JaceDK's Realm of the Fellnight Queen
Game Master Jacob Trier

Right - we're waiting for some healing and then you are ready to move out? Tae is correct, you were fully healed before the fight.

Caelin will lead the way when we're ready.

Meycho lays a hand on Caelin's shoulder and intones a short prayer, the wounds starting to close.

Cure Wounds: 3d8 + 8 ⇒ (2, 6, 2) + 8 = 18

Caelin took a deep, comforting breath.

Any more healing? Otherwise, Caelin leads the group out.

I think we are ready to go forward. That leaves Caelin down 2 and Goodluck down 6.

Leaving the corpses of Arvormeigh and the shadow trolls behind, the group sets off into the dim starlight.

As you exit the tree-shrouded hilltop, you spot hundreds of campfires shining in the distance, clear signs of an army forming up or getting ready to move.

Using every bit of his woodcraft and experience, Caelin leads the group deeper into the Fellnight Realm. Several times, you have to take cover to evade roaming patrols of bramble-covered spriggans riding lean, savage-looking worgs.

Judging time and distance in the demi-plane is tricky, but by your best estimates you have traveled for more than 25 miles when just past the tree-line, a low wall of piled rocks appears. A trail of well-trod grass leads through a narrow gap marring its surface.

Meycho peaks out from his cover, trying to see any nearby threats.

perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31

Caelin gives a soft chirp and nudges Aumgwe up into a tree, asking the bird to stay put.

Meycho does not see or hear anything except the buzzing of a few insects in the quiet eternal gloom.

He is able to make out that the rocks that make up the wall appear to be identical to the wardstones in Taecuss's pack. It would seem you have found the faengard.

"Well." Though speaking in a normal voice, the odd gloom makes it feel to Taecuss like he could be heard for miles. Aware that danger lurks everywhere in this realm, he speaks again, barely more than a whisper. "Well, it looks like we found the faengard. Keep a close watch out, and I'll start to replace the ward stones."

Taecuss removes the stones from his pack one at a time, carefully looking for the correct placement of each and positioning each with care and caution.At the removal of each stone from his pack, Taecuss glances about nervously, fearful that somehow the queen or her minions will sense its presence and strike out at them.

If uninterrupted, Tae will place all the stones back where they belong.

Gods, it sounds like he's trying to bash the thing down with those ward stones!

Caelin kept watch as Taecuss worked, very aware of his own dry mouth and nervous disposition.

I get cranky when I'm scared, he admitted to himself. He looked up at Aumgwe and noticed with pride that the raptor was gazing steadily about, literally unruffled.

Stupid bird, he thought, as a calming smile spread across his face.

Taecuss steps out into the open and cautiously makes his way towards the gap in the stone wall.

After a dozen paces, he is suddenly aware that the sound of buzzing insects is rapidly growing in strength.

The sharp hum of angry bees announces the arrival of an all too familiar swarm rising over the nearby hill. The creatures descend upon the gap in the wall, completely covering it with their writhing bodies.

"Bees? Again, Didn't we already play dis game?" Goodluck groans, remembering the wedding attack.

The bees cover the entire gap in the wall and buzz aggressively, but do not move towards Taecuss.

Your move, heroes...

"I have a plan. It is probably ill considered and doomed to failure, but I'll try it if none of you have a way to deal with the swarm." Taecuss says, as he pulls two wands from his pack, one in each hand.

Readies wand of grace and wand of wind wall.

Anyone else?...otherwise, proceed with the cunning plan, Taecuss.

"We should have brought along some burning troll." Caelin mumbled wryly.

"An ill-considered plan is better than none at all, Taecuss. I trust you in all things", he added with a smile.

Goodluck looks somewhat appraisingly at the elf. "If you ken get dem away, I ken do sometin' about dem, I t'ink."

Goodluck gets ready to cast wall of ice in the hemisphere configuration to trap the swarm.

"What I have in mind is using this wand" he says holding up the wand of grace "to run through the bees without them getting to sting me. Then use this one" he says, holding up the wand of wind wall "To create a cylinder of wind around them. My concern is it is just a cylinder, and if they are smart like the bees we fought before, they way be aware they can fly over it. But if I run past them and draw them away from the opening, you think you can do something to hold them better than a cylinder of wind?"

"Well, Gozreh has graced me wit' a prayer to create a dome o' ice over somet'ing. I t'ink it would trap dem bees nice for a few minutes at least. Long 'nuff to rebuild the wall and get away, I hope."

"I am willing to try it if you are. So, I'll use this wand and sprint through them, hopefully minimizing the number of stings I incur; I doubt I'll be able to avoid all of them. When I start toward them, you can start to conjure the ice dome so by the time I get through them, the dome is in place."

I am assuming that the wall is too high for us to just dome over the bees and then hop the wall.

Sounds like a very solid and well thought out plan - what could possibly go wrong? Update coming tomorrow, including map.

I am assuming that the wall is too high for us to just dome over the bees and then hop the wall.

Well, the wall is actually not that high, but you have to restore the wardstones before you can complete the ritual that seals off the Fellnight realm. Of course, you can always try to bypass the bees, go and fight Queen Rhoswen and then return to deal with the breach. After all, once you defeat an ancient, malicious fey witch-queen, how much trouble could a couple of bees possibly cause?

As promised, here is a map. Could everyone please state their actions in game terms. I'm assuming there will be a lot of delays and readied action. I won't roll initiative - just assume the bees have a readied action, which is likely to trigger once Tae executes his plan.

MAP

Goodluck will move to H-9 and ready his wall of ice spell. He will wait until the bees are away from the faengard and cast it upon them, trapping as many of them as he can.

Caelin will shadow Goodluck, guarding him, even though Caelin can't hurt the bees.

All right, since neither Meycho or Jervaise have specified actions, I'm going to assume they stay put and wait, weapons out and ready.

Taecuss carefully readies his wands, nods to Goodluck to make sure he is ready and then takes a deep breath and sets off sprinting towards the bee-covered gap in the wall.

Then several things happen all at once....

Du du duuuuhn......new post coming shortly - don't go away.

- Face-off at the faengard -

The buzz of the bee-swarm reach a furious pitch as Taecuss rushes forward. But as soon as he is 10 feet from the gap, everyone but Goodluck hear the sound of two high-pitched voices intoning words of magic from the trees to the north. Then, the entire area seems to explode in frantic chaos.

First, the grass and roots in the area sprout upward, wrapping themselves around anything they can get at. Taceuss nimbly avoids getting caught, but find himself unable to keep running forward at the same speed. Everyone make a DC 14 Reflex save or be entangled. I already rolled for Taecuss, who passed. The entire area is now difficult terrain.

Then the bees surge forward, enveloping Taecuss and stinging him mercilessly. Taecuss - 9 dmg and please give me two separate DC 15 Fort saves.

Finally, thick walls of thorn-covered brambles shoot up from the ground, forming a rough 8-shape. Jervaise and Goodluck are trapped in one enclosure while Goodluck and Caelin are in another.

All this seems to happen in the blink of an eye.

All right - everyone but Goodluck now gets to act in the surprise round. Since the conditions for Goodluck's readied action have not occurred, his action is lost and he gets to decide a new one once his initiative comes up.

Surprise round

Initiative
Jervaise: 24
Taecuss: 23
Meycho: 22
Bees: 17
?: 16
Caelin: 6
Goodluck: 4 (surprised)

MAP

Active effects

Entangle - all the squares shaded light green are considered difficult terrain. Anyone entering or ending their turn in such a square must make a DC 14 Reflex save or be entangled.

We're waiting for Jervaise, Taecuss and Meycho. Please check the thread once per day, especially while we are in initiative.

I will ruefully remind everyone that I did clearly state the plan was ill considered...

Fort save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Fort save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8

Two fails on that...

Step to E10.

As a move action, he will start a bardic performance to inspire courage in his allies. The fact that the tones are punctuated with pained exclamations does not detract from the arcane power it carries...

For all players: Inspire Courage: receive a +2 morale bonus on saving throws against charm and fear effects and a +2 competence bonus on attack and weapon damage rolls.

As a standard action, he tries to block out the pain to cast a spell and find their assailants, confident that the grasping flora is not the doing of the bees. Cast defensively See Invisible. DC 21 concentration check 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24

Status: 50/59 hit points. Spells remaining: 4 1st, 4 2nd, 2 3rd. 25 of 28 rounds of performance remaining. Inspire Courage.

Reflex Save DC 14: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (20) + 10 = 30 And I'll wait on the others before acting.

Jervaise groans in annoyance when he sees a wall of thorns appear around him once again.

"I will let the rest of you gentlemen deal with these foes..."

Sorry, my dot disappeared. Just put him on delay.

While none of you can presently see Taecuss, you all hear him cry out in pain, followed by the sound of what sounds like severe stomach distress.

Meycho, then the bees and other participants.

Surprise Round Edit:

Taecuss will move to G15.

For all players: Sorry, I'll try to get bardic performance up next round.

Status: 50/59 hit points, -1 Dex, nauseated. Spells remaining: 4 1st, 4 2nd, 3 3rd. 26 of 28 rounds of performance remaining.

Circumstances and the Paizo web goblins have conspired to keep Meycho from posting. I'll make a last effort to get his action, otherwise I'll put him on delay. Regardless, I'll post tomorrow morning.

Finally. I've been busy with stuff, but then when I wanted to post, I first encountered a server update, then had some weird bug that prevented me from posting by taking me back to the previous page when I started typing. So, without further ado...

Ref Save vs. Entangle: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11

The vines entwine Meycho. Realising the seriousness of their situation, Meycho briefly considers which threat is most dangerous, then intones a short prayer. Ketephys, Lord of the Hunt, sunder these bonds that keep us from our prey.

Concentration to cast Dispel Magic on Entangle: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
Dispel check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21

Despite the snaring plants grasping to his legs, Meycho successfully calls upon his adopted deity and the plants wither and shrink back as suddenly as they grew. Dispel worked - terrain is back to normal.

The swarm of bees do not seem inclined to give Taecuss a chance to escape, and swoops after him, once again covering the poor elf with hundreds of stings. Tae, 5 more dmg and two more Fort saves please.

UPDATED MAP

Caelin left to act in the surprise round, then we move on to round 1.

As the plants wither, Caelin rushes north towards the high-pitched voices. Tilting his head to judge their position, he scanned the trees to locate the specific threat.

Caelin, the wall of thorns surrounding you still stands. The dispel was specifically targeted at the entangle spell affecting the area. Granted, you woodland stride should enable you to be able to push through without injury. Do you attempt to move through the thorns?

yes

Caelin plunges into the thorn-covered hedge. A few moments later, he emerges on the other side, seemingly unharmed.

"Friends! The thorns are only illusions! Do not let them impede you."

A little incredulous at first, Jervaise at least attempts to take Caelin at his word, and begins to probe at the wall with his sword...

Will: 1d20 + 4 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 + 4 = 28.

Goodluck frowns, poking the thorns carefully.

Will save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Wife and I just bought our first house - so if I'm a little distracted from updating, you know why.

Goodluck and Jervaise are quickly able to determine the truth of Caelin,s claim. The thorn wall is indeed an illusion.

Jervaise, Taecuss and Meycho are up.

Jervaise looks around, actively perceiving for whomever, or whatever, is casting spells...

Perception: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (20) + 15 = 35.

Despite his keen senses being stretched to the limit, Jervaise is unable to detect any foes other than the bees.

Sorry to waste a natural 20 like that, but whoever is out there has a pretty impressive stealth score, it would seem. You still have the option of moving. Taecuss, when your turn comes round, remember that you owe me two fresh Fort saves.

I am perfectly happy *not* moving - I have no intention of going anywhere near the swarm. So, I go back to my previous stand-point; delay until something happens ;-)

Fort Save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Fort Save 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Status: 45/59 hit points, -1 Dex, nauseated. Spells remaining: 4 1st, 4 2nd, 3 3rd. 26 of 28 rounds of performance remaining.

Is he still nauseated?