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Woot site is back on!
I'll be fine for now, Guilford. Let's save the spell for a bigger battle. Shu, I can't move quite so freely in this darn snow, unfortunately. But surely a beast this big can't be that hard to hit!
With that, Exiel swings his sword at the creature!
Edit:
Edit: If it confirms, this promises to be the most underwhelming crit in my history...
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Badr finally regains his focus, and in a big way, lining up a perfect shot into the creature's thorax. As the creature rears up, yelping in agony, Exiel lunges forward to stab the creature in the neck. It does not go deep, as the creature rears back pretty far, but it is deep enough to pierce the creature's larynx, and the creature threshes about in the snow for a good few moments before finally succumbing to its wounds.
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The trail had gradually turned North-wards some distance before your battle with the giant sloth, and now leads in a North-Western direction, if any of you are able to identify as much or care.
What you DO care about, though, is that as you press on through the woods, the snowfall gets more and more severe - if nothing else, a likely indication that you are getting close to your goal!
Eventually, the trail all but disappears under a layer of snow crusted over with frozen sleet. Most of the tracks have disappeared too, though traces of what was once an extremely large set of footprints and an abundance of broken branches along a single direction continue to lead you in the right direction.
Eventually you come to what you think might be a clearing, though it is hard to tell. Heavy snow lines the trees to either side of you, bowing their branches until many touch the ground, becoming one with the wintry landscape. A snowstorm appears to have come upon the clearing - the snow here reaches depths of 2 to 4 feet, severely hindering movement [ooc](each square of movement costs 4 times as much - thrice as much if you have snow shoes on), and visibility (creatures within 5ft gain concealment, creatures beyond 5ft cannot be seen at all!).
Survival
Eldanar reckons something is odd about this snowstorm. Regular heavy snow would have ice pouring down on you from above. Alternatively if it was an open landscape, strong winds might whip up the snow and blow the snow near-horizontally in your face (as is happening here), yet to your knowledge you should be deep in the woods, where the trees would normally prevent winds of such strength from reaching you directly. Whatever is happening here, it certainly is NOT natural...
What ever is causing this phenomenen, however, it would not be wise to tarry, as you are all beginning to feel the onslaught of the relentless snow even through your magical protection against the elements!
How do you wish to proceed?
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Getting out a scroll and holding the wand of infernal healing ready in his other hand, Shu looks to the others. "If anything is source of cold weather, it probably in there. Anyone got extra alchemist fire they not plan on using? I have good aim." Shu then wades through the snow over to Mu. "Snow taller than me. You give me a ride?"
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Guilford will cast mage armor on himself, and retrieve two scrolls of burning hands, putting his cane in a loop on his belt.
Well, Shu let us know what you see. I have these scrolls for fighting frozen creatures, but I'll need to be near the front, so I don't burn you chaps. Perhaps I can stand behind Exiel, and I could either cast a spell on him or step forward to attack?
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Exiel: As you trudge forward through the snow, focusing on your divination, your spell suddenly picks up the presence of magic. At this point, if you immediately stop, the presence of magic is 60ft ahead of you. You will need to stop and concentrate longer to find out anything more useful though.
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In your second round, you detect that the there are 3 auras, all faint. In the third round, the auras coalesce into the shapes of what you think are 2 bottles and a cylindrical roll, all really tiny. Then the cylindrical roll unrolls into a sheet, and you sense a flux of energy as the magical aura of the sheet winks out, and is replaced by the silhouette of a dimunitive winged humanoid that rises into the air.
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You are unable to determine what was in the bottles, but the spell from the scroll was certainly an abjuration spell. From the silhouette, it appears to be just watching you for now, but it also appears to be ascending as well (it is now 20ft in the air, 50ft from you horizontally).
We'll be starting initiative rounds now.
Initiatives
Everyone except Mu goes before the unknown creature. For convenience, I will assume Exiel hisses a warning to the rest of the group.
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Exiel motions to the group to move back and whispers to Eldanar (who is the closest to him)
"Pull back, something's coming. It flies and uses magic, and seems to have detected us somehow. If this blizzard is unnatural, we should lure it out and then strike at it whilst we can see it! Pass the message along, but not so it can hear us!
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"Hmm.. too far away." Shu says to Exiel from Mu's back. "Creature probably escape before we get to it. If they cast spells, let us withdraw, make them come to us or waste magic."
Shu chuckles and casts true strike. To Exiel, he whispers in Tien. "I want to leave a gift, but I need you to direct me. Point it out."
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As the party shuffles around, Exiel and Shu note the creature moving closer to the party, tracing symbols in the air as it goes . There is another flux of energy, and 3 more tiny faint magical auras appear in a cluster.
Knowledge arcana, Exiel
Knowledge arcana, Shu
Exiel identifies it as transmutation magic.
The creature is now 25ft in the air, and 25ft away horizontally from Exiel.
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Guilford you can't target the creature with magic missile unless you have actual line of sight to it. You can't target a square with a targeted spell unless it's a ranged touch attack.
The wooden spear however is a different matter entirely. The creature fades from Shu's magically enhanced sight as As Shu sends the spear the spear hurtling into the blinding snow. You hear in the distance a sharp yelp, followed by a string of curses in a tongue foreign to you! Eldanar stands at the ready. Per his previous post, Exiel continues tracking the creature using detect magic.
Need actions from Guilford and Badr.
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Will assume Badr continues holding till he sees the creature, since he posted without declaring a new action.
Guilford, will let you declare 2 actions, one is for the previous round.
The flying creature ascends vertically, chanting and cursing as it goes. By tracking it at the edge of his detect magic cone, Exiel can determine that it is no still 25ft before him, but 55 ft up (almost out of range of detect magic), and needs to concentrate on the new area of the spell before he can start to identify strenth and school of auras again.
New round!