SR vs Illia-:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21 SR vs Drisquar:1d20 + 10 ⇒ (13) + 10 = 23 Drisquar Miss:1d10 ⇒ 3 Anaxian Miss:1d2 ⇒ 1
Illia- is protected by SR, Drisquar is saved by concealment, and Anaxian takes no damage because the crab misses due to smoke. Everybody's fine. Carry on.
I just keep forgetting about your extra defenses. Which, honestly, are going to make a big difference in winning this fight, so sorry about that, and keep reminding me.
35/35 HP, Temp HP 0, 20 AC, Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +7, Reservoir 8/10, Channel 8/8, Active Effects: Mage Armor
I am much less useful against the Master of Souls than I expected to be. I didn't prepare well enough for this fight. Going to have to start fighting smarter.
Using Detect Magic to analyze his auras and taking 10 on Spellcraft/Knowledge Arcana to figure out what they are. I'll post my action once I get the results back.
I just keep forgetting about your extra defenses. Which, honestly, are going to make a big difference in winning this fight, so sorry about that, and keep reminding me.
Detect magic or arcane sight? Detect magic will take three rounds to be able to see auras.
35/35 HP, Temp HP 0, 20 AC, Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +7, Reservoir 8/10, Channel 8/8, Active Effects: Mage Armor
Its been three rounds since the Master of Souls got within range of Anaxian. That should be enough. Anaxian's detect magic is permanent so it doesn't end if he isn't actively concentrating.
::"Anaxain, if you can, deal with the octopus and the rest that are coming for me, I'll do my best to take down this Master":: Dris communicates to his undead buddy telepathically.
"Ya know, I've already killed one Master, the illusionist, I believe. What makes you think you can best me?" Dris continues taunting his opponent. Come on Dapper! No replies to my banter? lol
Aboleths aren't known for their banter... but they're also not known for their AC. That was almost two crits.
Drisquar hits the Master of Souls four times. 69 damage, he's now taken 119 total. Thick, slimy blood leaks out into the water around him, suggesting that this is in fact not an undead aboleth.
"Leave now," rumbles the Master of Souls in Undercommon, a hint of pain in his voice, "And we let you live. Aboleth mercy."
Illia- swings and misses the large aboleth by her side. "You want meteors?" it asks, and, slithering backwards, casts a spell. Illia- is hit with a burst of telekinetic force that bounces harmlessly off of her profane aura of deflection.
Meredian and Sir John together finish off two of the injured Karkinoi, one dead and the other unconscious from its injuries (though not paralyzed). The one remaining, blind Karkinoi swings its sword and claw at John and misses wildly.
Big Anaxian grabs the great reef crab with a giant pincer claw, and its shell crushes inward, though it struggles free of his grip. The crab attempts to strike back with its own claws, but fails to find a weak point in the draconic graveknight's armor.
Drisquar hits the Master of Souls just after HQ Anaxian dispels one of his protective spells; landing two good hits, as he fills the water with Aboleth blood. 135 total damage to Souls. The Master 5' steps backward and responds with a Battering Blast spell that fizzles harmlessly on Drisquar's spell resistance, before curling into a ball and surrounding itself with an Emergency Force Sphere. Once again, the octopus behind Dris batters him harmlessly with its tentacles.
The gillmen wizards begin carpet-bombing the gibbering mouthers with a barrage of electric spells, followed by another wave of twenty charging Skum. Three mouthers are killed, several more are injured, and once again Hungry Doom moves to crush the attackers, as the walls around him rise to twenty feet in height.
The skeletons and zombies, gathering into formations, begin to walk forwards, weapons drawn.
In the distance, a wriggling, eel-like aboleth exits the City Council building, and begins to swim towards the party at astonishing speed.
One blinded, injured Karkinoi.
Crabfolk:
-One blinded, injured Karkinoi, next to Sir John, and within range of Meredian
-One injured Great Reef Crab, next to Big Anaxian, and within range of Meredian
The giant cloud of fish-men swarming to contain Hungry Doom:
-34 Skum
-32 Gillmen wizards
-8 standard-pattern Aboleths (two heavily injured, the closest approximately 250' from Meredian)
Skeletons in the streets:
-88 humanoid skeletons, in formations of 20 to 25, distributed through the streets, all at least 140’ away from any party members
-41 humanoid zombies, distributed with skeletons
-10 common shark skeletons, with humanoid skeleton riders, swimming towards Drisquar but at least 50’ away
Other enemies:
-The Master of Souls, 10' away from Drisquar and HQ Anaxian, 520’ from the rest of the party
-Zombie Giant Octopus, flanking Drisquar/HQA from the other side, 20' away
-An unnamed gargantuan Aboleth mage, 10' away from Illia-
-"Circle of something”: 12 creatures forming a ring around the party approximately 850’ away and high overhead, led by the unnamed gargantuan Aboleth
-Eel-like aboleth swimming rapidly towards party, approximately 600' away
Allies:
-Jiator the Architect, riding on Anaxian's crab.
-Hungry Doom the Shoggoth, approximately 300’ behind the crab group that Anaxian/John are charging.
-3 Giant Gibbering Mouthers (1 injured)
-13 Gibbering Mouthers (2 injured)
-18 Young Gibbering Mouthers (2 injured)
"So," Jiator calls out to Big Anaxian, with a bit more urgency, "We fight, or flee? And how badly do we care about killing every last one of them if we stay?"
Warlord 9 HP 251/251 | AC 46 | T 29 | FF 38 | F +33 | R +34 | W +32 | Init +11 | Per +32 | SR 28
"Well, being from another plane and all, that whole kerfuffle you guys dusted up last time didn't really bother me. Mighty pretty to watch though. Mortals can be so cute sometimes."
Did he have any ooze/make me do any saving throws for me to recover maneuvers off of?
35/35 HP, Temp HP 0, 20 AC, Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +7, Reservoir 8/10, Channel 8/8, Active Effects: Mage Armor
That was my only prepared counterspell. I have scrolls but they are likely to be insufficient. I am forced to resort to a slower means of dealing with this issue...
Anaxian activates his Magic Jar ability. DC 23 Will save.
Then, if the Master makes the save, Lamarchand activates it as well. DC 23 will save. If it fails this one, Lamarchand is the one in the Mater's body.
Warlord 9 HP 251/251 | AC 46 | T 29 | FF 38 | F +33 | R +34 | W +32 | Init +11 | Per +32 | SR 28
Taunting Laugh Demoralize:1d20 + 25 ⇒ (15) + 25 = 40 If this succeeds, in addition to normal demoralize effects, target is flat-footed till the end of my turn.
Bilious Strike:1d20 + 19 ⇒ (8) + 19 = 27 Magical, Piercing Bludgeoning:3d6 + 7 ⇒ (2, 5, 3) + 7 = 17 Profane:6d6 ⇒ (4, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5) = 22 Fort save DC 25 or be nauseated for 9 rounds, succeeds is only nauseated for one.
Round 13. Every enemy is now in the fight. Battle on! (Botting Meredian/Sir John over assumed holiday traveling)
Dice:
Will:1d20 + 16 ⇒ (6) + 16 = 22
Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 2 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 1 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 3 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 3 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 14 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 3 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 12 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 12 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 7 Is it a 20?:1d20 ⇒ 13
Sir John finishes off the injured Karkinoi. Big Anaxian hits the Great Reef Crab hard, and another electrical blast from Meredian knocks it unconscious.
The eel-like aboleth keeps swimming, cutting through the water at lightning speed, and appears headed towards Big Anaxian and Sir John. As it swims forward, its mouth opens, revealing three separate massive, toothy jaws. From the other direction, the skeletons and zombies march forward, in formation.
As Drisquar finishes concentrating, waves of metal and bone slam into him, as the skeletal shark-riders draw lances and charge. Naturally, all of these attacks miss, as he ducks and weaves between them, focused by his defensive meditation; though he is now, roughy, surrounded by a ring of skeletal shark riders.
The Master of Souls fails his will save (by a single point!). Anaxian now controls his body, though he is currently still trapped inside an Emergency Force Sphere.
Then there is a sound, and a rush of water outwards; Anaxian identifies a Dimension Door spell just as the city Mayor appears. Beside him are two more skeletal Great Reef Crabs, as well as Anaxian's Sharkboat and Belier skeleton—all seemingly under the Mayor's control—though all appear too disoriented to attack immediately.
Illia- hits and demoralizes the Aboleth mage near her, which responds by uselessly turning invisible and continuing to slide backwards.
Twenty more Skum swim forward, then pause, before a wave of tentacle-wiggling from the surviving mundane Aboleths drives them on, into the churning pit of blood forming around Hungry Doom. More clouds of lightning fly forward, and there is a great sound of crackling and terror as another eight mouthers are torn to pieces, while the walls around the Shoggoth continue to grow higher.
The giant cloud of fish-men swarming to contain Hungry Doom:
-16 Skum
-32 Gillmen wizards
-8 standard-pattern Aboleths (two heavily injured, the closest approximately 250' from Meredian)
Enemies near Big Anaxian/Sir John/Meredian/Jiator:
-90 humanoid skeletons, in formations of 20 to 25, distributed through the streets, all at least 80’ away
-45 humanoid zombies, distributed with skeletons
-Eel-like aboleth swimming rapidly forward, approximately 200' away (yes, it swam 400' in one round, Dris ain't the only one)
Enemies near Drisquar and HQ Anaxian:
-The Master of Souls, 10' away from Drisquar and HQ Anaxian, 520’ from the rest of the party
-Zombie Giant Octopus, flanking Drisquar/HQA from the other side, 20' away
-10 common shark skeletons, with humanoid skeleton riders
-2x Skeleton Great Reef Crab
-Skeleton Belier Devil
-Sharkboat
Enemies near Illia-:
-An unnamed gargantuan Aboleth mage, 10' away from Illia-
-"Circle of something”: 12 creatures forming a ring around the party approximately 800’ in radius and high overhead, led by the unnamed gargantuan Aboleth
Allies:
-Jiator the Architect, riding on Anaxian's crab.
-Hungry Doom the Shoggoth, approximately 300’ away from Big Anaxian/Sir John/Meredian/Jiator.
-2 Giant Gibbering Mouthers (1 injured)
-10 Gibbering Mouthers (1 injured)
-14 Young Gibbering Mouthers (4 injured)
Jiator lifts his tiny ice violin over his head and begins strumming a few chords, the beginning of a Frightening Tune performance, though the skeletons are still too far away to be affected. "That's the Master of Love," he tells the party members near him, gesturing at the eel-like Aboleth. "His father was the rightful ruler of this city, before the Mayor used my magic to overthrow him—and Love's still a bit too young to have his full strength, but he's still the most gifted mindshaper in this city."
35/35 HP, Temp HP 0, 20 AC, Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +7, Reservoir 8/10, Channel 8/8, Active Effects: Mage Armor
The body of the little dragon clutching Drisquar's back went still for a moment. The purple flames in his eyes faded to a bizarre black fire that seemed to drink in the light, turning his eye sockets from dancing embers to holes into a deep, swallowing void.
The Master of Souls suddenly stopped it's attack. It's six eyes glowed with Anaxian's purple flames.
The Master is is my slave. Anaxian's mind voice told Drisquar.
A pulse of purple fire erupted from the Master of Souls and it's six purple-flamed eyes focused on the Belier skeleton.
Standard Action, Command Undead (the spell) on the Belier Devil. Opposed Charisma Check:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (14) + 4 = 18
The little dragon on Drisquar's back tapped one of the jewels on Anaxian's forearms.
Lamarchand is now in control of Anaxian's body (control seized with unopposed Ego check). Lamarchand uses Anaxian's Hide From Undead wand on himself. (intelligent undead need to make a DC 11 will save. Unintelligent undead get no save and act as though he is not there.
So, at this point, I control all the Master of Souls' undead (because they see me as their master), and the Belier (if I beat the charisma check).
Destroy the mayor. Anaxian's telepathic command issued out to his minions.
Anaxian fails to regain command of the Belier with his spell (though, since Anaxian's its creator, the Mayor would still need to make a Cha check every time he commands it to attack). None of the city's hundred or two undead appear to respond to Anaxian's telepathic command, and the possessing dragon mind recalls that the Master of Souls had previously used low, rumbling verbal commands in the Aboleth tongue. (IIRC, Animate Dead without any bells and whistles requires verbal commands)
35/35 HP, Temp HP 0, 20 AC, Fort +2, Ref +5, Will +7, Reservoir 8/10, Channel 8/8, Active Effects: Mage Armor
Normally I wouldn't complain about this, but Anaxian is way smarter than I am and knows the ins and outs of commanding undead better than anything else he does. That shouldnt be something he wouldn't think about. Also, I'm not sure issued commands necessarily have to be in the same language. Mindless undead can't understand languages anyway. They just seem to magically understand what their controller is telling them.
I didn't use a Move Action that turn. Can I use the proper language command with that so I don't lose my intended action this round?
If they were controlled undead instead of animated ones, telepathy would work. Of course, the skeletons are spread far apart, and might not respond well to complicated commands in other languages. So here's my compromise: make a linguistics check, as a move action, and issue commands to that many of the low-level skeletons/zombies.
While three of his four strikes hit home, they seem to bounce almost harmlessly off the Mayor's toughened hide, and only the third one breaks skin, though no blood is spilled into the water. 10 damage.
Sir John and Big Anaxian hold in place, as the eel-like Aboleth (which Jiator had named the "Master of Love") approaches. Meredian fires a lightning blast at the charging fish, but it appears completely unaffected by the electricity.
Ugh why are only the undead party members near the psychic enemy, I can't use like half of these spells.
The eel-like aboleth slows its pace, ending a hundred feet from Big Anaxian and Sir John, its three sets of jaws wide open. Sir John experiences a brief second of mental assault, but shrugs it off, in the process recognizing the casting of a psychic Possession spell.
The large Aboleth near Illia- slides backwards and disappears with a teleportation spell, sending waves of water crashing inward as five thousand gallons of water rush to fill the void, though the Erinyes' damage reduction shrugs off any harm that the waves might have caused. Around her, in the distance, the ring of bards continues to play the same three notes of music over and over again, no longer moving forward.
The Mayor begins muttering the first word of what Anaxian identifies as a Protection from Chaos spell, before realizing that he cannot easily break the Emergency Force Sphere, and instead turns back to Drisquar who has just attacked him, lashing out with a single tentacle. Drisquar is stung with (15 points of) negative energy damage, and feels his hypercharged body shrug off a wave of paralysis. Twenty feet away, the skeletal Belier devil reaches out with its three tongues—two of these hit with bludgeoning, bony force, dealing another 15 points of damage after DR. The two circling Great Reef Crab skeletons attack, though they have to maneuver to reach Drisquar, and are slightly impaired in their aim by the circling shark skeletons; only one massive claw manages to hit. (15 damage after DR) The octopus flails ineffectually.
(Overall, Drisquar has just taken 45 points of damage)
The zombie sharks and their skeletal riders begin attacking themselves and each other, on Anaxian's command, and by the end of the round are simply a field of bone and fin debris clouding up the local battle.
A few of the skeleton workers in the streets do the same, but the rest march forward, slowing their pace to match that of the zombies.
The last of the Skum, most of which have already been lucky enough to survive one attack from Hungry Doom, continue to attack the gibbering mouthers. Only two survive. The lightning continues to crackle, as the Gillmen wizards begin to call forth clouds of darkness and fog around their location. The walls around the Shoggoth continue to grow higher.
Enemies:
The giant cloud of fish-men swarming to contain Hungry Doom:
-2 Skum
-32 Gillmen wizards
-8 standard-pattern Aboleths (two heavily injured, the closest approximately 250' from Meredian)
Enemies near Big Anaxian/Sir John/Meredian/Jiator:
-83 humanoid skeletons, in formations of 20 to 25, distributed through the streets, all at least 50’ away
-45 humanoid zombies, distributed with skeletons
-Eel-like aboleth swimming rapidly forward from the opposite direction, approximately 100' away
Enemies near Drisquar and HQ Anaxian (* indicates enemies in place to attack Drisquar):
*The Mayor
-The Master of Souls (currently possessed by Anaxian, and inside an Emergency Force Sphere)
*Zombie Giant Octopus
*2x Skeleton Great Reef Crab
*Skeleton Belier Devil
-Sharkboat
Enemies near Illia- (who is around 520' away from Drisquar/Anaxian, and unable to teleport):
-"Circle of something”: 12 creatures forming a ring around the party approximately 800’ in radius and high overhead
Allies:
-Jiator the Architect, riding on Anaxian's crab.
-Hungry Doom the Shoggoth, approximately 300’ away from Big Anaxian/Sir John/Meredian/Jiator.
-Anaxian's shocking Chuul, which I forgot about earlier but is hanging out by Big Anaxian/Sir John/Meredian/Jiator
-2 Giant Gibbering Mouthers (1 injured)
-8 Gibbering Mouthers (1 injured)
-12 Young Gibbering Mouthers (3 injured)
