Inubrix will like the Absorb 120 from Jiator.
Hitting everyone for 20d6 lava in a big square seems fun. Especially if they take ongoing damage thereafter.
10d6 bludgeoning, average 35 damage, 15 DR means the remaining 20 will come out of my 40 temp HP.
Big Anaxian dives at his top speed, wings shrieking through the air, while little Anaxian flies overhead and attempts to evaluate the enemy forces.
The three allied druids have refused Drisquar's wind walk, with a less sacrilegious option available. Instead, Inubrix flies with Drisquar, and is dropped from some height on square B1, shifting mid-air into huge size. Three of the square's demons succumb to the sudden shockwave of lava, but the other three successfully scramble for cover, avoiding most of the damage—and Inubrix is blinded for the round, unable to make out the appearance of the three remaining demons (though with their large size and loud cries, he can successfully pinpoint them).
Drisquar hovers just above the fortress, similarly blinded by the brightness, though with the confusion below and his vaporous form, appears not to attract notice from any of the nearby demons.
Of the three druids, one is fired from the catapult, landing in square B4 in the form of a huge earth elemental—though the two small demons nearby take to the air above it, avoiding its lava wave. A second druid is hurled over the keep walls by Raxus, landing in square E3—but, blinded by the brightness, it sinks into the lava and disappears.
Jiator begins to play, and the ground below the crusaders swells slowly, rising about 10 feet. "The rules of construction magic are confusing," he explains, to no one in particular, "But if men can construct a wall, so too can they construct an earthen wall, or a trench, or a hill." It looks like the crusaders won't have a clean shot over the walls until the hill has risen a full hundred feet.
Seeing what appears to be clear skies, demons scramble for rubble and high ground outside of the lava and do what demons do best—summoning more of their kin from the abyss to join the fight. Anaxian recognizes two summoned Glabrezu, as various other demons pop up across the fortress, bolstering its total numbers by about a third.
Other demons mill about. The two by the Siabrae flee, joining a larger group, as the two visible Nalfeshnees gather groups of surviving demons around them, with one group converging on Inubrix. Preoccupied with summoning, none are able to actually attack the monster machine this round, though the blinding light will make any of his attacks harder to land.
Deep in the smoke, the Retriever construct extinguishes its own flames with a ray of ice. The Woundwyrm dragon appears to successfully drag its hulking body out of the lava, and smoke clears over several grid squares.
* * *
Sure enough, the Katpaskir takes Illia-'s bait. A few seconds after she teleports, the non-Euclidean beetle demon appears 30' in front of her, sizzling with the smell of burnt demon. "You!" It screams in Infernal, before muttering a long string of curses in Abyssal as it unfolds clawed legs from its chest, the same vicious spiked appendages that only days ago tore apart Illia-'s weapons and armor.
::Adrexa may have troublesome demon's truename. Secrets bought. Keep katpaskir occupied, same spot, absolutely no teleporting, twenty seconds. Spell almost complete.::
* * *
A1: NW corner of fortress. No signs of movement visible.
A2: One smaller demonic figure staggers about in pain.
A3: Five demons, led by two Glabrezu (one of them clearly summoned). Part of a structure still stands.
A4: Only rubble.
A5: NE corner of fortress. Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: only rubble visible)
B1: Six demons, led by a Nalfeshnee, surrounding Inubrix. Inubrix is here
B2: Only rubble.
B3: Seven demons, two of them smaller and flying, led by a Nalfeshnee and a Glabrezu
B4: Only rubble. Siabrae 1 is here
B5: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: only rubble visible)
C1: Only rubble stands.
C2: Part of the inner structure still stands, though slowly sinking into lava. A dozen or so demons appear to have escaped from it, and several of them have taken to the air.
C3: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: a sizable portion of the inner structure still stands)
C4: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: no demons visible)
C5: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: an abyssal Retriever construct scans the area around itself, no longer on fire but unable to see through the smoke)
D1: No lava in this square; nine figures of various size appear to huddle behind a Resilient Sphere.
D2: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: Three Glabrezu demons stand back-to-back, one of them clearly summoned)
D3: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: five demons continue rifling through this portion of the rubble for weaponry.)
D4: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: no demons visible)
D5: Obscured by heavy smoke. (Fogcutting: the smoke is too heavy)
E1: SW corner of fortress. The lava here bubbles and swirls strangely)
E2: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: A huge-sized purple Woundwyrm dragon sits atop a pile of rubble)
E3: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: Four demons are attempting to climb the still-melting inner wall, but making little progress) Siabrae 2 is here
E4: Obscured by heavy smoke. (Fogcutting: the smoke is too heavy)
E5: SE corner of fortress. Obscured by heavy smoke. (Fogcutting: the smoke is too heavy)
Honestly I'd kinda rather kill this guy, also, did you make sure to alert the Crusader death squad not to kill this guy?
In the event that Crusader death squad had not been convinced not to kill the Katpaskir, he would have just revealed himself, within easy sight range, of the death squad when no other targets were available, and suffer, at bare minimum, 42x(2+10+10) damage.
Not being particularly combat oriented, Meredian decides she's going to snoop and see if she can find anything to either steal or wreack havoc with.
Far from the action Meredian don's her goz mask and checks the security her eversmoking bottle tied to her belt.
She then turns invisible.
Next round: she'll step through the ether and reappear by C3. Up high though. She'll then proceed to search the immediate area and look into any windows she's in movement distance of.
Preemptive Stealth Roll : Stealth
Perception
Will +2 more if it's enchantment. If it's "mental control" I'm protected as if Prot From Evil.
Swift: change Metamorphosis
Move: change Metamorphosis
Standard: manifest Touchsight 80ft
What targets can Sir Pala Din see?
Raxus tossed another druid downfield.
Inaction watched the Siabrae starting to streak in like afterfall from his meteors. The Woundwyrm was his target. He flew over the monster. It was eyeless, and he knew precisely how far it's senses reached. At nearly a hundred feet above it, it would have no idea where it was being attacked from.
His tongue plucked a small amount of silver dust from a hollow in the roof of his mouth. He added it to his spell and reached out to take over the other dragon's body.
C3: Meredian sees in one of the windows; the standing structure appears to be some sort of throne room. Several hezrous and babau are visible scurrying around inside of it.
Rubble is everywhere, giving you easy objects to grab, should you wish.
C2: At this distance, the flying demons appear to be a flock of mostly-uninjured Vrocks, though they don't seem to have spotted you.
B3: At this distance, Meredian is able to identify the group of demons at this square as two airborne Coloxus fly-demons, two summoned Hezrou toad-demons, one Vrock vulture-demon, one Glabrezu claw-demon, and one Nalfeshnee boar-demon.
D3: The demons gathering weapons appear to be only Babaus, though ones that somehow avoided the worst of the lava.
* * *
Sir Pala Din isn't actually high enough to see over the walls yet, though he should be able to see the flying targets once they gain some height.
* * *
Anaxian successfully burrows into the mind of the Woundwyrm, though his new temporary body feels extremely injured.
* * *
* * *
* * *
Inubrix closes with an attempts to destroy an enemy.
Swift: change Metamorphosis
Move: move to melee with enemy (attempting to avoid AoOs by not provoking them, and prioritizing hitting the big boss in my square who summoned others. If i only need to 5' step or less, let me know and i will add more attacks as a full attack).
Standard: SLAM
Illia- will throw an arrow at her opponent, deliberately failing a gambit, in order to swap around maneuvers and activate osyluth guile.
Aright, Death squad didn't fire, so, guess we're doing your plan. Bummer. Least it's my thing.
"You know, you really should be nicer to your prisoners. I was cooperating perfectly until the whole 'inevitable death' thing came up. Your loss." Illia- taunts the demon, hoping to keep his attention.
I have the dragon. Anaxian broadcast to his allies.
He did not particularly like not having eyes. Having his perception limited to only sixty feet was not ideal. Fortunately, his mental connection with his familiar gave him eyes in the sky to help guide him toward targets.
Inubrix fails to identify a single demon in his square. His first attack narrowly misses the huge pig-headed gorilla demon, but presumably he winds up for a few more hits.
Planes
Perception
Planes
Meredian slips through a hole in the structure or through the window into the throne room to get a better look.
Perception
Meredian is specifically looking for magic auras via detect magic. Maybe the throne itself is something useful?
Stealth
Since the tower is taking awhile, Sir Pala Din will double move straight up by virtue of his winged boots. (40ft up and looking for enemies)
Inubrix lands some heavy blows, but he's chosen the toughest demon to target, and only his last slam connects; the Nalfeshnee, while injured, remains upright and un-grabbed.
Meredian spots no exceptionally powerful auras inside the throne room; some minor magic effects, perhaps, but it looks like the demons might have taken everything powerful with them when the survivors poured out of the fortress.
Anaxian slams into the lava, hitting enough force to slam through all the molten rock in his space, cutting through the paper-thin black crust and all the way down into the wall of force below, sending a shockwave through his armored body. Tidal waves of lava splash through the nearby pools, rebounding off of walls and around rubble. The demon at square A2 collapses from this third wave of fire and stone, as do two hezrous in square A3, though the other demons in that square manage to dodge the worst of it. In square B3, the two flying demons twitch out of the path of the wave entirely; the other five demons are hit, but manage to survive the new lava spray. Big Anaxian is unable to observe the remaining demons, as he sits at the bottom of just over twenty feet of lava.
Sir Pala Din flies upwards faster than Jiator's rising hill (which has now grown to 20'), but he still needs to rise another 50' before he can have a clear line of sight to any enemies inside the fortress. The catapult invisibly rumbles around, looking for large stones to pick up.
Siabrae 3 lands deep inside the smoke. The other Siabrae prove, indeed, to be stunningly deadly in the lava.
In square E3, Siabrae 2 bursts from below the lava in a flurry of tentacles, lava crashing and sucking at the tiny vacuums it leaves behind. Taking the form of an oversized giant octopus, it grabs at the demons on the wall; while the blows only do minimal damage, its undead suckers grab with surprise and strength, and all four climbing demons are dragged off the walls and back into the lava below.
Siabrae 1 glides through lava and rock alike, and surfaces only briefly in Square B3, taking the form of what appears to be a creature of lava superficially resembling a water elemental. With a roar, something shouted in Druidic, it whips about, pulling solid and molten rocks into a 20-foot-wide whirlpool; three demons are briefly sucked in, and while one emerges, the other two (including the Glabrezu) do not.
[spoiler=GM dice]
Seeing the dragon disappear into the lava, one of the Glabrezu mutters a curse and casts Reverse Gravity; while many of the demons possess wings, all are pulled up into the air, hovering 50 feet above the surface of the lava. The other Glabrezu casts Mirror image, becoming six identical floating demons.
The Glabrezu in square D2 each summon mirror images, and disperse to reinforce various groups of their peers. One moves into Small Anaxian (and the Woundwyrm's) square
The Nalfeshnee five-foot-steps out of Inubrix's reach, and mutters a Greater Dispel, which successfully overpowers Inubrix's Metamorphosis; the metal shifter, with some surprise, instantly reverts to his humanoid size. The other demons swarm around him; though not all actually manage to get a hit in. The claws and stinger of the scorpion and locust demons rattle harmlessly off of his damage resistance, their poisons unable to affect him. The toad demons' bites similarly fail to penetrate his armor, but one manages to grab him with its teeth.
The Nalfeshnee in this square targets the Siabrae with a Feeblemind spell, though it fails. The surviving demons clamber up piles of rubble, escaping the reach of the elemental "whirlpool." The two coloxus demons turn invisible, and carpet-bomb the square with Mind Fog spells, though the Siabrae narrowly manages to resist these as well.
The flock of vrocks at square C2 takes to the air, flying in a twisting vortex-like formation.
A few more squares of smoke clear.
A1: NW corner of fortress. No signs of movement visible.
A2: Only rubble.
A3: Three demons, led by two Glabrezu (one of them clearly summoned, the other surrounded by five mirror images) hover 50 feet above the ground. Part of a structure still stands. Big Anaxian is here, under the lava
A4: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: only rubble visible)
A5: NE corner of fortress. Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: only rubble visible)
B1: Six demons, led by a Nalfeshnee, attacking Inubrix. Inubrix is here
B2: Two Hezrou demons clamber on top of rocks.
B3: Three demons, two Coloxus (invisible) and one Nalfeshnee, all flying. Mind Fog (DC 21) fills this square. Siabrae 1 is here
B4: Only rubble.
B5: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: only rubble visible)
C1: Only rubble stands.
C2: Part of the inner structure still stands, though slowly sinking into lava. A dozen or so demons appear to have escaped from it, about 50 feet up into the air. One injured Glabrezu on the ground, surrounded by 7 mirror images
C3: A sizable portion of the inner structure still stands.
C4: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: no demons visible) Siabrae 3 is here
C5: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: an abyssal Retriever construct scans the area around itself, no longer on fire but unable to see through the smoke)
D1: No lava in this square; nine figures of various size appear to cast spells, protected by a Resilient Sphere.
D2: Only rubble.
D3: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: five demons continue rifling through this portion of the rubble for weaponry. One summoned Glabrezu is attempting to rally them, surrounded by 6 mirror images.)
D4: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: no demons visible)
D5: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: no demons visible)
E1: SW corner of fortress. The lava here bubbles and swirls strangely)
E2: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: Only rubble) Small Anaxian is in a Woundwyrm here One injured Glabrezu demon has moved to “join” him; it is surrounded by 6 mirror images
E3: Obscured by smoke. (Fogcutting: Four demons currently drowning in lava) Siabrae 2 is here
E4: Obscured by heavy smoke. (Fogcutting: the smoke is too heavy)
E5: SE corner of fortress. Obscured by heavy smoke. (Fogcutting: the smoke is too heavy)
With a sigh of boredom Meredian steps through the Astral to D3. Perhaps she can steal/repurpose some of the weapons the demons are looking for.
Perception + detect magic
The Katpaskir demon summons a Nalfeshnee, right behind Illia- (it doesn't act until next turn), because everybody loves more Nalfeshnees. Also, he sputters at her taunts.