The Last Breaths of Ashenport

Game Master FabesMinis

Block 4
Seram Zal at any point in this block to be determined
Mandrake
Rowan

Mystic Cultist - Dagon's Fang vs Grafire. 19 vs Fort - miss.
Gritting his teeth, Grafire fends off a further psychic attack from a reappeared cultist.
>>>>MAP<<<<
Block 4's turn.

Sorry when its Rowan's go...

"Sacred Flame!" Rowan calls out as a ball of light flashes across but fails to make contact as the divine light coating the ground moves forward to aid the embattled heroes...

Minor action to sustain the consecrated ground use his move action to move it so its centred on the empty square between Manny and Grafire meaning it heads north 2 squares and then Rowan cuts loose with Sacred Flame but rolled a 1 which is a miss regardless of any adds to it in any case

Move five squares south, 1 west.

Seram looks at the others while tightening the grasp on his sword. "Are we retreat or not!" he impatience growing.

Full Defense

Move five squares south, 1 west.

Seram looks at the others while tightening the grasp on his sword. "Are we retreat or not!" he impatience growing.
Full Defense

"Getting there... stay on target..." Rowan mutters back hoping they can get the others out of the room and actually get to retreat...

Block 1
Grafire

Block 2
Fish-Man Warriors
Fish-Man Slayers
Althanis

Block 3
Akahale
It - delaying
Mystic Cultist

Block 4
Seram Zal
Rowan
Mandrake

>>>>MAP<<<<

Mandrake's turn. You are on 6hp and prone. It is still delaying.

Seram Zal runs back to see what the hold-up is only to bump into Akahale running down the stairs. Mandrake comes to once more lying on the floor of the shrine, bathed in a warm glow.

IT stands motionless, its chest-light dim.

Mandrake's eyes flutter open. He groans, a heavy, guttural sound with only a hint of self-pity.

"Did anyone get the number of that wagon? The one pulled by the eight nightmares? I don't think they missed with one, single, hoof." He mumbles as he props himself up onto one elbow. His eyes then begin to focus.

"Oh. That can't be good." He says as he sees the fang-filled gaze of the fish-man standing almost on top of him. "I knew that sushi would come back to haunt me. Iiiit! You forgot to take out the trash again!"

OK, question(s):
-do we still have a 'withdrawal' option to get out of melee without drawing an OA?
-It's been a couple of pages, when Grafire discovered the columns, did he get to tell/yell at us about them? (Can Manny use them?)
-does being prone make it easier or MORE difficult to cast a spell while in melee range without getting an OA?

Ack. Show week, and I'm having to go on stage in place of one of my students, who's sick. Sorry, folks - all questions are straightforward to answer, but I will do so later. Apologies again.

OK, in answer to your questions: a) There is no 'withdrawal' option as such. What you can do instead is take a move action to shift (so you're out of the threat zone) and then spend another move action to move normally or run. b) Grafire told you all about the pillars, you merely need to touch one and you can choose which one you are teleported to and which square you appear in adjacent to it (this is all 1 move action) c) You incur an OA if you use a power with the 'ranged' keyword whilst in melee range. If you are prone and in melee, the opponent gets combat advantage. If you are prone, you take a -2 penalty to attack rolls (PHB p277).

Thx. AND it's a move action to stand up from prone, right?

Ok, my thoughts. 1) we NEED to run, we are low on powers, Hp and all that important stuff. 2) Manny can't get to 'safety' because he's prone. But whether he shifts, and then stands, or crawls to the stairway (shift twice???) He's still in the range of the bad caster guys zappy thing. And I'm not sure the glowing box will bring him back from another hit like that. 3) What about an assault on the caster? IF I cold ray him and slow him, (IF i hit of course), Grafire could teleport over and pound on him next turn.

OK, that's all I got. any suggestions that don't end up with the insane mage becoming fish-food? ;P

I think you can shift and then stand. If that is possable you wont have to survive an O.A. from the fishmen. If you have an action point spend it to run away.
Grafire will have to survive 2 O.A.'s to get out from where he is at. I think I can manage that. I'll have 25HP then. I will go on defense then run like hell...

Crawling is a whole different type of movement again. PHB 288 and 289 "Crawl".

Nah, blew my AP and my last decent spells on that abortive attempt on the caster. ;P It's not the OA's I'm worried about. It's the fact that if I shift, then stand, I'm still in blasting range of the bad guy with the double whammy!

Hmm,... This is where my old group would spend about an hour or 2 discussing strategy. And at the end of that conversation, (If our luck with the dice held out) we would somehow manage to pull a complete steamrolling maneuver and pummel the bad guys into bad memories in about 2-3 rounds tops. But I'll be darned if I can see how to pull the fat out of the fire we're in right now!

I'd be inclined, in Manny's position to swap out a standard action for a move. Shift (first move) to get out of range without provoking OA, then crawl (half speed, can be done from prone) to move three squares further away. It doesn't resolve the issue of being in splat range, but he may be splatting you at -2 because you'll still be prone and he may well have to use a ranged attack. Any little helps at this point.

What does everyone have left in their lockers with powers? Akahale can offer his usual array of ranged attacks and is in reasonable shape for hp. If we can at least get to a more defensible position and hoist everyone out of the way, we may still have a chance of survival, if not of actually winning.

I don't think you can shift when prone. That's what I'm saying.

Prone [Addition]

Player’s Handbook, page 277
Add “You can’t move from your space, although you can teleport, crawl, or be forced to move by a pull, a push, or a slide.”

Anyone got any powers that slide/pull/shift an ally?

Going to have to ask for a decision, Manny.

Sorry so delayed, wife sick. :P

PHB Update doc wrote:

Prone [Addition]

Player’s Handbook, page 277
Add “You can’t move from your space, although you can teleport, crawl, or be forced to move by a pull, a push, or a slide.”

Ok, this seems kind of contradictory? "You can't move from your space, although you can crawl"? If I can crawl out of the space I'm in, (Presuming half speed at best, 3 spaces) then I will shift (Crawl) 1 space to get out of OA range, and then use Standard action for Move action to crawl 3 more spaces towards stairs and more people.

IF NOT, then the only hope that I see is for Manny to fight back and try to clear some space! IF I can hit with Thunderwave, I can knock them back 2 spaces. Then I could use my move action to crawl to the stairs? (If I stand I'm kind of painting another target on my badly beaten forehead!):P

Re: powers left, I've blown my 2 encounters this time, we never regained our dailies, so all I have left is 1 Utility power and my at-wills. And 6, lovely, HP! (THANK you Rowan!) ;)

Ah what the heck, in a real fight, I wouldn't have time to dicker about it,... Thunderwave, vs Fort, if hit dmg +knocked back 2 spaces,... :)

"Git BACK you refugee from a cannery! D@mn thing would give Charlie nightmares! Get BACK I SAY!!!"

The battered mage's final words echo with power as he shoves his staff almost into the mouth of the drooling amphibian. The doddering mage's desperation must give him access to untapped reserves, or he's just really good at holding back until the odds are against him, because the thunderblast echoes louder then ever in the enclosed space, and the fish-face nearest him goes flying backwards, it's arms flailing like some obscene flying fish.

Angling cone so as to catch both fishes in in, and not Grafire,...

Thunderwave to hit: 1d20+11=31, Dmg: 1d6+8=11

WOOT! talk about making the roll when the chips are down! POssible crit?

COnfirm Crit?: 1d20+11=30, Dmg: 1d6+8=10

Oh PLEASE let that be a yes! My first ever 4E crit! :) Ack! Just realized my original roll did not include the 2nd fish-man facing Grafire: rolling that now:

Thunderwave to hit 2nd fish: 1d20+11=29, dmg: 1d6+8=12

WHERE the !@## have these rolls been up till now?!?! ;P rolling possible crit:

Crit confirm?: 1d20+11=12, 1d6+8=9

Ah, a nat one for the confirm, THAT's the die -roller I know and love! Hopefully the originals (not teh 2nd confirm, obviously) hit and knocked them both back 2 spaces, giving us breathing room. Gra, kindly pick up my aged, battered carcass and carry it out of here?!?! :)

Manny - one thing you're going to really love about 4e is this: a crit is a crit is a crit.

You don't roll to confirm, you just do the maximum damage. If you're using an implement/weapon that does additional damage on a crit, you roll for that separately.

Well, OK - a crit is a crit is a crit on a natural 20 as long as the attack would have hit the target at all - i.e. a level 2 pc rolling a crit against a demon lord doesn't do any kind of damage unless the attack could actually have hit it in the first place. But you should be fine with these bods.

Thunder rolls around the chamber, and Akahale lets out an uncharacteristic yell of primal triumph as the ancient mage fights back.

You thus do 14 damage +2d8 thunder from your staff. I rolled 4. I'll summarise what happens. FM1 gets pushed off the balcony and falls to the ground, which kills him. FM2 can either fall down the stairs or off the balcony. For ease, I'll say you throw him off the balcony. He also falls off and thus takes a further 2 damage and is prone.

Manny blinks at the dust from the ceiling settling onto his bushy eyebrows. He sneezes. Then winces in pain and grabs his side.

As his vision clears and he sees the results of his handywork, he does a little head-bob with a definite 'Yeah, That's right, Who's Bad?' smirk plastered across his fuzzy face.

Thx for the rules update guys. Again.
I have to admit I DO like the auto-crit feature of 4E. One of these days I have GOT to re-read the combat section! ;P

You can crawl 3 squares, should you so wish.

Oh, I wish, I wish! ;)

After indulging in the obligatory 'Whose yer daddy?' moment, the battered mage turns and begins crawling towards the steps, hoping to get within range of less injured help, and hoping the shrine will block the enemy casters line-of-sight and prevent Dagon's worshiper from making fish-food of his wrinkled hide!

Crawl 3 squares to the steps,... 'Medic!'

Oh, I wish, I wish! ;)

After indulging in the obligatory 'Whose yer daddy?' moment, the battered mage turns and begins crawling towards the steps, hoping to get within range of less injured help, and hoping the shrine will block the enemy casters line-of-sight and prevent Dagon's worshiper from making fish-food of his wrinkled hide!

Crawl 3 squares to the steps,... 'Medic!'

The consecrated ground grants you 6hp as you start your turn within its radius. Oh darn you already had the healing effect!

Block 1
Grafire
Seram Zal

Block 2
Fish-Man Warriors
Fish-Man Slayers
Althanis

Block 3
Akahale
It
Mystic Cultist

Block 4
Mandrake
Rowan

>>>>MAP<<<<

Go Block 1 - for glory!

Did we skip Rowan's turn?

Nope, he took it at the top of the page.

"Yeah...Go Manny." Grafire watches as bodies go flyin...Grafire then looks down at the rest of the fishes. He takes a big breath and shares with them his Acid breath. "Maybe this will help with the smell." and he sends out a 5x5 sqr of acid vomit all over FM2, FM3, FM4 and Althanis.
Acid Breath verses reflex
FM2-1d20+9=23, FM3-1d20+9=21, FM4-1d20+9=18, Althanis-1d20+9=27

Damage - FM2-1d6+1=2, FM3-1d6+1=3, FM4-1d6+1=6, Althanis-1d6+1=6

After the smoke clears Grafire high tales it out of there. But being the Warlord that he is he can't leave the ranks open.
Can you move Manny into the spot between Rowan and It. That should still be 3 sqrs. for Manny's move.
Grafire will move into the spot Manny was in previously. He moves 3 sqr. S, 1 sqr. SE and 1 sqr. E.

Grafire then shuts the door or whats left of it and tries to secure it.

You only roll damage once, and I don't think you can hit FM3 in a 5x5. Cool move though.... if disgusting. :D Re: Manny's move - the staircases count as difficult terrain.

Can IT come off delay in time to pull Manny down further down the stairs before Grafire comes through? That was actually the point of my question about when Rowan's turn was.

Are we all out of there?

FM3 should be within the 5 sqr reach. It is right at 5 sqrs away. The rule of only one roll for damage is poopy. the logic is bad. Oh well I think that particular attack is mostly suited for minions...

Also I was not aware that stairs are difficult terrain unless I guess it is that way in this particular setting. So with that in mind I guess I want my movement to best protect Manny probably situated to the NW of Manny unless It can move him out of that spot.

But FM3 isn't within a 5x5 square that also includes the other 3 opponents you want to hit. It is highly likely that I am missing something here, as I have been known to do, but I just can't see how it can be done. I did mention 2 or 3 times that the stairs in the shrine complex are difficult terrain. Sorry if it hasn't been very clear. ItYou can come back in the init order to drag Manny. You now act after him.

Would FM3 be included if the 5x5 was shot at a NW direction? Say if I shot at FM2. That should include all of them. If not no problem. Its not likely to do much harm any way. I am no expert in rules either. What ever you grant is what I'll take. :D

I'll go with your roll of 6 damage, as you rolled it twice, and I'll go with attacking FM2 (hit), FM4 and Althanis (hit). They have Acid resistance 5, so only take 1 damage. I am assuming Grafire would have run or double moved due to the stairs being difficult terrain. He is now between Rowan and It.

Grafire exhales over his foes, but it doesn't seem as potent as it should.

Seram Zal is up.

Hey Fabes, isn't Seram's turn now after Rowan's since I held my action. If that's still true I up full defense for it.

Apologies, you are correct. Seram Zal is on total defense.

Block 1
Grafire

Block 2
Fish-Man Warriors
Fish-Man Slayers
Althanis

Block 3
Akahale
It
Mystic Cultist

Block 4
Rowan
Seram Zal
Mandrake

Your foes are obviously up to something. Such a pity you can't see what...

Block 3... Akahale?

Is everyone out of the room? If so continue tactical retreat down the corridor, all senses alert. If not, advance to point of being able to see...

Yes, everyone is out of the room.

Once he's certain that everyone is safely away, Akahale continues down the corridor, listening for any hints that their foes are following them. Listening too for any hints that their foes may have taken the other exit and be coming to meet them...

Fair enough. It?

The sheer amount of stone between him and them makes it impossible for Akahale to discern any clues at to his enemies intentions.

Fair enough. It?

The sheer amount of stone between him and them makes it impossible for Akahale to discern any clues at to his enemies intentions.

Unless the encounter has ended Rowan continues to sustain his consecrated ground prayer so it covers their rear as they pull back the way they came

Fair enough. It?

IT falls back with the group, wizard in tow.

Mandrake looks up blearily at the warforged as the implacable metal man unceremoniously grabs his collar and begins dragging him down the hallway. His eyes briefly focus under his bushy white eyebrows and he gives a petulant pout/frown.

"Wha took you so long?" He mutters grumpily. But makes no effort to get up, in fact he seems perfectly content to allow IT to drag him like a bag of beans across the flagstones.

Since a retreat is in progress, you are now out of initiative order. What now, what are your plans, where will you go?

The party, wounded and weary make their way down the stairs hurriedly, away from their foes. The carvings of the walls seem to sneer and leer in disdain at the bedraggled heroes.

Find a defensible room if possible and hole up in it. I don't think we'll be popular back at the Smooth Sailing. What time is it and roughly how long have we been down there?

We also need to remember that we are not in the main access areas. So since they know we are in the "secret access areas" they may ambush us when we get back out to the regular areas. The middle spots are the room with all of the books. Or the room with the well. The room with the books had an additional stair way leading back up to the first floor below the church, if I remember correctly. I think that might be a good spot to rest at.

We also need to remember that we are not in the main access areas. So since they know we are in the "secret access areas" they may ambush us when we get back out to the regular areas. The middle spots are the room with all of the books. Or the room with the well. The room with the books had an additional stair way leading back up to the first floor below the church, if I remember correctly. I think that might be a good spot to rest at.

If we can take those mattresses and table so we have cover and uncover the traps behind us just in case they pursue by the way those of us still with healing surges can use them now right?

"While rest is vital, I confess that the prospect of spending a little time examining the evil books is also appealing. Additionally it may be a defensible spot. It has only two entrances I believe."

Akahale plots literary as well as physical respite as he pounds up the corridor.