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.



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.



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.



‘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.



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.



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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: Link to OOC

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OOC Thread Is Here.

[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?

Spoiler: Action breakdown

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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]

Spoiler: OOC

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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

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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): (14d10+112)[196]

Non-lethal damage from Words of Creation: (13d4)[34]

[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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: OOC Actions

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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.

Spoiler: Internal Monologue (just for fun; I don't think any of the other characters hear this without telepathy of some sort)

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<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.

Spoiler: Do you understand Abyssal?

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"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.

Spoiler: ”OOC”

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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.

Spoiler: ”Rad or Knowledge Planes DC 30 check

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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.

Spoiler: ”Spot DC 20”

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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.

Spoiler: ”Knowledge The Planes” DC 15

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The big creature in front of you is probably a fire-aligned elemental of some kind.

Spoiler: ”DC 20”

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Maybe it’s some kind of Magma Elemental, but like nothing you’ve ever seen. It looks extra nasty, though.

Spoiler: ”DC 30”

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This is some kind of para-elemental monolith, but also infected by the influence of the Abyss.

Spoiler: ”DC 40”

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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.

Spoiler: ”DC 70”

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This one’s name is Pedro. Vote for Pedro.

Spoiler: Psicraft 16 or Spellcraft 26

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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. 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]

Spoiler: Battle map

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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.

Spoiler: Cone of Cold

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(15d6)[51] damage
(1d20+16)[33] 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.

Spoiler: Mechanics

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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 (1d20+13)[17] (Crit Confirm (1d20+13)[26])
Damage (2d6+7)[14] (Crit (2d6+7)[12])

Claw 1 (1d20+8)[13] (Crit Confirm (1d20+8)[17])
Damage (1d8+3)[7] (Crit (1d8+3)[6])

Claw 2 (1d20+8)[11] (Crit Confirm (1d20+8)[27])
Damage (1d8+3)[4] (Crit (1d8+3)[7])

Wing 1 (1d20+8)[27] (Crit Confirm (1d20+8)[20])
Damage (1d6+3)[5] (Crit (1d6+3)[4])

Wing 2 (1d20+8)[14] (Crit Confirm (1d20+8)[21])
Damage (1d6+3)[5] (Crit (1d6+3)[6])

Tail (1d20+8)[21] (Crit Confirm (1d20+8)[25])
Damage (1d8+10)[14] (Crit (1d8+10)[18])

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
(8d8)[40] 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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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: (1d20+31)[46]; damage: (6d8+20)[52] + (1d6)[2] (fire] + (1d6)[3] (cold] + (1d6)[1] (electricity); crit: (1d20+31)[50]; crit damage: (6d8+20)[46] + (1d6)[2] (fire] + (1d6)[2] (cold] + (1d6)[4] (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.]

Spoiler: Actions

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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.

Spoiler: OOC

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Move action: Flies to the square on roll20 map.

Heal check to determine health: (1d20+29)[40]

If heal check succeed and determined that she is unconscious, he will cast close wounds on her to heal her for (1d4+32)[35] (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.

Spoiler: OoC

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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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: ”Abyssal”

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”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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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 (3d6)[14] 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 (3d6)[12] fire damage for landing on him. Psicrystal takes (3d6)[16] fire damage for landing on him. Haruki takes (3d6)[8]

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: (1d20)[14]
Reflex save vs cone of cold (1d20)[17]

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: (1d20+32)[37] Bludgeoning Damage: (6d6+38)[58] fire damage (3d6)[11]
Tentacle 1 attack vs psicrystal (1d20+37)[45] Bludgeoning Damage (4d6+22)[37] fire damage (3d6)[12]
Tentacle 2 attack vs psicrystal (1d20+37)[45] Bludgeoning Damage (4d6+22)[33] fire damage (3d6)[12]
Tentacle 3 attack vs psicrystal (1d20+37)[47] Bludgeoning Damage (4d6+22)[35] fire damage (3d6)[11]
Tentacle 4 attack vs psicrystal (1d20+37)[41] Bludgeoning Damage (4d6+22)[35] fire damage (3d6)[15]

Tentacle 5 attack vs Laoshi (1d20+37)[42] Bludgeoning Damage (4d6+22)[37] fire damage (3d6)[12] Opposed Grapple: (1d20+48)[55]

Tentacle 6 attack vs Haruki (1d20+37)[39] Bludgeoning Damage (4d6+22)[32] fire damage (3d6)[12] Opposed Grapple: (1d20+48)[55]

What do you do?

[Breitheamh]

Spoiler: At the Speed of thought

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<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.

Spoiler: OOC Mechanics

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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 (1d20+14)[20]

Then as the Standard Action on my turn after coming out of quick time, use Cryohydra Cold jets full-barreled in the face for (36d6)[131] 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

(12d6)[46] damage
(1d20+12)[16] 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.

Spoiler: OOC

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Full attack with flurry of blows:
1st attack: (1d20+31)[38]; damage: (6d8+20)[59] + (1d6)[5] (fire] + (1d6)[3] (cold] + (1d6)[4] (electricity); crit: (1d20+31)[32]; damage: (6d8+20)[42] + (1d6)[1] (fire] + (1d6)[2] (cold] + (1d6)[1] (electricity)
2nd attack: (1d20+31)[50]; damage: (6d8+20)[50] + (1d6)[5] (fire] + (1d6)[5] (cold] + (1d6)[6] (electricity); crit: (1d20+31)[49]; damage: (6d8+20)[46] + (1d6)[3] (fire] + (1d6)[3] (cold] + (1d6)[5] (electricity)
3rd attack: (1d20+31)[51]; damage: (6d8+20)[34] + (1d6)[5] (fire] + (1d6)[5] (cold] + (1d6)[4] (electricity); crit: (1d20+31)[47]; damage: (6d8+20)[52] + (1d6)[1] (fire] + (1d6)[4] (cold] + (1d6)[2] (electricity)
4th attack: attack: (1d20+26)[28]; damage: (6d8+20)[45] + (1d6)[4] (fire] + (1d6)[5] (cold] + (1d6)[6] (electricity); crit: (1d20+26)[34]; damage: (6d8+20)[54] + (1d6)[6] (fire] + (1d6)[2] (cold] + (1d6)[5] (electricity)
5th attack: attack: (1d20+21)[31]; damage: (6d8+20)[53] + (1d6)[6] (fire] + (1d6)[1] (cold] + (1d6)[4] (electricity); crit: (1d20+21)[22]; damage: (6d8+20)[42] + (1d6)[4] (fire] + (1d6)[5] (cold] + (1d6)[4] (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!

Spoiler: ooc

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(6d8)[28] DC 24 reflex for half
Refresh (1d4)[1]

[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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: ”Abyssal”

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“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.

Spoiler: OOC

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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 (3d6)[10] fire from the aura and (3d6)[11] for standing on the big red ball. Psicrystal takes (3d6)[8] 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: (1d20)[16]
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 (3d6)[10] fire from the aura.
Reflex save vs lightning breath: [roll]1d20+[/roll]
Haruki’s 1st and 3rd strikes hit and deal damage. He takes (3d6)[13] fire damage from the aura, and (3d6)[7] and (3d6)[5] 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:

Spoiler: ”Example only”

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Swift action to add draconic fist to my first attack
Attack 1: [roll] 1d20+26 [/roll]
Attack 1 bludgeoning damage: [roll] 3d8+15 [/roll] plus [roll] 1d6 [/roll] from Fist of Iron
Attack 1 electricity damage: [roll] 4d6 [/roll]
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: (1d20+37)[39]
Tentacle 2
Opposed strength check: (1d20+37)[43]
Tentacle 3
Opposed strength check: (1d20+37)[50]

Tentacle 5
Attack Laoshi: (1d20+37)[41]
Bludgeoning Damage: (4d6+22)[38]
Fire Damage: (3d6)[13]
Opposed grapple check on successful hit: (1d20+48)[61]


Tentacle 6
Attack Grisko (1d20+37)[48]
Bludgeoning Damage: (4d6+22)[42]
Fire Damage: (3d6)[15]
Opposed grapple check on successful hit: (1d20+48)[58]

Bite:
Attack Haruki: (1d20+32)[40]
Bludgeoning Damage: (6d6+38)[57]
Fire damage: (3d6)[13]

Over to you!

[Feathersnow]

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

Spoiler: OoC actions!

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

(1d20+28)[47] 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


(1d10+7)[8] Base damage
Furious strike bonus (4d6)[12]
stone dragon's fury bonus (4d6)[14]

[MikelaC1]

Spoiler: OOC

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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.

Spoiler: Attacks

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(1d20+31)[32] attack & (1d8+13)[14] damage + (1d6)[2] icy burst damage
(1d20+26)[41] attack & (1d8+13)[15] damage + (1d6)[4] icy burst damage
(1d20+21)[39] attack & (1d8+13)[20] damage + (1d6)[3] icy burst damage
(1d20+16)[34] attack & (1d8+13)[14] damage + (1d6)[1] icy burst damage


(1d20+31)[38] attack & (1d8+13)[18] damage + (1d6)[1] shocking burst damage
(1d20+26)[27] attack & (1d8+13)[17] damage + (1d6)[4] shocking burst damage
(1d20+21)[27] attack & (1d8+13)[16] damage + (1d6)[1] shocking burst damage

[MikelaC1]

Main sword attacks #3 and #4 are threats

Spoiler: Confirm

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(1d20+21)[32] confirm & (1d8+13)[17] damage + (1d0)[1] icy burst
(1d20+16)[24] confirm & (1d8+13)[17] damage + (1d0)[1] icy burst

[MikelaC1]

Spoiler: Probably didnt confirm but just in case

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(1d10)[1] icy burst
(1d10)[3] icy burst