Ascension - Mageocracy

Game Master bbangerter

When Ian passes the alley where he can see Edmond possibly in trouble, he'll go to help against the monster.

@GM: Well, the link worked this time, but its the wrong map. Looks like it is for a different campaign entirely.

@GM: Well, the link worked this time, but its the wrong map. Looks like it is for a different campaign entirely.

Bleh.

One more try

If that doesn't work, are you able to move to the next/previous images from the other link? The correct map is the first one to the right of that very old campaign image.

Map works now!

Seeing the cleric move further to the east, she instead bolted north first before turning east and then south herself, circling around a building to again bring her foe into view. There she began examining the man for potential weak spots to exploit.

Move action to loop around the building to -C15, re-entering Stealth as it pertains to the cleric. She'll Take 10 again for a total check of 29. Then move action to Study Target (1st rnd).

It appears what i said about snake man's position/movement was either forgotten or misunderstood (likely due to my poor explanation). However, he was supposed to have a copy of himself in G20 which i can see now thanks to the map working. So he should have gotten an AoO on the monster. Taking the AoO from the position of G20 would eliminate the copy of him from the south and cement his position in G20.

snake man AoO: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
snake man slashing dmg: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9 +2 weapon

assuming he still continued on to attack Edmond, but if he didn't, it doesn't matter as pertains to my turn.

Snakeman moves to flank the abomination with Edmond, then attacks as his sickle becomes coated in black magical energy. weapon attack plus energy blade talent He leaves a copy of himself in F21.

snake man atk: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (14) + 9 + 2 + 2 = 27
snake man slashing dmg: 1d6 + 3 + 3d6 ⇒ (2) + 3 + (3, 6, 3) = 17 +2 slashing weapon plus 3d6 negative

Edmond then takes a step back and blasts the creature once more with fire.

ranged touch: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (14) + 7 = 21
fire damage: 4d8 ⇒ (4, 5, 1, 6) = 16
creature must make a DC 19 reflex save or catch on fire taking 1d6 per turn, as usual he can make the save again with a +4 if he spends the turn rolling on the ground

free action
Edmond moves his squares of searing light around to more completely fill the area.
this is assuming that the creature is in F17, snakeman in F18, and Edmond in F15 after his 5ft step. However, if that is not the case, Edmond will specifically avoid placing the squares in his own square or snakeman's square. 35 squares covers him out to a 25ft radius while omitting buildings and ally squares.

Uh Ian's turn depending on wtf is happening with all that light and fire, haha

The snakeman scores a hit on the horrific looking beast of many mouths as it charges down Edmond, then gives chase to flank, scoring a second hit. Edmond then scorches the creature further with a blast of flame.

Reflex save: 20

That does put Edmond in one of his own cubes of fire when he steps back to F15 to cast? Immune to your own spell? Need to take damage and make a concentration check? Move somewhere else and take the AoO before casting? Defensive casting?

Ian, a direct path to Edmond would put you in the fire cubes? Continue around the north after the priest? Or other?

Ah, continuing after priest then. Thanks

ack, the idea was that he would end up in a square with no searing light. since the damage doesn't hit until the end of the turn, he could do searing light on his own square and back out of that square with a 5ft step before doing a fire blast.

How would you like to alter your actions? The result is simply based on how you laid out the fire cubes several posts up :) Moving north would require you to move 2 squares to get out of reach of the creature.

a 5ft step to the west after moving the squares but before the damage hits

Ah, okay, sorry. So Edmond takes on step back after moving the fire cube.

As Ian catches up to the priest he lets out a curse before beginning to cast another spell.
Defensive casting: 25

The man immediately turns from Ian, walking at an angle upward into the air.
Ian gets an AoO

Map

The malevolent creature steps toward Edmond again, a flurry of mouths, claws, and tentacles, but is quite clumsy in its attempts.
Attack: 14, 18, 14, 6

Party is up

@Ian: you may want to consider attempting a grapple as your AoO

Holding off on Soliel's action until Ian goes

Grapple unfortunately is not allowed in a AoO. Only sunder, disarm, trip for combat maneuvers.

you said the creature stepped towards me again, would that put him in F16 rather than F17?

Ian flips his greatsword to grab the blade and swings to hook the fleeing cleric's ankles with the hilt.

Trip: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Yes, it moved up to F16

As Ian flips his blade over the priest cracks Ian in the jaw with a gauntleted fist, but he is still knocked to the ground.
AoO: 28, damage: 4

Ian doesn't even flinch as he's hit, grabbing the cleric by the back edge of his breastplate and dragging him back to earth.

Grapple: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31

Weird. I thought it glitched out, but I think that roll's just coincidence?

Unseen, Soliel smiled cruelly as Ian dragged her quarry back to the ground. Advancing slowly, she continued to examine the priest's defenses for vulnerabilities. As was often the case with humanoids, a lightly armored neck became an ideal target. Still further examination was required before striking. Patience

Move action to 5ft away from priest while staying in Stealth (can't get map to open just now), then Standard action to study target round 2

Snake man steps up and attacks while flanking the creature with Edmond. The light once again bends such that it looks as if he is in two places at once, the second copy of him moving to A17.

snake man atk: 1d20 + 9 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 9 + 2 + 2 = 32
snake man slashing dmg: 1d6 + 3 + 2d6 ⇒ (2) + 3 + (2, 6) = 13 +2 slashing weapon plus 2d6 negative

Edmond then takes a step back (to F14) and blasts the creature once more with fire.

perform: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (9) + 18 = 27
ranged touch: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9
fire damage: 4d8 ⇒ (1, 5, 3, 2) = 11
creature must make a DC 19 reflex save or catch on fire taking 1d6 per turn, as usual he can make the save again with a +4 if he spends the turn rolling on the ground

free action
Edmond moves his squares of searing light around to more completely fill the area.
to keep it simple i will just have the squares constitute everything within 25ft radius, excluding buildings, Edmond, Snakeman, and all known (i dont necessarily know where the stealthy ones are).

Edmond misses with his spell, but his snake creature scores another hit as the creature gives another bellow of pain.

It continues to advance against the halfling, trying to get past the defenses.
Full attack: 19, 24, 22, 19
Damage: 5, 8, 8, 8 + acid damage: 6, 2, 3, 5. Total damage: 45

Not sure what I was looking at the previous round, but what is your AC Edmond? Looks like 15 based on stats gear? I should have rolled damage the previous round for the 18.
Also note the spell the priest cast on you previously was retconned, so no damage from that, and no fatigue.

The priest focuses for a moment, then a wave of blackness emanates outward from him. He then pulls a short sword from its sheath.
Channel negative energy: 19 damage. DC 20 will save for half to both Ian and Soliel.

Party is up

ugh you are right, i must have stopped right before the finish line on this character. he can wear light armor but i havent bought any for him, so the 18 would have hit and same with all these. so 45 damage plus the damage from last round. didn't realize the retcon so i was tracking that damage. but i am tracking 45+X dmg now.

Additional damage:
1d4 + 4 + 1d6 ⇒ (1) + 4 + (5) = 10

Pin: 1d20 + 13 + 5 ⇒ (11) + 13 + 5 = 29

I'm not 100% sure on the extra +5, but I think it applies here
"If you do not release the grapple, you must continue to make a check each round, as a standard action, to maintain the hold. If your target does not break the grapple, you get a +5 circumstance bonus on grapple checks made against the same target in subsequent rounds."

So remove the +5 if that doesn't apply.

Ian grunts as the energy hits him, attempting to grab the priest's wrist as he draws the sword and pin it behind his back.

Attempting to move from grappled>pinned

Will: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (3) + 11 = 14

Will Save vs. Neg Energy 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10

Holding off on Soliel's action until we find out if Ian's Pin attempt worked

Ian pins the man, smashing his face against a wall of one of the buildings here.

Soliel's body shuddered as the negative energy ripped through her, but she stifled the pain as she had many times before. Staring at the pinned priest the way a cat might a wounded bird, the tiefling let her form become visible as she dropped her hand crossbow and drew her second sword. Taking a step forward, Soliel held her cruel smile as she sized up her blow. Leaving the external Iliac vein exposed...well done Ian! She then proceeded to drive her blade into side of the priest's groin, leaving a spray of blood.

Free action drop out of Stealth, Free Action drop hand crossbow, 5ft step to priest, Move action draw second sword, Standard Action Sneak Attack on priest (loses dex to AC since pinned)

Sneak Attack vs. Pinned Priest 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Damage, if hits 6d6 + 6 ⇒ (1, 2, 5, 6, 1, 1) + 6 = 22 Plus 5/rnd bleed

The priest passes into unconsciousness with a groan, and will quickly bleed out from the vicious wound.

Edmond is up

Ian hefts the dying priest onto his shoulder and goes to find Edmond.

ugh holy crap, this site was down hard last night and it was right after I opened tabs for all my new posts so i lost my place everywhere. I'm on mobile now so here goes.

Edmond concentrates, plays his flute and attempts to split into two copies of himself to flee. -1 MP, casting Flicker w/no concentration[ooc]

concentration DC 23: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (18) + 12 = 30 [ooc] no AoO

perform DC 16-24: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22

One copy of him moves to E12, the other moves 20ft SW down the alley (i remember there was an alley there, i believe). His movement will provoke AoOs, the AoO, if the creature takes it, will destroy one copy and the other is fine (unless the creature can take two AoOs per turn, in which case the real and sole remaining copy will be subject as normal)

The Snakeman will move to F15 and G16 to block the creature from following Edmond. provokes AoOs for movement if the creature has any left, and works just like above. Then the Snake man attacks.

atk: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
dmg: 1d6 + 3 + 2d6 ⇒ (6) + 3 + (3, 3) = 15

oh and i leave the squares of searing light in the same places they were, save i move them off of squares that Edmond/Snakeman (or copies thereof) inhabit and ensure the space of the creature is burning it. Does it even appear to be having an effect?

Yes, it has been taking damage from the light and flames.

Between the snake man and the continued burning flames the creature hunting Edmond finally collapses. As it does a odd symbol on its back, between its wings, glows briefly, then the entire creature dissolves into a thick black smoke then fades to nothing.

dropping out of initiative?

"Edmond, you okay?" Ian shouts as he rounds the corner, looking for the halfling.

on my turn i will drop the light so that people can move freely.

Soliel watched with mild satisfaction as Ian hefted the priest up onto his shoulder and headed off. She briefly considered the intelligence value of keeping the foe alive, but memories of the wave of negative energy that had lashed her held her back. Past experience had taught her that priests can do such things at will, and no amount of pain can stop them. Let him bleed out

Stopping just briefly to pick up her hand crossbow, Soliel trotted behind Ian en route to Edmond's position with her swords still drawn. She squinted as the odd, bright lights the Halfling seemed to be able to create and shift at will faded out. She then stared at the symbol on the dying creature's back, making mental notes about the bizarre beast and how it died. Must let the Masters know of this, and that the disfigured one successfully retreated.

Unlike Ian and herself, the Halfling looked rather worse for wear after the battle. Can you heal yourself? Her query to Edmond, said in oddly accented common, lacked warmth. A matter-of-fact question of logistics. We should return to the Tower post-haste. As soon as the group was ready she did as much, seeking out Serelina and the other Masters to make a report. En route, she did a full search of the body Ian was carrying, for valuables or information.

@GM: Not sure how the disfigured guy was able to teleport away and summon a creature in one round, but this event will definitely be part of Soliel's report back to the Tower leadership, in hopes that they could explain it. Also, the disfigured guy would still be suffering a 5pt per round bleed effect after teleporting away. Might be easily solved if he has a healing potion or some such, but also possible that he bleeds out somewhere else if he has no ranks in Heal skill and no healing magic immediately available.

Combat is over.

I did track the bleed damage on the deformed man.

As for the creature, I often forget summoners and their eidolons are supposed to have a mark on them, hence the comment at the end about the glowing symbol on its back.

With the priest now dead, Soliel searches the man as the group heads back to the tower. The mans head is clean shaven, a small scar running from his right ear to the back of his neck. Several items he has on him are likely magical in nature.

Edmond casts a spell that slowly regenerates his wounds on the way back to the tower.

"Who abandons the healer? Hmph."

Ian's concern for a teammate turns to a scowl. "I tried, you surrounded yourself in burning light--healer."

He'll report to Serelina what happened, and ask where she wants the dead priest for future questioning.

"Eh, I left a path for you. You hurt, or what?" he says, looking over the fighter.

After Soliel inventoried the priest's items, she walked with the others back to the Tower, but said nothing. Her mind worked unceasingly though, assessing the events of the battle and compiling her report. At Edmond's question to Ian, she answered without looking at the ex-guardsman. Yes, he is injured, as am I. Neither of us is badly wounded, but aid for our injuries would be beneficial. I doubt this is the last engagement of the day.

She paused for a moment, and turned to look at Edmond. That...light she said the word as if she looked for some other description and none came. You move it at will, yes? And it appeared to harm the creature you placed it on. Very useful.

Following the conversation, Soliel actively sought out any of the Master's she might find to make a report. In clipped but heavily detailed fashion, utterly devoid of filler, the tiefling laid out exactly the events that transpired from the moment the group spotted the priest watching the execution until they returned to the Tower. She made a point of emphasizing the way the disfigured man disappeared, and the creature that appeared in his stead. It is possible this disfigured man who escaped is one of those who killed Master Torenest, named Dev. However, I do not believe we have sufficient evidence to confirm this suspicion. After giving the report, Soliel stood at attention awaiting further orders.

"Yeah, the light is a bit of a pain to move around but it will burn people I want to burn. I won't intentionally burn you all, but to be careful. I usually won't have it in a big area around me but I really didn't want the enemy to escape. Speaking of which..." Edmond trails off, seeing the expression of the others. His brow furrows, "This was a worse assignment than I thought." "Anyway, be healed." he grumbles.

channel: 4d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 6, 5) = 16
channel: 4d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 6, 6) = 19

Still injured himself even after two waves of healing energy, he plays a quick tune that slowly closes the last of his wounds over the next couple of minutes.

perform DC 16-24: 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (4) + 18 = 22 CL 7 achieved, but only needed CL 2 for this since he only has 20 damage remaining after two channels.

There are also two sheets of paper with strange looking diagrams and an unknown writing upon them.

Upon arriving back at the tower, the first Master Soliel finds is Master Liam. She gives the report to the mage historian.

Master Liam takes a look at the body, then frowning bends down for a closer inspection. "That is, if I am not mistaken, Elmod Kelther. Master Bellafini must be made a part of this discussion." He sends a runner to find her and awaits for her to join the group, then asks Soliel to repeat her report.

"Elmod Kelther was among a group banished" he gives Serelina a meaningful look, "some ten years ago. Along with Hezek, the summoner who recently escaped our prisons."

The halfling lays sideways on a chair, such that his face isn't even visible to those sitting across from him.

"Great, more prison escapees. I am beginning to see a very clear trend. Is there anyone in the prison now, that I may save us time and headache ten years hence? he pipes up.

Ian stops when he looks at the diagrams, "F~&!ing c$*@ bastards," He holds up the sheet at Serelina, angry--but not at her. "This is what was drawn around the bodies I found, my body. I hope someone here can torment this f~+~ even after he's died."

"What are the chances that deformed summoner was Hezek. I'm going to kill that bastard."

Hezek was the summoner that brought in all the leopards, while his shop was burning down.

Serelina raises an eyebrow. "This connection with Hezek is quite disturbing, especially considering his Abyssal connections. If I recall, Hezek was lacking an arm, does that match with what you observed? Master Liam, perhaps we can speak privately about the banishment - I fear that we may need to delve deeper into the past if we are to get to the bottom of this."

Serelina takes a closer look at the diagrams as well.

Knowledge: 1d20 ⇒ 7 Arcana and Planes +18 and Religion +13

"And this Hezek, you fought him before and he escaped? And he has fought you again and escaped? Another trend." the halfling says, his tone both bored and snide in equal measure.

GM, did the hooded figure seem to only have 1 arm? or was it obscured by the robe?

Soliel waited impassively until Serelina arrived and the discussion continued. When Master Liam spoke the dead man's name and connection to Hezek, the tieflings eyes widen briefly before fetching Tomlin's worn journal from an impossibly small fold in her loose clothing. Flipping through pages, Soliel read as the conversation ensued.

These imprisoned ones, they are connected to the man named Bannali. A priest of some sort. Brother Tomlin mentioned to me that his group attempted to find this man in the Barren Mermaid, where Dether was first met. We have other leads on Bannali, perhaps now is the time to find him.

Closing the journal softly, Soliel looked back up at Master Liam. Ma'am, do we have any additional information on why and how this group was banished? Any data could be highly germane to our pursuits.

@GM: I tried to search the thread (with no luck), I recall someone telling Tomlin before that the banished group (to the Abyss?) was part of a former noble house that became persona non grata for some reason. This post-dates the notes I did before and I can't recall specifics....

Ian, the disfigured man had two arms, so not Hezek.

Soliel, there were about a dozen individuals banished to the outer planes about 15 years ago.

Further details starting about 2/3 down this page.

Master Liam nods, "Each of these high profile criminals was exiled to one of the layers of the Abyss or Abaddon - sent with only a days worth of food and water. It was not a decision I agreed with as I felt it was unnecessarily cruel."

"And with hindsight, also seems to have failed in its intended purpose."

"Hezek was convicted of being a rapist and a murderer, who took pleasure in torturing his victims afterwords."

"This one, Elmod, is... was a follower of Norgorber. At least we think that was the case. His crimes include the murder of one of the Masters at the time, the murder of Issust Hold's magistrate, and plotting the murder of the Sorrin family. Yes, the same family that now holds the high seat on the merchant council."

"Bannali... I do not recognize that name. A new contact among these? I do not know."

"But we should probably talk about the others as well."

"Achkal, was a follower of Zon-Kuthon. Not a member of the clergy, but preyed on those youth to old to remain in the orphanages that had been cast out into the streets."

"Eris was skilled sorceress, taken for possessing others and forcing them to carry out various manner of brutal and deadly crimes. We imprisoned and executed a number of victims who were innocent before we caught on."

"Lia, she ruled the criminal element in this city at the time. We only managed to capture her because someone inside her organization tipped off her whereabouts to us."

"Asol, a highly intelligent man, also quite insane. He taunted our best for months, leaving intentional but obscure clues and puzzles. He was another murderer, never killed in quite the same way twice, but always in a messy fashion. He had an innate ability to dimension door, made him extremely difficult to catch once we were able to start deciphering some of his clues."

"And Taney, she was a pyro mage. Caused quite a bit of property damage in arson, and left a number of individuals burned alive in their homes or shops."