The Library of Last Resort is your last chance to find the resting place of Dragotha's phylactery. But you aren't the only people looking for it.
Loot Sheet.
GM Notes.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 119/119 hp — AC 38*/26*/26* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th 1/4 4th, 2/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 40/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 12/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 3/3, Forzamele 3/3
Sense Motive:1d20 + 22 ⇒ (6) + 22 = 28
Eben lets out a loud squeaking sound. He may or may not be trying to include actual words, but his overwhelming sense of panic just makes him sound like a mouse with its tail stuck in a trap. He does manage a wide, rictus-like grin and nods enthusiastically at the dragons, though, giving them both thumbs up.
"We should just kill them now. We have a better chance against them fresh than after we fight whatever that Marid spirit has been corrupted into, and who know what else is in there."
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 119/119 hp — AC 38*/26*/26* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th 1/4 4th, 2/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 40/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 12/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 3/3, Forzamele 3/3
Eben keeps his mouth smiling at the dragons, bigger than ever, and manages to hiss out the side of it without the smile ever breaking, "That's a really, really, really bad idea and we should discuss why it's really bad once we're somewhere that we're not whispering around monsters with really good hearing."
Tell you what, here's what we'll do—everyone give me a Bluff check. Who succeeds will determine who gets a surprise round action. Anyone who doesn't get at least a 18 is not subtle enough to catch the dragons off-guard.
When combat begins, I'm Initiating Clockwatcher to act in the Surprise round. Would be about time I actually got use of it, I completely forgot I had it since it's been so long since we were on the wrong end of an ambush.
"Yeah, everyone, I don't think we have any choice but to take this deal." Astraden looks up to Farrukh and makes a shaky hand gesture that could be interpreted as a shiver of fear. It probably is also a shiver of fear. Her gaze darts up to make brief eye contact with Silgane, then back down to the murky water. "We're just going to get ready for fighting this marid monster, then."
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 119/119 hp — AC 38*/26*/26* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th 1/4 4th, 2/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 40/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 12/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 3/3, Forzamele 3/3
Bluff:1d20 + 22 - 2 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 22 - 2 + 2 = 42Yeah, of course the 20 goes to the one that completely didn't need it. "Yes, that's definitely what we're doing right now." Eben says in a resigned, flat, affectless voice that is, nevertheless, somehow compellingly believable. He casts one spell through the efficacy of his glass rod, and then follows with another cast the hard way. Upon the second spell, his eyes widen and he says "Oh. Actually, this isn't a bad idea at all, except for not having all these spells up already..."
Casting Quickened haste on everyone, and remove fear on myself, Astraden, and Cuetzpalli.
Haste lasts 12 rounds, remove fear lasts 100 rounds, and good hope lasts 118 rounds.
Farrukh concentrates for a moment, and stops time for a brief second moving forward slightly and adopting a readied stance.
Clockwatcher to act in surprise round (Immediate, has specific clause that lets it go off in this scenario), 5 ft. step forward, Ready an action to shield bash if one of the dragons flies in range.
Cuetzpalli only tricked two of the dragons, so while I'm going to look to give him an edge on Initiative or the like to reflect that, he doesn't get to automatically go before they do.
Round 1: Cuetzpalli and Eben are up! Since Cuetzpalli very nearly made it into the surprise round and beat the dragons on initiative, I'll say he gets an extra move action this turn.
I'll also note that while some of you have alluded to movements, nobody's budged the miniatures on the map yet. Also, keep in mind that the dragons are on the ground right now, not hovering.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 119/119 hp — AC 38*/26*/26* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th 1/4 4th, 2/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 40/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 12/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 3/3, Forzamele 3/3
Good hope's the one buff I had up and running before the dragons showed, so yes. Also, everyone who goes this round, don't forget you're hasted.
Somewhat surprised that the 'no, really, we're prepping to fight the marid and not you folks at all ruse has held as long as it had, Eben tries to get a little more benefit out of it while he can. "So here's my um, anti-water shell..." He says, casting a spell that surrounds him with a blue/gold aura, which flickers across everyone within ten feet, but lingers particularly on Cuetzpalli. The light seems to want to work with Carina also, but after a few confused seconds it just stops bothering to try.
Casting arcance concordance. Any spells any arcane caster casts while within 10 feet of Eben are Extended, and any save DCs versus them increase by 1.
"And of course you can never go wrong with the classics..." he says, clicking his rod again (exhausting it for the day) and conjuring up a bunch of other Ebens. mirror image:1d4 + 4 ⇒ (4) + 4 = 8 The gold and blue light really sinks into the mirror images, making them look more solid than normal.
He also take a quick step back (the better to hopefully not present a bunch of targets in a line...) and begins doing a quick little mid-air dance. The sight of the nine ebens lined up dancing is kind of amusing and... inspiring. Like a miniature one-man chorus line.
Casting arcane concordance as a standard action and quickened mirror image as a swift; taking a 5-foot step and beginning Inspire Courage as a move action. Initiating Dance of 23 Steps as a free action.
Arcane concordance lasts 12 rounds, mirror image lasts 240 rounds, haste lasts 11 rounds, remove fear lasts 99 rounds, and good hope lasts 117 rounds.
Since I don't know when I'll next get a chance to post:
Open after Dolbrane and Urslane:
Astraden makes a motion like the reflex that follows touching something hot with one's fingertips and steps between Tanith and Eben, brushing both of them with her forefinger and middle finger. It leaves a mark of a white powder that has a slightly alkaline odor. She leaves a similar mark on Cuetzpalli, then Carina, Farrukh, and herself, shouting "FALN di baze" to close the spell.
Round 1: Cast communal resist energy (acid) on everyone (standard action) and move around to discharge the spell (move action). Communal air walk lasts 480 rounds on Cuetzpalli and Astraden and 380 rounds on everyone else. Communal resist energy (acid) lasts 500 rounds on Astraden and Tanith and 400 rounds on everyone else.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 119/119 hp — AC 38*/26*/26* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th 1/4 4th, 2/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 40/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 12/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 3/3, Forzamele 3/3
Oh, to sum up the buffs everyone else is getting from my spells and performance, just because it often gets lost and there's much recalculating (and it's been a while since we've done this): right now, it's a +3 competence bonus on attack & damage, + 2 morale on attack, damage, saves & skill checks, + 1 untyped on attack rolls, and +1 dodge on reflex and AC.
THP: 33 HP: 164/165 (212/213), BR 27/36, APs 9/12; AC 27, T 15, FF 26; Fort +18 Ref +13, Will +13 (16, +2 ME) (+4 vs evil all saves); Perception +19, Init +5 Buff overflow: communal air walk, death ward, holy aura, haste Everyday buffs: GFL, bear's endurance, protection from evil (permanent, undispellable) Currents: greater magic weapon (+3), freedom of movement, good hope, moment of greatness, shield, greater false life, recitation
Cuetzpalli enters his blood rage, his wings sprout from his back. He turns his multicolored gaze on the dragon behind the group. With a booming flap of his wings he charges the beast, kelmarchen first.
"Yeah, everyone, I don't think we have any choice but to take this deal." Astraden looks up to Farrukh and makes a shaky hand gesture that could be interpreted as a shiver of fear. It probably is also a shiver of fear. Her gaze darts up to make brief eye contact with Silgane, then back down to the murky water. "We're just going to get ready for fighting this marid monster, then."
"Oh, well, sure," Silgane agrees, "that makes sense."
Eben MacTeague wrote:
"Yes, that's definitely what we're doing right now." Eben says in a resigned, flat, affectless voice that is, nevertheless, somehow compellingly believable.
"Certainly, certainly," Urlsane says, his head bobbing rapidly.
Eben wrote:
Somewhat surprised that the 'no, really, we're prepping to fight the marid and not you folks at all ruse has held as long as it had, Eben tries to get a little more benefit out of it while he can. "So here's my um, anti-water shell..."
"Yeah, makes sense," Dolbrane says casually.
"Yes," Aulrane agrees, "it's very normal to cast a quickened haste when you might not reach your enemy for another minute or so." She stares blankly. "Hey, wait, NO IT'S NOT!"
And that's when Cuetzpalli charges her. The tattered-frill black dragon lunges at him, but he ducks nimbly around her snapping jaws and swings Kelmarchen in a wide arc, slicing bloodily into her left wing.
The dragon fights frantically, clawing and biting with the terror of a brute who has finally found a blade sharp enough to cut through her scales. But Cuetzpalli slashes again, driving her back. As she rears back and takes a deep breath, he brings his sword up once more, cleaving clean through the dragon's neck. She collapses, gurgling.
Round 1: Dolbrane/Urlsane
Dolbrane and Urlsane seem momentarily stunned. But Silgane leans back, her crooked neck arching in fury. "I know that sword!" she screeches. "KELMARCH! BURN HIM! BURN THE EGGBREAKER, BROTHERS!
The pair recover from their shock and bound to do just that. Dolbrane gallops right in Silgane's way, rumbling, "Don't tell me what to do." Urlsane, meanwhile, keeps his distance.
"No, you bonebrain, don't get into melee—"
Farrukh gets a readied action on Dolbrane.
The two dragons open their mouths and spew out a blast of acidic smog. Dolbrane catches Cuetzpalli, Astraden and Carina in the blast—Urlsane just catches Cuetzpalli and Eben.
Cuetzpalli, give me two Reflex saves. Eben, Astraden and Carina, just give me one.
After Rolling:
If you rolled less than 22 on your first (or only) save, you take 12d6 ⇒ (3, 6, 2, 4, 1, 2, 5, 3, 1, 6, 6, 2) = 41 acid damage. If you succeeded, you halve that damage.
If you rolled less than 22 on your second save, Cuetzpalli, you take 12d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 5, 6, 5, 6, 4, 6, 3, 1, 2, 4) = 48 acid damage. If you succeeded, you halve it.
Round 1: Astraden and Carina
Astraden makes a motion like the reflex that follows touching something hot with one's fingertips and steps between Tanith and Eben, brushing both of them with her forefinger and middle finger. It leaves a mark of a white powder that has a slightly alkaline odor. She leaves a similar mark on Cuetzpalli, then Carina, Farrukh, and herself, shouting "FALN di baze" to close the spell.
Round 1: Cast communal resist energy (acid) on everyone (standard action) and move around to discharge the spell (move action). Communal air walk lasts 480 rounds on Cuetzpalli and Astraden and 380 rounds on everyone else. Communal resist energy (acid) lasts 500 rounds on Astraden and Tanith and 400 rounds on everyone else.
*=temporarily buffed Human Bard 15/Ranger 1 — 119/119 hp — AC 38*/26*/26* (6 mirror images)—CMB +15, CMD 32*— Fort +14, Ref +*20, Will +12 — Spells 3/3 5th 1/4 4th, 2/5 3rd, 4/6 2nd, 3/6 1st — Panache 3/3— Performance 40/40— Perception +19 — Init +4— Action Points 12/13—
Daily magic item use:
Bracers of falcon's aim 3/3, Lesser rod of quicken spell 3/3, rod of extend spell 3/3, Forzamele 3/3
Reflex:1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 20 + 2 = 34
Eben dances aside and dodges most of the acid. Most, but not all. "Aaaaaoooowww!" he hollers, as parts of him sizzle. A second later, when Astraden lays some acid protection on the group, he asks, "You couldn't maybe have led with that one?"
Thanks in no small part to the protective magics cast on her, Carina is able to avoid the worst of the first acidic blast.
Round 1: Actions
Full-Round Action: Blast the crap out of Farrukh's target, using Force Bombs & Rapid Shot!
"...well, so much for doing this the nice way." Carina sighs, unlimbering several force grenades from her person. "Demolition it is."
With lightning speed, Carina starts lobbing bombs...
Miss on First:1d8 ⇒ 5
Reflex:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Carina hurls her bombs, and two go right on-target, releasing vibrant blasts of force energy that ripple through the air. Dolbrane, still reeling from Farrukh's shield, shrieks as one of his teeth is blasted from his jaw.
The third vial, however, lands in the water with a soft plink...and explodes, blasting a tremendous tsunami of fetid, musty, murky water and muck up into the air. It rains down on the dragons and the party, making a damp, bad-smelling little island smell just a little bit worse.
Round 1: Silgane
"How dare you blast apart Mother's island!" Silgane shrieks, seeming quite unconcerned for her brother's health. She begins flapping her tattered wings, spitting Draconic curses all the while. Flight is clearly difficult for her with her bad neck, but as she flaps, green mists begin to pour around her, and the party realizes—as Silgane at last manages to take off into the air—that she is casting a spell.
"Aah! Silgane, I can't see!" cries Dolbrane.
"Figure it out, frillbrains!" the unseen dragon spits. she is somewhere in the air within the clouds, which extend twenty feet upwards in a perfect sphere.
Round 1-2: Tanith and Farrukh, and then Cuetzpalli and Eben, are up!
Note on the map—if you click twice (don't fastclick) on a given square of fog, you can change its fill settings (click on the paint bucket on the toolbar up top) to make it transparent. You can see everything within the cloud within five feet of you. For instance, Farrukh can see the top right corner of Dolbrane's space.
If by some miracle the dragon's not dead, I'll roll crit confirm and damage on that 18 for Tooth. Figured there were enough dice in this post already. If by some alternate miracle it dies on the first hit (it has a -2 AC so maybe the 23 hits), I forego the rest of the attacks and just spend my Move action to cast Fly from my shield.
Farrukh's klar and scimitar, blessed by the Wind Dukes, slash in a brutal storm of savage slices...that almost entirely scrape off of the impenetrable hide of the adult black dragon.
Dolbrane laughs. "That..." He coughs up a bit of blood from a narrow gash Farrukh scored in his neck. "...tickled."
He collapses to the ground.
I forgot about the -2 to AC, so yeah, you did kill him. But only narrowly, so do roll all the attacks on these guys. Not all of them forgot to cast their combat buffs beforehand.
Astraden:
It's just an obscuring mist spell, so dispel magic might be quicker. You're not up, though.
