Xerath attempts to tumble to S7
He then draws his scroll of Beast Shape 1.
Round 2, Init 6
"Hey, how do you like it when people stab you when you can't defend yourself?"
Appario swings at the evil dark being.
to hit;
damage;
Conceal (high is good)
Iterative attack if necessary, otherwise will move close to other baddie.
to hit;
damage.
Conceal (high is good)
***
Both of Appario's swings hit the pinned stalker, yet it continues struggling against Maddok's hold.
***
Yahirma steps to the doorway for a better view, concludes that she can do little to contribute without risking the group's advantage, and gets ready to swat anything that tries to strike Maddok as he wrestles with the stalker.
Derek activates the Morrowfall's powers once more, attempting to blind the unpinned stalker.
The stalker shrugs off the attempt, then steps into the space vacated by Xerath to eviscerate the grappling Maddok.
***
Only one of the stalker's many swings hits Maddok, dealing 31 damage to the grappling warrior .
***
The other stalker attempts to break free from Maddok's tight grip.
Despite another good attempt from the pinned stalker, Maddok manages to hold on.
***
By virtue of a very unlucky occurrence, the stalker happened to look directly at the Morrowfall as Derek spoke the words to activate it.
Instead of stepping forward to stab Maddok in the back, the now-blind stalker steps back in horror as it claws at its unseeing eyes.
***
The archons bombard the now blinded stalker with their rays of light.
Too busy wrestling with his struggling foe, Maddok doesn't even notice when Xerath abandons his vulnerable flank.
Wrapping his arms around the darkfolk's waist he begins to crush his opponent in a bearhug.
Two light rays hit the blinded stalker, while Maddok begins the task of crushing the air from the other stalker's lungs. There seems to be a good amount of fight left in it, though.
Xerath seems to care little about the fact that he left an opening for the stalker. Especially when Derek activates the Morrowfall and blinds it. He reads his scroll and drops it as the magic takes its effect. The golden bear on his belt belt glows bright for a second. His robe disappears and turns to dark fur, his move elongating to form a snout. He hunches over until he is on all fours, you can hear the bones snapping, taking on a new shape. Within a matter of seconds, the transformation is complete. The brawling mage is now a vicious black bear. He moves over to Q6 to prepare to maul the blinded stalker.
Round 3, Init 6
to hit;
damage;
(high is good)
Iterative attack if necessary, otherwise will move close to other baddie to aid Bearbath.
to hit;
damage;
Conceal (high is good)
Bizarre... no matter.
Yahirma steps into the room (Q7) to smack the pinned foe.
That was satisfying. It is little wonder that Maddok so enjoys beating things with a hammer.
Maddok angles his held opponent towards his allies' attacks.
Appario and Yahirma both get good hits in on the pinned stalker, and a laughing Livia joins in the fun as well.
Her laugh abruptly ends as her force ray passes the stalker to hit the wall above it. She crosses her arms angrily, pouting as she assumes a cross-legged position in the air.
***
Derek figures the fight has gone on long enough, and elects to help it finish sooner. He begins singing a battle hymn, praising the glories of Shoanti warriors, Abadaran merchants, infernally-challenged oracles, and bears.
***
The pinned stalker once more attempts to break free of Maddok's death-grip.
By now resigned to its inevitable fate, the stalker can't find the conviction to put all of its strength into the attempt.
***
The blinded stalker realizes his potential routes of escape are limited, and goes on the offensive instead.
One of the stalker's wild swings hits the bear, dealing 8 damage to it.
The poisonous smear on the stalker's blade somehow sticks to the bear's fur instead of going into the wound, allowing the bear to withstand its effect.
One archon drifts down to renew Xerath's blessing.
The other fires another pair of rays at the blinded stalker.
Maddok wrenches on the stalker's ribcage, applying more crushing force.
Both light rays hit the blinded stalker.
Maddok feels the pinned stalker going limp beneath him, having been crushed into unconsciousness.
The big Shoanti lets his limp opponent crumble to the ground.
"You can kill this one", he says up towards the pouting Livia.
The pout vanishes in an instant, replaced by a big smile, almost too wide for her tiny face. "Really?!"
The tiny imp draws her short sword as she flies down to the unconscious stalker, landing on top of it. She measures her prey, figuring out where to stick her sword for best effect.
It seems like the mage turned bear does not even feel the blow as he tears into him with fang and claw.
***
The bear rips into the blind stalker, tearing chunks of pale flesh from its body with every swipe of its claws and bite of its strong jaws.
***
Round 4
Appario sets to attack the next big evil: the vile and clearly soulless, devilbound menace in their midst who is most likely the biggest threat to the Gardeners.
Appario moves to R4 and attacks.
to hit;
damage.
conceal (high is good)
Look at Bluehood. I can bearly stand the sight of him.
Extortion continues the bear's work, slicing deep cuts through the stalker's armor and into its chest.
Derek continues singing, dances towards the stalker to stab it with Punchline just in tune with the sword's namesake in the song, then dances back to stand near his big brother, his closeness once again bolstering the force of his song for the benefit of the others.
The rapier punches through armor, leaving its mark behind on the stalker's flesh.
***
We shall have no more run away.
Yahirma moves to Q4 and strikes once at the blind stalker while flanking with a bear.
Yahirma's staff clobbers the blind stalker, who by now is looking fairly pathetic in its attempts at defending itself against attackers on all sides and of all shapes.
Livia sets the point of her sword above the unconscious stalker's heart, puts both hands on its hilt and pushes down with all her tiny might.
The stalker explodes in a ball of fire filling the room, while Livia laughs happily amidst the flames licking her tiny body, exclaiming joyfully. "I killed it! Did you see?!"
Yahirma's protective spell keeps the fire from injuring the majority of the group, but Derek takes 1 damage , and both archons suffer from the fire as well.
***
The blind stalker, knowing its doom is certain, tries to appeal to any who might show it mercy. It drops its swords and falls to its knees, then speaks in a halting Common.
"Please no kill me! We only guard here."
***
"Good job", Maddok offers Livia as he closes on the surviving stalker.
He kicks the blades aside and grabs the darkfolk by the throat.
"Show us the way to Sandor and we may spare your life."
Blinking away the afterimage of the explosion, Yahirma lowers her staff and speaks for the stalker's benefit. "You had best speak quickly and effectively. If the magics that protect me from your fiery viscera begin to wear thin before you have made a good case for your survival, you will find me less than merciful."
The stalker almost smiles in relief. "That is all you ask? Sandor lives past that door." It points towards the three doors on the opposite wall, perhaps mostly towards the central one, although as it can't see it's difficult to tell exactly which door it means.
Follow-up questions reveal the central door is indeed the right one.
Maddok roughly ties up the prisoner.
"Livia, if he moves or does anything suspicious - kill him. If he stays quiet we can turn him over to your church, they may find the information he has useful", Maddok says to Appario.
Maddok looks to the man-sized bear, "I assume you can still hear us in there?"
Once the spirits have bolstered themselves again, the big Shoanti looks to the others.
"Let us see what this Sandor has to say."
Bearath gives a congratulatory roar as Livia gets her first kill. He then stays silent while the group interrogates their prisoner. He hesitantly leaves the stalker alive as he follows everyone to the door.
***
The door opens easily. Behind it is a cross-shaped intersection, with a door at each compass direction. All of the doors feature a large blue-painted carving of a serpentine draconic head.
Once he gets close enough to look into this intersection, Appario realizes there are traps connected to the dragon-carvings.
***
Appario nods at Maddok, ready to go through the door.
"What could possibly go wrong?"
"Careful now, traps!" Appario looks carefully and sheathes Extortion.
Perception
"Let me handle this, like I did last time."
Appario will take out his tools (again), and pad forward to try to disarm the traps.
Stealth
Disable Device
Man, I'm glad the Church teaches us this stuff.
Appario discovers that the two side-doors are both false, and behind them he finds stone walls with glowing runes. Using his tools to destroy these runes, he figures the trap no longer functions.
However, once he moves to open the real door , he finds it locked.
"Let me try this one too."
Appario mentally shakes a fist at all the locked doors.
Disable Device
Appario won't open the door just yet, waiting 12 seconds to let everyone get ready and then stealthily opens it.
Stealth
***
Appario struggles to open the door, despite the fact that his attempt should have been good enough to open just about any lock he's ever seen.
Seeing his lock-picking friend's struggle, Derek attempts to inspire him to even greater feats with a few brief notes of song.
The bard's song is just enough to provide Appario with the inspiration to try his tools in the right way, causing the lock to spring open.
***
The door opens into an octagonal chamber paneled in fine mahogany. The ceiling is painted black and decorated in twinkling star-like patterns by hundreds of tiny shards of crystals glued to its surface. A circular trapdoor in the ceiling has been painted bone white.
Your knowledge of the sky leads you to realize that the crystal shards represent Golarion's constellations, while the trapdoor represents its moon.
Archways from the central chamber lead to an elegant bedchamber to the east, and a well-stocked library to the west.
Noone can be seen, yet a cultivated, calm voice speaks from directly in front of Appario.
"You are not without skill, yet your reward for coming this far will not please you. Surrender now, or face the consequences."
Everyone except Yahirma realize that the voice is an illusion; it doesn't actually come from where it appears.
***
"Too many doors here," Yahirma mutters to no one in particular. "It's a wonder that anyone can navigate this building for all its doors," she concludes with a hint of irony.
"We would offer you the same. Reveal yourself!", Maddok shouts.
"Hmmmm," the voice says, as if considering Maddok's offer. "I think not. You have shown little in the way of mercy this day. Even a helpless, bound prisoner.. Your offer rings hollow."
"So that was your magic..."
Maddok glares at the bear-mage behind him and continues.
"Then you would know we spared two others of your dark-men. Tell us about Eccardian and where he can be found and you may live."
"Then you would know we spared two others of your dark-men. Tell us about Eccardian and where he can be found and you may live."
"Uhm...what? Eccardian? You're still not thinking his sister is involved, are you?"
The bear-mage shakes his head. "Why do we spend so much time talking, when we could just make him tell what we want to know. I did not kill that last one." Xerath growls in frustration. If only he could speak in this state. He clearly needs more training in shape-shifting.
Maddok glances at Appario, "Let us hope she is not. She's none of my concern. I'm just after Eccardian."