Hollow's Last Hope (Inactive)

Game Master nilesr

I got hit as well. My AC is reduced to 18 because I hastily donned my armor. I've updated my vitals bit to show that.

Michael notices that his otherwise solid hit seemed to have little effect on the zombie.

"Why won't you die!? Huh?! Let's see how you like this one!"

He then swings his hammer at the zombie a second time.
Warhammer Power Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 1 - 1 = 24
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 13

With rolls like these, who needs to bypass DR?

Ok, well Michael takes Slam: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2 damage.

Michael splats a zombie, 3 left.

More updates later

Silas laughs in a good natured way at Savros's disdain and says in a mild voice,
"If you don't want folk making assumptions, come and show them who you really are... Once these are delt with the Sheriff needs your aid!"
Diplomacy: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

I'm not sure I trust this fellow exactly, but gossip can often be mean spirited and wrong. Besides if he's where we can see him, so much the better.

Knowledge Religion: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (13) + 5 = 18+3 more to identify foe's weaknesses

Seeing the man berate the lad, Lucanor says, "Just keep a cool head boy, this won't be easy, but these things can be beaten."

Diplomacy to help the kid's nerves? 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6

To the others he announces, "Certain weapons work better than others on these undead."

Then he gets nailed by one as it lunges for him. Instead of panicking, he smiles, "Case in point." And he slashes with his longsword at it.

To hit with longsword 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13
Dmg: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 2 = 5

Davros responds to Silas Let us deal with the problem at hand. THE WAND SAVRAM!

Savram, hearing Lucanor speaking to him had momentarily let the wand drop to his side. He lifts it and blasts apart the zombie attacking Lucanor.

Davros continues, We will make a wizard of you yet! and then he destroys the last zombie in the street.

The street seems eerily quiet again..

Davros Vade turns to the party and says

What is this about the Sheriff?

Silas explains, "According to the deputy here, the Sherrif has been attacked by the undead and needs immediate assistance."

Not that I'm paranoid or anything, OK, OK, I am! Does Savros bear any resemblance to the escaped cult leader?

Silas is pointedly not mentioning cultists yet. If we're out of combat I'll turn inspire off.

Gared pauses and thinks for a moment. Two options; the house and escape with Kimi and her mother, or aid the men in the street. It only takes a couple of moments for Gared to make up his mind.

"Kimi, stay with your mother. If you see a zombie getting close, then you run through that house," Gared indicates towards the house with the open door, "You keep running until you get to the Sheriff's house."

And with that said, Gared turns and hefts his gore-slick greataxe once again. He almost saunters over to the zombies, attempting to avoid their attention, trusting to their single-minded nature to keep their attention on the men already fighting them. As he stops behind the first zombie, he raises his axe...

Stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6
Attack (greataxe): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (4) + 5 = 9
Damage (greataxe): 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

... but misses as the zombie lurches forward and out of the way.

Should the zombies cataclysmically fail their Perception checks to hear Gared thundering up the road so that he gets a surprise round.

Gared grimaces as he misses the zombie, but uses the momentum of the greataxe to swing the axe around his head and swing it horizontally, hoping to decapitate the zombie in front of him...

Attack (greataxe): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23
Damage (greataxe): 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

... and is rewarded by a solid hit on the shuffling corpse.

Savram, hearing Lucanor speaking to him had momentarily let the wand drop to his side. He lifts it and blasts apart the zombie attacking Lucanor.

Lucanor tips his hat to Savram, "Much obliged to you, young man. Iomedae bless you."

Zombies. Wild card, or new extension of the conflict? Big move, deciding move if it fails or succeeds...

Percival rushes after Gared, mixing and throwing a bomb against the zombies.

Ranged touch attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (12) + 4 = 16
DC 15 ref save to halve 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (6) + 5 = 11 damage, rest adjacent take 6 damage.
Use Precise Bombs to stop explosion hitting Gared or anyone else friendly.

With the immediate area at least somewhat safe, Michael takes a deep breath, looks at his hammer, and turns to Lucanor.

"You said some weapons aren't going to work on these guys? I'm just going to take a guess and say my hammer probably isn't the most ideal for this, is it? It worked just fine on those skeletons we fought, but that last guy took a bit of a beating before he went down."

Edit: Niles, is the wizard's name Savros or Davros? You've used both.

I hope it isn't Davross... EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE!

What if Percival has a sonic screwdriver...

Then we use the Mario piledriver...

This is what happens when I'm making my posts from an iPad at work during meetings. The wizards name is Sharvaros Vade! his son is named Savram Vade

Silas, you didn't get a good enough look at the cult leader to tell for sure but roll

Sharvaros turns to Eior Ramels and says

The Sheriff in trouble? Lead on pup. Savram, keep the wand ready boy.

The party, now consisting of Michael, Lucanor, Percival, Silas, Hecktor along with Sharvaros Vade and his son Savram continues along the road towards the Sheriff's house. As they draw closer, evidence of the night's battle becomes more clear, zombies dismembered in the street, a half eaten man hanging out of a doorway.

Sharvaros says This is no ordinary magic, something powerful caused this.... you get the sense that he would like to know more...for whatever reason.

The party crosses the paths with the town butcher Colbrin Jabbs. He is extracting a meat cleaver from the skull of a zombie he had just killed.

Colbrin sees the heavily armed party, and Sharvaros, who he recognizes, and says Finally, someone doing something about this mess. Mind if I come along? My boy is locked away safe in the meatlocker so none of these things can get to him.
You can respond to him later, his coming is not a big deal
The party rounds a final corner to a scene from a nightmare.

There are at least 30 freshly risen zombies walking around the jail along with something...larger nearer to the jail walls. It looks like the larger creatures, there are two, are pounding on the wall intent on destroying it. Percival notices Gared battling a knot of zombies with a group of men across the courtyard, he lets fly a bomb, destroying many of the zombies. The men yell in triumph and slay a few more zombies.

When the butcher approaches and mentions his intent to join the group Michael gives his reply.

"It looks like we're gonna need all the help we can get here. You're plenty welcome to come along because of that. We'll try to do our best to keep their attention on us and off of you, but if things get hairy you run and you don't look back, got it? No more townsfolk need to die tonight than already have. And no offense, but if we go down I'm not sure your cleaver alone is going to be able to do much."

As the party reaches the sheriff's house, Michael looks on in awe at the sight before him.

"Well boys, looks like we've got our work cut out for us tonight. And I think it's safe to say that if we make it through this we can say goodbye to our relative obscurity around here."

Gared, now uncaring of any stealth, roars defiance into the zombies in front of him and swings with his greataxe, blood and gore flying off the blade and splattering the mindless abominations gathered in front of him.

Attack (greataxe): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8
Damage (greataxe): 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (7) + 3 = 10

Despite his hearty attack, the blade whistles wide of its mark.

As we approach the army of Zombies Silas suddenly has a lump in his throat and has a prickly feeling all over with cold sweat running down his back, thinking: OH HELL! What in the world are we up against here?! Why are we going this way? Some of these men are going to die, I may die. Dang it I've got to keep it together, it's show time and I'm due out on stage!

In a loud whisper Silas says, "Looks like, we've got a job to. Lets start with a volley of holy water vials, and then we advance. Don't run, don't get separated, watch out for the man by your side and by the grace of the gods we'll smash these abominations! For the Vale!"
Standard action: Silas turns inspire courage on. I'm not quite sure if it's 3 or 4 rounds of that used so far.
Move action: move up with the group

Since there's loads of zombies outside the jail I'd suggest throwing some vials of holy water as splash weapons

For the round after inspire courage is turned on:
Holy water vial ranged tough attack at a zombie in the nearest clump of zombies: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (19) + 2 + 1 = 22
Holy water damage if that hits: 2d4 ⇒ (3, 4) = 7 +1 if inspire workswith that - not sure
Standard action: ranged touch attack
Move action: move up with the group & pull out bow (I assume I've not had a chance to buy the longspear yet)
Free action: maintain inspire

Perception: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (19) + 10 = 29
wisdom: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (6) + 3 = 9

Once the party begins to move you notice that Savram hangs back a bit and walks almost alongside you. He doesn't say anything but he keeps glancing at your holy symbol and sword.

Lucanor smiles a bit, and whispers to the boy, "Relax lad, she's one of the good ones. I'll tell you more about her later if you're interested. My name's Lucanor by the by."

Sharvaros says This is no ordinary magic, something powerful caused this.... you get the sense that he would like to know more...for whatever reason.

Can't disagree with the fellow, but his interests seem a tad unhealthy to me. Still, Lucanor only has a feeling, nothing more, and that's not enough to go by.

The party crosses the paths with the town butcher Colbrin Jabbs. He is extracting a meat cleaver from the skull of a zombie he had just killed.

Colbrin sees the heavily armed party, and Sharvaros, who he recognizes, and says Finally, someone doing something about this mess. Mind if I come along? My boy is locked away safe in the meatlocker so none of these things can get to him.

He nods in agreement with Micheal, "I think we have a bit more padding than you..." He taps his armor, "So best to let us take lead like he said if you're not offended by it."

The party rounds a final corner to a scene from a nightmare.

There are at least 30 freshly risen zombies walking around the jail along with something...larger nearer to the jail walls. It looks like the larger creatures, there are two, are pounding on the wall intent on destroying it. Percival notices Gared battling a knot of zombies with a group of men across the courtyard, he lets fly a bomb, destroying many of the zombies. The men yell in triumph and slay a few more zombies.

With the others already in action, Lucanor states a prayer to his goddess, and another bolt of holy fire erupts from his hand towards a zombie. If he can, he'll try to target one that's already wounded, the more likely to make it go down sooner.

He tries to make sure Savram stays behind him.

Sharvaros Vade, Eior Ramels, Colbrin Jabbs and Savram Vade move to the right and begin fighting zombies near the front of the building.
As they move off the party hears Sharvaros taking charge yelling Ramels you ingrate stay back and protect my flank! THE WAND SAVRAM! Jabbs you meat monger keep to the rear!

Battle Map!!!!!!!!!!

Actions posted above, I was aiming to try and get inspire off before we entered melee but whether or not it panned out that way remains to be seen.

Your above actions were already factored in before the fight began in earnest. Consider everyone inspired.

By all that's holy! So many undead...

"Those ones battering the wall down must be stopped! Focus on them, the others are a distraction!"

As before Silas mimes throwing something slippery towards the two larger undead shouting, "Hey fat boys, catch this!"
Free action: Maintain inspire, I think I've used 5/11 rounds.
Standard action: Cast grease underneath both undead pounding the wall down. DC 15 reflex save or fall prone.

Silas since Grease is a close range spell I moved you closer to the action. Let me know if thats ok

Reflex: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (12) - 2 = 10 the two larger undead fall prone on Silas' turn!

I'd want to be the maximum range possible to do this, looks like 25' at lvl 2. I hope somebody can now smash them when they're down! Kind of looking at Michael and Heckor here :D

Michael moves forward, careful to avoid the barrels in his path, and swings his hammer at the zombie closest to him.

Warhammer Power Attack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 5 + 1 - 1 = 15
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 8

Taking a diagonal step up and moving through Silas's square on my way forward. My 20' movement should put me just in range of the very first zombie there.

Gared continues the momentum of his greataxe and swings at the shuffling dead in front of him.

Attack (greataxe): 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (8) + 5 = 13
Damage (greataxe): 1d12 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Round 1
Gared splats a zombie because he is flanking!
Silas makes the two larger zombies fall down, which is good because they can't beat their way into the jail now.
Michael hits a zombie with his hammer, but it stays upright.
Lucanor
Hecktor
??????
Zombies
Percival
Cirthana et al.

MAP MAP

Hecktor closes towards Michael. (can't get to the zombies yet...)

Move: Get to the square below Silas while switching from scythe to longbow.
Standard: Shoot at the zombie Michael just attacked.
Aim and release arrow: 1d20 + 2 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 2 = 10
Dmg if it hits: 1d8 ⇒ 3

And fails.....

Gared, you should be getting inspire bonuses now :) Won't make too much difference since you've been rolling well.

Hecktor you too should be covered by inspire, looks like those last rolls didn't have it.

Round 1
Gared splats a zombie because he is flanking!
Silas makes the two larger zombies fall down, which is good because they can't beat their way into the jail now.
Michael hits a zombie with his hammer, but it stays upright.
Lucanor
Hecktor shoots and misses =(
?????? begins casting a spell

The party hears a voice from the other side of the courtyard, it sounds like almost a hiss...

Come, meet the Princessss, view her glory!

Zombies swarm one of Teedum's lumber jacks and take him down! One of the Lumberjacks near Gared goes down!
Two Zombies attack Michael! Zombie Slam: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 but they miss.
The ogre zombies attempt to stand Acrobatics: 1d20 - 3 ⇒ (11) - 3 = 8 but fail and flail around in the grease still prone.
Cirthana channels positive energy, which destroys one zombie!
Teedum crushes a zombie skull with a wellplaced blow
The Lumberjacks near Gared kill a zombie that took down their friend.

Percival and Lucanor post your round 1 actions, everyone else can begin posting round 2 actions

Gared roars in victory and charges the remaining zombie in the open courtyard, his greataxe whistling through the air as he seeks to put the corpse back to rest.

Attack (greataxe, charge, inspire courage): 1d20 + 5 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 5 + 2 + 1 = 23
Damage (greataxe, inspire courage): 1d12 + 3 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 3 + 1 = 7

Gared roars in defiance at the zombie as he lands a solid hit.

I'm thinking that Gared might branch out into Barbarian now. He seems to be heading much more toward being 'in your face' and I do regret having picked archery as his combat style.

Why? It is by far the best combat style for a 2 handed ranger. You can now do decent damage both ways.

True, I think I'm just missing the additional power of Power Attack and/or Cleave, especially in these situations. How are are we from 3rd at the moment?

"Urgathoa's appeal and validity is crippled by her poor mainstream marketability and false-thinking, forever dooming her to be a second-rate goddess, an ugly monkey existing only to dance and disgust its audience!" Percival calls back to the voice. Swiftly moving up behind Hecktor, he mixes another bomb and lobs it at the zombie being attacked by Michael.

Of the two in front of Michael, attack the southernmost one.
Ranged touch attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7
DC 16 ref save to avoid 1d6 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8 damage, ogre and other zombie taking 5 damage; use Precise Bombs not to hit Michael.

Can we see the figure who cast that spell? Is it the undead with the sword on the map?

@ Gared, you guys will level after this fight....if you survive.
@Silas Yes, Yes

Percival you miss 1d8 ⇒ 3 but the vial lands on the ogre zombie flailing around and does 5 damage.

Somebody needs to get in the face of that spellcaster. If it becomes desperate I could push forward and grease him although I'd be awfully exposed to those zombies. Does anyone have a plan?

Lucanor moves forward and fires another disrupt undead at the nearest zombie

Sorry, I was a bit confused on if my last action had any results and fell behind. Bard bonus included below:

To hit: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (1) + 4 = 5
If it hits, dmg: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Well, not with a roll like that.

Round 2

Michael swings at the same zombie as before, hoping to bring the monstrosity down this time.
"Die, damnit! Die!"

Warhammer power attack: 1d20 + 5 + 1 - 1 ⇒ (17) + 5 + 1 - 1 = 22
Damage: 1d8 + 3 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 3 + 2 + 1 = 12

Swinging at the zombie diagonal to me again. If it goes down, I want to 5-foot step into its position.

Round 2

Move to the square below Michael.
Standard: attack bottom zombie.

Swing scythe: 1d20 + 2 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 2 + 4 + 1 = 11
If it hits: 2d4 + 6 + 1 ⇒ (3, 4) + 6 + 1 = 14

For the love of the gods....dmg sweet, but why does the roll have to suck...

Round 1 recap
Gared splats a zombie because he is flanking!
Silas makes the two larger zombies fall down, which is good because they can't beat their way into the jail now.
Michael hits a zombie with his hammer, but it stays upright.
Lucanor tried to disrupt undead
Hecktor shoots and misses =(
?????? begins casting a spell
Zombies did a buncha stuff
Percival threw a bomb, missed
Cirthana et al. did a buncha stuff

Round 2
Gared splats a zombie
Silas
Michael hits a zombie with his hammer it's skull is disentigrated.
Lucanor
Hecktor swings, misses.
??????
Zombies
Percival
Cirthana et al.

MAP MAP

I wonder what manner of creature that spellcaster is? If I knew its weaknesses...
Knowledge religion: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9
I feel like I should know but my mind is numb, too much has happened, too fast...

Let's see if it can be hurt!
Silas takes a careful aim, while another part of his mind yells encouragements to his allies, exhorting them to push in and engage the apparent source of the undead.
To Hit: 1d20 + 4 + 1 ⇒ (14) + 4 + 1 = 19
Damage: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Free action: maintain inspire, 6/11 rounds
Standard action: shoot bow at the spell caster
Move action: none

@Niles does the party have more holy water left?

Gared spins away from the tumbling corpse and moves back towards the main fight, running towards the battle.

Gared will double move to the square diagonally left of the zombie in front of Michael, leaving himself room to charge the large zombies if needs be.

Not making a good showing of yourself, Lucanor Lucanor casts for the third time, aiming for any zombie heading towards a townsfolk

Disrupt undead,Ranged Touch 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (2) + 4 = 6
dmg: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6

Round 2
Gared splats a zombie
Silas shoots and misses the caster, the arrow lodges into the barrels he is partially covered by.
Michael hits a zombie with his hammer it's skull is disintegrated.
Lucanor fires a bolt of disruptive energy, but misses.
Hecktor swings, misses.
Cultist Leader finishes casting the previous spell and 1d4 ⇒ 1 swarm of tiny screaming skulls appear behind Michael, the skulls begin screaming and everyone must make a will save DC 11 or be shaken for 1d4 ⇒ 3 rounds. The cultist begins casting another spell

The zombies take down one of Cirthana's defenders and move to attack Payday. He dodges their feeble blows. The scream seems to affect him!
One attacks Michael Zombie!: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 2 = 9 but fails.
The ogre zombies struggle to get upright Acrobatics: 1d20 - 2 ⇒ (8) - 2 = 6 but are not successful.

Cirthana channels and destroys the zombie threatening her, Payday fights defensively, frightened of the zombies and death around him! The other lumberjacks run away!

Gared do you want to amend you actions?

Willsave: 1d20 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (6) + 2 + 1 = 9

..You've got to be kidding me....the rolls just aren't in my favor this fight.

Btw, any1 going to help Payday and the lady? Who knows if baldy's nerves break down. :)

I was standing diagonally left below Michael, did the skulls push me back?
I'll wait for Michael's action.

Will save: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (17) + 3 = 20

With the appearance of the screaming skull, Gared switches his target and charges the magical entity with a scream of his own.

Attack (greataxe, charge): 1d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 2 = 23, +1 if inspire courage is still active
Damage (greataxe): 1d12 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12

I'm hoping all we hear is the sound of the skull flying off into the distance as Gared hits a home run! He'll wind up in the box under the bottom skull in the picture.

Will save: 1d20 ⇒ 4

And go go gadget failed will save!

Round 2 recap
Gared splats a zombie
Silas shoots and misses the caster, the arrow lodges into the barrels he is partially covered by.
Michael hits a zombie with his hammer it's skull is disintegrated.
Lucanor fires a bolt of disruptive energy, but misses.
Hecktor swings, misses.
Cultist Leader finishes casting the previous spell and 1 swarm of tiny screaming skulls appear behind Michael, the skulls begin screaming and everyone must make a will save DC 11 or be shaken for 3 rounds. The cultist begins casting another spell and Silas is paralyzed for 3 rounds!
Zombies do a bunch of stuff.
Percival Post round 2 actions and round 3 asap
Cirthana et al.does a bunch of stuff

Round 3
Gared bravely charges the swarm and swings a massive blow dealing 6 damage to the swarm and destroying several of the component skulls.
Silas paralyzed
Michael *shaken*
Lucanor
Hecktor *shaken*
Cultist Leader and Skull Swarm
Zombies
Percival *shaken*
Cirthana and Payday

Good call on the movement Hecktor, now take 1d6 ⇒ 1 damage from the swarm =)