After about a minute of careful work your portion of the ritual is complete. The rift doesn't snap shut, but moment by moment you can see it beginning to shrink, hear the whispers receding as the natural sounds of the wood begin to return.
Suddenly those happy sounds vanish once more as a wave of shadowy creatures return from their marauding, desperation driving them to try to reopen the portal!
Knowledge (planes) DC 15 - Shadowy Warriors:
MURDEROUS SHAES - creatures formed of living solid shadow.
For every 5 that you beat the DC, you may ask for one piece of information from this list.
Knowledge (planes) DC 17 - Crystalline Gargoyles:
SCEANDUINARS
This gargoyle-like creature is a Sceaduinar extraplanar outsider. Sceaduinars are strange creatures seemingly formed of dark purplish crystal, born of pure entropy, the antithesis of creation and life.
For every 5 that you beat the DC, you may ask for one piece of information from this list.
One of the Shadowy warrior leaps the stream, ducking into cover behind a menhir, while one of the Crystalline Gargoyles rockets towards Andrietta, eerie dark fire gathering around its claws as it treacherously strikes the noble tengu.
I'm suddenly glad that I didn't have the chance to nova on that last fight, because I was thinking about it.
Lissa swallows a slightly weary squeal as the new threat appears. "Of course, it's not that easy..." she complains as she calls out a new orb of water and draws a new whip from it, focusing her fury on the foes now in melee.
Lissa's water whip isn't able to easily punch through the strange material of the creature's skin, and small puffs of necrotic energy make her glad she's attacking it from a distance.
It's flying a space off the ground, so happily for Lissa, it doesn't have cover
The Murderous Shae are composed of shadow only barely bound to a form, and have no care for chills lesser than their home. They are amorphous and immune to cold. Will and Reflex are tied for lowest save
The Sceaduinar are born of entropy, of eventual dissolution, very little harms them in full. Negative energy affinity; DR 10/adamantine or good; Immune to cold, death effects, disease, energy drain, and poison; Resistant to acid, electricity, sonic; and Spells
Another of the Sceaduinar rushes forward to grasp at Rhuul, flinching through a crack of Lissa's whip as it goes. Terrible emptiness begins to fill Rhuul's form.
Harm Touch attack:1d20 + 14 ⇒ (13) + 14 = 27
Bold may go!
Active effects Flagbearer (30' +2), Haste (2 rounds remain, not Jillia), Fortune
Murderous Shae (Orange)
Sceaduinar (Yellow) -38
Lissa
Sceaduinar (Green) -14
Rhuul Shield -45 Will Save DC 18 or reduced to 1
Jillia
Murderous Shae (Red)
Sceaduinar (Blue)
Andrietta -24, Tengu Wings, Weapon Bond, Bull's Strength, Shield
Johann Shield
Celie Fly
Male Dwarf 5 images; Bard lvl12 (still to level up from 11); AC 20 (22 w/cats grace; 23 haste); HP 80/80; Fort +8; Ref +9; Will +9; SM +21; Perc +15; init +4; Music left 25/31; reroll @+4 1/1; loremaster 1/1; IGF 1/1;
Male Dwarf 5 images; Bard lvl12 (still to level up from 11); AC 20 (22 w/cats grace; 23 haste); HP 80/80; Fort +8; Ref +9; Will +9; SM +21; Perc +15; init +4; Music left 25/31; reroll @+4 1/1; loremaster 1/1; IGF 1/1;
Rhuul feats fortunate indeed to have such a friend.
fortune:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (7) + 9 = 16
NG Female Halfling Street Poet 7 | HP: 60/60 | AC: 23(18 Tch, 17 Fl) | CMB: +8, CMD: 25 (26 v. Overrun) | F: +10, R: +9, W: +5 (+4 v. Fear) | Init: +6 | Perc: +2, SM: +4 | Speed 40ft | Challenge: 0/3 Used | Tactician: 0/2 Used| Panache 0/2 Used | Active conditions: Waiting for Game (???)
Pazio and my computer were not getting along so well last night. Thanks for the delay.
Jillia drops her trusty short sword and awkwardly juggles the polearm at her back to a wieldable position, wrapping the banner around her wrist for extra leverage.
Don't let me down, she whispers to her untested weapon as she smacks the yellow Scaeduinar.
M Gnome Alchemist (Preservationist) 9 | HP 57/57 | AC 23 T 15 FF 19 | CMB +5; CMD 19 | Ft +8 (+2 vs poison) / Rf +11 / Wi +5 (+1 vs enchantment spells & effects)| Init +4 | Per. +14 | Bombs 21/21
Fire support coming up!
Move action to use martial flexibility to get rapid shot. using fighting defensively while throwing a bomb at yellow so I can be less likely to be hit by an AoO. Current AC is 29.
Hanging back cautiously, Johann tosses a firebomb -- one of the few things this creature isn't immune or resistant to -- at the nearby sceanduinar. "Go back to the shadows!"
M Gnome Alchemist (Preservationist) 9 | HP 57/57 | AC 23 T 15 FF 19 | CMB +5; CMD 19 | Ft +8 (+2 vs poison) / Rf +11 / Wi +5 (+1 vs enchantment spells & effects)| Init +4 | Per. +14 | Bombs 21/21
I just remembered that these things have a miss chance for ranged attacks, like concealment, from encountering them previously. Here's my roll so I can determine the direction of the miss if I miss it.
Johann howls in pain as the creature sinks its fangs into his arm, but between his cleansing fire and Jillia's adamant resolve the creature collapses to the ground!
With much less fanfare, so does Celie's victim.
One of the Shae dashes through the field firing off a ray of scorching energy at Jillia!
Lissa looks irritated at the one remaining sceaduinar. She steps between it and Rhuul as she feeds a bit more of her vitality into her watery whip. "You should not be...," she strikes once at the beast, "...and you persist in fighting us,...," adding a second strike, "... you WILL NOT be!"she all but screams as she drops a final strike onto the head of the beast.
5-foot to in between Green and Rhuul. Full attack on Green with Empowered Water Whip. Taking 1 burn to do this.
Lissa rips apart the last conscious Sceaduinar before it can strike again, a fine mist pouring off of her from her exertions.
The portal is getting closer and closer to closing, as all around you you can hear the sound of your fellow Pathfinders, battling hard to protect the seal you have wrought over this dread rupture!
Male Dwarf 5 images; Bard lvl12 (still to level up from 11); AC 20 (22 w/cats grace; 23 haste); HP 80/80; Fort +8; Ref +9; Will +9; SM +21; Perc +15; init +4; Music left 25/31; reroll @+4 1/1; loremaster 1/1; IGF 1/1;
"Why didn't the shade go to the ball?" asks Rhuul, desperate for an undead themed joke as he continues to heal himself.
CLW:1d8 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11
NG Female Halfling Street Poet 7 | HP: 60/60 | AC: 23(18 Tch, 17 Fl) | CMB: +8, CMD: 25 (26 v. Overrun) | F: +10, R: +9, W: +5 (+4 v. Fear) | Init: +6 | Perc: +2, SM: +4 | Speed 40ft | Challenge: 0/3 Used | Tactician: 0/2 Used| Panache 0/2 Used | Active conditions: Waiting for Game (???)
Jillia tiptoes around the sleeping Scaeduinar and levels her bill at the red shae.
"Closing time," she remarks, nodding at the shrinking portal. "Stay here and be obliterated," she insists, taking a single swipe at the shadowy creature.
As Medda and Anok join your group of Pathfinders around the stone circle, she assists you with the binding ritual. Medda thrusts Ivvora’s hilt into the portal, calling on Vildeis for aid. The shadow rift shrinks and closes, releasing a massive shock wave that knocks the Pathfinders, the Twinhorn warriors, and Medda to the ground. A field of dark, rippling energy remains, suspended above the stone altar. As Medda reaches out to pick up Ivvora’s hilt—the already broken blade now spider-webbed with new cracks—a supernatural silence descends. Only the telepathic rage of some unseen menace cuts through the quiet. “You dare to shut me out?” it rages. “I see you, but I do not see her. Where is the dwarf woman, Ivvora, who fought me so long ago? Has her mortal body failed at last? Has the realm of the living at last lost its protector? Know this: when the long shadows reach out again, I will grasp them and claw my way back into your world to see your flesh devoured by my children.”
Sound returns to the Realm of the Mammoth Lords, and Medda cautiously stands. “It seems that Eshimka still lives and has even left this foul scar on our world,” she declares. “If we are to believe its promises, the fiend will attack on the next winter solstice. If we are to survive, we must be ready. Nearly a millennium ago, Ivvora held the key to defeating Eshimka. By following her legends and discovering her fate, we may harness the same holy power that banished this fiend—and together end the beast entirely.
“When we set out, it would be the privilege of this following to have the Pathfinders at our side. But that is a trial for another day. Tonight, at last, we rest.”
@Table GMs: If you haven't already, please report your games and boons here. A roll of 19 or 20 wins a boon, and a d4 should then be rolled to determine which one.
"We not only dare, we ARE. We will be waiting." Andrietta grunts as the remaining opponents fall before the party onslaught, then rests on her quarterstaff a bit.
"Not sure if the Twinhorns have the capabilities for it, but I promised so frozen treats for everyone!"
The weathered grandmother looks to Medda quietly and nods.
"Hopefully, dear, we'll have a bit more time to get ready and it won't be quite as much of a race."
Good job, everyone! Thank you for being a solid team and carrying an old grandmother around :)
Oh, as a bit of bookkeeping Andrietta and Johann need to pass a DC 17 fort save to remove their negative level before it becomes permanent and they'd have to pay for a restoration or some such. (Or just pay to have it removed before the save).
M Gnome Alchemist (Preservationist) 9 | HP 57/57 | AC 23 T 15 FF 19 | CMB +5; CMD 19 | Ft +8 (+2 vs poison) / Rf +11 / Wi +5 (+1 vs enchantment spells & effects)| Init +4 | Per. +14 | Bombs 21/21
Johann collapses onto his back, breathing heavily but with two hands up in a 'v-for-victory' gesture. "Blessed Brigh, we did it. Never have I seen such evil."
NG Female Halfling Street Poet 7 | HP: 60/60 | AC: 23(18 Tch, 17 Fl) | CMB: +8, CMD: 25 (26 v. Overrun) | F: +10, R: +9, W: +5 (+4 v. Fear) | Init: +6 | Perc: +2, SM: +4 | Speed 40ft | Challenge: 0/3 Used | Tactician: 0/2 Used| Panache 0/2 Used | Active conditions: Waiting for Game (???)
"Ha-HAH!" Jillia exclaims, setting down her polearm and drawing a backup sword for a proper victory pose. "And stay out!" Jillia spits at the now-disappeared portal, unconsciously running the fingers on her other hand along a new scattering of dents in her armor.
Nodding to Johann, she adds on "Not evil enough to stand against us, though. We can't be beat, know no defeat, and repeat the feat when called to compete," she says, drifting into a metered cadence. "High-fives all around!" she says, offering a four-foot-three-inch high target.
Male Dwarf 5 images; Bard lvl12 (still to level up from 11); AC 20 (22 w/cats grace; 23 haste); HP 80/80; Fort +8; Ref +9; Will +9; SM +21; Perc +15; init +4; Music left 25/31; reroll @+4 1/1; loremaster 1/1; IGF 1/1;
"Well that was certainly something I don't think even I'd want to joke about. I must thank you all for your endeavours. Cooperation! that is the name of the game."
