KC's Age of Worms

Game Master Kobold Catgirl

Just realized Astraden exposed her lack of knowledge of dinosaur species. She and Cuetzpalli are going to have to have a long talk next time they're alone.

Astraden points her gaseous hand towards the beach and sails off on a gust of wind.

Do we want to land and transform back to physical bodies before we meet them? Otherwise we'll have to wait 5 rounds to be able to cast spells and such.

Yeah, we should land just a ways off from the beach, re-solidify, then cast buffs before moving back in on foot.

I will try to move things along by Monday.

Okay, I have a Tue-Sat schedule, so I actually didn't realize yesterday was already the weekend when I made that post. Let's say by or on Tuesday!

Dein-what now? How does she not...? Whatever...

Cuetzpalli gives Astraden a peck on the cheek in thanks for the spell. "Alright, let's kick some ass."

Oops, I hadn't updated Astraden's spells on her sheet to this preparation. OK to retcon in that we spent an extra 15 minutes after eating letting her prepare freedom of movement in her saved 4th-level slot?

After landing, Astraden goes around giving her friends various boons of the trickster god.

Magic circle against evil centered on Farrukh and Carina, magic circle against law on Eben, copycat on Astraden, magic vestment +3 on Clunk's cloak, invisibility on Astraden, owl's wisdom on Cuetzpalli, shield of faith +4 on Tanith, shield of faith +4 on Krekie (if she wants it), and communal air walk on everyone but Krathanos lasting 20 minutes for everyone but Astraden (for whom it lasts 10).

Still trying to process the fact that their attempts at negotiation with a mentally unstable, nigh-psychotic titan were successful, Carina goes about preparing her usual complement of self-buffs.

Mutagen, False Life, Shield, Communal Stoneskin on everyone.

False Life: 1d10 + 10 ⇒ (2) + 10 = 12

Sounds good, Astraden!

Eben does about half the spellcasting he normally would. "I'll do haste and stuff after a fight breaks out, but they might start off by tossing a dispel at us," he says by way of explanation on his magical parsimony. After his normal suite of buffs, he gives a moments consideration and makes Farrukh invisible, with a boost from his extension rod. "We know that Darl can see through it, but the rest of them probably can't, plus they don't know we know, so this way it might not look like Krekie spilled the beans..." As they walk further down to the beach, he keeps his bow stashed in his quiver, but keeps his glass rod of Quickened spells at hand.

Casting good hope on everyone, cat's grace, gravity bow, and shield on me, all cast without metamagic, so about 140 rounds each.. Greater magic weapon is still in effect from yesterday and will be for some hours. Extended greater invisibility on Farrukh, lasting 28 rounds.

The dinosaur-disguised Krathanos seems rather surprised to see Krekie join the party, but says little. He's focused on playing his role now, growling and snapping at random imagined birds. Or maybe he's just like that.

After some journey, the party arrives at the section of the cliffs from which the smoke rises. A wide, porous canyon slices through the cliffs, descending at a slower pace down to a rocky beach below. The constant drizzling rain forms shallow pools and rivulets in the sand.

As the party draws near the smoke, Krekie leaves, determined to scout ahead at least a little.

She returns looking agitated, and quickly lays out what she saw.

The enemies are gathered around a roaring bonfire. The efreeti sharpens his falchion against a boulder next to his burning shadow mount as the great horned devil picks its teeth with what looks suspiciously like a shard of roc bone. Two tiefling women sit on a fallen dritwood log together. Three hulking beasts, like enormous contorted panthers, pace aimlessly near a familiar-sounding illithid. At the center of it all stands Darl Qethos. He alone in the party seems agitated, repeatedly glancing up at the sun's position and scowling darkly. The armored minotaur sulks away from the fire in the shadow of an old dire fig tree, less injured but still visibly favoring one shoulder.

The map is updated. The southern map is in case the fight spills further south to the beach--they don't lock together perfectly, but we'll basically handwave it.

I've placed the party based on how close they can get before they can reasonably expect to be spotted. Some vague elevation levels are marked throughout the map--when flying/air walking, mention your elevation both in each post and in a Comment on the map.

Here's what Krekie told you about the enemy, by the way.

"Damn, wish I still had some fireballs. Should have bought another necklace." Farrukh laments.

"Take down the spellcasters first?" Cuetzpalli asks as he casts shield on himself.

"Doubt a fireball would do much good against this crew..." Eben mutters. "If Astraden can cast silence on someone like Farrukh when the fighting starts, and he can run in and get up close and personal with Darl while the rest of us who might be casting spells stay out of the silent zone, it may make things easier. Zyrxog, too, if we can keep both of them pinned down like that. Might not be possible though. Priority should be Darl."

"Whatever we do, we must be decisive," Clunk rumbles. "Hypothesis: They did not anticipate our punctuality, considering they appear unprepared for our attack."

"We need to call targets and focus fire as much as possible. I say we kill squid-face first..."

Astraden speaks invisibly, from somewhere above and behind Cuetzpalli. "When I was praying last night, Olidammara gave me a spell that he said I have to try. It's supposed to be useful against even silent casters, so I was thinking of centering it on squid-face. But we can't plan for that."

When the party gets close enough:

"Okay everyone, SHHH!"

Silence on Farrukh Tanith (Farrukh is invisible!). Casting the spell is probably loud enough to attract attention, and the spell takes a round to cast so will eat up either her first round of actions or her surprise round and first standard action of the next round.

Oh, and currently, she's at 5' off the ground, which I think is like 20' above datum?

Tanith nods in agreement with Cuetzpalli. "The illithid goes down first."

Tanith might need to cast spells or something, same with Cuetz. If Farrukh's being invisible makes silence hazardous, maybe center it on Clunk?

"I still say Darl's more dangerous, but fine, the people doing the punching can make the call. Zyrxog's brain-blasting is definitely bad, too." Eben reluctantly concedes the point.

"I can turn invisible and try to line up a shot, take some out quickly." Krekie looks uneasy, shifting from claw to claw. "Who should I target with it? Not Darl."

"I can turn invisible and try to line up a shot, take some out quickly." Krekie looks uneasy, shifting from claw to claw. "Who should I target with it? Not Darl."

"Darl's more dangerous, but we've got a rubbery tentacle to pick with our boneless friend. Go for Zyrxog."

We had some discussions in the discord, and yeah, turning Tanith silent is not ideal. But Clunk has SR to lower and raise, and Farrukh might not be available for touch-targeting since the spell takes a whole round to cast, so, retconning the silence to another opening spell.

After telling everyone to SHHHH:

"Watch this!"

The sharp red glow of the fire across the canyon suddenly dims and washes out, becoming a fuzzy grey light. The dark purple forms of the strange panthers take on a similar dulled tone. The very rain above the enemy camp seems to wash out. And then, a streak of gold and violet, like a lightning bolt, ripples through the distant area.

Spellscar, 15 x 10x10' cubes marked on the map momentarily.

Needless overcomplication strikes again! Now the cubes are marked on the map. It was actually 30x 10x10' cubes (2xCL). They are in a group, so if you click on one of them and then choose to add a fill to that shape, they will all fill with that color. Can be useful for figuring out where there is spellscar and where there is not. I've left holes in the effect so that Medium folks can stand safely without having to roll checks, with the idea that once we get the melee crew in there they can body the casters into the spellscar zone and take the safe spots for themselves. Don't quite have enough radius to both ensure that the NPCs can't take one move action to leave, and also get total coverage.

I've also added small yellow smiley faces to show where there is an "open" space with a spellscar ceiling, and green smiley faces to show where there is an open space without a ceiling (so a flying creature could go to one of these spaces and leave).

Spellscar! Primal magic!

"Wait... you mean we're just gonna open with an attack? We're not going to pretend to have a bantering parlay first, even though both sides know it will just end in an inevitable death match?" Eben sounds horrified. "But... that's just not how things are done... oh, fine." He gets ready to start a performance and do some spellcasting.

If we can take any actions yet, I'll Quick-cast haste and start inspiring. If not, I'll wait till roundtime is upon us.

Yeah, I was just procrastinating the Initiative roll.

Hero Inits (C,K): 1d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 4 + 2 = 221d20 + 3 + 2 ⇒ (15) + 3 + 2 = 201d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (16) + 11 + 2 = 291d20 + 4 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 4 + 2 = 111d20 + 0 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 0 + 2 = 51d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 5 + 2 = 261d20 + 8 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 8 + 2 = 201d20 + 5 + 2 ⇒ (7) + 5 + 2 = 14

Enemy Inits (K,D,Z,E,S,M,N,Ni,Di,C): 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (2) + 7 = 91d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 101d20 + 8 ⇒ (8) + 8 = 161d20 + 7 ⇒ (15) + 7 = 221d20 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 8 = 141d20 + 6 ⇒ (19) + 6 = 251d20 + 8 ⇒ (13) + 8 = 211d20 + 6 ⇒ (12) + 6 = 181d20 + 1 ⇒ (15) + 1 = 161d20 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

Init Order
Farrukh/Cuetzpalli
Minotaur/Efreeti
Astraden
Horned Devil
Carina/Clunk
Cauchemar Nightmare/Zyrxog/Displacer Beasts/Sabir Sinfire
Krekie/Eben
Darl Qethos
Krathanos
Tanith
Other Carina

Round 0: Farrukh, Carina and Cuetzpalli are up! Krekie, Krathanos and Clunk will take their turns after everyone else.

I'll try to post the proper effects of Astraden's spell when I can, but assume that in a surprise round, you don't have a ton of time to wait and see what happened regardless.

Really, there shouldn't be any effects yet, apart from the enemy reacting verbally/uncanny dodge-ways. Only casting a spell or activating a magic item will trigger the spellscar.

Cuetzpalli casts keen edge on Kelmarchen.

Mirror images: 1d4 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Carina chugs an extract of Displacement!

Farrukh shakes his shield a bit to renew its flight enchantment, then subtly shifts his stance, borrowing a bit of time from his future.

Casting Fly, switching stance to God of the Hourglass, just in case.

Realized it might be good to post a duration list.
Wind walk lasts like 10 hours on Astraden, Carina, Cuetzpalli, Eben, Farrukh, Tanith, Clunk and Krekie. Also, oops. Wind walk only covers 5 people plus Astraden, which means Clunk and Krekie would've been left in the lurch. OK to retcon in that she spent an action point to cast it twice? [10/12]
Freedom of movement lasts like two hours on Cuetzpalli.
Veil on Krathanos lasts a bunch of hours.
Magic circle against evil centered on Farrukh lasts about 149 minutes.
Magic circle against evil centered on Carina lasts about 149 minutes.
Magic circle against law centered on Eben lasts about 149 minutes.
Copycat on Astraden lasts 1 round.
Magic vestment +3 lasts just under 15 hours on Clunk's cloak
Invisibility on Astraden lasts 146 rounds.
Owl's wisdom on Cuetzpalli lasts 147 rounds.
Shield of faith +4 on Tanith lasts 148 rounds.
Shield of faith +4 on Krekie lasts 149 rounds.
Communal air walk on everyone but Krathanos lasts just under 20 minutes for everyone but Astraden (for whom it lasts 10).
Spellscar lasts 1500 rounds.

Yeah, feel free to retcon that Action Point.

OK, in that vein, but not as extensive:
Good Hope is up on everyone, lasting about 14 minutes.
Everyone is under the effects of Inspire Courage, and will continue to be for 2 rounds after Eben stops peforming for any reason.
Haste is up on everyone, lasting 14 rounds.
Greater invisibility is on Farrukh for 28 rounds.

Eben is personally buffed by cat's grace, gravity bow, and shield, likewise lasting about 14 minutes.

Eben has about half a day of greater magic weapon on his bow.

Cuetzpalli might still have GMW cast on him; depends on whether or not this post happened less than 28 hours ago.

Let's see... you rested eight hours right after entering the Library of Last Resort and had awful dreams, then traveled for eight hours, then rested again and had more awful dreams, then fought Harrowdroth and fast-traveled to the Roc King's corpse, then spent overall eight hours traveling to and dealing with Krathanos and coming down here.

It's been about 24-26 hours since you arrived in Tilagos. Thanks to the peculiar nature of time in this demiplane, it's always considered a viable time to recover spells, so you've been going pretty fast through it all. But yeah, your Greater Magic Weapon is still up.

Thanks guys, was definitely missing a few buffs.

Your GMW bonus is +3, correct, Eben?

Thanks guys, was definitely missing a few buffs.

Your GMW bonus is +3, correct, Eben?

Yes indeed.

Krathanos gives Farrukh a smirk. "Ask, and you shall receive."

As he rounds the corner, the vast dinosaur raises his claws to give a great clap... then pauses, frowning as he studies the area. He turns to the group, a question on his lips.

Olidammara's laughter echoes across the veins of blue-and-black magic-twisting energy. The veins streak through the air, infusing the area like an infection. In a hidden position to the east, Krekie finishes loading a clip of poisoned bolts into her crossbow and turns invisible. Clunk vanishes as well. The group hears the displacer beasts yowling and hissing at the strange, unnatural aura.

Krathanos throws head back and laughs. "Oh, how adorable. A mage's trick! You chase ghosts, little ones. Well, except for the cats. A waste of my talents." He keeps his 'hands' up and keeps his eyes peeled, clearly readying for something else.

Round 1: Farrukh and Cuetzpalli!

Farrukh pauses for a moment and frowns as well.

"Wait, are they not here? Like an illusion or something?"

"Ha! Yes, Farrukh Al'Khatel, they're mere figments. Try not to feel too bad." Krathanos smirks. "Not everyone possesses the heightened awareness of Krathanos the Conqueror."

Farrukh turns directly toward the screen and gives it A Look sighs deeply.

"Looks like they weren't as overconfident as we thought. What now?"

Eben says a few bad words. Then grimaces. "They called us here, I bet they're waiting to ambush us. Which we knew they were gonna do, we just... kind of got caught up in other things. This is like Madtooth... make us use up our spells first." He glares at Astraden's field of weirdness. "I bet that would have been really fun too..."

Astraden spits in disgust. "Clunk, you sense any mind flayers in the area?"

Cuetzpalli looks very very angry at being tricked.

"Hate," is all he manages to say, wringing the hilt of Kelmarchen as if it were Zyrxog's neck.

The minotaur and efreeti delay, so it's Astraden's turn. :)

Astraden shrugs, now visible after her attack spell, and continues weaving protections over her friends. "In for a copper, out for a gold."

Guidance on Cuetzpalli lasts 10 rounds.

She splits off another duplicate.

Copycat lasts 15 rounds.

Wind walk lasts like 10 hours on Astraden, Carina, Cuetzpalli, Eben, Farrukh, Tanith, Clunk and Krekie.
Freedom of movement lasts like two hours on Cuetzpalli.
Veil on Krathanos lasts a bunch of hours.
Magic circle against evil centered on Farrukh lasts about 149 minutes.
Magic circle against evil centered on Carina lasts about 149 minutes.
Magic circle against law centered on Eben lasts about 149 minutes.
Copycat on Astraden lasts 15 rounds.
Magic vestment +3 lasts just under 15 hours on Clunk's cloak.
Owl's wisdom on Cuetzpalli lasts 146 rounds.
Shield of faith +4 on Tanith lasts 147 rounds.
Shield of faith +4 on Krekie lasts 148 rounds.
Communal air walk on everyone but Krathanos lasts just under 20 minutes for everyone but Astraden (for whom it lasts 10).
Spellscar lasts 1499 rounds.
Guidance on Cuetzpalli lasts 10 rounds

Round 1: Horned Devil

There is a whining feedback sound like a thousand mosquitos being tortured, and atop a hill overlooking Krekie and the party, a great tall scaled devil pops into existence. Bristling with terrible spines and a crown of deadly horns, this leering winged terror wields a whirling barbed chain. He grins down at the party. "We apologize for the delay. Your presence is very important to us."

He flaps his vast wings, rising twenty feet higher in the air.

Round 1: Carina and Clunk are up. Any action ideas for the kolyarut?

Carina chugs an extract of Death Ward!

Using death ward extract. Spending AP to keep it.

I assume Clunk would know he's unlikely to affect the cornugon with a SLA? I would say either delay until either Darl one of the sinfires pops their head above ground, then toss enervate at them, or else just use it on a displacer beast now.

I was thinking about running Locate Creature on Darl again, but I'll switch to Delaying!

Round 1: Horned Devil

There is a whining feedback sound like a thousand mosquitos being tortured, and atop a hill overlooking Krekie and the party, a great tall scaled devil pops into existence. Bristling with terrible spines and a crown of deadly horns, this leering winged terror wields a whirling barbed chain. He grins down at the party. "We apologize for the delay. Your presence is very important to us."

He flaps his vast wings, rising twenty feet higher in the air.

Round 1: Carina and Clunk are up. Any action ideas for the kolyarut?

Astraden looks around at her companions in mild confusion. "Anyone feel anything?" She tries to figure out what the devil the devil has cast.

Spellcraft: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (17) + 17 = 34

I was thinking about running Locate Creature on Darl again, but I'll switch to Delaying!

TBH I dig this play, and it's in character for Clunk to focus on the mission over personal defense.

Round 1: Clunk

The party hears Clunk rumble, "I do not sense Darl Qethos at all. Either he has left the vicinity, or something blocks my sensors. Most likely the latter."

Clunk uses Locate Creature, then moves east towards the horned devil.

Round 1: Cauchemar Nightmare/Zyrxog/Displacer Beasts/Sabir Sinfire /Minotaur/Efreeti

Efreeti, Displacer Beasts and Cauchemar Nightmare delay.

The only warning is a sibilant hiss, and a familiar-to-some alien voice echoing in the party's minds:

~ We honestly, truly never hoped you would fall for that. ~

The hiss rises into a crackling pop, and Zyrxog appears alongside three others--the minotaur and the two tieflings. Sabir Sinfire raises her guisarme, her expression grim. The minotaur starts to huff and snarl, magic sparking and spitting from his form. His form has split off into 1d4 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6 additional mirror images, all of which seem strangely out-of-sync with his movements. All of them seem to be comfortably flying in midair, and winds swirl around them all.

The masked not-Carina simply stares Carina down, eyes as black as night, and tosses a vial in her hand.

~ We actually had a much more impenetrable illusion for when you ignored this easy one.~

Sabir rushes forward, moving with a blinding speed that leaves blurry after-images of herself wherever she goes. She races past Cuetzpalli, past Eben, then turns and doubles right back. She takes a brutal blow as she goes from a cackling spinosaurus-Krathanos, who seems to find all of this utterly hilarious.

Krathanos AoO: 1d20 + 33 ⇒ (4) + 33 = 37 Damage: 6d8 + 28 ⇒ (6, 7, 4, 3, 8, 8) + 28 = 64

The minotaur charges straight at Astraden, raising his greataxe high with a feral roar and several powerful swipes before following up with a gore attack from his horns.

Greataxe/Gore @Astraden: 1d20 + 26 ⇒ (5) + 26 = 311d20 + 16 ⇒ (10) + 16 = 261d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 131d20 + 6 ⇒ (1) + 6 = 71d20 + 15 ⇒ (10) + 15 = 25 1d2 ⇒ 21d2 ⇒ 11d2 ⇒ 1 Looks like someone up there likes you.
Damage: 3d6 + 32 ⇒ (2, 3, 2) + 32 = 391d6 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16 55 damage to Astraden, assuming a 25 hits, and the Copycat is shredded.

~ Had we known it would be this easy, we would have simply left the feather beneath a large propped crate. ~

Round 1: Eben and Krekie are up.

The invisible Krekie moves into a better position to begin studying a new target.

Eben is up! Let me know if I made any mistakes on this. Complicated turn, especially from my end.