The Town in the Ruins IC

[4th number]

Xaan nods her assent, and the spell shrinks the angry red wound on the wizard's shoulder by about half, though it still looks ugly and swollen.

As Rogar peers down the hallway (and Ardan is 10 feet behind him), an incorporeal cacodaemon drops out of the stone doorway and attempts to eat his head.

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Bitin' the dwarf: (1d20+6)[12] (1d4+1)[3]

[Quellian-dyrae]

Ardan gives a low growl, advances, and swings his hammer at the thing in a...likely entirely futile defense. "Ah, ladies, I do believe some form of magic is required to effectively engage these creatures," he called back with remarkable calm, more to ensure they were alerted than to pass on the rather obvious information.

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Attack: (1d20+5)[23]

Damage: (1d12+4)[9]

[BigKahuna]

The demon missed Rogar's head. Unfortunately for Rogar, he was very shocked by the demon's attack and this caused him to let out a surprisingly girlish scream. Rogar attempted to turn this scream into an intimidating and manly roar, but failed miserably. Instead he decided to reaffirm his manliness by slashing at the demon.

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Roll to hit (1d20+3)[18]. Roll for damage (1d12+7)[15].

[4th number]

As Rogar and Ardan's weapons pass harmlessly through it, the fiend lunges at the newly arrived paladin with hate in its massive grimace. It dives low toward his ankles, then suddenly seems to vanish. In its place is a tiny snake, bright green in color and entirely transparent. The snake begins to crawl its way up his leg, seeming to touch his skin directly, swimming through the armor as though it isn't there. Eerily, Ardan can't feel it at all, though he sees it spiral up his calf.

Emily glides toward Ardan, hand outstretched, but Xaan (her reflexes as sharp as always) beats her to it. The half-orc runs forward, wound forgotten, as she draws something out of her spellpouch. She touches Ardan, chants gutterally for a moment, and suddenly the snake is an inch off of Ardan's leg, seemingly atop his armor.

"It's wizard's armor-- should work!"

Emily makes an attempt to snatch the snake off of Ardan's leg, falling to her knees as she tries to grab the viper. The snake strikes at her with fangs as ghostly as she.

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Pause to resolve the snake's AoO and Emily's attempt to grab it: (2d20)[5][3](8)

She jerks her hand away, suddenly struck with a very mortal sort of fear.

[hoverfrog]

"I wasn't expecting a fight. I don't have any damaging spells. Wait for it to attack and then hit it. It must have to turn solid to hit." Prax suggests as she loads her crossbow and tries to work out how to hit something that isn't on this plane of existence. "Can't you do something, Arden? These creatures are unholy and you're the opposite, aren't you?"

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Knowledge: Arcana (1d20+8)[23]
Knowledge: The planes (1d20+8)[18]

[hoverfrog]

"Emily, can you pull anyone into the ghostly plane with you?, Just for half a minute. Rogar and Arden are powerful warriors."

[Quellian-dyrae]

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I've kinda lost track of init order - basically just going with an "everyone has posted since my last post" theory - so let me know if I'm jumping head

"Keep on guard, the other one is still here somewhere, and there may be more!" Ardan warned his allies.

When the creature crawled on his leg, he reacted instinctively trying to shake it off. "Away...beast!" he yelled quite uselessly, until Xaan placed that spell upon him.

"Opposite? I'm just a guard..." Ardan replied, rather wishing at the moment that he were some mighty priest or angelic hero capable of banishing such creatures. Never one to give up easily, though, he'd tried to crush the thing, basically wrapping his arms around his knees like an upset child and aiming to trap it between the the two planes of force of Xaan's armor.

"Ah, Lady von Proun, you know this place aye? Might there be a weapon or something in here we can use against them?" he asked, still managing to keep impressively cool as he tried to basically choke out an incorporeal daemon snake with his magical force armor. Retreat was starting to sound like the most viable option here.

The first one had been corporeal, he thought. Maybe the time they could remain intangible was limited? Xaan or Prax might know, if that were the case...if it was, a defensive game might serve, depending on how long it would take.

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Touch Attack (if I need it...?): (1d20+4)[20]

CMB: (1d20+4)[18]

Damage: (1d3+3)[6]

[BigKahuna]

Still shaken by the fact that his weapons appeared to be unable to do damage to these new demons, especially since he was so proud of himself for hurting the first one, Rogar decided to back away and stand in the doorway while exclaiming, "I really need a drink." Rogar then raised his mighty axe and prepared to brutally slash at the next demon that approached him.

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Readied action to Power Attack at the next demon which attempts to attack Rogar or move into his square.

[4th number]

Ardan falls to his knees as he contorts himself in an attempt to pin the ghostly snake. He manages to get some leverage with one arm as it crawls up his thigh, and he's rewarded with a little crunch as he brings his strength to bear. The daemon-snake writhes as it attempts to escape his makeshift grapple.

Emily floats upright, staying well clear of Ardan and the snake. At Prax's suggestion, she reaches out to the witch, her fingertips passing through her friend's hand. "Take my hand, Eupraxia! If I can focus, perhaps you can touch it as you touch me."

Xaan stands ready to cast a spell if she sees an opening-- if Ardan didn't have ahold of it, Grease might get it to drop off. If it weren't attached to him, she could put it to sleep... She readies an action to cast Grease on it if Ardan loses his grip.

Meanwhile, the snake stops struggling for a moment, and Ardan feels... strange.

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Ardan's will save: (1d20+2)[4]

EDIT: And check the OOC thread, if you're not subscribed.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Everybody knows that bunnies live in burrows!" Ardan argued vehemently. "And if ten bunnies live in ten burrows, then clearly two bunnies should live in three burrows! Because you have to think about - I say you have to think about the duck! But the fascinating thing about the duckbunnies and their burrows is, they do not stop me from crushing you like a bug!!!"

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CMB! (1d20+4)[9]

Damage! (1d3+3)[4]

[hoverfrog]

"Have you given him some of your dwarven ale?" it's not the best time for a joke but Prax quips anyway.

"Emily, I don't know if I'd be able to hurt it even if I could touch it," she lifts her skinny arms to show how poor a fighter she would be, "Can you manage Rogar? Or can you make it solid?"

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With a sickle I do 1d6-2 damage. If they have Damage Reduction then I can't cause any damage to them except on a critical hit and even if they don't it would take me 10 rounds to match one hit from Rogar, probably twice that given how little I'm likely to hit. If they have fast healing or regeneration then there is no chance that Prax could handle one on her own. She'd just get in the way.

[4th number]

Emily makes another futile grab for Prax. "Eupraxia, I need your hand. Please, I don't know them, I can't--"

Meanwhile, the snake slips through Ardan's grip, slithering its way up his abdomen and around to his back. Xaan seizes the opportunity to cast her spell, trying to get the thing off of her ally. The snake holds on tenaciously.

Emily breaks away from Prax to make another grab at it, determination showing on her ghostly face. It lashes out at her hand, tiny fangs jabbing into her. Her arm clouds with the venom for an instant, and then it disperses through her body. She gets a delicate grip on the snake, though, and flings it away with her fingertips. It lands on the ground about ten feet away.

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Sorry, nat 20 on that Reflex save vs Grease. Emily's rolling a bit better, though.

Oh, and here's her save vs poison, since I didn't roll that elsewhere: (1d20)[11]

[hoverfrog]

Prax hold her hand out for Emily, "I'll do what I can."

[4th number]

With a look of focus, Emily grasps Eupraxia's hand firmly. Her washed-out translucency begins to spread through her friend-- first her hand, then her arm, and then her whole body begin to fade and become ghostly.

The viper rears up and hisses, slithering past Ardan toward the two shadowy figures.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Ardan had a thought, as he saw that intangibility creep along Prax. He'd dart over, dropping his useless hammer and taking his heatless torch from where it was secured by his pack, gripping it like a club. With his free hand, he would try grabbing Prax's other hand just before it went intangible, hoping it would likewise spread to him.

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Move action to reach Prax's position, ideally via a roundabout route to avoid attacks of opportunity if speed permits, free action to draw a weapon as part of a move action, standard action to take Prax's hand...I guess?

Swift action to grasp at straws?

[4th number]

The snake lashes out at Ardan as he dashes forward, but its fangs rebound against the invisible layer of armor. He manages to grab at Prax's hand just after it turns incorporeal, and for an instant he thinks that he's missed it, but then he feels her wrist in his grip and sees his own hand begin to fade.

[Quellian-dyrae]

"Rogar!" he called, holding his hand and torch/club out to the dwarf, hoping he could make it in time; Rogar was likely the most deadly fighter they had.

[hoverfrog]

"It's working, Emily. Keep concentrating, you're doing it." As Ardan rushes towards them, Prax grabs his hand and concentrates on passing the intangibility on to him. It's like the sensation of being weightless that's she's already quite familiar with but subtly different, as if she's no longer a part of the world but beside it.

[BigKahuna]

Rogar who had been standing back, terrified of these strange creatures he couldn't attack, took a second to cotton on to what Arden was attempting to do. Rogar started running as soon as he figured out that this would allow him to hit the scary monsters, and he had already gained a bit of ground by the time Arden shouted to him. As Rogar approached the group he took his left hand off his mighty axe so that he could grab a hold of Prax with it and hopefully get a lusty blow off at the demon with his right hand.

[4th number]

Rogar grabs ahold of Prax's ghostly upper arm, and begins to fade. Ardan, also clinging to Prax, becomes entirely incorporeal.

Xaan circles around past the cluster of he comrades and begins to chant a singsong little spell at the snake as it approaches them. It ignores her and pounces at Rogar's ankle.

Just then, the other incorporeal daemon, the one wounded by Emily, drops from the ceiling atop Ardan. Its wounds are almost completely healed, and it bites aggressively at the guardsman, puncturing the skin on his sword arm.

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Snake Will save vs. Sleep, DC15 (1d20)[20]+X

Other rolls in OOC. Ardan takes 2 damage.

Prax should make another concentration check, same DC.

PC's turn.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Ardan gave a fierce grin as the team was able to face the creature on its turn...only for backup to arrive and bite him! There was a moment of shock, of fear, and of pure hatred of these daemonic creatures. "Get out of my town!" the guardsman roared in wrathful fury...and something changed.

His skin began to glow, his eyes to blaze with vibrant white light, and the simple torch in his hand flared with divine power. He swung hard, as if the simple tool were an enchanted blade, straight at the creature who bit him.

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Swift Action - Smite Evil on the non-snake daemon. Ardan gets +2 to hit, +1 to damage (+2 on his first attack), and +2 Deflection bonus to AC against it, and ignores any DR it possesses.

Standard Action - Attack with torch. (1d20+6)[20] for (1d6+5)[7]. I'm assuming the torch functions identically to a club; take 4 off of the attack roll if it works as an improvised weapon.

[hoverfrog]

"Kill it, kill it" Prax shrieks gleefully, "Burn it up."

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Concentration check (1d20+5)[13] +4 for Int, +1 for caster level

[BigKahuna]

Rogar decided that the others had this new daemon well in hand, so instead he viciously sliced at the snake with his axe.

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As he is only using one hand, he can't do quite as much damage as usual. He is power attacking though, so (1d20+3)[15] to hit and (1d12+5)[14] for damage.

[4th number]

Rogar's ghostly axe misses the snake and arcs through the floor. In return, it launches itself at him, seeking a gap in his armor large enough to sink a fing in.

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(1d20)[15]

Ardan's parallel attack is much more successful-- as the torch strikes the daemon, it recoils and hisses, baring even more teeth in a grimace of pain. It strikes back, seeking again to sink its fangs into Ardan's arm.

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(1d20)[14] (1d4)[3]

Emily grips her friend's hand as tightly as she can, her eyes closed. Xaan circles the group, seeking an angle from which to launch a spell and being unable to find one. Poldice stands back, club in hand, ready to attack if he ever sees something that he can.

[Quellian-dyrae]

There was nothing more for it. In stern silence, eyes fixed on the daemon with a stare that was almost judgmental, Ardan kept up his assault.

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Attack: (1d20+6)[13] for (1d3+4)[5]

[BigKahuna]

Rogar narrowly avoids being attacked by the snake and lets out a mighty bellow before once again attempting to smash the scary, irritating snake to pieces with his axe.

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Still power attacking. (1d20+3)[10] to Hit and [roll]1d12+5[roll] for damage. EDIT: I posted the damage roll incorrectly but it doesn't matter as I doubt a 10 will hit the snake.