Defense of Astengard

Game Master Nicos

Korin is primarily focused on his duties, making sure the guards stay alert until their shifts are over. He makes an effort to be sociable whenever he isn't busy, but shows signs of uneasiness whenever he does so.

The first three days happens without major incidents. It's a time to rejoice since nothing have disturbed the interior of the city in many years.

The civilian in the city doesn't waste opportunity to show their gratitude to the army and city guards, for they know the peace they live in have been earned with sacrifice and effort.

Korin seems to be popular among children. There was a time he scared them, but that was year ago. Now they like to play they are koring and defend the lands with their own hands.

Niall duties put him in the middle of the high class people. Many of them have served and/or serve in the army/city guards/others, so they tend to be much more humble and approachable than the ruling class of other nations. The teachings of the dominant religion help with that, too.

Gylfir seems to be more solitary, and people doesn't know yet how to approach him.

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In the evening of the fourth day the streets are decorated and illuminated by some crystal lanterns. People take their kids to the streets where the kids burn a small paper where they had written something they wish for another person.

@ Nial

Among others personalities, You are near the Queen and Princess Gjørvel (or the golden fury as she is known). Their highness took young prince Micael to the streets so he can be surrounded by the children of all origin.

The prince draws the small paper with his wish, and look for a crystal lantern where to burn it. But when he put the paper in the flame the paper refuses to burn no matter how much time and how close the fire is. The strange situations ends when the crystal lantern explodes causing minor injuries to people around.

@ Korin

You and some of the men from your unit are in an lookout tower. Your men are somewhat distracted with the festival, recalling and talking about the wished they burned when they were young. You are the only one that seems to notice a strange movement below, as if somebody/something came out from the ground just to quickly move and disappear behind a house.

@ Gylfir

Patrolling near the tunnels that lead to the great fire below the city you find that the guard that should e there are missing. after looking for them, you find a couple of them dead. They seems to have been crushed and burned at the same time.

Gylfir seems to be more solitary, and people doesn't know yet how to approach him.

Ah, I didn't mean to imply he was just kind of aimlessly meandering but not talking to anybody. Gylfir is very amiable and participates in a lot of the carnival festivities (particularly the drinking). He just keeps himself bundled up a lot of the time so he doesn't scare people who don't know him well enough to look past the fact that he looks like death warmed over...that's been allowed to cool again.

Deadman snaps to the alert as he finds the dead soldiers, armoring himself in a raiment of ice and downing his combat drug.

He looks around for any sign that the assailant is nearby, and runs to find Captain Janne or any of the other guards to raise the alarm.

Perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Niall quickly moves to the scene and tries to help any injured citizens or children.

Och, now that's going to give me some serious whillies. He stares hard at the remnants of the lantern.

Perception, did the boy's wish paper survive the explosion?: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (17) + 15 = 32

Up Deadman's Perception to a 33, I forgot magic item bonuses.

Korin stands up and points toward the house.

"Get some light on that house. Something is hiding there. Came up from underground."

How tall is the tower?

@ Gylfir

There is a hole nearby in the ground. Something came through it. After that, you can easily find new footprints that seems to come from nowhere. The reason you can find the footprints it's because they are made of coal. The coal footprints seems to be moving toward the citiy's biggest public park/garden.

You find Janne and a small unit of her men.

@ Niall

The wounds are quite minor cuts, there is no one actually injured. The wish in the paper is for the "well-being for all the citizens of Astengard"

@Koring

Around 6 meters

The men hurrily illuminates the area, but whatever was there is not in sight by the time the light touch the zone.

"One of you, find Captain Janne and tell her we have an intruder."

Korin leaps off the tower.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (15) + 16 = 31
Nonlethal damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

Barely wincing at the pain in his ankles, he moves toward the house and searches the area.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (13) + 17 = 30

Deadman snaps a quick salute and begins speaking quickly but clearly.

"Captain, there's an emergency. Some creature just killed tow of our men and is heading for the park. We need to act IMMEDIATELY. Rally the men, and keep an ear out for other threats." he relays, then continues following the thing that came from below.

@ Gylfir

Damn F@#$. You've listen to him, men. Let's move! - The captain and her unit accompanies you

AS the night approaches the intruders are remarkably easy to locate since they seems to shine.

The creatures are like large humanoid made of living fire, they are putting to fire the trees nearby.

@ Korin

Stealth: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (19) + 14 = 33

You are pretty sure something/someone was there, but as you reach the ground the creature have hidden its presence.

"Spread out and search the area!" Korin shouts up to his men.

He keeps searching, keeping an eye out for holes in the ground and other signs of burrowing.

Perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (19) + 17 = 36

How many creatures are there?

@ SD

20 elementals.

@ Korin

Uhm, I'll roll initiatives to see if you catch me before I drink a potion of invisibility

You: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 22
Enemy: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

You win. 30 ft away from you there is a robed (medium, humanoid) figure with a potion in his hand. He was trying to hide in an dark alley.

Can you paint the scene a bit more? Are they scattered across the park, bunched up, or in some kind of line/regimented marching formation? How many could I hit with a 30 ft. cone or line?

"THERE!"

Korin runs toward the robed figure and tries to knock it to the ground, at the same time yanking on its robe to ensnare its limbs, and kicking it in the stomach as it falls.

Free action: Begin rage. Swift: Flex into Greater Dirty Trick and Greater Trip. Move: Move toward the figure. Standard: Trip and Dirty Trick attempts, as the first two attacks of a flurry.

Trip: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (2) + 20 = 22
Dirty Trick (entangle): 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (12) + 19 = 31
Entangle duration: 1d4 ⇒ 2 +1 for every 5 by which I exceeded its CMD. Requires a standard action to remove.

Trip AoO: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31
Damage: 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (4, 1) + 15 = 20

@ SD

They are scattered all over the place, trying to burn as many trees as they can as fast as they can. You can only target one enemy with that cone/line.

@Korin

Your opponent defends succesfully against The trip attempt but you manage to use his robe to make his movement more difficult.

As you approach to him, you notice the guy's skin is the color of polished brass.

Still, with the potion in hand, yur opponents realease a series of kicks

1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 271d10 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14 -Hit. Fort Save DC 18 to avoid being stunned
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (15) + 8 = 231d10 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 111d10 + 6 ⇒ (9) + 6 = 15
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 81d10 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16
1d20 + 3 ⇒ (20) + 3 = 231d10 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13 - hit
crit?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 111d10 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

Niall seeks whoever is captaining the royal guard right now and suggests they take the Royal Family somewhere safer.

"I ain't one to look an omen in the face and not worry a bit."

Deadman sends off a test blast at the nearest elemental to gauge how tough hey are (and if they have any resistance or weaknesses to damage), a large icicle forming between his hands and rocketing toward the flame creature.

Swift: Studied Combat. Move: Gather energy, reducing Burn cost by 1. Standard: Fire a Composite Ice Blast (normal cost: 2 Burn, reduced to 0 with Infusion Specialization and Gather Energy). Damage is half piercing half cold.

Attack: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (6) + 25 = 31

Damage: 11d6 + 13 ⇒ (1, 1, 3, 3, 2, 6, 2, 5, 6, 2, 3) + 13 = 47

@ Gylfir

You almost extinguish the fire creature. The Injured creature run away at great speed, taking cover from the trees (double move, it got 100 ft away).

Your companions are having great problems since the elementals are not fighting directly. The elemental involved in a 1-vs-1 fight just run away, while the others keep burning things around.

@ Niall

The Royal guards agree and convince the queen to move to the royal castle.

What's that? - Somebody say, and when you look, there is a strange light coming from the park (like 3/4 mile away).

Do you accompany the royal family r go to investigate or do something else?

Gylfir shoots the fleeing elemental in the back with a blast of pure cold (unless it has total cover) and begins moving toward the next nearest elemental. As he does so, he calls out: "Spread out and try to surround them! If they're just trying to burn the park we need to try and herd them to the center where we can control the blaze!"

Cold Blast: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (16) + 25 = 41 This one is vs Touch AC, minus whatever Cover subtracts from the roll.

Damage: 6d6 + 3 ⇒ (5, 4, 1, 4, 1, 2) + 3 = 20 x 1.5 from Empower (it only costs 1 Burn so if I'm just firing a normal Blast it's always Empowered for free) for a total of 30 damage. Plus any extra it might take from a potential Cold Weakness.

Edit: The last Blast would have done 2 extra damage I forgot to add, but I don't think that would have mattered. If it WAS 2 HP away from death I have a different use for my Standard.

Fort: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20

"Two can play at that game!"

Korin tries to trip him again, and begins his own series of kicks.

Swift: Spend ki for extra attack. Full: Flurry with one trip attempt.

Trip: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (10) + 21 = 31
Trip AOO: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (1) + 15 = 16 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (2, 4) + 15 = 21
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (5, 4) + 15 = 24 Fort DC 18 to avoid stun.
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (17) + 13 = 30 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (4, 1) + 15 = 20
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (17) + 8 = 25 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (3, 5) + 15 = 23
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (4, 5) + 15 = 24

@ Gylfir

The elemental dies. It's clear that cold effects have extra punch against them. The difficulties your teammates are having are due to the fact that the elementals are almost twice as fast as them (50 land speed). Herding them is quite hard without area effects and/or reinforcements.

Damnable things!, is as if they were playing with us wasting our time! - Says captain Jenna.

16/20 elementals remaining.

@ Korin

Tripped and Two hits for damage 44 damage.

Fort: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 16 -and Stunned

The enemy i stunned in the ground and he drop the potion.

3 of your men came with reinforcements. They couldn't find captain Jenna, but brother Regnor (Another captain. Human. Inquisitor powers) and his unit.

"They're trying to break our spirit! I'll try to slow them down, focus on containing them while we wait for reinforcements!"

Gylfir makes the ground around as many elementals as possible a mire, lowing their movements enough to (hopefully) give the guard an easier time catching and corralling them.

Using Swamps Grasp. I can make 10 10 ft. square pieces of ground within 90 feet of me difficult terrain. It doesn't say they have to be contiguous, so I drop them so they catch as many elementals as possible while giving the guards a little free space to move around (so little 5 ft. wide "alleys" in between the spaces that the Large sized elementals can't navigate.). Basically, I'm trying to make a loose grid of difficult terrain that will hinder the elementals but let the guards move mostly freely.

Niall trusts the Royal Guard to fulfill their duties, and rushes off towards the strange lights coming from the park.

Damn it!! I just wanted to relax during the festival!

Korin kicks some dirt into the man's eyes, and keeps wailing on him.

"Someone grab that potion!"

Swift extra attack, Flurry w/ dirty trick

Dirty Trick (blind): 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (11) + 19 = 30 Duration: 1d4 ⇒ 2 +1 for every 5 over CMD, standard action to remove
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (10) + 13 = 23 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (5, 1) + 15 = 21
1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (4, 5) + 15 = 24
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (6, 1) + 15 = 22
1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (1, 6) + 15 = 22

Confirm: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (1, 2) + 15 = 18

@ Korin

You beat the guy to his death.

It's an Ifrit... - Captain Ragnor says. He sent one of his man to climb to the top of a nearby building to take a look around

Soldier: There is a conflagration in the park and troops are moving to the cathedral. This seems to be a major situation.

He take a small figurine of a raven and a second later the figurine starts moving. He uses the figurine to sent the report of the intruder to the headquarters

@ Gylfir and Niall

Gylfir trick is a good one. It will help your companions to finish the job in half-the time. However, the creatures have some success in creating the fire.

A soldier approaches to you Sir, the headquarter informs that a unit of mages have been sent. They say that if we can maintain the fire to the actual level, the mages can end the conflagration in no time.

Another soldier interrupts
Wait, I have another report. Magma creatures are trying to burn the cathedral, so far they have been contained... There is more, some robbed figures have been seen in several places,...it seems litenuant Shiyamo's have killed one of them

"Get some buckets and form a chain!" Gylfir orders "I'm headed to the cathedral. We can't let them torch it. People'd be heartbroken." he says to the newcomer, then lifts off and heads that way. "C'mon Niall!"

Activating Flight Hex for a bit of extra speed.

Korin closes his eyes and breathes deeply, and his wounds start to heal on their own.

End rage and use Wholeness of Body twice, healing 20 hp.

"The cathedral is a symbol of Astengard's hope and strength - it must not fall. I will go there immediately."

Several units rushesThe House of the Ascending Light.

You find a dozen of large rocky creatures that glow with an internal heat. Red light spills from its eyes and mouth, as well as fractures in its outer surface. An even larger one seems to lead them.

The soldiers already in the cathedral are fighting them. Seeing that reinforcements are coming, The creatures start burrowing their way out of the fight. Only a couple stay to vomit forth a puddle of lava. They create a pool of lava to interrupt the pass so they teammates can scape.

I've been wracking my brain trying to find the best move here. Is the leader one of the ones that stays behind? Can I see the trail they're burrowing?

THe leader try to escape. The trail is underground, how would you see it?

Ever seen the movie Tremors?

ok. I guess there would be some dumb-enough elementals that burrow shallowly, but the ones that get deep would be out of sight

the visible trails don't go far away. They stay circling around.

So?

Korin's fists become sheathed in ice, as he flies over the lava toward the nearest elemental. He pokes its eyes, then kicks it.

Free: Begin rage, flex into Greater Dirty Trick (assuming more than 1 minute has passed). Swift: Arcane pool, +2 Frost. Move: Fly toward it. Standard: The works.

Dirty Trick (blind): 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (15) + 21 = 36 Duration: 1d4 ⇒ 2 +1 per 5 over CMD, standard to remove
1d20 + 15 ⇒ (16) + 15 = 31 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (1, 4) + 15 = 20 Ice dmg: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Deadman is disappointed he can't pursue the magma elementals(?), but focuses on taking out the remaining elemental.

Swift Study, Move Gather Energy, Standard fire an Entangling Empowered Cold Blast

Cold Blast: 1d20 + 25 ⇒ (13) + 25 = 38

Damage: 6d6 + 8 ⇒ (6, 3, 3, 4, 5, 6) + 8 = 35 Total damage: 52 before any vulnerabilities it might have to Cold damage.

And it needs to make a Reflex save (DC 15) or be Entangled for 1 minute.

Gylfir's ice attack kills one magma elemental and Korin blinds another. The blinded one tries to escape burrowing (AoO and all that).

A couple of the still in the surface elementals goes after Korin

Slam A: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 131d8 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Slam B: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (17) + 11 = 281d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 - there is a save to avoid burn, but you are basically immune to that damage so it doesn't matter.

TO be concise, he strategy of the already-burrowing elementals is to keep moving around the cathedral (perhaps striking and escaping here and there) in order to maintain you busy, and your characters notice it. Astengard people goal is to send for a scroll of move earth in order to bring the elementals to the surface, but it might take some time.

"Where did these damn things come from? Did anyone spot a summoner?" Niall grumbles at fighting creatures that are little more than animated objects to him.

Niall invokes a blessing of his Lady and burrows into the ground to go meet his enemies.

Cast Burrow and use my move to start moving towards them.

AoO: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (19) + 15 = 34 2d6 + 15 ⇒ (4, 5) + 15 = 24 Cold: 1d6 ⇒ 3

"I took out a robed Ifrit who was prowling around the streets. Perhaps he has a few summoner friends."

Just a reminder.

Another soldier interrupts
Wait, I have another report. Magma creatures are trying to burn the cathedral, so far they have been contained... There is more, some robbed figures have been seen in several places,...it seems lieutenant Shiyamo's have killed one of them

It's quite hard (but not impossible) to teleport and/or summon things into the city. The easiest answer of how they came here is burrowing their way in.

===============

Reports came that the fire in the park was controlled.

Korin kills the blinded elemental. Still your turn if you want to do something about the last 2 remaining in the surface (they will burrow their escape out if you let them) or do something else.

Come on people, you are letting CR 5 creatures to mess with you. Remember that you are not alone, if you need a spell or an ability to then probably somebody else in Astengard have it.

I thought there were only two above ground?

Only a couple stay to vomit forth a puddle of lava. They create a pool of lava to interrupt the pass so they teammates can escape.

Also there's not really anything I can think of to stop creatures from burrowing.

Eh, *ahem*, that was to see if you guys were paying attention,
yeah.

"Does anyone have a spell that will let me pursue these pests?" Korin growls.

I almost missed Niall action. But, how does burrowing combat works?

I'm not sure you CAN fight while burrowing.