Epic Ephemera IC

[Toliudar]

It had been an extraordinary war. Even…epic, one might say. The heroes had been recruited to fight an army of drow and their illthid allies, in a battle that ranged over forests, plains, underground and ultimately to the very gates of Menzobarrenzan. A dozen mighty heroes had lead an army down into the underdark, and only six – leading two hundred battle-hardened and grim troops – emerged back into the sunlight a month later.

https://www.belloflostsouls.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Menzoberranzan-Cityscape.jpg

After seeing such a litany of horrors, the six had been eager for a period of relaxation, and the governor of Mistledale had recently discovered a gateway to Sigil in her city limits. Calling in a favour, she arranged for the six veterans to enjoy an extraordinary cruise across the upper plains aboard a plane-spanning Spelljammer craft. The Plein Air was a beautiful craft, the size of a frigate, with dark-stained wood covered in places by plates of brass. Shimmering silver sails seemed to catch a wind insensible to the skin, propelling the ship across the mysterious astral plane, and out into the wonders of Arboria.

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/forgottenrealms/images/d/d1/Astral_ships-4e.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/1000?cb=20200627164413

Captain Louise Mensonge clearly had some reservations about dedicating her craft to a pleasure cruise for some soldiers from the material plane, but she kept those reservations to herself. The captain had been solicitious and charming throughout the trip so far, beaming as she relayed stories of her travels. Although there were times when her hand strayed nervously to the spiral amulet at her throat or the pommel of her cutlass, she was an excellent host.

https://i.redd.it/gziseb7mjiq51.jpg

‘His crew of a dozen or so, a mix of humans, halflings and more exotic creatures (a bariaur, a hadozee, an avoral and so on) had been kind and solicitous, providing tidbits about the passing scenery, delicious meals and nightly entertainments. Well, story-telling, dancing and juggling, anyway.

https://images6.fanpop.com/image/photos/34300000/Gene-Kelly-in-On-the-Town-gene-kelly-34301394-500-650.png

For four days now, the six heroes had passed above – and occasionally stopped to interact with – an extraordinary array of angelic servants, sentient animals, cloud-scraping trees. They saw such wonders as a geyser of ambrosia, a rainbow that danced to the tune of any music played nearby, or a waterfall composed of childhood dreams that had come true.

https://c4.wallpaperflare.com/wallpaper/522/706/519/fantasy-landscape-lake-waterfall-hd-wallpaper-preview.jpg

It was, in short, getting a bit dull. And there were two more weeks to go.
The six heroes were gathered in the small dining room of the Plein Air, gathered around the room’s only table and savouring the end of a delicate but flavourful frittata. The ship around them abruptly lurched to one side, seeming to screech to a halt but without the impact sounds that should have accompanied a crash. There are yells of consternation from the deck above.

And the smell! A new smell permeated the air. A strange warmth, redolent with…what is that? Bacon? Smoked bacon of some kind? Oh. No. That’s the smell of burning flesh.

The halfling cook clearing dishes glanced up at the ceiling. “Oh dear. That can’t be good.” He dropped the dishes back onto the table and scurried back toward the small kitchen.

The galley is on the first level below the deck of the ship. There’s a short passage leading to a ladder and a hatch that’s usually open – you can reach the deck level with about 40’ of movement, if desired. Alternately, your cabins (small, with unlocked doors) are a level down, and can be reached with 60’ of movement. Of course, teleportation of just about any kind can get you anywhere you want on the ship.

The Plein Air is a fairly small airship – about 80’ from stem to stern, and at most 30-40’ side to side, with a light armament and a pair of sails that are clearly enchanted to assist with planar travel. There are usually a few crew members on the deck at any given time. It definitely seems like there’s more magically-sourced ‘automation’ than in a standard seagoing vessel.

No need to roll initiative for this – consider it a mutual learning experience to start us off. Give me a round’s worth of actions, and I’ll process in batches.

OOC Thread Is Here. (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?644753-Epic-Ephemera-OOC)

[MikelaC1]

When Zarabeth is not in action, she looks more like a gypsy dancing girl, all in silks and jeweled beads everywhere, hardly the sort of person you would think of as a hardened veteran of innumerable campaigns. That is, until danger threatens. Once she springs into action, that all changes. Her mage armor is always active due to her Abjurant Champion talents and a shield springs into existence without even a thought. Her twin long swords are in her hands moments later as she dashes up to the deck level, looking for the source of the smell and the crash.

[Feathersnow]

Grisko takes a move action to the deck level, her augmented speed allowing her attack hypothetical pirates. Once on the deck, she enters a martial stance, having drawn her mighty blade, Morraine, during the move!

What's all this , then?


Move to deck (move action because of base speed 40)
Swift action- enter into stance
Free action- draw Morraine
Readied action- attack anyone who is obviously attacking the ship (she has reach for this purpose)

[Toliudar]

I'm loving the IC narrative voices, but have mercy on a poor DM. Include an OOC section where you break down what actions you're using to do what. If you're leaving a standard action open to do something, that's a readied action, and you'll need to articulate what the standard action would be, and what would trigger it.

[MikelaC1]

Zarabeth
Her greater mage armor is always "on", as it only takes one casting per day (16 hour normal duration, doubled by Extend)
Her shield is a swift action (consuming no time)
She moves 40 ft as her move action and can draw two weapons in that action SRD=If you have a base attack bonus of +1 or higher, you can combine one of these actions with a regular move. If you have the Two-Weapon Fighting feat, you can draw two light or one-handed weapons in the time it would normally take you to draw one.
Oversized TWF lets her treat a long sword as a light weapon
Her standard action would depend on what she sees up there, either attacking if in range or casting a buff spell on herself, again dependent on what she sses

[Yas392]

Drawing his staff as he moves, Rad extols Pelor as he moves with the party, singing a magical protection over three of his more vulnerable companions and himself. Golden fires wreathe their forms but not burning them as the healer winces from the backlash of the boost from the words of creation.

Standard Action: Inspire Greatness on himself and 3 allies with AC lower than the two highest (Haruki, Grisko & Hunter; Wutian then Zarabeth if either of the initial three is not in play or absent).

Move Action: Move to Deck. Draw Quarterstaff.

Inspire Greatness (14d10+(14xCon Mod Temp HP/14 Temp Extra HD); Last 2 minutes after he ceased singing) (Self): [roll0]

Non-lethal damage from Words of Creation: [roll1]

[Taelas]

"Oh? What's this, trouble on deck?" Laoshi mutters, seemingly talking to himself. Then he sets off, running incredibly fast, especially for an old man; within seconds, he appears on deck, a staff sliding out of the sleeve of his robe. "Compliant rod, grow for me!" the monk commands it, and the staff grows from maybe half a foot to a full-sized quarterstaff in an instant. Then he looks around for the source of the commotion, preparing to attack.

Move action to move 90 feet, so plenty of time to appear on deck and likely enough to move to any given part of the deck. Drawing the staff in the process, then using a swift action to activate it and resize it to full size. If there are any obvious enemies, move to them and strike once.

[Kaworu]

Haruki, a giant of a blue half-dragon, did not wait. He moved fastly on his feet, following Laoshi to the top of the ship. He had no weapons, but as a martial artist, he did not need any. Ready to battle and strike any who might attack him or his friends, he prepares for the encounter.


Movement action into the top level of ship.

[Breitheamh]

Those who had traveled with Hunter before had likely gotten at least somewhat used to them. Those who had fought with them over the past month could likely find it in themselves to excuse their oddness, though it was still a bit, well, odd. The crew of the Plein Air, on the other hand, unused to Hunter's inhuman demeanor and complete lack of any interest in recreation or relaxation, had likely either avoided them through the last few days, or made bets with each other about who could make them laugh or get angry first.

On this day, Hunter had joined the group for their daily feeding ritual, engaging in conversation, though strangely, every time they spoke the talking seemed to come to a halt. Even when they smiled to show a comforting face, it seemed to almost make the others more uncomfortable.

When the noise hits, the smell burning into Hunter's nostrils, they push themselves up the stairs with just a small bit of extra effort and looks around for the source of the commotion. As soon as they see it, their mind sends them reeling toward the action, appearing there in an instant with just the sound of quiet, "ting" in accompaniment.

Move Action, activate Hustle as a Swift Action (5 power points) to move again, which gets me up to the deck. Waste a Standard Action manifesting Dimension Hop (which only requires a Swift Action normally) to teleport me into melee range with whatever is there. Let me know how far that is because it will change how many Power Points I have to spend.

I do intend to use Anticipatory Strike as an Immediate Action as soon as whatever we're facing moves or attacks. That will allow me to skip to another turn and I'll let you know what happens when that time comes.

<It's probably the teeth. You look more creepy than happy when you smile. Remember to work on that.>

<That is a meaningless distinction. I do not feel happiness. If my standard practices of comfort only serve to cause fear, practicing them is inefficient.>

<Well don't give up!! You'll never learn anything that way! Also you forgot to blink again. You didn't blink for the entire breakfast time. It was weird.>

<I have explained this previously, but it appears you are confused about the particulars, so I shall say it again; blinking is an inefficient use of my motor function. I have no need of it, and a singular moment of lacking sight could be dangerous.>

<Considering that we can both perceive in all directions even with your eyes closed, I'm pretty sure you're being obtuse right now, which is actually pretty encouraging. Normal people are obtuse sometimes when they're annoyed. So maybe you're feeling some emotion?? Hmm??? See, you can do it!>

<Cease your distractions. We need to kill that thing.>

[Toliudar]

The six veterans didn’t survive months of bitter war by being lax about their response times, and all of them make it up on deck in seconds. The sky above them, a serene powder blue when they were last on deck, is now a deep reddish-black. There is a vast dry heat emanating from below, as if the ship was floating above a mammoth furnace.

The very space that the heroes move through seems somehow oily and dark, and it weighs especially on Rad.

It’s hard to focus on these details, however, as eyes are inevitably drawn to a large rectangular platform of smooth black rock floating in front of the ship. Specifically, to a an irregular sphere of reddish-orange rock resting on that platform. The sphere is nearly 40' in diameter and, while it is clearly some kind of very hot rock, it is also clearly alive. There is a cartoonish face in the side, with deep pits for eyes, a gaping and every-shifting maw, and six very long tentacles of red-hot stone. The creature exudes a stench of ash and brimstone.

As the six all dash up on deck, the maw seems to form into a broad smile of some kind. It roars a few harsh but entirely clear syllables, loud enough to hurt.

"Hey! We got one!"

The crew is several flavours of terrified. The captain screams out: "Full reverse! Man the fore ballista!" Four of the crew members run to the bow to comply, while one hauls on one of the sail's ropes, and another does a complicated thing at the ship's helm.

The large spherical creature moves with grace and economy for a creature of its size.

One of its tentacles reaches out and seems to engulf a crew member who had started winding the ballista at the front of the ship. The woman screamed and seemed to stick to the end of the tentacle, which drew her back in toward the maw, but then seemed to change its mind as the woman went limp, and simply dropped her onto the black stone platform.

It reached out again, plucking the avoral crew member from the deck and drawing it in. The feathered struggled mightily against the tentacle, half of its feathers turning black and smouldering in the creature's grip, but is held fast, close to the creature's smiling mouth.

A third tentacle reaches out for another of the crew members at the ballista, but the sailor, talented or simply lucky, dives behind the railing, and the tentacle sweeps overhead.

A fourth tentacle whirls above the bulk of the creature for a moment, then releases its own tip. A chunk of red-hot stone at least five feet in diameter sails through the Plein Air's mainsail, leaving a significant hole and carrying on with great velocity.

A fifth tentacle sends a chunk of rock down onto the foredeck of the ship, not far from where Wutian had come to a halt. The magically augmented wood of the deck is not shattered by the impact, but a patch of the deck is now on fire.

The sixth tentacle seems to be about to last out as well, but instead touches the top of its 'head', releasing a momentary burst of yellow light.

Round 2!

You all go first, then the crew, then the big thing. I’ll process in the order of posting unless there’s an obvious reason not to do so.

Planar Conditions: Lawful-aligned creatures take -2 on all checks and actions which involve an intelligence, wisdom or charisma based check, including skill checks, some spell effects, etc.

Good-aligned creatures take -2 on all checks and actions which involve an intelligence, wisdom or charisma based check, including skill checks, some spell effects, etc. This is cumulative with the above.

Fire/heat spells and effects are at +4 CL, subject to the usual maximums of the spell. Cold spells are at -4 CL.

As you begin to move around the place, you notice a distinctly different quality that goes beyond the air around, going right down to the underlying reality of this place.
You’re in the Abyss.

The sails are slack. They have been billowing throughout your entire time on board, except for times in which the ship has come to a halt.

The creature is surrounded by a shimmering field (represented by the pink circle in Roll20. of some kind that makes it hard to make out details. Unless you have a way to deal with non-magical concealment (and it wouldn't hurt to articulate what that method is to me), roll miss chances any time you attack from a distance of more than 10'

The red square on the deck of the ship represents an area that is on fire. It's not yet clear how quickly the fire will spread.

The big creature in front of you is probably a fire-aligned elemental of some kind.
Maybe it’s some kind of Magma Elemental, but like nothing you’ve ever seen. It looks extra nasty, though.

This is some kind of para-elemental monolith, but also infected by the influence of the Abyss.
This is a magma monolith, a creature made of living liquid rock. It is known to be able to have parts of its body extend, shrink, detach and reattach. It is also clearly a fiendish creature, altererd by its experiences in the Abyss.
This one’s name is Pedro. Vote for Pedro.

The big red guy manifested Inertial Armour.

Battle Map
As noted, we'll be using Roll20.net for tactical movement. The link to the game is here (https://app.roll20.net/campaigns/details/12895984/epic-ephemera). As you sign up for the game, I'll do my best to log on as frequently as I can, to get you connected to and control of your avatars. Your patience in this is appreciated.

Let me know in the OOC thread if you have difficulties in connecting, and I'll be the world's worst tech support!

The tokens' red bar represent hit points - I'll be trusting you to keep these up to date. The green represents vertical position on the map, using the lowest point of the main deck as 0. The ship has several layers that rise 5', with stairs along both sides. The big red guy is 10' up, relative to this 0 point.

[MikelaC1]

I get a Not Authorized message. Doesnt matter for this first action

Zarabeth is usually one for swinging her swords first and asking questions later, but big fire guys call for one of her few attack spells that work perfectly. She doesnt even has a miss chance with the cone shaped blast of a cone of cold.

[roll0] damage
[roll1] SR check[

EDIT: Forgot extra +4 for 37

[Toliudar]

Try this link to connect to Roll20: https://app.roll20.net/join/12895984/B86rtQ

[Breitheamh]

Breathing steadily for a moment, Hunter focuses and slips their body into the same time-frame as their mind, moving at the speed of thought.

They move to the front edge of the ship and leap off, letting their psicrystal off behind them. As they begin to fall, both of them suddenly grow into massive purple winged creatures, and two Amethyst Dragons fly straight toward their foe.

As time moves on around them imperceptibly slowly, both of them land on the creature, and with another moment of thought their scales begin to harden into a sort of living steel.

Just as they release from quick time, each of them unleashes their fury, Hunter spraying crystalline shards of hardened ectoplasmic material directly into the Magma Monolith's form, as the psicrystal pummels away with teeth, claws, wings and tail.

After the psicrystals' deadly attack, it unleashes a draconic roar, pulling Hunter's focus onto the task with full intent, as Hunter rears back their amethyst head and blasts the creature with a direct fire of concussive force.

Use a Swift Action to activate Temporal Acceleration for 2 rounds of quick-time (15 Power Points)

Use the two rounds of frozen time to move forward, manifest Metamorphosis using the 7 Power Point cognizance crystal, keep flying toward the creature until we are on top of it, then manifest Iron Body (15 Power Points)

Out of quick time, Hunter uses Swarm of Crystals augmented for 19 Power Points, which deals 19d4 Slashing damage, no save, attack roll, or spell resistance. (I will roll this in the OOC thread, since I forgot here; 53 slashing damage)

Psicrystal (now a Juvenile Amethyst Dragon) makes a Full Attack (+7 BAB +4 Dragon Str +3 Iron Body Enhanced Str -1 Size = +13

Bite [roll0] (Crit Confirm [roll1])
Damage [roll2] (Crit [roll3])

Claw 1 [roll4] (Crit Confirm [roll5])
Damage [roll6] (Crit [roll7])

Claw 2 [roll8] (Crit Confirm [roll9])
Damage [roll10] (Crit [roll11])

Wing 1 [roll12] (Crit Confirm [roll13])
Damage [roll14] (Crit [roll15])

Wing 2 [roll16] (Crit Confirm [roll17])
Damage [roll18] (Crit [roll19])

Tail [roll20] (Crit Confirm [roll21])
Damage [roll22] (Crit [roll23])

Psicrystal then uses a Swift Action to activate White Raven Tactics, giving Hunter another turn.

Hunter uses that turn to hit the Magma Monolith with the Amethyst Dragon breath weapon using Metamorphic Transfer
[roll24] Force damage, Reflex Save DC 18 for half.

[Taelas]

Laoshi speaks a command word, and his cloak splits into golden feathered wings, and he flies off for the giant sphere. He glances at the flagging sails, but his attention almost immediately returns to the monster.

"'Got one'? You got a buncha trouble, sonny!" the old man shouts at the living mound of rock. Once close enough, he whacks it with his staff.

Laoshi can speak with all living creatures, thanks to tongue of the sun and moon, so I'm assuming he understood the Abyssal. He's got 60' movement in the air with his wings of flying, so should easily be able to climb the 10' in the air and still cross the ~35-40' to the big red guy.

Single attack roll: [roll0]; damage: [roll1] + [roll2] (fire] + [roll3] (cold] + [roll4] (electricity); crit: [roll5]; crit damage: [roll6] + [roll7] (fire] + [roll8] (cold] + [roll9] (electricity)

I'm assuming it's immune to the fire part, but better to roll it anyway.

[MikelaC1]

Zarabeth is usually one for swinging a sword for first and asking questions later, but in this case with an opponent at a distance, she has to use a ranged spell. Fortunately, she has the perfect choice for big ugly fire baddies.
With only a moment's thought, another defense springs into place as she charges recklessly through the fire, skidding to a halt beside Wutain, where she can fire off her cone of cold, aiming high to make she misses the crew member but not worried about hitting Hunter, seeing as she has seen him in the past not only be immune to cold but actually draw on its power

[Edit: @MikelaC1 you should try to get Hunter and the Psicrystal in that cone if you can. They've got 30 Cold resistance, and they can use energy they absorb to attack with rays, so you're getting more for your money that way.]

Swift action: Protection from Energy (fire) swift by Abj Cham, 120 points of protection
Move action: Move 30' forward through fire beside Wutain
Standard action: Cone of Cold, reusing numbers already rolled 51 damage, 37 for SR

[Yas392]

Rad stops singing. He flies closer to the bow where he can get a clearer picture of the bound and limp human. He attempts to diagnose the status of the motionless crew member beside the grappled Avoral from a distance with a glance. Once determined the woman's health and heal her without incantations if she is knocked out, he chants and a fire emerges. It enters into the lesser aasimar's body without harming him and exits. Then, it zigzags through the ship, passing through allies and crew members after repeating the same process until it enters his last ally which it remains.

Move action: Flies to the square on roll20 map.

Heal check to determine health: [roll0]

If heal check succeed and determined that she is unconscious, he will cast close wounds on her to heal her for [roll1] (1.5 result after roll due to passive empower; 52 or 53 if round up) HP. This action will not occur if she is dead.

Cast Resist Energy, Mass (Fire) 30 on all crew members and allies, ignoring negative planar effects and no change in caster levels due to crystal of planar adaptation, greater.

[Feathersnow]

Hey! Ugly! OVER HERE! I'm your doom, what's your name? Grisko shouts in common, the only language she knows.

actions-
Move(token placed)
Standard (Intimidation check 26)
Swift- activate holy fury

[Kaworu]

Haruki spread his large wings, taking to the air. He moved towards the... thing... at great speed, preparing his large, clawed hands. When in the proximity of the monster, he unleashed his full powers, moving in a flurry of blows as he started attacking the monstrosity.


Hm... full speed air movement + flurry of blows at full power? I will roll them dices in OOC, okay? ;-)

[Toliudar]

It begins.

Hunter and their crystalline vanish from the ship, and two very mobile metal statues of dragons appear on top of the big ball of magma. Not particularly surprisingly, the big ball of magma turns out to be quite hot, and its surface even more so. Their protective magics begin to absorb some of that heat.

The psicrystal unleashes a flurry of strikes against the creature, but none pierce the surface. It literally passes off to Hunter, who’s piercing breath ripples straight down into the massive ball.

Laoshi sprouts wings and launches himself across at the glowing ball. He lands a resounding blow that sinks his staff a foot into the hot rock.

Zarabeth moves toward the bow. Leaping into the air to avoid the crewman in front of her and aiming at the top half of the sphere, she manages to send an excruciating blast of cold at the big ball. She avoid hitting the crew members, but Laoshi, Hunter and the psicrystal companion are caught in the blast. Based on the chunks of stone that peel off the surface of the sphere, it seems to have some effect.

Rad dashes to the railing as well. Seeing the slight rise and fall of breath from the crew member on the stone platform, Rad sends a spark of healing into the woman and she pulls back from the brink, her eyes opening suddenly – the terror in them clear. The great healer sends a wave of protection that covers the sailors in the forward part of the ship as well as Grisko, Haruki, Zarebeth and himself.

Grisko leaps nimbly to the railing and waves Morraine threateningly at the big ball of rock. The display is impressive, but she does not get the impression that it made much of an impact on the ball this time. It looks at her and speaks in a grating voice.

”No need for introductions. You can just call me ‘Master’, baby girl!”

Finally, Haruki leaps into the air and sails straight at the big ball of flaming hate. His punch breaks through the stone exterior, causing one of the sphere’s great eyes to roll down to consider the dragon-man more closely.

As everyone can now see since they’re either at a railing or entirely off the airship, they are most definitely not in Kansas any more. The air all around is streaked with wisps of smoke and variations in heat haze – although, remarkably, relatively little wind of any kind. The ship appears to be nearly a thousand feet in the air. The ground below is rough and rocky, deep reds and dark browns. There are three large structures visible below, with a variety of smaller shapes and structures visible around them.

The woman who Rad had just revived managed to get to her hands and knees on the stone platform. She is clearly feeling the effects of the heat, and uncertain what to do with so many flavours of near-certain death around her. The avoral, already badly injured, succumbs to the heat and goes limp in the stony tentacle. The sphere simply releases her, preparing to deal with the new threats posed by the heroes, and the avoral plummets several hundred feet.

The pair of crew members at the bow of the ship finish cranking back the beam of the mighty ballista.

Two crew members on the starboard side of the boat continue to haul at ropes that in some way control the sails, probably in a way unrelated to the normal rules of nautical physics. The crewman at the help continues to fiddle with these controls, and there is a tentative billow in the main sail – but no movement as of yet.

Two additional crew members stumble up on deck in their underwear, take a long look at the massive flaming sphere, and turn to the captain. The captain yells “Fire Suppression” and points at the fire on deck.

The big sphere, seemingly delighted by the sheer variety of new playthings on offer, closes its mouth. The big gaping hole reappears on the top of its head, and tries to bite at the psicrystal. Four of the six tentacles join in the fun, pummeling and attempting (unsuccessfully) to wrap themselves around the iron dragon. A fifth tentacle reaches out to grab at Laotian, and a six tries to grab Haruki.

Initiative:
You
Crew
Big Red

As Hunter, the psicrystal, Laoshi and Haruki learn this round, the pink zone not only creates a wave of heat distortion, but also is a field of intense heat that causes [roll0] fire damage to anyone spending any part of their round inside it each round. As well, anyone with a functioning anatomy (so…everyone but Hunter and the psicrystal, at the moment) makes a DC 24 fortitude save any round that they’re in the field or become sickened (-2 attack rolls, weapon damage, saving throws, skill checks and ability checks) with dehydration for 2 rounds.

The surface of Big Red is hot. Touching him incurs fire damage. Hunter takes [roll1] fire damage for landing on him. Psicrystal takes [roll2] fire damage for landing on him. Haruki takes [roll3]

Hunter and Laoshi both need to make DC 24 reflex saves for half on 51 points of cold damage from Zarabeth’s cone of cold.

Feathersnow, don’t forget that, as a Good character, Grisko currently takes a -2 on mental ability and skill checks, including intimidate and the number of holy fury points you get.

Don’t forget that energy resistance is per round. If you take more damage than your resistance over the course of several effects, you take the difference in actual damage.

The halving of fire damage from Iron Body happens off the top, before resistance is applied.

Big Red:
Reflex save vs dragon breath weapon: [roll4]
Reflex save vs cone of cold [roll5]

I’m not rolling the grapple checks against the psicrystal because of Freedom of Movement. Suffice to say that it’s trying to get a hold of the dragon.
Bite attack vs psicrystal: [roll6] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll7] fire damage [roll8]
Tentacle 1 attack vs psicrystal [roll9] Bludgeoning Damage [roll10] fire damage [roll11]
Tentacle 2 attack vs psicrystal [roll12] Bludgeoning Damage [roll13] fire damage [roll14]
Tentacle 3 attack vs psicrystal [roll15] Bludgeoning Damage [roll16] fire damage [roll17]
Tentacle 4 attack vs psicrystal [roll18] Bludgeoning Damage [roll19] fire damage [roll20]

Tentacle 5 attack vs Laoshi [roll21] Bludgeoning Damage [roll22] fire damage [roll23] Opposed Grapple: [roll24]

Tentacle 6 attack vs Haruki [roll25] Bludgeoning Damage [roll26] fire damage [roll27] Opposed Grapple: [roll28]

What do you do?

[Breitheamh]

<You look damaged. How much more of that can you take?>

<Oooowww... Owie...>

<I need a real answer... please.>

<Hey! Nice politeness! I don’t think I’d be able to take another of those barrages...>

<Understood. Keep out of sight then.>

Hunter puts forth their concentration again, slipping into the time and space between thoughts, dismissing the active Metamorphosis on both themself and their Psicrystal. They take the opportunity to set a charge of ectoplasmic crystals to go off at their command later, then keep the Psicrystal close under their arm, as they transform into a different reptilian creature, this one larger and with quite a few more heads.

In what seems to be a mere moment, the dual amethyst dragons disappear in favor of a massive purplish-hued metallic hydra, which rears back every head and blasts into the demonic magma creature with a blizzard force.

Swift Action use Temporal Acceleration augmented to 19 Power Points.
Standard Action to Dismiss Metamorphosis
Standard Action to set up Delayed Swarm of Crystals, augmented by 1 Power Point (use 5 Point cognizance crystal; base cost 3 +1 augment +2 Delay Power -1 Torc of Power Preservation = 5), which will spray for 4d4 slashing damage when I activate it with a Standard Action, or in 5 rounds, whichever comes first.
Move Action after that to regain Psionic Focus (I have a bonus to Concentration that means I succeed to do this even on a natural 1, so I won't bother rolling unless you need me to for some reason)
Standard Action to manifest Metamorphosis again for 7 Power Points (-1 Torc of Power Preservation = 6), this time only on myself to turn into a 12-headed Cryohydra, with the Psicrystal hiding among my many necks.

Psicrystal Hide [roll0]

Then as the Standard Action on my turn after coming out of quick time, use Cryohydra Cold jets full-barreled in the face for [roll1] Cold damage; Reflex Save DC 18 for half.

Edit: and my new AC is 46 Touch 13, while the Psicrystal is back up to its normal AC of 50 Touch 21

[MikelaC1]

Based on the fact that no one is barking at her about firing off a Cone of Cold and that it appears to be damaging Big Red, Zarabeth choses to fire another one. She does try to aim to hit as few of party and crew mates as possible, but dealing with whatever this is takes priority

[roll0] damage
[roll1] SR

[Taelas]

Dropping down onto the glowing mound of rock, Laoshi unleashes a rapid series of strikes against it, his stuff a blur in his fingers.

"'Master', shmaster! The only master around here is this old man--the master of martial arts!" he cries out in between strikes.

The old monk seems completely unaffected by the cold spells from Zarabeth, though he winces in pain at the heat.

Full attack with flurry of blows:
1st attack: [roll0]; damage: [roll1] + [roll2] (fire] + [roll3] (cold] + [roll4] (electricity); crit: [roll5]; damage: [roll6] + [roll7] (fire] + [roll8] (cold] + [roll9] (electricity)
2nd attack: [roll10]; damage: [roll11] + [roll12] (fire] + [roll13] (cold] + [roll14] (electricity); crit: [roll15]; damage: [roll16] + [roll17] (fire] + [roll18] (cold] + [roll19] (electricity)
3rd attack: [roll20]; damage: [roll21] + [roll22] (fire] + [roll23] (cold] + [roll24] (electricity); crit: [roll25]; damage: [roll26] + [roll27] (fire] + [roll28] (cold] + [roll29] (electricity)
4th attack: attack: [roll30]; damage: [roll31] + [roll32] (fire] + [roll33] (cold] + [roll34] (electricity); crit: [roll35]; damage: [roll36] + [roll37] (fire] + [roll38] (cold] + [roll39] (electricity)
5th attack: attack: [roll40]; damage: [roll41] + [roll42] (fire] + [roll43] (cold] + [roll44] (electricity); crit: [roll45]; damage: [roll46] + [roll47] (fire] + [roll48] (cold] + [roll49] (electricity)

[Feathersnow]

Having failed to taunt the monster into coming closer, and reluctant as yet to risk her weak flight abilities, Grisko spits lightning at the thing!


[roll0] DC 24 reflex for half
Refresh [roll1]

[Kaworu]

Haruki didn't bother with the heat or the tentacle, although he was aware that longer exposure could be truly harmful to him. Instead, his fists were engulfed by blue lines of electricity, as he called his draconic powers. Then, he has attacked at the monster, using his full capabilities. His big, powerful, hald-draconic fists were just a blur, as the wave of attack rushed at the demonic being.


Im using:

Draconic Fist (+4d6 electricity damage) PLUS Flurry of Bows

I'm also using Fist of Iron feat

[Yas392]

"Be right back. I am going down to heal the Avoral."

Rad dive down to touch his former brethren with a heal before he ascend back to the ship.

Drop 300 ft to cast heal on Avoral, healing them for 190 HP. He then flies upwards. (270 ft from party)

[Toliudar]

If the air wasn’t already thick with smoke, assorted stenches and the smell of fear from the crew, it would now be completely filled with the shrieks and noises of battle.

Hunter shimmers again. Two purple dragons are replaced by one blue hydra, which sends a dozen bursts of flame down at the big red ball. Chunks of the rock turn black.

Zarabeth sends another blast of cold blanketing the huge ball of hate, also catchin Hunter, Haruki and Laoshi in it’s chilling effect. This time, the blast seems to do nothing against the magma creature.

Laoshi’s staff becomes an instrument of both artistry and death. The first three strikes seem to penetrate the surface, causing a massive eye to roll several feet towards Laoshi on the ball’s surface

Grisko draws back and centres herself, then unleashes a blast of lightning that raises a brief spurt of lava from the surface of the ball where it strikes.

Haruki smashes into the side of the magma ball with his draconic fists, sparking an electrical burst that surges into the magma ball.

Rad heroically drops off the side of the ship, and steers himself toward the unconscious avoral. He just manages to touch him with a powerful healing spell. The avoral seems to shake himself awake, clearly confused by the recent events, and continues to fall. Rad thinks that the avoral should be able to recover before hitting the ground.

The sailors at the bow maneuver a massive iron spear into the ballista. The sails are now beginning to billow and there is a faint vibration on the deck of the ship. The fire on deck is beginning to spread.

The massive ball’s mouth hole vanishes from the top of its head and reappears near Haruki. It shouts downward.

“Hey – they’re a bit chilly! Some help up here?”

Three of the beast’s tentacles push at the hydra on top, trying to shove it off of itself. A fourth tosses a glob of magma at the sails: it punches through, leaving a gaping hole and barely losing momentum. A fifth grabs at Laoshi again, and a sixth lashes out at Grisko. The mouth orients to a new place on the ball, opening up right in front of Haruki and biting him.


Initiative:
You
Crew
Big Red

You do definitely get the sense that this creature is especially vulnerable to cold. You’re also pretty sure that there’s damage reduction from the physical attacks.
Hunter takes fire from the aura and [roll1] for standing on the big red ball. Psicrystal takes [roll2] for being in the aura. Since the hydra doesn’t have arms, where is the psicrystal hiding? Keep in mind that until Hunter changes form, they have vulnerability to fire.
Reflex save vs cryohydra: [roll3]
Haruki, Hunter and Laoshi are hit by Zarabeth’s cone of cold. Roll a reflex save unless you have SR 17 or better. Hunter is immune by dint of being a ‘cold’ creature at the moment, and I’m pretty sure Laoshi’s spell resistance protects him. I’m not sure about Haruki.
Laoshi takes [roll4] fire from the aura.
Reflex save vs lightning breath: [roll]1d20+
Haruki’s 1st and 3rd strikes hit and deal damage. He takes fire damage from the aura, and [roll6] and [roll7] fire damage from when his fists sank into the magma.
Kaworu, would it be possible for you to make your rolls in your IC post if possible, and to label the kinds of damage. (bludgeoning, electricity, etc), because they will often be treated differently. Also, please note that Draconic Fist requires a swift action to activate for 1 attack, and can be used a maximum of (in your case) 20 times per day. Therefore, the bonus electricity damage could only be added to a maximum of 1 attack per round, unless you’re finding a way to get more swift actions.
Ideally, your attack would look something like this:
Swift action to add draconic fist to my first attack
Attack 1: [roll] 1d20+26
Attack 1 bludgeoning damage: 3d8+15 plus 1d6 from Fist of Iron
Attack 1 electricity damage: 4d6
Attack 2 etc

Rad required his move action to position himself to reach the Avoral when falling, and then can use a standard action to heal the Avoral, which is completely healed and – you think is quite grateful - but which continues to fall downward for one more round.

Three of the tentacles are attempting to bullrush Hunter off of itself. It does not have Improved Bull Rush as a feat, so draws an attack of opportunity from Hunter as it does so. Make opposed checks for Hunter.
For every 5 points by which a bull rush attempt beats your opposed check, Hunter moves 5’ west on the map. If, after all 3 attacks, Huner has moved less than 20’, they’re more or less etable on the side of the ball. If Hunter moves 20-25’, they can keep hold of the ball with a DC 20 reflex save. If they move more than 30’ west, they fall off of the ball and fall 300’ towards the ground below.
Tentacle 1:
Opposed strength check: [roll8]
Tentacle 2
Opposed strength check: [roll9]
Tentacle 3
Opposed strength check: [roll10]

Tentacle 5
Attack Laoshi: [roll11]
Bludgeoning Damage: [roll12]
Fire Damage: [roll13]
Opposed grapple check on successful hit: [roll14]


Tentacle 6
Attack Grisko [roll15]
Bludgeoning Damage: [roll16]
Fire Damage: [roll17]
Opposed grapple check on successful hit: [roll18]

Bite:
Attack Haruki: [roll19]
Bludgeoning Damage: [roll20]
Fire damage: [roll21]

Over to you!

[Feathersnow]

Grisko grabs the tentacle enveloping her and pulls, channeling her holy rage!!


Swift- activate furious strike!
Standard- Stone Dragon's Fury

[roll0] Sunder check! Base Attack 26 +8 for Furious Strike, -4 for being in a grapple, -2 for hostile plane effects
Note- my stance gives a +2 to strength checks, not calculated as unsure if it applies


[roll1] Base damage
Furious strike bonus [roll2]
stone dragon's fury bonus [roll3]

[MikelaC1]

Seeing as Grisko is grappling a tentacle, Im assuming that Zarabeth can hack it as well.

Finally a part of the beast has gotten into the range of Zarabeth's dual blades, which is more of her specialty than long range spells. With a swift action, she channels one of her 6ith level slots to boost her attack rolls and then both blades start falling in unison on the tentacle.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] damage + [roll2] icy burst damage
[roll3] attack & [roll4] damage + [roll5] icy burst damage
[roll6] attack & [roll7] damage + [roll8] icy burst damage
[roll9] attack & [roll10] damage + [roll11] icy burst damage


[roll12] attack & [roll13] damage + [roll14] shocking burst damage
[roll15] attack & [roll16] damage + [roll17] shocking burst damage
[roll18] attack & [roll19] damage + [roll20] shocking burst damage

[MikelaC1]

Main sword attacks #3 and #4 are threats

[roll0] confirm & [roll1] damage + [roll2] icy burst
[roll3] confirm & [roll4] damage + [roll5] icy burst

[MikelaC1]

[roll0] icy burst
[roll1] icy burst

[Taelas]

Laoshi continues to pummel the giant face. "Don't like the cold, eh? Have some on me!" he cries out loud.

Another full round of flurry of blows:
1st attack: [roll0]; damage: [roll1] + [roll2] (fire] + [roll3] (cold] + [roll4] (electricity); crit: [roll5]; damage: [roll6] + [roll7] (fire] + [roll8] (cold] + [roll9] (electricity)
2nd attack: [roll10]; damage: [roll11] + [roll12] (fire] + [roll13] (cold] + [roll14] (electricity); crit: [roll15]; damage: [roll16] + [roll17] (fire] + [roll18] (cold] + [roll19] (electricity)
3rd attack: [roll20]; damage: [roll21] + [roll22] (fire] + [roll23] (cold] + [roll24] (electricity); crit: [roll25]; damage: [roll26] + [roll27] (fire] + [roll28] (cold] + [roll29] (electricity)
4th attack: [roll30]; damage: [roll31] + [roll32] (fire] + [roll33] (cold] + [roll34] (electricity); crit: [roll35]; damage: [roll36] + [roll37] (fire] + [roll38] (cold] + [roll39] (electricity)
5th attack: [roll40]; damage: [roll41] + [roll42] (fire] + [roll43] (cold] + [roll44] (electricity); crit: [roll45]; damage: [roll46] + [roll47] (fire] + [roll48] (cold] + [roll49] (electricity)

Jeez, two nat 1s. Ouch.

[Yas392]

Rad flashes the Avoral a smile.

"I am going back to the battle. Safe flight, brother."

Celestial words come out of his mouth before he ascends back to the battle.

Double Move upwards 60 ft (240 ft from ship).

[Kaworu]

Haruki gritted his teeth. It seemed that his attack was not as effective as he hoped it would be. No worries, he had other tricks up his sleeve. Attacking another time, but now without his electricity-engulfed fists, he tried to not only damage the creature, but also make it confused. Maybe this was a better strategy?



DICE ROLLS & MECHANICS:

I am using Stunning Fist feat.

Attack 1:
Hit? [roll0]
Bludgeoning damage: [roll1] + [roll2]

Attack 2:
Hit? [roll3]
Bludgeoning damage: [roll4] + [roll5]

Attack 3:
Hit? [roll6]
Bludgeoning damage: [roll7] + [roll8]

Attack 4:
Hit? [roll9]
Bludgeoning damage: [roll10] + [roll11]

Attack 5:
Hit? [roll12]
Bludgeoning damage: [roll13] + [roll14]

[Breitheamh]

The strength of the magma creature overwhelmed Hunter, and as they began to fall to the ground far below, they reached back one head and sent a precise green line straight back up toward the demon.

They quickly calculated how much time they had before the sudden stop at the end and formulated a plan for the efficiency of their time during the fall.

Spend 11 Power Points to manifest Disintegrate. Touch Attack [roll0]
[roll1] damage
DC 25 Fortitude to reduce to [roll2]

[Toliudar]

Work in Progress

[Toliudar]

The battle rages on!

Grisko feels the molten rock tentacle snake around her and begin to coalesce. Acting with alacrity, she calls upon the fury of the stone dragon to counter the fury of the stone abomination, and with a single mighty punch, breaks off a good ten feet of the grasping tentacle. It flinches away slightly, almost immediately growing more length from the base of the stone tentacle.

Seizing the opportunity, Zarabeth steps up next to Grisko and unleashes a string of blows on the creature. Three of her strikes break through the stony exterior, and the frost on one blade seems to be especially effective.

Laoshi’s stick smashes into the surface of the big critter again and again, until he’s worried that it will shatter in his hands, but only one of the strikes breaks through its tough exterior.

Rad begins a careful ascent back up towards the ship and his colleagues.

Haruki’s fists shift from crackling with electricity to humming with a disruptive energy. Three times, his fist plunges into the magma beneath the stony surface. Swiftly, he realizes that his special vibrations did nothing against the virtual mountain of a creature.

Hunter calculates that they have two more chances to act before their extremely large and heavy iron form makes a very significant impact crater on the building below. As they glance down to confirm this, they sees a pair of winged creatures, red-skinned and humanoid, fly out of one of the structures and begin to fly up toward him. They turn and fire a grey beam out of their eyes, threading the needle around stone platform that the big magma ball is sitting on in order to actually hit the big creature.

The pair of crew members at the bow of the ship guide the ballista to point directly at the creature’s mouth.

The rest of the crew begin to focus on fighting the fire which is spreading toward the railing and licking towards the mast. One of the crew members casts a simple spell, bringing dozens of gallons of water onto the deck. Gouts of steam rise from the flire, but it is not extinguished.

The sails billow backwards, and the ship shudders. It moves a few inches backward, and seems to begin to gather some energy to move further.

The revived Avoral fires off a cluster of silvery projectiles from its talons at one of the figures rising up from the ground. It beats its wings furiously and begins to ascend.

Seeing this, the big magma beast reaches out and wraps a tentacle around th``c e bowsprit. It begins to smoulder and catch fire, and the ship’s tiny signs of progress immediately cease. Three of the creature’s other tentacles go after Haruki and fight to wrap around him. Its fifth tentacle takes another try to grab at Grisko. The sixth tentacle reaches out and smashes into the ballista, leaving it a smoking ruin. It’s mouth relocates to face Laotian and tries to bite him.

Above the flames on deck, perilously close to the sails, a great vulture-demon appears, its great leathery wings unfurled. One of its claws clutches a white belt at its waist. It looks around at the chaos on deck and squawks with glee.



Initiative:
You
Crew
Bad Guys

Elementals are, I regret to say, immune to criticals. They are also immune to stunning. I’m going to assume that Haruki figured that out after his first strike, and so only used one use of Stunning Fist this round.

Taelas: ouch indeed on the attack rolls.

Fort save vs disintegrate [roll0]
Crew Ballista attack: [roll1] Damage: [roll2]

Tentacle attacks against Haruki:
Tentacle 1 attack: [roll3]
Bludgeoning Damage: [roll4]
Fire damage: [roll5]
Automatic attempt to grapple if it hits: Opposed grapple: [roll6]

Knowledge (the planes) checks to learn more about the bird-demon that’s just appeared
Yup, that’s definitely a demon.
It’s a Vrock.
Vrocks mostly like to engage hand-to-hand. They release spores that burrow into the flesh.
Vrocks can’t usually teleport under their own power. Huh.
Just go and look at the entry in the monster manual.

Again, thanks to everyone for your patience. Over to you!

[Toliudar]

Laoshi takes [roll0] fire damage for being in the aura.
Haruki takes [roll1] fire damage for punching lava

Edit: Map in Roll 20 is updated (I think).

[MikelaC1]

Seeing the crewmen potentially in danger from the demon, Zarabeth seeks to draw its attention to her. Calling out, Hey, stupid she casts a series of spells, both to protect herself and to draw the vrock's ire on herself

Swift action: displacement on self, using AbjChamp to make swift
Standard action: cone of cold on vrock
[roll0] damage
[roll1] SR

[Yas392]

Rad continues to ascend. (180 ft from ship)

[Taelas]

Dodging the bite with his usual alacrity, the old monk starts cursing up a storm, calling the red monstrosity every name under the sun; his staff a blur as he keeps up both the verbal and physical assaults.

When the vrock appears, he glances at it with a glimmer of recognition in his eyes. "Summoning demons now too, eh? I'll whack them back to the Abyss once I've taken care of your block of a face!" Laoshi shouts.

Rinse and repeat... Full round of flurry of blows:

Attack 1: [roll0]; damage: [roll1] + [roll2] (fire) + [roll3] (cold) + [roll4] (electricity); crit: [roll5]; damage: [roll6] + [roll7] (fire) + [roll8] (cold) + [roll9] (electricity)
Attack 2: [roll10]; damage: [roll11] + [roll12] (fire) + [roll13] (cold) + [roll14] (electricity); crit: [roll15]; damage: [roll16] + [roll17] (fire) + [roll18] (cold) + [roll19] (electricity)
Attack 3: [roll20]; damage: [roll21] + [roll22] (fire) + [roll23] (cold) + [roll24] (electricity); crit: [roll25]; damage: [roll26] + [roll27] (fire) + [roll28] (cold) + [roll29] (electricity)
Attack 4: [roll30]; damage: [roll31] + [roll32] (fire) + [roll33] (cold) + [roll34] (electricity); crit: [roll35]; damage: [roll36] + [roll37] (fire) + [roll38] (cold) + [roll39] (electricity)
Attack 5: [roll40]; damage: [roll41] + [roll42] (fire) + [roll43] (cold) + [roll44] (electricity); crit: [roll45]; damage: [roll46] + [roll47] (fire) + [roll48] (cold) + [roll49] (electricity)

[Feathersnow]

Grisko walks over to the bird thing and, carefully, with a single swing, executes Elder Mountain Hammer Technique.


[roll0] k: planes
Swift- activate holy fury
Move- Move
Free- disengage merciful enchantment
Standard- Elder Mountain Hammer
[roll1] to hit (counting -2 for plane)
[roll2] damage, ignores DR
[roll3] Vicious damage to Grisko

[Kaworu]

Haruki attacked with full force once again. Seemingly, he could not damage the creature with his Stunning Fist, so he went back to attacking using Draconic Fist. "When will they be dead?" he asked himself, continuing.


I use Draconic Fist ability.

DMG from Draconic Fist (for the first hit that strikes): [roll0]

Attack 1:
Hit? [roll1]
Damage: [roll2] + [roll3]

Attack 2:
Hit? [roll4]
Damage: [roll5] + [roll6]

Attack 3:
Hit? [roll7]
Damage: [roll8] + [roll9]

Attack 4:
Hit? [roll10]
Damage: [roll11] + [roll12]

Attack 5:
Hit? [roll13]
Damage: [roll14] + [roll15]

[Breitheamh]

Noting the enemies coming from below, Hunter decides it's time to go back up top and warn the others best they can, and also avoid the danger of the demons attacking them while they are falling, and in a difficult position.

They enter the speed of their thoughts again, and as time slows to a crawl around them, they concentrate on where they want to be and suddenly appear exactly where they were on top of the magma monolith.

As they allow themselves to return to a normal frame of reference, they bite ferociously and wildly into the monolith, hoping to not only whittle down its will to fight, but also reduce its magical defenses.

Meanwhile, Laoshi hears the voice of the psicrystal, somewhat tinny in his mind <Laoshi! Let the others know we've got two more flyers coming up from below!> and a beam of concentrated orange energy comes blazing out of the mass of writhing necks from the tiny crystal, aiming for the Vrock that has alighted on the deck of the ship.

Hunter manifests Temporal Acceleration for 11 Power Points as a Swift Action, then Greater Teleportation for 15 Power Points to put himself right back on the monolith, then comes out of quick time and bites 12 times (same bonuses as the attack of opportunity).

Bite 1 [roll0] (I will not try to confirm crits since it has been confirmed that this thing is immune to them)
Damage 1 [roll1]

Bite 2 [roll2]
Damage 2 [roll3]

Bite 3 [roll4]
Damage 3 [roll5]

Bite 4 [roll6]
Damage 4 [roll7]

Bite 5 [roll8]
Damage 5 [roll9]

Bite 6 [roll10]
Damage 6 [roll11]

Bite 7 [roll12]
Damage 7 [roll13]

Bite 8 [roll14]
Damage 8 [roll15]

Bite 9 [roll16]
Damage 9 [roll17]

Bite 10 [roll18]
Damage 10 [roll19]

Bite 11 [roll20]
Damage 11 [roll21]

Bite 12 [roll22]
Damage 12 [roll23]

Psicrystal is clinging to Hunter. Uses Telepathic Speech as a Free Action to inform Laoshi of the enemies coming from below, then a Standard Action to fire a beam of 30 Fire damage stored from Energy Conversion at the Vrock.

Ranged Touch Attack[roll24]
30 Fire damage

I am operating under the assumption that the Psicrystal can shoot the ray that far, since the original manifestation of Energy Conversion would be at Hunter's Manifester Level of 21, so a range of 75 ft.

However, I am not sure how to roll for Spell Resistance, since the one actually shooting the ray is the Psicrystal, who has no Manifester Level. Should I just roll a straight 1d20 and hope it's enough, or should I add Hunter's Manifester Level as the original caster?

Also let me know if my range-finding is off, because if it is I will have Hunter delay their turn so the Psicrystal can fire the ray at one of the flyers below before entering quick time and teleporting.

[Taelas]

Shaking his head in surprise at the sudden telepathic intrusion, the old monk looks over at Hunter and their psicrystal. <Got it!> he sends in response. Briefly turning his head back towards the Plein Air, Laoshi then roars at the top of his lungs: "Hunter says two more flyers incoming from below!"

He glances back at Hunter. <Those two flyers, were they lookin' hostile or friendly?>

I'm assuming since telepathic communication has been established that Laoshi can converse with the psicrystal.

[Breitheamh]

Shaking his head in surprise at the sudden telepathic intrusion, the old monk looks over at Hunter and their psicrystal. <Got it!> he sends in response. Briefly turning his head back towards the Plein Air, Laoshi then roars at the top of his lungs: "Hunter says two more flyers incoming from below!"

He glances back at Hunter. <Those two flyers, were they lookin' hostile or friendly?>

I'm assuming since telepathic communication has been established that Laoshi can converse with the psicrystal.

Slightly more high-pitched this time, Laoshi hears back, <We're in the Abyss, man!! EVERYTHING is hostile!!>

That's how I've always played it.

<Your pitch is getting higher. Calm yourself; your emotions will only make this more complicated.>

<Considering that I'm just a crystallized manifestation of YOUR emotions, maybe YOU SHOULD CALM DOWN!!>

[Taelas]

The old monk starts again, looking at Hunter with eyebrows raised. <We're already in the Abyss?! Bloody hell!> he sends back, not quite on purpose.

[MikelaC1]

We are in Arborea, not the Abyss

[Toliudar]

Round 5

Sadly, a mounting pile of evidence seems to contradict Zarabeth's thoughts.

Zarabeth’s form shimmers as she uses her accelerated magic to create a distortion of her form. Her cone of intense cold catches the vrock full on, and also coats the sails behind it in a thick layer of ice and frost.

Rad continues to ascend.

Grisko's weirdly stretchy arms extend, and her blade arcs out smoothly to bisect the vrock. The two halves crash to the deck, unmoving.

While two of Laoshi’s strikes pierce the big magma creature’s rocky exterior, raisng gouts of liquid rock each time, his verbal barbs elicit only laughter. In contrast to the magma-beast’s former calls, which vibrated deep within the ship, their words this time seem barely a whisper.

“Don’t worry, little boy. You’ll get used to it soon enough. Everyone does. Well, or they die. That can be fun too.”

Haruki’s fists crackle with energy as he claws again and again at the rocky exterior of the great ball of hate. Two of his strikes break through, paining the creature but also Haruki himself.

Hunter appears on top of the beast again. Five of the hydra’s bites break through, clearly hurting the creature but also scalding Hunter.

The crew seems to be making some headway against the fire on deck, especially as the ones that had been operating the ballista rush to help instead – and to get away from the tentacle grabbing the front of the ship. It seems likely that the fire will be out soon. The sails have stopped flapping.

The avoral that Rad had saved is making good headway in making his way back to the ship. It fires off a trio of magical bolts at the magma ball, but the bolts fizzle on contact with the great beast.

The captain, seeming to feel that she has done all she can at the helm, darts down toward the fire. She pulls what looks like a small golden musket out of her belt and fires a bolt of energy at the great tentacled ball, eliciting another gout of lava from within.

Rad can now clearly see two winged figures, brown-skinned humanoids holding a pair of swords, spiraling up toward him. Another of the winged figures runs out of a structure and takes to the air as well.

The great ball’s mouth reorients to bite at Laoshi again. One tentacle maintains its hold on the bowsprit, which is on fire. Two tentacles again push at Hunter away, off of itself and its platform. The last three tentacles reach out to Laoshi, and one of them wraps around the old man, trying to hold him fast.


Initiative
You
Crew
Bad guys

Vrock reflex save vs cone of cold: [roll0]

Kaworu, I really need you to calculate your attack bonuses for your attacks. For this round, I’m just going to guess that attacks 1 and 3 hit.

Bite:
Attacks Laoshi: [roll1] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll2] plus [roll3] fire

Tentacles:
Tentacle 2 pushes at Hunter. For every 5 points its opposed strength check exceeds Hunter’s Hunter moves 5’ west. If Hunter reaches the edge of the platform, they drop 300’. Opposed strength: [roll4]
Tentacle 3 as #2 above: [roll5]
Tentacle 4 attacks Laoshi and attempts to grapple: Attack: [roll6] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll7] and [roll8] fire damage. Opposed grapple: [roll9]
Tentacle 5 attacks Laoshi and attempts to grapple: Attack: [roll10] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll11] and [roll12] fire damage. Opposed grapple: [roll13]
Tentacle 6 attacks Laoshi and attempts to grapple: Attack: [roll14] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll15] and [roll16] fire damage. Opposed grapple: [roll17]

Ambient fire damage:
Laoshi (aura): [roll18]
Haruki (aura and 2 strikes): [roll19]
Hunter (aura, five bites, Two tentacles): [roll20], taking double fire damage for being a cold creature and half damage for Iron Body, neatly cancelling each other out.

Over to you!

[Feathersnow]

Grisko attempts to simply, artlessly, hack at the Vrock, her unnaturally stretching arms giving her the reach necessary to reach and her holy fury enhancing her blows!


[roll0]
[roll1]
[roll2]
[roll3]

[Taelas]

Laoshi lets out an almost girlish scream when the magma beast manages to close its chompers briefly around his waist; as soon as the mouth opens, he whirls away, darting across the creature's face. "That hurt, you molten bastard!" he shouts, deftly dodging the tentacles that are sent his way.

He continues whacking it with his stick.

Full attack, flurry of blows, as before. We've established it's immune to crits, right? So I'll omit the confirmation rolls.
1st attack: [roll0]; damage: [roll1] + [roll2] (fire] + [roll3] (frost) + [roll4] (lightning)
2nd attack: [roll5]; damage: [roll6] + [roll7] (fire] + [roll8] (frost) + [roll9] (lightning)
3rd attack: [roll10]; damage: [roll11] + [roll12] (fire] + [roll13] (frost) + [roll14] (lightning)
4th attack: [roll15]; damage: [roll16] + [roll17] (fire] + [roll18] (frost) + [roll19] (lightning)
5th attack: [roll20]; damage: [roll21] + [roll22] (fire] + [roll23] (frost) + [roll24] (lightning)

EDIT: Man, I just can't roll high. 2 3s, a 4 and an 8? At least the first attack hits...

[Yas392]

Rad notices incoming figures but continues upward in a quickened pace. (Run action x4 speed; 40 ft from party).

"Incoming brown skinned winged figures from below!"

[MikelaC1]

With the demon defeated, Zarabeth turns back to hacking away at the tentacle still on the deck, hoping that somehow the damage dealt to it will harm the main body. In order to give her attacks a little extra oomph, she activates her arcane strike ability, using a 6th level slot to deal an extra +12 to her damage.

[roll0] attack & [roll1] + [roll2] damage
[roll3] attack & [roll4] + [roll5] damage
[roll6] attack & [roll7] + [roll8] damage
[roll9] attack & [roll10] + [roll11] damage

[roll12] attack & [roll13] + [roll14] damage
[roll15] attack & [roll16] + [roll17] damage
[roll18] attack & [roll19] + [roll20] damage

[Breitheamh]

Twelve pairs of eyes roll in twelve heads as Hunter once again falls off the edge of the monolith exasperated, and, hoping to end this creature as quickly as possible so that the ship can get to safety while the lesser threats are dealt with, Hunter focuses their mind for the split second, once again suddenly reappearing atop the beast, twelve heads already primed and reared back, frost gathering at the tips of hundreds of razor sharp teeth, and...

An unrelenting blizzard of cold energy strikes down directly into the abyssal creature, Hunter allowing their pent up frustration with being pushed into freefall to keep the streams direct.

Swift Action Temporal Acceleration
Standard Action Greater Teleport back to the top.

Out of accelerated time:
Fire Cold jets again: [roll0] Cold damage, Reflex save DC 18 for half damage.

[Kaworu]

Haruki got really angry. - Just die already! - he shouted, again engulfing his hand with electricity and striking with a full force at the magma-devil-thing.

[Feathersnow]

Grisko, having helped kill the bird-thing, goes over and chops at the tentacle grappling the ship, spending more of her reserve of holy fury!

to hit, counting penalty for good alignment

[roll1] confirmation if necessary

[Roll]8d6+15 damage

[roll2] Vicious damage to self

[Toliudar]

The would-be vacationers glance around, with reinforcements on the way from below but a dead vrock sizzling in the midst of an open fire on the deck, and perhaps begin to wonder what will happen if the ship is destroyed. The mammoth magma ball seems very clear as to the desired answer to that.

Laoshi is doing so well with his banter with the great magma-beast that his attacks suffer. Only the first strike hits, although it sinks deep into the creature’s rocky flexh.

Rad zips upward, and is now within easier verbal communication with his associates.. Unfortunately, his news is not good.

Zarabeth bounds to the very front of the ship, carefully picking her way through the still-burning remnants of the ballista. Her swords strikes the stony tentacle, but does not penetrate the stony exterior.

Hunter enters free-fall again, but only for a moment. Quickly, they flicker through time and space to land again on top of the massive ball, and sends a final blast of ice down into the great beast. This time, an entire chunk of the beast’s top turns black and sloughs off, falling toward the ground below, and the great ball of heat and hate roars in pain.

Haruki flails at the great ball, his fists sinking into the magma to the elbow, both inflicting and receiving great pain.

Reaching around Zarabeth – literally – from the wreckage of the ballista, Grisko has the satisfaction of feeling her sword bite deep into the tentacle, and cause its grip on the bow to loosen and fall away. The tentacle is mostly intact, but flails away from the ship in pain.

The captain reloads and fires another blast from her handgun at the big ball. The crew on the main deck nearly have the fire under control. The ship shudders and begins to inch backwards away from the tentacle beast.
The avoral pauses in his ascent, and focuses his attention on the first of the humanoids flying up after him. He sends a quartet of white bolts down at the creature, but they seem to splash off the creature with no effect.
The big molten ball seems a bit worn out from the fight. He calls out – perhaps directed at ship’s captain.
”Hey, hey, we can do a deal. You leave me three souls, we return the ship to where you were, everybody’s happy, yeah?” The captain clearly understands the words, but only arches an eyebrow in response.
Committed to the attack for now, the molton beast marshalls two tentacles to try to push Hunter off again. Four attempt to wrap around Haruki.
The two fiends flap furiously to rise toward the battle.

Initiative:
PC’s
Crew
Bad Guys

Laoshi’s first strike hits. The staff is now so coated with still-glowing magma that he thinks it may need repair once this is all over.

Rad is now about level with the keel of the ship. In about 10’, he will enter the aura of fire damage surrounding Big Red. There may also be attacks of opportunity from the tentacles.

Zarabeth had to move 15’ through difficult terrain (the flaming wreck of the ballista) to get to within 5’ of the tentacle, so only gets one attack off this round. If you think that this would have meant she wouldn’t have used her arcane strike ability, go ahead and retcon not using it.

Reflex save vs hydra: [roll0] By my count, this is Hunter’s third and final use of Metamorphic Transfer.

Kaworu, I’ve made best guesses as to your rolls. You hit three times, and take

Grisko’s attack is sufficient to make the tentacle release the ship.

Two tentacles attempt to bull rush Hunter off of the creature: For every 5 points its opposed strength check exceeds Hunter’s Hunter moves 5’ west. If Hunter reaches the edge of the platform, they drop 300’. Opposed strength: [roll1] [roll]1d20+37[roll]. Hunter gets an attack of opportunity.

Four tentacles strike at Haruki. Each automatically attempts to grapple on a successful attack.
Tentacle 3 attack: [roll2] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll3] Fire Damage: [roll4] Opposed strength check to attempt to grapple: [roll5]
Tentacle 4 attack: [roll6] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll7] Fire Damage: [roll8] Opposed strength check to attempt to grapple: [roll9]
Tentacle 5 attack: [roll10] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll11] Fire Damage: [roll12] Opposed strength check to attempt to grapple: [roll13]
Tentacle 6 attack: [roll14] Bludgeoning Damage: [roll15] Fire Damage: [roll16] Opposed strength check to attempt to grapple: [roll17]

Ambient fire damage:
Haruki: [roll18]
Laoshi: [roll19]
Hunter: [roll20]

[Breitheamh]

As Hunter releases their grip on the side of the magma creature, satisfied that they have done all they could do in this form, they let themself go into freefall, smokey air whistling through their twelve necks. They lock their eyes on the enemies coming up from below, and as they do so all twelve heads merge into one, and massive wings sprout from their back. They tuck them and continue to dive toward the newcomers, and suddenly these new enemies see a young gold dragon bearing down on them, jaws wide for the killing blow.

Use 7 more Power Points to manifest Metamorphosis again, this time into a Young Gold Dragon

New AC: 13 Armor (Inertial Armor) +7 Shield (Force Screen) -3 Dex (10 Dragon -6 Iron Body) +13 Natural (Dragon) +3 Deflect (Skin of the Hero) +5 Insight (Defensive Precog) -1 Vulnerable = 47
Touch: 14

And Immunity to Fire due to Fire Subtype

Use the rest of the round to direct my dive toward the incoming enemies from below. Depending on far they are, I would like to slow down my fall so that I can still get to them next round even if they blow past me.

Also, I believe next round my Delayed Swarm of Crystals will go off on the top of the Magma Ball, unless I miscounted rounds.

[MikelaC1]

Trying to make sure the fiends never make it up to join in the battle, Zarabeth fires a cone of cold down at them, hoping to catch both since its cone shaped emanation

[roll0] damage
[roll1] SR
If the cone hits both
[roll2] damage
[roll3] SR

[Yas392]

Rad casts Deathwatch and continues upwards. (10 ft below ship)