(3) Legend of the Elder Souls (Inactive)

Game Master mdt

Reroll for Ssethen: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 1 = 20 And there goes Lina's swift action next round...

Spending two more Ki and an immediate action through Ki Mystic to reroll Ssetheen's save...but wow dude I'm just realizing with a reflex save like that, you should get out of the way first thing every battle.

"Shht!" Lina calls out as she rolls to dodge the wolf's frost breath, still holding onto the creature's neck; and her leg catches the raptoran, sending him staggering just in time to dodge the ice.

Bleeding badly Kong lays a hand on his wounds and they close and then he follows that up by saying some mystic words and his wounds close more as he flies around.

Healing Hex: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (6, 1) + 5 = 12

Cure Moderate Wounds: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (5, 1) + 5 = 11

Std: Healing Hex using coupled Arcana to cast Cure Moderate Wounds.

thanks!

Mythic to Surprise Strike, Mythic to Surge Concentration (Swift, and Immediate used :(), Spellstrike Normal Attack-Spellstrike Spell Attack, Full Round. If he puts his target on the ground, he'll swap to the other wolf. Focusing the one Luna hit first. If any are a crit, treat as a nat 20 knowledge check, even if he's already had a knowledge check against them. Weapon Material is Fireforged Steel.

Surprise Strike v Flat Footed: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 11 + 2 = 33
Confirm? v Flat Footed: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 11 + 2 = 27
9 Ring Estoc Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Confirm?: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25
Shocking Grasp Concentration DC 17(surge): 1d20 + 8 + 1d6 ⇒ (8) + 8 + (2) = 18
9-Ring Estoc Spellstrike (Keen): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27
9-Ring Estoc Spellstrike Confirm?: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

First Attack-Surprise Strike
Surprise Strike 9-Ring Physical: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (4, 1) + 6 = 11
Surprise Strike 9-Ring Fire: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Surprise Strike Physical Crit?: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (2, 3) + 6 = 11 Total 22 Phys if Crit
Surprise Strike Fire Crit?: 1d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (2) + (8) = 10 Total 15 Fire if Crit

Second Attack Spell Combat
9-Ring Physical: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (2, 4) + 6 = 12
9-Ring Fire: 1d6 ⇒ 1
9-Ring Physical Crit?: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 1) + 6 = 10 Total 22 Phys if Crit
9-Ring Fire Crit?: 1d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (5) + (3) = 8 Total 9 Fire if Crit

Third Attack Spell Strike
9-Ring Spellstrike Physical Damage: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 4) + 6 = 13
9-Ring Spellstrike Fire: 1d6 ⇒ 6
9-Ring Spellstrike Shocking Grasp Electricity: 5d6 ⇒ (4, 3, 3, 5, 3) = 18
9-Ring Physical Damage Crit?: 2d4 + 6 ⇒ (3, 1) + 6 = 10 Total 23 Physical if Crit
9-Ring Fire Crit?: 1d6 + 1d8 ⇒ (1) + (8) = 9 Total 15 Fire if Crit
9-Ring Spellstrike Shocking Grasp Crit?: 5d6 ⇒ (4, 4, 1, 5, 6) = 20 Total 38 Electric if Crit

Neri watches the the wolves as they raise their hackles... and hears the hell being unleashed across the field. "You sure you don't need me over there?" Neri calls, before in the blink of an eye, lunging forward with his Estoc - flames arcing across dancing runes that permeate the blade's surfaces. And then the Estoc was gone, nine rings clinking in the same blink back to a readied position, his feet moving smoothly to keep him balanced on the snow, as he lunges again, blade biting equally deep, and flame once more shooting along the blade, as the rings fly forward to clink near the hilt.

His free hand darts impossibly quick through several motions he never memorized, as he intones - "Silver circle, living death - Arc of lightning, take their breath!" A pause in the casting threatens to nearly waste the spell, but he recovers just barely, red electricity arcing along the blade, as he lunges forth once more with a contrail of flames, each of his strikes impossibly accurate despite the defensive movements of the wolves.

Ssetheen still takes half damage, and has to make a fort save to avoid slow.

Neri's estoc seems to, unlike Luna's dagger, slice through the wolves fur and skin like a hot knife through ice. His first attack finishes off the first wolf, and the other two combined with the spellstrike and lightning gut the second wolf and send it crashing to the forest floor.

"Nevermind. Be there in a moment!" Neri calls with a grin. He'd finally done something right!

"You might want to use your avatar weapon," he adds to the woman beside him, or maybe it was the steel..?

After looking over the entire sorcerer spell list, I'm really not sure I could do better than this. Mythic hideous laughter, take 2!

Gritting his teeth, Johnny brandishes his persistent rod. Holding it a loft, a wave of light engulfs him as he transforms. Standing in his new, shiny outfit he calls out, "Your evil days are done! I am Sailor Fred, and I'm not a Fred of a big bad wolf! How dare you hurt my friends and freeze the beautiful nature around you! In the name of...uhh... Selvenia, I will punish you!" With the expertise no hard-boiled detective should ever possess, he slowly begins to twirl his rod as music swells out of nowhere.

God I hope this works. I'm probably never going to be able to look anybody in the face again...

Then, despite his earlier words, he high tails it out of there.

Mythic persistent hideous laughter. DC 20 Will save. If he succeeds, he must roll again. Not sure if the persistent also affects the later saves or not.

On a failure, the wolf falls prone, laughing hysterically. Since it's mythic, it does not get a bonus to its will save for being a different type of creature. While affected, the wolf can take no actions, but is not considered helpless, and it takes 1d6 non-lethal damage from laughing so hard. On its next turn, it can take a full-round action that does not provoke an AoO to make another save. Because it's mythic, it must succeed twice to end the spells affects. After the first success, it no longer takes damage, but is still unable to take actions.

Hideous Laughter (regular)
Mythic version

Get out.

fort save, dc ?: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (16) + 3 = 19 and I did note the 12 dmg which is half

Ssetheen, when it's his turn activates his fly hex and goes up and away 60' and hopefully out of the wolf's range on it's cold attack... my understanding is activating the hex is a standard and the move is a move, which means he's done... if the hex and move are simply a move action together... then he'll cast cure moderate wounds on himself after moving... here's the roll, just in case:

cure mod wounds: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (2, 6) + 5 = 13

You're right Neri; I did totally forget to move Johnny out and away on the map. I'll do that when I get home.

Edit: Done

Save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

The wolf begins to laugh as it is held by Lina. "I'm going to eat your heart, you pathetic girl-dresser..." It continues to laugh, driving the cold crystals into Lina's flesh, somewhat painfully.

"Let's 'see' how you like this b!t$#", Kong yells down at the wolf as he casts a spell.

Casting Blindness at crystal wolf. DC 16

Since Neri clearly didn't need any help Luna turned to join the others in taking down the last wolf.

double move near wolf

I'm confused. Was the laughing the entire wolves' turn? Why are people going again?

Because it's really easy to forget the unusual initiative rolling. He hasn't recapped or started round 3 yet, so the wolf's entire turn was breathing all over Lina and Setheen, and the other wolves went total defense.

GM missed Ssetheen's fort save

Round 3
Initiative Johnny: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Initiative Kong: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Initiative Lina: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9
Initiative Luna: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (10) + 8 = 18
Initiative Neri: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Initiative Ssetheen: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21

Init Wolves: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (20) + 5 = 25

Wolves, Johnny/Kong/ Ssetheen, Luna, Neri, Lina

The wolf near Neri breaths out, catching him and Luna in the breath!

Cold: 6d6 ⇒ (2, 6, 5, 6, 4, 1) = 24 DC 17 Reflex for half

The wolf under Lina doesn't even try to escape. Instead, continues to laugh. Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (8) + 3 = 11 "Hooo hooo... haaaa hhaaaaa... going to kill you... hahaaaaaa haaaaa..."

Reflex: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (9) + 8 = 17 On the nose! 12-5 = 7 hp lost; 39/51 remaining

Don't forget the nonlethal on cold puppy cause Mythic, unless it's immune and I'm just a not-altogether-helpful Derp.

My previous post stands. Don't forget the -2 to saves on the crystal wolf, has 5/7 rounds left, barring cackle.

"Let's 'see' how you like this b!t$#", Kong yells down at the wolf as he casts a spell.

Casting Blindness at crystal wolf. DC 16

Reflex: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16
Surge: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Staying with Luna's action to double move when it's her turn. 5 Mythic left

Oh my gosh these guys roll so well on Initiative.

Lina releases her grip on the icy death trap of a wolf, quick-draws her shimmersteal fan, and attempts to nonlethally jab the laughing wolf in the eyes.

3 ki spent, for quickdraw, power attack, and flurry bonus. Since I wound up not quickdrawing or power attacking before, this should bring me down to exactly zero ki.

Attack 1 (nonlethal, bonus v prone included): 1d20 + 9 - 1 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 9 - 1 + 4 - 4 = 20
Damage (nonlethal, special weapon): 1d4 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11

Attack 2 (nonlethal, bonus v prone included): 1d20 + 9 - 1 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 9 - 1 + 4 - 4 = 23
Damage (nonlethal, special weapon): 1d4 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 6 + 2 = 11

Attack 3 (nonlethal, bonus v prone included): 1d20 + 9 - 1 + 4 - 4 ⇒ (8) + 9 - 1 + 4 - 4 = 16
Damage (nonlethal, special weapon): 1d4 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 2 = 9

Cold, Lina: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

Forgot to roll it, you were still holding onto him on his turn

The crystaline wolf collapses under Lina's onslought of fan hits.

It still breaths, and everything around it begins to freeze solid...

Cold, Flurry 1: 1d6 ⇒ 4
Cold, Flurry 2: 1d6 ⇒ 6
Cold, Flurry 3: 1d6 ⇒ 3

9-Ring Estoc Attack: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
9-Ring Estoc Damage: 2d4 + 6 + 1d6 ⇒ (3, 1) + 6 + (5) = 15 10 Physical, 5 fire.

Neri is somewhat surprised when Luna begins to sprint away, but brings his Estoc back into position, waiting for the right time to strike. Things seemed to be well in-hand at the moment, and the spells he had on hand were either completely ineffective, or much more effective against other possible threats. Likewise, the pearls he was carrying would be much more valuable to help the others heal than to electrocute the wolf once more.

"Or not. Looks like you have that covered, too. At least we know non-humans can do the crystal thing, now. Better to know that than to just... find out."

The last wolf goes down, spilling icy blood on the ground...

When the wolves are dead and the cold seems to no longer be a danger, Ssetheen flies closer to the others...

"I can do sssome healing if you've the need. Who is hurt?"

"Don't kill the crystal wolf! If that's our frigid "friend" we don't want to make her more powerful. Luna, if you would please keep her unconscious while we discuss this, please." He then laughs manically, "Good joke Johnny." the laughs. He then casts a spell and looks at the wolf.

Move Cackle, extends Evil Eye one round. Cast detect magic.

"I could use some healing, but you should stay safe for now, until we've had a chance to make sure it's not going to have some sort of death throes. If it does die, and we do kill it... it might explode into a crystalline blizzard. A very deadly one... it might not be entirely safe for you to be near it, when it does, Seth. Or that might just be ice, who knows?"

Neri crosses the intervening space, slipping to across from Luna in only a few long strides. "Trust me, if that was her, that was the opposite of 'more powerful'. And I'm not sure it was... to be completely honest, they might just all talk like that - taking it after their mother. Id might be able to tell us more if I impale the thing right now. Be a good way to find out, I think."

Ssetheen nods and flies back up, hopefully out of range. "I will heal you when you're sure it's safe then."

"Troll-fighting tactics," Lina muses, drawing her hooked lance and holding it over the wolf's head, preparing to strike the second it stirs. "Got it. If we need this guy dead, we'll use my longbow."
Sense motive (vs play dead bluff): 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (7) + 10 = 17 (It's lower with my familiar missing)

"We can't let it report back on us—but I don't see a reason to kill anyone more than we have to, especially if we can get information out of them, such as why, where, and how long they've been tracking us. Neri, can you find out anything about those crystals?" As she talks, she casts Stabilize on any of the wolves that appear to still be breathing.

"I could use healing, too. But remember: if we let any of the wolves go—and I don't know if it should be the alpha, if the pups haven't bled out yet—I can track it with my gem, and find out where it reports to."

Neri starts to strike the wolf with his Estoc, when Lina not-so-subtly suggests he just hit it with his fist. He grimaces slightly, punches the monster. He is not good at punching, however. Still, he aims for a space with minimal gems.

Coup de Grace (Nonlethal): 2d3 ⇒ (3, 1) = 4 Provokes attacks of opportunity.
Knowledge Results: 32 Arcana, 31 Dungeon or Engine, 29 Nature, 28 Geography, 24 Religion or History.

You've already rolled a knowledge check on the wolf once, so the DC goes up for the second one. Given that, you get one more question to ask about it.

The wolf doesn't move nor resist the pathetic punch by Neri.

Why would the DC go up? Normally knowledge checks simply can't be retried until you have a library or raise your skill in that knowledge. The Magus ability removes that stipulation. I don't like the idea of being penalized later for trying to know what my enemy is before I fight them. :( Likewise, he didn't glean any information on the Crystal Wolf previously, only the others. I'm okay with it if you want to run it that way, but a little disappointed that my ability now grants me a natural 15 on a crit.

If it's possible: Is this wolf directly related to Nissa? If that's not possible, is anything from the bodies harvestable and usable for anything not strictly mundane (ice-gem-things, skins, teeth, ice sac, whatever :p)?

Ah, I didn't realize the power removed the stipulation. I was being nice by only increasing it 5 instead of not allowing it. :) Ok, so, in that case, you get 2 questions on the gemwolf (you only beat the DC by 9, even with the max roll). remember, the DC is 10 + CR + Rarity Mod. The Gem Wolf is VERY RARE. :) I rounded up since you only missed the question by 1 (4 out of 5).

Yeah, I figured it was super rare, and was even completely okay with a -5 on the knowledge because 'even more rare' or 'mythic' or whatever you wanted. It's one of those things where it sucks to be penalized, but if the DC was just higher, I wouldn't have minded, even though they're roughly the same. :)

"I can't tell whether it's tied to Nissa or not. Assuming there isn't a giant explosion when we try to take out the crystals, we'll be able to use part of it for magic items to protect us from more of it."

He feels another pulse of information. It felt like scrying in the lava pool back home. Is it possible to tell if the Crystals are like our gems? If so, that's the question, otherwise, 'does this seem like its native area, or has it transformed this area by virtue of being here?' There are a lot of weird questions to ask... and I'm open to other folks giving ideas if neither of those are applicable. Likewise, I'm cool with forfeiting the question I didn't actually get. :)

You're not sure on the gems, that would be a much much higher DC question averaged over Arcana/Religion. The wolf does not look native to this area, although it's presence may have caused the fog, since it's lowering the temperature of the area.

Seeing that he basically managed to get through that entire combat unscathed (or, at least physically unscathed; his pride hurt a little), Johnny risks coming closer. "Right, not sure how well this is going to work, but it'd be a pretty nice little insult to the ice queen if it does."

He takes a deep breath and blows cold air on to his hand. He then touches Lina, willing the iciness to find its brethren in her body and ease their sharp edges into a gentler, numbing relief. Attempting to cast CLW on her. Starting with something smaller to make sure it doesn't blow up on us.

CLW: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

If she doesn't scream out in pain, Johnny will tentative ask her, "How was that?"

"The wolf definitely isn't native to the area. The fog and snow are likely something it brought with it... though whether it was waiting or tracking us, I really can't say, Lina."

He looks up and over to the Raptor, it was probably time to let him in on the situation. "Alright, so... if these are like some gems that we found previously, they have the capacity to empower people. But there's also a cost. Mostly pain, bad fashion, and being repelled by the various blessings that the church throws out. There are also a lot of benefits. I honestly have no idea what will happen to you if you touch the gem. I think really, really bad things, because you'd wind up with a direct line to Celestine... if the wolf was an Avatar. Johnny has a sliver of Celestine's power in him, and he's acted a little strangely ever since. Crossdressing, shaving off all of his body hair and then forgetting, that sort of stuff. If one of us touches it, it might explode. If it explodes, you might gain power, or you might die. If you touch it, you may gain power, or you might die. It's all up in the air. It's much more likely that you'll be safer with a gem from where we come from than this one... though this one might have some sort of unusual compatibility. To my knowledge, I've only seen humanoids with gems up until this point."

Had he added too much? Divulged too much? It was hard to say... but it was better to inform the raptor of possible consequences than just drag him along in the dark past some inconceivable point of no return.

"Now... where the hell is Lees?"

Ssetheen listens to Neri and tilts his head to one side as he tries to absorb the information, much of which seems to make little sense to him. "The blesssings of the hooman's church mean nothing to me... But you think I should touch thisss gem? Yet, I could die if I do? Or I should wait and get a gem from where you come from? I'm not sure I fully underssstand these things... What of the warning of an explosion?" Ssetheen moves a little closer and heals himself again (this time with his hex, rather than the spell)

healing hex: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (7, 6) + 5 = 18

He seems intrigued but wary. "Perhapsss as you sssay, I should wait..

"It's just really dangerous because you... seem more affected by the cold. I'm not sure how thorough that is. The explosion didn't kill any of us, it wasn't deadly all on its own... though it could have been. Either way, it's a very large radius, and your choice whether you stay near, or move to relative safety."

"Right, then." Lina turns to the others, three mirror images still idly shuffling around her. "So there's two ways we can do this. One, restrain, revive, and interrogate the big bad wolf. Would've preferred the others; this one could stay dangerous if we let it go. Other option, I borrow one of Luna's knives and cut these crystals out, see what happens. I could certainly use a bit more healing first, to be safe—but I'd give myself cold protection, as well, which should let me safely stab the bastard. And if the gems don't come out, I break his neck, stuff the head in our haversack, all while the rest of you keep a safe distance."

She points. "So, there's five of you. I'm neutral on this. I say group majority goes—do we keep the wolf alive, or should I hack it to pieces."

"Can we opt for 'keep it knocked out until we find Leese'?" Neri asks as he watches the thing slowly breathe in and out. It looked considerably less megalomaniacal that way.

"My vote is still for kill it before it has any more puppies that want to tear out our hearts, but I definitely understand the idea of caution. And I definitely like the idea of giving Leese a chance to talk to it. Maybe she can do the horse-whisperer thing on it. Take out the cold, add in the warm fuzzies?"

"I'm all for killing the b!tc4. But first, I want to make sure that this isn't the latest avatar or Celestine polymorphed, because if it is, there is something I want to try. Let's examine it closely while we can then see, it's why I cast detect magic. Excuse me." He then cackles manically again. "Sorry need to keep her under my evil eye effects." He then flies down next to Lina.

"What exactly are you looking for, Kong?" Lina replies, and concentrates on her psychic-track of the dead girl to make sure it still points to Johnny.