Lilo's spell shoots out over the closely-packed zombies as the behemoth begins to form. The spread pitch quickly catches, burning many of the zombies also, and after a few tense moments, the flames licking at the barrel ignite the black goo in a loud, though not necessarily earth-shattering kaboom. The explosion itself sends roughly forty of the corpses flying, while another hundred and twenty are seared to 'death' from the burning hands, barrel splash and spread pitch. Several other zombies that weren't burned tumble from the top of the behemoth as the pile becomes unstable, many landing awkwardly and not getting up again. You also see several corpses which don't look like they took enough damage to render them inert, but have lost physical contact with the behemoth central mass, and are no longer animated.
All in all, you've rendered a good fifth of the behemoth toast. You can easily notice, especially with his spell, that the magic affected each zombie individually, and that once individual corpses took enough of a beating, they lost their link with the others and dropped away.
However, the remaining 800-odd corpses resume manifesting as a slightly-smaller behemoth as Lilo remains within the chamber.
We'll be lurking here whenever you are ready. Congratulations!
"Maybe if we could lure that thing away from the stuff in the middle, we could get a better look at it."
It might be movable, but it's massive and partially made of gold, so it wouldn't be easily movable. You can see a bit more of the contraptions in the centre, specifically the contraption at the head of the sarcophagus with the pulsing yellow gem.
"Perhaps one of us could go in the room off to the side, wait for it to form up and start moving over, then run back here and let it collapse off to the side."
"Perhaps Mr. Maenir here could make some use of his energy bursts that were so very potent against the undead we've already faced down here?" Hickory suggests.
"I suppose I could be pursuaded." Maenír says with a smile.
"I suppose I could be pursuaded." Maenír says with a smile.
"I can't help but think that the glowing device somehow powers the undead". "If you can somehow keep the zombie distracted, I will try to quickly destroy that device".
"Hmmm. Okay - I'll get their attention, and throw everything I have at them. It will take a lot out of me, so we'll only get one shot at this - let's get it right."
Maenír stabs an arrow into the ground just inside the doorway, so he can find the hidden portal again.
"Are we ready?
As the group moves into the room, the behemoth begins to rise again.
Maenir moves close and opens with an initial channel of energy. Like with Lilo's burning hands spells, the writhing mass of zombies seems to react like a swarm, in that large numbers of individual corpses take the brunt of the blast, making the spell more effective than normal. However, unlike before with a fire spell, the channeled energy has an additional effect, as not only the corpses sustain damage from the channel, but the unseen necromantic forces binding the zombies together suffer damage. The positive energy from the burst cascades through the majority of the remaining zombies (sorry, all those original numbers should be divided by 10, there are only 100 zombies in the behemoth, each contributing 10 hp to the total creature, I got distracted in the hospital and starting counting them as 1000 zombies with 1hp each, so Lilo's spell and the barrel of pitch blew about 20 zombies apart, not 200).
Zombies affected: 26 squares of 36 total. 79 remaining zombies * 26/36= 57 corpses.
20 more corpses fly apart, showering the group with zombie bits.
Lilo adds his burning hands.59*6/36=about 10
Another 5 zombies go flying.
Seeing it work so well the first time, Maenir channels again.
14 zombies destroyed.
Lilo: 3 zombies destroyed
Maenir channels again. 10 destroyed, 27 zombies remaining.
Lilo is probably starting to run out of spells, so holds off. What's left of the behemoth is nearly complete, so Maenir channels again. 6 destroyed, 21 zombies remaining.
As the behemoth finishes forming, at doesn't have enough corpses remaining to sustain itself at its current size, so it collapses in on itself slightly, reducing from colossal to huge size.
Initiatives:
Maenir:
Rommin:
Rorse:
Vero:
Lilo:
Landis:
Niesen:
Hickory:
Zombie Behemoth:
Initiative Order:
Niesen
Rommin
Hickory
Rorse & Vero
Maenir
Lilo
Landis
Behemoth
Niesen takes a step forward and hurls a pair of daggers at the zombies.
Attack 1: ; damage:
Attack 2: ; damage:
Niesen's first dagger finds a target in the writhing mass. The zombie he hits nearly drops out of the mass.
Up next: Rommin, Hickory, Rorse & Vero, Maenir, Lilo
Rommin's blade strikes true and impales a zombie, dropping it from the mass (20 remaining).
Hickory begins to sing, granting +1 to attack and damage.
Rorse and Vero charge in.
Rorse attack: ; damage:
Vero attack: ; damage: ; trip:
Rorse slays another zombie, and Vero rips out the one Niesen hit with his dagger. (18 remaining) Faced with the loss of two more of its number, the behemoth collapses further in on itself, now registering as large sized.
The glowing device is now exposed, though still within the behemoth's threatened area. Of course, the behemoth has yet to act so it's still flat-footed.
Up next: Maenir, Lilo, Landis, Behemoth
Landis rages, and attacks the glowing source with his Adamantine warhammer held in both hands.
Attack
Damage
Not when my homebrew monster has special weaknesses and ways it's affected by area effects.
Maenír moves into position to do the most damage, and channels positive energy. "Hey, ugly! Why don’t you chew on this!?"
Maenir's energy washes over the behemoth, destroying more negative energy connections. 7 more corpses fly off, shattered to bits.
Lilo's energy blast easily strikes the creature, but instead of jusy scorching one corpse, it arcs along those invisible connections like a bolt of chain lightning.
The chaining power amplifies the spell five-fold, inflicting 15 damage. The corpse Lilo hit explodes, and a neighbouring one is severly scorched.
"I can't keep this up much longer, guys…"
Landis brings his hammer down hard on the glowing yellow crystal. He seems to knock it back into place, like it was currently out of its socket. For a second, the whining hum switches into a strong, steady hum, before fading away as cracks appear in the stone surrounding the crystal's socket. The glow fades away completely as well.
From his vantage point, Landis can see through the glass lid of the sarcophagus. Inside, lies a bunny. He can't tell if it's alive or not, but it isn't moving at the moment.
The zombie behemoth, reduced to 10 corpses now, takes a vicious swing at Landis.
Slam attack: A punch that would likely have broken several ribs or caved in his skull, is instead deflected harmlessly off his chain shirt and shield.
"I don't think that worked!" Niesen shouts, as he lines up two more daggers for the corpse Lilo injured.
Attack 1: ; damage:
Attack 2: ; damage:
The second dagger finds its target, dropping the corpse out of the collective. With the loss of this centre mass zombie, the entire behemoth shudders before collapsing in on itself. 9 zombies remain, now standard and no longer bound by the strange energies.
Acrobatics 1:
Acrobatics 2:
Acrobatics 3:
Acrobatics 4:
Acrobatics 5:
Acrobatics 6:
Acrobatics 7:
Acrobatics 8:
Acrobatics 9:
6 of the zombies end up prone (blue circle on the map). The other three remain standing.
Up next: Rommin, Hickory, Rorse & Vero
.
Landis brings his hammer down hard on the glowing yellow crystal. He seems to knock it back into place, like it was currently out of its socket. For a second, the whining hum switches into a strong, steady hum, before fading away as cracks appear in the stone surrounding the crystal's socket. The glow fades away completely as well.
From his vantage point, Landis can see through the glass lid of the sarcophagus. Inside, lies a bunny. He can't tell if it's alive or not, but it isn't moving at the moment.
The zombie behemoth, reduced to 10 corpses now, takes a vicious swing at Landis.
Slam attack: 1d20+7 A punch that would likely have broken several ribs or caved in his skull, is instead deflected harmlessly off his chain shirt and shield.
"I don't think that worked!" Niesen shouts, as he lines up two more daggers for the corpse Lilo injured.Attack 1: 1d20+4-4; damage: 1d4+2
Attack 2: 1d20+4-4; damage: 1d4+1
The second dagger finds its target, dropping the corpse out of the collective. With the loss of this centre mass zombie, the entire behemoth shudders before collapsing in on itself. 9 zombies remain, now standard and no longer bound by the strange energies.
Acrobatics 1: 1d20
Acrobatics 2: 1d20
Acrobatics 3: 1d20
Acrobatics 4: 1d20
Acrobatics 5: 1d20
Acrobatics 6: 1d20
Acrobatics 7: 1d20
Acrobatics 8: 1d20
Acrobatics 9: 1d20
Whoops. I lied. It's Cold Iron. Got it confused with a real life character. Hardness does indeed apply.
Whoops. I lied. It's Cold Iron. Got it confused with a real life character. Hardness does indeed apply.
You have a real life person with an adamantine warhammer? ;)
Cold iron makes much more sense.
Whoops. I lied. It's Cold Iron. Got it confused with a real life character. Hardness does indeed apply.You have a real life person with an adamantine warhammer? ;)
Cold iron makes much more sense.
Up next: Rommin, Hickory, Rorse & Vero
Rommin brings his greatsword down on prone zombie 1, cutting a nasty gouge out of the corpse.
Hickory continues her inspirational song and casts a grease spell, conjuring grease underneath zombies 2, 3, 5, and 6.
Reflex save 3:
Reflex save 5:
Zombie 5 slips and falls.
Rorse and Vero charge the gathering of zombies.
Rorse attack:
Damage:
Vero attack:
Damage:
Rorse's sword sections corpse 9 neatly and both pieces go inert. Vero's jaws rip a nasty gash out of zombie 8.
Up next: Maenir, Lilo, Landis
Lilo's spell catches zombie 4 lying on the ground. Unlike before, however, the energy does not arc to adjacent zombies. It seems that link is now broken.
The spell does seriously scorch the undead, however.
Up next: Landis, Zombies, Niesen
"Keep him off me"! Landis shouts as he continues to hack at the cover.
Warhammer Smash
2-handed warhammer smash
"Keep him off me"! Landis shouts as he continues to hack at the cover.
1d20+9 Warhammer Smash
1d8+6 2-handed warhammer smash
"Keep him off me"! Landis shouts as he continues to hack at the cover.
1d20+9 Warhammer Smash
1d8+6 2-handed warhammer smash
Landis brings his warhammer down hard on the glass lid, with all his force...
...and his hammer bounces off with the sharp metallic clang of steel on steel, leaving a tiny dent (on his war hammer). The vibrations run up his arms, nearly numbing them to the shoulders.
The prone zombies stand up. Rommin gets an attack of opportunity on 1 of them.
Rorse attack of opportunity:
Damage:
Zombie 8 stays down.
Niesen takes a step back and lets fly at Zombie 7.
Attack 1: ; damage:
Attack 2: ; damage:
Critical confirm: ; damage:
Zombie 7 goes down with two daggers in its face.
Up next: Rommin (as well as his attack of opportunity), Hickoy, Rorse & Vero
Rommin will take the aoo
To hit 1d20+4
Damage 2d6+2And then swing on another.
To hit 1d20+4
Damage 2d6+2
Well, with Hickory's bonus and the penalties to AC for being prone, that first one is good enough to hit, though the second is not. His sword nearly severs the corpse's spine, but it still gets up. His second swing goes wide.
Hickory continues singing, and moves up to D28 to throw her dagger at the zombie Rommin nearly killed.
Attack:
Her dagger clanks off of Rommin's greatsword and drops to the ground.
Vero steps to B31 and bites at zombie 7
Attack:
Rorse swings at zombie 7.
Neither attack finds the zombie's decaying flesh.
Up next: Maenir, Lilo, Landis
Maenir steps up next to Rommin and attempts to aid him in striking truer in the future.
Aid another: The cleric's clumsy dagger moves more than compensate for the zombie's distraction, however. No bonus to Rommin.
Lilo fires a spell into the thick of undead, and somehow manages to miss all of them.
Up next: Landis, Zombies, Niesen