Ok, that takes care of healing. The deafness only lasts about a minute and you can wait it out.
For the next part, I will be using a custom map made by one of the more active GMs in the community that helps show what's going on in the room, 'cos there's alot going on in there. The coloured bands show the strength of the winds in the room and the relative elevations are more helpfully indicated. The dimensions of the room and the conditions within are still as-written.
Without much more you can do to prepare, you steel yourselves and step into the elevator. With the sound of rushing wind, the elevator descends rapidly. After falling hundreds of feet and passing several other floors, the elevator finally settles upon a solid surface, and its gates fly open.
A narrow landing protrudes into a cavernous cylinder, apparently the entire bare interior shell of the tower. Its massive span is only exceeded by its depth, as it plummets two hundred feet into a raging storm. A roaring sheath of wind and churning clouds like a tornado’s funnel conceals the tower walls. Throughout the length of the tower, stone balconies protrude from the vortex into the central shaft. Floating in the general center of the hall is a dark mass of clouds shaped into a throne. At the tower’s base, a tremendous ultramarine sigil glows brilliantly, spinning in time with the storm around it. Periodically, lightning bolts erupt from it, dancing up and down the height of the throne room like deranged courtiers.
Floating just above the throne is a creature that is perhaps best described as a living storm. Blinding streaks of lightning appear to indicate eyes, while dark clouds take shape into grasping claws and leathery wings. Beside the throne are two sylphs that eye you warily. As you file out of the elevator-cage, the storm-creature bellows something at you, and when none of you reply (since none of you speak Auran), it roars in anger.
Take a moment to study the map. You're in the middle of a tornado, essentially, and there are platforms around the 200ft high chamber at varying heights. The platform you are on is 100ft above the floor and 100ft below the ceiling. You can clearly see that going into the tornado without some sort special protection will be very hazardous.
Before getting on the elevator, Bo uses one of his wands to encase himself in magical armor. The monk waits patiently in the elevator with wand in hand. Just as the doors open, he casts a spell of protective magic on himself.
Always one to try the diplomatic approach first, Karos speaks. "We'd rather talk than fight," he says. "Well, most of us would. We're not here to hurt anyone. Let's all be reasonable people."
Karos' noble attempt at entreating the Belker falls on uncomprehending ears, though the sylphs do take a look at each other. Then looking again at their master, they quickly return their attention to you.
DC 15 Knowledge (arcana, nature, or religion) or Spellcraft:
The glyph at the base of the hall 100ft below you is the source of the weather effects. You can disable it as if it were a magical trap or by attempting to finagle it into deactivating with UMD. A targeted dispel magic could also work. Alternatively, if you hit the glyph and fracture the floor upon which the glyph rests, it might also be disrupted.
The cloud-like monster flies off its platform, extends a smoky appendage towards Karos...and then flicks the appendage in his own direction. Karos suddenly finds himself being bashed from behind by a surge of wind that smashes into him like a sledgehammer! The blast sends him into the air, right into the belker... 120ft above the floor!
Karos is slugged for 28 damage, and needs to make a DC19 fort save or be deafened. And then he needs to work out some way to arrest his fall or drop 120ft to the ground below. I've never played an inquisitor so I honestly do not know if inquisitors have feather fall on their spell list...
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
nature:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16
"The runes down the bottom... they are the source of this weather magic."
She takes aim with her enchanted bow and lets fly, seeing if she can shatter the runes.
Quick question, is this one of those planes where you can "will" the ground in any direction as a way of movement? (Or is that a 3.5 planar thing?)
Bo quickly takes out his potion of flying and consumes it.
Post #15 of this thread. You were told that this plane has the subjective gravity trait.
Subjective gravity rules:
Once per round as a free action, an individual can attempt a DC 16 Wisdom check to pick a new direction for gravity. If she succeeds, she begins falling in that direction, moving 150 feet in a straight line on the first round and 300 feet on each following round. If she fails, she can attempt the Wisdom check again on the next round. The DC decreases to 12 on successive checks until she succeeds in changing gravity’s direction. Once an individual starts falling in a direction, stopping requires a successful DC 16 Wisdom check to set gravity in the exact direction. If she succeeds, she continues 150 feet in her original direction for 1 round, and then stops.
Because an individual in free fall cannot stop quickly, performing actions during the fall is difficult. However, the PCs may ready actions and perform them during the free fall, such as readying an action to grab an object or to attack an opponent while soaring past it. Moving past an opponent in this manner provokes an attack of opportunity.
A PC under the effects of a feather fall spell falls at only 60 feet per round and gains a +2 circumstance bonus on the Wisdom checks to change direction.
Karos, Sarvin and Rahab are up. Well... I need to know if Karos has a way of stopping his fall at least.
Male Swash 8/Gun S 1 HP 68 | AC 29; Touch 21; FF 21 | F +5; R +14; W +2 | CMB+11; CMD 32 | Speed 30 ft | Init +8 | Perc +12 | Stealth: +6 Swashbuckler 8/Gun Slinger 1
Noticing that the bow-wielding monk is readying himself for the worst, Rahab readies to call upon Gorum's favor when the elevator doors open.
***A few short moments and a pathfinder dropping down later***
As the power of his god settles in, Rahab calls upon another. One who was once of this plane. "RANGINORI! I, RAHAB, CALL UPON OUR COMPACT! GRANT ME FLIGHT TO SLAY YOUR FOES, OR COWER IN YOUR ROCK!"
Rahab has played through 8-00, something I just remembered focused as I was on that damn potion. I only remembered because I was looking for a way to cast feather fall on Karos. I'm going to cast fly on myself and get into "Gassy-cloud's" face.
"GORUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUM!" bellows Rahab as he gets up in the belker's face, sword drawn.
Rahab and Bo start flying, and Sarvin and Oleander each put a projectile in the belker. However, only Oleander's arrow seems to leave any sort of lasting mark.
The sylphs now act. One of them conjures a thick mist to obscure their location. The other begins casting a longer incantation.
Well, at the very least, the attack on Karos has warned the others about the belker's unusual ability. All that remains for this round is to see if Karos survives.
Karos, if you're still alive, you can take your actions once you land on the ground.
I've consulted with a few other GMs, and the general view appears to be that you can only take actions, including free actions, on your turn unless stated otherwise. The only known exceptions at this point are speaking and taking immediate actions, but if you can find me a ruling that says otherwise, I'm more than happy to let Karos make the check.
Though I did make it a point to target the only person who could potentially take immediate actions...
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
My understanding of subjective gravity is that is a free action as such to change it for yourself, that happens when you move. That is it is part of a regular move or standard action.
In this case, it would be something that Karos would do while falling. Given 120' (30 meters) it would take 2-3 seconds to fall that distance.
That said I've not actually GMed any sessions set on the plane of air, only played a couple and as a player the subjective gravity rules seem to vary slightly from scenario to scenario.
GM call at the end of the day. But if you can't do this as a reaction then he essentially has a save or die ability that he can seemingly use at will.
I do hope Karos can get a feather fall going, or at least have boots of the cat. This pbp is on public record, as was my consultation with the other GMs on Discord, so even if I wanted to I can't really fudge it in Karos' favour. The consensus amongst the GMs consulted was that free actions can only be taken on your turn unless it is a specifically stated to be an exception, like speaking or immediate actions. Also, the ability wasn't a save or die, it was a CMB check that the creature made.
To be fair, the more lethal aspect of it is completely negated if you have a landing strategy, and in general pathfinders should start having some sort of landing strategy around level 5. Karos is level 8, so hopefully he does! (Snapleaf and boots of the cat are popular ones.)
Rahab and Bow were very wise to immediately start flying.
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
Is it too late for the rest of us to (as a free action) try to change our subjective gravity?
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
Oleander tries to change her own gravity to neutral once she has shot her arrows.
Oleander, there isn't a 'neutral' setting. As in you can't negate gravity. It needs to be set to a direction. If you want to re-set your gravity to a direction other than down towards the rune, you'd either fall 100ft towards the ceiling above, or towards one of the walls (and into the cyclone whipping along the walls). Unless you can fly like Bow and Rahab.
Oh dear... I forgot about that... That thing's a one-use?
Well... on the plus side, you'll be able to take a brief hiatus...
Oh, one more thing. I noticed only yesterday that I had misread the map a little. You guys are 100ft from the ceiling above and... 200ft from the floor below. I've edited holognome's map tags to make it clearer.
Karos hits the ground with a loud crack. Even from 200ft away, you can see that the floor below is now smeared crimson...
Lighting courses around the room, arcing this way and that, eventually arcing towards Oleander and zapping her for 6 damage. With Rahab flying in his face, the Belker decides he to take care of him first and rips into him with a full attack, his cloudy form taking a demon-like form that batters him with a claws and wings of air.
Well, regrettably, Karos is... in need of a very high level breath of life.
Oleander takes 6 damage from the lightning flying around the room, leaving her at 42hp.
Rahab takes 33 damage from the belker's onslaught, leaving him at 20hp.
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
Orophin continues to try and destroy the runes at the bottom of the pit.
Oleander's arrows strike the rune one after the other. On the second shot of this round, she sends her arrow right into the middle of the rune, the adamantine tip striking with such force that it sends cracklines throughout the stone that supports magical glyph. Its magic disrupted, the rune flares, then flickers, then fades. Almost immediately, the winds whipping around the room begin to die down, and the crackling lightning dissipates.
Oleander directs her third shot at the belker, but on this attack she misses her mark.
The rune is disabled! Rahab, Sarvin and Bow are up.
Male Swash 8/Gun S 1 HP 68 | AC 29; Touch 21; FF 21 | F +5; R +14; W +2 | CMB+11; CMD 32 | Speed 30 ft | Init +8 | Perc +12 | Stealth: +6 Swashbuckler 8/Gun Slinger 1
Rahab's blood pressure steps it up a notch, as he realizes he can do nothing for his companion. "DIE! DIE! DIE!" he screams, foam flecking from his lips as his blade gains a magical edge.
Karos' fate throws Bow and Sarvin off, and their attacks go wide. Rahab, despite having been beaten half to death by the Belker's first full attack, decides to stand his ground and takes a swing. He hits and his sword draws rivulets of air and electricity from the monster, causing him to bellow in pain. He returns with a full attack of his own, though Rahab is lucky and avoids 3 of the 5 swipes. Rahab is bloodied and gasping for air now... Rahab takes 14 damage and is now at a meagre 6hp.
Meanwhile, you hear chanting coming from within the cloud, and twin streaks of lightning come crashing onto Oleander's position.
Oleander takes 8 and 10 damage from the respective bolts. She can make a DC17 reflex save to halve the damage from each bolt
Oleander, make 2 reflex saves against the lightning. Rahab, take note that you only have 6hp left, and that the belker has 5 attacks on a full attack.
Male Swash 8/Gun S 1 HP 68 | AC 29; Touch 21; FF 21 | F +5; R +14; W +2 | CMB+11; CMD 32 | Speed 30 ft | Init +8 | Perc +12 | Stealth: +6 Swashbuckler 8/Gun Slinger 1
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
A swarm of arrows lash out at the demon, biting deeply into it.
I hope If it drops before the last arrow, she will look around to see if she can spot what is firing lightning at her, and use the remaining arrows on that. perception, extra +2 if evil outsider:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
Oleander partially dodges the first bolt of lightning but is struck on the full by the second. 14 damage total, and you are pretty sure that the lightning bolts came as soon as the sylphs in the fog finished casting their spells.
Slight ret-con. I forgot Sarvin's shot last round was vs touch AC. It hit.
Sarvin puts another bullet into the Belker, though the hole partially closes immediately afterwards. He is sure there is some ability to reduce damage involved. Bow puts two more arrows into the belker. Oleander also puts two more arrows into the belker, and whilst her second hit would have been a telling blow on a creature of flesh and blood, the belker's airy form does not appear to be particularly vulnerable in any location. Immune to crits
Starting to feel pressured by the barrage of arrows, the belker calls out to the sylphs in the cloud. Suddenly, a 35ft high wall of rushing winds whips up in front of Sarvin and Oleander, impeding their shots.
More chanting is heard from within the cloud, and Bow suddenly begins to feel himself sinking towards the ground, like a feather...
Finally, the belker looks at Rahab, and rewards his courage with a single painful bite that knocks the warpriest unconscious. Rahab has the briefest moment to hurl a final insult at the belker before he loses consciousness...
and plummets to the ground below beside Karos.
With his move action still available, the belker flies down towards Bow, ready to finish the job...
Well... if it was not for the faq I would have had Rahab unconscious and floating in the air...
On the plus-side, they appear to have made a slight tactical mistake. Bow is now on the ground, and the belker is still 125ft above him, giving him a window of opportunity for some full attacks.
Bow, Sarvin and Oleader are up. Time to pull out all the stops. Victory is going to be costly, but not impossible. The belker's not looking too healthy. Any one-use boons you might have that could help here should probably be used. I really don't want a TPK on my hands. :(
Feet settling down, Bo sees his fallen allies. This will be my fate if I cannot stay on The Path! He turns his weapon toward the combat above and lets three arrows sail into the belker.
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
Orophin (finally) remembers the potion of fly that she bought before coming to the plane of air.
D'oh
She grabs it (move) and drinks (another move), before floating forward into the wall of wind. (5' step).
Bow's proximity to the mangled remains of his friends helps him find focus, and he releases arrow after arrow into the belker. It is not enough to defeat the belker yet, but from the way it is swaying, Bow thinks he must be close...
Oleander refuses to be overcome by a pesky wind wall. She drinks her potion of fly and steps through it into the air.
Male Swash 8/Gun S 1 HP 68 | AC 29; Touch 21; FF 21 | F +5; R +14; W +2 | CMB+11; CMD 32 | Speed 30 ft | Init +8 | Perc +12 | Stealth: +6 Swashbuckler 8/Gun Slinger 1
Sarvin loads another adamantine bullet. no rapid reload sigh
Unfortunately, the belker is now too far for Sarvin to aim easily, and there is a wall of wind before him besides. His shot goes wide. Outside of first range increment.
There is more chanting from within the fog cloud, and suddenly Oleander also begins to fall to the ground, landing harmlessly at the bottom of the room. Sarvin finds himself blasted by electricity, enough that it penetrates even his resistance. Sarvin takes 15 lightning damage, DC17 ref save for half. Resistance will apply.
Finally, the belker makes a last-ditch effort to finish off Bow before Bow finishes him off... Bow feels himself suddenly slugged from below and launched 80ft into the air before plummeting to the ground once more! The belker sneeers, then flies up towards the platforms above...
Bow takes 27 damage from the blast of air, and then if he has no way of stopping his fall, he will take another 25 points of falling damage. He also needs to make a fort save vs being deafened.
Oleander, your fly spell was dispelled and you are now on the floor with Karos, Rahab and Bow. Sarvin, you're the only one still on the platform, but are behind a wind wall.
Pathfinders are up. The belker looks very badly hurt.
Male Swash 8/Gun S 1 HP 68 | AC 29; Touch 21; FF 21 | F +5; R +14; W +2 | CMB+11; CMD 32 | Speed 30 ft | Init +8 | Perc +12 | Stealth: +6 Swashbuckler 8/Gun Slinger 1
Bow and Oleander both had their flights dispelled. Unfortunately, that was something specifically in the tactics of the sylphs, who you might have worked out by now are somehow able to see through fog. However, the feather-fall effect that triggered when their flight was dispelled allowed them to reach the ground safely. The first time anyway.
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
Oleaner fires her shots, hopingto finish off the foul demon.
"And there was me thinking they were helping you survive, not dispelling your magic"
HP 60/60; Reroll @+4 0/1; Wand 11/50 Ranger 7; Init +3; Perc +14 (+4 vs human, +2 vs evil outsiders ;+2 in urban areas); AC 20; Fort +6; Ref +9; Will +4
Wolf:
: HP 30/30; AC 21; Bite@+6 (d6+3+trip); move 50'
Oleander fires an extra arrow, trying to knock one of the off target ones straight...
reroll attack:1d20 + 10 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (20) + 10 + 2 - 2 = 30 damage:1d8 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (2) + 4 + (4) = 10
Male Swash 8/Gun S 1 HP 68 | AC 29; Touch 21; FF 21 | F +5; R +14; W +2 | CMB+11; CMD 32 | Speed 30 ft | Init +8 | Perc +12 | Stealth: +6 Swashbuckler 8/Gun Slinger 1
