3.5e Batman Campaign (2.0)

[Feathersnow]

Kate readies her shield and amorpha. "I'm not going anywhere very fast, but I leave the call to you"

[Molan]

Spoiler: OOC

Show

I believe we're just waiting on a response from Joy, correct?

[MrAbdiel]

Damien returns from the side room, having discovered the ladder, in time to hear Barbara's tactical rundown of the other side of the door. Once all their allies are in quiet earshot, he draws in a breath through his nose as he looks over them - a thoughtful, generalissimo's sense of measured judgement in the gesture - and then begins commanding again, as if he's in a position to command, even cutting in before Spoiler has a chance to respond.

"We ought not engage with them on open terms when we can force them into ours. There's a ladder back there that leads up to the mezzanine. Spoiler and I will sneak in and take the high ground. We'll try to separate them and bait one or more of them close enough to the door that Batwoman and Azrael can rush them." He looks to Kate and Azrael in turn, lifting fore and middle finger in a loose fork and a swirling back-and-forth indication of each of them personally. "You'll have to wait on Batgirl to call it, since she's the one with the magic that reads intelligent presence at distance through walls. There's a side door in the mimic room that looks like it opens into the main hall too. Batgirl, engage from this doorway and, if they come at you, fall back and loop around to that one. If it's all the same to you, I intent us to leave here upright, and you've already bled enough today. If the spell lapses or it seems like we're in trouble, use your judgement; but barring calamity, we should be able to rope them into combat with our duelists and give the precisionists freedom to operate to maximum effect." He pauses only to throw back another potion - this one a small, square flask of silver fluid - and slips the empty bottle back into his pack over his shoulder with onehanded ease.

"Let's go."

Then he's off, moving towards the ladder - swifter than before, swift enough to keep up with the grown-ups - apparently expecting that to be the sum total discussion on the matter.

Spoiler: OOC Actions!

Show

Damien blathers self importantly but with a not-too-bad plan, drinks a potion of Longstrider, and runs off to sneaky-climb-hide-move-silently. Take tens at 27 Hide and 25 Move Silently!

[JoyWonderLove]

The brooding Spoiler answered Oracle with a glassy eyed look, like an exhausted student wholly unprepared for the teacher’s test. It was an intended kindness, the con artist realized dimly, that Barbara even asked her opinion; especially after the betrayal. But the slight head shake admitted she simply wasn’t in a place to evaluate anything. She only wanted to do whatever was yet necessary, and get out. Damien thankfully talked over her after; the one time she might ever be grateful for it. His plan was aggressive but decisive. She openly tried to read the only one among them who had actual military training and experience, but the matte red and black steel and sigils hid all tells.

“Unless Batwoman or Oracle see a flaw...” Spoiler hedged hesitantly as she trailed off, not overly concerned with the inquisitor that was nowhere to be seen when she had stared down the banshee. She then leapt atop the barrel before her with a grunted effort, and hopped down again to pad quietly after their self-appointed little commando officer.

Spoiler: Actions, Take 10s.

Show

Follow Damien, obviously, crossbow as current weapon.

Take 10 Hide and Move Silently. 25 each!

Spoiler: MrAbdiel

Show

Is this mild prep for Damien potentially becoming a Dread Commando? Or am I reading too much into this?

[JbeJ275]

Barbara shoots a concerned look at Spoiler, but doesn’t let it linger. Instead she nods to Damien and begins considering the locations of the thoughts on the other side of the wall, getting ready to go if one of them seems to be getting within 30ft or if thoughts reveal they’re about to do something drastic. She also draws a thin metal knife, shaped with ornamental bat wings from her component pouch and redoes herself to cash Cloud of Knives should one of the thugs start heading in their direction.

[Molan]

Damien and Spoiler cut through the fourth door and into the storage room beyond, finding the ladder and moving silently up to the mezzanine level on the second floor.

When they reached it, they were able to see into the chamber beyond, illuminating what had been hidden behind the third door. There were two large openings in the second floor; one near the rear of the vault, and one directly over the center. Above them, fiendish gargoyle-headed metal pillars held up the third floor mezzanine, and the moon showed brightly down through the skylight beyond it. The second floor was packed with arcana just like all of the times before, but they had relatively open sight lines from where they were perched.

In the center most opening, they could see the same large stone stair structure at the center of every vault was here as well. Two large broad stone staircases, one facing South and one facing North, occupied the middle of the room, ascending to a stone plinth in the center before branching into two new, east-west stairways that ascended up to the second floor where Spoiler and Damien now lurked. The ornate design seemed intended for workers to move large amounts of items up and down through the Vaults, but it served a secondary effect of breaking up the room on the first floor and blocking line of sight between the north and south halves of the room.

The large piles of boxes filling up the space helped enhance that effect.

The center area around the great stair was mostly empty and vacant. As a result, when Spoiler and Damien observed Azreal push open the door to the central room, no one else noticed him enter. Oracle followed closely behind, and Batwoman, still enlarged from her spell, crawled in after them.

The second opening in the 2nd floor showed the back half of the room. In previous vaults, this was a completely separate chamber, but the design of each vault was oh-so-slightly different, and here the north wall has apparently been removed, creating one great, long Hall of a room. It was through that second opening that Damien spotted trouble.

He gestures rapidly for Spoiler to join him to watch, even as their comrades slowly entered and began advancing below and behind them.

At the far north end of the hall, a gathering had assembled in front of a second staircase, this one a grand ramp with stairs stretching out left and right, leading up to the 2nd floor. Behind the staircase was a great arching stained glass window, looking out on the city beyond. At the base of the staircase was an assembly of more than half a dozen armed men, standing in a very loose ring around two central objects. One of those objects was a stark white crate, which had been ripped open, and hay and white linen splayed out of it where the thugs had removed the packaging to observe the box's contents.

Inside, half obscured, looks like the cover of a golden book, it's surface carved with geometric patterns.

The second "object" in the middle of the gathering is Sir Alfred Pennyworth. He's on his knees, and his heavy, magical repeating crossbow is sitting on the ground just in front of him. He's clearly been cornered and captured.

The thugs look a lot more dangerous than any the party had encountered on the Merchant's Guild Docks. They're all extremely heavily armed and wearing armor as light as studded leather and as heavy as half plate, with an assortment in between. They're packing axes, swords, hammers and even a heavy flail. Most curious though is what they're holding in their hands. All but one are carrying heavy crossbows with steel limbs, and each one is loaded with a strange looking bolt. The bolts are like a regular crossbow round until the shaft reaches the head, where it's broken by what looks like a vial of glass filled with some sort of liquid. The liquid on each thug's loaded round is different, but each had a steel tip on the other end of the vial. They have bolt quivers on their hips, and half of the fletching in the quivers us black, while the other half are fletched bolts of various colors. The colors seem somewhat random.

What truly stands out though is the way the thugs' clothes and armor are painted. Each and every one of them have painted half of their armor, clothes, hoods, helms and the like black, so that one half of their body is almost completely black. The other half they appear to have painted whatever color they preferred -- one is half white, another gray, then blue, red, purple, ect. Anyone who's spent enough time in Gotham would recognize the bifurcated, bichrome look as a kind of gang affiliation.

Standing near the box, looking down on Alfred, was a...unique...looking trio. Standing behind the man who was clearly the leader, was a pair of women, each bearing a holy symbol draped around their necks. The woman to his left (party's right) had a platinum cross of St. Cuthbert draped around her neck on a silver chain, and she was covered in elegant white cleric's robes that have been cut to look a bit more evocative than most priests of St. Cuthbert would normally sport. She also had completely Stark white hair falling around her shoulders and dazzling blue eyes.

The second woman was nearly the complete opposite. Her symbol was an ebony icon of Wee-Jas, drapes on a black iron chain, and her own scandalous robes were black, and her eyes were a deep violet.

While the thugs' attention was on Alfred or their surroundings, the two women only had eyes for the figure standing in between them -- plainly the leader of the crew. His appearance was shocking enough that even Damien nearly gasped.

The right half of his body (party's left) was completely normal, if not regal and sacrosanct. He wore beautiful white brigandine studded with polished steel and had a silvered colored bracer with angelic wings carved into it, ending in a closed fist. He carried a strange looking rod or scepter on his right hip, also silver. His face (on the right side) was incredibly handsome; a piercing blue eye, a shock of smooth blonde hair, a chiseled jawline.

But the left half of his body was all wrong. The brigandine suit was burnt black; his left bracer was also black but was carved with hellish imagery of demons and hellfire, he carried a black mace topped with a howling skull.

All that might not have been so terrible, if it wasn't for his face. The left half of his face looked like it belonged to a zombie or another kind of animated corpse. It was charred, ruined, and rotting looking. Bone showed through at places, and far, far too much of his eyeball was showing in it's socket. His lips had been burned or peeled away revealing all of his teeth, running back through his mouth. When he spoke, Damien and Spoiler could see his tongue and mouth muscles move inside his face. His voice sounded like a strange mix of grinding bone and smooth, confident baritone.

"Be honest with us Pennyworth, did Fox put you up to this, or was it that brat you work for?"

"That 'brat' is your rightful liege lord, Lord Dent."

The scarred man laughed.

"Liege Lord, grow up Pennyworth." he scoffed. "You act like that actually means something. Now stop stalling and answer our question. Who sent you after the book?"

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Make spot checks, reroll initiative in advance. Sorry for asking but I lost the order lol.

Barbara's Detect Thoughts spell reveals more of the same from the thugs as the spells radius catches the rest of the assembled group. Alfred's mind remains a steel trap, as does the "Boss's".

As of right now, Oracle, Kate and Azreal are hidden from sight due to all of the obstructions in the room and no one has passed a listen check to notice them -- yet.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien drinks in the scene from their hiding position, lip curling, eyes glaring, with the pure, miniaturized contempt of an agitated chihuahua. "The old fool's gotten himself caught... But he's going to be important in the fight to come. But we can't initiate a fight with that firing squad right there. You're the tricky one - if you can draw their attention in a way that doesn't provoke the combat right away, get them to move to you over there..." He indicates the area infront of the visual blind where their allies are hiding, "Then the others can rush right in and deprive them of good shots with those weapons; maybe put a few down quickly. I'll free Pennyworth, and before they realize it, we'll have them surrounded instead of the other way around. They might even plead mercy." With the combat coming, he takes a few additional seconds to produce a pair more shuriken, and slick them in the black grease poison he had done earlier - hidden from Spoiler the first time, in plain view now.

[Molan]

Down below, the scene continued to unfold.

"Perhaps I wasn't after the book, Harvey. Perhaps I was just looking for you."

"You've been holed up on that island doing the idiot princeling's bidding for years. What does Wayne want with the Codex?"


"What do you want with the Codex Dent? You're sitting in the middle of a treasure trove worth of riches and you sought out this book specifically? What could you and your little trolls possibly want with it?"

The half-ghoul, half-angel man chuckled, his voice sounding both melodic and simultaneously carrying the low grumble of skulls rolling down a hill.

"You don't even know what this thing is, do you Pennyworth? There are some things in this world even a city full of wizards doesn't fully understand. We need the book for reasons that wouldn't occur to you. Don't worry. It'll be a lot more effective in our hands than on Fox's auction block."

"Listen, Dent, you and I both know damn well that Fox would never sell the Codex. And you'll definitely never get it's worth on the black market. Moreover, it's a celestial text -- there's no conceivable way you can use it for crimes. Whatever you're planning -- it's not worth it."

"Lord Harvey Dent" chuckled, shaking his head.

"We're sure you're very concerned for our well being," as he spoke, the rest of his thugs and minions began laughing as well. "But we're not going to waste time bickering with some Wayne toady until the Dark Knight finally shows up to cause more headaches. So what will your fate be, hmmm?"

"Well, I guess if you're asking, you should probably release me and send me back to suffer serving under an idiot princeling."

Dent laughed, but shook his head. He opened his clenched white fist, revealing a coin held in his palm.

"Nice try Pennyworth. We'll choose the same way we choose everything."

As he said that, his men started laughing again. Dent began to roll the coin around over his knuckles, smirking in anticipation.

Spoiler: Barbara's Spot Results

Show

The area to the left of thug's 1 and 2 is trapped; this is another magical trap, with very feint runes on the ground. There was another trap on the other side of the chamber but either Dent or one of his thugs appears to have disarmed it. The door to the right behind Thug 7 is open.

[JbeJ275]

Oracle indicates to the others she's with to remain silent, and quietly relays what she has gleaned of the situation regarding traps and the likely coming actions of their allies upstairs that could be divined from Spoiler's thoughts. She then waits for the pair upstairs to start moving into action then conjoures her Cloud of Knives.

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: Ignore me! Shuffling to after the next post.

Show

Damn! Dent was gloating about what he was about to do with a heavy implication of lethality in it. No time to break the group up at all; and short of superior supplies, not much that can be done about that. The time has come for calculated risk.

"Scrap it; no time. Cover me."

And then, with yet another unilateral tactical decision, he breaks off from her position and doubles back thirty feet so he's less likely to draw direct attention to her, producing the smooth black rod as he does, thumbing another button on the thing that produces hooks from both ends. He settles in a position that, with a quick shoulder check, gives him a nice supply of heavy crates behind him and the distant staircase infront; then raises the rod up above his head, and depresses the button again. At once, both ends fire away with their quiet mutual hisses, the one behind Tnk!ing off the wall behind the crates, the one infront sailing all the way across the room to do the same on the far wall, both ropes ceasing to spool after the impact; and with a third press of the button, the ropes retract and snag; the one behind hooking on the heavy-stacked goods, the one infront on the edge of the far stairs, and the rope between snaps taut at a downward slope, starting at about 15ft above the battlefield where Damien holds it, to about 5ft off the ground where it hooks the curl of the stairs.

Spoiler: OOC: Time Two-Face Facts

Show

I figure it's about this point that the goons might look up and see small ninja, and combat might begin!

[JoyWonderLove]

Grimacing at the situation below, Spoiler looked near unreadable when they boy applied black ink to his weapon. It was then she realized however absent Bruce was as a father, someone had to have stepped in to fill the gap. The suspicion came upon her that it was the old knight that had done the best he could, and lucidity clawed away at the inner demons. Her face set stubbornly for knowing she couldn’t allow a child to witness the execution of his loved one. No one deserved that.

Leverage. We need leverage to save his life.

“Right now, getting Pennyworth out is the only thing I count a win, okay? Not that idiot’s guide to Aasimars; not stopping the Vaults from getting ransacked. But there’s only two easy ways for it, Damien. Snatch the book and force a trade is the first. Dent thinks Pennyworth precious; but counts the book priceless. The second is to bleed Dent so damn hard his cultists close rank, steal the book, and drag his ass with them. Either way, I’m around to rain on Dent's day.” She wiggled the hand crossbow playfully like a prop in a play, hiding the fear skulking heavy in her stomach at the thought of six heavily enchanted crossbows and three spellcasters all baying for her blood. “All eyes up top.”

Estanna help me.

Meanwhile Lord Dent lead his cult of personality onwards, his two skanks hanging on his side raptly, all the lapdogs barking appreciatively, and the old knight patiently drawing out information and seconds. But now a coin was being rolled around the two faced creature’s knuckles theatrically. She instantly knew this idiot must belong to Olidammara, and time shorter than she thought.

“Or we go night of the red knifes on their ass. Your loved one, your call.”

[MrAbdiel]

Damn! Dent was gloating about what he was about to do with a heavy implication of lethality in it. No time to break the group up at all; and short of superior supplies, not much that can be done about that. The time has come for calculated risk. The boy's eyes darted as Stephanie offered a very reasonable assessment. Pennyworth had greater value than a magical tome, no matter how pricy it was. This registered in his features visibly, like a shadow of uncertainty passing over a face too young to witness such scenes; but then his features harden again, some cruel calculus smothering the warmer sentiment clawing its way up for a breath.

"The book is paramount. But Pennyworth will be instrumental in the brawl to follow. We leave with both. Cover me."

And then, with yet another unilateral tactical decision, he breaks off from her position and doubles back thirty feet so he's less likely to draw direct attention to her, producing the smooth black rod as he does, thumbing another button on the thing that produces hooks from both ends. He settles in a position that, with a quick shoulder check, gives him a nice supply of heavy crates behind him and the distant staircase infront; then raises the rod up above his head, and depresses the button again. At once, both ends fire away with their quiet mutual hisses, the one behind Tnk!ing off the wall behind the crates, the one infront sailing all the way across the room to do the same on the far wall, both ropes ceasing to spool after the impact; and with a third press of the button, the ropes retract and snag; the one behind hooking on the heavy-stacked goods, the one infront on the edge of the far stairs, and the rope between snaps taut at a downward slope, starting at about 15ft above the battlefield where Damien holds it, to about 5ft off the ground where it hooks the curl of the stairs.

Spoiler: OOC: Time Two-Face Facts

Show

I figure it's about this point that the goons might look up and see small ninja, and combat might begin!

[Molan]

The man in the center of the thugs flipped his coin; it danced and sparkled in the air, and for a moment, everyone's eyes followed it. It fell into Dent's open palm, and he looked down and smiled.

What followed was strange, even for a city like Gotham. A baleful vermilion glow they hadn't noticed was there shifted, from a faint outline on his burned side and a menacing sparkle in his eye, shifting over to his unburnt side. As the light passed from one side to the other, it morphed from a menacing purplish red to a blueish silver. Dent's right eye found a silvery twinkle and the right side of his body began to shimmer with a silvery halo.

Dent smiled.

"Huh. Well would you look at that. Seems like this is your lucky night, Pennyworth."

As he spoke, Damien's grappling rope smacked into the wall behind and overhead of him. His smile vanished, and the thugs started.

[MrAbdiel]

Spoiler: OOC: Slight retcon.

Show

Due to a misunderstanding of some of the range values, the exact trajectory of the grapple has been changed; it's now tethered to a railing post near the main hole in the second floor, instead of the far stairs.

Time's up. Damien wraps his hands around the middle section of the Rod of Ropes, and springs over the third floor railing; the rope remaining iron-straight as he slides down by his grip, swiveling in a full corkscrew revolution with the torque of his jump before emerging from the gloom like a black-clad cannonball, sailing knee first into the solar plexus of one of Dent's men...

Spoiler: OOC Rolls!

Show

Attack roll first! Technically it's a gauntlet strike, but... You know. Cinema. Gauntlet Strike - (1d20+9)[24]. Target is unaware, so is denied his Dex AC. If Damien hits, it's 1 Damage plus (3d6)[11] Sudden strike damage.
Additionally, a DC 15 Jump check to not take 1d6 lethal damage from falling on to hard ground, or 1d6 subdual if he manages to hit the target and therefore 'soft' ground. Jump DC 15 - (1d20+5)[17]. Will edit in the results of the action after rolls complete.

EDIT: Should have been jump +10, but passed anyway!

Slamming into the henchman's chest, he pops backwards with three quarter backflip, landing in as menacing a crouch as a combatant of his stature can produce.

"But your luck's just run out, Lord Dent."

[Molan]

Damien slammed into the thug beneath him, knocking the wind out of the goon and very nearly knocking him to his feet. The rest of the room reacted in shock to the sudden attack. Azreal ran out from behind the crates, falchion over his head, swinging down hard on another one of Dent's men. But the swing went wide, and the thug turned to face him. As all of this unfolded, Azreal's detect evil spell past over Dent, and the backlash from his aura overwhelmed him, leaving him stunned, his falchion on the floor.

[Feathersnow]

Kate looks at the coming melee and realizes a stragglers of the regular goons was still unaffected by the smoke and seeks to daze him.

Spoiler: OoC

Show

Psionic Daze cast as though with three power points. Will save negates, only affects enemies if 6HD or lower
(1d100)[47] need an 11

[Molan]

Psionic power bursts out from Kate's hulking form as she enters the visibility of the torches, stunning two of the thugs in front of her; crucially, including the one facing Azreal.

[JbeJ275]

Barbara followed quickly in Kate's wake running towards the point Damien landed on the thug, she takes a kneeling position on top of a stack of pallets and begins weaving her arcane formulations as a handful of ground mica becomes a dazzling array of glowing motes cascadig over Dent and the preistesses around him, this initial array is followed up by a flurry of two knives let off by the cloud, bat shaped wedges of conjured steel one flying towards the criminal boss, the other towards the dark robed priestess.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Dent and both Priestesses to make a DC 18 Will Save to avoid blinding and can no longer practically hide.

Barbara Knife for Dent: (1d20+11)[15] for (2d6+1)[12]
Bat Knife for Dark Priestess: (1d20-1)[8] for (1d6+1)[5]

[Molan]

Barbara followed quickly in Kate's wake running towards the point Damien landed on the thug, she takes a kneeling position on top of a stack of pallets and begins weaving her arcane formulations as a handful of ground mica becomes a dazzling array of glowing motes cascadig over Dent and the preistesses around him, this initial array is followed up by a flurry of two knives let off by the cloud, bat shaped wedges of conjured steel one flying towards the criminal boss, the other towards the dark robed priestess.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Dent and both Priestesses to make a DC 18 Will Save to avoid blinding and can no longer practically hide.

Barbara Knife for Dent: [roll0] for [roll1]
Bat Knife for Dark Priestess: [roll2] for [roll3]

Barbara's knives fly through the air, but the one aiming at Dent bounces off his enchanted curiass, and the one flying for the Dark Priestess misses, clanging against the stone floor. And yet, as the Glitterdust spell takes effect, Dent and his two priestess attendants shriek as the magic washes over them, covering them in sparkling golden fragments. Both priestesses blink for a moment but manage to shake the worst effects of the spell off, but Dent clutches his eyes in apparent agony.

"Damnit!" he roars. "I can't see!"

[JoyWonderLove]

lets just go

=Surprise round=

Spoiler again appeared unreadable when the boy chose to gamble on gaining the book and keep his old man alive, but simply nodded. Dropping down quietly as Damien crept away from her and drew his automatic grappling hook device, she aimed down at Lord Dent as he flicked the coin into the air. When it landed, the strange dance between auras made her pause, sickly purple scuffling with benevolent blue, and her mouth gapped when the Laughing Rogue god ruled to spare Pennyworth’s life. Ruled to save the surrogate dad’s life when it appeared nothing else might in time.

Holy hell...she heard my prayer! Estanna rigged it!

Spoiler hesitated, certain Damien would abort the plan, right as his knee rammed into one of the bodyguards’ stomachs. Sighing irritably, she immediately aimed not at the mercurial Lord. Spoiler fired.

Spoiler: combat actions

Show

HP: 24 max.
AC: 18. 20 with the Protection from evil. +4 against ranged attacks. (24)

1, Standard action attack Lord Dent.

Attack accuracy: (1d20+10)[27] (+9 normally, +1 with elevation)
Hand Crossbow damage: (1d4)[2]
Sneak attack damage: (2d6)[5]

=First round=

Damien darted to the old knight, a glittery flare exploded beside the two faced lord and his women, and the sounds of a tussle rammed up below. But Spoiler merely reloaded, aimed again at the two faced man again, and fired.

Spoiler: combat actions

Show

HP: 24 max.
AC: 18. 20 with the Protection from evil. +4 against ranged attacks. (24)

1, Move action reload the hand crossbow.
2, Standard action attack Lord Dent.

Attack accuracy: (1d20+10)[19] (+9 normally, +1 with elevation)
Hand Crossbow damage: (1d4)[2]
Sneak attack damage: (2d6)[4]

[JoyWonderLove]

Spoiler: extra sneak attack damage

Show

My SA does 3d6 now due to leveling up, not the 2d6 in both rolls! Add these to the above please.

1st, Extra sneak attack damage: (1d6)[3]
2nd, Extra sneak attack damage: (1d6)[5]

[Molan]

Spoilers bolts flew out of the shadows as the rest of the party attacked, each one embedding into Dent's torso. The bolts drove home, drawing blood even as Barbara's bounced off. He howled in pain, and his escorts reacted with alarm.

Grabbing her unholy symbol, the dark cleric began chanting, removing from her belt a small bag and a candle. As she began to move her hands, dark red fiendish runes began to appear in the air around her and at her feet a geometric pattern appeared, burning with hellish sigils.

Several holes opened in the ground, venting brimstone and hot smoke. Each vomited forth creatures resembling big, powerfully built dogs with short, rust red fur. Their markings, teeth and tongues were sooty black and they had red glowing eyes. They leapt forward as the burning holes behind them closed and the glowing runes from the priestess' spell faded away, and two of them rushed to crowed Azreal, biting him with their burning fangs. Azreal howled in pain; blood flowed from the wounds before the fires from the hellhounds' mouths cauterized them.

The third hellhound rushed Damien and snapped at him, but the little ninja managed to bounce back slightly, avoiding the bite just in time.

Across the room, the leftmost thug fired his crossbow at Kate. The round had a green-liquid-filled vial inside, and when it smacked against the wall over her shoulder it exploded in a splash. Smoke began to pour from the area where the round had impacted, and it became obvious that acid was burning through the stone where it'd struck.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Kate's turn.

[MrAbdiel]

A fine ambush, but a net backward slide on the balance of combat; the battlefield had become more crowded with these infernal canines, not less!

“On your feet, Pennyworth!”

The boy commands again, as if he has some right to; as if Pennyworth had a better option now than to fight for his life. Harassed by the devil-dog, the boy’s eyes scan the field swiftly, then he whips another pinch of powder to the ground and vanishes, leaving only a vague impression of himself in the scattering smoke. Unseen, he dashes through the combatants, drawing the borrowed dagger as he goes… and skidding to a halt with a flurry of hay disturbed by invisible feet, snatching up the book in his other hand.

Spoiler: Actions!

Show

Free action to ninja vanish. Move to dash over to the book square, and drawer his weapon as he goes. Move again to pick up the book. Invisible until this time next turn!

[Feathersnow]

Kate swings her heavy poleaxe at the nearby hellhound

Spoiler: attack!

Show

(1d20+8)[12] to hit

(3d6+6)[17] Damage

[Molan]

Kate's massive halberd swung down but the burning dog jumped out of the way, and the halberd's axe head smashed into the stone floor, sending chips of stone everywhere.

The dog that had bit at Damien looked confused when he disappeared, but then heard the smash of the halberd, and leapt after Kate. When it tried to bite her, it's fangs cracked against her armor, accomplishing nothing.

Still blind, Dent howled at his men.

"Kill them all! Grab the book!"

He swept out his right hand, and a silvery blast of celestial power erupted from his palm, smashing harmlessly into some of the masonry.

Another thug fired at Kate, and this time, the bolt exploded in a burst of sound, but it still wound up striking one of the pillars nearby, rather than it's target.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

It's now Oracle's turn.

[JbeJ275]

"Pennyworth, get clear!"

Unable to delay or hinder the efforts of her enemies without also striking some of her allies Barbara instead focuses on bringing them down as swiftly as possible. Uttering an ancient and half forgotten phrase, Barabara feels her hand drawn up towards thier foes by magical guiding force, and at the same moment as her and Juluis release their knives she makes further gestures, unleashing a flurry of knives at a glob of acid towards the criminals.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

All have a critical range of 17-20, Dent is binded so denied his Dex Bonus and then he takes a further -2 penaty to AC.
Cloud of Knives on Dent: (1d20+11)[16] for (3d6+1)[9]
Acid Splash on Dent vs Touch AC: (1d20+5)[24] for (1d3)[2]+(2d6)[8]
Juluis on Spice: (1d20-1)[15] for (2d6+1)[3]

[Molan]

Oracle's acid and knife both struck Dent dead on, eliciting another howl of anger. He was a terrifyingly tough target, and yet even he was now plainly injured. Julius swept in from the rafters, tossing a knife at "Spice" but missed, as she narrowly ducked the angry, blade covered bat flitting above her.

"Sugar" began to chant, and blue radiant energy extended from her hands and onto Dent, clearly the worst of the Glitterdust effect from his eyes. Another one of the thugs fired his crossbow, again targeting Kate, as she was the largest and scariest looking target in the room. This shot struck, or should have, but the psionic amorpha surrounding her shimmered and bubbled and the round fell astray somewhere across the room.

Azreal finally managed to come to his senses, reached down to pick up his Falchion, then attempted to get back into the fight. In doing so, two of the hellhounds bit him again, nearly bringing him to his knees. He was horribly wounded at this point, and wouldn't hold out much longer. He swung wildly, holy energy coruscating off of his blade, but his injuries were too much, and the holy strike missed.

The thug to his left lashed out with his axe, and that final attack was enough. Azreal fell to the ground, bleeding badly.

Seeing their prey fall, one of the hell hounds chased after Kate, but couldn't pierce her armor.

In the middle of the melee, Alfred managed to get up, pick up his heavy crossbow, and fire it from the hip. Enchanted bolt exploded in fire in the fourth thug's torso, nearly ripping him apart. The man screamed in agony, dropping his torch and his crossbow in the process, nearly felled by a single strike.

One of the nearby hell hounds responded by wheeling and attempting to bite Alfred, but it missed. The old knight appeared a bit more nimble than he'd first seemed.

The sixth thug rushed towards where Damien had picked up the book, following Dent's orders to try to find it and swinging wildly. "Spice" cast another dark spell, aided by hellish powers, but she targeted Alfred this time, and her powers just seemed to wash over him without creating much of an effect at all.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Wow, big round.

Okie dokie, first off it's Damien's turn.

Thug 4 is very nearly down, Alfred tore him up. Azreal is at 0 HP and bleeding out. Thug 3 is injured by not nearly as badly as Thug 4. Two-Face is no longer blind, but he's taken a pretty massive amount of damage. Kate's straight face tanked more than 50 damage at this point and is still doing fine, lol. Damien's stealth is now wearing off.

[MrAbdiel]

Damien emerges from nothingness briefly, just long enough to be visible in Dent's clearing vision and the sixth thug's swing range, the boy ducking deep below a blind swipe with the heavy crossbow's frame. The child offers a grin of juvenile sadism - book in one hand, oversized knife in the other - wiggles his eyebrows at the foes, then tosses the knife into the air long enough to whip another pinch of smoke powder at the ground.. and he's gone again, just a wisp of vanishing smoke where he was.

Hidden from vision again, with the warzone around him growing in intensity, Damien flattens himself to the ground to avoid inevitable reprisal blows from the taunted enemies, and takes a moment in his hidden state to slip the all important book into his backpack - the handy haversack doing its magic, whipping it away to a safe, weightless place that cannot be easily pilfered from, nor will slow down the relentless young scion. With a hand free, he draws one of the three prepared shuriken from a fold of his gi and whips it at the thug looming over Azrael, before shuffling back to protect Pennyworth's flank, unseen.

Spoiler: OOC Actions!

Show

Free action to spend another Ki to go invisible again - down to 2 out of 6! Getting a little lean, out here. Move action to stow the book in the haversack. Attacks of opportunity avoided because he's invisible! :D Damn it feels good to be a ninja. Shuriken attack on thug 5.
5 ft step back away from two face, so Damien is now diagonal to thug 6 and 5, ready to make an opportunity attack on someone who tries a ranged attack or a coup de grace.

ShurikenVsThug5 - (1d20+12)[26] for damage equalling (1d2)[1] + (3d6)[10] Sudden strike damage. If it hits, he has to make a Constitution save at DC 13 or immediately fall unconscious for (2d6)[11] minutes.

[JoyWonderLove]

=Second round=

From atop the second floor prone, Spoiler had the finest and worse overview of the entire battle. The boy scion winking in and out of existence around the book, the scream of a man that still made her shudder despite the lack of reaction meaning it couldn’t have been the knight, the hailstorm of acid, bolts and knifes circling the bleeding criminal Lord. But only the crossbowman nearby him looked close to be begging Estanna for, so Spoiler pulled back the string, locked in another bolt, and changed target. It flew towards the injured crossbowman right before the newly healed eyes of the mob boss. He would now know who had been plugging him the whole time.

Spoiler: combat actions

Show

I’m guessing I can see everything in the giant red circle ‘below’ me (Dent, S&S, T1, T6).

HP: 24 max.
AC: 18. 20 with the Protection from evil. +4 against ranged attacks. (24)

1, Move action reload the hand crossbow.
2, Standard action attack the hopefully finished Thug 6 for once.

Attack accuracy: (1d20+9)[11] (+9 normally)
Hand Crossbow damage: (1d4)[3]
Sneak attack damage: (3d6)[12]

[Molan]

Spoiler aimed and fired, but her shot went wide, sailing past Thug 6's head.

To her left, Thug 1 growled, and looked down at his bolt quiver, seemingly looking for a specific round. He found what he was looking for; a specific bolt, the only one in his quiver with orange fletching. When he drew it out, the glass vial ahead of the bolt head was a bit larger than the other vials, and rounder. He set his teeth, glaring at the party, and began to go about the task of reloading his weapon.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

Okay, hit point totals are all corrected (bad guys down, Kate back up), Thug 1 is reloading his crossbow. Sorry Spoiler no dice on that to hit roll.

Kate's next.