GM Rednal's War of the Burning Sky (Inactive)

Game Master Rednal

Looking down at his immaculately groomed and braided beard, Umbriak glowered at Farod. "Dinnae insult the beard, longshanks. I inherited the finest of regal facial hair, I'll have ye ken, and many a comb dies to make it this fine." Turning to the flaming bat, Umrbiak waved his axe and roared, "AND YE CAN SHUT YE GOB TOO, YE KEN!?"

Intimidate: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9

"No insult meant. But which sky creature would not envy you for that marvellous facial hair, and long to raise it's young in a nest made of it?", Farod jests back, while drawing an arrow.
While it does not attack, content to hold my fire. If the bat approaches to within 15 feet of us with what I perceive as hostile intent, I shoot. => Ready action to attack.
"What's this about, Squeaker?", he asks the Mephit, holding the arrow nocked and his sight on the bat.

"ለምን ውይይት እያደረግክ ነው? ይህ አደገኛ አውሬ ነው!" Ridley called out, annoyed, as he watched the bat carefully.

Roll your attack, Farod. XD

Zinggg: 1d20 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 1 = 26 Thud: 2d6 + 1 ⇒ (5, 3) + 1 = 9

The arrow cleanly struck the creature, and it let out an angry cry before swooping down at Farod, snapping at him with its teeth as it passed.

Bite (Farod): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17 for Damage: 1d8 + 4 ⇒ (8) + 4 = 12 plus Fire Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Its fangs seemed just as scorching as the rest of its body... and it hadn't been the most accurate chomp, but it had bitten down hard. That probably explained why the Mephit was so scared of it...

Gripping his new axe in two hands, Umbriak swung the weapon at the burnt...fiery...bird thing. Well, it would probably taste burnt anyway. Everything in this damned forest probably tasted burned.

To Hit: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Damage: 1d12 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20

"Thing has a nasty bite!", Farod stated, as he stepped back from it and wove a shimmering skin of force into being.
5-foot stepping, casting mage armor.

Does anyone get AoOs as it moves?

At this point, no - one of its abilities is Flyby Attack without provoking. However, depending on how it behaves, other actions it takes might provoke. And I believe you're up, Ridley.

Ah, yeah, no initiative. I assume it's not in melee range, so—ready an attack against the next time it flies by?

The bat let a screech as Umbriak hit it, then arced off into the forest, apparently driven away by the damage it had sustained. The mephit watched for a few long moments, then let out an enormous sigh of relief. "Thank you." he said, bowing his head low to your group. "Nasty creature, that one... I hate to think of what it would've done if you hadn't come along."

Deciding against wasting arrows as parting shots when it becomes clear the bat manages to blend into the fire forest splendidly even after a few feets distance, Farod turns his attention to the Mephit:"Nasty things, I'd guess, as befits a nasty creature. But why? What was this about, or what are you doing here?"
While it was fully possibly the mephit lived here and almost got preyed upon, it seemed to Farod that a small weak creature such as the mephit would prefer being closer to the edge of the forest, where it would be saver - so there may be more to what happened.

Ridley waited, letting his words come back to him for a few seconds while the others talked.

"I told ye to shut!" Umbriak waved his axe at the departing creature with a grunt. Looking over at the Mephit, Umbriak asked, "What is with this fire blasted place?"

"Well, the whole forest's been more active than usual." the mephit observed. "I'm surprised you've made it this far - outsiders don't usually come here. On account of, y'know." He glanced to the side, where a curtain of flames was burning a tree, yet hadn't actually engulfed it.

"Yeah. Fire Forest." Ridley chipped in. "We kind of figured from the name and appearance. Really just passing through—any trouble ahead you can warn us to avoid?"

"On that account, do you know of any shortcuts? We're kind of following this old trail here, but the shorter the time we spend in here, the better...", Farod adds, watching the surrounding area in case the flaming bat decided to return and attack them unaware.

Umbriak nodded at the idea. The less time they spent in this place the happier and less smelling of singed hair he'd be.

"Trail's probably the safest for you. Some of the areas in the forest are more dangerous than others, but the road's pretty good." the Mephit explained. "There's a bridge maybe a quarter of a mile ahead, only good way across the gorge unless you can fly. I, uh, wouldn't put too much weight on it, if I were you. And check it carefully before you cross - some of the sections are weak. Past that you should be pretty good for awhile as long as you keep moving."

Umbriak nodded his thanks. "Other than not letting wee burny bird things see ye as a snack, is there anything we can do for ye?"

"And thanks for the warning about the bridge. I don't like the idea of splitting up in here, even temporary. But the prospect of being on a collapsing bridge is even less intriguing-", Farod added, with a glance at the old man atop the horse.

"Well... we'll bring the horse across last, unless you're proposing we fly."

The old man winced. "Back in my day, this would've been easier." he muttered, drawing a worried glance from his daughter. "All right, people, let's keep moving. These potions aren't gonna last forever." With that he nudged his horses forward.

"...Lovely fellow, isn't he?" the Mephit observed. "Just... don't look at the flames too long. They're pretty, but you don't want to be too distracted." With that, the Mephit hopped off. True to his word, there was a stone arch crossing a gorge on the road ahead ahead, 20 feet wide and 50 feet long, with 3-foot-high stone railings on either side. Now, however, the bridge is obviously weak and dangerous. The railing on the right side has a 10-foot-wide section knocked out in the middle of the bridge, and the stone around it is cracked. You can also see the wreckage of a wagon at the bottom of the gorge below.

"Anybody have rope?" Ridley ventured, thinking it might do to string some across as a backup.

"No rope here.", Farod states, looking at Umbriak. "Now, I DID learn to ride, but I'm not too keen on the idea of trying to gallop across there and jump the gap. So if there's any other suggestions, I'd appreciate that."

Could I take 10 on the ride? Do I estimate that do be enough?

Nodding, Umbriak pulled out a 50ft length of silk rope from his pack. "The last lady friend I had found hemp too harsh," he completely failed to explain why he had it. "Of course, the boyfriend didnae like leather..."

Umbriak looked down at the fallen wagon, trying to see if there was anything of potential interest. Either living beings or potentially useful items.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

"Right," Ridley suggested, "I'm small enough to not break the bridge, and I could run it across as a steadying rope."

There did seem to be some kind of chest down with the wagon on the bottom of the gorge sixty feet below. You could probably scale the canyon walls if you were a decent climber - they looked navigable, at least, and would be doubly so if you used a rope to climb down.

Farod took a look at the canyon walls, then took a few steps on the bridge, giving him a good view of them:"I'll cover you from here if you want to go down. You know, in case of more burny bird thingies showing up..."
That's assuming the bridge is more structurally sound near the edges of the arch, as would make sense. If it's obviously not, I'll stay off the bridge and just look for a good spot.

Stroking his beard, Umbriak looked at the others. "Mayhap they had some way to prevent this thrice cursed heat from destroying them, aye?" With a shrug he tied the rope to whatever looked sturdy, and started to climb.

Climb: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (16) + 8 = 24

"I'd be fine leaving this mystery unsolved," Ridley frowned at Umbriak, but to little effect.

When Umbriak was about halfway down, there was an explosion of noise from under the bridge, and literally hundreds of bats swooped out of it. Apparently, the noise of his descent had startled them, and... they didn't seem terribly happy about it. Though, it was probably for the best that they'd been startled when most of you were safe on land, rather than precariously out in the middle - hooray for silver linings?

The bats are about halfway across the bridge. Given the distance, all of you can act before they arrive.

Watching the Bat swarm was...not especially happy. Swearing in Dwarf, Umbriak began to haul himself back up the rope as fast as he could manage.

Climb (Accelerated): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (7) + 8 = 15

"እኔ ወደ አንተ እስኪወርሰው!" Ridley called out, moving closer to the gorge, and hoping to draw the bats away from Umbriak, readying a Color Spray spell (DC 14) to fire into the swarm if it got into good targeting range.

Where's my swarmbane clasp when I need it...
Flurry 1: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24 1d8 ⇒ 2
Flurry 2: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 1d8 ⇒ 1
Farod fires 2 arrows in quick succession at the bats, recognizing the futility of such. "Haddin, there's bit of a situation here that would call for your expertise if you feel rested enough...", he calls out, realizing that there's almost nothing he could do against the countless diminutive creatures.

Are the bats flaming, too? We are in a mighty hot fire forest-

Would it help if I just said "everything's on fire" and left it at that?

The arrows shot into the swarm, and it looked like Farod might've actually hit one of its members with its shot. The swarm shot forward a moment later, right into Ridley's Color Spray-

Will DC 14: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

-and seemed stunned by the blast. That wasn't going to last for too long, though - maybe ten or twelve seconds at most. On the bright side, Umbriak was able to haul himself back to level ground.

Umbriak considered the situation, and then considered that he an axe. He decided this was a solution. Umbriak charged. It was kinda what he did.

To Hit: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23
Damage: 1d12 + 9 ⇒ (3) + 9 = 12

Charging... onto the rickety bridge?

I guess a 60' drop probably isn't deadly at full hp. *shrug*

In Umbriak's defence, I entirely forgot about that part. Whoops.

As Umbriak ran out onto the bridge, it started to sway back and forth, clearly a bit precarious in situations like this. ...Precarious enough to be dangerous.

Umbriak, make a DC 15 Acrobatics check. If that fails, make a DC 20 Reflex check and roll 1d9. Anybody else who goes onto the bridge this round must do the same.

I missed that they were over the bridge, and assumed they are over the gorge, and imagined Umbriak charging at them like Wily E. Coyote...

Probably not a surprise, but I did not plan on stepping on the bridge anyway.

Not having any better idea how to deal with the swarm, Farod kept firing while stepping back away from the stunned mass, hoping that some damage to individual bats may convince the swarm to turn away from them.

Attack Flurry 1: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 5 + 1 = 21(+1 if he did damage before) Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 = 3
Attack Flurry 2: 1d20 + 5 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 1 = 14(+1 if he did damage before) Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 + 1 = 3
Awesome damage dice! Yay -_-
Swift to empower bow with Arcane Pool

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 1 = 19
Reflex: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (9) + 5 = 14
1d9 ⇒ 1

To everyone's shock, including his own, Umbriak remained upright and refused to bow to gravity's dark whims.

Ridley stayed put, uninterested in charging onto the bridge.

As Umbriak managed to stay upright, the bridge stopped rocking quite as much - and Farod managed to continue chipping away at the swarm as Ridley and the others watched. Behind you, Haddin muttered under his breath, then gestured at the bridge - and the stone there abruptly solidified into a more solid structure. Fighting on the bridge was unlikely to make it shake anymore, at least as long as you didn't exceed its weight limit somehow.

The bat swarm, meanwhile, was recovering from the spell that had been hit it - and it moved forward a moment later. You could hear countless tiny noises coming from it, apparently the bats' substitute for vision, and they swarmed onto Umbriak.

Swarm Damage (Umbriak): 1d6 ⇒ 2 plus Fire Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Umbriak grunted at the injury, but between his resistance to fire and the thickness of his skin it didn't especially harm the Dwarf. He nodded back to Haddin,and shouted, "Thanking you!" before returning his attention to matters at hand. He swung his axe in a sweeping arc of reply,hoping to slay as many of the flying pests as she could.

To Hit: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10
Damage: 1d12 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21

Seeing Umbriak struggle to aim with the multitude of creatures disorienting him somewhat, Farod continues his ranged assault, careful to not aim too close to the Dwarf in case he suddenly moved.

Flurry: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (8) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 15 Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 1 + 1 = 8
Flurry: 1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 25 Damage: 1d8 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 = 4

Ridley moved closer to the bridge, but had no interest in actually walking onto it, and so waited.

Sorry guys, don't want to lose my daggers just now by throwing them into a gorge.

But, Umbriak can easily retrieve them afterwards, right? I mean, there's treasure down there anyway ^_^ - JK, it's fine.

Don't forget to keep your stat bars up to date! That should become a habit. XD

Umbriak had put a lot of effort into his swing - possibly too much, for the weapon cleanly missed the swarm despite the fact that he was standing right in the middle of it. That was kind of impressive, in its own way... but Farod managed to land another strike with his arrows, slowly chipping away at the swarm as it continued to feast on the dwarf.

Swarm Damage (Umbriak): 1d6 ⇒ 5 plus Fire Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Meanwhile, Haddin lowered his hand, looking a bit tired. He didn't seem to have any offensive magic he could throw, so aside from helping with your footing, there didn't seem to be much he could do.