Aubrey's Rise of the Runelords campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Aubrey the Malformed

The bear is bloodied but still powerful and its launches itself at Alwyn.

Alwyn winces as the bear bats him around. However, he is neither bruised nor bloodied. "I always did want a pet cave bear, actually. So this is a little sad."

My AC is 24 with the Haste bonus, so it missed three times.

"Vethran! How long is that wall staying up?"

"Until I tell it to stop! Thought I might mitigate the incoming boulders and soften the bears up!" the mage shouts in reply.

Sefayll frowns at the development of losing sight of the foes but she cannot fault the strategy on its face.

In order to have some cover from the boulders when the throwers become visible again, she moves up against the smithy (Z40, please) and prepares to cast a spell when a suitable target shows himself.

Readying an action to cast hold person on the next giant she sees preparing to throw a rock.

Besides the -2 skills and saves you also have -1 AC and +1 ACP if you had to don armor hastily.

Don Hastily: This column tells how long it takes to put the armor on in a hurry. The armor check penalty and armor bonus for hastily donned armor are each 1 point worse than normal.

I forgot about that. However, it still missed all three times.

Initiative:
Vethran 18+
Giant 2, Giant 3, Bear 3 and Bear 4 18-
Hudak 15
Sefayll 9
Giant 1, Bear 1 and Bear 2 12+
Alwyn 12-
Camlo 8
Illes 4

Giant 1 1d100 ⇒ 62
Bear 2 1d100 ⇒ 70

Shrieks and roars come from the other side of the lightning wall.

Alwyn.

Inaccurate map.

I'm drinking another potion of Enlarge person before moving to AG-AH 41-42.

Camlo!

Camlo starts jogging forward, then turns after a few feet to make sure the others are following. Then flattens himself against the wall.

Move to AI37

Illes!!!

Given a moment to breathe Illes focuses on a single pure tone and uses it to suppress the nausea and pounding in his temples then extends that out from himself as far as he can manage.

Free: Maintain Inspire Courage +4/+4
SA: Cast Good Hope on everyone except Camlo and Vethran
(Range 190 but like haste no 2 can be more than 30 feet apart)
+2 morale attacks, weapon damage, saves, ability checks, skill checks.
9 minutes.

Just to be clear about totals:
Illes, Hudak, Alwyn Sefyall: +6 attack, +6 weapon damage, +2 saves, +4 if the save is charm or fear, +2 ability checks, +2 skill checks

Vethran.

The mage lands next to the smithy and produces a scroll from his case, reciting the magical incantations inscribed upon it. His form flickers briefly and then solidifies a few feet away from where he was standing before. With a sigh, he releases his command of the electrical wall.

5' step to Y43, draw and activate scroll of displacement on myself. Free action to stop concentration on the wall, which dismisses it.

"GROOOOOOOOOAH!!!"

The giants have moved since Vethran conjured his wall of lightning. One hefts boulders to throw at Hudak while another appears from a side street and chucks one at Camlo.

Sefayll's readied action presumably goes off at this point on Giant 3, assuming she has the range to get him. I'll roll his saving throw and attack on the off-chance.
Giant 2 (Camlo): thrown rock 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (14) + 11 = 25 to hit, damage 1d8 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13
Giant 3 (Hudak): Will save 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (17) + 7 = 24
Thrown rock 1 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (12) + 11 = 23 to hit, damage 1d8 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 20
Thrown rock 2 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16 to hit, damage 1d8 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19

Map updated.

Hudak.

AC is currently 26 with the haste bonus and two weapon defense taken into account. Phew... Another bonus to not wearing armour and getting all your AC from magic items.... I didn't have anything to don hastily!

Hit by first rock.

Down 20.

Did the giant get held by Sefayll?

No, he made his save.

AG AH 34-35.

Going to smite the bear;

1d20 + 25 ⇒ (19) + 25 = 44

damage
2d8 + 23 ⇒ (5, 7) + 23 = 35

ooh, crit.
1d20 + 25 ⇒ (13) + 25 = 38 to hit;

2d8 + 23 ⇒ (4, 6) + 23 = 33
more.

And another crit threat. Crikeys!

Why can't my fighter have nice things?

New initiative:
Vethran 18+
Giant 2, Giant 3, Bear 3 and Bear 4 18
Sefayll 18-
Hudak 15
Giant 1, Bear 1 and Bear 2 12+
Alwyn 12-
Camlo 8
Illes 4

The strangely acting bear rears up as Hudak cuts it savagely, reverting to its primal instinct to attack.

5' step, full attack:
Claw 1: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27 to hit, damage 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Claw 2: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (20) + 13 = 33 to hit, damage 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Bite: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31 to hit, damage 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
If either of the claws hits it gets a free grapple attempt: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (1) + 19 = 20 v Hudak's CMD.

Oooh! Oooh! Crit with claw 2.
Claw 2: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (16) + 13 = 29 to confirm, extra damage 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

Giant 1: 1d100 ⇒ 75

Meanwhile, the giant at the back roars its defiance and hits itself on the forehead with its stone club. Hard. That showed 'em!

Alwyn.

Map updated.

Signing off now for a week and a bit.

My cmd is 22, so he doesn't grapple me.

I'm down to 29 hp though. Mauled pretty bad.

Think I need a medic.
That bear effed me up.

Good thing I didn't charge a giant. I think I learnt last combat not to overextend.

Oh, don't worry - I have memorised Breath of life twice!

Alwyn rumbles up to Hudak before tapping him lightly with his greatsword.

Move to AD-AE 35-36 before burning Heat metal to cast Cure serious wounds. 3d8+9=25 hit points recovered.

That's reassuring.

I'll call myself Hudak the Cat;......8 lives to go!!!

heh heh

Map updated.

Camlo, then Illes.

Move to AK34 Acrobatics: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (18) + 20 = 38
So flanking with Hudak.

Attack with rapier: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27 DMG: 1d4 + 1 + 5d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 1 + (5, 5, 4, 1, 4) + 5 = 28

I'm liking this "people attack things so I can flank" malarky :)

Camlo dances round the bear, finds a vital spot, and sticks it. The bear collapses with a whumph.

Bear down. Illes.

Map updated.

Camlo dances round the bear, finds a vital spot, and sticks it. The bear collapses with a whumph.

Bear down. Illes.

Map updated.

Sweeeet.

Whoop Whoop!

Illes runs alongside the Red Dog Smithy trying to get close enough to muddle some minds. Before getting that close, however, a little more defensive preparation seems to be in order. While singing a traveling song the bard splits into a kaleidoscopic image momentarily before resolving into six versions of himself all running with a rapier held low.

MA: Move to AA35
SA: Mirror Image
Number of Images: 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5
Free: Maintain Inspire Courage (+4/+4)
Ongoing: Good Hope (+2 saves, attacks, weapon damage, ability checks, skill checks)
Haste: +1 AC, +1 Reflex, etc

Round 6. Map updated. Vethran.

breaking out the theme music.

Feeling a little safer under the protection of his illusion, Vethran again lifts his feet from the ground and maneuvers around the smithy to spot the giant standing across the road. With a snap of his fingers and a few arcane phrases, the air around the creature shimmers and solidifies...

Fly to T39 (elevation 5'), cast resilient sphere (caster level 10) on Giant 2. DC 22 Reflex or be trapped in a nigh-invulnerable sphere of force. Also, Heathy, the theme song is excellent.

Vethran flies round the building, feeling confident. He is surprised to find a very large bear glaring at him, preparing to attack.

You all lost track of that bear after the wall went up and then back down. Lucky it wasn't closer... Vethran, please let me know what you are doing given the changed circumstances - you've had a move action, still have your standard action to reassess.

Map updated.

My destination square remains the same (T39) but, since I have movement left over, I'd like to spend that movement going vertical and end up at 20' elevation. My standard action is also unchanged. I want to bubble the giant. Fly check if needed: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (15) + 17 = 32.

By way of the message link with Illes, Vethran hurriedly mutters "Bear behind the smithy!"

Giant 2 save: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (18) + 6 = 24

DAMN THESE UNNATURALLY AGILE GIANTS! I thought that targeting Reflex would be the way to go, but I'll just have to try targeting Fortitude instead...

Maybe the big hairy surprise in the ally put Vethran off his stroke, but somehow the giant dodges Vethran's spell. It barks a command at the bear* and then moves to engage Illes in combat, while Hudak is gifted with the view of an angry giant swinging a club and bearing down on him at speed. Meanwhile, the bear tries to hook Vethran down with a clawed paw.

*Giant:

Giant 2 engages Illes, Giant 3 charges Hudak.
Giant 2: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (15) + 16 = 31 to hit, damage 2d8 + 12 ⇒ (8, 5) + 12 = 25
Giant 3: 1d20 + 16 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 16 + 1 = 24 to hit, damage 2d8 + 12 ⇒ (4, 2) + 12 = 18

The bear will try to jump to snag Veth down. That will requires (1) a successful DC 20 Acrobatics check to jump high enough to reach him. The bear has 10' space and 5' reach, so it needs to jump another 5' to reach Veth at his 20' altitude. Per the book, that's DC 20, as the bear can make a 15' run-up. The bear has a Acrobatics +5 bonus, based on 13 DEX and +4 for a movement rate greater than 30'. (2) It then needs to hit with a claw, as per normal, which grants it a free grapple check. (3) It then needs to succeed at the grapple, though I'm imposing a -5 penalty on that as it's tricky to do in midair. If all that succeeds, the bear has Vethran in its grip and he's back at ground level. So, here we go!
Acrobatics check 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 v DC 20
Attack roll with claw 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (6) + 13 = 19, damage 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8. Displacement 1d100 ⇒ 1 - high misses
Grapple 1d20 + 19 - 5 ⇒ (3) + 19 - 5 = 17 v Veth's CMD

Map updated.

Sefayll.

So, as the Acrobatics check failed, I'm guessing nothing happens?

Correct.

An oversized club slams into the ground next to Illes causing one of his twins to flicker and vanish in the cloud of dust rising from the impact.

Illes or Image? Illes = 1: 1d6 ⇒ 4
4 images remaining.

"Help Illes! I got this pig f*#~er right where I want him!!!"

Can I tell which giant is the one I confused?

The one not in combat.