All right, ready to rock and roll. Anaxian has the devil's glitterdust taken care of, so I'll start working on the chamber with the high priest. Is everyone correctly placed on the map?
If so, I can haste everyone (except either Illia or Iranaset, who are too separated) in one of the pre combat round. My other pre-combat buffs include mage armor and unseen servant (ho-hum).
During the surprise round, I will have the unseen servant open the door to the meditation chamber with the stolen key and move to glitterdust inside at the first opportunity.
Swift action: Burn 1 arcane pool point to make my blade keen
Swift Action: Arcane Accuracy (+5 Atk)
Free Action: Black Blade Strike (+1 to Atk/Dmg)
Move Action: Flyby attack to cast Frostbite on the move and hit the bone devil with spellstrike (frostbite).
Bwuh... Uh.. Change of plans! Drisquar, Shimsil! You're on the target! Make an angelic show before you go if you like, but get in there before he starts casting.
Move action next directly next to the bone devil and reveal self in shimmery "angelic" glory.
"PALADINS! TO ARMS! EVIL STALKS YOUR HALLS!"
Alright, Iranaset's Round 1 action will resolve after everyone's taken their surprise actions and the NPCs get a move. I'll go with the standard wait-a-day-or-more-before-botting.
So far:
The Osyluth resists blinding, but is still outlined in shimmery dust, appearing as a sort of giant, startled, spiky glitter skeleton monster. The paladins are confused.
Meanwhile, the second TSG opens the door, the priest looks up at him, eyes widening in sudden recognition. He instantly stands, rising from his meditation, as though something triggered immediate alertness and reaction on his part. Anyone able to see through the door notices that he is a surprisingly small and unimposing man, with no weapons or armor. His left hand twitches slightly.
A telepathic message is immediately heard by everyone he can see (Mal, Iranaset, Delyliath, TSG, Anaxian). ”Agents of darkness," it asks, "Were you sent by my master, to aid me or test me?”
Oh, also:
All of Illia's first-round attacks will connect with the surprised Osyluth. Only the last will overcome its damage reduction to dent the creature at all.
Damn him to Hell! How did he know we were coming? Drisquar, Shimsil, your call on if you want to go into whatever that is. But see if you can't interrupt his spellcasting from here on out!
Damn him to Hell! How did he know we were coming? Drisquar, Shimsil, your call on if you want to go into whatever that is. But see if you can't interrupt his spellcasting from here on out!
"Augury, probably. Or perhaps we were set up. Does it matter?"
The ghost raised his hands and began intoning the words of a spell.
"Augury, probably. Or perhaps we were set up. Does it matter?"
If you can't use the telepathic channels, don't talk while we're trying to keep the enemy in the dark. And yes, if the Crimson Stranger was sending us here to have our souls feed some ritual or something, YES, it matters!
Swirling dust slowly coalesces into the form of a Bralani Azata, hair blowing a bit wildly by a breeze that doesn't truly exist. He raises his scimitar in the air and shouts to the paladins "I have been sent to smite this foul creature! Rally with me my fellow warriors!"
Also, Shimsil's attacks hit the priest squarely in the chest, causing him to stagger with surprise.
"Oh, no, no," you hear the priest mutter, mostly to himself, but loudly enough that anyone nearby can probably hear. "No words. Here to kill me."
And, telepathically to the party (because hey, talking is a free action, and maybe telepathy lets you compress thoughts) So you serve one of them, then? Asmodeus, most likely? But you found me so fast... and now I can't let you leave here alive.
"I should have known it was going to be a mess.. " Thought Delyliath.
She wasn't the heavy hitter, or at least she wasn't supposed to be.
So she tried to do what she could to tip the balance over her team.
While acting all disoriented and surprised like the other priests and paladins would be she tried to summon a Babau on the room nearby.
Whatever the priest was planning it probably involved divine magic.
She hoped a babau would be able to dispel it.
D-DEVIL!!! A DEVIL IN THE CITADEL!!!
Said the priest pointing at the skeletal silhouette while scrambling away.
Current stat adjust : AC 35 (+2sheild, +2 armor, +3 deflect) +2 AT&T/dmg)
Mal attempts to push his way toward the priest
Will save also Mal has an SR of 19.
If either of those succeed Mal walks up to the priest and attempts to swing his holy mace upside his head two handed.
The imps stay hidden and wait
Dris charges at the Devil, calling upon divine vengeance to help bring down the fiend.
Okay. Time to resolve a bunch of rounds of actions!
Surprise round
Illia- shouts to the paladins for help. They hear her, and are too surprised by the appearance of an angel and devil in their citadel to actually question what's going on.
TSG opens the door to the Meditation Room.
Mal moves towards the priest (since it is the surprise round, he can only charge a max of 20 feet, and the priest is 25 away)
The Osyluth is surprised.
The paladins are surprised.
The priest responds with some psychic messages, and then casts a spell.
Shimsil hits the priest with mind bolts for 31 damage. The priest responds by telepathically telling everyone that he's going to kill you.
Iranaset casts mirror image, gaining 3 copies of herself.
Delyliath begins summoning a Babau. No NPCs in the Citadel have enough Sense Motive to call her bluff, even on a natural 20.
Anaxian glitterdusts the Osyluth. It's now mad sparkly, and at least a few of the Paladins recognize exactly what it is.
Will resolve round 1 in a moment.
Ah, forgot to roll Illia-'s will save.
Illia easily shrugs off the Osyluth's fear effect.
And Anaxian just pointed out the Babau was successfully summoned. I'll roll a dispel check for it to save time.
Round 1 actions:
Illia- makes a full attack against the Osyluth, dealing 3 damage through the devil's DR. It grunts in mild annoyance, and also in surprise at the fact that there are angels attacking it out of nowhere.
TSG fires off a spell.
Mal moves to attack the priest with his holy mace, dealing 19 damage. The priest looks rather injured at this point.
Drisquar charges the Osyluth, dealing another 3 damage through its DR. It's barely chipped, but now it looks a lot more angry.
The Osyluth strikes back, splitting its attacks between its attackers.
The paladin in the shiniest armor bellows, at the top of his lungs, "To arms, men! Devils are attacking the High Priest, but he's summoned a company of angels to protect us!"
The paladins all move towards the Osyluth, but none of them can charge it this turn because of all the pillars in the way.
The high priest tumbles past Mal, with surprising dexterity.
He then casts a spell, summoning... another Osyluth. This one acts immediately, blindly lashing out at Malefeasance with a full attack.
Iranaset charges the first Osyluth as a flyby attack, dealing 50 damage! and entangling it. It makes an AoO against her with its stinger.
Well, this is awkward. Drisquar failed the will save, and after attacking the Osyluth is now panicked.
Drisquar drops everything he is holding (Shimsil) and will spend his next turn fleeing (he's panicked).
Iranaset is fine.
Charge and attack.
Ac33 for this round. (-2ac from charging)
Also, I forgot to mention—the new Osyluth turns invisible right after attacking Mal. You all know where it is, it's just got full concealment.
Sorry Drisquar! Feel free to reroll that save, if it's your preference (in this case yeah, it does seem like a dirty GM trick), and I won't roll saves for you in the future unless they're things targeting the whole group.
Knowing the new bone devil would vanish in a moment, Anaxian acted quickly.
Glitterdust is a 10' radius spell, so Anaxian manages to target it to hit both the priest and the new Osyluth.
Anaxian manages to blind the new Osyluth, and reveal it. The priest is just sparkly.
Mal's charge provokes an attack of opportunity from the Osyluth.
...which goes wide by quite a bit.
The priest has now taken 71 damage
Round 1 actions: [...]
TSG fires off a spell.
Attack, my minions! Shred them!
Delyliath telepathically speaks with the babau
"You are our last line of defence. hide, come to this room and make sure no paladin comes our way."
then she speaks with the priest, sending the same words to her companions to let them know her offer.
"you are unmatched priest. fight us and you will suffer a painful death. release your minion, surrender to me and I'll give you such pleasure that you would not mind giving your life for it."
When the paladins see the Osyluth teleport away, they begin to run towards the Meditation Room to check on the high priest. Currently, his body is surrounded by four celestial leopards, their claws covered in blood, and one very confused glittery Osyluth which is sparring with the priestly-disguised and holy-mace-wielding Malefeasance.
You've got about one round of actions each before they make it to within sight of that room.
"Paladin! Chosen of Sarenrae! Retrieve that scimitar, it is a mighty tool of Good! Use it and smite the evil with the Dawnflower's Swift Justice and heal with her Flame!" Illia calls out to the super special paladin in reference to Shimsil, complete with dramatic pointing!
The ghost disappears into a wall to await developments.
::So did someone have appropriate anti-resurrection tricks? Or do we do this the old fashioned way with a funeral pyre?::
And Shimsil's got a pretty good grip on the mind of the paladin leader (treat this as a charm person effect, with one of the things you can command him to do being turning the sword over to someone else).
Assuming the cats are dismissed, a few of the paladins run into the meditation room, smite the summoned Osyluth, and it immediately runs out the door and teleports away.
And, bending down to check on the corpse, one of them shouts to the others, "He's dead, but just barely. We'll need to wake up the old healer immediately!"
The paladin walks over to Drisquar and Illia-, who appear the most angelic of the group.
"I thank you and your party for saving us from those devils, O celestials," he says, "Though I am saddened the High Priest has fallen. Perhaps he can be revived him soon."
"Since I would guess he did not have time to present you with the proper offerings when he summoned you, I am sure we at this Citadel of the Dawnflower would be happy to provide you with the appropriate incense, gemstones, and objects of art, if you are willing to wait around for an hour or two while we gather it."