Return of Winter by Artofregicide (Inactive)

Game Master Artofregicide

Ruso lets an arrow fly towards the closest skeleton. Please let this work. These damn things hurts when they get close.
Attacking the Orange Skeleton.
Attack: Shortbow, Snowfall: 1d20 + 3 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 3 - 4 = 4

"Here they come. Get ready"

Irina moves across closer to the action, and shoots a sling bullet at the green skeleton. She misses terribly.

Sling: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Ancient Invaders - Round 1 - continued

20 Blue Skeleton
17 Green Skeleton
16 Orange Skeleton
9 Ruso
9 Irina (mage armor, 10 rds)
7 Red Skeleton
7 Wulfgang
5 Jack
4 Semik

Ruso draws a bead on the nearest frost skeleton and lets an arrow fly, but his aim is off, and with the wind and blowing snow, the shot misses badly.

Stepping closer through the deep snow, Irina lets fly a sling bullet but it also misses by a fair distance.

A few steps behind the others, Red Skeleton also advances towards the invaders of flesh and muscle, looking for revenge for its unnatural unlife.

Wulfgang, Jack, and Semik up to finish off Round 1.

Semik hustles down the path a ways, then begins working his whip into a rhythm. "Wulfgang! Don't split up. Force the enemy to come to us."

"Ok!"

Wulfgang waits for the undead.

ready attack if one comes next to me. power atk

attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

damage: 1d12 + 9 ⇒ (6) + 9 = 15

Jack trudges through the snow. Double move

Ancient Invaders - Round 1 concluded

Hearing the request from Semik for the group to stick together, Wulfgang holds his position, readying his weapon for a stroke on the skeleton that approaches his reach.

Seeing the way the fight is shaping up, Jack, sword in hand, trudges ahead towards the front line.

Semik also moves up, but close enough to use his whip around the feet of any undead creature who nears him.

End of Round 1

Ancient Invaders - Round 2

20 Blue Skeleton
17 Green Skeleton
16 Orange Skeleton
9 Ruso
9 Irina (mage armor, 9rds)
7 Red Skeleton
7 Wulfgang (readied attack)
5 Jack
4 Semik (readied trip)

Blue Skelton moves up five feet, but that subtle move is enough to trigger attack by Wulfgang. The viking warrior slips a bit in the snow, and his swing turns into a struggle just to retain his balance. The attack misses.

Blue Skeleton counters with a swipe of his own curved blade, but he cannot make a hit either.

Green Skeleton also assaults Wulfgang, but the fighter turns that blade aside easily.

Orange Skelton swarms the other side of the big boulder, closing in on Ruso. Semik's turns and snaps his whip at the nearby Orange, trying to flick the tail around the bony leg of the walking dead. Unfortunately, his whip cannot get good enough purchase on the flesh-less bones. Orange closes in with bow-wielding Ruso, threatening him with an attack.

Readied actions both fired, but were both misses. Ruso and Irina are up now.

"Oh no you don't." Ruso drops his bow and steps away from the approaching skeleton. Ruso also takes that moment to draw his rapier as he prepares to defend himself.

Acrobatics to avoid AoO: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (8) + 7 = 15

Drop shortbow (free action), 5 foot back (move action), draw rapier (standard action).

These greenhorns are going to get us all killed. It looks like not one of them has any actual training!

"Wulfgang! Jack! Focus on the skeleton with the green mold on it. I will try to slow down the blue-frosted one until you finish his companion."

Semik then taps Ruso on the shoulder, "Let's keep backing up, so nobody can get between us and the fighters."

Ancient Invaders - Round 1 - continued

As the Orange Skeleton nears Ruso, its icy aura freezes the air around the elf, damanging his skin as he withdraws, dropping his bow, and drawing out his rapier.

Cold aura of the skeletons does damage if you start yoru turn adjacent. Ruso takes 3hp dmg. Irina is still on the clock.

Irina fires a sling bullet at the bluish skeleton, but she misses.

Sling: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Ancient Invaders - Round 1 - continued

Irina's luck with the sling continues to be bad. Her latest attempt miss by a substantial amount.

Red Skeleton moves around the large boulder to south, joining Orange that direction. He does not make any attacks.

Don't forget the -4 penalty to ranged attacks due to blowing snow and limited vision. Jack is up now to end the round.

Jack wants to cut into the blue skeleton rather than leave it an opening, but Semik seems to be shouting orders, and Jack has had too many bad experiences this week to argue against wisdom. So he continues to trudge around Wulfgang, and swings his sword at the green one.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (10) + 4 - 1 = 13
Damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 3 = 9

Ancient Invaders - Round 2 - concluded

Jack steps around Wulfgang, trudging in the deep snow. He brings his longsword around in a wide, powerful arc against Green Skeleton, but the blade caroms off the ancient armor of the undead foe harmlessly.

End of Round 2

Ancient Invaders - Round 3

7 Wulfgang (had readied)
20 Blue Skeleton
17 Green Skeleton
4 Semik (had readied)
16 Orange Skeleton
9 Ruso (3hp dmg)
9 Irina (mage armor, 8rds)
7 Red Skeleton
5 Jack

Because of prior readied actions, the initiative order changes somewhat. Wulfgang is up to open the round and Semik moves in front of his target from last round.

Wulfgang swings at green

"Stay dead!

attack: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (18) + 5 = 23

damage: 1d12 + 6 ⇒ (8) + 6 = 14

Apologies for the short post, leaving for work in 3 minutes.

Trip (blue): 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (11) + 2 = 13

Ancient Invaders - Round 3 - continued

Starting his turn next to a pair of the frozen skeletons, Wulfgang shivers as the frostbite nips at his skin. Despite the cold, the viking swings his axe in a mighty arc that plows into Green, sending shards of ice and bone exploding outwards in all directions.

Blue Skeleton attacks Wulfgang with its rusted and nicked scimitar. The viking recovers from his big swing in time to parry the blade with haft of his axe, and the ancient scimitar explodes on impact, leaving the skeleton with just its claws for the rest of the fight.

Limping through the churned snow, Semik cracks his whip once more trying to curl it around the leg of Blue, but the whip fails to fasten on and the attempt fails.

Driving Ruso before him, Orange Skeleton advances on the elf once again, swinging its blade at him and bringing the cold aura close to the rogue once again. The blade just nicks Ruso, scratching him. The cold remains a big concern.

Wulfgang takes 3hp from cold aura, and he and Jack take 5 more when the Green Skeleton explodes. Ruso is hit for 1 hp and takes 2hp more from the cold aura (he is up next), bringing him to 2 remaining. Ruso and Irina are up next.

Does Jack's cold resistance 4 help here?

Does Jack's cold resistance 4 help here?

Yes, it does reduce the damage which is cold in nature. Further, a DC 11 Reflex save halves the damage from the explosion. Sorry, I forgot to include that before.

Wulfgang DC 11 Reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12
Jack DC 11 Reflex: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (5) + 4 = 9

So Jack takes 1hp, and Wulfgang takes 2 from the explosion instead of 5. Wulfgang stil takes 3 from the aura, but Jack's cold resistance will help against the cold aura as well if he starts his turn adjacent to one of the skels.

What are the new damage totals? Not sure whether I need to start healing yet.

"Once a skeleton is injured, one of you can step back. There's no reason for two people to get caught in those ice bursts!"

Ruso glaces around and realizes that he is the only one standing between the advancing foe and Irina. Looks like it is up to me to stop them before they reach the others.

Ruso lashes out with his rapier at the skeleton before him.
Attack: Rapier: 1d20 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6
Damage: Piercing: 1d6 + 1 ⇒ (4) + 1 = 5

Irina fires another sling bullet at the skeleton in front of Wuflgang.

Sling: 1d20 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (11) + 1 - 4 = 8
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 1 = 2

Ancient Invaders - Round 3 - continued

Even though the wounds and the cold sap his vitality, Ruso stands bravely to protect Irina and the rear flank. His counter-attack against the skelteon in front of him fails to make contact.

From the rear, Irina's sling bullets miss again.

Red Skelton squeezes between the big boulder and a tree to attack Ruso, who continues to be pressed hard but parries the attack this time, his teeth chattering.

As posted above, Ruso is at 2hp, and he's adjacent to two of the frost skeletons. Everyone else is in pretty good shape still. It's back to Jack to end Round 3.

Jack comes around Wulfgar, trudging through the snow, and then tries to smash through blue.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (13) + 4 - 1 = 16
Damage: 1d8 + 4 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 4 + 3 = 9

Ancient Invaders - Round 3 - concluded

Jack pivots around Wulfgang, and continues to wreck skeletons, smashing another with his longsword. Again the frozen undead explodes, damaging those nearby.

Explosion causes 2hp dmg, but DC 11 Reflex makes that half. Jack's cold resist eliminates the damage for him.

End of Round 3

Ancient Invaders - Round 4

7 Wulfgang (needs Reflex save, 5hp dmg pending result)
4 Semik
16 Orange Skeleton
9 Ruso (6hp dmg)
9 Irina (mage armor, 7rds)
7 Red Skeleton
5 Jack

Wulfgang and Semik are up to start the round. Wulfgang needs a DC 11 Reflex to take 1 instead of 2 dmg.

reflex: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (20) + 2 = 22

on phone can someone move ne next to the next skeleton please

Wulfgang moves closer to his foes.

As Wulfgang runs toward the second fight, Semik shouts, "Ruso is injured, leave him a way to retreat."

@Wulfgang: Is the blue path okay? You can then ready an attack for when the skeletons move up, and Ruso can 5-ft. step back to get healed.

Semik hobbles forward a few feet and reaches out toward his injured companion, "Ruso! Move a little closer so I can heal some of those wounds."

Semik thanks that's ok

Wulfgang waits for the undead.

power attack: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (9) + 4 = 13

damage: 1d12 + 9 ⇒ (10) + 9 = 19

Ancient Invaders - Round 4 - continued

Wulfgang dodges the worst of the explosion of the nearest skeleton. When all he sees are scattered bones, he makes a beeline to assist the injured elf in holding off the others. He gets back to the treeline, weapon raised, ready for the next skeleton to come in range.

Semik, difficult terrain precludes the standard 5' step unless you have some ability I overlooked. Also, how do you reload crossbow with whip in other hand? Isn't that a two-handed action? I reset your location while you chose to move or reload.

Orange Skeleton makes an attack on the hard-pressed elf, but his new armor turns the blade aside, as he thanks his lucky stars for that. However, the freezing air around the pair of skeletons is too much for the rogue, and he collapses unconscious due to exposure to the cold.

Ruso starts his next turn adjacent to 2 frost skeletons and as such takes 5hp dmg, enough to turn him negative and he drops. Irina is up, Ruso needs to stabilize at -3. We'll see what Semik has in mind.

Sorry, I thought that it was only difficult terrain off the path. link. And the crossbow isn't even in hand yet, I'm just activating the feat in case.

Sorry, I thought that it was only difficult terrain off the path. link. And the crossbow isn't even in hand yet, I'm just activating the feat in case.

This whole area is off the path. Hence it is all difficult. You climbed through the trees when you heard the clanking of the skeletons. So, can you post your actions again? Moving or just doing the feat and readied action. Now that Ruso is down, things may change.

In that case, I moved too much on previous rounds; I thought the column that Semik's token is on was the path. So let's leave my action as is, effectively losing it to balance out some of the extra movement I already took.

"We have to lure those skeletons away from Ruso's body, before they freeze him to death!"

Ruso collapses to the ground with a final thought. Soooo.....cccccold.

Stabilization check: 1d20 + 0 - 3 ⇒ (13) + 0 - 3 = 10

Just made it by the skin of my teeth. Now I just have to hope my next turn doesn't start by any of the skeletons.

Irina tries again with her sling at orange. "I'm not doing so well in this battle." She misses again, and sighs loudly.

Sling: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (5) + 1 = 6
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Ancient Invaders - Round 4 - continued

Ruso goes down hard, the icy aura from the skeletons too much to bear. For now, he is stable, but the continued presence of the skeletons near him, and their tendency to explode upon destruction puts him at continued risk.

Irina sling another bullet at the walking dead, but once again, her shot is unable to find the mark.

Red Skeleton clambers forward in the snow, which fires the readied attack from Wulfgang. The big man's axe clangs off the ancient armor of the target, deflecting harmlessly. The skeletal warrior returns the attack against the viking man but it misses as well.

Jack is up to finish the round. Remember difficult terrain in all these snowy squares. I am really worried about Ruso here, I don't see a way he gets through this without more damage...

This terrain is killing me!

Jack trudges through the snow as best as he can to get around the boulder and tries to come up behind the monsters.

Ancient Invaders - Round 4 - concluded

Churning through the deep snow as best he can, Jack aims to move around behind the remaining skeletons.

End of Round 4

Ancient Invaders - Round 5

4 Semik
16 Orange Skeleton
9 Ruso (unconscious, stable, -3/8hp)
9 Irina (mage armor, 6 rds)
7 Wulfgang (6hp dmg, used readied action)
7 Red Skeleton
5 Jack

Since Semik's readied action never triggered, but Wulfgang's did, the oracle is up to lead off the round.

"You have to move farther away from your friend's body, now!"

Semik shifts the whip to his left hand, then draws a morningstar and lifts it to shoulder height, cocking his torso away from the nearest skeleton.

Ancient Invaders - Round 5 - continued

Semik calls to the remaining undead, egging them forward and away from the prone Ruso while he readies to smash them if they approach.

Hearing the approach of Jack from the rear, Orange skeleton turn and moves to face him, its rusted scimitar stopped by the northman's breastplate.

Ruso, with one of the skeletons still adjacent, takes more freezing damage, but is still breathing for now.

Ruso takes hp dmg from Red's aura and is at -5/8 hp. Irina and Wulfgang also take 2hp dmg and are up now.

Is the 2 damage from the cold aura. I have permanent Endure Elements Cold up. Does that negate the damage?

Irina attempts to move back from the skeleton, and then fires another sling bullet at it.

Sling: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (7) + 1 = 8
Damage: 1d4 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 1 = 4

Endure Elements does not protect you from Cold damage per se, only from damage related to exposure to cold elements. It will keep you from needing to make CON checks for exposure and non-lethal dmg, but will not stop ice attcks. At 4th level you get cold resist 5, which will help with this kind of damage.

Wulfgang withdraws to behind Semik sparing his bleeding ally more damage.

Ancient Invaders - Round 5 - continued

Irina's bad luck with the sling continues, as the latest attempt bounces harmlessly off the armor of the nearby undead.

Knowing the cold is killing poor Ruso, Wulfgang withdraws, hoping to draw the Red Skeleton away from the unconscious elf.

As Red inexorably shuffles forward, Semik swings his morningstar, bu this grip slips in the wet snow, and he nearly drops the bludgeoning weapon rather than making a real attack.

The skeleton closes in and swings its rusty scimitar at Irina, hitting her for a small cut across her forearm.

Jack is up. He would take 2hp dmg from the cold aura, but his DR protects him.

Since I took damage this round I need to make another Stabilization roll.

Stabilization roll: 1d20 + 0 - 5 ⇒ (19) + 0 - 5 = 14

Jack re-enters the fray swinging the long sword of cold iron, hoping sheer force is enough to win the day. Clearly, it is not.

Power Attack: 1d20 + 4 - 1 ⇒ (2) + 4 - 1 = 5
Damage: 1d8 + 7 ⇒ (5) + 7 = 12