"This is annoying," Lym says as she regards her reduced size with disgust. "Um. No offence intended to you, Aurora, but I am not used to being this size. At least I have my flight spell, so I should be able to maintain my usual pace."
Lym promptly levitates -- and moves herself out of range of anyone who might have had thoughts of hugging her....
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Praxim retrieves his arrows from the giant. "At worst, it's a small inconvenience," he says with no hint of amusement or irony in his voice.
He does smirk a bit, or perhaps the geometry of the room is finally getting to him.
"Ah, well," Lym says in a philosophical tone. "I suppose you might make light of my situation as well. No need to let the gravity of the situation wear us down, just so long as we do not succumb to inappropriate levity." The Half-Orc winks as she floats a little higher.
Praxim simply gives her an arched eyebrow as he pulls his last arrow free.
"Any magic loot here?"
"Praxim, you not speak that way to the little lady. My petite beauty will be respected."
So...
Aurora hovers in the air like a hummingbird.
When you've finished trading quips in this nightmarish architecture, I'm sure the door would appreciate some attention!
She hovers slightly lower
After all, you're making light of what could be considered a rather unfortunate situation
she sticks her tongue out.
"So is this how we plan to defeat the giant, we just mock more him?"
"Clearly this wizard has done exactly what we feared, and surrounded himself with lackeys and traps," Lym says, trying very hard to ignore the fact that her voice has become noticeably higher due to her change in size. "The chance that there are other snares we might trigger as we go forward is high, so I propose to summon some minor celestials to breach the next chamber and set them off, rather than take the brunt ourselves. It is equally likely that the enemy is shrouding himself. I can see invisible things for a while yet, but we must still beware. Given our enemies' demonstrated proclivities, I recommend summoning at least one Hound Archon to shield us against charms. Thoughts?"
"Your wish, my lady."
Tomaru casts Protection from Evil then Summon Monster V.
Archie, the hound archon appears in a whirl of butterflies and stars. "Hello, friend." Tomaru says. "We need your assistance again against more giants. If you would please go into that next room. And take some care."
Archie smiles back at Tomaru. He takes the time to cast Aid on himself before opening the door.
Thordak watches with a wide smile as Aurora zips around like a hummingbird. Getting a kick out of how she buzzes around like a bee and her extremely high pitched voice, "By Torag you are just as adorable even when yer a really wee lass!" he chuckles in glee. It's not until several moments later that what he said finally registers, and he goes red as a beet. "Now, okay, um, what I meant was...; you see, I was sayin' that... um... I'm not sayin' that... you... um..., ya see, I mean, okay, now, ya see, what I mean is..." Why do I keep doin' this to meself?! You've got ta be kiddin' me! You've got ta think, Thordak, think! Sweating profusely as he panics, he looks over at Lym and runs over to her. "By the gods! What happen ta ya, lass! Yer all small and stuff. Boy we need ta fix this or something, I'm pretty sure." He nods, as he mindlessly pats her on the head.
The dwarf turns to Aurora as she speaks, squinting so as to focus on her more sharply. He then chuckles as he's pretty sure she sticks her tongue out the others. "You tell 'em, lass."
The dwarf does his best to hide a chuckle at Lym's new voice, knowing she'll probably be big again and realizing he'd pay for it. So he just keeps quiet for his own safety.
Aurora laughs at Thordak's words, her voice as mischievous as a pixie's.
She lands on Thordak's shoulder and whispers in his ear
That's a very sweet thing to say Master Thordak, your ability to compliment a lady despite the unfortunate circumstances is noted!
she pats his cheek fondly.
The hound archon pulls open one of the massive doors and takes a step. He looks back, gives a nod, and walks through. The double doors lead down a 60' hallway that opens at the end into a larger room.
You follow the archon down the hall, the light from your spells casting odd shadows on the walls-without-corners. Archie steps into the room, and instantly steps back, look of fear on his face. A quick look reveals this scene.
Runes are carved in bands along the walls of this chamber, which is unnervingly lit by a reddish glow from the slowly burning flames in a shallow firepit in the center of the room. An immense iron cauldron, its side emblazoned with an etching of a seven-pointed star, stands above these flames. Smoke rises from the cauldron’s unseen bubbling contents, and a halo of human bones and scraps of what might be dried flesh lie scattered around the cauldron’s three-pronged base.
"What's wrong, Arch? You look worried. You're the one the the Aura of Menace, what are you scared of?" Looks into room. "Oh! Well that's why I summoned you. Now get back in there."
Tomaru then uses Bit of Luck on Praxim.
Archie goes up to the golem and strikes at it with his mighty sword.
MW Greatsword: power attack
"It's a stone golem!" Lym shouts, heedless of the higher pitch of her voice. "It is resistant to all weapons except those made of adamantine! Any magic that can be resisted is useless against it, and it has magic to slow down everything within a ten-foot radius! If you know a spell to turn stone to mud, use it! Necromancy and Enchantment are useless against this thing!
Try to take it down from a distance if you can!"
With her warnings given, Lym hurriedly starts to chant a spell.
Praxim adjusts his fingers as Lym calls out her intelligence and switches from regular arrows to his durable adamantine arrows. He takes a 5-foot step forward but is still just out of point blank range.
Nodding at Lym's swiftly delivered pointers, Aurora wastes no time and a spell bursts from her hands, a web of energy bursting amid the party and leaving them energised and moving quickly.
The sorceress plants a swift peck on Thordak's cheek
For luck!
Then zooms upwards to leave Thordak free to engage the creature and not worry about her safety.
Aurora laughs at Thordak's words, her voice as mischievous as a pixie's.
She lands on Thordak's shoulder and whispers in his ear
That's a very sweet thing to say Master Thordak, your ability to compliment a lady despite the unfortunate circumstances is noted!
she pats his cheek fondly.
Grinning sheepishly, the dwarf goes beet red as he kicks at the ground in awkwardness. Such a sweet lass.
Nodding at Lym's swiftly delivered pointers, Aurora wastes no time and a spell bursts from her hands, a web of energy bursting amid the party and leaving them energised and moving quickly.
The sorceress plants a swift peck on Thordak's cheek
For luck!
Then zooms upwards to leave Thordak free to engage the creature and not worry about her safety.
Grinning fantastically, he watches her as she flies away before turning his attention to the stone golem, his smile instantly vanishing as he glares at the monster. "My my you are gonna be a nasty one. Ya know what they say, though, the bigger they are..." The dwarf never finishes that sentence as his fury takes over and he moves into position for a better vantage point to bring his axe down upon the golem.
Praxim's adamantine arrows slam into the golem, wounding it. With the archon and Thordak near, the golem flashes the runes around its head, activating the Slow effect on those two. Then it shifts position and lashes out with it's huge fists at the archon.
Behind the golem, the air warps, darkens, then brightens. And two large, lumpen shapes erupt from the ground, gemstone eyes flashing murder at the unnatural display of arcane craftsmanship in front of them, which mocks their form. Rumbling, the two large earth elementals swing hammer fists at the golem!
N Large outsider (earth, elemental, extraplanar)
Init –1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +11
Defense
AC 18, touch 8, flat-footed 18 (–1 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size)
hp 68 (8d10+24)
Fort +9, Ref +1, Will +6
DR 5/—; Immune elemental traits
Offense
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., earth glide
Melee 2 slams +14 (2d6+7)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks earth mastery
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 8, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +8; CMB +16; CMD 25
Feats Cleave, Greater Bull Rush, Improved Bull RushB, Improved Overrun, Power Attack
Skills Appraise +6, Climb +15, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +3, Knowledge (planes) +6, Perception +11, Stealth +5
Shoulders still heaving from the exertion of dragging this much elemental might out of the Elemental Planes, Lym focuses her gaze on the golem and considers. She considers. And, cursing, she unslings her heavy crossbow, rams an arrow into the groove and starts turning the crank as quickly as she can.
Praxim takes another 5-foot step closer and fires arrows with even more speed. Alas, only the first is adamantine.
Despite its resistance and stony nature, the first arrow's adamantibe penetrates the stony hide while the other two follow on its heels.
First does this count as being on the ground? If so, the elementals get +1 to hit and damage rolls. Also, depending where they end up, they get flanking bonus.
Second, do we get a save v the slow effect?
Tomaru continues to give Bit of Luck to Praxim.
Hound Archon: Archie
HP 51| AC 21 T 12 FF 21| Fo +10 Re +7 Wi +7, +4 vs poison, +2 resistance vs evil; DR 10/evil; immune electricity, petrification; SR 15| Move 40'| augment summon, diehard, power attack| aura of menace, change shape, magic circle vs evil; spells|
MW Greatsword +11/+6 (2d6+6/19-20) and Bite +5 (1d8+2) or
Bite +10 (1d8+5) and Slam +10 (1d8+5)
Archie continues to fight for the cause.
MW Greatsword: power attack, flank, haste, slow
MW Greatsword: power attack, flank, haste, slow
Bite: power attack, flank, haste, slow
If he doesn't get multiple attacks, use just the first one.
Thordak steps over within reach of the golem and swings at it with all the power he can muster.
With little else she can do, Aurora keeps out of the way, and keeps an eye out for anything else that might use the chaos and confusion of the battle with the golem to sneak up on the party.
One of the elementals is largely ineffective, and the other does some minor damage.
Praxim's arrows hit hard, and with some assistance from the unslowed Thordak and Archie, the golem is finished. It crumbles back into the pile of rubble from which it was formed.
"Let's hurry, before the summons ends," Lym says.
The Wizard flies towards the two elementals and chivvies them towards the next door, urging them ahead of the group.
"Agreed. On to the next room please, Archie."
Seeing the golem collapse into dust, Thordak relaxes and takes a moment to catch his breath as he typically has to. With his hands on his knees, "Yes, let's hurry. On to the next room. Quick quick quick. Cryin' out loud, that's what's wrong with the world today, everyone's in a hurry to get somewhere and there's no time ta take a break. Why does this lot not like breaks? I like breaks. I could take lots of breaks. As a matter of fact, I could take a break right now," the dwarf whines under his breath as he gathers himself up and follows after the others, albeit at a much slower pace.
Forgot to add that Tomaru casts a healing spell on Archie
Hound Archon: Archie
HP 40/51| AC 21 T 12 FF 21| Fo +10 Re +7 Wi +7, +4 vs poison, +2 resistance vs evil; DR 10/evil; immune electricity, petrification; SR 15| Move 40'| augment summon, diehard, power attack| aura of menace, change shape, magic circle vs evil; spells|
MW Greatsword +11/+6 (2d6+6/19-20) and Bite +5 (1d8+2) or
Bite +10 (1d8+5) and Slam +10 (1d8+5)
There's high-pitched laughter as Aurora listens to Thordak's grumbling.
Ah come now Master Ironheart, I quite fancy a break now too, but we can't get in the way of our friend's desires to progress quickly. And after all, the quicker we arrive at you-know-who's lair, the quicker we can mete out justice...
She swoops in to sit on his shoulder again, almost weightless.
You and I can have our own private break now as we walk towards the next confrontation, how about that!? she whispers in the dwarf's ear.
So tell me Master Thordak, if you could take us on a picnic, where would we go?
Praxim takes point (behind the summons, and scans for evil ahead).
There's high-pitched laughter as Aurora listens to Thordak's grumbling.
Ah come now Master Ironheart, I quite fancy a break now too, but we can't get in the way of our friend's desires to progress quickly. And after all, the quicker we arrive at you-know-who's lair, the quicker we can mete out justice...
Reluctantly he nods in agreement, realizing he can't argue with the logic.
She swoops in to sit on his shoulder again, almost weightless.
You and I can have our own private break now as we walk towards the next confrontation, how about that!? she whispers in the dwarf's ear.
Grinning as he nods, "Sounds great ta me, lass."
So tell me Master Thordak, if you could take us on a picnic, where would we go?
"A picnic? Hm. I've never thought about goin' on a picnic. Let's see...," he ponders it as they walk and after a bit of thought, he grins. Cutting his eyes toward the others to make sure they aren't listening, he slows just a bit to purposefully fall back. "Well, there's this place in me mountains. Well, not actually in me mountains but on the top of 'em - a plateau I'm guessin' you could call it. I use ta go up there a lot back in the day. I'd always wait 'til around midnight and make me way up there just before the sun would peek over the horizon. Now there are these formations up there, ya see, and they weren't nothin' spectacular ta look at, but, when the sun would hit 'em just right, they would sparkle like diamonds! And dependin' on what angle you were at, you could get other colors as well - blues, oranges, reds, yellows, greens. Ah, lass, it's a majestic sight! But once the sun moves away, they go to being practically dull and lifeless. I've never understood that. Kinda sad in a way." The dwarf loses himself in thought a moment before shaking himself free of his reverie and taking a deep breath. "Anyway, that would definitely be the place for a picnic, it would," he says assuredly and with a peaceful grin.
The chill in this room isn’t quite enough to frost the floors and walls, but it’s certainly enough to frost the breath. The room itself contains several large suits of armor mounted on what appear to be frozen or preserved ogres, trolls, and hill giants, all staged as if rallying for war.
The elementals and the archon surge into the room, and all hell breaks loose. Four of the suits lurch to life and attack. Behind them, they are driven by this creature. Waving two large axes that are rime-frost covered, it casts a spell!
Lym immediately turns around and flies out of the room at top speed.
One of the large earth elementals turns as well and charges out of the room at top speed, caring not who it might trample along the way.
The other, however, is undaunted. Rumbling with anger, it swings its mighty fists at the nearest suit of armour!
N Large outsider (earth, elemental, extraplanar)
Init –1; Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft.; Perception +11
Defense
AC 18, touch 8, flat-footed 18 (–1 Dex, +10 natural, –1 size)
hp 68 (8d10+24)
Fort +9, Ref +1, Will +6
DR 5/—; Immune elemental traits
Offense
Speed 20 ft., burrow 20 ft., earth glide
Melee 2 slams +14 (2d6+7)
Space 10 ft.; Reach 10 ft.
Special Attacks earth mastery
Statistics
Str 24, Dex 8, Con 17, Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 11
Base Atk +8; CMB +16; CMD 25
Feats Cleave, Greater Bull Rush, Improved Bull RushB, Improved Overrun, Power Attack
Skills Appraise +6, Climb +15, Knowledge (dungeoneering) +3, Knowledge (planes) +6, Perception +11, Stealth +5
Unfazed by the appearance of the animated armor and headless creature, Aurora glares at them
If you can move... you can burn...
her eyes flash red as she notices Archie and Praxim (and potentially Thordak) in the path of her spell... holding back the fire for a heartbeat, she extends her left arm and a different rod slides from its concealed pocket in to her tiny hand, and she waves it in the direction of her friends as she casts her spell.
She flies upwards towards the roof, as far to the back of the cavern as she can manage and easily away from the retreating earth elemental.
I hope this is an evil effect. If not reduce roll by 2
Hound Archon: Archie
HP 40/51| AC 21 T 12 FF 21| Fo +10 Re +7 Wi +7, +4 vs poison, +2 resistance vs evil; DR 10/evil; immune electricity, petrification; SR 15| Move 40'| augment summon, diehard, power attack| aura of menace, change shape, magic circle vs evil; spells|
MW Greatsword +11/+6 (2d6+6/19-20) and Bite +5 (1d8+2) or
Bite +10 (1d8+5) and Slam +10 (1d8+5)
Praxim tries to ignore the armoured meat shields and sends arrows at the headless thing, first taking a step up and right to avoid the reach of the meat shields.
At the sight of the large undead creature, it doesn't take long for Thordak's fury to take over once again as he works on trying to get to the abomination so he can put an end to it. He moves past Praxim and strikes at the nearest armored suit.
HL hp 65/126
The remaining earth elemental slams the zombie in front of it, meaty fists bludgeoning the large zombie when...
The fireball engulfs the room in flames. The stench of rotting flesh and melted earth is nearly overwhelming. When the smoke clears, all of the zombies are dead, as well as the earth elemental.
Seeing an opening, the archon rushes in.
The Headless Lord slashes at the approaching archon, cleaving from forehead to the waist, killing him.
All of Praxim's arrows save one fail to penetrate the thing's plate armor. Thordak rushes forward, safe from any attack.
Thordak feels a deep unease as he approaches the Headless Lord, a sense of unnatural evil. His longaxe hacks into the armored form, but lacks the will to get through his armor.
The Headless Lord looks down - or would if he had a head to turn - at where Throdak's axe hit him. An evil laugh emanates from the hole in his torso - a deep, sonorous laugh - more like a stone giant would make. An equally deep voice rolls out from the armored corpse: "How do you like my creation? Rest assured, more awaits you. If I'm not mistaken, it should be arriving soon!"
The runes on the twin rime-encrusted axes flash cyan, and the Headless Lord wades in...
Although Tomaru laments the loss of Archie, he can't take the time to grieve. Instead, Tomaru moves up behind his wounded teammate and uses a Scroll of Heal on Thordak to cure him of up to 110 hit points.