GM SpiderBeard's Second Darkness (DrEvil Group) (Inactive)

Game Master Barvo Delancy

If Saphren's attack hits his flat footed opponent then the enemy receives a Debilitating Injury: Bewildered -2/-4 (Ex) Foe who takes sneak attack damage takes AC pen (more vs. striker) for 1 rd.

Everyone else should be taking actions here as well since I imagine you want these guys down fast.

Brenna launches herself at the other guard to smash him to the ground.

Overrun: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28

If he's knocked prone, I gain an attack of opportunity. He cannot choose to avoid the overrun.

Battleaxe AoO: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (12) + 15 = 27
Battleaxe damage: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (2) + 5 = 7

Anyone left standing gets magic missiles to the face split them if they are both still up

MM1: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (1, 2) + 2 = 5
MM2: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (3, 2) + 2 = 7

[ooc]and I suppose Zoso should do something

OI! Donnell! Back in your own game!

The invisibility sphere vanishes in an instant as the group rush the two guards. Saphren bisects one with his first swing while the remainder of the group rush the second. Brenna, back at her full size and towering over the puny drow, just tramples the poor bastard before chopping down. Beshtori's magic missiles finish the job.

Thankfully they don't put their best on the stables. Moving quickly, you head through the doors. Within, you hear the sounds of the geckos and a few of the stablehands at work.

In the distance, you hear shouts back from the direction of the tower.

With the silence we likely hear nothing.

Unaware that an alarm has been raised Saphren pulls a body into the stable, quickly grabbing weapons and an other obviously valuable items.

OI! Donnell! Back in your own game!

That's weird - I swear I edited that post

Belatedly worried that casting a spell might have inadvertently set off an alarm, Besh silently tries to usher everyone inside as ze moves to the stall of zir favourite gecko.

Handle Animal: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
Yikes! Maybe I can get a bonus for speaking to the geckos in their own language (by casting Speak with Animals)?

When everyone has chosen a mount, Besh will cast Haste on the five mounts and zir four companions

As you move in, you see that there are two stablehands here who have not noticed the very silent group.

How are you handling the staff?

Lyr pulled his arrow out of the dead drow and notched it again, taking aim on the furthest away stablehand.

Lyr will try to kill every Drow the group comes across if no one tells him not to.

I'll wait to see if there's an objection before firing.

Saphren springs in and does his best to disable a drow. If too far to spring he changes.

Sap vs flat footed enemy: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (8) + 12 = 201d6 + 6 + 5d6 ⇒ (6) + 6 + (1, 2, 2, 3, 2) = 22

Thought I posted here! Had a crazy few days, all is well and now on vacation.

The stablehands are easy enough prey for the group with Saphren lunging from the shadows to knock out one while Lyr's bloody arrow kills its second drow, a younger stablehand in the south. You gather the geckos and get ready to try and depart.

Now out of the silence spell, it's clear that something has been noticed due to the shouts and sounds of guards being rallied. Likely the giant hole in the side of the tower.

Vex leaves behind an illusion that masks the corpses and makes it appear they and the guards are still attending to their duties. It won't hold up to scrutiny, but it may buy some additional time.

Silent Image.

She also takes the time to loot the bodies.

She can fly to catch up with the party.

Can we ride over the walls of this side of the compound? I am not really sure where we are going or what obstacles are in our path.

Saddling his mount Saphren says We ride!

Haste should allow us to quickly outpace our pursuers. If not, Besh has a Slow spell cued up...

Still here but I'll let others post.

When last we left our heroes...

You have completed your mission, almost. Having been down here for an interminable amount of time trying to discover information on House Azinrae, the first daughter of Vonnarc just gave it to you - although at a steep price. Azinrae, lead by the insane cult leader Allevrah, is preparing to strike directly against the elven capital of Kyonin! You must return to the surface with this information, which is a simple matter of accessing a portal.

Unfortunately, your disguses have been destroyed by the same woman who gave you the information. Her reasons are her own, but with the significant damage done to the side of Tower Solacas, there is a manhunt for the perpetrators. You have stolen several geckos from the stables and now are poised to leave the compound.

I need to know where you're going. Your geckos can absolutely climb the walls. However, the walls are guarded and there magical protections you have not been made aware of. This is, after all, a wizard school.

What is the status of the gate? Is it opened? How many guards there? If closed how hard to open it?

How did we get through the gate when we were escorting Safan?

The gate is closed. The gates can either be passed by displaying the Vonnarc signet to guards, or tapping it against a rune at the side of the gate which will automagically allow passage as with doors into the house.

And we still have Vonnarc signets?

You do! Where's the rest of y'all?

Just chillin'. I ain't the brains of this operation!

I say we head quickly for the gates, hide beneath illusion spells as much as possible, use the signet rings and get out. Haste should keep us ahead of pursuers, but we will be flanked if we get stopped for too long by someone in front.
I don't think Invisibility Sphere would work so well on galloping mounts, but let me know if you think it might work. Besh also has Obscuring Mist and maybe a few other illusion spells.

We need a face to potentially talk us past the gate guards. The alarm is being sounded. Perhaps we need to go out to pursue an escaped slave?

Vex once again used her illusion wand, wrapping a false image around the party, making them look like their drow-selves again.

Stay close. I have to concentrate on this.

You all crowd in and Vex's silent image spell creates the image of your four drow personas on the geckos. Moving with careful coordination, you make your way across the yard. Sure enough, you see a couple of drow flying, circling around the tower while you see other guards rushes for the stables. Thankfully the scene is chaotic enough you can make you way to the front gates where two familiar drow are posted.

"Did you hear someone put a damn hole in Tower Solacas?!"

Going to need a bluff check convincingly get the group past.

Is Saphren's one true love making another appearance? She's going to be awful mad that he went and fell for the evil sorceress.

Vex sat on Lyr's shoulder and glowered in a way she hoped looked sinister and aloof, but in truth she was practically vibrating with anxiety and excitement.

Saph's a pushover for a pretty face. Or even an average one! :D

Make the bard do it! :P

Love the one you're with... :P

Oh right, GMPC bard.

He looks at you all a little strangely as Vex desperately tries to match the illusion to your speech and movements. Zoso speaks up simply. "Of course we have, open the damn gates so we can find the ones who did it!"

That seems to do it as the guard steps back, still a little weirded out by the movements not quite matching the speech. Nonetheless, fear is a powerful motivator, and he gives the call to raise the gates. There's a great rumbling as the gates swing open, and freedom beckons before you.

Unfortunately, as the gates swing open you hear a cry out. "WHAT THE F*&& ARE YOU DOING NOBODY IS TO LEAVE!"

A couple of the wizards from the tower are flying overhead a little ways behind you, and you can see guards moving about like an an anthill has been kicked.

You're at the gates looking out now. Illusion has not been spotted - yet.

You heard the orders. No one is to leave once we are out. Close the gates up tight and let no one follow. Saphren rides out.

Lyr follows without a word.

Moving quickly along behind the others, Besh keeps zir eyes ahead and out of the gate.

I love you Saphren. No rolls needed for that.

With a salute, the guards let you pass and begin closing the gates. You hear screams as the gates close while you take off but it's too late and they bang shut behind you.

The enormous cavern of Eirdrisseir sprawls before you. The instructions you have are simple enough - the passage leading you to the portal leads east out of this cavern, and that entrance is straight north from here.

You are now outside of the gates and any potential pursuers are delayed for a second. Are you making a beeline for the exit or doing something else?

Thinking of poison bolts Saphren will pull and drink an anti-toxin as he rides. He has no other plan.

Brenna can't help but grin as she grips the reins of her lizard and pushes onward toward the exit.

Vex was in silent hysterics, but she managed to maintain the illusion as they headed down the tunnel.

I'm good with a beeline.

Yup, head out straight and fast. Haste is still active, so as long as we're the only ones to think of that we'll have an additional advantage

What is the speed of a hasted lizard? :)

With the haste spell cast and thanks to the size of the cavern and some quick illusions, you race to the northeast, and out into the cavern. Distantly, you hear the sounds of pursuit as it becomes very obvious that something has gone wrong. Hoping, and trusting that Alicavniss' map is accurate you strike into the Darklands to seek your exit.

The journey to the portal takes you sixteen hours. Whenever you rest, the distant echoes of pursuers kicks you back into gear and you continue to brutally ride your exhausted geckos past any sane sense of endurance. Although you encounter the occasional Darklands creature, being a well-armed party with murderous intent you are not attacked.

Exhausted, bathed in sweat, and with geckos completely at the end of their endurance, you enter into a cavern.

Flickering light and a hot wind fill this sizable cavern with dancing shadows and eerie moans. Opposite the tight gap leading back toward Zirnakaynin rises an ancient, temple-like series of stepped platforms and wide, pale marble steps. Upon the cracked rocky ground and atop each of the worked tiers stand a pair of huge braziers, crackling with tall, wind-swept flames. Crowning the platform rises a familiar looking archway—an elf gate.

Complicating the path to the elf gate, a vast crevasse shears this chamber in twain, its inky depths splitting both the walls and ground with a fissure that falls away into eternity. Yet a single path remains, a treacherous-looking land bridge of wind-whipped stone, a tenacious arch stretching between shattered cliffs in defiance of the unfathomable abyss below.

Standing across the gap are several drow, and behind them, blocking the bridge is the familiar form of Tiryin Vonnarc, the wayward son whose 'accident' at the pool you recently helped resolve.

"Alicavniss told me of your treachery! She's slaughtered half the servants and Undamesta in her rage. They won't be missed, but rest assured, you will die before you ever reach the surface!"

Zoso and Lyr are up! Map is updated.

Just two quick questions:
1) Did we rest long enough to regain spell slots, etc?
2) Is Zoso still being GMPCed?

Vex snickered silently. "Think we should tell him that his b$@#!y sister let us go?"

Shield Other on Lyr.

There were a lot of ways this could be resolved. Blackmail over the pool incident. Revealing his sister's treason. Doubling back and relying on their mounts to lose the enemy. Charging past to the elfgate.

Lyr notched a black arrow. He really wanted to kill this drow.

Readied action, shoot Tiryin on his action, no matter what he does.

Likely gonna need stats for the lizards - speed at least. HP and AC make sense too. Full stats might be nice.

You have not had a second to rest and have been pursued relentlessly. Zoso is permanently gone unless he happens to show up before the end of this fight. Cave gecko stats will be posted in discussion.

Zoso bursts into song, hopping off of his gecko. As he does so, a rain of arrows flies in at the party, striking Saphren and Lyr!

Saphren takes 10 damage, and Lyr takes 6 damage. Everyone is up! (Lyr can hold his readied action; Tiryn goes last in initiative.

Saphren heals 5. Lyr continues holding his readied action.

Besh will again Haste the group (5 mounts and four companions, leaving out zirself).

GM SpiderBeard, please guide me on two things: First, could Saphren run up the wall and across the ceiling while riding and strapped in on his lizard mount? I am a little concerned about the bridge. If he can do that how much movement would it be to totally avoid the bridge and get to the other side - this is related I guess to the ceiling height. And Second, m Mounted Combat is a little confusing to me. I believe Saphren's mount can double move and at the end of that move Saphren could dismount and still get a standard action, correct? And if he pulled off a quick dismount he could take a full action, right?

Check discussion again.