This was done in confidence; assuming someone (Miklos) decides to inform the signifier of the decision you have reached as a group.
Signifier Karva's face perceptibly as you inform her of your decision. "You are a credit to your organization. In spite of your natural leanings. I will remember that. We will proceed with all haste to the Sky Temple once the threat has been dealt with. I hope however that interrupting this ritual does not release it's energy destructively."
Knowledge(Arcana) DC 20:
It is very possible that the buildup of energy releases itself into the ground, creating a localized earthquake.
The Hellknights are quick to pack up their camp; some of them turn to prayer to beseech their patrons for a few more spells for the day, others passing around scrolls and potions. But soon it is done, and under cover of night. with only the light of the funerary pyre to guide the way, the group moves onwards towards the Severed Hand village. What greenery remained is quickly gone, with dark barren rock and ugly grey clay surrounding you as you move on forwards on the narrowing mountain road. Out of the corner of your eye, you think you see pebbles defying gravity, toothed maws appear in the ground, yawning or grinning. The rain returns, this time a weak impotent drizzle, as you spot the first warrens of the shattered orc tribe. Totems, skewering various fresh skulls, raw flesh still clinging to their sides, stand on either side of the road. Pillars of bone rise up towards the weeping heavens, surrounded by growing pits of writhing worms.
Soon the mountain path dead-ends inside of a boxed-in canyon. Crude carvings and ancient paintings cover the walls, marking this as the ancestral home of the tribe. Scattered across the canyon floor are large piles of stacked skulls. Four sets of carved stairs lead to yawning caves in the sides of the canyon.
In the center of the canyon is a sprawling pit of worms and writhing insects. A narrow stone path leads to a small island in the pit of worms, where an altar made of bone rests surrounded by a circle of glowing runes. Within this circle, two robed orcs men chant words of power, blood streaming down their cheeks. Baring your way to them, a lone orc warrior, a grin on his face. "WE EXPECT YOU MEAT. NOW YOU DIE" he exclaims before howling, a long drawn out cry that is soon echoed throughout the warrens.
"By the Laws... How many of them are there?" whispers Signifier Rulla, as the first orc fighters, emaciated, weak but crazed and carved with runes, emerge from their holes. "GATE BEHOLD US! TONIGHT THEY DIE! HELLKNIGHTS! PROTECT OUR ALLIES!"
The Hellknights immediately split into two teams, the lager group heading towards the south end to contain the largest group of orcs while the smaller one goes to bar the way for the smaller group. On the platform, all three orcs await with a sadistic grin.
Tough orc H
Worms
Naghamadi
Miklos
Kintampo
Beardo
Roland
Eadie
Insidion
No Beardo
Lucija
The orc barring the way reaches towards his belt and grabs a potion which he drinks then shatters the vial with one bare hand. He then grips his weapon with two hands again.
Female CG Human (Chelaxian) Fighter 13 | HP 161/161 | AC 28, T 17, F 25 | CMB +18 (+26 with heavy blades), CMD 35 (38 vs disarm, sunder) | F +21, R +13, W +19 (+2 vs death effects, +3 vs fear) | Init +10 | Perc +20, SM +3 | Speed 30ft | Active conditions: none
Tough orc dude wrote:
"AFRAID?"
“Of what?”
Eadie puzzles innocently under her visor. “Glass splinters?”
@GM Upaynao, R U OK if I say Eadie would have had her bow out and an arrow nocked as the team entered Severed Hand country? She also would have drunk her potion of bull's strength.
@Roland, Do you want the mysterious arrow we got off the orc archer at Gozreh’s Fork? I would prefer to give it up to the expert but otherwise Eadie will shoot it.
@Lucija: I found Refocus initiative, it's a 3.0 thing. I'd rather not do 3.0, I tried it and 3.5 and as a result didn't touch a d20 product for a decade :P
HP 57/57 | Ac 20 T 14 FF 17 (excl+4 shield spell) | I+3 | F+8 R+6 W+6| P+11 | Arcane Pool 5/5 | Reroll 1/1
Knowledge (Arcana):1d20 + 6 ⇒ (20) + 6 = 26
Before initiative
While the hellknights are splitting up Kintampo uses his wand of shield.
Round 1 Images:1d4 + 2 ⇒ (2) + 2 = 4
Kintampo multiplies into several copies, all distorting and moving through each other! While invisible he moves closer to the orcs and wills his staff to do fire and shocking damage.
Standard: cast mirror image, Move to move and Swift to get Flaming and Shocking on the +2 end of my staff
Female CG Human (Chelaxian) Fighter 13 | HP 161/161 | AC 28, T 17, F 25 | CMB +18 (+26 with heavy blades), CMD 35 (38 vs disarm, sunder) | F +21, R +13, W +19 (+2 vs death effects, +3 vs fear) | Init +10 | Perc +20, SM +3 | Speed 30ft | Active conditions: none
Round #1: STR 22, clear spindle ioun stone in wayfinder
Will:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15
Eadie takes the hint from Miklos and prepares to scatter.
The archer moves 30’ away from Insidion and lets an arrow fly at beardy.
Tiefling Barbarian 1 / Sorcerer 4 / Dragon Disciple 4 | HP 87/87 | AC 20 [24 shield]; Tch 12 ; FF 18 | F +10; R +6; W +7 | CMB+14; CMD 25 | Speed 40 ft | Init +6 | Bite: +14 (1d6+13/19-20) | Perc +11
will save:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (12) + 5 = 17
With the delay, I'm not sure if you'd allow me to use a folio re-roll. Not sure why I didn't think of it before, but here's a roll that just makes it. If you'll allow that, I'll cast haste before Miklos takes off. He seems 'sadly unenhanced.' ;P
If haste was to be cast, Roland would tried to wait for it and launch one additional arrow as well...but hindsight etc.
(sorry for the PbP order mess. But since he went first, you can just keep what he rolled and will apply next round)
It's your reroll, use it when you need it! As a more serious aside, I'm not sure why delaying would hamper your reroll use, but I almost fell asleep reading Frozen Fingers of Midnight, soooo... Excuse the obtuseness.
Alright, so with the folio re-roll, Insidion makes the save, which means that he doesn't punch himself in the face (by the way, it's 1d8 + Str mod damage Insidion). We're not going to get into retroactive delaying till after Insidion's turn at this point. Miklos, having delayed earlier, is welcome to amend his turn with regards to his extra movement.
Arrows fly and while Roland's first, twinned shot seems to have hit, it is the only shot to have hit overall. The unbearded orc chants and points his finger towards Roland! A darkness seems to fall upon the archer's vision!
Spellcraft DC 18:
Blindness has been cast
Roland, give me a Fort Save
Strangely enough, the casting performed by the orc mystics does not seem to have hampered their chanting. A low rumble begins to echo, a portent of things to come. The barrier between planes it being strained, it will soon shatter.
Countdown:10/10
Current Initiative wrote:
Round 1
Tough orc H - 34dmg
Worms
Miklos
Kintampo
Beardo
Roland
Eadie
Insidion
No Beardo
Lucija
Naghamadi
The orcs chuckles, as a gutteral voice, like a phlegm-filled gurgle replies. "Human. Welcome to what will be." As the orc, responding to a mental impulse heard only by him, begins his assault, a creature slowly emerges from the heaving mass of worms. It looks like an octopus only in the most broad terms; each tentacle seems to double as a mouth lined with razor sharp teeth. "My champion will break you."
However, Miklos' defenses are more than up to the task.
I'm using all my crits in the special. CURSE YOU!
As it scuttles only halfway out of the mass of worms, it hisses at the champion. "Weakling."
It is only 5 feet out of the worm-bath down there (it 5 ft stepped up). Everybody needs to give me a DC 16 Will save or be fascinated by the creature's horrific appearance!
Miklos deftly dodges out of the way! Irritated, it rumbles venomously: "Trash." before dropping Miklos into the worm pool.
Future damage:1d6 ⇒ 6
At the beginning of your turn Miklos, if you are still in the pool with the kiddies worms, you will take 6 points of damage and will need to give me a Fortitude save DC 14
"You are next, ephemera!" snarls He-Who-Peels-Flesh as it turns to face Naghamadi.
Current Initiative wrote:
Round 2
Tough orc H, 34 dmg
He-Who-Peels-Flesh
Kintampo
Beardo
Roland
Eadie
Insidion
Miklos 26 dmg, 4 Wis dmg
No Beardo
Lucija
Naghamadi
First off, I'm sorry, I misplaced Peels McGee. I rectified that. Doesn't change much except where Miklos now is. Also, You can call upon your Hellknight allies for help! Help comes in four forms: A magic missile of the appropriate level, a scorching ray of the appropriate level, a shield of faith of the appropriate level and a cure serious wounds of the appropriate level. However, this aid comes at a price. There is a significant chance this aid will kill the Hellknight who provides it. So far you have made it without losing any Hellknights. By the skin of your teeth sometimes, but still. Keep that in mind should you consider using their aid.
|AC 24**, T 13*, FF 22*|HP: 52/77|F +5, R +6*, W +6 (+8 vs MA, +4 vs fear, +2 vs despair/confusion/insanity/death)|Init +1, Perc 0|CMB +10* CMD 20|10/11 Summon Monster VI, 2/2 Call, 1/1 Pride, 1/1 Mysteries, 1/1 Davian
Lucija Will save:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17(+2 if it could conceivably be considered a despair or insanity effect, +4 if it could conceivably be considered a fear effect)
Naghamadi Will save:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19+4 if the effect could conceivably be considered Enchantment
Lucija used to paint things like this entity...then she got better at her art.
Female CG Human (Chelaxian) Fighter 13 | HP 161/161 | AC 28, T 17, F 25 | CMB +18 (+26 with heavy blades), CMD 35 (38 vs disarm, sunder) | F +21, R +13, W +19 (+2 vs death effects, +3 vs fear) | Init +10 | Perc +20, SM +3 | Speed 30ft | Active conditions: none
Eadie screams, “ROLAND, MIKLOS R U OK?”
Whoa! What is that thing?
Will:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (17) + 9 = 26
Meh … tentacled abomination – they’re a silver shield a dozen.
“One minute to kill them all! Buckle up, guys – it's time to make some money!”
The bearded mystic, seeing that Roland still can see, calls upon the elements. A wall of wind engulfs the area around them all, reaching into the early morning sky up to a height of about 40 feet.
Female CG Human (Chelaxian) Fighter 13 | HP 161/161 | AC 28, T 17, F 25 | CMB +18 (+26 with heavy blades), CMD 35 (38 vs disarm, sunder) | F +21, R +13, W +19 (+2 vs death effects, +3 vs fear) | Init +10 | Perc +20, SM +3 | Speed 30ft | Active conditions: none
“Lucija, the tentacled thing – do I need cold iron, holy-aligned or magic to hurt it?”
Eadie takes a moment to survey the battlefield. “We are FAR from beaten. Roland, that tornado has an open ‘roof’ right?”
Eadie draws a potion of fly, slams it down like a tequila shot and steps 5’ closer to the action.
Lucija will be able to tell you what she and her eidolon have figured out once it is her turn again. Identifying a creature must happen on the player's turn.
Tiefling Barbarian 1 / Sorcerer 4 / Dragon Disciple 4 | HP 87/87 | AC 20 [24 shield]; Tch 12 ; FF 18 | F +10; R +6; W +7 | CMB+14; CMD 25 | Speed 40 ft | Init +6 | Bite: +14 (1d6+13/19-20) | Perc +11
spellcraft:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (11) + 4 = 15
Insidion moves toward the action, and seeing some kind of unknown barrier protecting the enemy, opts to soften up the orc with some unerring force missiles.
The pit is only five feet below ground level. The worms form a "ground" so to speak upon which you can "stand" on (mainly because letting it behave as a liquid as it seems to work for Peels would mean that now you need to make swim checks, and nobody wants that). The slope upon which you would need to walk up is difficult terrain for the purposes of getting back up there, again so we don't get bogged down in climb checks. You are adjacent to Peels, as he could only emerge five feet out of the worm pool to perform an attack like he did. Does that answer your questions?
Female CG Human (Chelaxian) Fighter 13 | HP 161/161 | AC 28, T 17, F 25 | CMB +18 (+26 with heavy blades), CMD 35 (38 vs disarm, sunder) | F +21, R +13, W +19 (+2 vs death effects, +3 vs fear) | Init +10 | Perc +20, SM +3 | Speed 30ft | Active conditions: none
Will:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21Whew!
Eadie recognises the beardless one’s hand gestures from a spell that caused her some grief on a mission in Kaer Maga.
She grits her teeth and hitches up her belt. “I’m getting slightly sick of all this …”
Before I go forward with our actions, I need to know if my archon (the little Anubis there) has been placed correctly. Is that 45' away from me, or too far?
Female CG Human (Chelaxian) Fighter 13 | HP 161/161 | AC 28, T 17, F 25 | CMB +18 (+26 with heavy blades), CMD 35 (38 vs disarm, sunder) | F +21, R +13, W +19 (+2 vs death effects, +3 vs fear) | Init +10 | Perc +20, SM +3 | Speed 30ft | Active conditions: none
By my reckoning you've got it exactly right, Lucija.
