"Aye, that we do," Daimargh agrees with Davor with a sharp smile.
Daimargh turns to look at the fortress, still quite a ways away. Opening his hand, he focuses on forming his mind-blade, if only for the familiar comfort of feeling it in his palm. As he assumes a defensive stance and falls in behind the Golem.
Keeping pace with the walking fortress, a faint glimmer surrounds Daimargh, a visible manifestation of his defenses.
The second Craven was clear of the antimagic field, he dissolved into a cloud of roiling red mist and flame.
The flame soon is extinguished, and Craven reappears with a loud crack as the air rushes back together. He coughs and mentions, "Flesh isn't always so useful," before turning to keep up with but behind the colossus, feeling the positive energy wash over him.
Moves along with the others, keeping low and head down.
The party mostly abandons the Golem after the first volley, regrouping about 30 feet behind it and using it's footprints for cover, limited though it may be.
Except Sgt. Celeste. She rides it out on the golem like the hard core daughter of a giant she is. The fire comes in waves at the 900 foot mark, 800, and every 100' mark thereafter. Between the barrages huge stones come barreling in and, starting at the 400ish foot mark spells and arrows join them. The golem's twin heavy ballistae on it's shoulders fire back. If a full attack force was with you they would be cut down like grass before a wildfire. You, being few, are generally ignored, though that doesn't mean you aren't in danger.
"Your" golem holds up pretty well. You can see the magic coursing along the golem's wounds and sealing them. Mounts of dirt and stone are pulled up from the earth and lifted into place where bits are knocked off making the golem look like a half-elemental. The other golem isn't so lucky. At some point it's enginseer must have been killed. The magic repairing it slowly fades and it finally breaks at about 400 feet. It's fall shakes the ground and signals a renewed barrage of artillery and small arms fire at your golem. This new attack isn't pre-sighted though and things start missing the golem by wider margins... which means they come significantly closer to Hitting you!
The golem's death throes sent chunks of itself flying everywhere in a last-ditch attempt to damage the fortress per its last command. Unfortunately, one such chunk the size of a small stable landed a few paces behind the Adept, and the resultant explosion threw him several dozen feet forward to land prone before rolling and sliding in a manner that would have been comical if it weren't for the pain. Stands, somehow still alive.
As they got to the 600 Mark, Onyx upped up with her arm cannon. She took her time, targeting a group of mages who where firing magic at the second Golem. They seemed to be doing damage to it by slamming bits of the ground into it.
Her 1st shot hit a single mage, way out from 500' He seemed a little shocked, he would have been, she had just thumped him hard and stolen some of his magic. She could not keep it long so used at ounce to make a area affect hit on the hole group of mages. Sucking a little more magic back. She hit them again and then again, taking her time and not risking being seen, moving out each time to make the shot. Only a few where still standing when they spotted her. They where now a lot closer to the keep, and well with in range. Suddenly the ground below her lifted and flipped her back, she only just had time to jump out the way, as earth crashed down around her. She was slammed into the ground but managed to start to get up, just in time to see the other Golem fall as well. The shock wave from that flung her back on top of the earth that had just sort to crush her. She lay there a moment stunned then rolled, got up and moved back to the others seeking healing.
Using stolen SP at once to power more shots
Mana Siphon (blast type) NL + -2SP [Fort Save DC18] [D4's]
Your destructive blast saps the magic energy from your target, funneling it to you. A mana drain blast does nonlethal damage using d4 dice instead of d6 and your target must make a Fortitude save or lose 1 spell point. This loss increases by one die size (1d2, 1d3, 1d4, 1d6, etc.) for every five caster levels. You gain an equal number of temporary spell points that last for one round per caster level, though you cannot receive more spell points than your target loses. These temporary spell points do not stack with spell points from other targets, other instances of this ability, or any other source and expire after 1 round per caster level.
Explosive Orb (blast shape) [15'r] [DC18]
You may spend a spell point to make a destructive blast as a burst effect centered anywhere within range. This burst has up to a 10 ft radius, + 5 ft per 5 caster levels. Affected creatures are allowed a Reflex saving throw for half damage.
A large pile of rubble and debris that was once a part of the mighty golem starts to move about as a bloody pair of hands emerges from underneath. They pry apart the massive chunks of steel and stone to reveal an enraged Celeste, eyes wide with intensity and zeal. She cracks a wicked smile as the blood drips from her open wounds.
She looks about, seemingly admiring the carnage as it unfolds about her. Her gaze seeks out the nearest structure. Would she be able to find cover? Or is she looking to do something more daring than merely hiding?
As they neared the battlements, Craven stayed close to the others. Perhaps he had grown fond of them, perhaps he fought for more than a full belly... or perhaps he was just showing off. In any case, it was a strange moment of self-sacrifice when Craven spotted the barrel of alchemist's fire coming directly for the group (you know, the one that the blasters failed to spot or intercept), and carried himself forward on the wind's current to throw a stone-solid fist into the projectile at a safe distance. The barrel split apart and much of the contents spurt into a cone back towards the fort, but enough of it soaked Craven's fur as well. He fell to the earth in a flaming heap.
Once he had extinguished the flames, he picked himself up and moved back towards the others, ready for any healing that the dwarf or ophiduan might dole out.
While moving up the battlefield behind the Golem and the others, Davor saves his ammunition for the more accurate and visceral fighting. He and Daimargh also refrain from healing so as not to be focused fire, and to save their power until the real fighting began like the wall invasion.
At the 400' mark, when the other Golem was breaking up, the resurgence of enemy fire at the failing Golem to end it for good knock a piece of the Golem into Davor's chest which made him fly of his feet and land on his back, knocking the air out of him and placed a nice bruise on his chest. If it wasn't for his dodging ability, it would have broke something for sure. He pushes the rock of his chest, slowly gets up, collects any gear that may have gone flying, and gingerly catches up with the group while dusting himself off, and struggles to let one word out with a heavy and raspy breath, "OWE!"
==TELPATHY==
"Brother Daimargh, we should heal the group before aggressively scaling the wall?"
Bustik plodded along with implacable resolve, striding through the war-torn terrain with nary a detour. When the golem beside their's was destroyed, though, that brought forth a bit of true emotion. "Gods damn it," he muttered before his body was awash with earth and stone. Even his great defenses were not enough to let his leave unscathed, and as he pulled himself up from his would-be grave, those near him could see the wounds in his body, blood pouring forth from multiple gashes. "This will not stop me from mission," he thought, forgetting about the mind-link he had with his companions.
Onyx got to the others, she looked battered, there was white fluid seeping from a number of wounds.
::"This minds speech is useful, stops the other-side knowing what we are up-to, is there any healing left?"::
She asks, bring up some kind of electrical defiance from the shots coming in.
Rebuff (blast shape)
You may use your destructive blast to shield a target [self] within range from ranged weapons, area effects, or even other destructive blasts for 1 round, giving them the benefits of evasion, a +2 cover bonus to AC, and a +1 cover bonus to their Reflex saves. Multiply these bonuses by 2 at 5th caster level.
Self = +4 cover bonus to AC +2 Ref saves
Daimargh kept an eye on the falling artillery even as he monitored the health of the team through the collective on the next step of their approach. The trick would be efficiently doling out their magic. Davor could generate a lot more healing than he could, and wasting that resource would be tragic, if not lethal, mistake. Balancing 'when' the team was hurt enough to merit healing- that was the knife's edge they were walking on.
From nowhere, a ball of light took an arcing path out of the sky, then streaked towards Daimargh. Before it reached him, countless more appeared, then followed. The first one, and the next few dozen bounced harmlessly off the Shield spell Onyx had cast earlier. After an unnerving few seconds though, the Shield sputtered out, and left him unprotected. Gritting his teeth and steeling himself, Daimargh took the missiles in the chest, one after another, before dropping to a knee at the final one, hurt again, and angrier still, but still breathing.
::Aye, that we should, Davor. Now seems like the right time:: he offered back in through the mindlink, his growing frustration apparent.
As bruise as he might be, Davor helps Daimargh to his feet and nods his head.
==The Collective==
[::]Ok, three of the most injured soldiers group on me within 40', one of the four being me, no less, no more, and Daimargh will distribute once again. We can not linger for long nor group up for long.[::]
Davor quickly taps into the Sphere of Life to send his flood of healing light forward once more.
Davor then loads is bow and looks for a target that is focusing on the group.
Looks for a targets
She takes aim,
[ooc]Arm Cannon RTA TH
DMG Non NL
[ooc]Arm Cannon RTA TH
DMG Non NL
[ooc]Arm Cannon RTA TH
DMG Non NL
bludgeoning +DC18 Will save or lose 2SP per hit, max 2DP back.
Temp HP
Stolen SP used to power Temp HP
Mana Siphon (blast type) NL + -2SP [Fort Save DC18] [D4's]
Invigorating Blast (blast type) [Temp HP] [D4's]
Daimargh feels the magic from Davor come over the collective, and absorbs the full measure of one of the pulses, riding the familiar wave from injured to healthy as he'd done so many times before. Noting the magnitude of some of the others injuries, he pushes more healing towards them, keeping less for himself than he might have otherwise.
Standing up a little straighter, he pushes the rest of the energy out to the others. Realizing Bustik is hurt more than the others, he manifests a healing power of his own, bringing forth the restorative energy in himself, Davor, and Bustik. Before the unneeded vitality dissipates from Davor though, he pulls it back and spreads it over Bustik and himself.
As the healing hit her the flow of white blood stops and her synthetic skin sealed itself. She nods at Daimargh then view scene of the Golem moving into attack the keep walls. She hold out her hand and her arm cannon reforms into a long thin sword made of red energy. She stand and protects the others, swotting aside shots as they come in, with a flick of her wrist as best she can. The rounds zip and fiz as her defected rounds hit the ground around them.
Over the mind link comes her cold mechanical like mind voice.
::"Thank you for the healing, So whats the plan now?"::
Real HP replace temp HP, from group healing.
Shield wand once again 10 rounds.
Form Force Blade + Rebuff (blast shape)
+4 cover bonus to AC, and a +2 cover bonus to Reflex saves.
Range Touch AC25
Meeting with the others, Bustik was relieved to feel his wounds slowly healing back up. Truly the tag team of healing was to be a major asset for this team. 'We should head to a break in the fort's wall and proceed as planned,' Bustik sent over their link. 'We still have all members present and accounted for, and the chapel still needs to be taken.'
<<Agreed>>
The golem takes two more quick (for it) steps and throws a punch that shatters an entire watch tower. The enemy fire pours down on it, but it's natural resistance to damage, the constant healing, and the antimagic field make for a potent defence. Thankfully, nooone is paying you much attention, yet.
Davor waits for the warrior types to start climbing and if he can clear some threats with a range weapon, he will.
He will follow the front liners (melee-types) ...
Unfortunately, climbing wasn't exactly one of Bustik's best abilities.
Onyx look up as the watch tower was smashed, behind them the troops would be massing to charge in, and they, the forlorn hope had to clear the way, get to thire target, take it, hold it and hope the ones behind made it to them before they all got killed. Just another day at the front then.
She was not really in a claiming mode.
So changing her force sword back to her arm cannon pointed it at where she wanted to be on the wall. Targeting any she could take mana form. She then let rip a number of electrical blasts to clear a space. Quickly pointing her weapon at the floor and with another blast bolted her self in lighting up. Arching up to the wall and the area she just cleared. She lands and looks at the few dead body's then says to the others.
::"You coming?, its a nice day for a walk"::
and holding the spot for the others to land on, she opened up with her arm Cannon.
So in a round she will seek to Mana Siphon to get temp SP, use them to power blast shots to clear area, once she has she will Mana Siphon and use temp SP to get to the stop of the wall keeping a place clear so the others can jump safely and get a foot hold.
to land where she wanted at the end Energy leap.
She the opens up again on the defenders, Mana Siphon then blast each round. She has rapid fire so gets three shots a round.
RTA arm canon,
DMG Nl [+ Fort Save DC18 or lose 2 mana]
[Use stolen SP for area affect after 1st hit.]
If she gets some.
Next hit is Area 30' -TSP1 Electrical SP0 [1Temp SP used]
Area 30, DMG
Explosive Orb (blast shape) [15'r]
You may spend a spell point to make a destructive blast as a burst effect centered anywhere within range. This burst has up to a 10 ft radius, + 5 ft per 5 caster levels. Affected creatures are allowed a Reflex saving throw for half damage.
Electric Blast (blast type)[+3DMG] Fort Save DC18 [DC21 -3ac*]
You may change the damage type of your destructive blast to electricity. Targets wearing metal armor or primarily comprised of metal suffer a -3 penalty to AC and to saving throws against an electric blast. An electric blast can ignite combustibles, and melt metals with a low melting point, such as lead, gold, copper, silver, or bronze.
Repeats to clear area for us to land.
Then Energy Leap (blast shape) [Range 640']
You may spend a spell point to move in a straight line up to your destructive blast’s range as a standard action. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity and you may pass through occupied spaces. Any creatures whose space you pass through are affected by your destructive blast, with a Reflex save for half damage. If you attempt to pass through an object and fail to break through it, you appear in the nearest unoccupied space and are staggered for one round. This blast shape cannot be combined with the Extreme Range advanced talent.
The Adept will warp the giant up to the wall.
Suddenly finding himself in a different location with no movement in his part was a disconcerting feeling for the half-giant. Making himself steady, he turned and gave a nod of thanks to the cloaked man before moving to the nearest enemy soldier.
Those of you on top of the wall: you notice immediately that these men are equipped differently than the shock troops you've probably met before. They are dressed in Galbar's famous plate mail and wield steel tower shields. They are armed with spears and short swords for close work. They are hardly scattered, but stand together in a bristling wall of steel and death.
'Electricity will not be as effective as usual against these foes,' Bustik sent over the mental link.
She says "Clever!, now lets see how resilient that shielding is."
She takes arm at the center of the shield wall, her weapon changes color from blue to orange then fires a blast of dark energy into the center of the all, it seems to do little but stun a few, but then her arm cannon changes again this time to red. The next to blasts are like hammer blows. Hitting the wall of mean like waves of pour force. Cracking and braking items and men alike.
"Its up now"
She says to the other with her.
Blast one
[Mana Siphon +1Sp spend Explosive Orb Area 30' DC for 18 on all living targets, or lose Mana SP]
RTA on area NL DMG, [Fort Save DC18 1/2] [Fort Save DC18 not to lose mana]
With stolen Mana SP2 Wish for force land DMG
RTA on area 30'
DMG Objects 30'
DMG Subjects 30' [Fort Save DC18 1/2]
RTA on area 30'
DMG Objects 30'
DMG Subjects 30' [Fort Save DC18 1/2]
-:Force Lance (blast type) [Fort Save DC18]
You may change the damage type of your destructive blast to Force.
Ignore 1/2 CL Hardness [subjects], full damage to objects [Ignores hardness].
Uses d4 dice instead of d6 for Damage on none objects [subjects].
[Custom blast 6+4-2]
"Up we go!" declares a 12-foot-tall Craven, with small bolts of lightning pealing from the soles of his feet. He instead scrambles aimlessly against the wall, going nowhere fast.
Once the pure melee types are on top and there is room, Davor will make the climb. I already rolled and made the difficulty check.
From above ...
Climb DC:20: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
She calls out to the others.
::"could do with some help up here"::
::Just waiting for a ride is all!::
Davor slides back down with the rope like a pole once he realizes that he is not making much ground and it is too dangerous. As he slides down the rope, he thankful he is wearing gloves. Once he is back with Daimargh ...
::"I am waiting for a ride up as well since all of the available scaling the wall methods pose a significant danger to your healers who make an effective team. We will probably drain our powers of healing just for the two of us to reach the top either from falling and/or becoming a pin cushion. We will fix this issue later when we can."::
::Well, I can send you up one at a time unless someone up top finds a rope or ladder. If one of you has a rope, I will send you up first. Traveling instantaneously through space is not my specialty.::
::"That's ok, it will be a lot safer. Eventually, I will fix that but for now, I need a lift."::
::Well, choose amongst yourselves whom I will warp next, and it shall be done.::
::"Please take Daimargh first, then come and get me when possible."::
The fight at the wall almost immediately goes poorly. The troops hold fast, though clearly shaken by the team's assault, and only part of the party makes it up. One squad from the nearest seige engine abandons their balista and engages you!
The melee types engage Gigantos and all land their strikes (for 31 damage) The crossbows aim high and rain blots down on Onyx and the Adept. One manages to scratch Onyx (for 1) while the Adept escapes harm.
A squad of spears joins with the main line approaching your position and extends it to confront your attack and, more critically, prevent your advance.
Deeper within the base there is a mighty roar of some kind of beast. The ground thuds with its footsteps. The golem sees it and immediately switches its shoulder mounted ballistas to firing down range. Those on the golem or the wall can see a twisted monstrosity of flesh that matches the Golem's brawn pound for pound. Massive chains hang from it and massive metal plates are fused to it's flesh. It lifts an arm and returns fire with what seems to be a rotating series of Thudders! Eight Thudder rounds Slam into the golem in rapid succession, knocking significant portions of its stone armor free!
People on the ground, it is now literally raining boulders! Take bludgeoning damage, reflex save DC 12 for half!
As those on the bottom sort out a rope for climbing, Daimargh senses pain coming from the top of the wall, and looks up to see what's happening.
The first thing he sees is the falling pieces of their golem. Dodging out of the way, only a few pieces of rock find him; compared to his previous injuries, it's barely anything.
Pulling a vial from his belt, he uncorks it and drains the contents. Feeling the familiar eerie sense that Infernal Healing always brings, he shakes off the pain, and continues to monitor the others in the collective.
"I never expected to be such a poor climber." Craven remarks, apparently surprised he could be bad at anything. Effortlessly dodging the falling rocks, he grabs a coiled rope from his bag, and drops it at the Adept's feet where it shrinks to its regular size. "For whoever you send up next. Meanwhile, I'll find my own path." He then dissolves into a tiger-striped cloud, which floats lazily upward.
She moves fast past the thudder blasts, seem to take no harm, a but into an bolt sent her way, she grazes her face but she pays it no heed. Switching targets to the new monstrosity, In the briefings and yes she did pay heed. A small fact had stuck in her mind, Damaged thudders exploded. The tech was temperamental and made of metal, that was the trouble with carry's around a super high powered weapon, that power if not kept in check could go boom if hit right. She needed to blast off its shielding then it the soft parts with a nice big shock blast.
::"That's nice of them, they brought us a big old bomb to set off. You best all find cover, if I can get this thing to go up, there is going to be one hell of a blast."::
She targets the super large thudder on the best, seeking its power unit.
She has a range of 640' so can I think shoot the thing.
She is targeting the thudder gun with a precise strike to punch a small hole in it and fry the inside.
[just for dramatic effect of we get a low fate roll, and my hope is the blast will clear us a root to our target.]
Blast 1 Force Blast
The two Electric Blasts to fry the thing and with luck set it off.
Blast 2 Electric Blast
Electric Blast (blast type)
Blast 3 Electric Blast
Electric Blast (blast type)
Skill used to target-
Three shots fired out in very fast succession, they streaked across the battle field.
Seeing the thing come on she takes time to aim at her target.
::Cover me while I take time to line up my shot at that thing"::
Round taken to line up shot.
::Next.:: the Adept transmits over the thought-link, handing the rope that was dropped to the next person he shunted to the top.
::Please affix the rope to something so that the next person can start climbing.::
Daimargh accepts the rope from Adept silently, and then waits for the teleport. While he waits, he manifests Vigor on himself, to prepare for whatever it is he finds when he arrives. As he feels the extra life come flowing into him, he notices the infernal rhythm inside him from the potion he'd consumed, and pushes the healing he doesn't need out to those who do.
When he arrives at the top, he immediately looks around for an anchor for the rope, and he ties it off and drops it down as needed for the others.
Celeste takes a deep breathe as she prepares to do something foolhardy.