head at Grathalmor's request.

"Nay, I 'ave to be closer to the bugger. Not real close, but sure not that far, unless yer bringing the fight to me. That case, ye might want to move the others. So we're trusting Carmard sleep'n with Regina? Really?" she shakes his head, thinking Buelyir's starting to miss details.

"Oi! Red Bull! No, not ye Three Horns, the other one! The Whathisname-a-taur! Get over to the wall and 'ake sure that lady doesn't harm Carmard. She tries anything, ye can kill her and eat her, or eat her and kill her, alight?" Buna yells across the 30 feet or so between her and the minotaurs.

The Whathisname-a-taur replies with an angry growl and a rude gesture and heads off towards where the others are going to be holed up.

"He'll thank me later, when he's the only one of them who survives this" she reflects darkly and has a distant look in her eye for a moment.

"Aye." Grathalmor responds "Don't know what Buelyir's thinkin', leavin' her unattend'd like that." Indeed, he had been worried about Carmard's safety when Buelyir had left her over there. The minotaur was likely to eat her whether she tried anything or not, just because Buna said that he could, but that didn't really matter to Grathalmor as long as Carmard and the prince's boy were safe.

"So should we stay here, or move to 'da bridge?"

[mshady]

Buna frowns slightly at Grathalmor's statement.

"Oh, I reckon he's thinkin' he thinks he's got bigger problems right now" Buna remarks.

That was when they all heard the massive metal on metal boom/clang. The shock wave of the sound rolls over them, with the force of a slap to the face. The direction is plain enough, the temple...


"Now what was that??" Buna asks. Instead of a fearful look though, she is smiling.

[Grodech]

Buna frowns slightly at Grathalmor's statement.

"Oh, I reckon he's thinkin' he thinks he's got bigger problems right now" Buna remarks.

That was when they all heard the massive metal on metal boom/clang. The shock wave of the sound rolls over them, with the force of a slap to the face. The direction is plain enough, the temple...


"Now what was that??" Buna asks. Instead of a fearful look though, she is smiling.

"Came from da temple." Grathalmor replies. "Sounded like a hammer ta' anvil, only louder. Ya think we should head over dere?"

[mshady]

Buna

"Do I? Aye but lets see what Buelyir's got planned. I'd rather not over react. Lesse what's coming down to us and I'd rather not jump and be on the wrong foot" Buna replies. She holds Grathalmor's bent urghosh, using it as much to steady herself as anything else. The Black Orc had done a number on it, surely...

[King Tius]

Enter The Dragons
As the roars grow louder the two Drow attempt to get the slaves into formation. What forms is something vaguely resembling a battle line, spread out perpendicular to where the temple and armory are. The four minotaurs cover the flanks, two to a side. Black's company form up near the left flank with his five fighters in front. Tasster and his sons fall into line with you behind Buelyir on the right flank.

As you stand tense and waiting the roars grow steadily louder and more daunting. At last the dragon appears, swooping out of the great hole in the cavern's ceiling. It has its wings tucked to its sides as it plummets towards the Temple like a great white bullet. Almost as soon as it appears another dragon comes swooping down after it, similarly aiming for the temple. Just when it seems like things couldn't get any worse, a THIRD dragon appears, considerably larger than the other two. Rather than nose diving, this one has its wings spread wide as it falls, slowing its descent. It is difficult to tell from this distance, but the dragon seems to be glistening like a great crystal, though it could just be a trick of the light off its scales.

The slaves begin to murmur and shuffle about in a state of mild panic. One dragon was terrifying enough, but three?

The Map

http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/1606/triage2f.png


Everyone please roll initiatives! Things are about to get interesting. The dragons are nowhere near attack range for you yet, so if your character is simply going to "load his crossbow, say a prayer, and wait" that will work until things heat up even further....

[mshady]

Buelyir watches the dragons fall from the top of the cave with dismay, and sheathes his sword. Having an idea what kind of fight this was going to be, he checks his pistols and than removes his heavy, coil driven crossbow. He works hard to pull the charging handle back and drops an adamantine bolt into it the length of his forearm.

"Get yerselves ready! Aye, they be three wyrms, but we're split up and they're going to have to too! We knew dragons be a threat, and we're prepared. We got numbers, we got a company of big frakking heroes and all they have left be one big lizard who breathes ice. All of ye, lets get a coat on, man up and get ready for that thing! Shoot it down out of the air, bring it to the ground and we get us some dragon steak for the walk home! Spread out and get ready! Lesse if they come to us!" Buelyir yells to the group in Undercommon, a tongue presumably everyone could understand. He was worried all those other slaves would cut and run, but their more fierce nature might just serve to let them stand fast and suck the dragon in. They'd take losses, but what other choice did he have?

As motivational speeches went, it was perhaps not the best he could have given, but it would have to do. There was not much of a reaction from anyone, besides a few isolated hoots from the slaves.

He moves towards Nalrak and Kaladus, frowning slightly to see he is free and unshackled.

"Nalrak, be quick but can we count on him or not? What can he bring to this?" Buelyir asks of Nalrak, not even bothering to look at Kaladus, who stands with his arms crossed.

[ithildur]

Talamir's eyes narrowed progressively as the three dragons made their entrance, becoming near slits as he caught glimpse of the third, largest wyrm.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Well!" spoke the Elf to no one in particular, the slightest touch of dry humor in his voice. "We seem to be the lucky ones. At least we dance with only one of them!"

Talamir regarded the reaction of the slaves to Beulyr's speech with a neutral expression on his face, then took a deep breath through his nostrils as he prepared to cast a spell. Before he proceeded however, the Bladesinger checked himself to fulfill his sworn duty as he paused and called out to his injured kin.

"You have protection against it's icy breath, Arman?"

This could be ugly... so many clustered together, unused to fighting together. Seldarine have mercy, cousin, if the answer is nay.

I'm guessing Ta is Talamir? He probably would've been with Black's Company at this point to start with, but I suppose he could've walked over to check with Arman before the battle started.

[ithildur]

And... Initiative!

[roll0]

[OMG PONIES]

[roll0]

Nalrak worries to himself if he has made the right decision, and the worry is amplified by Buelyir's words. What if the doctor had made a bad decision? What if Kaladus was planning to turn on them at a moment's notice? Nalrak is wracked by these thoughts for a moment, and he has to pull himself together and remember that a battle is looming. He inhales deeply, looks Buelyir in the eyes, and says, "He brings magic stronger than any o' mine or yours, Commander--magic that might mean the difference between victory and defeat. We can count on him," the dwarf says while turning toward the old mage, "I know that I am."

[roll1] to identify the type of breath weapon this dragon might have.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar moves back in with the main group around Builyr as the dragons swoop down into the chamber. Looking at the setup they have, he winces and shakes his head. "We'll need to split up before that thing gets here. Clumped up like this, it'll just strafe over us."

[Grodech]

"Let's move around the side o' da minotaurs." Grathalmor says quietly to Buna. "I don' wanna be standin' in this crowd when it looses it's breath." He indicates an area around the side of the minotaurs [around S5 on the map]. His crossbow was ready to fire, but the thing wasn't close enough yet.
Init: [roll0]
S5 would be about 30 feet of movement from where they are now. Grath would prefer further south, if Buna's able to move quickly enough.

[mshady]

Buna nods in response to Grathalmor's suggestion.

"Where ye want to be?" Buna asks. "Being all in a cluster is a great way to get a little perma frosted, I think" she smirks. "Best I be somewhere I'm not drawing attention... At first, anyways"

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

The doctor chimes in, "Dangerous as it is, being clumped together makes working some protective magicks over ye a little easier, least if we start together then fan out."

[Grodech]

Nalrak

The doctor chimes in, "Dangerous as it is, being clumped together makes working some protective magicks over ye a little easier, least if we start together then fan out."

"Well 'den get on it!" Grathalmor tells his cousin "'Da cursed 'ting is comin'."

[ithildur]

Proceeding as if Arman responded to Talamir's question either yes or no

Talamir gave a small nod to the moon elf, then ran a number of possibilities through his mind as he scanned the area they stood in and towards the direction of the oncoming wyrm. For a brief moment his gaze drifted to the unknown quantity of Kaladus.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Indeed, we cannot remain clustered; I suggest preparing any protective wards now quickly, then fanning out," replied the elf to Nalrak.

"The wyrm may unleash an opening blast at the largest conveniently clustered group to do maximum damage in one go, then prioritize our wizards on it's second pass as it gets a read on our group; they are likely our best chance of defeating it. Priority then should be the spellcasters who are unable to protect themselves with such wards; others who can dodge the breath attack or are hardy enough to withstand a cold blast or two may have to do without."

"But who can say with certainty? I know little of this particular wyrm. Regardless he approaches, and likely isn't interested in parley. The time of preparation passes quickly, and unless the sons of Moradin are as fond of secret plans as they are of ale..."

A faint smile briefly appeared on the Bladesinger's lips.

"We now pray to our gods, trust in our weapons and spells, skill, and what wit we can muster."


If Nalrak and others can spare Mass Resist Energy, Remove Fear, Shield of Faith and any other buffs Talamir will wait; if not he casts Resist Energy on himself and gets ready to move, unless Arman for some reason doesn't have/isn't given elemental protection, in which case Talamir casts it on Arman.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak nods and calls out to the other party members nearby, "Aye, gather round me and I'll send up a prayer." As the other heroes circle around the doctor, he vigorously rubs his hands together and exhales slowly into them (almost as if trying to warm them on a cold day). He reaches out his hands to those around him, including Kaladus. "Fathers warm our forges even in the face of frozen fear. May they burn slow and blaze brightly forevermore, amen." As he concludes his prayer, his companions can't help but feel a little warmer. "That's the important one," he grunts. "I'll be tossin' out some others as we go, so stay within a stone's throw if possible."

Spellcraft DC 18 to open:
Nalrak just cast Mass Resist Energy (Cold).

[ArmanMadero]

Initiative [roll0]

Arman cursed himself for not realizing how unprepared he was until now, and shook his head at Talamir's question to him.

"No. I unfortunately do not have a spell like that prepared. I had assumed that we would have had a break by now before we started this..." Arman gave a rue smile... "Things have not turned out the way I thought they would have. My spells are almost depleted, but I have a few wands of Magic Missiles and wound cure. I have some arrows and I can scavenge them as I go, I also have my sword and a few other spells at hand. Mystra herself, will see me through with Corellion at her side." Arman finished, smiling at Talamir.

Thinking about it, he took a scroll from his pouch and read it aloud softly, throwing something shimmery into the air around him.

Arman uses a scroll of Stoneskin

Bringing about his bow, he readied an arrow, but did not pull it back, waiting until he was closer, without getting too close. The frosty breath might not be good for him.

[King Tius]

The two dragons continue their swift descent and strike the top of the temple almost at the same time. The larger dragon settles down gently beside them. All three dragons sit on top of the temple for a brief moment before splitting up. One of the smaller whites drops into the temple while the other starts towards the armory. The largest of the three takes wing in your direction, maintaining an altitude level with the roof of the temple. As it flies you can just make out a rider on its back. It draws closer to you at an alarming speed as you scramble to reposition yourselves. Though it is still out of bow range, in a matter of a few seconds (read: one round) it should be close enough to start trying to hit.

OOC: Assume you had enough time before this to rush to the positions you mentioned. From now on please post moves as if we were in combat. If you have nothing to do, you can ready an action and wait.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

"Good, they're as stupid as I hoped. If they'd stayed together, I don't think we'd be in a very good position." Duervar swings his pick up into both hands and gets ready for the oncoming fight.

OOC:
Preparing the following maneuvers:
Moment of Perfect Mind
Action Before Thought
Bonesplitting Strike
Ruby Nightmare Blade

Stance: Stonefoot Stance

[ithildur]

"That's the important one," he grunts. "I'll be tossin' out some others as we go, so stay within a stone's throw if possible."



Talamir eyed the rapidly approaching dragon as he addressed Nalrak calmly.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Neither time nor the wyrm are standing still; for that matter neither should we. If you have other wards, perhaps now would be a good time?"

Speaking the above as free action.

Maneuvers prepped:

Sudden Leap
Douse the Flames
Leading the Attack
Ironheart Surge

Default stance: Hunter's Sense

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak nods and says, "Aye, now this one'll protect any friendlies keeping nearby. No use huddling up, but any who march to fight this dragon alongside me can rest secure knowing that even Dragons were created in the same Forge of our Fathers. From Tablet Two, line seventeen..." Nalrak takes out a small stone inscription and begins reading from it, a familiar holy text to the dwarves about the creation of dragons. As he reads, his comrades feel the dwarven pantheon smiling down upon them; those who worship the dwarven gods feel the warmth of their presence even more.

Spellcraft DC 19 to open:
Nalrak is casting Recitation.

[mshady]

Buna listens to what Nalrak and Duervar has to say and shakes her head.

"They're only stupid if they land before they soften us up. Not much we can be doing down here if they're up there. Expect'em to fly over us a few times and give us a good frosting. There be enough room for it to fly. Their hides can shrug off normal weapons, so only a lucky shot'll do more than sting it. The minotaurs have throwing axes though, so even an iron one could dig deep with how strong they be. I've a few spells to help too" Buna declares, and she has a mischievous look on her face now.

"Yes, dragons fly. Very astute of you" Kaladus observes. "You deal with a wyrm by blasting it out of the sky with magic. Keep it off me. I've enough to at least hurt it. Just... group up nicely in a big group and distract it. Try not to - ow!" Kaladus yelps, as Buelyir cuffs him on the back of the head.

"That's enough out of ye. That may be how they do it in Sigil, but not here"

He turns to look for Arman and Weedle.

"Whatever you two mages have, Arman and you too Weeds, get it ready! A lightning bolt in the face or protections, just start doing it!"

[Grodech]

After the prayer from his cousin, and Buna's reply to the conversation, Grathalmor says to her "I can see from da look on yer face ye got sumtin' up yer sleeve. I ain't fer stoppin' ya, but I think we should spread out some more."


Name: Grathalmor
HP: 89/89
AC: 26, Touch 12, FF 26
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, duration unknown, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks

ooc: Grathalmor's plan is to stay adjacent to Buna so he can use his abilities to protect her. My last post should have put them at about S5 on the map that had been posted, I'm thinking another 20 feet to the south. This should be one move action, but I'm not sure if Buna is slowed by her current condition.

Once in position, Grathalmor takes a potshot at the dragon with his crossbow.

Attack [roll0], minus 2 for each 120ft increment
Damage, if he hits [roll1]
Edit: on the odd chance this actually hits, let me know and I will make the additional rolls for the crit.

[ithildur]

Enormous flying white dragon rapidly approaching this way in relatively wide open terrain. Check

Healing Belt's energies completely depleted for the day. Check

A mere 2 potions of Cure Serious Wounds readied in potion belt. Check.

Scores of unfamiliar and unorganized freed slaves in our ranks. Check.

Completely unfamiliar and possibly unreliable powerful mage in our ranks. Check!

Untrusting mercenary mage who may or may not have a Fly spell prepared and willing to cast. Check!!

Arman protected from breath weapon, apparently nearly out of spells. Check.

Half dozen more protected from breath weapon and waiting. Check.


All in all, things could be worse, Talamir thought to himself, as he invoked the command word for the wand stored in his weapon chamber.


http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Faer Aegis!"

Not sure exactly how much time/rounds of actions have gone by since the initial 'Enter the Dragons' post and this point; seems like round by round hasn't started yet. So if there is time:

Cast Shield spell from wand, move to Q6

Cast Protection from Evil at caster lvl 1 from scroll on himself, sheath longsword.

Move to T1, drawing longbow as he moves, attack with MW Composite Longbow, with range increment penalty if dragon is not within 110 feet by then. Unless dragon moves into melee range... hard to gauge things being out of rounds/turns.

((NOTE: ignore 2nd/reiterative attack in the post below this one, not a full attack))

Talamir
HP: 71/71
AC: 26, 28 vs evil creatures, Touch AC 15 (17 vs evil)
Initiative: 11
Spells in Effect: Recitation from Nalrak, duration unknown, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac immunity to Magic Missiles, 10 rounds
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 1 minute/10 rounds.
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak (assuming everyone that needed it has received it at this point; I still see several open spots on the list in the ooc thread): duration?

[ithildur]

MW Composite Longbow Full Attack (range increment penalty not included)

Attack 1
[roll0]
Dmg
[roll1]
Attack 2
[roll2]
Dmg
[roll3]

[King Tius]

Nalrak casts his cold-resistance spell before the group starts to spread out more. You all cut a path towards the two minotaurs near the south as the Drow start yelling at the slaves to move apart a bit. The rank and file start to split up, but are more confused than anything else. Black's company stays in formation but moves away from the masses, hoping to make a better target.

As the dragon comes barreling towards you the archers begin to loose their arrows. With the it is difficult to land an accurate hit and almost all the arrows bounce harmlessly off its armor. The few that do stick don't seem to bother the dragon one bit. The woman riding it also seems unconcerned with the volley. Those of you who have been with this group for a good while get the feeling you've seen this woman before somehow, though you cannot see her face.

The dragon's path has it headed straight the main formation. Panic begins to take over as some of the slaves start to shout and drop their weapons...

Initiative Order (those I have so far)
(18) Grathalmor
(17) Arman
(11) Talamir
(10) Nalrak

We will be going round by round from here on in. I figured we could get this fight started now and not make you wait three rounds for the dragon to slowly flap over here.

Things were pretty hectic for me these past few weeks and the multiple rounds of prep got hard to keep track of. Assume you were able to cast and move whatever spells you were able to in the three rounds it took for the dragon to get here. As Mike mentioned, please continue to post those stat blocks so we can all keep track of who has what buffs and all that. Let's get this party started!

The Map

http://img840.imageshack.us/img840/3/triage3.png

[Grodech]

Grathalmor moves to X6 and initiates Stonefoot Stance.
ooc: His intention is to keep himself adjacent to Buna, preferably between her and the dragon so he can use his Cover ability to protect her. If she moves, he will move with her prior to initiating his stance.

Then he takes another shot at the dragon.
Attack: [roll0] (no range modifiers this time)
Damage: [roll1]

Name: Grathalmor
HP: 89/89
AC: 28 (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell), Touch 14, FF 28
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 7 remaining, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/harness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

[ithildur]

Talamir draws back the bowstring and fires once more, aiming this time for the rider. Any proficient archers who have the presence of mind to note such might notice that Talamir's archery technique seems somewhat less than fluid, apparently attempting to line up the shot well before drawing the arrow back...


MW Composite Longbow Full Attack, including Recitation bonuses

Attack 1
[roll0]
Dmg
[roll1]
Attack 2
[roll2]
Dmg
[roll3]


Talamir
HP: 71/71
Initiative: 11
AC: 26, 28 vs evil creatures, Touch AC 15 (17 vs evil) - Add another +2 to each if using SC version of Recitation
Spells in Effect: Recitation from Nalrak, duration unknown, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac immunity to Magic Missiles, 10 rounds
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 1 minute/10 rounds.
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak

[ithildur]

Rolling to confirm natural 20!

[roll0]

Additional damage if confirm successful (Longbow crit x3):

[roll1]

[OMG PONIES]

Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 63/75 (due to boosted CON) and 8 temporary HP
AC: 24 (24 flatfooted, 11 touch, 11 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (4/800)
Recitation: Your allies within 60 feet gain a +2 luck bonus to AC,
on attack rolls, and on saving throws, or a +3 luck bonus if they worship the
same deity as you (3/8).
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (2/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (1/8).

Nalrak fights back the fear as he begins casting a bevy of protective spells, equal parts offense and defense. He had learned much and trained for many scenarios as a Knightingale, but nothing had prepared him for this. As he prepares his spells, he trudges forward--first on the ground, then in the air as one of his spells allows him to lift off the ground. Large, feathered wings sprout from his spine and stretch up to the heavens as Nalrak begins to grow taller himself, taking on the appearance of a protectar.

His best bet to heal these folks was going to be taking down the dragon as soon as possible; while he knew how to treat frostbite, he wasn't prepared to do it on such a grand scale. His protective spell had helped the few who would face the dragon in combat, but the huddled masses would be decimated by it. Nalrak casts one final preparatory spell to make himself stronger and curses his luck--no matter how quickly he and his mates would be able to dispatch this dragon, many would die. As he draws his bastard hammer from his back and makes a beeline towards the dragon, a thought enters his head for the first time: he could be one of them.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

The half duergar curses as he sees Nalrak take off. "Dammit, what are you doing?" Moving out of his stance quickly, he takes off after the cleric. "We're going to need you back here. Let someone else take the dragon's first charge!"

Missed this earlier: Initiative [roll0]

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak

"Preventative medicine," the doctor calls back over his shoulder. There would be time for healing the wounded later; now was his chance to prevent the casualties in the first place. Nalrak takes to the sky, flying straight toward the dragon and its rider. "What is your business?" the dwarf calls. "If you seek parley, so be it. But if you seek battle, you shall not harm my kin without recompense."

Move action: fly to Y14 (15 feet up)
Standard action: ready action to cast Mark of Doom on the dragon if it or the rider take hostile action (which should interrupt said hostile action and result in the dragon taking 1d6 damage)

[roll0]


Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 63/75 (due to boosted CON) and 8 temporary HP
AC: 24 (24 flatfooted, 11 touch, 11 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (5/800)
Recitation: Your allies within 60 feet gain a +2 luck bonus to AC,
on attack rolls, and on saving throws, or a +3 luck bonus if they worship the
same deity as you (4/8).
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (3/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (2/8).

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar Stonespite
HP: 73/97
AC: 22, touch 15, flat footed 20
Initiative: 11
Currently Active Spells:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (5/800)
Recitation: +2 luck bonus to AC, on attack rolls, and on saving throws (4/8)
Keen Edge: critical threat range of warpick increased to 19-20 (50 minutes)


Duervar goes pale as Nalrak flies up towards the dragon. "Oh boy. Tolrin isn't gonna be happy about this if we survive to tell him about it." He quickly pulls a small vial out of his pouch and smashes it onto the head of his pickaxe, letting the magic work into the weapon.

Applying Oil of Keen Edge to War Pick.

[mshady]

Buelyir:

The dwarf watches Nalrak run to the front of the group and take flight, evening calling out a request for parlay with the approaching dragon and its rider.

"Now that's just crazy smart, or crazy dumb" Buelyir remarks. He shakes his head, figures Nalrak can take care of himself, and is just thankful for a moment to prepare.

He reaches into his pouch and grabs diamond dust, and his skin takes on a gray sheen from the Stoneskin spell. A protection from elements spell comes next, bracing him against the cold blasts. While he might have benefited from Nalrak's spell, Nalrak wasn't as skilled as Buelyir was, in Buelyir's consideration. Next, he draws his sword from its sheath and the sheath glows blue for a moment as the ultra-sharp katana sword is withdrawn.

With a sword in one hand, he whistles a little tune to himself and pulls out a wand as well. Talamir would recognize it as the one he used to launch a fireball into the old flour mill, with dramatic results.

If the dragon moves past or attacks Nalrak, Buelyir will shoot a fireball in the dragon's direction

[mshady]

Kaladus

While of an advanced age for a human, he was still almost as spry as he was cranky, but that doesn't shake his astonishment when his captor runs off.

"Well, I'm not chasing you!" Kaladus crows, sarcastic even in the face of an onrushing dragon. "You'd almost think this was a sign he wanted me to leave" he mutters to himself. He looks at Buelyir, who he finds is now standing much closer to him and has that deadly sword of his drawn and the two share a look. It seems like the dwarf knows what he is thinking, if not actually hearing it. He sighs dramatically and his hands start spinning spells...

Within moments, a Mage's Armor spell, Protection from Energy (Cold) and finally, a Fly spell. The old man bounds into the air with a laugh, free of his normal restrictions. He flies to the very top of the cavern, ignoring Buelyir's curses and protests, hovering just below the ceiling and well above the dragon's flight path.

[mshady]

Buna

Seeing the hurtling dragon, Buna smiles oddly for a moment.

"Finally, I get to do what I came here for" she says, than touches her head for a moment, woozy.

She spends the next few moments casting a stoneskin spell, an endurance spell and a shield spell, by way of preparation.

"Come on" she says to Grathalmor. "Lets move back a bit. I can't be where the first hit falls if I want to land my own hammer"

Buna falls back 20 feet from the front.

[mshady]

Kelith Firestorm

A cleric of Kossuth, Kelith gratefully accepts Nalrak's blessings and reaches for his holy symbol of Kossuth and clutches it tightly. As Nalrak heads off, Kelith frowns for a moment.

"He can do as he will, but I will distract the dragon. When it comes for me, Buna, do what you can on it. If my chain and I can keep it grounded or draw its attention, you may yet have a chance to do what you intend. Just do it quickly, as it looks quite large and bothersome" he smirks. "It will know me for who I am"

Suddenly wreathed in flames and holding aloft his holy symbol of Kossuth, Kelith strides out away from the group. He stops 40 feet out from it and prepares. He suddenly appears bulkier, followed by a cloud of knives start swirling around him. Finally, his chain blazes in flames as the dragon looms in front of him.

"Beast of Auril, I am Kelith Firestorm, Cleric of Kossuth! I challenge ye, beast!" the cleric roars at the oncoming dragon, and he knows the beast hears his words.

Kelith rolls a 13 on his Intimidate/Challenge Check. Not TOO impressive.

[mshady]

The Minotaurs

Gore stands with Three Horns on one side, while Kerik stands with Bull Horn, the other bearer of the Stoneburner. Two sit on each flank of the group, and have their massive weapons in one massive hand. In the other hand, each has a throwing axe. The heavy, sharp weapons are not magical but could still strike with enough force to hurt the dragon. Having been upbraided by Buelyir recently, none fall out of formation to help the others. If the dragon falls into the slaves, the hope is they could get it into a melee while the dragon was on the ground.

A big if.

[mshady]

Battle of the Triage Center

Inbound…

Slaves

As the dragon approaches, the groups of slaves with confiscated bows fire at the dragon. They are difficult, arching shots against a moving target and if half of them had ever used a bow before, it would be a miracle. 100 bow strings thrum twice as the dragon enters their range, filling the air with shafts of arrows. Of the two hundred arrows shot, 7 find their mark out of the two barrages. Four of them stick into the dragon, doing little if anything to it. One of the arrows is swept away in a vortex of protective wards around it, while two more hit the armored figure riding the dragon. The arrows stick out of them, certainly wounding but it was hard to tell if it was anything substantial.

The rider takes 7 HP damage from two strikes, but the cleric casts a spell immediately after, presumably healing the wounds.

Black’s Company

Far better trained, the front rank manages to get off 3 volleys of heavy crossbow fire at the onrushing dragon. Two of the bolts stab into the dragon, again to little if any effect. One does strike the rider though.

The rider takes a 3 HP hit.

Behind them, Marcus Black fires a massive longbow of his own, getting off six shots of his own. He scores one hit, sinking an arrow up to its fletching. The rest of the shots do nothing.

Marcus does 6 HP.

The ranger Santana unleashes as many as 9 arrows at the dragon, but none in the barrage find their mark.

The rest of the group fires what they have, but hit nothing. Weedle and Barakas lay down some cold protection and defensive spells of their own.

The rest of the group spend the 3 inbound rounds in preparation, as listed in the posts…

http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/6213/triage1.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/805/triage1.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/805/triage1.jpg/

[Grodech]

With his cousin rushing towards the dragon, Grathalmor decides not to wait for Buna's surprise and fires two more bolts, this time aiming for the rider.

[Full attack, 2 shots from repeating crossbow - his init was 18]
Attack 1: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]
Attack 2: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

Name: Grathalmor
HP: 89/89
AC: 28, 30 vs dragon (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell, +2 vs dragon from stonefoot stance), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 6 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/harness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar Stonespite
HP: 73/97
AC: 22, touch 15, flat footed 20, +2 vs. creatures larger than medium
Initiative: 11
Currently Active Spells:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (5/800)
Recitation: +2 luck bonus to AC, on attack rolls, and on saving throws (4/8)
Keen Edge: critical threat range of warpick increased to 19-20 (50 minutes)

Maneuver List:
Moment of Perfect Mind
Action Before Thought
Bonesplitting Strike
Ruby Nightmare Blade

Stance: Stonefoot Stance

The half duergar winces as the dragon swoops in. He glances at where all the spellcasters are and prepares for the dragon's attack.

[mshady]

End of Preparation Round - Nalrak and Dragon Rider Exchange

Nalrak

Nalrak takes to the sky, flying straight toward the dragon and its rider. "What is your business?" the dwarf calls. "If you seek parley, so be it. But if you seek battle, you shall not harm my kin without recompense."

His voice booms out across the distance. His words are powerful, spoken with a ringing, brassy tone of divinity or at least from the investment of some into him.

He peers closer, and notices the rider appears to be a woman in blue plate armor, streaked in white. Her long hair is as white as snow and flows behind her. Even at this distance, and through a visor, Nalrak can see her ice blue eyes. Whoever she was, she was powerful and a believer as well.

The dragon and rider both seem to be covered in a glaze of supernatural ice, which has a simmer of golden energy around it. A dragon was bad enough, but one or more prepared by a cleric was far worse.

How many high ranking people lived or protected this base, anyways? Was there an end?

Below Nalrak, he can see Kelith has followed him and the cleric of Kossuth has called out his own challenge to the dragon and it's rider.

"I am Livius, Arctica of Auril, Servant of the Chosen. You declare war on us, Patriarchate dwarf. May the Cold One take your soul!" she cries out back to him, her own voice shrill but just as penetrating.

The name rings a bell to him. Magnum had once told him they encountered a cleric of Auril leading a team of armored polar bears towing a sleigh in their first encounter around Hundlestone.

She had also summoned an Ice Devil.

NOW, on to Round 1. OMG Ponies, if you could provide a new round 1 I'd appreciate it. A parlay wouldn't work too well once the main group opens fire, so consider this an interlude

[OMG PONIES]

OOC: Can we just say her desire for the Cold one to take my soul is a hostile action, which triggers my readied action of casting Mark of Doom on the dragon? I wasn't really looking for parley, but neither did I want to charge into battle if she just wanted to talk.

[mshady]

OOC: Sure, works for me.

[mshady]

The Long Awaited Turn 1

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): A part of him was curious and excited to see a real dragon, in person. Since this was not the friendly kind that would talk to him and impart some form of wisdom, he was just going to have to shoot the beast.

Opening big, Arman sends a fireball hurtling towards the dragon. The small ball of fire explodes in a blossom of flame that slams into the dragon’s hide. For a moment, the dragon is obscured by the flash from the fireball. When the blaze of light subsides, steam rolls off the dragon’s scorched hide and it roars back in pain from the wound. He was hoping for a little more than a good scorching, though…

Arman crushed the dragon’s SR, and lands a big fireball strike but the dragon makes its reflex save. Almost all of the rest of the fireball’s damage is absorbed by the dragon’s wards. The same can be said for the rider. The dragon take 6 HP damage, the rider takes 3 HP.

That’s impossible, thought Arman.

No, that’s a dragon.

Buelyir (Initiative 21): The dwarf smiles as Arman opens up with a big spell for once, and the ball of fire warms his cold little heart for a moment. Unfortunately, that was about all it warmed as the dragon flew through the fireball’s wave front with barely a mark of soot on its dull, white scales. Now, several arrows that have become lodged into the dragon’s thick scales burn from the flames. The arrow fletching and even entire shafts burning brightly at a dozen separate points from the fireball, and the dragon trails wisps of black smoke as it comes. The effect makes it look even more fierce and intimidating. What intimidated him was the dragon combined with a powerful, spell casting rider to protect its vulnerabilities and enhance its strengths. That made it particularly dangerous.

Buelyir’s eyes flash blue for a moment, as he uses his arcane sight to look out at the dragon and see what kinds of auras surround it. Certainly some elemental resistance spells, as well as a general defensive ward and something against ranged attacks. His guesses are more or less confirmed, and the cool, golden glow of the auras identified the magic as divine.

“Wards! Someone get a dispel on it!” Buelyir cries out. With his fireball wand already out, Buelyir sends his own fireball hurtling towards the dragon. The beast takes the second explosion, but banks away at the last moment so only the edge of the flames lick its scales. Of the fire that did scorch it, none of did more than tarnish its scale.

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): The Ironfist warrior, watching his cousin the physician fly out towards their enemy, decides to take his own shots at the dragon's roder. His repeating bow clanks twice, and both bolts hit but appear to lodge into its scale or that icy covering around the dragon. His shots have no apparent effects.

Grathalmor missed with a natural 1 (roll of 12) and a second roll of 19.

The White Dragon (Initiative 17): Unable to resist Kelith’s presence, if not his challenge, the dragon’s rider flares the dragon, before a female voice yells down at him.

The rider uses their action to direct the dragon to attack Kelith, rather than the large groups of slaves.

“You, fire priest! We’ve unfinished business, you and I!” the rider calls down to him. The dragon falls from the air, wings beating furiously as it brings itself from speed into an immediate landing. It was not looking to land by Kelith, however. It was looking to land on him!

The massive white dragon drives a clawed foot right into Kelith and drives the fire priest to the ground with tons of force behind the blow. The dragon’s massive weight crushes Kelith into the ground, hard and leaves him pinned beneath the dragon.

Kelith is pinned and has suffered 20 HP damage.

Kelith: Shocked at the violence he has drawn to him, Kelith tries to twist away from the dragon’s huge foot. He may as well have not bothered. His ribs scream in pain, as the great dragon crushes him with the weight of mass pushing down on him. His attempt to escape the pin is always completely hopeless, and the attempt itself confirms the suspicion.

Unless the dragon moved off of him, and quickly, he was about to die.

It also occurs to Kelith the dragon is using him as a shield against the other’s magic. They may not use their best spells for risk of hurting him too. Well, he doubted it would stop some of the mages here, and that was just as well. He had bought them all the gift of time, possibly with his life…

Kaladus: Flying near the very ceiling of this massive dwarf chamber, he watches as Kelith tries to get the dragon’s attention and is crushed beneath its weight for his trouble. He did not need Buelyir to tell him about the wards, or advice on how to deal with them, however.

“Watch and learn!” he advises to anyone who could hear his words. Honestly, he could care less.

Free at last, the old mage draws his arm into a fist and draws upon his own reserves of magical energy. He sends a ball of crackling white energy streaking across the gap between him and the dragon. Not wanting to remove any spells Kelith or Buelyir were using.

The spell connects, and suddenly chunks of ice start to slide off of the dragon. The thing layers of crystallize ice that protected the dragon slough off on to the ground in a small avalanche of ice.

Kaladus dispels the Iceskin spell on the dragon. Think of it as Stoneskin, but with ice.

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): Seeing which way the wind is blowing here, he bets he will be able to get into melee with the great ice lizard shortly. He takes a vial and breaks it open on the pick of his pick axe and pour the oil on to the blade. Whatever Nalrak had in mind, his bravery was sure to upset and surprise Tolrin. Battle calls for bravery though…

Duervar applies Oil of Keen Edges to his war pick.

Talamir (Initiative 11): The elf draws his bow and shoots at the dragon, a feat made much easier by the fact it was on the ground crushing Kelith, as opposed to flying. He intended to make use of the time Kelith bought, probably bought with his life.

His first shot is the most accurate, and he sticks the arrow’s shaft right into the dragon’s breast and for once, an arrow sinks deep. Only a moment later, the arrow is slapped away by the irritated dragon but Talamir is rewarded with a rivulet of blood running from the wound. Finally!

Deciding not to push his luck, Talamir moves up 30 feet and draws his sword as a free action (sword draw is a DM retcon action)

Talamir inflicts 8 HP with the unconfirmed critical.

Nalrak (Initiative 10): Seeing that the dragon and its rider were more interested in a fight than any parlay, Nalrak can only wince when he sees it crush Kelith under foot. If the fire priest was still alive, he would be surprised.

Nalrak reaches deep into the power that came from his faith in Dumathion, and marks the dragon as an enemy of his faith. Even a dragon’s vaunted resistance to magic would not halt the spell that came next. Around the dragon, the ground shakes and even the snow and dust motes hovering in the air seem to stand still for a moment. Nalrak is overwhelmed with as much awe and terror as he summons the attention of Dumathion himself as a transparent cone of golden light surrounds the massive dragon. It snaps and claws at the light, but to no avail as the light intensifies in a discharge of blinding light.

The dragon was now marked as a true enemy of Dumathion and the Patriarchate, and any attacks it made, it would feel the stinging retribution of Dumathion for its actions. Enough stings could seriously harm the dragon, he knew. It would pay for every attack it made now.

The dragon has been hit by a Mark of Doom by Nalrak. It will suffer 1d6 HP every round it attacks, ignoring DR or spell resistance. Round 1/10

ArumfaerWed: With little magic left, it is all Arum can do shoot at the dragon. He knows his crossbow can harm it, if he can land a solid hit. Unfortunately, he does not…

Buna: Seeing that the dragon has been held up, and sees this is the best opportunity she is going to have to use a lightning bolt without hitting others. She moves past Arman, shoving the elf aside roughly without apology as she tried to take her shot. Her head is still swimming, and this is the first major spell she has tries since she was nearly killed by the wizard’s guardian.

Her hands spin and then crackles with lightning, than she sends the bolt hurtling towards the dragon, angling it between Nalrak and the wounded Kelith.

“Get off of him, you son of a bitch!” Buna screams at the dragon, in draconic.

The bolt is aimed right at the dragon’s bullet, but the surprisingly agile dragon twists its body and neck enough to only take a glancing shot. While it was not a dead on hit, the dragon convulses and roars from the blow. It swoons for a moment, and then snarls. It is like the sound of sheet metal tearing, an odd growl but a chilling noise nonetheless…

Spell Check – Freebie: Dragon does not appear resistant to electrical!

“Think I got his attention, Grath?” Buna calls back to Grathalmor, a wild smirk on her face.

Buna hit for 16 HP.

Minotaurs: Kerik roars at the minotaurs to hold position and wait till they drew it in. Each minotaur has a heavy throwing axe in one hand, massive two handed weapons held in the other.

“Charge it while it on the ground!” the wounded Kerik roars. The minotaur puts his head down and begins to charge towards the dragon, and Gore follows. Taking the hint, the other two on the far side follow as well.

It wasn’t the plan, as they were supposed to wait till they drew the dragon in but if Kerik could hit the beast now it wound hurt it badly, or at least force it into the air and off of Kelith. Not that Kelith was a consideration for him. Kerik Many Skulls might just want a new skull…

Black’s Company: The group shoots once again, and while the front line troops against do little more than waste their arrows, Marcus lands a light hit. Weedle, taking the hint from Buna’s strike, sends a lightning bolt of his own towards the dragon. Again, the dragon manages a glancing blow, but the blow certain stings it.

Weedle hits for 14 hp, Marcus hits for 4 HP.

Slaves: The slaves send a massive volley into the air against the now grounded dragon, and the arrows fall like rain on and around it. The loss of its skin of ice does little to help their odds, as many hit but only two wound it.

The slaves hit for a combined 5 HP.

Tasster and Sons: "Get him before Kerik does!" roars the wounded Tasster. The dwarf charges forward too, his two sons in tow with their big spears.

Forgot their initiative, its somewhere!

Map

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/96/triagebattleround1.jpg/

http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/9456/triagebattleround1.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/96/triagebattleround1.jpg/)

Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)

[ithildur]

Talamir glanced quickly towards the oncoming minotaurs, then back to the dragon and it's rider, and lastly at Kelith being crushed by the huge creature's bulk.

"Not yet," the elf whispered under his breath, and broke into a dead run...


Talamir
HP: 71/71
Initiative: 11
AC while running (Dex and Dodge bonuses lost): 24, 26 vs evil creatures, Touch AC 13 (15 vs evil)
Spells in Effect: Recitation from Nalrak, duration unknown, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, AC, and skillchecks
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac immunity to Magic Missiles, 7 rounds left
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 8 rounds left
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak; cold resistance 20, 80 minutes
Battle Clarity, +4 to reflex saves as long as not flatfooted

Maneuvers prepped:
Sudden Leap
Douse the Flames
Leading the Attack
Ironheart Surge
Default stance: Hunter's Sense

If dragon continues to crush/grapple Kelith this round (i.e. does not threaten with AOOs)

Run (4x move rate, so 120 feet in straight line) to 41AG

((I checked with a straight edge and I'm pretty sure there's a clear path in a straight line to that square from 37N, as Nalrak is flying above the ground))

If dragon breaks off crush/grapple this round, then same idea (run to try and flank around) while staying well out of it's reach, so likely 44AC or so?)

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7974/triagebattleroundt.jpg (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/209/triagebattleroundt.jpg/)

[Grodech]

Name: Grathalmor
HP: 89/89
AC: 28, 30 vs dragon (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell, +2 vs dragon from stonefoot stance), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 6 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/harness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

Grathalmor moves up to where Buna is [20 foot move action to G34] and takes another shot at the dragon with his crossbow. With the ice gone from the dragon, it might have a better chance at hitting now. He sees that the minotaurs and Tasster and sons were much closer than he was, so he decides it is best to maintain his protective stance around Buna.

[Attack, 1 shot from repeating crossbow - one shot left in the cartridge]
Attack 1: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

[Grodech]

Grathalmor's Chance for Crit (nat 20 rolled):

Critical chance: [roll0]
additional Damage if he crits: [roll1]

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar holds his position for now, waiting to see if the dragon holds position and starts a brawl with the front line, or if it'll break off and go for those that try to stay out of the fight.

Holding action until the dragon does something.

[Katasi]

Arum casts a fireball at the dragon.

[roll0]

[mshady]

Buelyir:

The dwarf watches the dragon steer towards Kelith and fall on him, crushing him into the ground and he can only wince in pain. A moment later, he is surprised to see the priest struggling underneath the claws of the dragon. Recognizing the situation, he urges the others forward.

"Tasster, Kerik, drive'em off or take it down!" Buelyir yells out, his voice cutting through the dragon's powerful roar.

Instead of charging towards the dragon though, Buelyir stops for a moment and thinks.

"Hit it with some magic or put a shot into it if you can. Rest of ye, get to the center! Can't overextend ourselves! That means you too, Buna!" Buelyir orders the rest of his group. He looks towards the temple and sees the dragon on the roof and streaks of magic coming from it, along with people jumping off the roof and curses the scene.

"Glad I'm not over at that charnel house" he remarks under his breath.

Buelyir does a double move to O30.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak (Round 2)

"Very well," Nalrak booms with a frown of sadness. He had tried the path of peace, but his new foes had refused it. "Just know that you chose this path. Ask for mercy and it shall be yours." He clenches both hands around his weapon; the chill emanating from the dragon makes the heat of the fever iron pulse that much more against his skin. With speed and power unusual for the man of the cloth, he brings his weapon to bear against the creature's joints.

Full Attack

Rolls:[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2] +1 fire damage (fever iron)
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5] +1 fire damage (fever iron)



Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 63/75 (due to boosted CON) and 8 temporary HP
AC: 24 (24 flatfooted, 11 touch, 11 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (6/800)
Recitation: Your allies within 60 feet gain a +2 luck bonus to AC,
on attack rolls, and on saving throws, or a +3 luck bonus if they worship the
same deity as you (5/8).
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (4/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (3/8).

[Toliudar]

Buna

Seeing Arum and Arman's balls of flame engulf dragon and rider, Buna grunts. There were clearly worse choices than to follow suit. She and the other Arcanii could surely overwhelm any defenses that an Aurilite bicth might conjure. Buna's ball was carefully placed above and behind the dragon, to catch dragon and rider but leave Kelith and the valiant Nalrak untouched.

Stepping forward around Arum, Buna does what she can to shield herself - and, she hoped, the other mage - from the possibility of retaliation. Holding up her left arm, she activates the magic carefully woven into her small shield. Nothing seems to happen.

Standard action: Fireball, placed so as to avoid allies if at all possible. CL check to beat SR: [roll0]. [roll1] fire damage, Reflex save DC 18 for half.

Move action: move to I34.

Swift action: activate Barricade Buckler to create a 5'x5' invisible wall of force directly between herself and the dragon/rider. Hopefully providing some cover for Arum and Arman as well.

Buna:
HP: 79 (thanks to bear's endurance)
AC: 25, DR 1/adamantine

[King Tius]

The Equally Long Awaited Turn 2

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): Seeing the fireball window closing as people rush towards the dragon, he lets a second fireball fly. Unfortunately the dragon’s spell resistance proves too tough. The priestess is able to get her hand up in time to shield her face, taking half damage.

The dragon takes no damage, the priestess take 10.

Buelyir (Initiative 21): The dwarf watches the dragon steer towards Kelith and fall on him, crushing him into the ground and he can only wince in pain. A moment later, he is surprised to see the priest struggling underneath the claws of the dragon. Recognizing the situation, he urges the others forward.

"Tasster, Kerik, drive'em off or take it down!" Buelyir yells out, his voice cutting through the dragon's powerful roar.

Instead of charging towards the dragon though, Buelyir stops for a moment and thinks.

"Hit it with some magic or put a shot into it if you can. Rest of ye, get to the center! Can't overextend ourselves! That means you too, Buna!" Buelyir orders the rest of his group. He looks towards the temple and sees the dragon on the roof and streaks of magic coming from it, along with people jumping off the roof and curses the scene.

"Glad I'm not over at that charnel house" he remarks under his breath."

Buelyir does a double move to O30.

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): The standard bearer of Carmard moves up next to Buna and fires the last bolt from his repeating crossbow’s magazine. His aim proves true as the quarrel punches through a soft spot between the dragon's scales, right on the meaty part of the dragon's wing-arm.

Grathalmor does 8 damage with an unconfirmed critical hit.

The White Dragon and the Rider(Initiative 17): Rather than directing the dragon the Aurelite priestess directs her attention towards the incoming gang of assailants. Calling upon the powers of Winter itself she summons a 10 foot high wall of ice to separate the rushing group from the main party.

Simply by being on top of the pinned priest the dragon continues to crush his body. Seeing the onslaught of creatures heading its way, the dragon takes off into the air, slashing at Kelith with its massive claws as it lifts off the ground. Beating its wings the mighty beast makes it 100 ft into the air. The Mark of Doom stings the dragon as it continues to fight, though it does little to slow its progress as it climbs past Nalrak. The cleric takes a swing at the massive creature as it passes but is unable to connect.

The priestess summons a Wall of Ice into the designated spaces. The dragon deals 21 crushing damage and 22 slashing damage from its attacks on Kelith. Nalrak misses his AoO.

Kelith: The fire priest manages to cough up a glob of blood before passing out from the massive damage he’s received from the dragon’s crushing attack. His body goes limp as the dragon takes off, his last look filled entirely with the wingspan of the dragon.

Kelith is unconscious at -3 HP

Kaladus: Realizing the dragon’s rider is just as much a problem as the beast itself, Kaladus turns his attention to the priestess and casts another spell. He holds his hand out in front of him as it swirls with an eerie green light. A similar light begins to coalesce around the priestess. With a sudden jerk the mage makes a crushing motion bringing his hand into a fist. The priestess freezes in place atop the dragon’s back and begins to rock back and forth drastically as she is no longer able to anticipate the dragon’s movements. Though she is being tossed about she does not fall, clearly strapped into the saddle on the dragon’s back.

“Well, that’ll hold her still for a spell. Bah!” Kaladus chuckles at his own joke."

Kaladus casts Hold Person and manages to snare the priestess.

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): Duervar holds his position, waiting for a more opportune moment to strike at the dragon.

Talamir (Initiative 11): With the dragon now in the air, Talamir rushes to get below and behind it in case it should land again. (This was the closer of your two contingencies).

Nalrak (Initiative 10): The Dragon’s speed vastly outmatched the heavily armored priest and his magical propulsion. He propels himself upward. Taking a double move (You can only fly 40 ft per round and it is 85 feet above you). Now in position, he is ready to attack should the dragon move or stay in place.

OOC: Even if I’m somehow messing up the movement speeds neither of your attacks would have hit, so if we need to edit your positioning, we can do so.

Mark of Doom: Round 2/10

ArumfaerWed: Similar to Arman, Arum isn’t able to overcome the dragon’s spell resistance. The priestess takes the brunt of this fireball, however, and her shriek of anger and pain brings a cruel smile to the demented gnome’s lips.

Arum deals 22 damage to the priestess

Buna: Just like the other mages, Buna lets loose with a fireball. She IS able to overcome the dragon’s innate spell resistance but the protective spells that shield the dragon absorb the fire’s fury. Again the priestess fails her reflex save, taking the full brunt of the damage.

Dragon takes no damage, the priestess takes 19 damage

Minotaurs: With the dragon now out of reach the four lumbering bulls halt their charges. Kerik bellows in Giant for the four minotaurs to spread out, waiting for the dragon to land again.

Black’s Company: As the wall of ice springs up behind them, Black’s company is unphased that they’ve been cut off from the pack of slaves. They let loose another volley of arrows but none find their marks.

Weedle spreads his hands apart and shouts “I can’t hit it from here without hitting them too!”

Slaves: Between the dragon’s terrifying display and the sudden appearance of a wall of ice, four of the squadrons of slaves lose their resolve and flee. They cast their weapons to the ground and take off, running full speed away from the dragon. Only one squad keeps their nerve and fires again on the dragon, though none of their arrows hit.

Tasster and Sons: Tasster and his sons continue their charge, getting very close to where the dragon used to be. “When it gets back into range, but those spears to use boys!”

OOC: The map coordinates have changed. I adjusted the map to remove excess white space and to make life easier.

Map

http://img854.imageshack.us/img854/7364/mainfight2.png

[Toliudar]

Buna

The Arcanii ground her teeth in frustration. One one hand, the dragon had been forced to flee. On the other hand, it seemed to be proof against her strongest attacks.

The rider, on the other hand...

Reaching up over the unseen wall at the dragon above, Buna carefully aimed at the rider. She took a deep breath, and visualized her flame pulsing through the rider's form. Now, there was only to speak the words.

With the careful shaping of two words of power, Buna sent two blasts of flame up towards the priestess riding the dragon.

Buna casts Scorching Ray, targeting the rider.
Ray 1 touch attack: [roll0] Fire damage: [roll1]
Ray 2 touch attack: [roll2] Fire damage: [roll3]

[Grodech]

Grathalmor says to Buna "Didn'tya say ya had a spell ta keep dis ting on da ground?"
Reference to an earlier conversation with Buna:


"Huh? No, Grath. I have to stay!" Buna protests, as she levers herself off the ground with her own urghosh. She had traded hers for Grathalmor's bent one. "We knew this could come and I've been holdin' on to a spell to drop one out of the air and plug their draconic breath. Get Carmard clear, but I NEED TO BE HERE!" she protests, her eyes alive with intensity. With her furnace roaring now, the cobwebs of concussion at least seemed to be moving away. Even if she stumbled and seemed woozy a bit still...


Seeing the rider in a somewhat awkward position, Grathalmor takes another shot from his crossbow - the last bolt in the clip - and aims for the rider before grabbing another clip from his pack.

Attack: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Name: Grathalmor
HP: 89/89
AC: 28, 30 vs dragon (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell, +2 vs dragon from stonefoot stance), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 5 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/harness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

[Toliudar]

Buna nods grimly. She did indeed feel the magic itching to come out, to dance with the dragon, but the time was not right.

"I do have something, but we're not nearly close enough for me to use it. Do you have any way to get me up there...and back down safely?"

I'm not sure what Mike meant by being able to knock it out of the air - that might have been hyperbole. Sadly, Suppress Breath Weapon has some major drawbacks. It targets a will save, and dragons are usually pretty strong there, and is mind affecting, which means that one protection from X from the priestess and it's irrelevant. Plus, it's close range, and Buna hasn't gotten nearly close enough. So...I'll try it, if the opportunity arises, but don't count on it.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak Ironfist

Round 2 Revision

Seeing that the rider is about to close off the battlefield with a wall of ice, Nalrak prays that the Fathers would stop her; if they stood a chance against these foes, the battle would have to be fought on the dwarves' terms, not the riders. He shouts out an archaic dwarven word that has long fallen out of use, "Plötzlich!" and holds up a hand to stop her.

As the dragon flaps away, Nalrak swings with his bastard hammer but misses horribly. Undaunted, he flies up directly after the dragon. Though there is still some distance between them, he casts another spell. A ghostly warhammer appears adjacent to the dragon and begins to attack it. Should the beast move, the hammer floats with it as if it was predicting the beast's every move.

Immediate Action: burn turn attempt to dispel Wall of Ice via Divine Defiance.
Single Move Action: fly up towards dragon (40 ft, it is now 45 feet away).
Standard Action: cast Spiritual Weapon.

Rolls:[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]

Round 3

Nalrak's spiritual warhammer continues to attack the dragon, pelting it with two more attacks. The cleric draws a small silver dagger from his boot and clasps it between his hands in a position of prayer. When he opens his hands, the knife begins to orbit his body; as it spins, it replicates itself again and again until the brewer can hardly be seen behind the rapidly rotating cloud of knives. He flies directly toward the dragon, hoping to get into melee range (or at least as close as possible).

Meanwhile, Kaladus hangs back from the fray. He retrieves a small scrap of leather from his beltpouch and holds it between two fingers. With a snap, the leather is gone, but the material of the Demios' robe seems to thicken. Though he has paralyzed the rider, he still glares at her as if she is his singular enemy. With a short incantation, small runes begin to spin around his head.

Nalrak
Standard action: Cast Cloud of Knives
No action: Spiritual Weapon continues attacking dragon
Move action: fly 40 feet toward dragon (attempting to close into melee)

Kaladus
Free Action: Cast Quickened Mage Armor
Standard Action: Cast Battlemagic Perception

Rolls:[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]


Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 63/75 (due to boosted CON) and 8 temporary HP
AC: 24 (24 flatfooted, 11 touch, 11 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (7/800)
Recitation: Your allies within 60 feet gain a +2 luck bonus to AC,
on attack rolls, and on saving throws, or a +3 luck bonus if they worship the
same deity as you (6/8).
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (5/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (4/8).
Spiritual Weapon: conjure weapon of force to attack foes (2/8).
Cloud of Knives: conjure knives, attack as free action 1/round (1/8).


Name: Demios Kaladus
HP: 53/53
AC: 15 (13 flatfooted, 11 touch, 9 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: somewhere between 17 and 11

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (7/800)
Quickened Mage Armor: +4 armor bonus
Anticipate Teleportation (24 hour duration)

[mshady]

Buelyir

Seeing how high the dragon is flying, Buelyir can guess what is going to happen next. They had just seen it crush Kelith, possibly to death, and it had all but eaten the cleric who provided the valuable distraction at the price of his life, possibly.

He points to the minotaurs.

"Get yer throwing axes ready! Don't waste an opportunity to throw yer axes into the damn thing while ye can next time!" he orders them.

Turning towards his own group, he motions them to get closer to the side of the wall.

"Watch that thing, its gonna hit us on both sides o'the wall. We got a moment as it's trying to get its rider back from Big K's spell, but we don't have long!"

Feeling he might have a moment, Buelyir takes a deep breath and charges towards where the fallen Kelith lays, intent on trying to get a potion down his gullet before it was too late. Nalrak would have his hands full with that one too...

Buelyir moves to AA31

[mshady]

Arman:

Still husbanding his resources, the gimped elven mage moves forward towards the dragon as he watches it fly high in the air. He sends another magic missile spell streaking towards the dragon, intent on wearing it down.

Arman strikes the dragon for 18 HP, just beating its spell resistance check.

Arman moves to K27

[King Tius]

Retro actions from round 2: Nalrak’ Dispel check isn’t enough to overcome the power of the Wall of Ice. It is still there. The Spiritual Weapon he summoned takes a swing at the dragon but does not hit.

Turn 3

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): Still husbanding his resources, the gimped elven mage moves forward towards the dragon as he watches it fly high in the air. He sends another magic missile spell streaking towards the dragon, intent on wearing it down.

Arman strikes the dragon for 18 HP, just beating its spell resistance check. Arman moves to K27

Buelyir (Initiative 21): Seeing how high the dragon is flying, Buelyir can guess what is going to happen next. They had just seen it crush Kelith, possibly to death, and it had all but eaten the cleric who provided the valuable distraction at the price of his life, possibly.

He points to the minotaurs.

"Get yer throwing axes ready! Don't waste an opportunity to throw yer axes into the damn thing while ye can next time!" he orders them.

Turning towards his own group, he motions them to get closer to the side of the wall.

"Watch that thing, its gonna hit us on both sides o'the wall. We got a moment as it's trying to get its rider back from Big K's spell, but we don't have long!"

Feeling he might have a moment, Buelyir takes a deep breath and charges towards where the fallen Kelith lays, intent on trying to get a potion down his gullet before it was too late. Nalrak would have his hands full with that one too...

Buelyir moves to AA31

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): Grathalmor turn his focus from the dragon to its rider, taking aim with his crossbow and managing to score a hit.

Grathalmor does 4 damage to the dragon rider

The White Dragon and the Rider(Initiative 17): Enraged by the barrage of fireballs that have just been hurled its way, the dragon tucks its wings halfway back, going into a dive. It swoops down towards Arman, Arum, Buna, Duervar, and Grathalmor. As it approaches it opens its maw and lets forth a blast of its icy breath weapon. Luckily for those being blasted Grathalmor’s spell shields you from the brunt of the attack. Unfortunately, the dragon’s breath proves too powerful for the protective magic and you still feel it chilling effect as it washes over you. The dragon opens its wings fully and begins to beat them as it passes over you, climbing back into the sky and safely out of reach. Nalrak’s Spiritual Weapon follows diligently behind it, still unable to land a hit. Once again the priest’s Mark of Doom hurts the dragon, but again, it is more of a nuisance than anything else. The dragon is now 40 feet in the air.

The priestess once again remains in her saddle despite the dragon’s aerobatics. As the dragon finishes its swoop she grabs hold of the saddle and shakes her head, free from Kaladus’s Hold Person spell.
Arman, Arum, Buna, Duervar, and Grathlamor take 9 cold damage from the dragon’s’ breath weapon. Livius breaks free of Kaladus’s Hold Person spell. The Spiritual Weapon misses its Attack of Opportunity and the dragon takes 2 damage from Mark of Doom

Kelith: In his mind the fire priest dances with a pretty girl, her hair as red as burning coals. He wouldn’t know it, but his body slowly bleeds to death as he lies there in a pool of his own blood.

Kelith is unconscious at -4 HP

Kaladus: Kaladus takes the round to increase his defenses and prepare for some counterspelling.

Kaladus casts both his spells without incident.

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): Realizing he is out in the open and no use in this portion of the fight, Duervar runs to the Wall of Ice for cover.

Duervar Runs to 022

Talamir (Initiative 11): Now out in the open and away from most of his allies, Talamir begins moving towards his fallen comrade. He casts Mirror Image on himself to bolster his defenses.

Talamir double moves to AC30 and casts Mirror Image

Nalrak (Initiative 10): Nalrak casts his defensive spell as the hammer continues its assault. It smack the dragon twice but is rebuffed by its tough scales. Seeing the dragon taking a wide turn after using its breath weapon, Nalrak moves north on the map, trying to meet the dragon mid-air.

Mark of Doom: Round 3/10

Both hammer attacks miss Nalrak moves to Y31.

ArumfaerWed: Again taking lessons from the Elf, Arum also fires off a Magic Missile spell. The magical bolts fly unerringly towards the dragon but seem to have no effect.

Arum casts Magic Missile but is unable to overcome the dragon’s SR

Buna: Buna fires off her pair of scorching rays at the dragon rider. The first strikes the armored woman square in the chest while the other goes shooting harmlessly behind her.

Buna hits with her first scorching ray for 12 damage

Minotaurs: Holding their formation, the Minotaurs shout obscenities in Giant up at the dragon and the rider, trying to shame them into combat. Needless to say, what they shout is incredibly offensive and not fit for translating, but I certainly hope they don’t kiss their momotaurs with those mouths. They keep their axes ready for throwing, should the opportunity present itself.

Black’s Company: Black orders his company back against the wall for cover. “Weedle, can you bring that beast down?”

“No!”

Slaves: With the dragon considerably closer, the last group of slaves takes aim and fires with better accuracy. Unfortunately none of them land a hit.

Tasster and Sons: "Form up on me, lads. Let’s see if we can get its attention. SPEARS READY!”

Taasster and his sons group up in the middle of the minotaurs.

Map

http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/4167/mainfight3a.png

[Grodech]

"Balls!" Grathalmor says, shaking off the cold breath. He lets his crossbow drop, the tethering strap keeping it slung at his hip as he move towards the dragon, drawing out one of his pistols. [20 feet move to G24] "Let's see how ya like hot lead!" He takes aim at the dragon with the pistol and pulls the trigger, the bang echoing throughout the chamber.

Pistol attack: [roll0] (Ranged touch +2 for Recitation, -2 for range)
Damage: 2d6+1d10:
[roll1]
[roll2]


Name: Grathalmor
HP: 80/89
AC: 28, 30 vs dragon (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell, +2 vs dragon from stonefoot stance), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 4 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/hardness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

[Toliudar]

Shifting to keep as much of the wall of force between herself and the dragon as possible, Buna grimaced.

Buna glances over at Grathalmor next to her, and is cheered when she sees him blast the dragon with his pistol. Then she saw the priestess riding the dragon shake off the enchantment of paralysis. That wasn't going to be good.

Carefully, she sighted and prepared for the worst with her best, a blast of fire that would, she hoped, knock the priestess off of her game and onto her ass.

Taking a 5' step as needed to keep the 5' square wall of force between herself and dragon/rider. Buna readies an action to cast fireball on dragon and rider, cued by whatever standard action the priestess takes next round, with the hope that the damage spoils the spell. Reflex DC 18 for half. [roll0] fire damage. CL check for SR: [roll1].

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar Stonespite
HP: 64/97
AC: 22, touch 15, flat footed 20, +2 vs. creatures larger than medium
Initiative: 11
Currently Active Spells:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (80 minutes)
Recitation: +2 luck bonus to AC, on attack rolls, and on saving throws (6/8)
Keen Edge: critical threat range of warpick increased to 19-20 (50 minutes)

Maneuver List:
Moment of Perfect Mind
Action Before Thought
Bonesplitting Strike
Ruby Nightmare Blade

Stance: Stonefoot Stance

Duervar takes a moment as he reaches the cover of the wall to steady his stance again and ensure he's ready for anything.

Re-entering Stonefoot Stance after moving and taking any actions necessary to recharge maneuvers. Note: if required to make a Will or Reflex save, use Moment of Perfect Mind or Action Before Thought instead, allowing a Concentration check at +14 instead of the base saves. If both are required at once, use Moment of Perfect Mind to replace a Will save over Reflex.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak Ironfist & Kaladus

Round 4

The cleric barrels towards the wall of ice. His position in the air allows him to peer over it, and he draws his twin pistols as he moves. He draws a bead on the massive creature and mutters a prayer of protection. "Warmth of the Forge, protect us...Take any shots you have, Demios!" he calls out to Kaladus, who is still hovering high above the battlefield. As he speaks, he squints and clenches the trigger on one of his pistols, hoping for better luck than his cousin.

The aging mage smirks at Nalrak's poor choice of words; the wizard could take out any of the wretched dwarves from his perch on high. Still, the Patriarchate extended beyond his current company, so Kaladus had to be sure to uphold his word--at least for now. He whispers a curse at the woman straddling the dragon, followed up by a sudden flash of sparkling powder that scratches at the eyes of both rider and dragon alike. He despised using so many of his spells in the service of those who had made his life so difficult, but told himself that the dragon didn't know of the squabbles between them and would just as gladly eat them all with nary a thought. As such, the new enemy took precedence over the one he knew.

Nalrak
Move action: Fly to T21, drawing pistols.
Swift action: activate Protection Devotion. All allies within 60 feet gain a +4 sacred bonus to AC.
Standard action: Fire! 27 vs the rider's touch AC for 6 damage.
No action: Spiritual Weapon continues attacking dragon.

Kaladus
Standard Action: cast Feeblemind versus rider. She must make a Will save (DC 25), and if her spells are arcane she takes a -4 penalty on her saving throw as per the description of the spell.
Swift Action: cast Glitterdust via Major School Esoterica. Dragon and rider must make Will saves (DC 24) or be blinded for 17 rounds.

Rolls:[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
Link for pistol attack (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13587366&postcount=2954)


Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 63/75 (due to boosted CON) and 8 temporary HP
AC: 24 (24 flatfooted, 11 touch, 11 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (8/800)
Recitation: Your allies within 60 feet gain a +2 luck bonus to AC,
on attack rolls, and on saving throws, or a +3 luck bonus if they worship the
same deity as you (7/8).
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (6/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (5/8).
Spiritual Weapon: conjure weapon of force to attack foes (3/8).
Cloud of Knives: conjure knives, attack as free action 1/round (2/8).
Protection Devotion: all allies within 60-ft burst gain +4 sacred bonus to AC (1/10).


Name: Demios Kaladus
HP: 53/53
AC: 15 (13 flatfooted, 11 touch, 9 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: somewhere between 17 and 11

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (8/800)
Quickened Mage Armor: +4 armor bonus
Anticipate Teleportation: 24 hour duration
Feeblemind: Will save DC 25 vs INT and CHA dropping to 1. This renders the target unable to use Intelligence- or Charisma-based skills, cast spells, understand language, or communicate coherently. Still, it knows who its friends are and can follow them and even protect them. The subject remains in this state until a heal, limited wish, miracle, or wish spell is used to cancel the effect of the feeblemind. A creature that can cast arcane spells, such as a sorcerer or a wizard, takes a -4 penalty on its saving throw (Instantaneous duration).
Glitterdust: Will save DC 24 vs blinding, -40 to Hide checks and outlined in glitter. Will save negates blinding only (1/20).

[ithildur]

Talamir
HP: 71/71
Initiative: 11
AC: 32 (34 vs evil creatures), Touch AC 21 (23 vs evil)
Spells in Effect:
Recitation from Nalrak, duration unknown, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, AC, and skillchecks
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac, immunity to Magic Missiles, 6 rounds left
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 7 rounds left
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak; cold resistance 20, 80 minutes
Battle Clarity, +4 to reflex saves as long as not flatfooted


Maneuvers prepped:
Sudden Leap
Douse the Flames
Leading the Attack
Ironheart Surge
Default stance: Hunter's Sense

Mirror Image, duration 4 minutes
Number of images: [roll0]

[King Tius]

Beginning of Round 4

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): The Harper mage draws a piece of rhubarb and a snake’s stomach from a pouch as he takes a good look at the dragon. Casting his spell, Arman sends a gurgling magical arrow streaking towards the dragon’s underbelly. The arrow strikes the dragon and splashes onto its scales. Even from far down on the ground Arman hears the satisfying sizzle as the magical acid does its work.

Arman succeeds on his ranged touch attack and strikes the dragon for 6 damage. The dragon will continue taking damage from the acid arrow.

Buelyir (Initiative 21): Keeping his eyes locked on the dragon as he does so, Buelyir drops to crouch next to the Kelith, drawing out a potion. He pops the cork and opens the flame priest’s mouth, administering the magical draught. The fallen man’s eyes snap open and he moans.

“On your feet, Lad. We’re gonna need you to take this thing down.”

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): His legs pumping as he chases down the flying lizard, Grathalmor draws his pistol and take aim. Fortunately, the creature is about the size of a small barn’s broad side, which he is more than capable of hitting. The bullet flies straight towards the dragon but is deflected at the last second by a shimmering magical field that surrounds the beast.

Grathalmor hits with his touch attack but the bullet is deflected by the dragon’s prote]ctive magic.

The White Dragon and the Rider(Initiative 17): The ice priestess’s free hand begins to glow with a pale blue light. She presses the hand against her chest as it dissipates quickly into her body. It doesn’t take a very high spellcraft check to realize the priestess has healed herself.

The dragon continues its sharp turn and heads straight for the slaves. It drops down on top of them, crushing the majority of them under its great weight. Their dying screams bring a cruel smile to the creature’s mouth. The hideous grin further widens as it looks through the ice wall at the infuriated minotaurs on the other side.

Again the dragon takes damage from the Mark of Doom (1 damage). Nalrak’s hammer follows relentlessly and swings twice again, still unable to do any appreciable damage.

Kelith: The heavily wounded man tries to get to his feet but finds he cannot stand. Instead he casts Cure Serious Wounds, healing himself 24 hit points.

"I...I can't feel my legs!"

Alright folks, get to it! EVERYBODY post. Those of you who posted your actions for before this, go ahead and edit them if you like, but no redoing rolls you don’t like…

The Map

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7379/mainfight4.png


Edit: The dragon says "air" but is currently on the ground. Too lazy to change the map over something that small.

[Toliudar]

Buna's action remains unchanged. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13561620&postcount=3962)

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak's actions have been edited. (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=13575341&postcount=3964) Kaladus' actions remain unchanged, but I had a question about his place in the initiative order.

[ithildur]

Talamir gave a nod as Kelith regained consciousness, and watched the dragon's maneuvering with eyes narrowed to slits. Unless someone found a way to keep it from flying, it could keep at this for some time, especially with the wall of ice cutting the group in two...

Scanning the battlefield and seeing the exposed elven mage's position, the Bladesinger decided to call on a minor teleportation spell...

Assuming Arman is willing to swap with him,
Move to 30W
Benign Transposition with Arman


IF Arman is unwilling OR Kaladus' Glitterdust blinds dragon OR rider AND Benign Transposition is ruled possible/willing with topmost slave (8S),
Benign Transposition with topmost slave
move to flank dragon with D1 (7O, no AOO for moving out of threatened square since dragon is considered grappling/crushing)



Talamir
HP: 71/71
Initiative: 11
AC: 32 (34 vs evil creatures), Touch AC 21 (23 vs evil), /w Dodge feat ac 35 vs dragon
Spells in Effect:
Mirror Image, duration 4 minutes, number of images: 4
Recitation from Nalrak, duration unknown, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, AC, and skillchecks
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac, immunity to Magic Missiles, 5 rounds left
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 6 rounds left
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak; cold resistance 20, 80 minutes
Battle Clarity, +4 to reflex saves as long as not flatfooted


Maneuvers prepped:
Sudden Leap
Douse the Flames
Leading the Attack
Ironheart Surge
Default stance: Hunter's Sense


__________________

[mshady]

The Minotaurs

Out of position, Kerik urges Gore and Bullhead to get close enough to at least hurl their throwing axes at the dragon.

Both suffer a -8 on their range increment penalty.

Pointing to Three Horns, he urges him to get as close as he can to support Bullhead, so the lone minotaur does not look so tempting to the dragon. The old minotaur's calculating mind assumed that, with the other dwarf's support, Gore would be safe for the moment.

Or he wouldn't mind if Gore took a beating. Either way, Kerik moved closer to Tasster and his sons, who waiting in the center.

Gore throws a MW throwing axe:

Throw: [roll0]
Damage: [roll1]

Three Horns throws a MW throwing axe:

Throw: [roll2]
Damage: [roll3]

[Grodech]

"Balls!" Grathalmor yells again, this time in frustration. He moves towards the dragon some more, drawing out the other pistol. [20 feet move to I21] If the dragon was warded against it, maybe the rider wasn't. It was quite obvious that the spellcasters were going to have to pull some things out of their sleeves in order to take this one down. He takes aim at the rider with the pistol and pulls the trigger, another bang echoing throughout the chamber.

Pistol attack: [roll0] (Ranged touch +2 for Recitation, -2 for range)
Damage: 2d6+1d10:
[roll1]
[roll2]

Name: Grathalmor
HP: 80/89
AC: 28, 30 vs dragon (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell, +2 vs dragon from stonefoot stance), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 3 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/hardness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar Stonespite
HP: 64/97
AC: 22, touch 15, flat footed 20, +2 vs. creatures larger than medium
Initiative: 11
Currently Active Spells:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (80 minutes)
Recitation: +2 luck bonus to AC, on attack rolls, and on saving throws (6/8)
Keen Edge: critical threat range of warpick increased to 19-20 (50 minutes)

Maneuver List:
Moment of Perfect Mind
Action Before Thought
Bonesplitting Strike
Ruby Nightmare Blade

Hearing the dragon land behind the wall, Duervar moves around and tries to ready himself to face it.

Moving full speed into a position behind the wall facing the dragon (somewhere around M21, depending on where I can move around the wall there). Readying an action to attack, using Ruby Nightmare Blade and activating the Impaling Property of his war pick so it'll be a touch attack.

[King Tius]

OOC: There was a slight edit to Kelith’s actions from last round, if you are interested.

End of Round 4

Kaladus: Kaladus fires off his pair of spells. The first catches the priestess square in the head but seems to have no effect whatsoever. His second spell explodes in front of the dragon and rider in what appears to be a golden shower of magical confetti, though much brighter. The dragon squints against the light but continues flying. The rider, however, puts her hand to her faceplate and begins to shake her head violently, apparently blinded by the attack.

The priestess resists the Feeblemind spell but is hit by the Glitterdust. The dragon is unaffected by Glitterdust.

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): The former denizen of the Underdark moves around the wall and prepares himself to attack the dragon.

Duervar moves to M21 and readies his stuff.

Talamir (Initiative 11): Talamir moves up behind one of the massive minotaurs and calls upon his magics to swap Arman and himself. The man is more than willing to let Talamir get closer to the action.

Talamir moves to W30 and benignly swaps with Arman.

Nalrak (Initiative 10): The flying priest moves closer to the Dragon and activates his protection aura. Gore receives the benefits of this protection as Nalrak draws his pistol and takes aim at the priestess. The bullet punches right through her armor straight into her stomach. Once again the spiritual weapon attacks but fails to do any damage.

Nalrak moves, casts his Divine Protection, and shoots the priestess for 6 damage.

ArumfaerWed: Everyone’s favorite little demented gnome fires off a round of Magic Missiles at the priestess. The bolts fly unerringly at their target, buffeting the priestess with magical force.

Arum does 13 damage to the priestess

Buna: Buna takes a five foot step and gets ready to cast her fireball
Minotaurs: Tall enough to throw their axes over the ice wall, two of the minotaurs move up next to the icy obstacle and hurl their axes. The spinning blades have no effect and sail clear over the dragon and cleric. Three Horns moves up next to Bullhead as Kerik lumbers over towards Tasster.

The cows move around and miss their attacks.

Black’s Company: Apparently quite fed up with being on the sidelines of this fight. Black barks a quick set of orders to his company. The stocky dwarf and half orc put their backs to the wall and cup their hands, ready to help hoist others up. Both Black and Santana spring up onto the wall, straddling it like some great icy horse. They both draw an arrow apiece and fire at the priestess. Black is able to score a hit.

Black and Santana pass their balance checks and remain on top of the ice wall. Black hits the priestess for 8 damage.

Drow + Slaves: Now standing directly next to a dragon, the remaining slaves and Drow turn tail and run away. As they run the dragon easily plucks up one of the slaves in its mouth, crushing the unarmored archer’s ribcage in its jaws.

Tasster and Sons: Tasster keeps his feet firmly planted and orders his sons to stay in place.
“As soon as we get around that damn wall it’ll just take off again. Wait for it to come to us.”

Beginning of Round 5

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): The mage blinks as the transportation effects wear off. Now standing in the middle of nowhere, he moves towards the ice wall and back into the action. He watches with the slightest of grins as his Acid Arrow continues to do work on the dragon.

Double Moves to R24. Acid arrow does 4 damage to the dragon.

Buelyir (Initiative 21): A shadow passes over the dwarf’s face as he looks at Kelith lying in front of him. “The dragon’s gone and crushed your spine. Just stay low and out of trouble.” Turning to the old minotaur, Buelyir shouts “Kerik! Get one of your men to pull this man back!” The bull turns to look at him with blood red eyes. He lets out a disgruntled snort and turns his attention back towards the dragon, ignoring the dwarf. Buelyir turns back to the flame priest and pats him on the chest. “Just don’t draw attention to yourself. We’ll get you fixed up once this is over.” Buelyir stands and moves towards the wall.

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): Drawing another pistol and moving forward, Grath takes aim and delivers a perfectly-placed shot, straight through the priestess’s chest. She screams in agony but does not fall for from the wound. She does, however, start to cackle maniacally.

Grath moves and hits the priestess for 11 damage.

The White Dragon and the Rider(Initiative 17):
Still blinded but now laughing like a crazy person, the priestess draws what appears to be a dagger made of pure ice from her belt. Sensing trouble, Buna lets her fireball spell loose. The dragon is unaffected by the blast but the priestess is unable to protect herself from the magical explosion. Clearly swooning from the amount of blood she has lost, she holds the dagger aloft with one hand while she lifts up a piece of her armor with the other. “FOR AURIL!” She shouts as she plunges the dagger into her flank. With her last bit of strength she pulls the bloody dagger out of her and drops it on the ground. Her body goes limp and slumps forward in its saddle as the dragon beats its wings, rising 100 feet into the air.

The dagger falls to the ground and begins to hiss, melting at an alarming rate and spreading out into a pool of red-tinted liquid that begins to gurgle as it spreads, already much larger in size and volume than that amount of ice could produce…..

OOC: The dragon didn't attack this round...does it take Doom damage?

Buna – Delayed (new initiative spot)
OOC: Since you delayed your turn, you now go just after the Dragon/Rider. Therefore, I don’t need a post from you for this pseudo-round (since you just went) but you’ll be first to go after I resolve the next group of things.

Kelith: The paralyzed priest casts tries to get himself into a sitting position but even this proves too difficult.

The Map

http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/662/mainfight5.png

[Grodech]

Satisfied that his second shot did some damage, Grathalmor watches the crazy woman's actions, sees the dagger fall and sees the growing pool. "That can't be good." he comments, to himself as well as anyone close enough to hear. Hoping the pool doesn't get much bigger, he puts away his pistols and gets out another clip for his crossbow, but keeps an eye on the pool...

Too many move actions! One to put away the pistols, another to get out a clip, so I guess that's it for him this round.

[ithildur]

The dagger falls to the ground and begins to hiss, melting at an alarming rate and spreading out into a pool of red-tinted liquid that begins to gurgle as it spreads, already much larger in size and volume than that amount of ice could produce…

Appearing where Arman stood only a moment ago, Talamir quickly took advantage of his new position's clearer view... his eyes drawn immediately to the spreading red liquid.

Spellcraft (with Recitation bonus)
[roll0]
Knowledge Arcana (with Recitation bonus)
[roll1]
Knowledge Nature (with bonus)
[roll2]

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak Ironfist & Kaladus

Round 5

With a sigh, Kaladus flies to join the fray and fires off the last of his long-range spells. A ray of pure energy crackles forth from his finger, making a beeline for the dragon. The old mage curses his luck; he had already expended too many resources, and now had to move into a more dangerous range in order to continue the fight. Hopefully his spell would put the threat of the dragon behind them for good. Nalrak attempts to bring his spells to bear against the dragon, but wonders what other options he has available. Clutching his second pistol firmly, he fires a round as he moves ever closer to the dragon.

Nalrak
Move action: Move to R14, 70 feet up
Free action: Cloud of Knives attack
Standard action: Fire second pistol
No action: Spiritual Weapon Continues to attack

Kaladus
Move action: Move to M25, 150 feet up
Standard Action: cast Disintegrate

Rolls:[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10] to fuel Knowledge Devotion (boosted by Collector of Stories)
[roll11]
[roll12] if dragon fails DC 26 Fort save
[roll=Disintegrate Damage]5d6+5[roll] if dragon passes DC 26 Fort save



Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 63/75 (due to boosted CON) and 8 temporary HP
AC: 24 (24 flatfooted, 11 touch, 11 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (9/800)
Recitation: Your allies within 60 feet gain a +2 luck bonus to AC,
on attack rolls, and on saving throws, or a +3 luck bonus if they worship the
same deity as you (8/8).
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (7/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (6/8).
Spiritual Weapon: conjure weapon of force to attack foes (4/8).
Cloud of Knives: conjure knives (which count as magic for overcoming DR), attack as free action 1/round (3/8).
Protection Devotion: all allies within 60-ft burst gain +4 sacred bonus to AC (2/10).


Name: Demios Kaladus
HP: 53/53
AC: 15 (13 flatfooted, 11 touch, 9 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: somewhere between 17 and 11

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (9/800)
Quickened Mage Armor: +4 armor bonus
Anticipate Teleportation: 24 hour duration
Glitterdust: Will save DC 24 vs blinding, -40 to Hide checks and outlined in glitter. Will save negates blinding only (2/20).

[King Tius]

Talamir has no idea as to what magical effect is being generated. He does, however, sense that whatever it is, it is VERY strong.

[Toliudar]

Buna

Buna watches wide-eyed as the priestess falls, and the red goop spreads.

As noted, no action from Buna this round. Spellcraft to try to determine the nature of the spreading red stuff: [roll0]

"Berronar's Blessed Breastplate! Get away from that stuff. Something nasty's coming out any second!"

[King Tius]

Kaladus does not recognize the growing pool's effect. Buna does, and has been PMed accordingly.

[ithildur]

"Berronar's Blessed Breastplate! Get away from that stuff. Something nasty's coming out any second!"


Talamir groaned and chided himself silently for not being able to make out what the growing pool was.

"I don't suppose you could be a touch more specific?" the elf queried in calm, if slightly dry tone to Buna.

Free action to speak

[Toliudar]

Buna hefts an eyebrow at the wry elf.

"Oh, sure. Take thirteen steps away to be safe from the left handed Balagast Demon. D'ye think I'm playing games wi' ye?"

[ithildur]

Talamir shook his head as Buna's last words were uttered. The dwarf apparently did not understand what Talamir meant, or was unsure of what was coming from the pool. Either way, Beulyir was otherwise occupied and was not giving orders for the moment; he had to decide quickly. One enemy was far out of reach for the moment, one had fallen to her demise apparently; was it possible a third was being summoned?

"Hopefully this one won't fly or teleport around," muttered the elf to himself as he, accompanied by several duplicate images of himself, moved towards the wall of ice and around it until he stood just to the left of Gore. Gripping his blade with both hands, Talamir nearly leapt into the air as he held the longsword above his head, bringing it downward forcefully upon the ice before him.

"This wall affords little advantage to us, and much to the enemy as it divides the battlefield," Talamir spoke to the minotaur. "I'm guessing you'd prefer to swing your weapon up close. Help me cut some lanes that you can charge through!"


Move to 21P
Full Power Attack on wall (approximately 20P, assuming the wall's not literally 10 feet thick but rather 10 inches)
Automatic hit per Ice Wall description
Dmg (+1 Longsword, 2handed full PA, 1.5x Str bonus, Recitation)
[roll0]

[ArmanMadero]

Arman was thankful for the small respite from the onslaught of the dragon and the priestess, but the need to kill the dragon was great. He moved as quickly as he could on his leg, which was throbbing with pain and threatening to just collapse on him.

He had a spell that he wanted to use and he hoped that it would work because they needed something right now to get an edge.

Taking out a small thin metal rod, he spoke the verbal components to the spell while at the same time, bending the rod around until it formed a circle. The rod for a few moments flared blue and purple as the spell gathered its energy and then disintegrated in front of him. He looked to see if it would work. He hoped that it would...

Move to M-23.

Cast Hold monster on dragon.

[roll0] SR Check
[roll1] Will save (DC15 +6 for int)

I think thats right this time?

[thorgrim29]

Huh, no, it's the dragon that makes the will save, it's not an opposed check

[King Tius]

End of Round 5

Kaladus: The flying mage swoops closer to the dragon and unleashes his deadly spell. The blast easily overcomes the dragon’s innate spell resistance but the dragon proves that the great lizard’s fortitude is not to be trifled with. Still, even only doing half damage, the disintegrate spell has a devastating effect on the dragon. It is still flying but for the first time is starting to look beat up.

Kaladus moves and hits the dragon for 59 damage!

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): Still not much good in an aerial fight, the Deep Dwarf maintains his cover and fires a bolt at the dragon. The bolt sails harmlessly past the white beast, disappearing into the dark of the cavern.

Duervar misses his ranged attack on the dragon.

Talamir (Initiative 11): Moving to the minotaur’s side, the elf takes aim at the large wall before him. His slice may have been strong enough to fell even the toughest of orcs, but it only put a large cut in wall of ice. Still, the angry bull towering above him turns to see his handiwork and lets out a grunt/chuckle. “Good idea, little fly.” He flicks Talamir in the face with his tail to further hammer in the insult.

Talamir slashes at the ice wall, dealing 28 points of damage. That portion of the wall has not yet been breached.

Nalrak: The ballsy cleric flies straight towards the dragon, protected by his swirling daggers. He fires his second pistol and follows that up quickly with one of his barrier’s knives. Both the non-magical bullet and the conjured knife bounce harmlessly off the dragon’s hide. The spiritual weapon continues to harry the dragon from behind but is unable to do any damage.

Nalrak’s pistol attack hits but does not overcome the dragon’s DR. The knife attack does not hit and neither does the spiritual weapon

ArumfaerWed: Not wanting to expend all of his spells, the crazy gnome curses the uselessness of his Wand of Ice Knife as he draws his crossbow and fires at the dragon. As expected, the bolt misses.

Arum misses the dragon

Minotaurs: Gore lets out a challenging roar as he brings his axe to bear three times on the ice wall. The first stroke finishes the work that Talamir started, smashing open a five foot section of the wall. With his next two swings he opens the hole, making a space large enough to pass through. Bullhead takes note of this and goes after the wall himself, managing to clear a five foot section. Kerik orders Three Horns to fall back and join him as the other two minotaurs look to head through the wall. Santana gives a shout from up on the wall to Bullhead, asking him very politely if the bull was trying to kill him while he was perched on top of the wall.

The minotaurs hack at the wall and get into position

Black’s Company: Black orders his men into position near the openings while the two on the wall fire again. Santana scores a hit, albeit a light one.

Drow + Slaves: The remaining slaves and two Drow run away at breakneck speed, quickly exiting the fight.

Tasster and Sons: “Da, I’m getting’ bored just standin’ here!” “Shut yer gods-damned mouth, Boy! You don’ get to be as old as me without learnin’ ta wait!”

Beginning of Round 6

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): Arman advances to the ice wall and draws out a small, straight piece of iron. He fires his Hold Monster spell at the dragon, hoping for a miracle. Unfortunately the spell does not affect the dragon, though Arman is sure he was close!

Arman beats the dragon’s SR but the dragon (just barely) passes its Will Save

Buelyir (Initiative 21): A thought seems to dawn on Buelyir and he changes direction, his legs pumping furiously towards the cluster of PCs. “Can any of you get me up there? Kaladus! Come pick me up, you damn fool! Get me on that thing’s back!”

Throwing caution to the wind, Buelyir runs towards the group, ending up right next to Buna.

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): Sometimes you have to take a round to get ready. Grath does just that, stowing his pistol and pulling out a new clip.

So many move actions!

The White Dragon and the Rider(Initiative 17): Turning its head downward, the dragon tucks its wings, dropping down 30 feet in almost a blink of an eye as it smacks Nalrak square in the chest with its tail (35 vs AC 24, 15 damage). As the priest reels from the blow the dragon banks its wings and flairs them, turning to face the priest head on. It quickly brings its wings together to bash Nalrak from both sides (37 and 37 vs AC 24, 6 and 11 damage). Flapping its wings again to maintain altitude, it rakes at Nalrak with both claws. The first is a critical blow that nearly tears the priest’s arm clean off (Crit, 42 vs 24 AC to confirm, 20 damage). The second catches him across the face (32 vs AC 24, 9 damage). Finally, its jaws come clamping down on his head and shoulders (38 vs AC 24, 12 damage). Darkness overwhelms Nalrak as he passes out from the massive assault, his limp body falling from the dragon’s maw and headed towards the expanding pool below… The dragon takes 5 damage from the Mark of Doom.

The strange liquid finishes expanding, now taking up a ten foot diameter circle below the dragon. In a flash the pool turns to solid ice before the center literally EXPLODES upward, a rush of snow and ice coming out of it as it does so. An incredible wind seems to be rushing out of the hole as blue clawed hands appear, reaching out of the newly opened portal and finding purchase on the icy rim. Climbing out of the hole come hideous looking lizardlike creatures. Their skin is an icy blue and they appear to be overgrown and humanoid salamanders. Four crawl out that are medium in size, followed by a fifth Larger one. The icy portal remains open behind them.

OOC: Lots of things going on vertically in one area. The dragon has been made just a border so we can see the Salamanders.

Nalrak takes 73 damage from the dragon’s attack (putting him at -2 (I accounted for your Earthsilker Jacket in the damage)). Five blue salamanders climb out of the newly opened portal on the cavern’s floor. On the bright side, they aren’t flying!

OOC1: Buna and Kelith are now at the top of the pseudo-initiative order!
OOC2: You’ve done over 150 HP of damage to the dragon. Good job!

The Map

http://img560.imageshack.us/img560/2936/mainfight6a.png

[Grodech]

"Me cousin!" Grathalmor exclaims at the vicious attack. He wondered how the damned oversized lizard could move so fast. There wasn't anything he could do for Nalrak now... with a grim look on his face, Grathalmor swaps out the cartridges on his crossbow.

ooc: Changing the cartridge is a full round action, so that's it again.

He looks back in Buna's direction and yells "Can ya get dat portal closed?" In truth, he'd like to fill it with a dragon carcass...


Name: Grathalmor
HP: 80/89
AC: 28, 30 vs dragon (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell, +2 vs dragon from stonefoot stance), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 3 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/hardness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

[Toliudar]

Buna

Buna mourned as she watched the plucky Nalrak fall in battle, and shuddered as she watched the portal open. And stay open. She shakes her head sadly to Grathalmor, and calls out to no one in particular.

"We've got tae get that portal shut, and quick. Does anybody have magic to dispel it?

Her own magic, on the other hand, was of the less subtle, more explosion-oriented material. And now, with all of the salamanders all clustered together like that, was the time to use it.

A flash of light sprang from her hand, as a familiar word of power evoked smoke and heat in the listener. The flash streaked across the battlefield and erupted in a "whoomp" of flame that engulfed their opponents.

And then she carefully slid a red wand out of her belt.

Okay, so we have a dragon that has good or perfect maneuverability and can execute a full attack after moving. This is pretty scary.

Buna will cast her remaining fireball, centred so as to hit all five salamanders. Reflex DC 18 for half. [roll0] fire damage, x1.5 if the target is vulnerable to fire. CL check to beat SR, if relevant: [roll1].

Move action to draw her wand of Scorching Ray.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar Stonespite
HP: 64/97
AC: 22, touch 15, flat footed 20, +2 vs. creatures larger than medium
Initiative: 11
Currently Active Spells:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (80 minutes)
Recitation: +2 luck bonus to AC, on attack rolls, and on saving throws (6/8)
Keen Edge: critical threat range of warpick increased to 19-20 (50 minutes)

Maneuver List:
Moment of Perfect Mind
Action Before Thought
Bonesplitting Strike
Ruby Nightmare Blade

Seeing something he can actually engage finally, Duervar drops his crossbow and pulls out his pick again. The priest was falling though. "Can someone catch him?" he bellows, gesturing towards the falling Nalrak. "I don't think the fall is going ot help him." He then attempts to catch the eye of one of the blue creatures and steps forwards towards them. "Come on!"

Equiping war pick and moving forward to O18. That's all for this round.

[OMG PONIES]

Nalrak and Kaladus

The dwarf falters in the air as the dragon tears into his flesh, but manages to call out a quick word of prayer as the creature's teeth tear into him. When the dragon unclenches its jaw, Nalrak begins to fall from the sky like a bird stuck by a hunter's arrow. However, all are surprised to find Nalrak conscious and bleeding heavily, but still hovering next to the dragon. The tendons and ligaments of his left shoulder are exposed, and it is clear that the dwarf could now be knocked over with a feather, but he doesn't let it faze him. His spells continue to attack the dragon, but they feebly strike at the beast, unable to pierce its tough hide. Your allies need a hero--a martyr--to rally around, the dwarven doctor tells himself. You can't do much more to heal their wounds today, but you can try to end this now. This is your true penance, Junior Brewmaster.

"Ach," he spits blood and teeth from his mouth as he calls out a challenge to the dragon, "Is that the best you can muster?" He drops both pistols, now little more than empty canisters, and clenches his one good fist...the one bearing his clan's magical gauntlet. With a mighty shout, he hauls off and punches the dragon straight in its soft underbelly.

Meanwhile, up in the sky the Demios curses under his breath as he realizes that the one dwarf who might vouch for him is fast becoming lizard food. The others were indifferent toward his survival at best, whereas Buelyir seemed constantly at work against it. An uncalculated risk, Kaladus, he chides himself, it had better work in your favor.

With a quick utterance, he summons a cloud of thick smoke behind the dragon. It rolls over the beast, consuming it in a thick noxious mist that ends just before it would consume the bloodied dwarf as well. Within the cloud nobody can see what is happening, but the beast is heard coughing and sputtering within. The shimmering outline of the dragon, still framed by Kaladus' glitterdust, can barely be seen in the cloud. The creature would emerge to continue the fight--Kaladus knew it beyond a shadow of a doubt--but it could afford the momentary distraction needed for his next gambit.

He mutters the arcane syllables of a basic spell he had taught thousands of times over the years. As he casts it, he hears his own lesson in his head: This spell is to magic what castling is to chess--a defensive move only to be used to remove your king from danger. Granted, Nalrak didn't strike the mage as royalty, but he needed to remove the dwarf from the dragon's reach if the old wizard had any hope against the Patriarchate. "Physician, heal thyself!" Kaladus calls out to Nalrak as he completes the spell. In an instant, the mage is standing directly before his own stinking cloud. The dwarf, wounded and confused, is now floating far away from the dragon. Kaladus turns and flies towards the minotaurs and Tasster's family, hoping that his magic can protect him from the claw that was the likely result of turning his back on a dragon. He alights on the ground next to Tasster, hoping to draw the dragon into melee range with the warriors of the group.

Nalrak
Immediate action (before turn): defensively cast Close Wounds to heal 3 HP (rolled in OOC thread).
Full-round action: full attack vs. the dragon. If one of the attacks hits, Nalrak will activate his Ironfist Gauntlet's Piledriver power to deal an additional 9 damage. The dragon must make a DC 22 Fort save or be stunned for 3 rounds, as well as a DC 22 Reflex save or be knocked prone.
Free action: 5-foot step away from dragon.
No action: appear in M25, 150 feet up (see below).

Kaladus
No action: hold initiative until after Nalrak
Swift action: cast Stinking Cloud via Major School Esoterica, centered on P9-Q10. The dragon must make a DC 24 Fort save vs nausea, but regardless of its success the spell also functions as a fog cloud.
Standard action: cast Benign Transposition to switch places with Nalrak.
Move action: fly to X21 (0 feet up).

Rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]
[roll8]
[roll9]
[roll10]
[roll11]
[roll12]


Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: 1/75 (due to boosted CON)
AC: 28 (28 flatfooted, 15 touch, 15 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (10/800)
Lesser Holy Transformation: creature type changes to outsider (good), +2 sacred bonus to STR and CON, fly speed of 60 ft w/ good maneuverability, darkvision 60 feet, +2 sacred bonus on saves, can speak and understand Celestial (8/8).
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (7/8).
Spiritual Weapon: conjure weapon of force to attack foes (5/8).
Cloud of Knives: conjure knives (which count as magic for overcoming DR), attack as free action 1/round (4/8).
Protection Devotion: all allies within 60-ft burst gain +4 sacred bonus to AC (3/10).


Name: Demios Kaladus
HP: 53/53
AC: 15 (13 flatfooted, 11 touch, 9 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 9 (after holding)

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (10/800)
Quickened Mage Armor: +4 armor bonus
Anticipate Teleportation: 24 hour duration
Glitterdust: Will save DC 24 vs blinding, -40 to Hide checks and outlined in glitter. Will save negates blinding only (3/20).
Stinking Cloud: Fort save DC 24 vs nausea for as long as the dragon remains in the cloud and for 5 rounds afterward. Additionally, the cloud obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can’t use sight to locate the target). (1/20)

[ithildur]

Talamir Round 6


The elf gave a soft, but rather indelicate snort. Just as he'd speculated, new foes were joining in the fight...


Knowledge Planes for recalling information on the blue salamanders

[roll0]

Looking up to the sky and assessing the situation, Talamir spoke in calm but decisive tone towards the direction of the other mercenaries.

http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png

"Weedle, if I can reach the dragon by flying towards it, it will soon be dead."



Free Action to speak

Talamir
HP: 71/71
Initiative: 11
AC: 32, 34 vs evil creatures, Touch AC 21 (23 vs evil), Dodge vs Dragon for another +1 dodge AC
Spells in Effect: Recitation from Nalrak, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, AC, and skillchecks
Mirror Image 4 minutes 4 images left
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac immunity to Magic Missiles, 3 rounds left
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 4 rounds left
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak; cold resistance 20, 80 minutes
Battle Clarity, +4 to reflex saves as long as not flatfooted

Maneuvers prepped:
Sudden Leap
Douse the Flames
Leading the Attack
Ironheart Surge
Default stance: Hunter's Sense

[ArmanMadero]

Arman let the spell go and in disbelief, watches as the dragons skin shudders a moment, as if something had just grabbed it and it fought to break free. Which it had accomplished. Soft curses coming from him he draws once again on the Weave and aims a lightning bolt at the dragon.

I am assuming that the dragon is still flying. If its flying, Arman will stay put where he is as long as the Dragon is in range. If this is not the case, Arman will move so that hes out of the way of everyone (probably L-20) and then shoot the dragon. If the dragon is out of range, he will move to L-20 and fire at the Salamanders

[roll0]

[King Tius]

End of Round 6

Buna Buna pulls out her wand and fires her spell at the salamanders. S1 and S2 take the full brunt of the attack while the other three are able to shield themselves from the worst of it. Judging by their reactions they REALLY don’t like that fire and she suspects that they are vulnerable to it.

Buna does 33 damage to S1 and S2, 16 damage to S3, S4, and S5

Kelith Realizing he is useless in this fight, Kelith casts Sanctuary and pulls out a dagger, just in case.[/i]

Kaladus: Delaying until after Nalrak

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): Delighted at the site of having something to attack down on the ground, Duervar switches to his pick and heads towards the frosty salamanders.

Pick equipped. Duervar moves to 018.

Talamir (Initiative 11): Seeing Weedle nodding at him enthusiastically and motioning him over, Talamir heads his way. Anticipating flying up to meet the dragon, he casts his True Strike spell, readying for a big hit. As he moves, he wracks his brain about the weird creatures crawling from the icy portal. While he hasn’t ever heard of them specifically, he guesses they are some kind of artic equivalent to the more well-known humanoid salamanders that inhabit the plane of fire.

Talamir moves to T19 and casts True Strike.

Nalrak: Nearly dead from the massive damage the dragon unleashed, Nalrak manages to cast a quick spell to seal some of his wounds and buy him another precious few seconds. He punches the dragon with his Ironfist Gauntlets, scoring a hit and activating the Piledriver ability. Though he damages the dragon, it is unaffected by the special abilities of the gloves. As usual his small army of summoned weapons does no damage.

Nalrak deals 14 damage to the dragon but otherwise has no effect. He takes a five foot aerial step backwards and….

Kaladus - Delayed: Seeing Nalrak attack the dragon, Kaladus decides to save the beleaguered cleric and casts his Stinking Cloud spell before benignly switching places with Nalrak. He then flies to X21.

Casts stinking cloud (dragon passes fort save). Teleports with Nalrak and flies to X21.

ArumfaerWed: Seeing the salamanders, Arum decides to move closer before unleashing any further spells. He spurs his badger closer and stows his crossbow.

Moves to K23. Puts away heavy crossbow.

Minotaurs:
Gore rushes towards the salamanders, his axe raises above his head. The frosty creatures seem undaunted by the minotaur’s charge and the closest is able to deflect his incoming attack with its spear. Bullhead takes two slashes but he’s able to cut open a hole large enough for him to move through. The other two minotaurs wait impatiently.

Gore charges S2 but misses. Bullhead opens up the wall.

Black’s Company:
The two up on the wall continue to fire at the dragon though neither of them manages to score a hit. Sable scoots over on the wall to avoid falling off. Black orders the rest of his troops (except for Weedle) around the wall and after the salamanders. They follow his orders dutifully, heading towards the frosty gate. S4 slaps one of them with his tail (Gronk) as he approaches.

Weedle steps forward and casts Fly on Talamir.

Tasster and Sons:
Tasster sees the salamanders and starts to get antsy. “It’s not a dragon, but they’ll keep us busy till they bring it down. LET’S GO BOYS!” The three of them head towards the leftmost hole in the wall.

Beginning of Round 7

Arman Madero (Initiative 26):
Arman fires his lightning bolt at the dragon, now hidden by Kaladus’s Stinking Cloud. Fortunately he remembers where the dragon was just a moment ago and points his lightning bolt in the right direction. He overcomes the dragon’s innate spell resistance and the dragon fails its Reflex save, taking the full damage of the spell.

Arman does 43 damage to the dragon


Buelyir (Initiative 21):
With Talamir stealing his brilliant idea, Buelyir decides to help deal with the gaping hole in the ground and heads towards the salamanders.

Buelyir double moves to L19

Grathalmor Ironfist (Initiative 18): Grath reloads.

’nough said.

The White Dragon and the Salamanders(Initiative 17): The dragon comes swooping out of the Stinking Cloud, seemingly un-nauseated. It heads right for the collection of PCs, once again spraying you with its freezing breath as it flies. Grath, Arum, and Arman are all caught in its icy breath. Buelyir is the only one who passes his reflex save. The rest of you take 12 damage (resist cold 20 taken into account). Though the dragon looks like it meant to continue flying past you, it sees Nalrak hovering nearby and stops just in front of him. It does not speak as it turns its attention back on Nalrak. Instead, it lets out a deep and evil laugh…

Meanwhile down on the ground the two majorly injured salamanders attack Gore. S1 stabs him twice with its spear and follows up with a slap of its tail, connecting all three times. S2 moves back away from the minotaur and also uses its full attack, though it does not hit with any of its blows. S3 and S4 set upon Gronk, quickly overcoming his defenses with their rain of attacks. He is still on his feet, but barely. The larger salamander takes in the scene before raising its hands up and casting a spell. Just like before a Wall of Ice springs up into existence, connecting with the priestesses and walling off the PCs.

Grath, Arum, and Arman,take 12 damage. The salamanders attack Gore and Gronk. Another Ice Wall comes into play. The Dragon takes 3 damage from the Mark of Doom.
The Map

http://img84.imageshack.us/img84/6184/mainfight7.png

[OMG PONIES]

Round 7

Nalrak smirks and releases another knife from his cloud as the dragon chases him; the more time the beast spent playing the cat to his mouse, the less time it spent crushing the others. The priest makes a beeline away from the dragon towards Kelith, hoping beyond hope that the wounded fire preist might be able to heal himself and Nalrak before the dragon has a chance to finish off both of them. The good doctor gets to the ground just in time for one of his spells to wear off--a spell that had enhanced his vitality. Nalrak begins to feel the stining pain of his wounds more fully than before, and he collapses to the ground.

Meanwhile, in the sky Kaladus is running out of options. Seeing Nalrak fall to the ground, the mage realizes that time is running out. He turns back toward the dragon and unleashes a viscous glob in the creature's direction. The dragon fights off the sickness that the spell might cause in a creature of less hearty stock, but there is little it can do to fight off the sizzling sound of acid burning through its tough hide. The old mage takes off across the battlefield, turning his focus to the salamanders and cursing his luck once more. It seemed that Nalrak wouldn't make it out of this one alive; now Kaladus had to ensure that at least he did.

Nalrak
Free action: fire knife from Cloud of Knives
No action: Spiritual Weapon continues attacking the dragon
Full-round action: withdraw to AE30 (on ground)
No action: Lesser Holy Transformation Ends, Nalrak passes out

Kaladus
Standard action: fire Empowered Orb of Acid at the dragon
Move action: fly to P13 (70 feet up)

Rolls:
[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]
[roll4]
[roll5]
[roll6]
[roll7]


Name: Nalrak Ironfist
HP: -7/67
AC: 28 (28 flatfooted, 15 touch, 15 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 10

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (11/800)
Divine Power: BAB becomes +8/+3, +6 enhancement bonus to STR, and 8 temporary HP (8/8).
Spiritual Weapon: conjure weapon of force to attack foes (6/8).
Cloud of Knives: conjure knives (which count as magic for overcoming DR), attack as free action 1/round (5/8).
Protection Devotion: all allies within 60-ft burst gain +4 sacred bonus to AC (4/10).


Name: Demios Kaladus
HP: 53/53
AC: 15 (13 flatfooted, 11 touch, 9 flatfooted touch)
Initiative: 9 (after holding)

Spells in Effect:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (11/800)
Quickened Mage Armor: +4 armor bonus
Anticipate Teleportation: 24 hour duration
Glitterdust: Will save DC 24 vs blinding, -40 to Hide checks and outlined in glitter. Will save negates blinding only (4/20).
Stinking Cloud: Fort save DC 24 vs nausea for as long as the dragon remains in the cloud and for 5 rounds afterward. Additionally, the cloud obscures all sight, including darkvision, beyond 5 feet. A creature within 5 feet has concealment (attacks have a 20% miss chance). Creatures farther away have total concealment (50% miss chance, and the attacker can’t use sight to locate the target). (2/20)

[Toliudar]

Buna

Buna watched as the dragon swooped nearly overhead. Thrilling and terrifying...and still out of reach of some of her most deadly magic. But there were already a number of pockmarks from where others' arrows and bullets had managed to get through the dragon's tough scales. Perhaps she would have similar success.

Shifting her wand to her left hand, Buna drew one of her heavy pistols and aimed carefully upward. Ice crystals from the dragon's downbeats crusted her cheeks as she steadied her firearm and let off a shot, but a chunk of ice landing on her eye pulls her shot well wide. Cursing and taking what shelter she could from the magic wall next to her, Buna contemplated her next move.

Move action: draw pistol
Standard action attack: [roll0], damage: [roll1] I'm not sure if firearms count as touch attacks or regular attacks here. Edit: doesn't matter.
Free action: cuddle up to the wall of force, doing her best to keep it between her and the dragon.

[shaddy_24]

Duervar

Duervar Stonespite
HP: 64/97
AC: 22, touch 15, flat footed 20, +2 vs. creatures larger than medium
Initiative: 11
Currently Active Spells:
Mass Resist Energy: cold resist 20 (80 minutes)
Recitation: +2 luck bonus to AC, on attack rolls, and on saving throws (6/8)
Keen Edge: critical threat range of warpick increased to 19-20 (50 minutes)

Maneuver List:
Moment of Perfect Mind
Stone Dragon's Fury
Bonesplitting Strike
Ruby Nightmare Blade

Duervar glares at the wall in front of him and shifts his footing, spinning his pick around to prepare himself for tearing this wall down.

Using Adaptive Style to change my maneuvers as a full round action. Trading Action Before Thought for Stone Dragon's Fury.

[ithildur]

If Kaladus' orb didn't finish off the dragon:

Talamir cursed silently at the dragon's choice to attack so far from his reach; the temporary arcane intuition afforded by his spell would be gone in a moment...

Weighing his options, the Elf sprang into a short hop in the blink of an eye, uncoiling once more to take flight upwards propelled by Weedle's spell. Climbing nearly to the level of the dragon, the only airborne target left other than Kaladus, several images of the Bladesinger danced around him as he calmly issued the challenge with longsword pointed at the wyrm:
http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/7632/talamirs.png
"Come to me, if you dare. I will send you to meet your mistress in the afterlife."

Swift Action: Sudden Leap 10' to 21T Jump Check (DC 20 for not having running start)
[roll0]
Double Move Fly/Climb at half speed 60' straight up



If Dragon falls to the Orb:

Talamir shrugs and moves past the wall towards 13S, Sudden Leap towards 11S (tumble if Salamandirs have reach weapons), attack Salamandir3.

Tumble
[roll1]
Attack with -7 Power Attack 2 handed, True Strike, Recitation, etc
[roll2]
Damage +1 Longsword 2 handed PA, Recitation, etc
[roll3]







Talamir
HP: 71/71
Initiative: 11
AC: 32, 34 vs evil creatures, Touch AC 21 (23 vs evil), Dodge vs Dragon for another +1 dodge AC (35 total vs dragon)
Spells in Effect: Recitation from Nalrak, +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, AC, and skillchecks
Mirror Image 4 minutes 4 images left
Shield spell, +4 Shield ac immunity to Magic Missiles, 2 rounds left
Protection from Evil: +2 deflection ac vs evil creatures, +2 to saves vs evil, etc, 3 rounds left
Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak; cold resistance 20, 80 minutes
Battle Clarity, +4 to reflex saves as long as not flatfooted

Maneuvers prepped:

Douse the Flames
Leading the Attack
Ironheart Surge
Default stance: Hunter's Sense

[King Tius]

Middle of Round 7

Buna Buna takes aim at the dragon with her pistol and lets loose. The small firearm roars in her hand and the bullet sails upward, connecting with the dragon but bouncing harmlessly off its scaled leg.

Kelith Kelith continues to lay there, his dagger poised near his neck should the tide turn against his friends.

Duervar Stonespite (Initiative 11): Duervar stays near the wall and shifts through a bunch of maneuver names that I don’t really understand, but I trust he knows what he is doing.

Talamir (Initiative 11): With a mighty leap the magically-empowered elf take off into the air, climbing high with his sword at the ready, headed towards the mighty dragon.

Nalrak: Nalrak unleashes another round of useless magical attacks and attempts to withdraw from the dragon. Though the action lets him move away from the first threatened square without provoking an Attack of Opportunity, in order to withdraw he must pass through other squares threatened by the dragon. The dragon lashes at the wounded priest, biting him for 18 damage. Nalrak’s lifeless body begins to fall towards the ground. Also, his Spiritual Weapon winks out of existence.

Kaladus: Seeing Nalrak falls, Kaladus unleashes his powerful orb spell. The sizzling and empowered orb strikes the dragon square in the neck, obliterating most of its shoulders and flank as the acid rips through its scales. The dragon’s body goes limp and begins to plummet alongside Nalrak’s lifeless body.

OOC1: Both lifeless airborne bodies will fall on their next turn, since turn based combat is weird. If I were Arum, I would consider moving. Also, I put Kaladus at P14 instead of P13 because I don’t feel like messing with Gore’s squares. He is at P13 for all purposes.

OOC2: For now please only post if you haven't gone yet this round so we can maintain the full rounds. Lots of NPCs to go next, but there are a few PCs here and there.

The Map

http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/3717/mainfight8a.png

[King Tius]

End of Round 7

ArumfaerWed: Seeing the dragon about to fall on top of him, Arum rushes out from underneath it, headed along the new ice wall to get a better bead on the ice salamanders next round.

Minotaurs: Gore raises his axe high above his head and brings it down S1 with two mighty cuts. Bullhead lowers his head and charges through the self-made hole in the wall, straight into S4. His horns dig deep into the salamander’s side, rending icy flesh. Both Kerik and Three Horns head through the gap in the wall as well.

Black’s Company: A shout of victory goes up as the dragon goes limp. Turning their attention to the salamanders, Black and his men see Gronk in dire straits. “Cover him! Gronk! Fall back!” The big oaf withdraws as the two on the wall open fire at S3. Two of the three arrows hit home, but the frosty beast still stands. Weedle and Black move towards the hole in the wall as well while Kord moves to cover Gronk. The minotaurs seem to have things under control, at least for now.

Tasster and Sons: Perpetually out of the fight, Tasster and his sons rush to catch up to the action.

Beginning of Round 8

Arman Madero (Initiative 26): Arman is a little too close to a falling dragon’s corpse for his comfort. He takes off with the rest of the group, headed towards the opening.

Buelyir: Buelyir pulls out a small grasshopper’s leg from a spell pouch, quickly casting a basic Jump spell before rushing towards the wall and vaulting into the air. He manages to get himself up and out, barely clearing the top and landing on the other side. He lets out a triumphant “HA!” as he lands.

Grathalmor Ironfist: Grath shouts out “Balls!” and takes off away from the dragon’s falling hide, heading for the edge of the wall to start shooting again.

The Salamanders: S2 hisses defiantly at Gore and stabs at him with his spear twice. The first stab finds purchase and delivers a nasty gash. Gore looks like a stiff breeze would knock him down at this point. S3 and S4 unleash a full attack on Bullhead, slashing him again and again with their frosty weapons.

The lead salamander unleashes and Iceball (The Ice version of the Fireball). It detonates inside the curve of the ice wall, enveloping Kerik, Black, and the two up on the wall as well. Both Gore and Gronk pass out from the damage. The blast does NOT catch Kaladus.

Two more salamanders crawl out of the ice portal as the dragon’s body comes crashing to the ground.

The Map

http://img94.imageshack.us/img94/5192/mainfight9.png

[Toliudar]

Buna

The ground shudders with the dragon's impact, and only her sublimely dwarvish sturdiness keeps Buna upright. Well. Whatever else she had thought of Kaladus, the wizard had redeemed himself in her eyes with that one powerful spell.

She had seen no life in Nalrak as he was falling, but perhaps there was still some hope. She tucked away her pistol and drew a slender white stick out of her belt as she dashed over to the valiant dwarf, feeling desperately at his throat for some sign of life.

Move to L26, draw her wand of cure light wounds. Checking for signs of life in Nalrak.

[Grodech]

Grathalmor Ironfist
Name: Grathalmor
HP: 68/89
AC: 28 (26, +2 Luck from Recitation spell), Touch 14(16), FF 28(30)
Initiative: 18
Spells in Effect:
- Recitation from Nalrak, 8 rounds total 1 remaining (?), +2 to attack, weapon dmg, saves, and skillchecks
- Mass Resist Energy (Cold) from Nalrak, Cold Resistance 20, 80 minutes duration

Current Stance:
Stonefoot Stance: +2 STR checks, +2 AC vs creatures one or more size category larger
Readied Maneuvers:
Mountain Hammer: bypasses DR/hardness, deals +2d6 damage
Steely Strike: +4 to attack vs one opponent
Wall of Blades: Use higher of your AC or Attack as effective AC against incoming attack
Stone Bones: gain DR 5/adamantine for 1 round upon a successful melee attack

"Why couldn't 'da damn thing stay in place?" Grathalmor muses as he moves the remaining 20 feet to the end of the ice wall. If the dragon had, it would have landed right over that portal, taking the salamanders with it and possibly sealing the portal with its bulk. Reaching the end of the wall, he sees more salamanders emerging "We gotta get dat ting closed!". He yells as he raises his crossbow and fires at the largest salamander.


Move action to K6, swift action to initiate stonefoot stance. Standard action:
Crossbow attack [roll0]
Damage, if hits: [roll1]