Darnak races up to the monstrous pile of coin, dodging spare coppers as he does. Both monks have closed the distance with the enemies thanks to their superior movement.
Defensive Abilities channel resistance +5; DR 20/—;
Immune acid, cold, electricity, magic, polymorph
Immunity to Magic (Su)
A demilich is immune to any spell or spell-like ability that allows spell resistance. In addition, certain spells function differently against the creature, as noted below.
A dispel evil spell deals 2d6 points of damage, with no saving throw.
Holy smite affects a demilich normally.
A power word kill spoken by an ethereal caster deals 50 points of damage to the demilich if it fails a Fortitude save (with a DC determined as though the spell allowed a saving throw).
A shatter spell deals 1d6 points of damage per two caster levels (maximum 10d6), with no saving throw.
Greater Bestow Curse (Sp)
This spell-like ability functions like bestow curse, but can have one of the following effects: -12 to one ability score; -6 to two ability scores; -8 penalty on attack rolls, saves, and checks; or a 25% chance to act normally. This ability is treated as a 6th-level spell.
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 20th; concentration +25)
Constant—true seeing
At will—greater bestow curse (DC 21), telekinesis (DC 19), wail of the banshee (20-ft.-radius spread centered on the demilich; DC 24)
Devour Soul (Su)
As a standard action with a range of 300 feet, a demilich can imprison the soul of a living creature within one of 10 special gems embedded in its skull. If the target succeeds at a DC 22 Fortitude save, it gains two permanent negative levels. If it fails, its soul is immediately drawn into one of the gems in the demilich's skull. The soul remains trapped within the gem, visible as but a gleam except under true seeing. The soulless body corrupts and decays rapidly, reducing to dust in a single round. As long as the dead creature's soul remains trapped in the gemstone, it cannot be restored to life via any means save direct divine intervention. Gems with souls trapped in them can be retrieved from a destroyed demilich, at which point they can either be crushed to release any souls within to their afterlife or used in the place of the usual material components to restore the soul and body with resurrection or true resurrection. After 24 hours, the demilich can choose to consume any soul trapped in a gem, healing it 1d6 hit points per Hit Die of the soul, at which point only miracle or wish can restore the dead creature to life. The save DC is Charisma-based.
Telekinetic Storm (Su)
As a special use of its telekinesis spell-like ability, a demilich can churn up its treasure, dust, bones, and other loose debris in the area into a whirling storm about its skull. The storm obscures vision as a fog cloud within a 20-foot spread centered on the demilich's skull. Creatures within the storm take 12d6 points of damage per round on the demilich's turn (Reflex DC 20 for half damage). The demilich can maintain the storm indefinitely by concentrating.
Vorpal Susceptibility (Ex)
Vorpal weapons of any kind ignore a demilich's damage reduction.
Rejuvenation (Su)
A destroyed demilich reforms in 2d6 days. To permanently destroy a demilich, holy water must be poured over its remains within the area of a hallow spell. To complete the destruction, holy word or dispel evil must be cast. If the caster succeeds at a caster level check with a DC equal to 10 + the demilich's Hit Dice, the demilich is permanently destroyed.
Piercing Immunity (Ex): Piercing weapons, even magical ones, do no damage to a coin golem.
Pile of coins (Ex): A coin golem can collapse into a heap of coins and sit perfectly still for long periods of time. An observer must succeed on a DC 30 Perception check to notice that the coin golem is alive. Coin golems typically rest on top of a pile of normal coins, blending in seamlessly with their treasure hoards.
Regeneration (Su): As long as the coin golem is in contact with its treasure hoard, the coin golem has regeneration. The coin golem is destroyed when it brought below 0 hit points and removed from its treasure hoard.
Akor 27
Thaddicus 24
Darnak 22
Demilich 21
Golem 14
Sparel 13
Malak 8
Akor surges forward, lashing out at the nearest demilich. His longsword strikes true, but seems to hit for far less damage that it should have.
Thaddicus takes aim at the massive mound of money that was threatening Squire Jacob. His arrow flies in a perfect arch right through the center of the creature's mass. But instead of hurting the golem, the arrow seems to fly right through the coins to embed itself in the far wall.
The baron is yelling at the squires near him to run out the front entrance. Then he calls his horse over to his raised desk. Meanwhile ,the other squires are helping Jacob up and preparing to run toward one of the back entrances to the warehouse. Sparel can see that the noncombatants should be safe from monsters thanks to the wall, baring any random spell effects.
Akor 27
Thaddicus 24
Darnak 22
Demilich 21
Golem 14
Sparel 13
Malak 8
Sparel thinks to his companions quickly and meticulously as he has done many times. Rattling off a list of attributes of their enemies
:: The demolish is immune to Magic, cold, electricity and polymorph as well as most direct spells. Dispel evil and smite will hurt it. Power word kill will harm it greatly if you're also ethereal. Shatter spell will harm it greatly. It can eat souls. Vorpal weapons are very effective. It can regenerate if killed, but we'll deal with that as the time comes. Just kill it first.::
::The golem is immune to most magic. Fire slows it for a few seconds (3rds) and cold heals it as well as breaking the slow. It is immune to piercing weapons, so most arrows are useless. The golem will continue to regenerate as long as it is in contact with the treasure horde.::
::"Spare, the squries are safe. Quit worrying about them. If the golem can keep regenerating if its in contact with its treasure, levitate it off the ground some."::
::"Spare, the squries are safe. Quit worrying about them. If the golem can keep regenerating if its in contact with its treasure, levitate it off the ground some."::
::WIsh I had thought of that.:: Sparel says sardonically.
Round 1
Seeing his companions attacks do practically nothing, Darnak goes into a flurry in hopes that his will be more effective.
Darnak unleashes a flurry of blows on the coin golem, hitting the beast twice with blows hard enough to knock away piles of coins from its body. The rest of the attacks don't seem to hit it hard enough to do any harm.
The glittering jewels that encrust the leering skulls glimmer from the magic that keeps the demiliches aloft. One turns to look straight at Darnak, while the one that Akor attacked grins and chatters at the inquisitor. Both Darnak and Akor suddenly feel the heavy weight of the grave press down on their hearts.
The coin golem rattles as the bulk of its form shifts to face Darnak. Both of its arms extend outward in a surge of coins. The monk easily dodges one but the other catches the dwarf square in the face. Coins jam into the monk's mouth, eyes and nose, but he quickly twists away before the damage gets worse.
Sparel yells for the squires to get out of the line of fire and quickly casts a haste spell on everyone, including the staff, to make sure they can get out in time.
The squires on both sides start to run for the exits at greatly increased speed. The baron also is scrambling onto his horse and seems to be chanting a prayer in celestial.
A creature with temporary negative levels receives a new saving throw to remove the negative level each day. The DC of this save is the same as the effect that caused the negative levels.
Some abilities and spells (such as raise dead) bestow permanent level drain on a creature. These are treated just like temporary negative levels, but they do not allow a new save each day to remove them. Level drain can be removed through spells like restoration. Permanent negative levels remain after a dead creature is restored to life. A creature whose permanent negative levels equal its Hit Dice cannot be brought back to life through spells like raise dead and resurrection without also receiving a restoration spell, cast the round after it is restored to life.
Slam two
Crit confirm
Failure
damage
;;Concentrate fire on one lich, then the other. :: Sparel strongly suggests mentally
Sparel ducks behind something (if possible) to break line of sight with the enemy and begins an incantation in Celestial.
At the end of the round Lantern Archons appear.
They all fire at demi-lich 1
LA1
LA2
LA3
Touch AC and the ray's ignore DR and SR. They aren't spells they're EX.
Lantern Archon CR 2
XP --
LG Small outsider (archon, extraplanar, good, lawful)
Init +4; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +4 Aura aura of menace (DC 13)
DEFENSE
AC 15, touch 11, flat-footed 15 (+4 natural, +1 size; +2 deflect vs. evil)
hp 13 [17] (2d10+2) [2d10+6]
Fort +4 [+6], Ref +3, Will +0; +4 vs. poison, +2 resistance vs. evil
DR 10/evil; Immune electricity, petrification
OFFENSE
Speed fly 60 ft. (perfect)
Ranged 2 light rays +3 ranged touch (1d6)
Spell-Like Abilities (CL 3rd):
At Will—aid, continual flame, detect evil, greater teleport (self plus 50 lbs. of objects only)
STATISTICS
Str 1 [5], Dex 11, Con 12 [16], Int 6, Wis 11, Cha 10
Base Atk +2; CMB -4 [-2]; CMD 6 [8]
Feats Improved Initiative
Skills Diplomacy +5, Fly +14, Knowledge (planes) +3, Perception +4, Sense Motive +5
SPECIAL ABILITIES
Gestalt (Su)
Nine lantern archons can fuse together as a full-round action, becoming a single Large entity that is more powerful than the individual archons that make up its parts. Looking like a whirlwind of dancing firefly lights, the gestalt has all the powers and abilities of a Large air elemental plus the following: archon, good, and lawful subtypes; archon traits (aura of menace DC 16); 2 light rays (2d6); DR 5/evil and magic. The archons can remain in this form for 2d4 rounds. When the gestalt separates back into individual lantern archons, its remaining hit points are divided evenly among them; if it had less than 9 hit points, some of the component archons die when the gestalt ends.
Aura of Menace (Su)
Any hostile creature within a 20-foot radius of an archon must succeed on a Will save (DC 13) to resist its effects. The save DC is Charisma-based, and includes a +2 racial bonus. Those who fail take a –2 penalty on attacks, AC, and saves for 24 hours or until they successfully hit the archon that generated the aura. A creature that has resisted or broken the effect cannot be affected again by the same archon's aura for 24 hours.
Light Ray (Ex)
A lantern archon can fire beams of light to damage foes. These light rays have a maximum range of 30 feet. This attack overcomes damage reduction of any type.
Malak had made his way behind the same lich that Akor attacked and lashed out with both weapons in blinding speed.
GrimStiehl(+2 Holy) attack 1 -
Damage -
GrimStiehl(+2 Holy) attack 2 -
Damage -
GrimStiehl(+2 Holy) attack 3 -
Damage -
RazorEdge (+5 Keen) attack -
Damage -
GrimStiehl(+2 Holy) attack 1 Crit confirm -
Damage -
RazorEdge (+5 Keen) attack Crit confirm -
Damage -
Hasted GrimStiehl(+2 Holy) attack -
Damage -
The Archons attack the same one the others are attacking. I just wasn't sure which one that was.
Akor curses in pain as the demilich tries to take his soul. "Thou will find my soul anchored most securely thanks to my goddess' blessing"
1d20 + 22
1d20 + 22 - 2
2d10 + 9
Darnak twists away from the coin golem's extended arm at the last second and lashes out at the golem. Again, his blow doesn't seem strong enough to hurt the creature.
Both Darnak and Akor resist the attempts to steal their souls, but still gain two negative levels each.
Malak moves into position to flank the chattering skull attacking Akor when it spins around to stare at him with empty eyes. Still, the ninja lashes out at the undead skull, hitting it multiple times but each blow seems to hit for far less damage than it should.
The skull starts to chatter again, trying to mock the Daggers, but all of its teeth begin to crumble and then the entire creature collapses into dust.
Akor 27
Thaddicus 24
Darnak 22
Demilich 21
Golem 14
Sparel 13
Malak 8
Thaddicus, seeing his shots as ineffectual against the coin golem fires instead at the remaining Demilich. Since the golem is far more interested in Darnak, he doesn't even bother moving.
DA Full attack Hasted (assuming they are at a -6 to hit due to distance and the vines. Please adjust if necessary.)
Atk 1
Atk 2
Atk 3
Atk 4
Atk 5
Atk 6
Atk 7
Atk 8 Perfect strike- out of these three the Highest one is the shot, the second, the crit confirm.
Damage
Atk 1
Atk 2
Atk 3
Atk 4
Atk 5
Atk 6
Atk 7
Atk 8
Status:
Current HP: 216/216
Ki Points remaining: 21
Stunning fists used: 0 of 19
Perfect Strikes used: 1 of 18
Elemental Fists used: 1 of 18
Boots of Haste 0 of 10
Gravity Bow is expended
Feeling quite strange, as if he's been zapped of his strength, Darnak fights through the odd feeling and flurries again.
I may have asked this before, but I can't remember. Can golems be critted? If I'm wasting my time let me know and I'll stop rolling.
Calling about Iomedae to fill him with divine wrath, Akor moves to strike the other demilich with a deadly blow
Sparel throws a small cannon toy on the ground. As it hit it grows and ripplles with arcane energy. The cannon fires at the coin golem.
Touch attack
Round 2
Akor calls upon his Goddess as he moves to confront the other demilich, swinging a strong blow against the foul spellcaster that spins the skull around a few times.
Thaddicus turns his eye toward the unsteady undead and looses a volley of arrows at the demilich. All eight arrows strike, cracking the gems that surround the crown of the skull and cause the entire rotten creature to shatter into pieces.
Only the coin golem remains, and Darnak seems to have locked down the beast. Four of his attacks connect this time, dealing much more damage than before.
The golem starts to lose its shape. At first it seems like those hits were enough to stop the magics binding it together. But then, the coins start to spin in a widening circle. A whirlwind of money 40 feet high and 20 feet across attacks everyone in range.
Akor 27
Thaddicus 24
Darnak 22
Golem 14
Sparel 13
Malak 8
Aeons
Elementals
Incorporeal (unless using a ghost touch attack) creatures
Oozes
Proteans (50% ignore)
Swarms
Creatures Immune to Precision Damage (like Sneak Attacks)
Elementals
Incorporeal (unless using a ghost touch attack) creatures
Oozes
Proteans (50% ignore)
Creatures Immune to Flanking
Swarms
Thaddicus gets a satisfied kind of smile when he destroys the demilich easily, but his mirth is short lived as the coin golem slams him with treasure. The old archer had always been pretty good with money until this moment, but things are liable to change when they have been enchanted.
Ki Points remaining: 21
Stunning fists used: 0 of 19
Perfect Strikes used: 1 of 18
Elemental Fists used: 1 of 18
Boots of Haste 0 of 10
Gravity Bow is expended
Sparel begins to chant in celestial. Bright floating lights begins to appear around him, growing brighter as they begin to manifest in this plane.
Still invisible and very thankfull that both vile demiliches were down...for now at least...; Malak turned his attention towards the pile of coins in front of Darnak. The swirling mass of money looked dangerous. The elf moved closer before calling upon his esoteric knowledge and shiftng through shadows to place himself behind the golem.
::I am on the other side of this thing brothers.::
::Keep hitting it and separate it from the treasure. It'll regenerate as long as it's in contact.::
Hitting it? Thaddicus didn't usually stoop to hitting things with anything but arrows. It was necessary sometimes to be more gentle with things, like when a beggar asks you for money when it is pretty obvious he could work. "Kick able bodied beggars, son. Don't injure them badly or they will have a real reason to beg." This was one of the few pieces of advice his father repeated to him whenever they went on a trip to the city.
He began to imagine the great coin beast as a beggar that wanted money that didn't belong to it by right. It belonged to the war effort. It was needed to destroy his in-laws. With that, he raised his ire and gave some swift kicks at the golem. "Get a job, golem. This money is for fighting demons, not for sustaining ne'erdowells like you!"
Status:HP:191/216
Ki Points remaining: 21
Stunning fists used: 0 of 19
Perfect Strikes used: 1 of 18
Elemental Fists used: 1 of 18
Boots of Haste 0 of 10
Gravity Bow is expended
Malak moves like an invisible shadow to the far side of the coin golem to help the rest of the dagger finish off the ambushing attacker.
The lantern archons finally bridge the gap from the higher planes to the warehouse. The small bulbs of light fly straight for the golem and begin to circle it, firing beams of pure white light into the whirlwind. Clumps of coins are knocked out of the creature, reducing its mass.
Akor 27
Thaddicus 24
Darnak 22
Golem 14
Sparel 13
Malak 8
Akor shifts his focus and divine wrath to the golem, striking at the creature with a flurry of devastating blows from Demonwrack
As the lantern archons fire beams of holy light at the golem, Akor quickly moves into position to finish the golem. He unleashes a flurry of blows on the creature, knocking a large portion of the coins away from the figure.
Thaddicus tries to kick at the coins that are spinning around him, but none of the blows seems to do any harm.
Darnak ignores the coins that are pounding on him relentlessly. ::"I'll keep hittin' it. One o' you fellas seperate it.":: He tells the others as he goes into a flurry of attacks again.
Malak and Darnak both lash out at the golem once Akor's blow leaves the mass of money reeling.
Then, Darnak unleashes a barrage of punches, kicks and headbutts at the column of coins in front of him. As the last of his blows connects, the whirling creature falls apart, scattering coins across the floor. The golem is no more; just a pile of very expensive coins left behind.
Moments later, the group can hear the baron shouting from the hallway. He quickly emerges on horseback, following by a gestalt of lantern archons. Nine of the otherworldly beings have fused together into a luminous form that looks like the outline of a man drawn in blinding sunlight by the trails of dancing fireflies.
The being quickly flies toward the containers in the warehouse, blasting them apart with its holy light and quickly searching the rest of the building for any more threats. After about 30 seconds, it finds none. The blinding form begins to fall apart, returning to individual lantern archons that fly back to their places as lamps and hallway lights throughout the building.
"Good work, Daggers!" the baron bellows at you all. "Not a single person dead. I'm sure the demons meant for this to have a much worse outcome. Help yourself to the coins and gems; I'm not going to hand them out to anyone again."
Akor and Sparel both know that rituals will be required to make sure all the items from these creatures are safe to use and that none of them reform to attack again. And there are more than 100,000 coins left behind after defeating the golem, everything from copper pieces to platinum coins.
Rejuvenation (Su)
A destroyed demilich reforms in days. To permanently destroy a demilich, holy water must be poured over its remains within the area of a hallow spell. To complete the destruction, holy word or dispel evil must be cast. If the caster succeeds at a caster level check with a DC equal to 10 + the demilich's Hit Dice (15), the demilich is permanently destroyed.
While the group picks up its newest treasure, the baron quickly jots down some notes and shoves them through the large ring on his desk. They go in one side and don't come out the other. After a few minutes, more notes come back through the ring. The baron reads them and then looks up at the group.
"No one else has any golems or undead in their tithes or treasure collected from the recent battle. We're the only one. And three of them being discovered at the same time? That's not coincidence. This wasn't just left behind like some booby trap. Someone planned this attack."
Malak looked about at the room with apparent boredom now that the fight was over. Although this was mostly a defensive mechanism.
Why that was certainly a cheery way to get some coin. Who cares to hazard a guess that this was left for us? Or perhaps for yon Noble Baron? I'd say we have received the attention of someone quite dangerous...so, what's new?
He ended this with a genuine smile as he cleaned his weapons and replaced them in their sheaths.
"We have at minimum two days before the Liches reanimate. I'll need to prepare the correct spells to destroy them fully. In the mean while, Baron do you have a basin and enough holy water to emerge the remains? If so I'll need that please."
"I'll also prepare travel spells so we can travel the planes and pick up rare and powerful goods. We'll spend the golem in another plane just to be in the safe side. Baron, if you need such goods I'd be happy to pick up whatever you need as well."
"Sparel, I know one of the spells needed to fully destroy the demiliches. However, I lack knowledge of the Hallow spell. Also, if Iomedae is willing, I might stand a better chance of actually succeeding in destroying them"
One of my Judgements grants me a bonus on caster level checks. Technically, the ritual isn't truly combat, but I was wondering if for cool factor, you'd be willing to fudge things a tad so I can use that Judgement when casting Holy Word. Pretty please? lol
It's possible that I have some area in my demiplane hallowed. I didn't specifically say, so it's up to you. It's reasonable that I would and it would save the group some time.
Your call. Otherwise I'll just memorize it tomorrow.
Thaddicus addressed the baron, "Thank you for your generosity, Baron. It is too bad the trap wasn't more challenging. We didn't get to see you in action. Any more news from the front?"
Thaddicus addressed the baron, "Thank you for your generosity, Baron. It is too bad the trap wasn't more challenging. We didn't get to see you in action. Any more news from the front?"
::Ever the courtly noble. :: Sparel jibes in good humor.
::"Uh Spare, I believe your going to need to dip into our dust fund, sooner the better"::
::"Uh Spare, I believe your going to need to dip into our dust fund, sooner the better"::
::That is the plan, but I do not have the proper spells prepared today. We should make preperations to destroy these creatues then make preperations to spend this gold off the prime material. The elemental plane of fire is as good a place as any. ::
::Speaking of which I had an idea I'd like to get feedback on. First a list of related facts; Efrittes are fire geines with the ability to grant a number of wished to non-geinie-kind three times per day. They are generally not good creatures, but they do follow a strict set of laws (AKA:Lawful Evil). They are significantlty less skilled creatures than we (CR 8) and I could easily bind a few as needed. If we negotiated with or coerced through magic a minimum of two we would be able to systematically increase our abilites without effectively costing the creatures anything. Since their wish ability is natural (spell like) it would not cost the fortune in diamond dust that it would for a significantly powerful mortal caster to do so (25K per casting X 5 per stat). Now the proper wording for the ability increasing wish is well documented and has been shown to be safe enough for repeated use. So we won't particularily have to worry about the Efritees bending the wish to unforseen purpose.::
::Now, all that being said we have a few options to approach this. Option 1, we could simply not pursue for whatever reason.::
::Option 2, and perhaps safest though morally questionable, I could bind two magically and force them to use their ability for our gain. Of course to prevent possible reprisal it would be in everyone's best interest to destroy them as opposed to release them. The latter may bring unfortunate consequences. Of course we may or may not be willing to take that risk for moral reasond depending on how everyone feels about it. Bearing in mind we are fighting for the greater good and our increased abilities will only aid in this. Also, they are inheriently evil creatures and ridding the world of a few may be in the best interest of the light (forces of good)::
::Option 3, which is the riskiest in my humble opinion. We could approach the Efritees and attempt to negotiate this service. Typically they try to bend such negotiations to evil ends or simply to the detriment of the wisher. However, being as powerful as we are they may be willing to discuss with us in earnest. It's difficult to say. Possible acceptable trades are 1)using some of their own wishes for their benefit, 2)monetary compensation, though I can't say how much, 3) and my favorite the guaranteed promise of rescue should the ones who assist us be bound and imprisoned by another. (The last could easily be a plot device if DM wants). I would even be willing to relent to some sort of Geas to that effect. ::
::I'm curious as to everyones thoughts and questions on the matter.::
The baron seems to be thinking as everyone asks him questions. He waves his hands over to one of the undisturbed crates that is labeled "holy water." There is more than enough in there to deal with the liches.
He looks at Thaddicus and nods: "The front has been quiet since the drow fled back underground. The demons fought longer - they always do - but since that attack we have only seen some patrols."
He looks a bit surprised when the group tells him about the refugees and the dragon, but does not seem upset about it. He seems to be very intently thinking.
He turns to Malak: "I'm not sure this was intended for me, so much as it was meant to disrupt the system we have to resupplying troops. Hinder it enough, and the demons might finally gain another foothold. Other towns have been lost to their advance."
He looks over the boxes and manifests while everyone else gathers up the coins. After about 20 minutes, he speaks again.
"This has to be sabotage. All the crates are marked as if they came from the same army, the Taldor army. Viceroy Vintari was behind on his tithe and needed resupply. He finally sent over his tithe today - extra large because of the spoils from the recent attack - and we've been working hard to catalogue it all."
The baron points at what is left of the boxes that contained the skulls and golem.
"Those boxes aren't on the manifest but they have the Taldor symbol. The Taldor army didn't send them. But someone took advantage of all the confusion to slip these in. That requires forethought and planning. And where it not for you Daggers, all the squires would have been killed and probably myself as well. From there, the entire warehouse could have been looted or even cursed by those spellcasting skulls. Imagine a holy sword that becomes unholy in the midst of battle."
The baron sighs.
"We have a problem."