DM Zyren's Heart of Darkness (Inactive)

Game Master Zyrenity

Esfana will stay by Torald's side

Not missing a beat, Elsbeth dropped from the wall, her casual grace beautiful to behold. She moved quickly to the ghoul, striking out with the rapier that still remained in her right hand, hoping to skewer the creature on her blade.

Acrobatics ->1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22
Rapier Attack ->1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 23
Crit Confirmation1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Rapier Damage ->1d6 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7
Sneak Attack Damage ->1d6 ⇒ 3 Since, thanks to Blaze, I now count as flanking.

Aww, no crit. :( At least I got to do max damage, AND sneak damage!

I had blaze on delay, waiting to see where the ghouls ended up before he ran in

Alcheringa signals Blaze to assist the Elfkin huntress as she slinks off the wall.

Blaze also rips off the wall and does a lazy loop around before coming in behind the distracted ghoul and attempting to bite into its flank.

Since I neglected to mention what square I was aiming for, I'd say that's fine. Elsbeth was aiming for N18, and with the cat flank, I get to add my sneak attack damage. Booyah!

My assumption is that when Blaze is in combat he always seeks to operate from a flanking position - funnily enough thats how cats tend to hunt in packs in the wild...wolves and dogs too for that matter!

As does Elsbeth. Being a Rogue and all, flanking is where it's at.

Drawing upon his innate connection to magic Alexite charges his weapon and moves forward up to 30' in pursuit of the retreating ghoul. If he gets within 15' of the ghoul in that move, he will attack with his scropion whip.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Together, Elsbeth and Blaze are able to bring the last ghoul down. Its shriek is drowned in a gurgling sound just before it was able to reach the crypt. After a moment of silence its death cry is anwered by a chorus of ghoul shrieks from within the crypt!

Through the open door of the crypt you can now hear the scratching sounds of at least a half dozen of these hideous creatures running up towards the cemetary.

You think it takes them about 3 rounds to reach you.

Alcheringa beams a broad smile at Torald, his eyes bugging like a feral animal in the throe of bloodlust

"Excellent precision Iomedite, excellent!"

He then launches forward toward the crypt to examine the next strategic choke point

How wide is the doorway? Can we choke the ghouls so they can only come in one or two at a time? ie can Torald and I block the way through?

Elsbeth lets out a little 'whoop' of victory as the ghoul fell. Moving quickly, she retrieved her chakram from the ground, and called out a warning to the others.

"There are more coming! I'm thinking a half-dozen!" She said, moving back to the group. "Our tactics worked well the first time. Shall we do it again?"

"I see no other way, we cannot allow them to surround us, that is for sure"

The doorway is quite narrow, only one ghoul could squeeze through at a time.

"Perhaps the crypt door would be a better bottleneck." She suggested. "Fighting one ghoul is better than several at once."

So the tactics should be the same, Alcheringa and Torald in front line, Esfana and Nox right behind and Elsbeth and Alexite flanking

As the first ghoul reaches the entrance to the crypt, Alcheringa, Elsbeth and Torald all had enough time to ready their attacks and wait for the creature to come close enough. Frenzied and mindless the ghoul is unable to realize the danger its position brings about and stumbles into the "trap".

His companions meanwhile sensed that something is wrong and slid to a stop, eyeing curiously what will happen to their vanguard

Battle Mat, just for clarifying the situation.

Attack Roll 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17
Damage 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

Alexite will place himself two steps behind Torald so as to allow for room for Esfana to stand directly behind Torald where she can reach everyone with her healing spells. As the ghoul reaches Torald, Alexite again calls upon his arcane energy to empower his strikes and lashes out at the ghoul with his scorpion whip.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 2 = 20

Damamge: 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4

Nox chants in Thassilonian again, this time, solving a different set of mathematical formulae, an invisible fist of force appears behind the ghoul in I6 and smacks the smelly rotten heap of flesh.

assuming we had the time to set up, Nox will be behind Torald.

Ranged Touch Attack

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

damage

1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

crit confirmation

1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9

crit bonus damage (if applicable)

1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

the ghoul takes 4 force damage, if only his touch ac were lower, than he would have taken 9 instead

Can't see my position, but assuming i'm right behind Torald.If Esfana has no target and the only one ghoul facing Torald is probably dead by now, she 'll cast another Resistance on herself this time

Standard action:spell casting-Resistance on herself

Esfana keeps following the front-line fighters

Alceringa swings...

Think I might have missed!

The onrushing ghoul shouts out a shriek of surprise as Torald's sword bites into its right shoulder, desperately the monster dives under Alcheringa's blade, but can't avoid a lash of Alexites hideous scorpion whip. Barely alive it is hit by a psychokinetic fist that doubles the it over and smashes it on the ground.

The other ghouls inside the crypt witnessed the death of their companion and howl in agony, they are clever enough, though, to stay inside.

"Excellent work! See how they fall!"

So whats the lay of the land into the crypt? can we see how ong the coridoor is? We may need to take the battle to them now :)

Anyone has a GaU A8 Avenger,vulcan autocannon? A RPG antitank? A Stinger missile launcher? Anyone?

The corridor is 5 feet wide (or rather narrow), you assume that after some stairs there must be some kind of crypt room about 30 feet away from you. Unless someone sheds light into the corridor you can't see much.

Esfana has Light prepared

Standard action:spell casting-Light on Torald's weapon

"Seems like only one of us is going to fit in at a time"

"Torald, to the advance, I will follow. If we arrive at a larger room let us pause before breaking in. Creep carefully and I will tell you what is coming, my elven eyes favour the dim light"

Given low light vision I get pretty good mileage out of the available light :)

"Allow me to scout ahead." The Half-Elf said to the group. "My senses are just as keen as my elven cousin, and I've had a lot of practice moving unseen." She peered down the tunnel, looking at the ghouls too afraid to advance. "But while we have them bottle-necked, perhaps we should use a ranged assault to thin their numbers?" She spun her chakram on a single finger, ready to send it down the hallway at the ghouls.

Roughly how far away are the ghouls?

You cannot see any of the creatures, but you think they are about 40 feet away (+-10)

Dungeon Map

The stairway is wider on this map, just assume you can only use the middle line as long as you are on the stairs.

I'm all for pushing down, they are probably waiting in some kind of ante-chamber, we can spread when we arrive at it I guess

All right, has anyone a Spear or any long weapon to assist me from the second or third row?

Torald makes one step forward (Q20) to let the others get in marching order

Nox Informs Torald as quietly as possible; "i have arcane gifts to contribute. though nothing quite near what an Evoker can do. still, a weapon is a weapon. the problem is that i haven't fully refined my ranged accuracy. and thus i can currently only fire reliably from 25 feet at the farthest. i should be fine in the third row and Alexite has his whip." she enters the 3rd row.

Light is already up on the copper coin Alexite has been holding over his head.

'I can strike creatures with my whip from as far as 15' away, so as long as I am the second or third person in line, I will be able to attack. As I have a light source and the scrolls of Aid, I might be best placed behind Torald. That way I can soften up anything coming in to him and try to cure him if necessary.'

As you carefully step down the stairs into the crypt, the stench of rotten flesh nearly overwhelms you. Dust particles float through the air and you hear the sounds of the hungry monsters out of the dark in front of you.

Just as you step into an ante chamber with large dark stains on the ground, ghouls crawl out of the darkness from both sides.

Ghoul's Initiative1d20 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Torald's Initiative1d20 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10
Alcheringa's Initiative1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Elsbeth's Initiative1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
Alexite's Initiative1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14
Nox' Initiative1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Esfana's Initiative1d20 + 0 ⇒ (5) + 0 = 5

Dungeon Map

Alcheringa leaves the ghoul on the left to Torald, and moves into position to Elsbeths side to stop the ghouls on the right. Blaze whips past, under, and around the party to appear at Alcheringas side.

A 5'step move to R23 and Ready an Action - Attack. B move action to R24 and Ready an Action - Attack. I assume there's now 15' width?

Are all the charges of Resistance still active? If not Esfana'll cast another on Torald at her initiative

Alexite readies an attack for when a ghoul closes to 15'.

Torald prepares himself to welcome the ghoul on the left.

5 foot step to o23
Ready Attack for approaching ghoul
Attack 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (19) + 4 = 23
Confirm 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Damage 2d8 + 6 ⇒ (8, 1) + 6 = 15

Here in germany, there is a saying: "The luck is a meat head and joins only the likes of him." Torald seems to be a great meat head.

In Italy we have some saying like that, but cannot write it here, since it involves a swearword...anyway , yep, Torald has a lot of it

i'm sorry for nitpicking, but would you beleive me if i told you that it's smarter to put your casters in the middle than it is to put them in the back? ambushes from behind also happen and in those cases, being in the back row is effectively the same as being in the front lines. and the post i placed said third row, not back row.

Elsbeth nodded to the elf as he moved up to her side, and focused her attention on the pair of ghouls to the right. The chakram that had proved so effective before spun down the hall, the light from various spells turning the bladed disc into a flash of deadly steel.

Is this a new encounter? If that's the case, I get sneak attack (as everyone is flat-footed. Yay!

Targeting Ghoul X23
Chakram Attack ->1d20 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 3 = 21
Damage Roll ->1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5
Sneak Attack Damage ->1d6 ⇒ 2

7 damage? Wow, I could all but kill myself with that attack. AWESOME!

Alexite looks over at the interloper. 'Clarius, get out of here! I'm the token nobleman in this adventure! You're going to be late for your very first joust and then Lady Ailith won't give you her token of affection.'

Alexite takes a 5' step into the space Torald left when the ghoul advances.

Clarius looks around with a startled expression. 'This isn't where I parked my charger!' He runs off in embarassment.

I don't get it.

Again: Nothing can stand against the power of Torald's and Alcheringa's blades. Cutting down ghouls on the right and left only one remains attacking Elsbeth

Ghoul attacking Elsbeth1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19
damage]1d6 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Fort. save vs. 13 to avoid paralysis

Clawing and biting wildly the creature manages to hit the elven rogue.
From out of the darkness of the crypt more creatures emerge coming to aid their brethren.

Battle Mat

sorry nox, misunderstood that. Nox, you didn't do anything-by purpose? Otherwise you can retcon an action.

Initiative order rd. 2

Elsbeth's Initiative 17
Alexite's Initiative14
Esfana's Initiative 5
Ghoul's Initiative 4
Torald's Initiative 4
Alcheringa's Initiative 4
Nox' Initiative3

Esfana has not taken her turn the previous round.

Waiting on Elsbeths action, as it will affect my actions :p

@Esfana you recasted Resistance on Torald, since it would have expired the next round-if that's ok for you

@ Elsbeth, forget about the Save, Elves are immune.

@Esfana you recasted Resistance on Torald, since it would have expired the next round-if that's ok for you

It was what i wanted to do, but that would have took me near Torald, since Resistance is a touch spell

I guess my readied action for round one would happen. Since only the ghoul in front of Elsbeth is still standing, it gets to be that one.

Alexite again channels his arcane might into his whip and lashes out at the ghoul.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7