The Devil's Gorge (and Beyond)!

Game Master Rynjin

So...?

Will update within a couple of hours. BTW, anyone have a See Invis type ability up?

Two of us have scent... I can detect hostile intentions as well.

Thetsu smells nothing. Nobody sees anything

However, a few minutes in, while Dorla is still mixing her Fly Extract, Donovan catches the distinct scent of Vanara, and one that's not Thetsu. A flash of intense hostility appears simultaneously. It seems to be near Dorla.

Donovan can act in the Surprise round (you'll need a Move to pinpoint him). Assume you have a full round's worth of actions.

Save us Dorian!

Perception(?): 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (16) + 16 = 32

He is RIGHT next to Dorla (10 feet away from you, assuming you're watching the fire).

Wait... Shouldn't Thetsu have noticed him as well? He has the exact same Perception bonus as Donovan.

Donovan is the only person who can smell ghosts.

Donovan can smell ghosts?! I thought he just gained scent... Well... I'm not complaining.

- - -

"Huh... Smile and say 'Hello', friends! It appears our host is here to welcome us!"

Uh... Let's see... I use a swift action to activate Ghostwalk. Then I use my standard action to activate Fading Strike to attack the enemy, thus spending 5pp to manifest Call Weaponry as part of my attack.

If it's possible I'd like to use Quick Dirty trick to blind him with a strike to the eyes or by using my wakizashi to reflect light into his eyes... If that's not possible, I'll just use Disarm to... well.. disarm him. If that's not possible either for whatever reason, I'll just deal damage.

Mindblade Wakizashi: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (20) + 17 = 37 (+4 if Dirty Trick or Disarm is allowed) damage: 1d6 + 11 ⇒ (4) + 11 = 15
Miss chance: 1d100 ⇒ 92

EDIT: Wow! Nat 20! Haven't seen one of those in a while!

crit confirm (if Dirty Trick is not possible): 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (7) + 17 = 24 extra damage: 1d6 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16

- - -

(I don't know how you're resolving percentage chances, but out of fairness and consistency, I'm assuming it works like in One Step Beyond.

Donovan can smell ghosts?! I thought he just gained scent... Well... I'm not complaining.

"Spirit Sensing" Stance isn't just flavor. =) "While in this stance, the initiators gains the scent special ability and he may detect creatures on the Ethereal plane that are near the Material plane within 30-ft. of his position."

Donovan is pretty sure he just blinded Silverback!

The blinded man strikes anyway.

Miss: 1d100 ⇒ 59

Strike: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (17) + 20 = 37

Damage: 9d6 + 8 ⇒ (5, 6, 6, 4, 5, 1, 3, 4, 3) + 8 = 45

Confirm?: 1d20 + 24 ⇒ (13) + 24 = 37

Crit: 1d6 + 8 ⇒ (1) + 8 = 9

Dorla, take 54 damage and make a DC 25 Fort save or take 1d6 ⇒ 1 Charisma damage.

Inits: 4d20 ⇒ (7, 7, 17, 14) = 45

Silverback appears...and then just as suddenly disappears again. Donovan can no longer sense him.

Y'all are up. Hit and run tactics are annoying admittedly, but the man's outnumbered AND an assassin.

I assume that this is against poison? I need to know if Dorla's poison resistance applies. I'll assume it does.

Fort save against poison:1d20 + 13 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 13 + 4 = 27

Apparently I also have a stance where I can see invisible stuff... I thought it only gave me Blur. I switch stances to that one, then. :P

Anyone have any idea what we can do about this jerk? Dorla has no abilities that will help with an invisible enemy. I assume that based on the order I listed things, the extracts of delay poison are made, but not fly.

Correct.

Donovan again sees nothing; Silverback appears to be GONE, not hidden. He may have teleported back into his cave.

Dorla gulps down 2 potions of cure serious wounds.

3d8 + 5 ⇒ (8, 5, 4) + 5 = 22

3d8 + 5 ⇒ (6, 3, 2) + 5 = 16

Total recovery of 38 HP.

Actually, if there are no clerics, does that mean that the minimum caster level for cure serious wounds is 7, so the potion should be 3d8+7 instead of 5?

Then Dorla finishes making fly, and proceeds as planned.

1.) Sure. 2.) You have one round's worth of actions. So you can drink a SINGLE potion.

Ah, I thought with him completely gone, we were out of combat and so out of initiative. My bad.

"DORLA!" Thetsu calls out when he sees Silverback strike and teleport away.

Thetsu moves over to Dorla whilst drawing his staff and activating it's super cool magical Psionic ability. It becomes longer and thinner but still capable of combat!

He then readies himself for the inevitable attack.

Move, Swift to activate the 15 ft reach and then ill ready an action to whack-a-mole.

Well... I don't have any ideas... If he can just teleport from beyond our range of detection and become invisible, there isn't any point in facing him in an open field or inside his home. We can keep watching the vines burn from a safe distance or we can leave and plan an ambush or something. I'm open to suggestions.

Readied actions are generally the answer in this scenario.

I take it you've never fought Blink Dogs with Sorcerer levels in a maze, have you? You're lucky this is an open field and he can't do this s+*$ at-will. =)

OK, trying to figure out how Dorla's health actually is... If we're still in combat, she only drinks the first potion, but with the min caster level adjustment, she gained 24 hp. Also, she would have used a free action to use her spontaneous healing for another 5 hp. Thus, she gained 29 hp, not 38.

Anything happens next?

I was waiting for your action.

I'm not sure what to do... I guess I move 30 ft away from the cave and bring everyone with me if they still have their move actions. :P

Nothing happens this turn, that you can tell.

Round 2 actions. If they aren't posted by tomorrow morning (or whatever time of day I happen to get up), I'm assuming Dorla drinks another potion, Thetsu readies another attack, and Donovan readies one as well.

I suppose I'll ready a Fading Strike to disarm him if in case he attacks us (from within the range of Fading Strike, of course).

For the future, when you guys ready attacks, roll them please.

Dorla heals more, and then Silverback appears again, covered in soot and a piece of cloth tied to his head to staunch the bleeding that was blinding him. He flickers into being just ahead of the fire, and Donovan flicks over and tries to knock his weapon out of his hand.

1d20 ⇒ 13

Successfully!

Silverback snarls and draws his second one as the other goes swirling away into the tall grass.

"Stop interfering and I might let you live."

Steel Fang: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (4) + 20 = 24

In his zeal, however, he completely misses Donovan!

His eyes widen in surprise and he hurriedly taps into his more limited reserves of teleporting power, drawing in a deep breath and disappearing from sight again.

I thought you'd prefer if we rolled when the attack was made... I don't even know how we do it in OSB... I guess it makes more sense to roll when you ready the action.

Readying an action is basically the same as declaring your action in advance. Making the roll only when the action comes up slows things down a midge for PbP, so I prefer it if you guys roll it earlier.

Dorla is now at full health from the potion in round 2.

Her next turn, Dorla drinks a potion of fly (standard action) and then gets up above ground level, but still near the others (move action).

BTW... Why would he appear by the fire? Instead of next to one of us?

Donovan picks up the dagger on the ground and smiles.

"Ooh... Shiny!"

He then walks back to his previous position... (which should be something like 30 ft away from the fire, and next to Dorla and Thetsu)

BTW... Why would he appear by the fire? Instead of next to one of us?

Because he can teleport 30 ft. at-will, but 60 ft. takes precious resources. =) The plan was to use Stance of the Ether Gate to get out of the cave, and then Fading Strike to smack Dorla again and zap off. Your readied action, however, presented him with a more immediate threat in yourself, so he decided to try ad take you out of the fight for a round.

Silverback fails to appear again for a round.

Thetsu elongates his staff and readies himself to whack Silverback if he comes near. He lets the Red Haze fill his vision.

Thetsu will kick him if he's adjacent or whack him with the staff if he's 10 or 15ft away.

Punch: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (11) + 14 = 25
Damage: 1d10 + 18 ⇒ (8) + 18 = 26

Staff Whack: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (3) + 13 = 16
Damage: 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17

In case he provokes an attack of opportunity...I also have Combat Reflexes.
Punch 1: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (17) + 14 = 31
Damage: 1d10 + 16 ⇒ (2) + 16 = 18

Staff Whack 2: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (12) + 13 = 25
Damage: 1d6 + 14 ⇒ (1) + 14 = 15

I suppose I'll ready an action to make a 5ft-step and disarm him again if he appears 5~10ft away from me.

Wakizashi: 1d20 + 21 ⇒ (20) + 21 = 41
Miss chance, if necessary: 1d100 ⇒ 61

EDIT: HAH! Another Nat 20!

Curiously, Silverback does not deign to show up again.

You can keep the roll if you keep the same Ready though.

Dorla comes back to the ground near Donovan and Thetsu and appears to be busy making extracts again. I'm seeing if I need to lure the jerk out by making Dorla a target for him again.

Has the fire burned enough of the vine thorn stuff away for someone sufficiently acrobatic to jump through?

If not I'll just maintain my readied actions.

Sure, go for it. Failure means you take 1d4 Fire and 1d4 Piercing damage. Just remember to hold your breath (and, lucky me, I don't need to bother keeping track of the rouns for you!)

Thetsu gets fed up with waiting and attempts to leap through the burning thorns.

Acrobatics: 1d20 + 15 ⇒ (6) + 15 = 21

Just made it.

Thetsu still has part of a Move action left (it was 50 feet from your position to the cave entrance).

Thetsu looks to see how deep the cave goes and for anything else of interest.

Perception Lowlight Vision: 1d20 + 16 ⇒ (7) + 16 = 23

I hope the fire is enough to see by for low light.

The fire light is bright, yes. However...

Thetsu cannot see very far in the obscuring smoke.

The Vanaran Monk begins to probe for enemies with his staff.

Dunno if we're still doing initiative or what have you.

Dorla looks around carefully. The Jerk may very well try to use the time when Thetsu is away to attack her again. (She is on the ground, and near Donovan)

Perception:1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

Dorla sees nothing. However, her instincts were sadly correct.

Silverback appears!

Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (18) + 20 = 38

And Donovan is incapable of beating that with his Perception.

1d6 ⇒ 5

Five more Silverbacks appear where the original one stood, and each laughs at Donovan mockingly, giving him the finger.

Silverback slams Dorla with a blast of force, now incorporeal, but visible.

Touch: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (10) + 20 = 30

And then teleports to Donovan and does the same!

Touch: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (6) + 20 = 26

Damage: 10d6 ⇒ (1, 4, 4, 2, 5, 2, 6, 6, 5, 5) = 40

Both of you take 40 damage, and Silverback is now 15 feet away from you Donovan, and incorporeal.

*sigh*

I'm under effect of Blur, so he has a 20% chance to miss me.

Since I haven't used my Swift action this turn, I'll spend it as an immediate action to use Altered Penumbra and teleport 10 ft toward whichever Silverback used the blast of force...

Stealth: 1d20 + 20 ⇒ (20) + 20 = 40

Donovan taps into Ethereal energy himself, and blocks the phantom blast!

You're now unharmed and adjacent to Silverback.

Also don't sigh, this looks really cool in my head. It's a battle between two teleporters for cryin' out loud! It's cool!

Are illusions considered "incorporeal" as well?

EDIT: Nevermind... Spending my psionic focus doesn't provoke AoO, right? If it doesn't, I do that to recover my maneuvers. If it does, I take a 5 ft step before doig it.

"Good job attacking a girl... By surprise... From afar... You know, when Chirrup said you uses him to detect traps, I thought you were just cruel... But now I think you're just cowardly and not very good with that knife. Good thing I got it"

No, but what Altered Penumbra (and the more advanced Phantom Penumbra he just used) do is teleport you out of the range of the attack (in this case negating it, since he couldn't melee you) and leave an image in that place. Basically you just LOG'D him.