3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)

[MrAbdiel]

Damien feels the heart-freezing paralysis of the mummy's dread leave him, and gathers his senses. He, Grayson, and Kane were being dragged on their backs toward terrible captivity. He cast a glance to Kane - it was within her power to vanish them from this place, presuming there was no countermeasure to teleporting in or out of this chamber... which was a big assumption, given the nature of its occupants. He knew he could likely escape into the ethereal, though that carried certain assumptions as well. This necromancer might have some enslaved ghost as an attack dog waiting for something like that. Risks to be taken, or assumed. But they didn't have Oracle - perhaps, if she could get away, she could warn-

And then the child-warrior is forced to squeeze his eyes shut as a lance of killing light shears through one of the monstrous minions, destroying it utterly. No escape, then. One more chance to put right the embarrassing entrance.

The fallen paladin released his feet, and suddenly, he had a limited freedom to operate; with Kane to his left, Grayson to his right, hands both shackled.

Damien's hands, bound at the wrists, shift to a palms together knife, and with an unspoken invocation of his changed and mastered blood, those hands begin to smoke and vibrate. He swings the weight of his legs around to spin him a quarter of the way; leans up sharply bringing his hands forth to barely touch the tips of his fingers to Nightwing's shackles. Inside of the same second, he kicks back with his heels and tosses his weight the otherway, rolling hard up to his shoudlers with the blade of his bound hands swinging up over his head to tap softly against Batwoman's shackles. This rotation of weight leaves him almost at a headstand, and with a final whip-crack convultion of his body his fingertips flick a pinch of powder from within his gi to the floor, and with a wisp of smoke too lean to credibly do the job, he vanishes.

And then, finally, Nightwing and Batwoman's shackles slide loosely from their wrists, freeing their hands for the desperate deeds of freedom to come.

Spoiler: OOC:

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I'm going off the description, but I'm reasonably sure we're close enough that this can be accomplished.

Free Action: Activate Ringing Fist Jutsu (down to 4/8 Ki). Until the end of the turn, unarmed attacks can convey the effect of Shatter or, in this case, Knock.

Full Round Action: Full attack. "Attacking" Nightwing and Kate's Shackles. I don't think they are trying to avoid these, so I don't think an attack roll is required! But my primary and secondary attacks each Knock one set of shackles, unlocking them completely.

Swift Action: Another ki (3/8) to go invisible, hoping to get a spitefull Sudden Strike of opportunity on
Baydon if he flees.

[Molan]

Snapping into action as his manacles fell away, Richard pulled his feet away from the distracted mummy, quickly removed the ropes binding them, and jammed both feat directly into Baydon's back. The thug staggered, almost falling over, but he kept his balance, howling instead in frustration and pain.

Spoiler: OOC

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Good lord Nightwing is rolling like such a dink right now. Cannot seem to break 10 on a d20 lol. Anyway, Oracle's back up.

[JbeJ275]

When Oracle next moved another knife came flying from her rapidly shifting position aiming for Baydon's vitals, with the star this time launched at the mummy. And now that Sir Richard was clear she lifted the now familiar weight of the wand of fireballs, and sent a red bead of burning magic directly towards the unblinking eyes of the undead before her. Once more the terror the indecision and the thought was gone, and something in her slipped back to that desperate methodical action of directing magic, taking in and dispassionately accessing every action within her sight and brutally making use of it to move towards success.

Spoiler: Rolls

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(1d20+16)[26] for (4d6+3)[18] on Baydon
(1d20+11)[30] TAC for (1d8)[4] on Mummy
Mummy makes DC17 Reflex save to half (8d6)[32]*1.5 fire damage.

Mechanically I'm targetting behind the mummy to make sure I don't catch anyone else but this sounded cooler.

[Molan]

Baydon gasped as the knife struck him, as he desperately struggled to get away from the door. The mummy staggered once when the light mote hit it, but then was nearly blown to pieces when the fireball exploded. For a brief, apocolyptic moment the entire back of the small room they were in was a blazing wall of flame, and then suddenly it was dark again.

The mummy had taken grievous damage -- but was still (sort of) standing. Baydon, meanwhile, had been retreating in exactly the wrong direction, and he collapsed, blood pouring out of his wounds and smoke curling from his charred skin. The only sign of life that escaped him was a quick cough of blood and ash; but he was clearly on his way to face Judgement.

The charred mummy moaned angrily even as the necromantic power sustaining it seemed to whisk off of it's decayed and burned body, but it still managed to slam one foot down onto Sir Richard, who was still prone. He cried out in pain, and the injury seemed to leave a sizzling black mark where the foot had struck, as though the magic animating the mummy was dangerous to the touch.

Spoiler: OOC

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Kate's turn.

[Feathersnow]

Kate stands up and raises a barrier shield. She expends her focus to prepare to use her Amorpha. She then bends time to rush over and grab her poleaxe!

Spoiler: OoC

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Move- stand
Standard- forcescreen linked to amorpha
Turn ends
Reaction- anticipatory strike
Free action- Concealing Amorpha
Move- get to poleaxe
Standard- arm self


I skip a round as the universe catches up to my initiative

[Molan]

Richard jumped up from being prone with the grace of a tiger; the mummy took a swipe at him as he rose, but missed cleanly. Nightwing's fist followed, connecting with the monster's jaw and sending its head flying, only to smash into ashes across the room. The rest of the corpse's remaining form collapsed into a heap in front of him.

"Well," he said, turning towards the rest of the party. He couldn't actually see any of them -- Oracle and Damien were temporarily invisible and Kate had stepped into the other room. But he was clever enough to have deduced what was happening. "That was embarrassing. Suppose it all worked out though. Unfortunately, we have a decision to make, and we need to make it quickly. I have a feeling we're about to be visited with a lot of unpleasant company. The good news is, no one outside this closet knows we've escaped. The bad news is there's still plenty of bad guys who might want to come and see the Dark Knights get questioned / tortured. Anyone have any bright ideas?"

Spoiler: OOC

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You've dropped back out of initiative order. There is an invisible timer on how many "turns" (seconds, minutes, dealer's choice) you have before more trouble arrives. When it does, you can choose to reroll initiative or keep the rolls you have. Good news is, Richard and Damien have dope Initiative results right now. Bad news, obviously, is that Kate and Barbara's were...lackluster.

Aaaaaaaaand.........GO!

[MrAbdiel]

["We stick to the plan. Infernalist next. Need to pick these goons off before their cavalry gets here."]

Fading back into view, one of the shuriken from inside Damien's gi glides out to slice at the ropes on his hands, then his feet, until he scrambles to his feet and sprints back towards where their weapons were dumped, arming up for the next ambush.

["Spare the paladin if you can, Grayson. The last thing we need is a corpse for that woman to animate when she gets back."]

He gestures toward the doors to the north, behind which he expects Kyltania to be stirring now from the recent commotion; hoping to arm himself before she can check the door, hoping Nightwing can spare the damn paladin, hoping that something they hope for can manifest instead of a long sequence of bad turns.

Spoiler: OOC:

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It'll take a turn to free himself from the ropes entirely for sure. Then however long you think is fair to run over and get his gear, then back to break position by that first north door! Hopefully, since Nightwing doesn't have weapons to retrieve, he can be the agent of mercy. Can Barbara's brain powers detect anything on the other side of this door, or is it too short range?

[Molan]

The party stormed the next room. Nightwing tried the handle, and the door opened without any fuss. The sorceress inside hadn't locked it, after all.

Unfortunately, she had overheard or otherwise detected the commotion coming from the other chamber, and appeared prepared.

The room was a ghastly scene. A fiendish, unholy altar bedecked in viscera loomed against the far wall, just beyond the curtain that separated the short hallway from the main chamber. A profane ritual circle was written in what looked like dried blood across the floor, and offerings of skulls and humanoid femurs were scattered around the base of the altar. There were several dead bodies lined up over grates along one side of the room, where they had apparently been left after being drained of their fluids. The woman kneeling in the center of the circle was the very image of madness. She wore little clothing, and what she did have on was rags, the blackened remains of what might have once been a robe or a dress. Her hair was dirty and slick and cluck to her back and the side of her face, and her coal-dark eyes flashed with the very essence of madness. Her cracked lips curled into a vicious smile as they came in, revealing teeth that had been sharpened to points.

Where the necromancer Havyn had radiated with the cold inevitability of the grave, the interior of this room felt like hellfire and poison. Black magic radiated out from the walls and dripped from the ceiling; no one ever should have allowed this woman to walk free. The Thieves, in their hubris, appeared to have encouraged her.

She finished casting the dark spell she'd been working, lines of blood red arcana tracing symbols in the air before her, as the ground near her seemed to split open. The party was greeted with a grinding, metallic sound, the clashing of chains and the howl of some malefic laughter. The creature that dragged itself out of the portal appeared human in shape and size, but chains wrapped it like a shroud, every length ending in a hook or a blade or a heavy ball. The chains seemed to slither and slide over the creature’s form, almost as if they were alive.

Nightwing ran in first, aiming directly at the suddenly manifested monster. He delivered a flying kick directly into the beast's chest, his foot radiating with the light version of the ki power he and Damien both deployed. The attack went nowhere, however. The chains wrapped across the creature's chest seemed to bounce directly off without slowing it at all.

Spoiler: OOC

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Kyltania knew you were coming, and was looking forward to it. Think of her as like a female Jeffrey Dahmer who could also summon demons and hellfire. She's super fun.

I'll post the turn order OOC but Damien is up now.

Feel free to take checks or scans for any of the magic floating in the room.

[MrAbdiel]

Damn - too slow to catch her off guard. The devil before them was too much an obstacle to ignore; but unlike the undead, these were an enemy he was capable of fighting. If someone was going to burst in and overwhelm the caster beyond, it might need to be Kate or Oracle.

Scion takes a quick step forward, shifting his weight and the orientation of his body as his fingertips dart quickly twice into the folds of his gi and sends an alchemically silvered shuriken sparking through the air to the chain devil, followed swiftly by the scything birdarang!

Spoiler: OOC: Attacks!

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First attack with a regular silver shuriken, the second is with the birdarang (need that +2 on the secondary attack, I think.)

Having the honor to preceed the devil in combat this first turn, he is flat footed to me.

SilverShuriken - (1d20+16)[25] for (1d2-1)[1] damage (min 1) plus (5d6)[23] sudden strike damage. This is dealt by a silver weapon.
Birdarang - (1d20+13)[19] for (1d2+2)[4] damage (min 1) plus (5d6)[18] sudden strike damage. This is NOT dealt by a silver weapon, merely a magical one.

[Molan]

The monster unleashed a gout of it's own obscene energy, and for a moment, nothing happened. However, a moment later, with a sensation of dread trickling down their spines, the party heard the sound of tinkling, rattling metal on metal, as though some chains were swinging against themselves above them.

They looked up. Sure enough, the high, dark ceiling of the hallway was crisscrossed with loops of old iron chains, secured at multiple points to the ceiling with simple open-faced hooks. As they watched, the chains began to writhe and move, and as they did so, they began to grow spikes and barbs, and began loosing themselves from the ceiling. With a sound of metal grinding a whetstone, the Kyton seemed to laugh at their peril.

The sorceress had been prepared for intruders -- and this wasn't her first time summoning a Kyton.

The chains lashed out from the ceiling, sweeping through the hall. Damien and Richard each managed to sidestep the ones that came for them, but Kate and Barbara were each both lashed by one. Oracle's chain left a cut on her arm, and Kate's a slightly nastier gash in her torso, but they'd each survived...so far.

Meanwhile, in the main chamber, Kyltania took a step back, cackling the whole time, and summoned forth a new surge of black magic. A new hellpit opened in the floor, this time inside the chamber instead of guarding the main hall, and an absolutely horrifying new monstrosity came crawling out of it. It looked, in the most basic possible sense, like a centipede. Unfortunately that's where it's natural characteristics ended. The beast was massive, taking up almost the entire lefthand side of the room, barely even big enough to fit through the chained corridor they were standing in, if it tried. It looked horrific, like something that would have crawled out of a demon's nightmare, covered with sharp angles and black and red colors and plenty of spikes and barbs that had no place on any kind of mortal creature. It was very much a beast from the lower realms, just like the Kyton, except somehow even MORE terrifying and stomach turning.

Spoiler: OOC

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Whelp, it's Oracle's turn. But hey, here's some good news: She's probably going to have to start summoning from a lower tier list next turn? That's good! Right? lol.

[JbeJ275]

Oracle moves forward invisibly, wincing from the chain to her shoulder but still pushing forward, determined to put Kyltania down hard before she could conjure any more foes. Her invisibility shielded her as she stepped around the chain devil, and pressed forward. Now she was glad of her recent studies, for in the hope to remember the importance of her staying on the side of the angels she'd learned magic imbued with the energy of the outer plains of good and righteousness, better equipped to burning away demons than any normal mortal magics.

But for now practical concerns, standing invisibly before Kyltania she brought these stars around her, and in a flurry of action shaped them into starlight blades in the image of the batlike shuriken, lead by the knife and guided once again by divination pulling her towards the most vital targets she launched a full volley at Kyltania.

Spoiler: Rolls

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Burning Colour Spray into critical strike, aiming at Kyltania unless she goes down midway through then switching to the chain devil.

Knife: (1d20+16)[34] for (5d6+3)[18]
Star 1: (1d20+11)[16] TAC for (1d8)[4]+(4d6)[12] good aligned damage
Star 2: (1d20+11)[18] TAC for (1d8)[8]+(4d6)[12] good aligned damage
Star 3: (1d20+11)[27] TAC for (1d8)[6]+(4d6)[14] good aligned damage
-2 AC for being invisible, crit on 19 or 20.

[Molan]

Only two of the attacks managed to break through the witch's magical defenses, but they were enough. Both the knife and a bat-shaped mote of light smacked straight into her stomach, producing a gout of blood and a shrieking how of pain from the summoner. She dropped to one knee, clutching her wound and calling on her minions to defend her.

Spoiler: OOC

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Oooooooooooooh, CLOSE!

Kate's turn.

[Feathersnow]

Kate walks up and axes the summoner!

Spoiler

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(1d20+14)[18]
(4d6+8)[23]

[Molan]

Kate charged in, putting herself between Oracle (who was still invisible) and the giant hideous multilegged demon. She swung her pole ax but the psionically enchanted head reacted to the magical, profane wards protecting the summoner and it bounced off.

Richard got in close to the kyton, and wailed away in a blinding flurry of strikes and kicks. The demon knocked aside a couple of strikes, but Richard was able to slam an elbow against the side of it's head, and a knee into it's chained, spiked gut. If the strike hurt Nightwing, he didn't give any outward indication.

Spoiler: OOC

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It's Damien's turn. Nightwing finally did...something. Kate really Kated that swing. The invisible timer to reinforcements turns down 1 round.

[Feathersnow]

Kate decides that boldness is called for. She surges into a time warp, and launches two blows at the woman!

Spoiler

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(1d100)[43]
Assuming 11+
(1d20+16)[23]
(4d6+8)[16]

(1d20+11)[17]
(4d6+8)[16]

[Molan]

It took another burst of psychic energy, but it did the trick. Kate was finally able to bash through Kyltania's defenses and knock the dark summoner out, leaving only her hellish minions left to deal with.

[Feathersnow]

Sisters! Your binder is subdued! Turn on her and be free! Shouts Kate in Infernal. Maybe, if the Devils weren't volunteers, they would betray their master rather than protect her!

[MrAbdiel]

Damien hestitates for a second at Kate's apparent command or parley with the devils; but when they are not immediately forthcoming with compassion and diasarmament, he renews the assault. Trading his small sword into a two handed grip, he juke-steps behind Nightwing and slides into melee with the Kyton from between the older warrior's legs, slashing as he pulls to the side!

Spoiler: OOC:

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Need to start economizing on Ki points, so that's a 5ft step up, then a feint, then a strike.

Bluff for the feint to flat-foot the enemy: (1d20+13)[27].
Attack this tragically unsilversword: (1d20+17)[31] for (1d4)[1] damage. If the feint succeeds, there's also (6d6)[26] sudden strike damage.

[Molan]

The great many-legged hell worm lashed out at Kate, snapping with it's several sets of mandibles, but the vicious biters clanged against her armor, yielding no results. The chain devil lashed out at Sir Richard twice himself, striking him both times in retaliation for it's earlier injuries, then once more with one of the chains dangling from the ceiling, for good measure. Another chain swung out at Damien, but while Nightwing was busy getting ripped to pieces by barbed chains, the little ninja managed to dodge away from the incoming attack.

Spoiler: OOC

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Nightwing takes 21 damage, but neither the hell bug nor the spare chain the Kyton tossed at Damien land. Oracle is up.

[MrAbdiel]

Before he can stop himself, Damien does something he hates being seen to do: he expresses public concern for Sir Richard.

[“Grayson, get clear of those chains and sink a potion! I have this one!”]

Though his telepathic tone is loaded to suggest condescension, even disappointment in the warrior… he is not in the moment able to hide the timbre of fraternal fear from the edges of his plea.

[JbeJ275]

Oracle doesn’t have the spare breath to shout her concerns as the fight continues, instead focusing on bringing it to and end as she continues to throw out lives and stars as swiftly as she can, trying to bring the Kyton then the monstrous centipede down, he has only two stars and one life left after this and she’s clearly aware of how limited that leaves her.

Spoiler

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Knife:(1d20+16)[22] for (4d6+3)[16]
Star 1: (1d20+11)[20] TAC for (1d8)[8]+ (3d6)[7] good aligned damage
Star 2: (1d20+11)[21] TAC for (1d8)[1]+ (3d6)[10] good aligned damage
Star 3: (1d20+11)[31] TAC for (1d8)[6]+ (3d6)[12] good aligned damage
-2 AC for being invisible.

[Molan]

The knife and the first two stars crashed into the chain devil, and it seemed to be momentarily engulfed in flames and dark magic before shrieking back into the abyssal pit that spawned it.

The final star hurled with unerring accuracy towards the great hell-worm's mouth, but it was ensconced in hellish powers...

Spoiler: OOC

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Going to rule that, since it's a Star of Avandor, that it'll beat DR 10/magic (that's gotta mean spells too, I feel), but I need Jbe to make the following checks:

1. Caster Level Check
2. Spot Check

It's Kate's turn. The worm will not be dead regardless of the results of the checks but they will have effects on other things.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien flicks a fistful of smoking fragments into the air infront of the worm's 'face', then flattens himself against the wall in the corridor out of the monster's eyeline, letting its attention drift away and preparing to strike anew...

Spoiler: OOC:

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Not much frontage to engage in the dance of feint-stab melee, so I'll have to hide for a turn to establish a surprise if I intend on continuing to preserve my precious ki.

(1d20+13)[30] to 'bluff' to create a distraction!
(1d20+20)[24] to hide!

[Molan]

Damien flicks a fistful of smoking fragments into the air infront of the worm's 'face', then flattens himself against the wall in the corridor out of the monster's eyeline, letting its attention drift away and preparing to strike anew...

Spoiler: OOC:

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Not much frontage to engage in the dance of feint-stab melee, so I'll have to hide for a turn to establish a surprise if I intend on continuing to preserve my precious ki.

[roll0] to 'bluff' to create a distraction!
[roll1] to hide!

The monster, focused mostly on the nuisance of Kate in front of it, seemed to ignore Damien, and was thoroughly hoodwinked by his diversion and stealth attempt.

The monster's fangs glowed a baleful red, as it charged up for an attack, but it was badly wounded and it was disoriented by Damien's feint. It's glowing fangs again tried to bisect Kate, but with as much success as before.

Spoiler: OOC

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Oracle's turn!

[JbeJ275]

Oracle unleashes the last of her stored magics to try and bring this battle to an end, two stars at the demon and a knife and the critter hiding on the roof.

Spoiler: Roll

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Knife: (1d20+16)[31] for (4d6+3)[15]
Star 1: (1d20+11)[31]vs TAC for (1d8)[4]+(3d6)[8]
Star 2: (1d20+11)[22]vs TAC for (1d8)[4]+(3d6)[3]

Invisibility gives -2 AC.

[Molan]

Oracle lashed out at the beast, and her arcane projectiles finally destroyed it, sending it screeching and writhing back to the Hells. They had -- for a moment, cleared the room of dangers, except for the unseen stalker Oracle had detected a moment before.

The attack against the invisible stalker cracked into the stone wall near it, yielding no result.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien reached for a shuriken, but Oracle's fusillade dispatched the monstrosity in short order, leaving its sparking remains dissolving back to where it came. But his eyes track the magical passage of one of Oracle's shots going wide and wild, into a wall nearby. He doesn't find her to be the marksman he considers himself, but she doesn't miss by margins like that. Another opponent, then - one unseen. A familiar, perhaps? Snagging one of the potions he purchased expecting just such an event, he pops the cork and shoots it down to be sure...

Spoiler: OOC:

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Move Action to draw the potion of See Invisibility, and a Standard Action to chug it! Depending on what he sees, he'll probably five foot step back towards the main hall also.

[Molan]

Spoiler: Damien

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Damien downed the potion, and after feeling a rush flood to his head, he blinked, and saw the spot Oracle had attacked on the wall in a new light A tiny humanoid-shaped creature with spiky horns and bat wings hovered nearby. Its hands and feet were long and slender, with long, claw-tipped digits. Warts or pustules covered its greenish skin.

[JbeJ275]

Barbara took a moment to cast two further spells, one restoring the orbiting cloud of invisible stars, the other connecting the minds of the four different vigilantes currently in the room, then she began to think to the others.

I’ve connected us mentally. It’s a simple double directive mental divination matrix for silent communication. Can anyone else here not the invisible creature on that wall there? I fear it’s acting as a relay but without being able to access it directly with arcane sight I can’t know for sure.

[Molan]

Spoiler: OOC

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Knowledge: Arcana or, Knowledge: The Planes to identify what you're looking at, assuming you can see it.

Keep in mind the Arcana check and the Planes checks are the same, but yield different information; i.e., (The Planes = "What is that?") while (Arcana = "Why is that?")

A flat Intelligence check will dump a clue (there's only 1 clue, this is pass/fail) as to the situation or the creature's purpose, and a Wisdom check could yield insight on it's behavior.

Feel free to mix and match, but you have to roll separately for each check.