Mikail works on the runes for what feels like hours, but is probably only a few minutes. Finally he stands up and wipes his forehead as the runes fade away.
Moving along you come across another one of the intersections, but taking his time (taking 20), Mikail is able to render them temporarily dormant until you pass. (Because five encounters in a row that are the exact same fight are not fun.)
However, as you are moving along the western side of the central wall, you hear a sudden commotion coming from the ruins to your left. A sudden clanging of shields and weapons resounds as a pack of flaming, gold-plated skeletons bearing golden scimitars rise up from the nearby ruins and advance!
The skeletons, which seem to be on fire, raise broken scimitars and advance on you! Two slash at Ferabras, while two others cut at Mikail!
Broken Scimitar vs F:1d20 ⇒ 7 for 1d6 ⇒ 1 slashing and 1d6 ⇒ 1 fire damage!
Broken Scimitar vs F:1d20 ⇒ 13 for 1d6 ⇒ 6 slashing and 1d6 ⇒ 1 fire damage!
Broken Scimitar vs M:1d20 ⇒ 7 for 1d6 ⇒ 5 slashing and 1d6 ⇒ 5 fire damage!
Broken Scimitar vs M:1d20 ⇒ 3 for 1d6 ⇒ 4 slashing and 1d6 ⇒ 5 fire damage!
Anyone who starts their turn adjacent to a burning golden skeleton takes 1d6 ⇒ 3 fire damage per skeleton! Heroes are up!
Tiefling Paladin 8 | HP 71 | AC 26 | T 12 | FF 25 | CMD 26 | Fort +13 | Ref +8 | Will +12 | Init +1 | Perc +3
Ferabras ignores the golden skeletons' attempts to hit him, and is untouched by their fiery heat as he attacks in return! Sadly, he is concerned for the welfare of his friends, and his attacks are poor ones.
Five-foot step, then full attack on skeleton that Hoshiko attacked. If it goes down, hit next one in line. Or miss completely...
Hoshiko's black blade bites deep, but doesn't do as much damage as she would hope (DR/bludgeoning). Still it's enough to send the golden skeleton crumpling to the ground in an explosion of fire! Anyone adjacent takes 1d6 ⇒ 4 fire damage, Reflex DC 11 half!
Ferabras' strikes almost cut, but slip between ribs!
Ouch!! 9 dmg to start the round!! Does that channel heal us as well? Reflex vs exploding skele:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13
Mikail is able to dodge the incoming scimitars, then dodges the explosion of flaming bone shards when Hoshiko and Ferabras take out the skeleton on the end. He jumps back from the skeletons, diving behind Ferabras and drawing his bow once more.
Attack:1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 8 + 1 = 23 Damage:1d6 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 + 1 = 4
Two of the skeletons explode, spraying fire on Ferabras! Fortunately his resistance absorbs the brunt of it. The last skeleton looks damaged, but Mikail's arrow passes through his ribs, doing no damage.
Round 2: We'll retcon Soran in here when he posts.
The last skeleton steps up and swings at Ferabras! Swing!:1d20 ⇒ 15 for 1d6 ⇒ 6 damage and 1d6 ⇒ 2 fire damage!
And with Ferabras' swing, the last skeleton falls in a burst of golden fire, leaving the city once more quiet.
Feel free to insert any cleaning up, healing, etc. I'm just going to move along.
You move along the gently curving road until you come across a bridge across one of the rushing rivers of molten gold. Even though the air above the river shimmers with heat, the bridge seems comfortable. Perception checks!
"Zolarus.. can you help me with this, please?" Mikail asks, holding out his wand of healing in one very singed paw.
CLW:2d8 + 2 ⇒ (5, 1) + 2 = 8
He gratefully fluffs out his fur, trying to avoid the raw pink patches that were quickly growing scabs and healing over. As he leads the team on, he keeps a little distance ahead of the party trying to make sure no more ambushes spring out at his friends. He carefully peers around, hesitant to approach this newest river of gold. "Who know a river of gold could cause so much trouble.." he mutters.
Perception:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
REF vs DC11:1d20 + 7 ⇒ (9) + 7 = 16
Hoshiko manages to avoid some of the damage from the foe she struck down, and after checking her burnt arm, she decides to continue on.
As the party continues and sees the river of gold, the elf swordstriss comments "I would hate to fall into that river, but you would die rich..."
Mikail chuckles at Hoshiko's wit and the idea of what he could buy with just a dipper of the molten gold below.. then carefully progresses, keeping his eyes open and his furry little hand near his rapier.. not that it has done much for them since descending into this place..
Perception:1d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 14
You cross the bridge without difficulty, until you near the other side..
F1, M2, H3, Z4, S5, D6:1d6 ⇒ 4 A longspear strikes out at Zolarus! Spear, Sneak Attack!:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (17) + 12 = 29 for 1d8 + 7 + 2d6 ⇒ (3) + 7 + (3, 3) = 16 damage! The foe is revealed: This emaciated figure looks like a horned human skeleton smothered within a bone-tight hide of slimy leather.
Mikail gives a foxy yip of alarm as the creature jump out of the shadows at the team. Desperately, he whips out his rapier, stabbing at the creature assaulting Zolarus. "Get away from him!!!" the feisty fox growls at it before sinking his teeth into the creature for good measure!
Attack:1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (18) + 8 + 2 = 28 Crit?:1d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 8 + 2 = 11
Hoshiko, you recognize this is a Babau demon, a demonic assassin!
Zolarus heals himself, while Ferabras attacks! However his strikes are batted aside by the demon's quick movements and thick, mucus covered hide.
Mikail strikes the demon with his rapier, but is unable to get in a sneak attack! It's not flat-footed unless there's something I'm missing? Indeed, even his rapier doesn't penetrate the thick hide of the creature! But I need a DC 18 Reflex save or your weapon takes 1d8 ⇒ 6 acid damage from striking him! His bite, too, fails to penetrate the thing's thick hide and Mikail pulls away a mouth full of burning acid for his trouble! Another Reflex save DC 18 or Mikail takes 1d8 ⇒ 1 acid damage!
Tiefling Paladin 8 | HP 71 | AC 26 | T 12 | FF 25 | CMD 26 | Fort +13 | Ref +8 | Will +12 | Init +1 | Perc +3
I figured, but thought I should ask - would be nice for Fera to know that this is the moment to use his wand of bless weapon. One other question: since Hoshiko acted before Ferabras and would have told us all what we were facing, can I add Smite Evil to my action? Fera would definitely have smitedsmitten smote a demonic assassin!
If I can, that adds +3 to attack and AC and +5 to damage.
"TAKE CARE! THIS IS A BABAU DEMONIC ASSASSIN! VERY TOUGH! If your weapons are not hardened to him then I suggest you back up!" Hoshiko yells to her friends as she casts Mirror Image to confront and confuse the foe...
Longspear Attack of Opportunity:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16 for 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (6) + 7 = 13 damage! The babau attempts to take advantage of Hoshiko's momentary distraction of spellcasting, but misses!
Soran delays! We'll add him in when he's able to post.
The babau drops his longspear and lashes out at Mikail with his claws, while he bites at Ferabras!
Claw vs M!:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (7) + 12 = 19 for 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9 damage!
Claw vs M!:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (20) + 12 = 32 for 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7 damage!
Bite vs F!:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (9) + 12 = 21 for 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (5) + 5 = 10 damage!
Claw! Possible Crit vs M?:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (12) + 12 = 24 for 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 damage!
Tiefling Paladin 8 | HP 71 | AC 26 | T 12 | FF 25 | CMD 26 | Fort +13 | Ref +8 | Will +12 | Init +1 | Perc +3
Fera slashes again with his blade, calling on the holy power within him to defeat the babau as he shouts, "We've got this evil thing cornered, let's end it so it can do no more harm in this world!"
Attack with Smite Evil (1/2 today), use Battle Cry (2/3 today) as swift action. Will 5-foot step back if Mikail does.
Tiefling Paladin 8 | HP 71 | AC 26 | T 12 | FF 25 | CMD 26 | Fort +13 | Ref +8 | Will +12 | Init +1 | Perc +3
Reflex:1d20 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 6 = 9
Given the rules for energy damage to objects, this should be halved to 3 points and then applied to the sword's hardness. A +1 steel sword has a hardness of 12, so the sword is essentially unaffected, right?
hoshiko was wanting mikail to move so she can take his place and use the mirror spell as a defense. plus her blackblade is better suited to resist the skin damage. she can flank with Ferabras if need be.
Ferabras, I think that a babau's acidic mucus is an exception to the half damage rule to objects. However, since the sword's hardness is 10, and the damage is a d8, I think you're mostly okay.
Precision damage is applied any time the creature is denied its dex bonus, and at the time, I had it flanked between myself and Zolarus. Is there something there that I missed?
PRD Excerpt, emphasis mine: Sneak Attack: If a rogue can catch an opponent when he is unable to defend himself effectively from her attack, she can strike a vital spot for extra damage.
The rogue's attack deals extra damage anytime her target would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC (whether the target actually has a Dexterity bonus or not), or when the rogue flanks her target.
However, I did find a grievous error on my part.. PC Gen has my sneak attack dmg at 4d6, but according to the PRD, it should only be 2d6.. Not sure where PC Gen is getting that, but I will change my stats to the lower until I can find proof it should be higher.
Mikail pulls his sword back from the creature, not noticing the acid sliding off of the blade, but he sure notices the mouthful of ick and goo burning his tongue!! "AHHH!!!" he cries out "IT BURNS!!" As he is dancing around trying to spit out the acid, the demonic assassin swipes both claws at the kitsune, drawing deep red lines through the tawny fur. Mikail looks down in surprise as the blood wells up, and sinks to the floor feebly but uselessly trying to staunch the blood. "Well, I tried.." he says, toppling over onto his side. -2 HP
Stabilize:1d20 - 2 ⇒ (5) - 2 = 3 -3 HP
ok.. thats it.. from now on, I am staying in the back!!! lol..
Mikail, that's the missing piece! I only saw the map after you moved, so I wasn't aware you were flanking. Okay, you still encountered DR, but the demon is wounded a bit more now.
Also, forgot Z's misfortune: Claw:1d20 + 12 ⇒ (4) + 12 = 16 So remove the damage from the Crit claw! So Mikail should be at +12 HP by my count.[/ooc]
Seeing Mikail not heed his words, Soran lets fly another volley of arrows, and shouts out.
Mikail! I've fought one of these before! Attack it from afar or it won't end well! It's skin will burn you with acid!
One a single arrow of Soran's barrage hits its mark and doesn't seem to do much damage. The demon lets out a low chuckle as it prepares to strike again!
Since Mikail is now up, can he switch places with Hoshiko like she asked earlier?
Redo last post since I am conscious: Mikail manages to just barely dodge the worst of the claws, and stumbles back away from the fight, heeding his teams imploring calls.
Acro to avoid AOO's:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (15) + 9 = 24
Reaching a safe point, he drops his rapier and pulls out his bow.
The demon snarls and spits. He steps five feet to the SE, engaging Ferabras. "Hellspawn, why do you fight against your blood? Embrace the corruption, spawn. Feel the power that chaos can grant." He lashes out!
Tiefling Paladin 8 | HP 71 | AC 26 | T 12 | FF 25 | CMD 26 | Fort +13 | Ref +8 | Will +12 | Init +1 | Perc +3
Wow, I totally thought he was in a corner, and that the gold on the map represented walls. I would have stepped in to flank him already if I had understood the map...
"For the very reason you say, demon," Fera replies, "to show that my blood does not rule my soul!" He steps to the creature's side and strikes powerfully with his blade!
The demon seems transfixed as the greatsword sweeps his head from his body. The body begins to disappear as the head hits the ground, still staring at Ferabras as it hisses one last message, "We're waiting for your soul in the Abyss, spawn. It's only a matter of time....."
Mikail turns his bow to begin helping Fera out, sending an arrow right over the teiflings shoulder to smack right into the devilish creature!
Attack:1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (20) + 8 + 1 = 29 Confirm:1d20 + 8 + 1 ⇒ (18) + 8 + 1 = 27
Tiefling Paladin 8 | HP 71 | AC 26 | T 12 | FF 25 | CMD 26 | Fort +13 | Ref +8 | Will +12 | Init +1 | Perc +3
Fera just manages to restrain himself from attacking the demonic body once again, even as it disappears, stilling the anger in his soul and taking a series of calming breaths. "My soul will go to a better place," he says, a trace of fierceness still in his voice, "and in the meantime, I will slay as many of your kin as I'm able."
He turns to Hoshiko with a nod and says, "We all fought well, and I am glad the power of good was able to defeat the evil we faced. I am unhurt, though I believe Mika was wounded."
&*^&%$##%^&*()&^$# waste of a crit by getting ninja'd!! Lol
Mikail slumps as the creature finally falls to the mighty Farebras. He looks around to make sure his companions are all ok.. "Zolarus, Fera! is everyone ok? That was one hell of a swat you gave that thing, Fera!" Suddenly, he remembers his own wounds and turns for help. "Please, use this on anyone that needs it!"
