GM 7thGate's Way of the Wicked (Inactive)

Game Master 7thGate

I'll just ready to attack anyone who tries to come up the stairs.

Ok Dav, you're up. You and Than just got Jasper's chain shirt off.

Dav hands the chain shirt to Than, and backs up. I'm not sure we will be attacked soon... I better save my story until it has maximum impact.
I have moved on Roll20.

Grumblejack comes walking into the room from the cell block, dragging the guard's body by a leg with one hand and holding the guard's longsword in the other. He has cut her forearms off to take her body with him, and is tearing off bites of her leg as he walks.

"Mmmm. This one is delicious."

Ok, so it sounds like Elaine and Than are going to be putting on the chain shirts, while Aella and Dav stand ready if the guards come. If anyone wants to do something different, let me know, otherwise I'll just go ahead and advance everything until the armor is on or guards show up.

Elaine and Than struggle to quickly don the shirts while Dav and Aella stand guard. Grumblejack takes this opportunity to eat more of the guard he's carrying. Just after Elaine and Than get the shirts over their heads, you hear the sound of a door opening in the hall, followed immediately by three guards purposefully striding through the door into the room at the bottom of the stairs. They are all fully dressed in chain shirts, and have their leather clubs and heavy steel shields out and ready for use.

The male guard on the left is obviously extremely drunk.

"Ha! Alright pretty lady, time to get ya back in your cell! Don' make me hafta use this!"

He points his club kind of vaguely in Aella's direction...or maybe Elaine's. It keeps wobbling around, so its kind of hard to tell.

Due to delayed actions and everything, we're more or less moved into a one side followed by the other type of dynamic, so everyone go ahead and post your action when ready. Than and Elaine have both hastily donned the shirts; there are some buckles and things you'll need to fasten to finish donning it properly, which will take 5 more round when you have the time. In the meanwhile, they give a +3 bonus to your armor class (which will turn into +4 when you have time to finish getting them on).

Aella will ready an action to Punishing Kick back down the stairs any guard who approaches her, hopefully creating a slapstick chain reaction reminiscent of bowling pins.

Dav takes a deep breath. After a moment to recall the precise word choices and dry delivery which gave the sagas their unique nature, he begins speaking in a clear, compelling voice.
"You all will recall the storm on Isle Freys-Sanctum, which stopped the battle. All of the swordsmen were soaked by torrential rain, which did not improve their mood one bit.
Then, an especially thick and dark cloud rolled in, and Jothar and his brother Arnkel (who were fighting on the same side) suddenly felt heavy blows on their helmets and shoulders. Fearing that they had each turned on the other, they spun around face-to-face. But it was only fist-sized hail pummeling them.
Gradually, the fighting men began to use their shields to protect themselves more from the falling weather than their fellow warriors. They started to gather in the lee of outcrops, or wherever they could find shelter."
Bardic Performance(Oratory): Inspire Courage. 9/14 rounds remaining.

Elaine raises her eyebrow at the guard's comment, then picks up the bomb at her feet and charges it. She throws it at the guards, aiming for the one in the middle.

Attack: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 1 = 7
Damage: 1d6 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 4 + 1 = 8

Where does the explosive go?: 1d8 ⇒ 7

Elaine throws the bomb, but doesn't throw it quite low enough to clear the edge of the ceiling at the bottom of the stairs. The bomb detonates prematurely, wasting much of its power but splashing fiery shrapnel down on both of the guards.

Reflex Save: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (17) - 2 = 15
Reflex Save: 1d20 ⇒ 20

Both guards manage to get their shields up to protect their faces, each of them getting a few cuts and minor burns on their arms and legs.

Grumblejack perks up and stops eating his guard, attention drawn by the explosion. He moves over to the base of the stairs and hefts the stolen longsword, ready to stab the first person that comes up the stairs.

Than will delay his action, waiting to see what Grumblejack decides to do.

The closest guard who isn't drunk reacts first, moving up to strike at Aella with his club, only to be snap-kicked just before reaching her...

Aella's Kick: 1d20 + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 + 1 + 1 + 2 = 14 (strength, high ground, bardic performance, flanking)
Damage: 1d6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 2 + 1 = 4

The guard gets his shield up to block the kick, but at the same time gets chopped from behind by Grumblejack...

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 26
Damage: 1d8 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

...who gets in a solid stab to the back, felling the guard, who tumbles down the stairs.

The drunk guard meanders up the stairs, and gets chopped by Grumblejack trying to move next to Aella.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 6 + 1 = 14
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 1 = 10

The guard manages to deflect the chop with his shield, and gets in range of Aella, swinging at her with his club.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 2 = 3
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3

His swing doesn't even get close, getting stuck on the far wall. The other guard moves into position, but the extra time spent stepping over the corpse of the first guard takes enough attention away that he isn't able to attack this turn.

Than, you're up, then everyone else.

Er, I was going for my special ability (Punishing Kick) that let's me push people back 5 feet or prone, but no worries.

I believe that works off an attack roll, where if you hit you push them back in addition to damage, right? If the attack roll misses (which was the case here, the guards have AC 17), they're not pushed.

Of course, if they get KOed on stairs, they're likely to fall down the stairs too, which happened with Grumblejack's attack.

Ah, ok. I was misled by it saying Attack.

Than, you're still up if you want to do something.

I'll bother him again...

How would my negative energy channeling work with people being on the stairs or a floor under?

You'll hit anyone you have line of effect to. If there is an entire wall or floor in the way, it will be blocked, but if you can see them at all, you'll hit them. You can see everyone from your current position, so would have to get at least 30 feet away from someone in your group to avoid hitting someone on your side, or get far enough down the stairs to block your line of sight to Dav.

Everyone else is up after Than, so once he posts you can all go ahead with your next actions.

Because there is really no good action to take at all...

Than will delay his action.

Ok everyone, you're all up when ready.

Grumblejack will smash down on the guard between him and Aella.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 6 + 2 + 1 = 18
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 1 = 12

Grumblejack slices off the head of the remaining sober guard, who tumbles lifeless down the stairs.

Aella will attack the guard directly in front of her.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 2 = 21
Damage: 1d6 + 2 ⇒ (4) + 2 = 6

Aella strikes the last guard standing, landing a solid blow, but he stays on his feet.

Elaine will keep an eye out for any new guards or surprises from the downstairs area.

Dav moves closer to the fighting, now that he sees Grumblejack in the way of the danger. He continues his epic tale:
'During the earlier fighting there was Thorgeir, a fighter who had come with Jothar, a fisherman by his normal trade. There was also Thorfinn, a less-than-perceptive enemy of Jothar and Arnkel's. Thorgeir was in the habit of carrying a leather canteen on his back containing fermented whey, to drink during those long fishing trips. In the melee, Thorfinn sprang out upon him and dealt him a blow with an axe between his shoulders. The axe went into something and liquid burst out. Thorgeir fell as if he was dead. Thorfinn let go his axe, feeling quite sure that no bandages would be needed, and the flow of the fighting drew him away. Thorfinn dismissed the loss of his axe, since he had other weapons with him.'
Continuing Bardic Performance (Oratory):Inspire Courage. 8/14 rounds remaining.

I'm going to assume Than doesn't want to do anything again this round, since not a lot has changed and he's had time to jump in if desired.

The last remaining guard's eyes seem to briefly focus out of pain.

"Unrgg! You hit like a mule's kick woman, how'd a lil thing like you hit that hard?"

He takes an awkward swipe at Aella with his club.

Attack: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 4

The guard's attack is in the right direction this time, but Aella has little trouble dodging the clumsy swing.

"Heh heh, she smash you good. I like the smashing."

Grumblejack swings down, his long arms giving him the reach to stab the guard from a floor above.

Attack: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (17) + 6 + 1 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 3 + 1 = 12

Grumblejack continues his streak of destruction, impaling the guard through the back and nearly cleaving him in half.

"Heh, I smash good too. Bet he wishes he had some mead on his back like Thorgeir."

All the guards are down. Everyone can take actions as they chose, feel free to move yourself on roll20. The stairs are difficult terrain, so each square there counts as double movement.

Good call. The only thing Than could do is get in the way at this point.

"I like him," Aella will glance at Than, "can we keep him?"

To clarify my previous statement, you're still in combat rounds, so you can all take 1 round's worth of stuff when you're ready. I realized reading back at my post that it sounds like I was saying you're out of combat, but more things are still coming.

Elaine gets another bomb out of the box, and holds onto it, just in case anything interesting shows up at the bottom of the stairs. She looks and listens carefully to try and perceive anything in the room downstairs.

Perception: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17

"Should we go down now? Since we have our long-armed friend here to help us."

Elaine doesn't hear or see anything; everything is quiet from the bottom of the stairs.

"No point staying here."

Aella will move down the stairs, pausing at the door to listen for anyone on the other side.

Perception: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 9

Definitely no one there!

Ha! Nope, Aella hears nooone.

Aella hears noone at the door, and peaking around the edge can see a vast entry hallway. A long, bare room stretches to a reinforced set of double doors at the far end of the hall. The hall is dimly light by two pairs of torches. The two doors along the left hand side of the hall are closed, while the one door on the right hand side of the hall is ajar. Through the open door, Aella can see a huge wooden table and some benches.

"All clear up ahead, for now. Let's keep moving."

Elaine follows Aella down the stairs, holding the bomb carefully.

Grumblejack walks over to the top of the stairs and starts to follow Aella and Elaine, taking extra care to step on one of the deceased guards on his way down.

I think we're still waiting on Than and Dav. Go ahead and post movement/anything else you want to do this round. If I don't hear from you by tomorrow, I'll just assume that you both follow Aella.

Dav continues his tale of adventure while moving down the stairs.
'We return now to the terrible storm which stopped the fighting. Arnkel and Jothar, along with many of the other warriors, had to abandon the fighting to gain sheleter. The sun set around this time as well, so that the Northmen had trouble navigating. The temperature plummeted, and the winds and soaking precipitation sucked the anger from everyone involved.
Jothar and Arnkel looked around for shelter from the very fast winds. They found a small overhang, which provided protection from the worst of the wind. As they approached, they saw that a fire had been lit with the dry wood, which had been stacked there by earlier settlers of the sacred island.'
Continuing Bardic Performance: (Oratory): Inspire Courage. 7/14 rounds remaining.

I probably should be trying to conserve Bardic Performance rounds... Oh well ;-P

True, will probably need those for the rest of the fighting in the escaping, assuming you all do more fighting.