DM Bigrin's Second Darkness (Inactive)

Game Master bigrin42

"One down, one to go!" Lefrik says, the burn marks from the blades at least cauterizing the wounds they caused. And he directs his attention on the remaining one.

To hit #1: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (20) + 11 = 31
Dmg: 1d12 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
To hit #2 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14
Dmg: 1d12 + 13 ⇒ (5) + 13 = 18

Possible Crit on hit #1, to confirm: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (18) + 11 = 29
Dmg:1d12 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22
1d12 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16

Dang it, I keep forgetting to account for my ring in the damage!

Calla fires two more arrows toward the remaining brimorak, being careful not to hit Lefrik.

She curses as an excess of caution sends the arrows flying far wide of its intended target, even as the big Ulfen nearly decapitates the thing.

Mwk longbow: 1d20 + 9 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 9 - 2 + 1 = 16
Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (6, 5) = 11
Mwk longbow(rapid shot): 1d20 + 9 - 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 9 - 2 + 1 = 10
Damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7

Kel watches in fascination as Lefrik cleanly bisects the Brimorak.

delay to see if Brimorak is chopped in twain

In a great cleaving motion, Lefrik decapitated the remaining brimorak. The flaming sword went out as it landed on the path next to the severed head. Cleanup took only a minute, with Lefrik and Bruendor dragging the bodies off the path and into the brush. Anklebiter did his part by carrying the head and brushing dirt over the bloodstains.

Like the babau, the brimoraks had a variety of loot, likely from both their own stashes and from fallen enemies. Each had a masterwork sword, and a pouch of coins. There was also a couple of wands, some oils and potions, and a pair of scrolls.

Lefrik broke into a grin as his second foe's head fell from its shoulders, "I wish father was here to see that."

"Nice," Calla whistles as she looks for her two arrows, though one turns out to have hit a tree and shattered.

"Shall we set up another ambush?" We have no specific goal, right? Just killing demons and drow for the moment?

1d2 ⇒ 2
1d2 ⇒ 1

"Good stuff here," Anklebiter notes. "Good wands, too. Tasty scrolls... Shame it's Enchantment and Necromancy, but who knows. Ooh, swords is good quality! Anklebiter can put magic in them if we need them, or we just sell. Good potions, too."

Kel applies healing to the party with a strange, excited look on her face.

"Shall we set up another ambush?"

"Yes!" Kel replies so quickly she surprises even herself. After a moment of composure, she continues in a reserved tone with downcast eyes "I mean, Yes, yes we should, we're driving evil away from this land and it needs us." Kel heals the barbarian's wounds and wonders what she'll do when someone strikes him like he did the demon. Desna, give me strength to support these noble hearts, I fear we'll tempt even death itself

CLW wand, Lefrik: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
CLW wand, Lefrik: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 1 = 9
CLW wand, Lefrik: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2
CLW wand, Lefrik: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Thank you as always, Kelendra," The barbarian seems just short of completely healed, and is fine with that.

"We can probably swing another ambush," Anklebiter says. "Lots of magic left, me."

"Then let's hide again and play pop the demon once more when we can."

Bodies clear, you hunker down in ambush once more. The wait seems interminable, but the rewards can be high.

"Hsst!"

The sound came from behind you. You turned to see an elven scout, blood running from a small cut in his cheek. Once she had your attention, she beckoned you to come further from the road. Away from immediate danger of detection by any patrols, she began to talk.

"We need your help. Eviana requests your aid in rescuing an assault force pinned down by the drow. It was led by Kaerishniel, who managed to send an animal messenger to Eviana describing their dire situation and asking for aid. Eviana understands that you have had issues with Kaerishiel in the past, but asks that you set those issues aside and move to aid the assault force with utmost haste."

"They are pinned down in a ruined tower that the drow are preparing to destroy. We need you to make your way to the tower, a quarter mile to the southeast of here, and rescue them."

"I wouldn't leave anyone to die in such a fashion," He assures the scout elf. Then he looks to the others, "Kelendra, she's a bit wounded. It might slow her down on her next assignment. Can we spare a wand charge for her healing?"

Looking at the loot sheet you have 126 charges of CLW in 3 wands. I think you could spare 1

"Let's go. We need to hurry. I'll summon help when we're close, to draw away Drow attention. Elf lady, you join us?"

Calla sighs in irritation.

"The look on his face when we save him will be worth it, even if we weren't inclined to kill drow and demons," she snarks.

Kel applies the requested healing and urges the elf to continue with them, "Please, help guide us with stealth, the big man and myself make more noise than the dwarf, if you can believe such a thing."

The elven scout looked pained, and grimaced as he moved to show you the wound covered by his left hand. The quarrel stuck out of his stomach, just below his navel, and though the wound didn't bleed nearly as much as the cut on his face, it was clearly causing him much pain.

"I...can get you to the area of the tower and you can approach from there. "

*********************

As you approach the area, the scout pointed to a fifty-foot tall tower. Circling around the tower, you can see Kaerishiel huddled in the ruins of a smaller tower, with a quartet of raiders. They were pinned under heavy fire coming from the upper floor of the standing tower. From the distance, you can see a pair of drow trying to move what appeared to be a large ballista to get a good angle on the trapped elves.

Here's the map

"I'll drop some opposition right down on their heads," Anklebiter promises.

The little Wizard immediately hunkers down and starts to mutter a summoning chant, his eyes trained on the Drow on top of the tower. As his voice reaches into strange distances, the Goblin bares his teeth in an expression that is definitely not a smile.

Anklebiter starts summoning 1d3 ⇒ 2 small lightning elementals.

where are we on the map?

Kel can drop a moonlight bridge to get Lefrik and Brue to the top of the tower if wanted? Otherwise she'll go with Hypnotic Pattern or spray of shooting stars

You aren't You are still in reconnaissance mode. Tell me where you are approaching from once you get your plans solid.

"We need to eliminate the advantage their position gives. If Kelendra can drop some of us on top along with Anklebitter's elementals of them, we can buy Kaerishiel the relief he needs," Lefrik nods when he hears of the plans of the others

Don't forget the tower is 50' tall. While normally PF doesn't take into account 3D distances, it will come into play here.

Can we tell how many drow are on the tower top?

"We have the boots, but that's likely only good enough for one of us. If Kelendra can get us most of the way up, we could possibly climb the rest of the way..." Calla muses. "But we need to decide quickly. If we don't think that'll work, we'll have to go up through the bottom of the tower or find some other way to free them. Perhaps a cloud of fog to cover?"

Lefrik can Climb well -- especially if we use expeditious retreat on him -- though the rest of us will be a bit more risky.

we could go with two bridges, first one to the top of the middle tower, then another one to the top of the 50' tower. A 2-1 ratio on slope should be the maximum, so from 60 feet away we could rise 30 feet with our 70 foot long bridge (3600 + 900 = 4500) and have 3 feet to spare at the end. The two bridge approach would also put Kel on the top of the middle tower and in range for her shooting stars that might be a good way to disable the ballista.

Or one bridge to a mid-level window on the 50' tower? We don't know what is inside the tower so that might be bad.

Or move forward and shooting star to the top of the tower and hopefully set the ballista on fire, then obscuring mist for the trapped elves while the air elementals attack the drow?

You can see somewhere between 4 and 10 drow. It is hard to get a clear picture of their numbers as they keep popping up to fire at the trapped elves, then ducking back behind the parapet.

The only "tower" is the one the drow are on. The other 2 are ruins, less than 10' of walls and a pile of rubble. There are no windows on the 50' tower.

I will be moving everything along tomorrow or Monday morning, so tell me where to place you on the map and what your plan is.

Any idea which direction you want to approach from? Or shall I just walk you down the road?

Kel leads the party off the road and around the base of the middle tower. When Anklebiter starts chanting she moves forward from cover and creates a bridge of moonlight that stretches part way up the tower.

Bridge of Moonlight, 10 feet wide from K5/L4 to Q14, it rises 30 feet and acts as a wall of force to allow Kaerishel and crew to run underneath and get cover from the archers

I roll much better when everyone else is rolling for me. :(

"Drink your antitoxins before we head in, if you've got them," Bruendor says, pulling a flask from his belt. "Their bolts are most likely coated in that sleep poison, and that could stymie our assault even before it begins." Bruendor quaffs his potion and follows Kel under the cover of her moonlight bridge.

Consuming that gives me a +5 alchemical bonus to resist poison for 1 hour.

Calla nods at Bruendor's suggestion, drinking her anti-toxin. She casts invisibility on herself, Bruendor and Lefrik and begins heading up the bridge, activating her ring for a second time.

I wasn't sure if Kel and AB were going to come up, but I can only do invisibility four times total. I figure it made the most sense to use on the three of us.

You approach the tower from the west, staying in the bushes and scrub as much as possible. On the top of the main tower, the drow are so focused on Kaerishiel and the elven scouts, that they do not see your approach. Everyone takes their anti-toxins, and the three close combatants go invisible before Kelendra takes a deep breath and steps out from cover to place her moonlight bridge. Calla, Bruendor, and Lefrik run up the bridge as Kelendra shouts for Kaerishiel and the elves to make their way under the cover of the bridge.

Charging up the bridge, Calla can see that even at the top of the moonlight bridge, she and the others still have a twenty foot climb straight up before they can get to the top of the tower where the drow are.

"All the way up," Calla whispers. "When we get to the top, wait 12 seconds and then we attack. Try to find whatever one looks most dangerous..."

Can we take 10 to get up to the top?

DC20 climb check, and no you cannot take 10. I would say trying to climb while not being noticed (invisible or not) and arrows flying all about is the very definition of being in danger and distracted.

Calla organized the others as they got to the top of the rainbow bridge. Looking up at the top, she could see that the walls were mostly smooth, with a few cracks and cornices that could be used to climb with. Definitely a more daunting task than it looked from the ground.

Above, the drow continued to fire at the trapped elves, though a pair of them spotted Kelendra and fired at her. The oracle ducked behind the waist-high ruins beside her, hearing the quarrels tick off the stone.

Yeah, combat is pretty much the on-off switch for taking 10.

Invisibly, Bruendor climbed hand-over-hand, swinging from one flagstone to the next.

Climb: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (16) + 11 = 27

Lefrik drinks an anti toxin, and climbs, a bit to the side of the others, thinking grouping up too much might make them too easy a target.

Climb: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (16) + 10 = 26

Calla swears sulfurously -- in her head -- as she works her way up the tower, calloused fingers seeking any crevice they can find as she pulls herself up.

Stupid bloody drow, all should be stabbed in the eyes. And damn Kaerishiel for getting himself in this situation in the first place. And Blondie and the goblin and Beardless and Stargirl for getting me mixed up in this mess. And Father, for everything....

I figured since we were invisible it was worth a shot...

Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (15) + 4 = 19

Calla tried to climb the tower, she even made a pretty good effort, however she just wasn't able to find the handholds that Lefrik and Bruendor did. The other two scampered up the tower like Anklebiter's monkey might have. Bruendor had the slippers, of course, which made climbing easy. Lefrik just did it the hard way, nimble fingers grasping handholds and strong muscles hauling the big man upwards.

The elves gave up any thought of attacking, and ran for the cover of the moonlight bridge. Two didn't move, either dead or just unconscious from the drow sleeping poison.

Bruendor and Lefrik made it to the top of the tower to see four drow on the tower's top, two firing at the elves and Kelendra, and two more manhandling the large ballista. An open trap door led into the tower itself, and it was likely that more drow were inside.

waiting on Anklebiter and Kel. sorry, I messed up the mid-round post.

Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12
Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (17) + 4 = 21

Damn it, Calla thinks, struggling to get purchase before she finally is able to make her way up the wall.

Sorry, now I'm jumping ahead a little...

I was spending the first round casting Summon monster III. With that out of the wayyy...

Anklebiter finishes his chant, and two small lightning elementals appear out of thin air. With a howl, the little thunderclouds shoot up the tower and hurl themselves upon the Drow archers!

While the elementals are still in transit, Anklebiter drops into a different chant. At the culmination, the little Goblin points his finger at open air east of the ballista. A bead of flame flies forth and erupts, fire washing over the siege weapon!

Anklebiter casts Fireball, centered at R 20. Hopefully this way, it won't hit anyone in the party. Damage of 6d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 5, 5, 2, 2) = 22 fire to anything in the fireball's radius. Reflex save DC 16 for half.

I can't see a map when I hit the link, so please feel free to dictate the elementals' targets for me. ^^;
Elemental #1 attacks a Drow: Slam 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 16 for 1d4 ⇒ 1 damage plus 1d3 ⇒ 1 electricity.
Elemental #2 attacks a Drow: Slam 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13 for 1d4 ⇒ 4 damage plus 1d3 ⇒ 1 electricity.

Kel stays on the bridge and returns fire at the drow targeting her.

light crossbow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

When he can, Lefrik will unstrap his great axe and set upon the four drow working in conjunction with Bruendor knowing the dwarf's own deft blades will likely have a better chance at vitals while they turn on him. Not that he plans on announcing himself

Since I doubt he can move and get multiple attacks (Full action for that) we'll go the great cleave route

To hit target #1 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (13) + 12 = 25
If that hits... 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
And he can strike at the next guy
To hit #2 if first hits 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (10) + 12 = 22
Dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
If he can get a third and hit #2, to hit is 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32
Dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Doubt he can get all four even with great cleave, but IF he can try and #3 hit... then 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29
Dmg: 1d12 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 14

None of the above to hits includes any flanking bonus if any so adjust accordingly as I don't see the map.

Yeah, the map is linking me to the game thread.

Anklebiter, I need an SR roll every time you cast against drow, please.

Calla finally managed to join Bruendor and Lefrik at the top, and watched as Anklebiter's spell exploded in the air. Following that, the lightning elementals zoomed to the top of the tower, but were unable to harm the drow there. One of the elementals died in the counterattack, while Calla turned a well-aimed blow at her face. On the ground, two drow ran out of the tower, headed towards Kelendra and Anklebiter.

Ah! I did indeed misunderstand. THanks for the clarification and bumping up my actions to the right round.

*Munches popcorn* Good luck, guys *munch*

Spell penetration 1d20 + 6 + 3 ⇒ (18) + 6 + 3 = 27

Anklebiter angrily bares his teeth and fires off a quick spell, targeting the Drow closest to reaching Kelendra. Four darts of force fly unerringly and strike the Dark Elf in the chest and face...!

Magic missile for 4d4 + 4 ⇒ (2, 3, 4, 2) + 4 = 15 force damage.

Meanwhile, the sole remaining lightning elemental attacks...!

Slam 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24 for 1d4 + 1d3 ⇒ (4) + (2) = 6 damage.

Calla should still be invisible, I think and definitely NOT in melee at this point (Q-15 makes sense for her)...

Calla keeps her distance from the drow, pulling out her morningstar as she calls on her goddess for power once more, readying herself to dispel any offensive spells aimed at her companions.

Swift action to activate protection judgment (+2 to AC)
Move action to pull out her morningstar
Standard action to ready to counterspell the first offensive spell she recognizes.

Spellcraft (to ID spell as it's being cast): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (7) + 11 = 18
Spellcraft (to ID spell as it's being cast): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21
Spellcraft (to ID spell as it's being cast): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (19) + 11 = 30
Counterspell: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23

Kel fires on the same drow struck by Anklebiter's missile, then moves up the bridge to the mid point as she calls down to Kaerishniel. "Are you injured? Are those remaining in the tower still alive?"

light crossbow: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (12) + 7 = 19
damage: 1d8 ⇒ 4

Lefrik stepped from the crenelations and with a powerful blow cut down two drow in one swing. Bruendor stepped around the barbarian, driving his rapier into the neck of the drow solder still trying to manhandle the ballista into position. The blade, angled just so, slipped under the elf's jaw and into his brain, dropping him into the next world immediately. The other drow there took a hit from the lightning elemental, and failed to hurt Bruendor as he flailed about.

On the ground, Kelendra's crossbow quarrel skipped off the stone ruins before she ran up the bridge to relative safety. Anklebiter's eyes grew wide as he noticed the drow's gaze fix on him. He mumbled a spell as the drow began to charge. The magical missiles blasted into the dark elf, but still it came on. The drow's attack missed as Anklebiter ducked under a low branch, but it called out something in its foul language. You didn't need to be fluent in drow dialects to know it was a very nasty threat. Under the bridge, Kaerishiel and the remaining two scouts converged on the lone drow soldier, who managed to fend off most of their attacks, but was sorely outnumbered and soon wounded.

Unaware of the drama below, Calla grits her teeth and steps forward, suddenly appearing as she swings her morningstar at the nearest drow.

5-ft. step to R-16; she's invisible so he gets no Dex, but I think that still probably misses.
Morningstar: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 5 + 2 = 11
Damage: 1d8 ⇒ 3

Anklebiter casts defensively: 1d20 + 7 + 3 ⇒ (11) + 7 + 3 = 21

Anklebiter mutters a quick incantation while bobbing and weaving, trying to keep clear of the Drow's blade while he speaks the Words of Power and makes the appropriate gestures. From one moment to another, instead of one Goblin, the Drow finds himself facing off against seven of them -- seven Goblins that drop into a roll and tumble away from him!

Anklebiter casts Mirror Image for 1d4 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6 images and uses Acrobatics to get clear: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (16) + 5 = 21. Anklebiter moves to M 9.

Up on the tower, the lightning elemental attacks, its body crackling and sparking as it slams into the Drow it already struck before.

Lightning elemental slam attack: 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 2 = 17 (+2 from Metal Mastery) for 1d4 + 1d3 ⇒ (4) + (2) = 6 damage.