Quintus starts a spell, then holds it so that he can interrupt Khellek if the opposition wizard starts casting.
Rauno is so quick with his spell, it's as if he knew the very moment the bell would be rung, and before the sound had died, the haste spell was active. A heartbeat later, Rowena vaults over Trevor and Kelkzar, zips around the stone golems, and ends up in C16-D17 (80 feet total, just her new movement rate!!) Rowena reaches out for the wizard...
Assuming that beats the wizard's CMD...
and Fort save DC 19 or be stunned
Rowena hurls the wizard into golem 1.
Golem 1 is knocked back by the force of Rowena's makeshift weapon (the wizard), trips on its own feet, and crashes to the arena floor!!
As Rowena goes to grab the wizard, he isn't quite where he appears to be. However with her larger size her hand still ends of grabbing him and tossing him into the large golem. Somehow her through hits the golem perfectly knocking them both over.
DC 19
She punches the wizard on the way down, with most of her blow absorbed by some spell. Even though it doesn't land as effectively, it is still enough to roll his eyes into his head. She also kicks him, and again the spell absorbs most of the damage.
She also stomps on the golem, again mcuh of the blow is absorbed, but still manages a small crack in its stone.
Auric orders the golems to flank Rowena and they attack after each taking a step!
Golem #1 will stands first causing an AoO, takes a step to the north and swings at Rowena!
*Hit*
*Miss I think with Buffs*
*Hit*
*Hit*
*Hit*
Khellek lays on the ground doing nothing.
- Rauno, Rowena, Quintus, Khellek, Golems, Kelkzar, Trevor, Auric
AC 29 T 16 FF 25 CMD 29
AC 26 T 16 FF 22 CMD 26
AC 26 T 8 FF 26 CMD 33
"He...Oof!...he has...ooooh...some kind of ...euugh...injury reducing...Oof! ...spell on!" Rowena shouts as she's pummeled.
"Could I have one, too?" she jokes weakly as she spits out a tooth through the blood running from her broken nose.
HP: 28/118
AC: 26 (26T, 21FF)
F/R/W: +16/+16/+13
No, we decided the natural armour amulet was more important, and as it turns out, without it she'd be down by now.
Trevor winces as he sees the wizard pummelled by Rowena. That girl can throw a party! he thinks, but then he winces a lot more when Rowena gets pummelled by the golems.
He raises his fauchard and moves forward to make a single powerful cut at the nearest one while yelling: "Kelkzar, let's bring one down fast!"
Trevor lands a mighty blow, the Golem he hit has many cracks in it now.
Yes, but it doesn't matter in this case since it is immune to magic
Kelkzar charges and focuses his assault on the same golem as Trevor, hoping to bring it down and spare Rowena.
hp 155/155
AC 17/9/16
Kelkzar also lands a perfect blow killing off the stone golem.
Having Khellek open to attack on his flank, Auric lunges once at Rowena, knocking her unconscious and out of the match. One of the judges stabilizes her.
*Hit, critical confirmed[/ooc]
Auric then moves to protect Khellek, at the edge of both Kelkzar's and Justin's Reach.
- Rauno, Rowena, Quintus, Khellek, Golems, Kelkzar, Trevor, Auric
AC 29 T 16 FF 25 CMD 29
AC 26 T 16 FF 22 CMD 26
AC 26 T 8 FF 26 CMD 33
Quintus casts his held spell, and a column of fire blasts down onto Khellek and Auric.
DC 19
DC 19
Both Khellek and Auric take the full effect of Quintus's spell. Rauno advances so his fortell ability covers the front line.
Stoen Golem #1 attacks Kelkzar twice!
Auric orders golem #3 to attack Trevor the long way to avoid kelkzae, but the slow plodding construct cannot make it to him and attack the same round.
Kellek casts a spell defensively and appear 35' up in the air
DC 23
- Rauno, Rowena (Out), Quintus, Khellek, Golems, Kelkzar, Trevor, Auric
AC 29 T 16 FF 25 CMD 29
AC 26 T 16 FF 22 CMD 26
AC 26 T 8 FF 26 CMD 33
Kelkzar grunts, growls and turns his attacks against the golem that just bludgeoned him.
hp 121/155
AC 19/11/18
DR 2/-
Note that I got DR 2/- from finishing the first golem (due to deadly juggernaut) so 4 points from the golem do not go through.
Two hits takes down another golem. The crowd is going crazy with the third critical hit of the match already!
Auric proves to be harder to hit then large stone statues, and Kelkzar's last swing barely misses.
Trevor takes advantage of the golem's movement to hit him with his fauchard, but the golem is relentless and moves inside the range of the paladin's polearm. For a split second, Trevor hesitates, as Auric stands within range. He summons his first love to his aid and bellows: "Rafan, guide my wrath!!" as he cuts the air at Auric, ignoring the threatening golem.
hp 121/155
AC 19/11/18
DR 4/- (killing a 2nd golem raises my DR to 4/-)
Trevor begins pounding on Auric and as Kelkzar finishes off his golem, the two combine with a finishing blow on Auric.
Khellek sees his allies down and gives the signal for surrender.
The crowd erupts as The Empryreals are crowned this years winners. Auric and Rowena are brought back awake and Auric rushes over to congratulate you on winning, gracious in defeat.
Your team gets a cash payout of 20,000 gold and the ability to wear the championship belt for the next year (until the next games) and are automatically eligible to participate in them again if you so choose.
"Did we win?" Rowena groggily asks as she comes to. Hearing the crowd's shouts, she grins widely, forgetting, for the moment, her grief and rage.
Remind me never to get on their bad side....
Quintus tries to be as magnanimous in victory. "Well fought, you two." He looks around. "And where is Master Raknian? I would think he would have been here for the final bout."
The cleric adds an aside to Rowena. "Thanks to you--Khellek never had a chance to use his magic, and I don't know what he might have done to turn the tide."
After the match, you hear about Raknian and a dead girl appearing and walking around in his palace. This dead girl girl has been choked to death and an impression of his ring is around her neck. Disgraced and with no excuse to explain it away, Raknian bolted from town with his bodyguard.
Searching the cultist area below the unopened creepy chest and Rowena's sister are both missing.
Ekaym goes to the authorities and verifies it is his sister. Although devastated, he honors the agreement and lets you keep all your winnings, forgoing his share. He soon leaves Magnimar with his sister to return to their home to have her properly buried there.
After the games you head to Eligos's manor. When you ring the bell, Pollard does not come out to greet you like he has every other time you have come. You open the outer gate and head to the door. The door is unlocked and when opened, it reveals a ghastly scene.
Body parts of both Eligos and Pollard are everywhere. Pools of blood and splatters of blood are on the floors, walls, and ceilings. The killings were done to prevent either from being raised. Written in blood is a message for you, "He died helping you. I will kill you and anyone else that tries to help you. See you soon."
You search Eligos's house for any other clues and find hidden a bundle of notes and observations that catalog what Eligos has learned about the Age of Worms. There is a note from Eligos on top that reads, "My dear friend Allustan - What your adventurers stumbled into sickens my soul. Every new leaf I turn reveals and even darker secret. Here are my notes. You must take them to our one-time master, although I fear that even he may be ill-equipped for what writhes in all of our futures. Until then....." The note is unfinished.
Kelkzar shakes his head sadly at the scene at Eligos's manor. "So much accomplished, but too much failed. I worry we are now at war if we were not earlier. I am sorry to say this may not be the last time we face such tragedy. I hope Allustan is well."
With the discovery that Raknian has fled, Rowena makes certain that they obtain some object of the man's, to use as a focus for scrying.
At Eligos, Rowena shares Rauno's grief. "We have all suffered loss at the hands of this monster, and now he is in disgrace, while we are heroes. There's no more need for subtlety, or diplomacy. Now, we hunt him and put him down like the rabid dog he is."
She holds out the item she procured to Rauno. "Now you can use your art to find him and we can all use our arts to end him."
Trevor's word stay strangled in his throat, his head spinning from a maelstrom of emotions. He grips over Rauno's shoulder as the wizard slumps to the floor. With tears running down his sweat-stained cheeks, he turns to Rowena, imploring for her forgiveness.
Finally, he says: "We- We shouldn't have fought the last one. We shouldn't have. Eligo would still be alive..."
This time, he thinks, it's not fear, but confidence that cost him loved ones.
"We need to find him!!! We need to use all our energies to protect Allustan and find Raknian!" he croaks in a soar voice, knuckles white from anger.
Quintus rises from his examination of what's left of the bodies, tears in his eyes. "I'm sorry, Rauno...nothing I can do. They made sure of that." His bloody hands clench and unclench. "Not enough grace for Eligos or Pollard...not enough for Lahaka, and not enough for Marina. I thought I'd come so far, when I brought Jirin back. But what good is that, when I can't do more for all of you?" He wipes away a tear, leaving a crimson smear across his face.
Try as you might to scry on him, something is blocking your attempts on finding Raknian or his bodyguard that left with him.
"There has to be a way. A man like Raknian doesn't disappear. He might change his shape, but he couldn't disappear, even if he wanted to. He's a creature of his habits and comforts, and couldn't change if he wanted to. We need to tear apart his finances, his holdings. Somebody somewhere is buying the special wine he likes, hiring the special prostitutes he likes. If we can't track his physical self, we find somebody living his lifestyle, and there he'll be."
Do attempts to scry on Marina zombie also fail?
Correct that fails as well
"You're probably right about his habits, but how attached to Magnimar can he be? He was willing to loose the ulgurstasta on it--what would that thing have done before it was stopped? I'm afraid he's had a bolthole ready somewhere else for a long time, and the world is a big place."
The priest stops, struck by a thought. "Where is he from, anyway? We have to get the information to Allustan first, but after that we can go looking."
"Yes, let's go find Allustan immediately, then hunt Raknian down."
"Back to where it all began. It will be good to see Allustan at least. I think I am ready to go."
Before leaving Magnimar, Quintus is going to try to use some of his new fame to get real support for the people of Underbridge. After all, much of Raknian's wealth had come from preying on them, and it would be good to preemptively stop the next Raknian from doing the same.