#16: To Scale the Dragon (Inactive)

Game Master OnelungBL

Jory readies his arrows.
"Let's do it!!"

"We should be ready to flee should the beast recognise the ruse. Jory, if you can be of support back with the dog sleds, that would be best, since you and I can rush the dogs in for a rescue just in case."

Reaching into her backpack, Merisiel pulls out a few glass flasks.

"If it would be of any help, I have a few flasks of oil for my lantern. If this creature is weak to fire, these may be useful. Perhaps Sharna or her bird can drop them and the fire elemental can do what it does best."

Merasiel stations herself by one of the dogsleds, ready to flee or attempt rescue, whichever is needed.

Once more chanting in a deep rumbling voice, Volkard summons a second elemental.

हल्ला तर अंडी स्वतःला रक्षण खंडित

Sharna begins to ignore gravity while Volkard summons his elemental servant.

To Merisiel, she says, "I believe the issue is not that the creature is weak to fire: it's that it emits fire, and will burn those who are not naturally protected against such."

Who wants Fortune? Merisiel, Jory, Tyrion..? I'll do Tyrion if nobody else claims it.

"Like I said a Remorhaz emits strong fires so a fire elemental would be ideal to "tank" it. The earth elemental will smolder to bits if it even attacks it once."

Tyrion begins casting a spell on himself (Divine Favor) when he feels or sees the mother coming surface side. He also takes out his potion of fly and scroll of resist energy in case he needs it. He takes position where he has a good view of the fight and readies his bow.

I would love a fortune Sharna :). Shield of Faith is still active for this fight.

Sharna's eyes begin to glow dull red as she floats off the ground and rises higher into the air. Ra shrieks and dives down towards Tyrion's shoulder, anointing him with birdshit the blessings of Sharna's more benevolent ancestors before zipping off again.

Tyrion may reroll one d20 a round and take the better result. He must declare he is using this ability before he rolls, blah blah et cetera. Base duration is 2 rounds, I'll be using my move action to cackle for the rest of however much buffing and so forth we do to keep it active.

Eerie laughter drifts down from where Sharna is now hovering, thirty feet above the ground.

Tyrion or Merisiel, do you want Grease?

please, if needed I will go in melee with it.

Wiping off the birdshit Tyrion grabs his scoll and casts resist fire energy.

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Sharna flicks her wrist and a wand drops into her palm from a cunningly-designed sheath loaded with a spring. Tyrion goes from having a small spot of bird-affection on his shoulder to having a thin covering of shiny grease all over him instead.

Ra resettles on Sharna's shoulder with a smug chirp.

Swift to draw wand, standard to cast from wand (duration 1 minute), move to cackle.

At this point, Sharna has spent 3 rounds of acions: 1 to activate flight hex, while Volkard summoned; 1 to cast Fortune; 1 to cast Grease. If we're assuming the earth elemental is headed straight off after Volkard's summons, it has had 2 rounds to approach the nest. I'll hold off on posting any other actions until we know if we're in combat now/if other people are throwing up buffs/etc.

Very well then, Markavious casts Haste on the party and levitate on himself moving up 30' and finish up with stoneskin(DR 10/Adamantium 90 pts for 90 minutes) on the Earth elemental

Tyrion will add an expeditious retreat poke from his wand to stay mobile.

You prepare yourselves well for the anticipated combat, and Volkard sends another earth elemental to bait the beast. After a few moments of deathly silence, a loud crash is heard, followed by a rumble as the ground begins to shake. On the far side of the cairn, an eruption of snow and ice is followed by the beast itself!

You all have an surprise round before the Remorhaz gets to act.

Turn order:
Markavious
Merisiel
Sharna
Volkard
Remorhaz
Tyrion
Jory

"Let us begin," Sharna says calmly. From 25 feet in the air, she gestures with her fingers raised like claws, and speaks words in the sharp desert tongue of her ancestors. Looking towards the monster, she closes her hand, as if strangling someone in her grip. Ra shrieks from her shoulder.

Surprise round: Standard action: cast Hold Monster on the remorhaz. Will save, DC 20.

No move action for me in the surprise round to spare for a cackle, so Tyrion's Fortune will go from 2 rounds remaining to 1 round. I'll laugh at you next time. ;)

While the rubble falls to the ground, the Remorhaz freezes in place as Sharna finishes her spell.

Jory takes a thistle arrow shot concentrating (expending perfect shot)
deadly aim: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (6) + 10 = 161d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 231d8 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 81d6 ⇒ 6
If the arrow hits it causes bleed 1 for six rounds.

As his elemental servant engages the Remorhaz, Volkard sends a bold of acid over its head.

The Remorhaz is three size categories larger than the small elemental. No penalties on ranged attacks.

Acid: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (19) + 3 = 22 vs flat footed touch AC
Damage: 1d3 ⇒ 3

आपल्या वेळ एक हत्या धक्का तडाखा घेणे

Small Augmented Earth elemental, Power Attack, coup de grace

Damage: 2d6 + 20 ⇒ (5, 3) + 20 = 28

Damage dealt at start of next round: DC 38 fort save or it is dead.

I'm skipping ahead a bit here, what with a coup de grace being a full round action, but what the heck:
As the giant beast stands frozen, halfway out of the ground, the elemental lands a telling blow and the Remorhaz is no more...

Combat over

With the beastmen and the Remorhaz defeated, the eggs and the cairn are now safe to investigation.

Lowering himself down Markavious makes his way carefully over to the cairn and peering in Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26

"Well that was a lot of fuss for nothing! Well done guys." Tyrion says as he walks over to inspect the creature, making sure it is dead.

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I have no idea how far away this thing is, so my daggers won't be that effective. It's my only ranged ability.

Keeping her stance, Merisiel draws her rapier, a dagger in her off hand as she prepares for whatever is going to happen.

"Gods that thing is big..."

Going full defensive. +4 to AC

As Tyrion walks over to the giant corpse, he notices something in the ice under the cairn. It looks like the structure extends a couple of feet into the ice, and there seems to be a door in it.

Sharna brushes off her hands. "That went smoothly," is all the Thuvian woman says.

Noting that Tyrion has found something of interest, Sharna drifts back to earth near him.

"A door? Excellent. Ra, if you'll lend your eyes..."

Ra perception: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (9) + 17 = 26

Sharna quickly casts a spell to detect magic on the door.

-1 minute of flight hex, end fortune on Tyrion

JOry spends some time studying the door.
Take 20 for 34
If there are no traps he will open it and sneak in after looking.

perception: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31
Tyrion give the door, the Remorhaz and surroundings a quick look.

"Let's hope there isn't a male around here as well."

Neither of you can discern much more, due to the over three feet of blueish ice covering the door.

You have been equipped with pickaxes, in case you'll be needing them.

Anything on the Remorhaz before we go in?

Jory will search the creature before going on.
"We need to stick together. Two missions ago my group wandered off to explore another room while I was exploring and I almost died."

After examining the frozen door, Volkard settles back near the still warm corpse of the Remorhaz.

I fear I would be of little use breaking this ice. If you don't mind, I will keep out of everyone's way.

I am with Volkard on this, unless you would like me to blow the door open

Picking up one of the pickaxes from the dog sled for herself and a couple others, Merisiel walks over to the frozen over door, dropping the other pickaxes into the snow.

"We shouldn't just rush in, we never know what may be on the other side of that door."

"I think we should attempt to break the ice around the door to get in. Whatever is in there, be it our objective or something else, we will need to be able to approach it quietly. A fireball would definately make a lot of noise." She grins, giving Markavious a wayward glance.

Putting her rapier away, she starts hacking at the door with the pickaxe, hoping she won't be the only one working on it.

Strength Check: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8

"Anyone want to join me?"

"I'll help, the rest of ya guard the area. An be carefull not to collapse the thing"

str: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 3 = 14

"I think after the impact of the remorhaz's body crashing to earth, any people behind this door may already be on alert," Sharna says with a shrug. "Ra: Keep watch from the air."

The bird points out in protest that it's been hours since he was fed warm juicy meat, but takes to the air, keeping up an aerial surveillance for anything else coming up the mountain or otherwise approaching.

Ra watching: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (16) + 17 = 33

Sharna, for her part, taps her lips and studies the thick ice covering the door. This will be long and tedious, she thinks.

"Can we use the pickaxes... here," she says, indicating the points closest to the door, "to make a hole down into the ice as close to the door as possible? I have several flasks of lantern oil with me: we can pour it down into the hole once we have one, and then light it on fire. The burning oil might significantly weaken the point where the ice cleaves to the door."

Kn Enginering, if applicable: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 = 13

Markavious smiles back at Merisiel Hey i'm just trying to break the ice and keep things light He looks at the pickaxe with a look of disdain.

@Sharna: That is a fine idea Aid Another: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (1) + 20 = 21 for Engineering

Markavious will then keep watch for any nasty surprises Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17

"Well, bypassing a door is very clever. Good solid dungeon construction is not to be vandalized without a good reason. But I can see the merits of it!!"

We stalled a bit??

Jory: After a minute of examining the remains of the beast's still-warm remains, you find two crystals of note within it's gullet. A small dirty-red and a gem that seems to bend the light as you look at it.

Tyrion, Merisiel and Sharna: Your efforts to reach the door go relatively well. Between the diligent work of the pick-axes and some well placed oils and fire, the team manages to breach the ice in a few minutes. Before you is a large stone, no longer covered beneath frozen water. It is covered in an engraving of a spiraling ring of primal pictographs.

Volkard: Stepping aside to avoid being in the rest of the teams way affords you a few moments to examine the area. You note Jory working away at the beast's corpse, and the sweat of your companions digging through the blue ice. A few moments later and you recognize that the area you are in is surrounded in human footprints.

Sharna: Ra takes to the sky and keeps an overwatch. As the team reaches the door-like object beneath the ice, you hear Ra screech.

Markavious: As the team burns hand picks through the ice, you do not note anything malign about the doorway-like-object.

Had to request access to the map. You should be able to tweak 'sharing' to be open to anyone with the link.

As soon as Ra's screech reaches her ears, Sharna lifts her head, her pleasure in the successful ice-melting strategy dissipating.

"We have incoming," she informs the others. "Humanoids. My guess would be the Aspis. Perhaps a minute away. Shall we pick our battle ground here, before we try and reach further into the mound?"

"Eyes-of-my-spirit, how many did you see approaching?" Sharna asks, lifting fingers.

(Ra has an Int of 10, so I hope he can manage basic counting. ;) 'Many' means...3-6, or many means 20-30?)

After another short squawk from Ra, Sharna's brows draw together sharply.

"Ra says there are dozens of them," she warns the others. "Though apparently poorly armed and armored. A mob from the trading post and local homesteads? To what point and purpose...?"

Sharna shrugs away such speculations. "Perhaps they are not hostile at all, but I would rather prepare for possible conflict and then be able to avoid it, than otherwise. The path itself might form a sufficient bottleneck."

She considers making herself unseen and flying down to see the men herself, but a minute isn't a great deal of time. She looks to the others to see what their feelings are on retreat into the unknown dangers of the crypt, versus a possible battle against dozens of men.

Tyrion casts detect magic and takes a moment to study the stonework and runes.
take 10 for 25 vs stonework 23 vs normal

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"Careful lads, there seems to be some necromantic magic at play. Don't suppose anyone prepared a dispel magic or csn circomvent a possible trap? Otherwise I will open it and hope my resistance to magic helps me." Tyrion says.

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Correction, sorry!

Ra engages with irritated bird-screeching at Sharna, as if to say No, mistress, you have it wrong! and Sharna looks up with a frown.

"Correction: the individuals are coming from all around us, and they are more of the beastmen that we fought on approach-- many more!"

When Tyrion points out the necromantic effect on the cairn, Sharna quickly turns her attention there as well. "I do know a spell to dispel magics, but I prefer to save it for emergencies. Give me a moment to see what this effect is."

Detect magic, then Knowledge Arcana to identify-a-spell-effect-that-is-in-place (DC is 20+ spell level): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29

Watching Jory recover the stones, Volkard asks to take a look at them, [b]If I may examine those stones Jory? I wonder, are they merely valuable trinkets or do they serve a purpose?[/ooc]

Appraise: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16

Detect Magic also, are there indentations on the door where stones may fit?

"It appears we have company, then." Dropping the pickaxe, Merisiel draws her rapier, hoping the magic users of the party can get the door open.

"If we can open this stone door, we could escape inside."

Perception on the stone door for any indication of a mechanism for opening it. Like a handle, or the words "Pull."

Perception: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (19) + 12 = 31
Stealth: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (13) + 15 = 28

A welcoming party perhaps Markavious says with a slight grin.

*If the rest of the party heads in he will head in as well

The dog teams to your sleds begin to shuffle and bark.

You all begin to hear the sounds of drums in the distance, no longer being completely obscured by the cold heights above you.

Jory looks at the gems and hands them over.

Alas, no Detect Curse for witches.

Sharna frowns. "I cannot figure out exactly what effect wards the stone, though as Tyrion said, it seems to have the magic of undeath. I can attempt to dispel it, or perhaps Volkard wishes to send one of his short-lived creatures against it while we withdraw? Either way, I believe we must act quickly-- by the sound of the drums, the horde will be on us soon."

Giving Volkard a chance to weigh in; if he wishes to use a summoned creature, then Sharna's going to withdraw to let him do so (and withdraw up into the air, at that. She'll activate 1 minute of flight hex and go up thirty or so feet to try and get a visual on the approaching beastmen).

If Volkard needs to conserve summons, then Sharna will attempt to cast dispel magic on the effect on the door. I won't roll that now, since a low, or high!, roll might meta-prejudice us one way or the other. ;)

Volkard nods, Stand back, I'll call my elementals, but it will be the last time I can do so.

Summon Monster III for 1d3+1 small elementals.

1d3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

हल्ला तर दरवाजा उघडा तुम्ही स्वत: चा बचाव

As the elementals surge from the earth, two swim underneath to assist from the other side while two more work to open the door from outside.

Strength: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
Assist: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Assist: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7
Assist: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 5 = 16

If not sufficient, I can work on the door for 4 more rounds.

"Noted, Volkard," Sharna says with a nod of thanks. "I suggest everyone stand back from the door if whatever spell this is goes off of on Volkard's pets."

Ra screeches something from her shoulder that probably translates to 'I am a MUCH better pet! Look how pretty I am!'

@DM: How long until the beastmen are upon us?

If the beastmen insist upon combat, I am ready