GM Choon presents The Witchwar Legacy (Inactive)

Game Master Choon

"Sorry to do this, love," Johnne rasps, before closing his eyes and placing his fingertips to his temples. As he focuses, Rosina's misty form slowly fades from the casing of ice, and a faint grey mist forms around his own hands. Within seconds, the ice is empty.

He watches the geysers as Rosaline tries to free Toska, wishing there was more he could do to help.

I didn't buy a weapon. *cackles, then weeps*

I have some extra if you want to borrow one; a shortspear, a dagger and an adamantine maul : )

@Healing - Rosaline can spend a handful of lower level slots to help with the healing too, as soon as we are somewhat safe. But the wand helps - especially if something bad happens now : )

Because of rosaline's weapon she has Toska out relatively quickly. A few hacks here, a slice there, and the barbarian's raw strength does the rest. The ice crumbles around him. You are free, but many of you are wounded.

Once Toska is out and Rosina gone the-light-knows-where Rosaline finally had some time to take stock of the situation. The first thing she did was to move over to the safer area again, out of the water's reach should it return. She picks out a spare blanket from her pack and starts to dry off her gear and herself. While the Endure Elements protected her from the mundane cold having icicles hanging from her armour and hair seemed unnecessary (even if it may be the local fashion)!

"All right. Do we want to cut out the other three shapes?" she nods back out towards the icy field. "At best, we might learn something from a previous expedition. At worst, it may be some twisted trap."

Once she is done drying off the worst, she instead channels restorative magic at her worst scorched and frostbitten areas.

"Anyone else need a hand?"

@Oliveo - I just nabbed the first CLW roll from the wand since Rosaline can actually heal herself (and gain temp hp at worst!). But I think Johnne could use some and perhaps Toska too

OK then, anyone is welcome to use as many charges from my wands as they'd like. I'll mark off just 1 for Rosaline for now.

Oliveo nods. "It's hard to imagine they're alive, but it seems worth a try.

"Those who need it can heal up (with my wand or otherwise) while Rosaline and Toska dig."

"It is a long shot, but they may have some notes. Or an extra weapon ..."

Assuming nothing exceptionally out of the ordinary happens, Rosaline goes ahead and casts Detect Magic on the frozen 'bodies'. Maybe there were some clue to be had?

Lets not tell my wives about that shall we?

He muttered to no one in particular as he coughed. He helped to chisel away at the finer points of the ice while Rosaline explored.

Maybe we are lucky and that is the ... hardest part?

He said to no one in particular.

There are several auras in the ice.

The bodies are recovered and those auras turn out to be a suit of +3 scale mail, two suits of +1 scale mail, a +3 dagger, a +2 battleaxe, a +2 holy cold iron longsword, a masterwork battleaxe, a feather token (bird), and a ring of protection +4.

1d4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

"Right," Charlotte mutters, tapping her foot as she thinks, "This place is a proper deathtrap. Which means we're not thinking clearly. Time to make it more interesting."

And, muttering, she summons five blobs of shadowy lava, each of which tunnels through the ice in a different direction, waiting to see if any other members of the party want to point any of them a specific way.

Casting Greater Shadow Conjuration>Summon Monster VI>1d4+1 Medium Elementals>Thoqqua. Thoqquas are lava elementals with a 20' burrow speed through solid rock; GSC is 60% real, so that would be 12' through rock, although I imagine they can go their full speed through ice, being made of lava and all. They're also medium, which means the tunnels they leave behind should be big enough for us to squeeze through carefully, and at 17 rounds of duration, we're getting five tunnels each approximately 300' long. Whee!

"Just don't dig towards the geysers." Rosaline offers her opinion on the use of the digging Thoqquas.

With all the bodies recovered she gives them a quick look over, trying to find any heraldry or other sign of allegiance. Then she separates them from whatever could be of use for their quest and digs/cuts some shallow graves into the ice. Better then nothing. Better then what they had...

"May your final rest be warmer then this..."

Of your elementals five, two reach the outer wall of the veil and come back. The others burrow away into the ice in the other direction. A few seconds later you feel a rumbling grinding vibration. One of your elementals bursts from the ice beside you in a panic and keeps going down toward the geyser! Hot in its heels is a huge Ice Worm, it's heated armour plated carapace hissing on the ice as it chases is prey.
When it is gone, however, you notice that the rumbling hasn't stopped. You just barely have time to brace before the walls explode and Ice Worms attack in a frenzied, starving rage!
6d20 ⇒ (2, 10, 6, 13, 4, 11) = 46
Party is up! You are currently in a ten foot wide, twenty foot high hall that curves slightly up and to the right. You haven't explored down it very far. There is at least one worm, possibly several, in melee range of each of you and eyeing each of you hungrily.

oooops

Round 1 (Fight!!)

Letting lose her shield, Rosaline briefly touches a gold encased stone chained to her belt. In a commanding tone she orders

"BEGONE!"

and the stone vibrates in response, sending out a crushing force intent on plastering the worms against the walls!

Sign of Wrath: Bull Rush (Take highest of): 1d20 + 17 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 17 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 1 = 40

Sign of Wrath: Bull Rush (Take highest of): 1d20 + 17 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 17 + 3 + 4 + 6 + 1 = 36

Sign of Wrath: Force Damage: 15d6 ⇒ (4, 6, 3, 2, 6, 1, 6, 1, 1, 5, 1, 1, 5, 5, 1) = 48

Actions: Move action to activate Dancing Shield, Free action to rage, Swift action to use Moment of Clarity, Standard Action to cast Sign of Wrath, 5-foot step in the direction away from the tunnel heading towards the geyser

Sign of Wrath: 25'foot burst centred on caster. DC 29 (Ref) to halve Force Damage. All targets subjected to Bull Rush (whose moment they provoke from!) (no save). SR applies. 1/4CL targets may be excluded (since that is 4, hopefully at least 1 party-member is out of range. Let me know otherwise and I'll pick another action!).

Actually, since Rosina is currently in Johnne's head, you're good. I'm going to wait until I have a chance to actually set up a map before I roll dice.

Actually, we are 6 in our party anyhow (Rosaline, Johnne, Charlotte, Toska, Oliveo and Asselus). "Sadly" :P

That's right. I missed the elf. Sorry, Asselus. You should hide less well next time. :P

but thats my shtick Will post at work, since I am currently getting ready for it, no worries i will try and stab something :P

Perception (blindsense 60', darkvision 120'): 1d20 + 30 ⇒ (3) + 30 = 33 to get a sense of how many worms there are, and where
Knowledge (whatever's needed to ID the worms): 1d20 + 40 ⇒ (5) + 40 = 45

Oliveo--still perched on the edge of his carpet--chuckles as the enormous worms burst in. "Well, we don't want the tale of our victory to be a dull one, do we?"

He wills the carpet slightly behind his allies and then starts to sing of heroic victories of yore, filling them with might and courage.

______________

swft start Inspire Courage.
Will wait on perception & knowledge before finishing my action.

Current Group Buffs:
TOTAL: +8 to hit, damage; +6 vs fear
* inspire courage: +6 to hit, damage (competence), +6 save vs fear (morale)
* flagbearer: +2 to hit, damage (morale)

Rosaline's spell ripples out and shakes the ice around you causing a small rain of icicles from the ceiling.
The fiery centipedes are thrown back down the tunnels where they take and hisss.

Oliveo- These are Remorhazes, And there are a lot of them. You can gear their unique burrowing in the walks and beneath you. You even think there could be some overhead. In all, a dozen, at least. Probably more.

Rest of you may act at your leisure. The worms are now at least ten feet down their tunnels which are at least 15' wide. There bugs are mechanically huge, so if anyone has a fear of bugs, now would be the time to wet yourself.
You may charge if you wish. I am covering another person's work station today, so my mapping abilities aren't what I hoped they'd be. I'll get one up asap, which may be this evening.

As he sees their many legs and feels the heat rising off the plates of their backs, Oliveo calls out, "These are Remorhazez--and there are a dozen or more here, below us and I think above too!

"They see in the dark and can detect us by tremor too, if we're on the ground...but I wonder if perhaps those elementals (or some other bait) could lead them off away from us...especially if we get off the ground?"

still holding action for replies from others. Happy to cast Haste if we're staying to fight.

Map is up. Waiting on everyone save Rosaline and Oliveo

I was sort of waiting to see if we were running or fighting

Well, Oliveo just mentioned some info and asked a question. What's Asselus's (and others') reaction? I totally understand holiday craziness effecting timing so not pushing for a particular schedule...but I agree with Choon that we need some posts to be able to move forward.
.
Charlotte mentioned in discussion that they're worth killing. I suspect that was a way of saying she votes to stay here and have a melee rather than try to have the elementals lead some or all away?

I am leaning towards killing them also, if only just because it'll keep our backs open and might give us a nice opportunity to check out their tunnels (or dig our own again, without disruption, later on!)

Right, let's do this.

"Alright," Charlotte calls out. "I'll slow them down, if you can fight two at a time." And as she talks, she pulls implements out of her pack, weaving a web of spells; silver threads fill the air, settling in a cloud of shimmering netting behind the party.

Greater Shadow Conjuration>Wall of Force. Wall is behind the party, forming an invisible barrier walling off three worms (they can dig around it, but they'll actually have to probe around it to find the edges since it's invisible). Since it's not real, the wall only has 204 (60%) HP, but it's also got hardness 30 and halves energy damage before hardness is applied, making it real hard for these guys to smash through.

Also drawing standard persistent rod and shadow stencils from haversack, in case they become necessary later in fight.

Oliveo nods. "...And I'll speed us up!"

Stnd: casts Haste on party.

Toska, always the one to act first, charges down one of the tunnels and buries his blade in a worm. Its screeches and wails at it's assailant sound like glowing steel in a cold bath.

Due to extenuating circumstances I'll be botting Toska for a bit. Asselus and Johne are left, I think

Hope Toska's player's doing okay!

Johnne places his fingers against his left temple, focusing on the direction Toska had charged, targeting the remorhaz there.

Casting debilitating portent on the worm in melee with Toska. Each time it attacks, it needs to make a DC 27 Will save or deal half damage.

My wives are going to kill me.

He muttered as he followed the dragon slayer in to attack the creature.
Mentally even as he struck he activated the enchantments in Grace to aid in his defence.

attack Glory: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26
damage: 1d10 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 2 = 17

free action to allocate all 4 points of Grace's bonus to ac per defending ability

As those three engage in clearing in tunnel, the other four worms recover from being knocked back and converge on Rosaline! Three encounter an invisible wall and thrash against it, but it holds. The one burning hot maw that gets too her proves to be to much for her valiant defence and she is bitten!
for 3d6 + 9 ⇒ (1, 2, 1) + 9 = 13 damage
The worm tries to work her into its mouth, but she pushes it away!

Party up!

With the worms clumped together from slamming into the Wall of Force, Charlotte targets as many as she can (at least those three) with a Phantasmal Web spell, shooting lines of shadow through the darkness to entangle.

Heightened (Level 6) Persistent via Rod. Spell DC is 27, worms must make two Will saves or be effected as if Web, then every turn afterwards they spend within the "phantom web area," a circle about 30' wide, they make two Fort saves or are nauseated for the round.

Charlotte, do you have line of effect? It was my understanding that a wall of force cannot be cast through any more than a wall of stone could.

It's not a real Wall of Force... Not sure if it would block 60% of the Line of Effect though :P

And I'll get an update up soon-ish : )

Round 2

Assuming her best demon slayer stance Rosaline raises her spear in both hands and jams it into the jaws of the beast, empowered both by her own holy wrath and Oliveo's energizing presence. The bard's previous comment of the Remorhaz lack of intelligence does nothing to dampen her enthusiasm in telling the beast off even as she skewers the fiery caterpillar.

"Now *here* is something to chew on worm!!"

First Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (20) + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 = 53

Haste Bonus: 1d20 + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (19) + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 = 52

Second Attack: 1d20 + 23 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (12) + 23 + 8 + 1 - 4 = 40

Third Attack: 1d20 + 18 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (6) + 18 + 8 + 1 - 4 = 29

Damage; First Attack: 2d8 + 19 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (4, 1) + 19 + 12 + 8 = 44

Damage; Haste Attack: 2d8 + 19 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (4, 7) + 19 + 12 + 8 = 50

Damage; Second Attack: 2d8 + 19 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (4, 6) + 19 + 12 + 8 = 49

Damage?; Third Attack: 2d8 + 19 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (1, 2) + 19 + 12 + 8 = 42

Confirmation; First Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (2) + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 = 35

Confirmation; Second Attack: 1d20 + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (16) + 28 + 8 + 1 - 4 = 49

Damage Bonus?; First Attack: 2d8 + 19 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (4, 1) + 19 + 12 + 8 = 44

Damage Bonus; Haste Attack: 2d8 + 19 + 12 + 8 ⇒ (5, 1) + 19 + 12 + 8 = 45

Actions: Spend one 1st level spell to extend rage 1 round (don't have super many rounds, but I do have a large pile of low-level slots :P). Then a full-round attack at the nearest worm. (Hope has a hardness of 40, so it should be safe from touching the monster : ) )

But my animated shiny new shield is less resilient (oh the irony!) so I think I will neglect to designate a target for it.

Also, I think the poor Remorhaz is dead :P

Oh shoot! I actually only have a 40% chance of casting through the wall of force because that's how shadow conjuration works. Let's see which worms I still hit.

Worm 1: 1d100 ⇒ 59
Worm 2: 1d100 ⇒ 82
Worm 3: 1d100 ⇒ 65

So if I wanted to, say, drop a confusion on the worms behind the wall... how would I do that? Just roll the percentiles once?

Either once or three times, honestly not sure. (My guess was once for each target behind the wall; confusion targets one area, while phantasmal web targets individual creatures)

Then let's give this a shot.

40% casting chance: 1d100 ⇒ 56

glory save: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27

The worm down, he moved next to defend rosaline, again focusing the magical energies of grace to aid in his defense as he slashed hard at the worm from its side.

glory flank attack: 1d20 + 20 + 2 ⇒ (17) + 20 + 2 = 39
damage: 1d10 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 5 + 2 = 10
sneak: 3d6 ⇒ (3, 5, 4) = 12

6d20 ⇒ (5, 4, 18, 16, 5, 11) = 59

Toska and Asselus turn their second worm to bits just as Rosaline goes boss mode on the worm not blocked by the force wall. She slices, cleans, and steaks the worm in seconds.
The other three worms are entangled in a web of shadow stuff.
Writing on the wall here

It only takes a few more seconds to finish off the worms. For all their ferocity, they are no match for your concentrated awesome.

You may recover/heal/whatever here

The much roomier tunnel curves up and to the left into a largish room. As you enter, a voice books from nowhere, Who Dares Enter My Chambers!

Perception (blindsense 60'): 1d20 + 30 ⇒ (15) + 30 = 45

Oliveo- you feel a large presence near to the ceiling above you.

Charlotte turns invisible, then casts Detect Magic, looking around the room for obvious auras.

Other than the auras emitted by the ice, something shows up above you. Something big.

Having called Rosina back from his subconscious, Johnne stands uncertainly near his phantom, looking around for the source of the voice. "Is anyone going to answer?" he asks in his thin rasp.

After the Remo-fight

Rosaline wanders around the worms a bit, poking them with her spear. "Do they keep their heat after they fall, you think?"

'My Chambers'

Rosaline looks around in the chamber and, upon failing to spot the source of the voice, salutes the air.

"I am Rosaline, Champion of the Worldwound - Exalt of Radiance!" The half elf proudly replies. Reciting her own titles was something she enjoyed, especially if it were to be followed by a good smiting. "Unless you are yet another pawn of the Demon Lord sent in our way, we hold no quarrel with you."

Lore(Demonic Pawns): 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (20) + 20 = 40

Also, 60' detect evil. Anything that feels obviously evil that close : )?

I don't have See Invisible, but I could Shadow Glitterdust this thing; just not going to yet, because that seems like an act of hostility.

I am the dark that shadow fears, hunter of those that take unlawfully and over all a pretty swell fellow. Who are you now that Introductions are underway.

diplomatical hello's: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (2) + 8 = 10

Make a bluff check that you are the Absalom's finest dancer and perhaps you could get away with throwing glitter as your thing?

"And I am Oliveo Taragoš a disciple of Shelyn, the Eternal Rose." He smiles, looking directly toward the area indicated by his blindsense. "Please pardon the intrusion into your chamber. As Rosaline has said, we seek the minions of Kostchtchie. Whose chambers have we entered, and who do you serve? Unless you serve that Lord of Demons, it may well be our aims are aligned. But please, let us discuss."

Diplomacy: 1d20 + 40 ⇒ (9) + 40 = 49
Sense Motive (for the speaker's reply): 1d20 + 40 ⇒ (9) + 40 = 49