Spontaneous spells left for day
Extend Metamagic: 3/3
Summon Monster IV 8/8
Level 1: 3/6
Level 2: 2/4
Level 3: 2/2
Spells in effect
Mage Armor (Kepler) - approximately 7 hours remain
Enlarge Person (Kepler) - approximately 5 minutes remain
Lesser Evolution Surge (Kepler) - approximately 6 minutes remain
Kepler's AC=24 (22+4-1-1) ; HP=31/49
Initiative
Initiative
Ya know how the heroes in the movies and books are always reluctant, and hate the fact that they are having to fight evil or save the world? Well, you won't get any of that malarkey from Mikey Jay! I f*@$in' love this shit....
MJ grins at the dead chimera....
@Naomi: Not even a minute, probably....
The 3 otyughs, the cloaker, and the chimera probably were encountered and slain in the course of three minutes, tops....
Radsworth looks away from Arthur as the others prepare themselves for battle. Some other time then.
Reality edit: Vash and Glaza did not join The FOs on this mission (the player has admitted that PbP is not for him, as he's apparently not that good at checking in every day....he's a student and works, so probably just doesn't have the time.... I table-top game w him every Sunday, cool guy, just can't continue with this campaign, unfortunately....).
Yingzen!
Kepler!
Kailin!
Daisy!
Radsworth!
Derrik!
Koran!
Cultists!
Levinson!
Mikey Jay!
Eeeeek! Eeeeek!
After Yingzen, Kepler, and Kailin:
Daisy casts bless on The FOs, granting a +1 bonus to hit and on saving throws against fear effects....
Kepler's eyes can for any sign of the cultists, but as he is unable to get clear visual he simply stands waiting.
The cultists are both inside the lobby on the other side of the doors from the party. Distance in feet is about 15 ft from Yingzen, Derrik, Koran, and Kepler, and another 5 to 10 ft further for everyone else....
yingzen tries to use the shadows and the design of the building to his aid as he slowly moves towards the lobby
Both cultists drink potions of Mage armor....
Assuming that someone has opened the doors by his turn in initiative, Mikey Jay holsters his revolver and moves 20 ft into the lobby, "Betsey Jo" held out in front of him, scanning and listening for a sign of his enemies' locations....
Perception
He pinpoints the location of the cultists by the sound of potion-drinking and rummaging....
They're invisible, guys! Drink your see invisible pots, if ya got 'em!
Derrik doesnt respond to Rad's assumption, simply watching and listening with stoic patience before turning around towards the sounds he had heard.
" It does not matter because it is a moot point. What you say would not happen unless you all became servitors of evil or I was truly possessed.. and I have planned for that.. We are wasting time assaulting this place. Let the ones who deserve the Inquisition inside be judged instead. "
Derrik kicking the door open with his usual brash and imposing motion; His eyes piercing almost all illusionary veils.
" You cannot hide.. From me.."
Staring his Helmet Straight. At. Them.
Kailin once again begins his inspirational ditty. (+2 attack/damage)
Edit: Instead of advising his allies to drink see invisibility potions (which aren't actually possible RAW), Mikey Jay just rushes in, holstering his revolver, makes his Perception check to pinpoint the two invisible cultists, and raises his greatsword to strike at the nearest one on his turn next round.
I'm so digging Kailin's tunes! Really puts me in the mood to kill some evil, invisible a%%*~*$s, ya know what I mean?
Yingzen keeps to the shadows waiting to strike the cultist as soon as he can see them
Radsworth, unable to pinpoint the location of the invisible cultists, scolds himself for not thinking of having a scroll of See Invisibility. Even if he is a true beginner at divinations, with it's flighty language of only-if's and words that exist only to reveal other words, he has learned it's usefulness to the Fierce Ones.
He places himself in the doorway and aims Traveler. He holds his shot, waiting for a visible cultist to begin casting a spell. When they do, he fires a shot to inflict injury and disrupt the spell.
vs Touch AC
Koran holds Mjolnir in a ready position waiting to strike anyone he can see.
[ooc]Prepare an attack on the first cultist t apear.
Round 3:
Yingzen!
Kepler!
Kailin!
Daisy!
Radsworth!
Derrik!
Koran!
Cultists!
Levinson!
Mikey Jay!
Eeeeek! Eeeeek!
After Yingzen, Kepler, and Kailin:
You want to play hide 'n seek, huh? Okay....
Daisy casts invisibility purge, revealing the two cultists standing in the doorways of the offices flanking the entrance doors....
Those readying actions to strike at visible cultists may take their actions now, resetting their initiatives to go after Daisy....
Derrik walks up to one of the Cultists and plans to cut one of the cultists down with Dawnbringer and Excalibur to denote where one is. The Axeblades grow to Greataxe proportions as emanates a red aura.
Assuming Yingzen, Koran, Kepler, or all three don't kill her first:
Ah, there you are!
MJ charges through the office door to the east side of the entrance doors, striking with "Betsey Jo" at the cultist just inside the office....
Charging Power Attacking overhand chopping "Betsey Jo" plus vicious; MJ takes vicious backlash if hits....
The blow deals 45 damage total to the cultist, who screams in agony as a jet of blood sprays from the long gash down her chest.... MJ grunts in pain as the ultraviolet bolt of deadly feedback lashes back at him for 4 damage....
Before Daisy rendered the cultists visible, Derrik strides up and scissor-slashes the cultist standing in the western office doorway, dealing a total of 52 damage with Dawnbringer and Excalibur! She shrieks and staggers back from the twin cuts, bleeding profusely, turning a ghostly white, and finally falling to the floor, unconscious and dying....
Before Mikey Jay (or possibly Yingzen, Kepler, or Koran, who all go before MJ) renders her incapacitated with a single blow, the cultist in the east office doorway gasps in shock when she sees Derrik seemingly slash at empty air, only to cut down her sister-cultist, and gasps again when Daisy renders them both visible....
She steps back into the office, pulls out and uncorks a potion of bark skin, and hastily quaffs it, right before MJ charges her and cuts her open from sternum to navel! She screams! (Or Koran clobbers her with Mjolnir, or Kepler mauls her, or Yingzen slices her up with his Elven blade, or all three....)
Those readying actions to strike at visible cultists may take their actions now, resetting their initiatives to go after Daisy....
Forgot to apply Rad's shot on the cultist in the east office doorway, which strikes her for 5 damage, right before she is finished off by MJ (or Kepler, Koran, or Yingzen, who all go before MJ in initiative, and some of whom were readying attacks)....
Therefore, at least by MJ's turn, if not sooner, she is unconscious and dying, if not dead, rather than merely incapacitated and staggered (0 hp)....
I'll give Kepler, Koran, and Yingzen their fair chances to steal the kill from MJ, since he jumped the gun a bit on initiative....
Radsworth watches with some measure of pity as the two cultists are so easily undone. He sets upon the task of searching them for anything of value.
Ground floor of The Silver Tower again, for reference....
The FOs are inside the front doors, in the lobby. The dead cultists lie just inside the offices flanking the entrance....
Radsworth watches with some measure of pity as the two cultists are so easily undone. He sets upon the task of searching them for anything of value.
Apparently, these were high-ranking and powerful priestesses, despite how easily they were dispatched.... Each wears the same black robe and cowl, and each carried the same equipment, so Radsworth (and anyone that chooses to help loot the bodies) recovers:
2 necklaces of fireballs (type IV);
1 potion of bark skin (one of the cultists managed to drink hers before dying);
2 potions of cat's grace;
2 potions of fly;
4 scrolls of lightning bolt (CL 8th);
2 wands of burning hands (CL 5th, 22 and 16 charges);
2 wands of cure light wounds (31 and 27 charges);
2 mwk silver daggers;
2 silver unholy symbols of Cthulhu worth 25 gp each.
Derrik actually cast Stabilize on the one he felled. Looking around to see if there were reinforcements from the two cultists, as there had to be more and there should be.. considering the place is a headquarters.
" They were probably not the last. grab what you can and let us move, time will be our stalwart ally or the greatest enemy "
There can be little doubt that there are more inhabitants nearby on this level and above, judging by the sounds of muffled voices and footsteps coming from further into the building....
There can also be little doubt that the dying screams of the two felled cultists did not go unnoticed....
Levinson hastily takes one of the masterwork silver daggers and stashes it in her boot as well as a fireball necklace and a lightning bolt scroll.
"I agree with Derrick. Let's move quickly."
Koran lunges forward bringing his hammer down on the cultist before she can drink her potion.
Koran runs across the archway to swing at the cultist who was attacked by Derrik.
Koran will also take one of the necklaces of fire balls and one of the fly potions. (If that is alright)
MJ stoops over the cultist that Derrik stabilized and loots her unconscious body....
I take it we're gonna ask this one some questions, Derrik?
As he loots her, MJ uses her cowl to bind the cultist's wrists tightly together, and tears a long strip off her robe to bind her ankles as well....
Koran softens up the cultists attempting to drink her potion considerably, but not enough to drop her (or prevent her imbibing the potion).... She falls dead when MJ follows up with his blow, a second after she desperately quaffs her bark skin potion in hopes of more protection against the onslaught of The FO melee warriors!
Dashing over to the other, Koran finds her already lying in a pool of blood at Derrik's feet, her unconscious figure becoming visible as Daisy casts her invisibility purge.... The battle with the two cultists is over astonishingly quickly.... The FOs have indeed grown formidable!
As Rad and MJ are looting the fallen cultists, Daisy quickly searches the office on the east side of the entrance for anything of value or interest....
Perception ....
Her keen eyes focus on a sheet of white paper on a desk, with writing on it, and an ink pen. Picking it up, she blushes slightly, as she is illiterate, but swallows her pride and calls attention to it, handing it to Levinson.
I found a note, but....uh.... I never learnt to read English....
Her pretty face blushes as she looks down in embarrassment....
The note is actually not in English, but in Aklo, which is one of the languages Levinson is literate in. It reads:
Dictated by The Slime-Shrouded Master to Siren Mara on April 21st, at 9:15 AM, addressed to His Perilous Lordship, The Daemon-Lord of the Silver Tower, in the unholy name of Our Dread Sovereign, Cthulhu:
With all due respect, my lord, your agents, the Great Shark and his barracudas, have failed to extinguish the threat to Our Dread Sovereign's unholy will. Although the enemy has fled their former base, leaving a very viable location for our own devices, not to mention much valuable plunder the enemy was unable to carry away, the enemy has nonetheless escaped our wrath with few casualties on their side, and many on ours.
Your loyal servant I remain, and yet, I cannot help but feel obliged to inform Our Dread Sovereign of your failure, lest I incur his lethal wrath as your accomplice in incompetence. I would consider risking the consequences, however, should you find some acceptable way to recompense me for taking such a great risk to remain your loyal informant.... Some kind of reward commensurate with the great danger I would be placing myself in.... I shall leave the exact nature of this reward to Your Vile Lordship, trusting in your generosity....and your....respect....for the consequences that would befall you should Our Dread Sovereign learn of your failure in his service....
Your Humble and Devoted Master of Intelligence,
The Slime-Shrouded Master
"Hey guys, turns out they send memos to each other. Not what I expected for dread lords of the deep, but whatever."
Levinson then proceeds to read it aloud (translating to English) for the benefit of the group.
Haha! Now I know the reason they call him The Slime-Shrouded Master.... He's blackmailing his boss! What a douche!
MJ chuckles.
Assuming that the note discovered in the east office by Daisy prompts Yingzen, Derrik, Kailin, or someone else to search the west office:
On a desk in the office west of the entrance lies another note, also in Aklo, and a cup of pens rests atop the desk, as well. This note reads:
Summer Solstice Sacrifices and Feasts:
Pre-dawn: Procession from Fane down to causeway, over to St Armand's Circle, around 3 times, and down to Lido Beach.
Sunrise: Immolation of the Innocents; orchestra plays Leng concerto, opus 23, by Eric Zahn.
Morning: Revels and orgies; feast: infants and young children, fruit salad, hot blood.
Noon: Evisceration of the Raped; orchestra plays Carcosan Suite, opus 9, by Eric Zahn.
Afternoon: Revels and orgies; feast: adolescents and young adults, Caesar salad, warm blood.
Sunset: Drowning of the Tortured; orchestra plays Dreamlands Fantasia, by anonymous.
Night: Revels and orgies; feast: adults and elders, Cobb salad, chilled blood and wine.
Midnight: Decapitation of the Betrayed; orchestra plays Highway to Hell, by AC/DC.
Twilight: Procession from Lido Beach, around St Armand's Circle 3 times widdershins, across causeway and up to Fane.
yingzen uses the shadows to scout around the ground floor
On hearing Levinson's translation of the Summer Solstice services:
Number of the Beast, by Iron Maiden, or Shout at the Devil, by Mötley Crüe would've been my personal choices for that Twilight processional music, but diff strokes for diff folks, I suppose....
MJ grins at Levinson....
yingzen uses the shadows to scout around the ground floor
[dice=stealth]1d20 + 24
[dice=perception]1d20 + 19
Assuming Yingzen moves to the west of the entrance, he slips into the shadows of an unlit hallway between what might be the lobby proper and a row of sunlit offices lining the south side of the hall, and proceeds northwestward to the next office down the hall....
He perceives the sounds of hurried movement from within this office.... No doubt, other cultists have been alerted by the dying screams of their fellows....