Is she your leader?
The cultist nodded happily.
I see. Does she dwell in the center of the labyrinth?
I see. Does she dwell in the center of the labyrinth?
"Only the Lord of Beasts!" the cultist said, laughing a bit too loudly for comfort.
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Steave punched the cultist back into unconsciousness and the crusaders advanced into the next chamber, finding it essentially unchanged from his check earlier.
"I think we have an animal up there in that alcove. Does any one have a clean way to double-check? I can toss a crusader cocktail up there if we don't have a better way." Steave asks the group.
"Works for me." He gets ready for a flaming beastie to come down.
Abelard shakes his head. "I ain't got a better plan than that. I'm not what you might call blessed at seein' stuff."
Steave stepped up to the shaft, which appeared to extend about ten feet above, and lobbed his crusader's cocktail. He heard the glass shatter and oil ignite, but not screams of pain or sudden approach.
Two voices commenced chanting spells instead.
Abelard's face creases in thought as he listens. "Sounds like there's just two of 'em, chanting - we should be able to take 'em."
"...and they follow different masters." he says in an uncharacteristically detached voice.
That was unexpected, Steave thinks. "I guess these animals can cast spells."
[dice= DC 20 Knowledge (planes) check]1d20+2
That was unexpected, Steave thinks. "I guess these animals can cast spells."
[dice=ready to miss if something bad gets to melee]1d20+5
The chanting finishes as Steave draws away. A woman's voice calls down, "Big bad crusaders drop something? Come up to get it?"
Several voices laughed, some in the uneven tones that the crusaders heard from the mongrelfolk.
"Naw, we'll just wait for the durations of your magic spells to end." Steave replies.
"Naw, we'll just wait for the durations of your magic spells to end." Steave replies.
More laughter answered Steave.
"Plenty of time for a sacrifice, then!" the voice answered.
[dice=Sense Motive vs. "Plenty of time for a sacrifice, then!"]1d20[/dice]
Initiatives:
always acts in surprise
Yridhrennor backs away from the ladder. They do not mean well, Crusader. I.. yes.. yes, I believe they do mean to attack us.
He steps further away, preparing a a ball of glowing acid to hurl at anyone coming down the ladder.
Yridhrennor stepped back and held himself at ready, calling to mind the words to conjure a sphere of roiling acid for any who dared descent.
From above, the crusaders heard the cultists moving.
Galin moves forward, drawing his rapier and calling upon the power of Arqueros to guide his blade.
Galin stepped forward, calling on Arqueros. His blade glowed.
Rules Stuff:
Galin's blade is Good for DR purposes and has +1d6 damage vs. evils.
With consensus that there are sacrifices up there, Steave moves to the ladder keeping his shield up while climbing with one hand.
Theran will follow Steave, ready to jump in.
Abelard is briefly silent. "Don't know - maybe they're bluffin', maybe they ain't. What I do know is, I been one o' their sacrifices; and I ain't gonna stand by an' let it happen to someone else."
With that said, he climbs the ladder behind the others.
With consensus that there are sacrifices up there, Steave moves to the ladder keeping his shield up while climbing with one hand.
With consensus that there are sacrifices up there, Steave moves to the ladder keeping his shield up while climbing with one hand.
Theran and Steave came to the ladder, Steave holding his shield high. Theran climbed past Steave and came to the top of the ladder, seeing above him a bare, foul-smelling chamber. He has only a moment to take it in before two mongrel cultists rush up to the edge of the shaft. An armored woman with a glaive stands to one side, swinging her weapon into play over the heads of a pair of slavering rats the size of dogs. Behind the mongrels, another woman hefted a scythe.
There was no sacrifice in evidence.
The mongrelmen hooted and swung their cudgels down on Theran's exposed head and shoulders. The first caught him with bone-jarring force, but the spirits warned him in time to duck the second
I forgot to roll for the dire rats earlier. I'll put them dead last.
hit
Saito shakes his head sadly as his compatriots climb the ladder through the small shaft, crowding the area as they try to push through.
"That's a lot of big men for just one small shaft." He admits as he watches. If and when the traffic jam clears he makes his way up as well.
He pauses. "Though I guess that's a problem I wouldn't mind having myself."
Sensing the immanent eruption of violence, Yridhrennor drew back and readied a spell as he warned the others.
Above, the cultists stirred.
Galin approached the shaft, invoking Arqueros' blessing.
Theran and Steave came to the ladder, Steave holding his shield high. Theran climbed past Steave and came to the top of the ladder, seeing above him a bare, foul-smelling chamber. He has only a moment to take it in before two mongrel cultists rush up to the edge of the shaft. An armored woman with a glaive stands to one side, swinging her weapon into play over the heads of a pair of slavering rats the size of dogs. Behind the mongrels, another woman hefted a scythe.
There was no sacrifice in evidence.
The mongrelmen hooted and swung their cudgels down on Theran's exposed head and shoulders. The first caught him with bone-jarring force, but the spirits warned him in time to duck the second.
Seeing another collection of too many crusaders around too small a shaft, Saito made a jest and approached at a more cautious pace, waiting his turn at the ladder.
Abelard fell briefly silent. "Don't know - maybe they're bluffin', maybe they ain't. What I do know is, I been one o' their sacrifices; and I ain't gonna stand by an' let it happen to someone else." So resolved, he joined the advance.
Above, the rats launched themselves at Theran. The spirits guided him clear of their filthy jaws.
And it's Round Two
Yridhrennor sighs. I have no way of helping you. If.. if one of you were to ride the scale? The mist could protect the others, but I'm not sure I could survive the trip up.
Yridhrennor keeps holding his acid splash spell until he has visual contact with the cultists.
Theran see their lie and leaps down. "They have no prisoners! "
Steave steps away from the ladder and makes another Crusader cocktail.
Yridhrennor offered up Terendelev's scale to aid the crusaders, holding his spell at the ready.
Theran called down the cultists' deception as the glaive-wielding priestess stabbed with her glaive. The spirits of his clan guide him to duck at just the right time to spare himself. The clan lives on!
The other priestess holds her scythe in the crook of her arm and prays, "Deskari enslaves you: Flee!"
In his mind's eye, Theran sees hordes of giant locusts chasing him. Unnatural fear grips his heart and he knows he has no choice but to obey.
Theran must flee when his initiative comes up, but then he'll be free to act as normal on subsequent rounds.
Seeing the ladder full, Galin waited for Theran and Steave to make the moves of their choosing. Theran, however, felt demonic magic grip him and dictate his move: he dropped down the shaft and fled back to Yridhrennor.
Up ahead, Steave prepared another crusader's cocktail.
Galin quickly moves up the ladder and beside Steave, striking at the nearby priestess,
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Galin dared the ladder and cultists gathered above. He scaled it and found himself nearly surrounded by enemies, pressing past and taking a cudgel to his shoulder as he approached the priestess with the glaive. He thrust his blade deep into her side.
With an enemy before them and their best efforts made, the mongrelfolk cultists fall back to the east, down a narrow tunnel and toward a barricade.
Back with the noncombatants, Saito remained on his guard and declined to join the rush up the ladder just yet.
816 damage has got to be a typo. :) I see 1d6 weapon, 1d6 holy from blessing, plus a crit for another 1d6 and doubling the str bonus, so 8 on top of that. Is the blessing damage an exception to the general rule that +dice damage isn't multiplied on crits? Or is this some house rule I made to crits and forgot about.
When you confirm a critical hit, you do not roll twice and you do not multiply your non-precision damage modifiers. Instead, a crit translates into an automatic maximum damage roll, to which you add your modifiers as normal. If your crit multiplier is greater than x2, you get 50% more weapon damage per point. So x2 gives the base 100%, x3 brings you to 150%, x4 to 200%, etc.
I think we all forgot that one. :) It's not a huge issue right now, but probably will be when things go mythic. Anyway, looks like Galin should get:
8 damage from the base hit (including his blessing) + 3 extra from the crit (taking the better of the two rolls) +4 more for str, adding up to 14.Or house ruled:
10 (max damage, including strength) + 2 (blessing roll) = 12.
Eh, since we all forgot about the change, I'll go with the standard for now. 14 to the priestess. Neither would be enough to drop her, but she's hurt pretty good.
Abelard climbs up the ladder and moves to Steave's right, lashing out at one of the cultist's with his falchion; unfortunately the cramped tunnels are not the best place to practice swordplay with a 2-handed blade and his strike is not well-placed.
He scowls. This is not how he imagined fighting the enemies of righteousness; in his head, it went much better and he could get a proper swing in.
Yridhrennor offered up Terendelev's scale to aid the crusaders, holding his spell at the ready.
Theran called down the cultists' deception as the glaive-wielding priestess stabbed with her glaive. The spirits of his clan guide him to duck at just the right time to spare himself. The clan lives on!
The other priestess holds her scythe in the crook of her arm and prays, "Deskari enslaves you: Flee!"
In his mind's eye, Theran sees hordes of giant locusts chasing him. Unnatural fear grips his heart and he knows he has no choice but to obey.
Seeing the ladder full, Galin waited for Theran and Steave to make the moves of their choosing. Theran, however, felt demonic magic grip him and dictate his move: he dropped down the shaft and fled back to Yridhrennor.
Steave prepared another crusader's cocktail, maintaining his position at the foot of the ladder.
Galin dared the ladder and cultists gathered above. He scaled it and found himself nearly surrounded by enemies, pressing past and taking a cudgel to his shoulder as he approached the priestess with the glaive. He thrust his blade deep into her side.
With an enemy before them and their best efforts made, the mongrelfolk cultists fell back to the east, down a narrow tunnel and toward a barricade.
Back with the noncombatants, Saito remained on his guard and declined to join the rush up the ladder just yet.
Abelard joined Galin above, climbing the ladder in easy bounds and coming out with his huge sword swinging. The tip of the blade caught on a protrusion from the ceiling, spoiling his attack.
The huge rats, slavering, lunged at Galin and Abelard's legs. Both kicked away their attackers, suffering no more than some grime clinging to their boots.
Abelard uses the rat's attack to his advantage, re-positioning his feet and finding better footing. Taking a calming breath, he adjusts his grip on the falchion and cuts hard at the cultist.