DM Delmoth's Strange Aeons (Inactive)

Game Master Delmoth

Mara moved up behind Dervak, uttered a prayer, and touched his shoulder. "Better late than never!"

Casting Protection from Energy (Acid). Absorbs 96 acid damage).

Kat brushes off the tiny bit of acid that managed to burn her and advances to the front, stabbing right towards the center of the dragon's mass.

Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, haste, studied combat, power attack): 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 1 + 4 - 2 ⇒ (17) + 11 + 2 + 1 + 4 - 2 = 33
Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 + 6 = 18

Move action to move, standard to attack

EDIT: Thanks for the reminder about images

Images (4 is it cause high is always good for me): 1d4 ⇒ 3

Dervak realizes he needs to stop the dragon from 5' stepping and attacking Kat.
He steps up and rains down blows on the dragon with the Furious Falchion.
Using Fortune on the iterative. Not using any more Destined Strike until the images are gone.

Attack, Defensively, Haste: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (7) + 13 = 20
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (2, 1) + 22 = 25

Hasted Attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (1, 1) + 22 = 24

Iterative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 21
Iterative, Fortune: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (1, 2) + 22 = 25

Iterative Confirm?: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28
Crit Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (4, 4) + 22 = 30

I am not sure what to roll for Mirror Image because I don't know if the first hit on AC20 pops one or not. GM, can you handle that? 2 images left at the start of my turn.

AC 39 now with Haste and Fighting Defensively.

Theophilus screams!
Not again! the pain! Oh, the humanity!

The White Rabbit promptly kicks him.

Theo looks down at the acid-washed rabbit. He grins.

The Witch then grants Kat Fortune Hex. He steps 5' closer to the stairs. He Cackles. The White Rabbit does hide in the stairwell!

@Kat and Dervak I wasn't expecting you to roll for mirror image. So no worries.

I was also under the impression that Mara had already cast either resist acid or protection from acid on Dervak. So Mara if you have a different action go ahead.

3 is real: 1d3 ⇒ 3
3 is real: 1d3 ⇒ 2

Kat stabs an illusion but Dervak cuts hard scales. The magic warbled reality for a second and Dervaks second slice meets no resistance as it dispels another image. 1 image remains

Sorry for the brain fart.

Mara concentrated, sending a stream of twinkling stardust to surround the dragon.

Caster level vs spell resistance: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10 I think not. Presumably the dragon has SR.

Using Stardust spirit ability. If it succeeds, the dragon has a -3 penalty to attack rolls and sight based perception checks for 4 rounds, and can't benefit from concealment or any invisibility effects.

Mara's motes of star-like light manifest and immediately wink out of existence as they draw near the dragon. Yes SR and not nearly enough.

Bite: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (17) + 22 = 39
Claw 1: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (7) + 21 = 28
Claw 2: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (7) + 21 = 28
Wing 1: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23
Wing 2: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (4) + 19 = 23
Tail: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (9) + 19 = 28

Bite damage: 2d6 + 13 ⇒ (3, 1) + 13 = 17

Seeing its acidic breath having no effect the dragon switches tactics and tries to maul Dervak but manages only one nip.

Round 4
Theo
Nightmare Dragon
Mara <-----------
Kat <-----------
Dervak <-----------

Round 5
Theo <-----------
Nightmare Dragon
Mara
Kat
Dervak

Mara remembered her scroll of false life; she took it out and read it, artificially boosting her life essence.

Scroll of False Life: 1d10 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

@Mara, is your Stardust thing limited to once per day per target? If not, hitting the dragon with a -3 to its attacks would let me stop fighting defensively. Maybe next round?

@Dervak Stardust isn’t a hex so you can use it on the same target as many times as you want. I have a heavens shaman too so I’m familiar with it

Kat rushes to unleash a barrage of her own attacks, but they are too unwieldy to accomplish much. Well, at least maybe one of em got the last image?

Primary Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, studied combat, haste, power attack): 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (1) + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 17
Primary Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (5) + 6 + 4 + 6 = 21

Haste Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, studied combat, haste, power attack): 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (5) + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 21
Haste Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 4 + 6 = 17

Secondary Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, studied combat, haste, power attack): 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (3) + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 19
Secondary Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 4 + 6 = 18

Dervak continues the attack, staying on his guard.
Using Fortune on the iterative, still fighting defensively.

Attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14
Using Certain Strike 1/rage power to reroll that.
Attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (18) + 13 = 31
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (2, 3) + 22 = 27

Confirm?: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
Crit Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (3, 3) + 22 = 28

Hasted Attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (9) + 13 = 22
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (4, 4) + 22 = 30

Iterative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13
Fortune: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (12) + 8 = 20
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (2, 2) + 22 = 26

Theophilus spits on his hands. He begins to rub them together, as he hops excitedly from foot to foot.

He gives the dragon a Misfortune Hex!
Will DC 20

He Cackles.

Kat thrusts her spear through the last image removing it and Dervak was fated to strike the dragon so it happens once, cutting through the scales on its neck and leaving a deep wound.

Will vs Misfortune: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (14) + 14 = 28

Bite: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (20) + 22 = 42
Bite, confirm: 1d20 + 22 ⇒ (20) + 22 = 42
Claw 1: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (3) + 21 = 24
Claw 2: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (6) + 21 = 27
Wing 1: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (16) + 19 = 35
Wing 2: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (6) + 19 = 25
Tail: 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (10) + 19 = 29

Bite plus critical: 2d6 + 13 + 2d6 + 13 ⇒ (3, 4) + 13 + (5, 4) + 13 = 42

The dragon bites Dervak again, hard. It bites through his breastplate, crushing it slightly and leaving deep teeth marks up and down Dervak's torso.

Round 5
Theo
Nightmare Dragon
Mara <-----------
Kat <-----------
Dervak <-----------

Round 6
Theo <-----------
Nightmare Dragon
Mara
Kat
Dervak

Mara can use Stardust twice per day. I probably have to roll well on the caster level check to get past the spell resistance.

Mara was considering trying covering the dragon in stardust again, when Dervak got badly bit. She changed her mind, instead moving up (while drawing her axe) and healing the warrior to keep him on his feet.

Healing Hex (Dervak): 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (2, 4) + 8 = 14 The dice are not my friend this battle. :(

Will probably try Stardust again next round.

Use Accursed Hex to try fishing a Misfortune; or, Healing Hex on Dervak?

I would like the healing, please.

I’ll use fortune on my primary

Kat curses quite loudly for several moments as she sees Dervak take a big hit. She then continues stabbing furiously at the dragon with much more success this time.

Primary Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, studied combat, haste, power attack): 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 28
Primary Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 4 + 6 = 18
Fortune Second Roll: 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 18

Haste Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, studied combat, haste, power attack): 1d20 + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (13) + 11 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 29
Secondary Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 4 + 6 = 23

Secondary Attack with Adamantine Longspear (heroism, studied combat, haste, power attack): 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 6 + 2 + 4 + 1 - 2 = 13
Secondary Damage (studied combat, power attack): 1d8 + 6 + 4 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 + 4 + 6 = 17

Theophilus winks at Dervak.
Healing Hex: 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (3, 7) + 8 = 18

He Cackles.

@Theo, I think Healing Hex is touch range for you, so if you heal Dervak you have to move to him and therefore no Cackle. That would make this the last round of Fortune, I believe.

Every savage fibre of the Dervak that was yearns to cut loose. To forget about things like "dodging" and just hack the dragon to pieces or die trying.

But Dervak is no longer a savage. And he fears dying in the Dreamlands more than dying in the real world, for he dreads what form his madness might take. Could the Dark Whisper come back?

He will not take that chance. But neither will he fall back and leave Kat or Mara to be savaged by the dragon. He stands his ground and trusts in his defenses.

Using both Fortune and Destined Strike #2 on the primary attack, and Destined Strike #3 on the Haste attack. Want to get at least two hits here and with Fighting Defensively I think the iterative is unlikely to hit even with Fortune.

Attack, Defensively, Destined Strike 2 of 3: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (15) + 17 = 32
Fortune: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (15) + 17 = 32
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (2, 3) + 22 = 27

Hasted Attack, Destined Strike 3 of 3: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (12) + 17 = 29
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (4, 1) + 22 = 27

Iterative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (1, 3) + 22 = 26

Confirm?: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (18) + 8 = 26
Crit Damage: 2d4 + 22 ⇒ (4, 1) + 22 = 27

AC is still 39.

Kat slowly gets into the flow of the fight reading the dragon's moves anticipating it and then she strikes. Twice she stabs the large shadowy creature in the chest leaving two wounds that slowly leak ichor. Dervak follows up with several measured slashes. The dragon roars and goes to bite Dervak again but he thrust his falchion up into its mouth at just the right moment. The beast falls dead on the spot.

Got it to 1 HP and then crit it for a kill.

Theo pats Dervak and Kat on the shoulders.
Not that hard!

He winks at Mara.

"GORUM BE PLEASED!!" shouts Dervak as he bangs the Furious Falchion against his gashed armor.

Yes, others in the prison might hear, but after a battle like that, one has to acknowledge the God of War.

Mara breathed a sigh of relief, "Well done! We did it!"

She took out her wand and healed Dervak.

Wand of CLW, 2 charges: 2d8 + 2 ⇒ (7, 3) + 2 = 12

I won't spend too many rounds yet. I know Dervak needs more healing.

Theo snaps to attention. He takes out the wand of cure moderate wounds to tap Dervak.
cmw: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (1, 8) + 5 = 14

Pulling on his trouser leg, the White Rabbit looks up pleadingly.
cmw: 2d8 + 5 ⇒ (5, 6) + 5 = 16

"Yes, we did it," says Dervak. "I know there would have been no victory without Kat's spear, your blessings of Sarenrae, and the magic of Theophilus. Well fought."

Dervak is now at 75/76 after the healing from Mara and Theo.

Kat lets out a long breath, as if she had been holding it all this time. ”Bloody hell, glad that’s over. Never thought I could say I’ve killed a dragon, eh?”

"Bards will sing our tales! Any victory is possible through the will of Gorum," replies Dervak. "The trick is knowing if He is on your side or not in any given battle."

The warrior takes some time to catch his breath. Fatigued 10 rounds.

Mara told her friends, "There's a complicated mechanism on the far side of the torture room — no idea what it's for.

"Shall we go and find the Yellow King, before anyone comes to investigate the noise here?"

Mara doesn't know yet that Kat has an idea of the Yellow King's location.

Kat lowers her voice. ”I got a whiff of him over by the southern door.”

Dervak nods. "Let's go."
He is fine continuing on while his Fatigue wears off. It will probably take Kat a minute to deal with locks or traps.

Tis was the night before Christmas, and all through the house; not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse?

Eight barred, windowless metal doors stand in this grim and silent hall. A shiver runs down your spine as you enter the room. After a moment you notice that there is no noise at all, not from your footsteps not from talking. Kat leads the party to the cell of their quarry. After disbarring the door and unlocking the cell with one of the keys you found on the moon-beast you find the disheveled and abused Yellow King. He smiles with a bruised face and then winces from the pain, he wobbles upwards and goes in for a hug, tears dripping down his face,

Theophilus takes a step back. He hands the yellow king a handkerchief.
Not really a hugger...

He smiles.

Mara comforted the Yellow King with healing energy.

Healing Hex (Yellow King): 2d8 + 8 ⇒ (2, 2) + 8 = 12

She motioned for everyone to retreat from the silent hallway to a place where they could speak to each other.

Dervak looks around and awkwardly gives the man a hug.

Then he puts his hand on the man's shoulder to lead him into a place free of Silence. However, the closest such room they know of is the torture chamber.

Going back there is not going to be great for his mind. Well, maybe seeing the dragon dead and the iron maidens destroyed will make him feel better.

The western wall of the room is dominated by a large apparatus with conical brass horns, fluted pipes piercing the ceiling, and oily tubes snaking from the apparatus to each of the torture devices. An odd, low wailing emanates from the machine like a faraway scream.

"Kat, can you make the machine stop making that sound?"

Arcana
Dervak: 1d20 + 3 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 + 3 = 7
Kat: 1d20 + 10 + 3 + 1d6 ⇒ (14) + 10 + 3 + (3) = 30
Theo: 1d20 + 9 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 9 + 3 = 17

After examining the device Kat determine that the contraption is designed to capture the cries of people tortured to death here and recycle them in an endless cacophony of death-screams. The pipes output these screams a floor above here. The device could be made to be non-functional. DC 25 disable device, you cannot take 20 on this check.

After an awkward hug and healing the Yellow King's personality does a 180. He seems bright and cheery, with just a hint of mania in his eyes. "I am effusively appreciative for the most audacious emancipation my plenipotentiary cohorts! Perhaps we can find egress before the diaphanous and mawkish incarcerator come looking for their mythopoetic prisoner."

Kat focuses on the task of breaking down the device methodically instead of listening to the Yellow King go on in his ridiculous faux-intellectual nonsense. People like that, rich idiots playing themselves off as smart, always pissed her off more than usual. People like that get lauded and celebrated and most people would just assume that she, who is actually quick and intelligent, gets written off as a violent idiot. She'll have her chance to ask what she wants, but she knows she needs to let the others go first.

Disable Device (heroism): 1d20 + 22 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 22 + 2 = 40

Dervak gives a vague smile as the words go over his head. "Hey, you sound smart. You should talk to Theophilus."

Mara tried to avoid getting drawn into conversation with the Yellow King for the time being. The way he talked sometimes made her head hurt. She stood guard while Kat worked on the horrible device. When the task was completed she said, "Well done Kat!

"Do you think there's any possibility of repairing the mechanism to open the sliding door, in a reasonable amount of time?"

She talked to everyone, "Do you think we should try to free the other prisoners in this jail? I seems like a terrible place to leave people. On the other hand, I don't know how we'd get them out without repairing the sliding door mechanism. And then there's the question of where to take them once they're out. I wonder if there are any settlements close to where we are?

"Then we have to figure out how to get the Yellow King back to the dream world, and go and see the Mad Prophet."

The mechanism is not repairable in a short amount of time. Essentially craft checks with penalties due to a lack of materials, so the repair time is measured in weeks.

The shantak is sleeping at the landing paddock. Otherwise you'd have to find a moon-beast settlement.

Theophilus and the White Rabbit actually ignore the Yellow King. The do not invite him to play in their reindeer games!

The last time we met him, Theophilus slapped him in the face and then gave him a muffin. I wonder why he is mad at him now?

Dervak has nothing in particular against this harmless-seeming dream-splinter of Lowls, and so decides to try to hold up his end of a conversation.

"Yes, okay... so 'egress' is going out? You want to leave? Right, we can go out of here. It's a bit tricky. We broke the prison. Or the dragon broke it really. And now the sliding block doesn't slide. But we'll figure it out with, uh, illuminosity. And pulchritude. We will abjure the dilemma."

The warrior gives up and goes to talk to the party.
"I could try to just smash through the wall or the sliding block, but that would take a long time and make a lot of noise.
Theophilus can bring two others with his magic.
Mara can step through walls with her magic.
And we can change who is called with the Bracelet of Friends."
There is one charm left, and the description says the designation on a charm can be changed.
"If we change the last charm to summon me, then Theophilus can get out of here with Kat and the Yellow King, then he can summon me, and Mara can walk through the wall. But let's have Mara go through first to make sure her walking through walls thing works right. If it doesn't, we try a different plan."

"I don't mind trying to free other prisoners first. It's the right thing to do, and we might find something useful."

Theophilus seems to be a bit paranoid around the Yellow King. He continually checks his pockets. The slightest look from him disturbs the Mad Hatter. Eventually, Theo will gladly depart using the plan that Dervak suggests.
Ready?

The White Rabbit seems to be giggling--as usual!

Alternatively whoever is left behind from DDoor could wake up. I'd like Rowan to be there for the meeting with the Mad Prophet to give his character a send off. So someone will need to help him perform the Dreamlands ritual.

Hmmm... Theophilus is our usual Ritual caster, and he can't be the one left behind from D-Door.
Can Kat do the ritual? With Heroism, Heightened Awareness, and Inspiration her Knowledge (Arcana) is +14+1d6, and Planes is +20+1d6. The DC is 25. So I think she can pull it off but it's not a sure thing.

Kat's actually better at it than Theo. Don't let Theo know, he likes to feel useful.

Theophilus seems to be staring at the camera; his face reddening...

The White Rabbit is crying and in apparent pain from the hysterical laughing!

Mara replied, "If we want to free the other prisoners, we should do that first. From what Kat was saying about the scream mechanism, there should be cells on the floor above us. Do you want to go there next?"

Do the stairs in this room lead up?

Kat's actually better at it than Theo.

Dervak does not believe that to be possible.

"Happy to go, Mara. Do you think the Yellow King would be safer with us or here by himself?"

The stairs in the silent hallway go up, the ones in the torture chamber go down.