Iron Gods: Forged into Legends

Game Master polyfrequencies

Raising an eyebrow again, Keldor acts out with obviously false outrage, putting his hands on his hips.

“Rest? M’lady..if that’s what you refer to as ‘rest’ I really don’t want to see what you do when you are working hard!”

"Thawm, was that sexual innuendo?", Basil asks of her companion, not waiting for Keldor and Din to leave.

"I don't think it counts as 'innuendo' when it's that obvious." Thawm comments with one hand on her chin, her other hand folded under the first arm's elbow, and her head nodding; pretending ponderousness.

Letting her arms drop, she shrugs and adds "Anyway, I'll pour over my book tomorrow morning and pray to Nethys for things that should help. G'night, everyone."

Thawm starts to get ready for bed.

"Oh, in that case..." Basil turns to Dinvaya "I do understand the male role in this act from observation of animals, but the role of the female seems to differ in humanoids - passive acceptance does not seem to match the males expectation - so I am quite uncertain what IS expected of the female participant. Dinvaya, in the interest of scientific pursuit, do you mind if I watch to learn?"

Haha, don't forget that Basil won't get offended by a blunt no without explanation, but she literally has no shame.

She just laughs. Enjoying the awkward. "Sorry Basil, Keldor only tonight. Unless Keldor wants more company" she walks into her room, leaving the door open for Keldor and whomever else.

---- Fade to black ---
The next morning comes quick. You can find Dinvaya working on tools as her morning ritual for preparing spells. "Anything specific I should bring with me today? That fly will be handy, for sure. Not sure how deep their lair goes."

Thawm shrugs. "I'll bring a horse. Maybe that luck spell or some sort of monster summoning spells? Oh and something to protect the four of us from fire. Maybe also a prayer to aid us and hinder our foes..." Thawm nods as she thinks aloud, planning her own preparations.

Resist Energy Communal, maybe prepped twice, would be good.
Prayer is always a good choice. Maybe also double xD
Aid would be good
And all teh summon monster spells for fire elementals to torch the troll xD
And Lucky number would be a decent use of 4 of her 1st level slots :D
Maybe a few other random goodies like abundant ammuntion if she has the slots...

Once everybody is ready, Keldor will summon Gauntlet.

"We can only prepare so much my friends. We must trust in our instincts as well."

I'd like to divvy/select some equipment from the loot sheet: +1 composite Longbow; 5x +1 human Bane Arrows; A ring with a head of a ram (17 charges remaining); Potion of cure moderate wounds x2; Wand of Scorching Ray (16 charges) -- We might want to let Dinvaya select from some of our excess equipment too. Anything we might not use ourselves?

"I utilized some of your supplies to replenish my ammunition. That is as far as preparation is possible for me. I will, of course, compensate you for what I used up.", Basil states when Dinvaya emerges from her quarters, currently busy loading grenades into the launcher.

If your girlfriend does get some of our loot, I think it's only fair I dip into her supplies too :P otherwise I can pay some silver disks.

Looking through the gear "Not sure what all will be useful here, but this cloak is better than what I have. Could be handy"

She removes Cloak of resistance +1

"When we get a bit closer I can use my inner sight to get a glimpse of what is head of us. "

Once everyone is ready we can approach

Thawm casts Mount, so that she can arrive in style.

An enormous battlefield sprawls here-a fighting arena that measures several hundred feet in diameter, ringed by mounds of junk and refuse stacked in tiers for seating. The ring has an arched opening in its westernmost end to allow access to the arena, while against the eastern side, a large metallic structure akin to a squat tower protrudes from the hard-packed earth. A wooden stairway wraps around the tower's sides, and a twenty­ foot-tall stage protrudes from its western facade, overlooking the
arena below.

You can see a few orcs sparing in the arena.

How do you wish to approach? There wasn't a scheduled fight time, So they may not be expecting you currently.

Keldor/Gauntlet will lead the procession, basically suggesting a diamond formation allowing the three ladies to be situated behind him however they feel is appropriate.

"Whatever happen ladies: Let's do this with style, grace, and a show of civilized strength over utter chaos."

Does there appear to be anyone in charge?

Perception: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (1) + 9 = 10

"Acknowledged. Civilized strength.", Basil confirms, as she loads another Grenade into the Launcher.
Heightened Awareness and See Invisibility are online as buffs when we approach(10 min/level), as we enter the actual Arena, Longshot will also be activated(1 min/level).
"I will be on the lookout for anything deviating from expected parameters."
Perception: 1d20 + 13 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 13 + 2 = 25

Thawm stays within arm's reach of Basil, hoping to give her Abundant Ammunition if things go south.
"Makes me miss our ballista. Next time we show up somewhere unannounced, I want to bring it."

Thawm also keeps an eye out for someone who looks in charge.
Perception: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Like I said in discussion. Just been having a hard time getting to the forum. New contract has ment I am on a new machine a lot more. Discord has been a lot easier.. but I will keep post going here :). Also for some reason I can't read my PMs here..

Quickly looking around, it looks like there are plenty of places for people to watch fights. The people training seem like they could get someone in charge if called out to.

Do you want to make yourself known? You do see the wooden stairway that goes up the tower. There is a way in the tower. If you wanted to go in without making a scene. Or at least delaying a scene.

"Let us announce ourselves properly and see what they have planned for us. We could possibly bypass them, but that would mean having our retreat cut off and being surrounded.", Basil suggests to Keldor, the grenade launcher casually hip-aimed towards where the people were training. "If there will be hostilities, a sequential handling of enemy groups would be preferable over simultaneous."

"Agreed." Thawm nods from atop her horse, looking to Keldor to do the talking.

Keldor/Gauntlet nods.

"Agreed. If things escalate, you all retreat while I hold them off, then I can teleport a short distance with Gauntlet and/or grow wings to escape as needed."

He then turns to the arena shouting:

"WE HAVE BEEN INVITED! BRING FORTH THOSE WHO WOULD SPEAK WITH US!"

The Orcs turn to the yelling, then run inside.. Not a few seconds later a large Troll walks out and yells back "WELCOME! You here to fight!? If you are, let us gather the spectators to watch!!" her voice echos through the hills and trash of the city.. Even before she is done, almost like rats being shaken from their nests people start to fill the seats. Orcs, humans, and some ratfolk.

Behind you Dinvaya mentions "They do like to make a show. I bet if we win we can just go in.. cause any ruckus we want. All of these people know you know, or at least know of you. You have built a reputation. Even a bit mysterious one."

The Troll stands near one side of the arena, "Come.. you have the scrapworth to fight me. If you can knock me out we can talk about you joining the Lords of Rust!!" with that last the crowed starts to yell, even as they start to fill the seats. 2 Ogres also walk out onto the arena. Standing on either side of her.

"Illogical. If she is their champion, the terms don't compute. If we knock her out, there is no reason to consider submission to their leadership. In that situation, she would have to consider joining us.", Basil comments on the shouted statement.

"It's not like she's a Lord of Rust." Thawm shrugs from atop her horse before casting Abundant Ammunition and touching Basil's bandolier of ammunition.

it's all in a bandolier, right? or a pouch?
Also, that standard action might be the Surprise round :D
@Basil: you have infinity ammo until round 60 :D

Keldor sounds skeptical and speaks quietly.

"Don't expect Trolls or Ogre's to abide by any rule other than 'the strongest is in charge.' But...what are the rules here? Can we fight him/them as a group, or am I to challenge the Troll alone? I'm unsure of our odds either way. I don't have any fire or acid I fear... Defeat? Or am I just supposed to 'knock' him unconcious? A troll...? Is that even possible"

It seems likely the troll thinks she will just recover from any wounds, but you are not sure what happens if you fully killed her. Though with this amount of people watching you will likely make even more of a name for yourself.

Group move down into the arena? Start init?

Essentially this is a fight between you 3 and the Troll and 2 ogres. They assume they will win, but if you do you will essentially gain access to the rest of the Lords territory.

we can knock her out without killing her as long as we don't use fire. She'll recover from anything that doesn't involve fire or acid damage. Unreasonably quickly, too.

"Seems expedient to kill the troll." Thawm shrugs, not caring much whether the vile beast lives or dies as long as she doesn't block the path forward.

"Agreed, but I only hesitate since I'm still unsure of this whole thing...Diplomacy is not usually aided by fists and blades."

Casting Protection from Evil and Cat's Grace on myself/Gauntlet, each is 1 min /lvl duration.

Then Gauntlet starts walking into the arena.

As the group prepares and steps into the arena the enemies start to charge. And the crowed goes wild.

Map is updated. No grid, but just do your best. Figure your size is 5 feet. let me know if you have any questions. Going to be maybe a bit more loose here.

Round 1
Basil, Thawm <--
Helskarg
Gauntlet
Ogre1, Ogre2

Thawm begins casting Summon Monster 3 from atop her conjured steed.

@Basil: don't forget you have abundant ammunition from the surprise round :D
unrelated: I made Thawm fat to reflect the fact that she's on a horse and that she wanted to be within reach of Basil to cast that Abundant Ammunition on Basil

Basil fires one of the Grenades in the middle of the enemies.
1d20 + 9 ⇒ (11) + 9 = 20 Targetting intersection is usually DC 5 attack roll so I guess that hits. I suspect I can hit the troll and one of the ogres.
Bludgeoning on impact: 5d6 ⇒ (1, 6, 2, 1, 3) = 13

She then casually puts the grenade launcher on her back again, opting to draw her pistol next.

I know @Abundant, but I did start with the grenade launcher in hand as I did not know what we'd be up against. Also, I'll spend next turn drawing my gun, moving, and casting a buff spell(+starting judgement). So it will only really be relevant starting round 3, but then I'll make good use of it.

Helskarg Reflex: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (4) + 6 = 10
Ogre2 Reflex: 1d20 ⇒ 3

Both creatures in the blast get hit with the concusive wave out of the tech grenade. The Troll laughs and the crowed cheers. She holds a strange gun with a spiked tip on the end. Aiming the gun like object straight at Thawm who is casting a spell. "GET OVER HERE" she yells as the muffled boom of the gun lets out the strange metal spiked tip straight at thawm, with a trailing rope connecting it to the gun.

Helskarg vs Thawm: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (19) + 9 = 28
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10

As it hits thawm tiny spurs spliter out grabbing onto her body. Now teathered to the Trolls body by a thin metal cord.

Round 1
Basil, Thawm (-10 and tethered)
Helskarg (-13)
Gauntlet <--
Ogre1, Ogre2 (-13)

concentration: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (14) + 9 = 23 vs DC23
In spite of the interruption, Thawm continues her spellcasting, only wincing briefly as she gets impaled.

29/39 HP
Can I try to untether myself? Is it a standard action?

You can try to break the cord (it has AC, hardness, and HP) or you can try to snap the cord with Strength check. It's really in there. And the metal looks strong

Round 1
Basil, Thawm (-10 and tethered)
Helskarg (-13)
Gauntlet <--
Ogre1, Ogre2 (-13)

Praying silently to himself, Keldor/Gauntlet speaks a Draconic phrase and his hands suddenly start dripping an oily liquid that causes puffs of smoke when they strike the ground!

Smite Evil (Helskarg)-Swift Action, casting Lesser Evolution Surge(Acid attacks)-Standard action, Move action toward Helskarg...Since the cable is stretched between Helskarg and Thawm, can I simply reach out toward the cable and touch it with a free action as I move to do some acid damage to the cable?

"You were wrong to ignore me...NO MERCY THEN!"

You can totally apply acid to the cable, but unless it gets over hardness it wont do anything. I think in this instance even energy damage isn't going to do much. It's a pretty sturdy cable.

The two ogres beat their chest and move forward to either side of Gauntlet, though not quite flanking. With a bit of reach they both swing their greatclubs toward him.

Ogre1 vs Gauntlet: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (16) + 7 = 23
Ogre2 vs Gauntlet: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 27 Hits, but does it crit? Are you 28 vs all evil, or just ones you smite?

The clubs swing down and bounce off his armor, but one hits just right as he approaches.
Damage: 2d8 + 7 ⇒ (3, 5) + 7 = 15 Double if 27 would crit from these

Round 1
Basil, Thawm (-10 and tethered) <--
Helskarg (-13)
Gauntlet (-15 maybe -30)
Ogre1, Ogre2 (-13)

Acid Damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Technically with the cat’s grace and prot from evil, my AC is 30, and is 33 vs Helskarg with smite evil. Doesn’t he have to roll to confirm a crit?

I keep mixing up rules systems. yeah he can't confirm, but since it was a nat20 it hits. Just the -15 though

The acid from Gauntlet's hand doesn't seem to damage the cord.

Round 1
Basil, Thawm (-10 and tethered) <--
Helskarg (-13)
Gauntlet (-15)
Ogre1, Ogre2 (-13)

know engineer +tech feat: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (17) + 10 = 27
Does Thawm know how many hp the cable has?

Thawm looks down at the teather connecting her to the Trolls gun. based on the metal it could be she expects it to have the following statistics:
AC: 12
Hardness: 10
HP:20

A DC 32 Strength check could break it as well.

Oof, I'll need at least 2 rays, probably 3, to break it...

Thawm finishes summoning a Lantern Archon, and then she casts Haste on herself, her horse, Basil, Keldor, and the Archon.

"Ogres first." she orders through grit teeth.

She braces herself in her horse's saddle, hoping that she at least won't just get yanked off.

dunno if a move action would help anything at all here, but I'll do a thing if any move action could...
Otherwise, it's just fluff xD

duration until round 10
18 AC vs evil
13/13 hp
DR 10/evil
Hasted until round 7
Aura of Menace (DC 13; 20' radius; fail = –2 on attacks, AC, and saves until they hit the archon (or SMIII ends))

The lantern archon appears mid air just above and behind Keldor.
As it becomes magically hasted, it unleashes three beams of light in quick succession against the ogre on the left.
up on the map

Ranged Touch -firing into melee?: 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (17) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 17
DR bypassing damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Ranged Touch -firing into melee?: 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 14
DR bypassing damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Ranged Touch -firing into melee?: 1d20 + 3 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (10) + 3 + 1 - 4 = 10
DR bypassing damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

BTW, I just realized this is round 2
Also, DC 13 will saves for both the ogres :D

"A mistake, indeed. Consider your lifes forfeit. This is your last chance to surrender."
Basil draws her gun, adjusting the chamber before switching to fluent Androffan:<Androffan>"Nanite restrictions lifted for limited use until the enemy has been rendered silent."</Androffan>

Swift to start Judgement, move action to draw Gun, Standard to invoke Flames of the Faithful.

The dreaded Archon. Too powerful a summon IMO.. but hey you gotta do what you gotta do!

Ogre1 Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (9) + 3 = 12
Ogre2 Will: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8

The 3 cretures turn to Basil, "Huh? What it say?". You are not sure if its was the Androffan or the common.

The Troll pushes a button on the gun device and it starts to yank Thawm toward her.
Pull maneuver: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (6) + 16 = 22
The cord goes slack and Thawm goes flying forward toward the troll at high speed. Flying past Gauntlet and Basil.

The troll stares down at Thawm with a big grin.

Leaving large Thawm as horse summon

Round 2
Basil, Thawm (-10 and tethered)
Helskarg (-13)
Gauntlet (-15) <--
Ogre1 (-13), Ogre2 (-13)
(both -2 AC, Saves, Attacks)

These guys aren't giving me much choice here... Keldor is absorbing 7 out of the 15 points going to Gauntlet, then he activates his Maker's Jump ability to Dimension Door behind the Troll. Range on the spell-like ability is about 720 feet, so I think I'm in range.

"You ignore me at your PERIL beast!"

*BAMF*
...
*BAMF*

"Turn and face your doom harridan."

Hold on Thawm! I'm trying! Basil, the Ogres are all yours now.

I'll pull out my knife and we can flank it xD
Also, the troll will have to figure out how it wants to handle the weapon to attack. If it's an auto-grapnel, it's a two hander normally. I suspect the troll has a special one or something, though. It looked like a 1-hander in the pic T_T

She's large sized so she's probably canuse it one handed with penalties or something like that. Just watch out for her bite. That's usually the worst troll attack.

With Guantlet jumping behind Helskarg the two ogres look at eachother and run in different directions.

Ogre1 vs Basil: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (2) + 7 - 2 = 7
Ogre2 vs Thawm flank: 1d20 + 7 - 2 ⇒ (4) + 7 - 2 = 9 Hits with flank I believe
Damage: 2d8 + 7 ⇒ (3, 3) + 7 = 13

Round 3
Basil, Thawm (-23 and tethered) <--
Helskarg (-13)
Gauntlet (-15)
Ogre1 (-13), Ogre2 (-13)
(both -2 AC, Saves, Attacks)

I'll be able to post later, but I'd like confirmation on the following: 1. The ogres have reach, and he is using reach to attack me. 2. The second ogre is then 5+10+5+5 feet away from me(5 feet to ogre 1, 10 feet ogre 1, 5 feet to ogre 2, 5 feet to be within range)? It is relevant for my tactical considerations as I'd like to do a full attack with both of them in range, but if possible I'd prefer not provoking an AoO.

yeah, flanking is +2 which hits her current AC of 11

We REALLY need to do something about your AC Thawm. Isn't there a decent defense spell you can use...Blur at least?

for that attack to have missed by AC half of the time, I would've needed +6 AC before the cover bonus from Gauntlet. That's just 50/50 odds and it's counting on you being in the way.
Reasonable defense from AC probably starts around 75% chance to not get wrecked. That'd mean 16+ to hit. In this case, with +9 to hit, that's 25 AC. Thawm can't actually get that at all without cover.
I think blur and/or mirror image make sense.

Mirror Image seems like a splendid idea for Thawm. That, and maybe getting a way to get summons out as Standard, or find other ways to contribute that don't take full-round. Casters that are still casting when your turn comes up are prime targets for interrupt.