[PFS_Aerondor] 00-26 Lost at Bitter End (Inactive)

Game Master Aerondor

The soldiers look like the ones you fought in the status field. They appeared to be alive.

Eric flies closer.

Status, all haste (6 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each) bold may post
(surprise round - single action)
Lysaer ; fly(potion)
(normal round) haste (5 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon; Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (5)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (4)
Bone devils
Blue (glittering) 23 damage; -1 STR; (-2 AC one round only)
red (glittering) - air air 30' up.
green - in air 30' up.
Nox
(Xon)
Lysaer ; fly(potion)
Soldiers
red doted 6 damage
Zombies
Eric fly; invisibility purge
Nox - not concealed?
(Xon) - in the ground

As Erik was casting Invisibility Purge, I will change See invisibility to Align Weapon: Good

As his allies kick off the violence with their arsenal of spells, Lysaer grips his enhanted blade and sets off through the air, the magic from Marra's Boosting spell improving his granted speed allowing him to carve at the Devil, once more calling upon his God's judgement to seal the wounds he is likely to suffer.

Swift for Judgement for fast heal 2, then move up to 90' towards Blue and attack

PA vs Blue, Haste, Good Hope, FF: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 13 + 2 + 1 = 25 for Magic, Silver, Good, Slashing: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (1, 6) + 12 = 19

@lysaer You are doing the 'partial charge' with fly I take it?
In theory you need a straight line to charge, and even with a fly spell the devil isn't so big you can fly over the house in a straight line to charge. However I love the cinematic feel of the move, so lets go with it.

Lysaer flies like an arrow from a bow, wounding the blue devil with his enchanted blade.

Status, all haste (5 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon; Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (5)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (4)
Bone devils:
Blue (glittering) 23+19 damage; -1 STR; (-2 AC one round only)
red (glittering) - air air 30' up.
green - in air 30' up.
Nox
(Xon)
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2; (charged last round)
Soldiers
red doted 6 damage
Zombies
Eric fly; invisibility purge
Nox - not concealed?
(Xon) - in the ground

People flying, if you are making a full attack, remember to include a fly check in your post. The DC for a "hover" is 15; Potions of fly will give you a +2 on your fly skill, those who have a spell caster cast if for you, the bonus is 1/2 their caster level. Don't forget your Armor Check Penalty if you have one!

In case Marra post was overlooked. Flying closer 60’

Marra did on her surprise round, but she has a full round now as well. Marra could actually fly 90' closer on the first round if she wanted as she has a haste active.

Undy can see the location of his aqueous orb and he can see the location of the soldiers, but there is a building in between, blocking his line of sight to the area between the orb and the soldiers. Does this prevent him from moving the orb to where the soldiers are? If he can do that, he'll use a move action to move the orb (it has enough movement to catch the southernmost 3 soldiers in the line) - each will need to make a DC 19 REF save or take non-lethal dmg: 2d6 ⇒ (5, 1) = 6 and make a second DC 19 REF save or be engulfed in the orb.

Will wait to declare Undy's other action and Riddy's actions until I know whether moving the orb onto the soldiers is an option. (And if it's not an option, is there a place that I could move to (with Haste I have 60' movement, but am not flying) where I could move the orb onto the soldiers?

One other thought, since Riddy flies and has telepathy, could he fly up above the building to be able to see the path of the orb from its current location to the soldiers and direct Undy's movement of the orb?

EDIT: on reflection, this strikes me as the most reasonable, so if you'll allow it my actions will be: Riddy: standard action to cast greater invisibility (3 rounds duration), move action to fly above the building where Marra currently is also flying in order to free action tell Undy how to move the orb; Undy: move action to move the orb to attempt to engulf the bottom 3 soldiers (it can hold 4 Medium, but doesn't have enough movement to reach the 4th one), and move action to move closer to the fray. I'll hold off on moving my icons until I hear if this is acceptable to the GM.

SECOND EDIT: I forgot about Erik's invisibility purge, so Riddy will need to stay more than 50' away from him, but with 120' of fly speed and +23 Fly skill it shouldn't be a problem for him to do that. He'll fly to the building by Nox, but high enough that he can see both the orb and the soldiers, while remaining outside of Erik's invis. purge 50' radius.

I'd not rule he can't move it, but the issue is, how does he know there is no wall or building in the way? There is extra meta-knowledge that you as a player have over what Undi has as a character.
Actually, that said, you have been in a different version of this town, so you have a good idea where walls are and are not. So lets go with he can move it. Remember also that if you do this you will be picking up all the various cages with locals trapped inside them. While the damage is non lethal, it can still kill, especially people who are already wounded or sick
I'm also happy with Riddy directing, but if he is going to be doing that it would be at least a move action as he is coordinating stuff with you. That takes more effort than just a quick sentence being shouted out (verbally or mentally)

All that said, I'll go with the orb moving for the moment, noting there are villagers in their cages trapped in the giant ball of water too.

Normally I know the orb is limited to 4 medium creatures captured, so you won't be able to capture the soliders, but you can batter them with movement.

I completely forgot about the villagers! Oops, and the orb doesn't appear to be dismissable - I sure hope I don't drown any of them!

Ok, so assuming that it took a move action from each of them (Undy & Riddy), that leaves them each with a single move/standard. Riddy can't fly into a position to direct the movement of the orb and also activate greater invis, so let's say that he is still visible, but flying 30' up, above the building by Nox. And Undy uses one move action to move forward and the other to direct the orb (with Riddy's help). Hope that's all acceptable and reasonable.

You don't really need Riddy directing, so he can be invis this turn. Or if he wants to do something else like use his MM wand he could do that instead.

(Temp: AC 28)

Enchanting her weapon for bane to evil outsiders and shift dance 5ft Marra use her battle dance to rain down attacks upon the large blue devil using her mix of defensive caution and Risky attacks.

Marra stays aloft with aplume. Her first strike misses, but she was just warming up, the second and third cut the devil deeply. It screams in agony and drops all but cut in half.

Wow, 97 damage. nasty

The red devil, knowing there is no point in going in invisible summons a wall of cie (20' high) to cut off the archer at the back, and closes on Lysaer.

The green one vanishes.

Status, all haste (4 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Bone devils:
Nox - not concealed
(Xon) - in the ground
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 6 damage
blue dotted 6 NL damage
Zombies
villagers - how many: 1d6 ⇒ 5 trapped in aqueous orb. 6 NL damage; (only 4 fit)
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)
Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (4) ; greater invisibility (2)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (3)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon;
red (glittering) - air 30' up.
green - in air 30' up - when last seen.

Erik shakes his head ”I got this” he calls out and prepares his rescue mission

Obviously the bone devils have already gone, so they should not be in bold. Erik's rescue noted. Feel free to roll your d20 now if you want.

Necessary check made see spoiler above

Nox sighs as the ice wall goes up. Muttering about the inconvience, he ducks into the allyway to begin making his way around, disappearing into shadows once again.

Stealth: 1d20 + 35 ⇒ (16) + 35 = 51

Xon floats out of the ground as he coos.

Come here my tasty morsel!

I can't tell if the devil's on the ground or not. If he is, 5 foot step upwards then full attack. If he isn't, then he'll move to and attack so ignore the second one.

Str touch: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (9) + 11 = 20
Str damage: 1d6 ⇒ 2
Str touch: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8
Str damage: 1d6 ⇒ 1

As Xon moves in to attack, Lysaer takes advantage of his greater movement to fly round the red-tinged bone devil and into a flanking manoeuvre with hopes of take the creature of guard. Knowing he will take a hit, the Hellknight hopes his armour and Judgement will keep him going as he swipes with his Silvered blade glinting menacingly.

Move round to flank, in a wide arc so only moving through the back in a straight line. Then attack with flanking thanks to Xon

Furious focus, Good hope, Haste, flank: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 13 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 26 for Good, magic, silver slashing damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (6, 5) + 12 = 23

You don't really need Riddy directing, so he can be invis this turn. Or if he wants to do something else like use his MM wand he could do that instead.

Ok, in that case let's say that Riddy activated Greater Invis as his standard - 3 rounds duration - taking care to stay more than 50' away from Erik...

All the devils are flying and 30' up. Xon won't be able to reach them with a single move, but could double move up to get next to the red one, if he doesn't mind risking an AOO. Given his history he'd generally suspect they would not be able to harm him.

As Lysaer closes on the red devil, it strikes out with its tail, but he manages to narrowly avoid it.

His own strike only just hits it, but what a strike it is, powered by his holy strength it cuts deeply into the creature.

The soldiers move away from the watery orb and unleash a barrage of missiles against Marra and Lysaer, but none manage to hurt them.

The zombies mill around, and all have a drink of something.

Within the orb, the villagers seems to have rapidly stopped struggling, luckily Erik has a plan! With swift action he dives into the sphere, and then vanishes out from it, with the unconscious villagers in tow, back to the top of the nearby house.

@Nox did you move at half speed while stealthed?

Status, all haste (3 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (4) ; greater invisibility (2)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (3)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon;
Bone devils: red (glittering) - air 30' up. 23 damage;
green - in air 30' up - when last seen.
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - in the ground
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 6 damage
blue dotted 6 NL damage
Zombies
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)

(Temporary AC 28)

perception pinpoint green devil w/+2 GH: 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 14 + 2 = 28 vs DC40 (adj -10 moved full speed, -5 moved half speed, -20 in combat or speaking, not sure what the movement penalty is for wings flapping.)

If Marra is able to pinpoint the green devil she points it out, but still flies in an aerial battle dance up to 30ft to flank the red devil (Trigger possible AoO from red). Empowering her sword with arcan energy she makes a cautious defensive and risky strike at the red devil

Undy calls out grateful thanks to Erik. "Can you imagine the stories the town criers would have told?!? 'Sushi magnate drowns villagers!' 'Customers doubt source of so-called yellow tail!' Or, even, 'Jones denies villagers' deaths unfortunate byproduct of sushi harvesting!' I would have been ruined, ruined, I tell you! Be sure, if we make it out of this alive, you and your friends will certainly receive a free appetizer of your choice the next time that you dine at Undy's Sushi City!"

With that, he turns his attention to the task at hand: surviving the grim onslaught of devils and zombies and soldiers... With a quick wave of his hands, he attempts to dispel the wall of ice that stands before him.

Dispel Check, DC = 11 + Wall of Ice's caster level: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22

Will wait to declare Move action or Riddy's actions until I know if the dispel check worked.

Re the Aqueous Orb, since the villagers have been rescued, and it is right next to three soldiers, can I attempt to engulf them without endangering more villagers?

Marra does indeed get a stabbing from the red devil she closes on it.
You recall from your first meeting that they had combat reflexes But the besieged devil has no more luck with Marra than it did with Lysaer. Marra opens up another massive wound in the creature.

Undiana tries to dispel the wall of ice, but it stubbornly refuses to be removed.

There are dozens of villagers stuffed into cages all around the square. If you move the orb into square that only have soliders, I'll assume there are no villagers impacted. At the moment though you would need riddy to tell you how to move it to do that. as the wall of ice is blocking your vision (as it the building for that matter)

Status, all haste (3 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (3)
Bone devils: red (glittering) - air 30' up. 71 damage;
green - in air 30' up - when last seen.
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - in the ground
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 6 damage
blue dotted 6 NL damage
Zombies
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon; Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (3) ; greater invisibility (1)

Riddy, already flying in the air above the building, uses a move action to telepathically tell Undy how to move the Orb in order to attempt to engulf the two soldiers directly north of its present position.

Undy, having already used his standard action to cast dispel magic, uses a move action to direct the orb.

Riddy, if he still has a standard action available, fires his wand of magic missile (CL3) at the red dotted soldier (the same that he previously fired at).

Magic Missile dmg: 2d4 + 2 ⇒ (2, 4) + 2 = 8

Then, in case firing the magic missiles may have given away his position to any invisible lurking bone devils, Riddy 5' steps to the side.

Fly check to hover: 1d20 + 23 ⇒ (11) + 23 = 34
Stealth, invisble, moving: 1d20 + 19 + 20 ⇒ (16) + 19 + 20 = 55

@GM, for next round, does Undy have any idea if using fire (Burning Hands, alchemist's fire, etc.) on the wall of ice will create an opening?

K Arcana (in case that would be relevant): 1d20 + 18 ⇒ (16) + 18 = 34
Spellcraft (in case that would be relevant): 1d20 + 19 ⇒ (12) + 19 = 31

EDIT: forgot to include the DC 19 REF for Aqueous Orb. First save to avoid taking Non-lethal damage: 2d6 ⇒ (3, 3) = 6 and if that save is failed then a second DC 19 REF to avoid being engulfed by the orb.

Riddy sends another pair of magical missiles into the soldier in red.

Rapidly getting surrounded, the devil strikes out, trying to finish off Marra. It destroys three of the fake copies of her, but doesn't manage to hurt the halfing herself.

Of the third devil, there is still no sign.

Status, all haste (3 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - in the ground
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 14 damage
blue dotted 6 NL damage
green dotted 6 NL damage; engulfed in org.
Zombies
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon; Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (3) ; greater invisibility (1)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (2) ; greater invisibility (1)
Bone devils: red (glittering) - air 30' up. 71 damage;
green - in air 30' up - when last seen.

Xon isn't in the ground anymore since he had to fly up. Figure it's just a copy paste edit. :)

Xon glares at the red devil and tries to nom on it again.

Str touch: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (20) + 9 = 29
Str damage: 1d6 ⇒ 5
Str touch: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (20) + 4 = 24
Str damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

o.o

Str touch Crit?: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (16) + 9 = 25
Str damage: 1d6 ⇒ 3
Str touch: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9
Str damage crit?: 1d6 ⇒ 1

Xon... was apparently more annoyed than expected, cause he starts pulling strength from the demon like this is a last meal.

Nox slides around the corner, and sees the soldiers dealing with the ball of water. He knocks his arrows, and let's loose at two of them.

Shortbow vs red dotted: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
damage: 1d4 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (3) + 1 + (2, 5, 1, 1) = 13+ 1 Str Damage + Debilitating Injury (Does not stack with itself) -2 penalty to ACC
Shortbow vs grey dotted: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (14) + 13 = 27
damage: 1d4 + 1 + 4d6 ⇒ (3) + 1 + (2, 5, 2, 1) = 14+ 1 Str Damage + Debilitating Injury (Does not stack with itself) -2 penalty to ACC

Sniper Hide- Sniping Hide: 1d20 + 40 ⇒ (14) + 40 = 54

Yeap, Xon is flying 30' up. Yowzer double stat drain crit.

The shadow inflicts terror on the devil, while Nox snipes at the soldiers. Neither drops, but the one in red doesn't look solid on his feet.

Status, all haste (3 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 27 damage ; 1 str damage; -2 to ac (one round)
blue dotted 6 NL damage
green dotted 6 NL damage; engulfed in org.
grey dotted 14 damage; 1 STR damage; -2 top aC (one round)
Zombies
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon; Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (3) ; greater invisibility (1)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (2) ; greater invisibility (1)
Bone devils: red (glittering) - air 30' up. 71 damage; 15 STR damage
green - in air 30' up - when last seen.
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - in the ground

If someone would like to suggest an action for Lysaer and do his rolls that would be much appreciated.

I would assume he'd just keep attacking the devil in front of him.

attack haste: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 13 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 21
damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (5, 5) + 12 = 22

attack: 1d20 + 13 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (1) + 13 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 19
damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (5, 3) + 12 = 20

attack iterative: 1d20 + 8 + 2 + 1 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 8 + 2 + 1 + 2 = 21
damage: 2d6 + 12 ⇒ (6, 1) + 12 = 19

Also, forgot that Xon has the haste, good hope, ect, so that crit confirm is a 12 vs touch if that matters, and he would have gotten another attack.

str touch attack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (13) + 13 = 26
str damage: 1d6 ⇒ 6

Welp. If that would have killed the devil, then i expect lysaur would have attacked the nearest avalible enemy. If it didn't, then proceed to wail on devil.

Lysaer, unlucky in battle, misses attack after attack. Xon however managed to suck even more strength from the devil.

The soliders continue to fire at Marra, but without success. The undead, stuck on the ground generally try to work out where the hidden Nox is, but without success so far, although they can see that arrows are coming from one particular area, so it is only a matter of time.

Status, all haste (3 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon;
Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (3) ; greater invisibility (1)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (2) ; greater invisibility (1)
Bone devils: red (glittering) - air 30' up. 71 damage; 21 STR damage
green - in air 30' up - when last seen.
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - 30' up
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 27 damage ; 1 str damage; -2 to ac (one round)
blue dotted 6 NL damage
green dotted 6 NL damage; engulfed in org.
grey dotted 14 damage; 1 STR damage; -2 top aC (one round)
Zombies
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;

Erik flies 30 feet above the ground and casts Prayer

spell resisstance: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (12) + 9 = 21 +5vs outsiders (from favoured class)

effects those within 40 feet and line of effect

As he flies forward, Erik also reveals the green devil who was poised to attack Lysaer by surprise and from the side.

His ally the red devil however goes crashing to the ground, drained of his strength by the shadow.

Status, all haste (2 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon;
Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (3) ; greater invisibility (1)
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (2) ; greater invisibility (1)
Bone devils:
green - in air 30' up
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - 30' up
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 27 damage ; 1 str damage; -2 to ac (one round)
blue dotted 6 NL damage
green dotted 6 NL damage; engulfed in org.
grey dotted 14 damage; 1 STR damage; -2 top aC (one round)
Zombies
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)

Last round of haste!

@GM, fyi, Undy does not currently have greater invisibility up, only Riddy.

Perception, Riddy: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (8) + 13 = 21

Flying above the wall in order to direct the orb, Riddy spies the green devil when it appears, and telepathically informs his friends, "That green one looks wounded and unwell - it may well be the same one that escaped us back when we were in the other world."

From the map it appears that the soldiers all escaped from the orb, yes? If it's possible to direct the orb to scoop up any of the soldiers without also catching any villagers, Riddy and Undy once again both spend a move action to do so in concert, in which case...

Eyeing the approaching zombie with unease, Undy uses Message to advise his friends, "At least one of those blasted juju zombies approaches on this side of the ice wall. My spells will do little to it, I fear, yet I should be safe for sometime inside my emergency force sphere. Riddy, you should probably return to me before I put the sphere up."

Riddy will use his second move action to fly down to where Undy is (which means that neither of them any longer has line of sight to the orb and will be unable to move it).

Undy will throw a snowball at the nearest zombie, using his mask of conflicting energies to convert the damage from cold to fire.

Ranged Touch attack, Haste, Good Hope, Prayer: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (2) + 11 = 13
Damage, fire: 5d6 ⇒ (5, 2, 4, 3, 3) = 17
As undead, the zombies are presumably immune to any Fort save effect but if not the snowball has a DC 17 Fort save or staggered for 1 round

If any of the zombies (or other enemies) attack either Undy or Riddy, Undy will use an immediate action to cast Emergency Force Sphere

EDIT: actually, Prayer will not affect either Undy or Riddy due to range and lack of line of effect, so the snowball attack should be one less.

You can pick up one solider without risking a villager
The orb batters one of the soliders some more, but he again manages to avoid getting engulfed in it.

Riddy joins Undiana who sends a ball of hot snow at the nearest zombie. Catching it, but not badly injuring it.

Status, all haste (2 rounds);good hope; protection from cold (96 each)
Marra 6 mirror images; fly(potion); freedom of movement; align weapon;
Bone devils:
green - in air 30' up
Nox - hide(51)
(Xon) - 30' up
Lysaer ; fly(potion) ; FH2;
Soldiers
red doted 27 damage ; 1 str damage; -2 to ac (one round) ; staggered
blue dotted 16 NL damage
green dotted 6 NL damage; engulfed in org.
grey dotted 14 damage; 1 STR damage; -2 top aC (one round)
Zombies
red dash - 7 damag
villagers - 4 were trapped in aqueous orb. 15 NL damage;
Eric fly; invisibility purge
(round end)
Undiana mage armor; protection from evil & infernal healing; (2) ;
(riddy) mage armor ; protection from evil & infernal healing (1) ;

(Temporary: AC 28, images: +2)

Not noticing the wounds that Riddly speaks of the halfling sends arcane energy into her small scimitar, Marra then cast Bladed Dash {link} spell allowing her to momentarily leaving a multi-hued cascade of images behind her as she and her images leap in an aerial dance to engage (No AoO due to bladed Dash) the now visible green Bone Devil, "Face the fury of the Dawnflower!". As Marra spins in her battle dance she slices at the creature with a mix of defensive caution and risk.

And with a single blow Marra causes the last devil to fall from the sky.

With their leaders gone, the pathfinders have little difficulty in rounding up the soldiers and finishing off the undead. The villagers are quickly released, and aid provided to those who are at risk of drowning from the watery orb.

The first devil you slew has a small book on him. That reveals itself to be the missing journal. It would seem there is a way to reverse the ritual and bring Geb's Rest back to the material world, and conveniently the corpse of the bone devil would work nicely as a bridge between the worlds.

Anything else you would like to do?

spellcraft: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Eric channels a heal to restore the villages and leaves the arcane stuff to Undiana

would love to lecture Undiana on how most humans start drowning once unconscious inside an aqueous orb but Erik knows diddly squat about the spell

Undy thanks Erik for rescuing the villagers, and apologizes to them for nearly drowning them. "But now tell us, what happened here? How did you come to be in this dire situation with these bone devila? And can you tell us anything of Rajana and what happened before she died?"

Undy and Riddy also look around in case they may have missed anything.

perception, Undy: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (10) + 10 = 20
perception, Riddy: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25

When all their investigations are completed (with particular attention to Rajana's research into whether it's possible to reverse the anti-magic aspect of the Mana Wastes), Undy performs the ritual to return them and the village to the normal world.

Marra does a victory loop with her flying after the other creatures are taken care of.

The halfling scratches her head"I still wonder how Rijana's body made it back to the fountain in the alternate wasteland Geb's End?"

(Thanks GM Aerondor for running this module, I was wondering about Marra's survival chances in null magic area of the waste against the hellcats. Also, the final battle was probably the first time Marra got to fully power up in a battle. Also a lucky number of criticals was nice.)

WHOOHOO! WE LIVED! I AM NEVER COMING BACK TO THESE WASTES WITH A CHARACTER RELIANT ON A MAGIC ABILITY AGAIN! Thanks for a awesome game Gm!

Nox skulks around, clearing out undead and soldiers as needed, Xon happily noming on anyone unfortunate enough to have a life force and be opposing the heroes.

As the Devil crashes to the ground, Lysaer nods in respect to Marra as she deals the killing strike, ready to rush in and ruin the rest of their foes arrayed below them. Looking around, Lysaer brushes the filth from his armour and slowly lowers himself to the ground.

"Perhaps she managed to utter the phrase backwards before expiring, or her death stopped her focus and she passed back to the Material Plane. I doubt Undiana is willing to let themselves die to find out however." The Hellknight mutters as he sets to freeing the wretches from the cages, using his powerful sword if he has to.

Thanks all!

The team pieces together what happened by reading the journals and quizzing the locals (and eventually some scholars back in Absalom). (and completing the ritual to return everyone to the material plane)

Thrilled by the prospect of what the stele’s discovery could mean, Rijana quickly returned to its location and began the ritual carefully spelled out on the side of the monolith. After an hour of breathlessly reciting the translated words from her journal, the camp was enveloped in a bright flash of blue light, and the cleric suddenly found herself exactly where she’d been before— only different. Rijana had unknowingly accessed a demiplane called Geb’s Accord, a series of linked but separated pocket dimensions where ancient soldiers of the undead dictatorship were stored in stasis as potential weapons for Geb. Geb’s most loyal commanders were given detailed instructions on how to access each stele to unleash soldiers against invading Nexian armies—but that was several thousand years ago, before Geb’s death, and the knowledge of the steles was lost.

When Rijana came to her senses, she realized what she’d done and knew she had to get back. But the location where she appeared in Geb’s Accord, though tangentially similar to her camp on the material plane, did not have a stele. Worse, Rijana’s gear and supplies as well as two of her journals were still back in her campsite. With no other choice before her, she began traveling through Geb’s Accord in order to try to find a way back.

A series of mishaps plagued Rijana’s return to the material plane. She stumbled into a field containing hundreds of ancient Gebbite warriors locked in some sort of stasis, as if waiting to be activated for battle. Her very presence unwittingly released the commanders of these soldiers, bone devils long ago bound to Geb’s service. The bone devils in turn began releasing ancient living and undead warriors alike to prepare for conquest once they could find a way to reach the material plane. The original plan, established thousands of years ago, was that one of Geb’s loyal commanders would activate the stele, awaken the armies within, sacrifice his life to Geb in the planar Geb’s Rest, and use his life essence to merge the pocket dimensions with the material plane, thus unleashing the hidden army against the Nexian invaders. The leader of the bone devils, a foul malcontent named Zepteffis, knew this plan intimately, but lacked the key component: the Gebbite commander.

For weeks the bone devils tortured Rijana for information on the rituals, but eventually it became clear: everything of any importance that she knew lay in her camp back on the material plane. Frustrated, Zepteffis showed Rijana another stele, this one in the middle of the fountain in the planar Geb’s Rest. Knowing the cleric could activate, it he surrounded her with several undead warriors and his scouts, a pair of hellcats, and ordered her to complete the ritual. Once back on the material plane, Zepteffis’s minions would escort Rijana back to the stele and she would return to Geb’s Accord with all of her research— and hopefully a way to merge the pocket dimensions and unleash the army without Geb’s commanders.

Rijana did as she was told, but something horrible happened. She lacked the key component—a brooch worn by all of Geb’s ancient commanders—and instead of merging Geb’s Accord with the material plane, she flipped them. Every living soul in Geb’s Rest vanished, banished to Geb’s Accord, while Rijana and Zepteffis’s minions appeared in the middle of the town’s square.

The villagers, delighted by their being saved heap glory and accolades on you. Undiana is offered a shop to sell sushi from, although overcoming the logistical nightmares of distance from the coast may be problematic.

The village hosts a night of festivities and local dancing, and are totally wowwed by the moves that Nox breaks out. It looks like a new style of dancing may become popular in the small town.

Meanwhile the youngest (and more than one parent and grandparent) are enthralled by the exciting stories told by Marra. You can see the light of adventure and thrill of the unknown is being kindled in these young minds.

The headman, above such things sits down with Erik. He is heavily influenced by how the priest contributed to saving the village and Erik is sure that the influence of the Sovereign court will continue to grow.

Feel free to reroll and have a +7 circumstantial bonus from saving the whole village. [ooc]Oh what do you know that hits the DC24 required by the check if you take ten.

Lysaer meanwhile is offered a small building in which a detachment of Hellknights could be easily established to help maintain order (and protect the villagers from the threats of the Mana wastes).

Undy is delighted by the villagers' offer and begins excitedly developing a new dish to commemorate the occasion, tentatively called Rijana's Repast. The supply chain issues regarding the distance to the coast is certainly something that will need to be considered, but this likely also means that sushi will be even more of a delicacy to the locals and wayfarers alike; Riddy sets to work on mapping possible methods of getting fresh seafood to Geb's Rest in the most timely fashion.

Many thanks for running! I really enjoyed how much PbP allowed us all to actually play our characters, and I also feel like I got a better sense of the overall "story" than I often do in face to face games. I'll definitely look forward to joining some of your other tables in the future.