Thod runs Carrion Crown - Trial of the Beast
Game Master Thod

Indeed - the creature taking flight is a manticore.

My Birthday today - so proper fight might be tomorrow.

Happy Birthday Thod. I hope it is a good one.

Wren casts Feathermage Armor if there is a surprise round.

I'll let Thod handle inits rolls.

Happy Birthday Jens

Initiative1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

Andrea quickly takes cover behind a nearby tree and pulls a square of red flannel from her pouch as her voice begins to intone words of power.

Casting Summon Swarm(Bat Swarm)

Wren looks to identify the beast that is rising out of the swamp.

1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23 Know (Nature)

Kevin draws his sword and watches the beast, waiting for his chance to strike.

Initiative: 

Galadan  11
Kevin 11
Wren 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
Andrea 22
Nym   1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
Aldous  1d20 ⇒ 6

Manticore 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 2 = 19

The beast rises into the sky. Poor Aldous seem to be closest to its nest and he is greeted by a barrage of spikes.

Attacks on Aldous
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Aldous goes down - bleeding and close to Death.

Wren - the creature is indeed a Manticore. You reckon it is a female one and it seems fiercely protecting her nest.

Sorry for the slow posting - didn't spend much time on these boards here on the weekend and some posts need me to check my books.

Wren casts Feathermage Armor in the surprise round.

Round 1, Init 19

"It shoots spikes! Be careful!" Wren yells, helpfully...before turning around to see Aldous go down.

"Mr. Aldous!!!" Wren shrieks, a cacophonous birdwail.

Well done, Thod. Mission accomplished...

Wren draws his light crossbow (move action) and moves near Mr. Aldous, then hits the deck (goes prone, free action) next to him.

"Mr. Aldous!"

Will wait until tomorrow morning for Nym.
Andrea - feel free to post already the next action. You are ahead of the manticore.

Nym will move to stand between the creature and Aldous and send a pair of magic missiles up in retaliation...
2d4 + 2 ⇒ (3, 1) + 2 = 6

Round 1:
Andrea looks for cover and starts summoning a bat swarm.
The Manticore attacks Aldous with a volley of spikes and he goes down. 
Galadan hits with a well aimed shot and is unlucky to miss a vital spot for increased damage.
Nym attacks with some Magic Missiles. 

Initiative: 

Andrea 22
Manticore 19
Wren 16
Galadan  11
Kevin 11
Nym   6
Aldous 6

Andrea: your actions are ahead of the Manticore. 

The Manticore hovers in the air close to the nest and loses another volley of spikes

Manticore saving throw against Distraction:
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

First 2 Attacks on Nym, the other 2 on Galadan
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Critical confirm on Nym

Attack 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9 Damage 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11

Nym is hit for 7 points of damage. The spike that hits him only narrowly misses his left eye and he seems lucky not to have fared worse. A second spike is unable to penetrate his armour.
Galadan is less lucky - he is hit by 2 spikes causing 17 points of damage.

Round 2
hp 6/23, AC 15

Galadan switches to Judgment of Healing, and heals 2 hp.

He releases another crossbow bolt at the manticore.

1d20 + 4 ⇒ (16) + 4 = 20 for 1d8 ⇒ 5

This one seems a little out of league. Tactical suggestions: surround the creature, take full defense. Only one person attack it at a time (i.e. per round). At least if we have the creature surrounded, I'd get +1d6 precision damage.

Thod, How high up is the monster? How large is it? Is its nest near any trees?

Andrea finishes her spell and the Manticore is suddenly surrounded by a swarm of bats that buffet its massive head with their scurrying flight.

XP 600
N Diminutive animal (swarm)
Init +2; Senses blindsense 20 ft., low-light vision; Perception +15
Defense
AC 16, touch 16, flat-footed 14 (+2 Dex, +4 size)
hp 13 (3d8)
Fort +3, Ref +7, Will +3
Defensive Abilities swarm traits; Immune weapon damage
Offense
Speed 5 ft., fly 40 ft. (good)
Melee swarm (1d6)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 0 ft.
Special Attacks distraction (DC 11), wounding
Statistics
Str 3, Dex 15, Con 11, Int 2, Wis 14, Cha 4
Base Atk +2; CMB —; CMD —
Feats Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Perception)
Skills Fly +12, Perception +15; Racial Modifiers +4 Perception
when using blindsense
SQ swarm traits

Wounding (Ex) Any living creature damaged by a bat swarm continues to bleed,losing 1 hit point per round thereafter. Multiple wounds do not result in cumulative bleeding loss. The bleeding can be stopped by a DC 10 Heal check or the application of a cure spell or some other healing magic.

Swarm Attack: Creatures with the swarm subtype don’t make standard melee attacks. Instead, they deal automatic damage to any creature whose space they occupy at the end of their move, with no attack roll needed.

Damage to manticore this round..1d6 ⇒ 1

oh well..I'll just have to stay on my feet then..I can keep this up for as long as I concentrate on the swarm..if I go down it lasts a further 2 rounds..now will the rest off you get Aldous back on his feet or hit it with something please..

Galadan blinks at the sudden appearance of the bats.

"Well, that's one way to do it. Well done, Andrea."

Round 2, Init 16

"Mr. Aldous! Mr. Aldous! Stay with us!" Wren shrieks again, seeing the wounds on Aldous' body.

Wren will fumble through her supplies, looking for the one thing that she has to help.

Finding it with a happy squawk, Wren will administer the potion to Aldous.

1d8 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 = 7 healing, CLW

With that done, Wren will turn her ire to the Manticore, pondering how best to handle the beast.

Tended to by Wren, Aldous breathes a little easier, but remains unconscious, although it seems more like light sleep, than the deep unconsciousness of near death. He rocks feverishly, and mumbles something barely audible.

"H-hastur?"

Thanks Wren :-)

Kevin

The nest is build between 3 trees. The trees are around 30 feet away and the nest is 15 feet above ground. Climbing is not very difficult - but not simple - DC10.

Sorry - wanted to post this yesterday.

Andrea

Not sure - but does't the swarm appear at the start of the round and you can still do something. At least something not breaking concentration. Someone chime in if I'm wrong please. Not in the mood to check books.

I think Nym is still missing his action and Kevin will likely want to act on my information.

Unfortunately casting or hexing will break concentration so Andrea is out off options except to keep cover between her and the beastie.

Her ward as always is on Wren( I think we can assume she casts Ward at the start off the day and the wittering Wizard is the obvious recipient)

The warded wittering Wizard wren?
wuvs wowwipops when in Winnibego

With a few quick words and gesture Nym will send a small stream of acid up at the beast.

Acid Stream ranged touch: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8
Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 2

Kevin moves towards the nest, sword in hand.

Will and climb into the nest in an attempt to draw the thing to me, Or at least get closer to it.

Climb Check:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Kevin

You surely will get it's attention.

Next round

The Manticore seems annoyed by the bat swarm and tries to bite at it - but it's mouth and claws seem to be pretty ineffective.

Make good use of this extra round. Well done Andrea - I think the Manticore wouldn't just ignore the swarm. But it will pay a lot of attention to Kevin in a moment ...
I will be on my way to Tactica in Hamburg tomorrow morning. I'm back Monday evening. There is a chance I might post from there, there is also a chance I might not post at all for 4 days.
I just thought I let you know.

Round 3, Init 16

"You stay right here, Mr. Aldous...I'll take care of this beast," Wren says angrily.

Poor man is delirious. Mr. Hastur was eaten by grues in the Harrowstone...we never found his corpse.

1d20 + 10 ⇒ (4) + 10 = 14 Know (nature) on bats (swarm)

Unsure of what the effect on Andrea's bats will be, Wren pulls out a pure white feather (one from Plumie's underbelly) and tosses it at the manticore. On it's path to the beast, it divides, and divides again, separating into smaller feathers...and divides and divides yet again...and again and again...until there are thousands of small luminous feathers surrounding the Manticore, attempting to blind the beast (and the swarm).

Cast Glitterdust, DC 19 Will.

"You don't hurt Mr. Aldous!"

Initiative:

Andrea 22
Manticore 19
Wren 16
Galadan 11
Kevin 11
Nym 6
Aldous 6

Round 3
hp 8/23, AC 15

Galadan swiftly imbibes his potion of cure moderate wounds.

2d8 + 2 ⇒ (3, 5) + 2 = 10 healing, plus 2 hp from Judgment of Healing

hp 18/23

Galadan loads his crossbow again, this time with a +1 bolt, ready to fire once the opportunity presents itself.

Will save Manticore 1d20 ⇒ 15
Will save Bat Swarm 1d20 ⇒ 19

Waiting to be boarded on the Ferry to the continent. Hope the rolls are unambiguous as I have no bestiary with me - so just pure D20 rolls.

My search-Fu indicates +3 for both - so the swarm is unaffected but the Manticore fails by 1 point.

Just in case people misinterpreted Aldous - he is still out - just seems delirious. He needs at least one more healing to become active.

Boarding starts

Kevin stands in the nest and grins meanly at the manticor. "Come get some!" He holds his dueling sword over one of the eggs and makes chopping motions as he begins to laugh.

Fight defensivly until the beast gets into melle.

Round 3

If possible Nym will administer a potion of Cure Moderate Wounds to Aldous...1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5. If not Nym will drink a potion of Cure Light Wounds for himself...1d8 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6.

Nym, need another d8 there for the CMW.

So now the Manticore is blind and surrounded with my bats..and the CMW is 2d8+3 not 1d8+2

Blinded:
The creature cannot see. It takes a –2 penalty to Armor Class, loses its Dexterity bonus to AC (if any), and takes a –4 penalty on most Strength- and Dexterity-based skill checks and on opposed Perception skill checks.

All checks and activities that rely on vision (such as reading and Perception checks based on sight) automatically fail.
All opponents are considered to have total concealment (50% miss chance) against the blinded character.

Blind creatures must make a DC 10 Acrobatics skill check to move faster than half speed. Creatures that fail this check fall prone. Characters who remain blinded for a long time grow accustomed to these drawbacks and can overcome some of them

Yep, my bad. Thanks for the catch. 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9

Aldous coughs weakly, and opens his eyes.

"Hastur? I feel... different..."

Round 3

The bats continue to harry the manticore.

Damage 1d6 ⇒ 5 +1 bleed

The Manticore hovers helpless and blinded in front of her nest.

Will save at end of round 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

He will be close enough for Kevin to reach.
I'm back but 4 days without WiFi connection have taken a toll to get up to speed what I missed. You sometimes take online cappabilities for granted. Sorting out some issues with my business took precedent. So please post new actions and I will summarize later what happened when.

WOOOT!!

Kevin smailes and slashes at the beast

Attack:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12
Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (7) + 4 = 11

Round 4

With a series of gestures and focusing on a wooden archery target replica, and a special invocation to Pharasma, Galadan opens his eyes to the myriad of possibilities within the next round.

Casting true strike

He also loads another crossbow bolt +1 and heals 2 more hitpoints from the Judgment of Healing.

hp 20/23

Round 3, Init 16

"You *don't* hurt Mr. Aldous!"

Wren will stand and fire crossbow at the blind beast.

1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 5 - 4 = 21 to hit;
1d8 ⇒ 8 damage.

Wren will again hit the deck after firing (free action) to give the beast a smaller target should it choose to fire spikes again.

Edit, possible crit:

1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (4) + 5 - 4 = 5 to hit;
1d8 ⇒ 3 damage.

"I see... So much more clearly, now..."

Aldous snaps out of his daze, and, regarding the manticore with narrowed eyes, summons a celestial eagle (into a flanking position with Kevin) to harry the beast!

Declaring Smite Evil.

Talon: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 3 + 2 = 16, for 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5 S/B damage.
Talon: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 2 = 10, for 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5 S/B damage.
Bite: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 2 = 13, for 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 1 = 7 P/S/B damage.

The beast - confused, blinded, attacked by bats and slashed at takes evasive action and slowly flies further up.

Fly check 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (9) - 3 = 6

Will check at end of round 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

The Manticore has difficulty to stay airborne and comes tumbling down.

The beast has hover but an abysmal fly ability. I therefore gave it a fly check to go out of range of Kevin but let it tumble down. Due to the hover ability I don't let it crash (take damage, go prone).
I'm improvising here and want to keep it going before spending a lot of time to check out how everything should effect the beast.
Kevin - the bats might turn on you next if you stay there (unless Andrea is able to direct them).
RL is still busy. The beast isn't down yet. I would estimate it is half way - but I need to calculate exact numbers.

The eagle continues to harry the manticore!

Talon: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 3 + 2 = 10, for 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 2 + 1 = 6 S/B damage.
Talon: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 2 = 19, for 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 2 + 1 = 5 S/B damage.
Bite: 1d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 2 = 13, for 1d4 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4 P/S/B damage.

Aldous, meanwhile, takes a shot at the beast with a viscid glob of acid...

Acid Splash(ranged touch): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5, for 1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4 Acid damage.

...which goes wild!

I can't direct the bats merely maintain their presence nor can I dismiss them innediately so anyone in melee with the Manticore will take 1d6 damage as well..sorry

Round 4

Damage on Kevin 1d6 ⇒ 1

Damage on Manticore 1d6 ⇒ 3+1 Bleed

Kevin starts taking bleed next round

Startled by the bats surrounding of her friend Andrea drops her concentration on the swarm she moves closer to him whilst fixing the beast with a baleful glare.

Evil Eye (Su): The witch can cause doubt to creep into the mind of a foe within 30 feet that she can see. The target takes a –2 penalty on one of the following (witch's choice): AC, ability checks, attack rolls, saving throws, or skill checks. This hex lasts for a number of rounds equal to 3 + the witch's Intelligence modifier. A Will save reduces this to just 1 round. This is a mind-affecting effect. At 8th level the penalty increases to –4.

DC15 will Save required to avoid penalty on Armour Class for 6 rounds. I believe the Glitterdust wears off on Wrens action in round 7

If Glitterdust is an area effect, that might be affecting Kevin as well. It wouldn't affect me, however, as I'm immune to blindness and dazzle effects. And Wren, that was Round 4, not Round 3. Or else you posted two Round 3s.

Round 5
Switch to Judgment of Destruction

Galadan releases the crossbow bolt into the confusion of bats, glitter, and melee.

1d20 + 5 - 4 + 20 ⇒ (20) + 5 - 4 + 20 = 41 for 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Crit
1d20 + 5 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 5 - 4 = 7 for 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Not sure if true strike adds +20 to critical confirmation roll too or not, but if it does, it hits AC 27.

Round 4
"Aldous is up, and we have the beast fairly well distracted, should we maybe leave the creature to it's nest?" Nym calls out to his companions.

Round 5
Assuming we don't abandon the field, Nym will attempt to move up to the manticore and Kevin, hoping to get into melee.

Round 5

Wren looks at Nym, almost screeching her reply.

"Don't be silly. This monster needs to be put down...lest it eat more passersby. This one hurt Mr. Aldous!" Wren points her crossbow in the beast's direction.

Move action: Reload crossbow.
Move action: Wren stands up.