"We must have some rope to get down there with right? I can hold the rope up here and then glide down after you all are safely lowered".
"I cannot tell if he is playing us for fools but I have a way to ensure that he is not a beast of the fell realms".
Channel Energy - Harm Evil Outsiders
"Okay. Ya wouldn't happen ta know of way ta get us to the level below, do ya? If ya do, would ya mind tellin' us?"
-
"I believe you are familiar with the song tubes, from which you just exited," he answers. "Or perhaps the shaft in the floor?" He cocks his head towards the 10-diameter hole in the floor which Karek investigated earlier.
-
There is not, I'm afraid.Gandel believes that the old man matches the description given by Halstadt concerning the vision he received from Angraad days earlier ("When Suekahn's count reaches 56 . . .") but it doesn't specifically match anything he has ever studied.
Gandel also recalls from their earlier encounter with the old man that Donkor reported that the candle was magical. (I believe it was Donkor who casted detect magic on that occasion.)
"You still have not told us who you are sir".
-
"I've gone by many names," he answers. "You're friend here," he says guesturing to Halstadt, "seems to think I'm Suekahn."
"I cannot tell if he is playing us for fools but I have a way to ensure that he is not a beast of the fell realms".
-
With a flourishing gesture to his deity, Morgrym send forth a wreath of cleansing fire, knowing it will harmlessly pass through his comrades. More curious the priest is, as to how the stranger will take it.
The old man stares back at Hal blankly, unaffected by the--
--No! He's gritting his teeth. You can see it! He's burned!
"You fool!!" the old man suddenly roars filled with rage. "I could have helped you. Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!
Initiative
Initiative
As the old man burns, Breach sighs. "Seriously?! Freakin' crap!" Breach whines, truly hoping this human was gonna help them find Lydia.
Karek rolls his eyes, both at his ally and their foe, hefts his hammer, and prepares for battle.
Donkor, for his part, looks around in surprise and fumbles for his weapons.
The last words from the old man somehow reverberate inside your head:
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
Filling in the last few missing rolls. . .
Xerissa:
Moonpate:
.
.
.
.
Initiative order
Looks like the damage twins are up first!
Karek, always quick on the draw, has his hammer out and a look of battle serenity on his face, falling on his opponent faster then a pouncing cat.
for .
Suspicious of the "old man" from the start, Hurgah responds to the proof of his true nature almost as swiftly as Karek. Like a panther on the prowl, he circles round to flank with Karek, drawing his cold iron greataxe as he goes.
Once in position, he first taps his arcane energy to charge up his axe, then uses his draconic rage to fuel a mighty overhand chop at Suekahn.
In the wake of his swing comes the ever present shrieking spirits, eager to suck the life force from the evil outsider.
As Karek charges, the old man's form slips away like quicksilver, replaced by a horrible monstrosity, one much larger in size. The creature’s head supports a massive crocodile jaw, surrounded by the wide hood of a king cobra. Its hands are giant toothy scorpion pincers and its segmented tail ends in a barbed scorpion stinger. Countless glittering scales cover most of its ten-foot-tall muscled form, and the rest of it is protected by a dull insectoid carapace. Its eyes are like firelight glinting on gemstones, blazing with the intensity of the desert sun.
Before Karek can close with his foe, the alien stinger flies forward:
("hit")
("applies")
The creature's pincered tail slams into the onrushing dwarf and rips right through his metal-plated armor as though it were tinfoil. As soon as the business-end finds flesh it begins to pump a horrible black ichor into the dwarf's veins.
Kogan, nonetheless,somehow manages to follow through with his charge, swinging his hammer overhead like a man possessed. His earth breaker slams into the beast, smashing a fissure-like hole in the creature's carapace, knocking it back into the wall, spraying loose mosaic tiles everywhere.
Suspicious of the "old man" from the start, Hurgah responds to the proof of his true nature almost as swiftly as Karek. Like a panther on the prowl, he circles round to flank with Karek, drawing his cold iron greataxe as he goes.
-
Hurgah slips into position while Karek has the fiend's attention.
Once in position, he first taps his arcane energy to charge up his axe, then uses his draconic rage to fuel a mighty overhand chop at Suekahn.
-
The fiend though is faster still. It spins, catching the axe-head with a pincered hand, effortlessly flinging it away.
In the wake of his swing comes the ever present shrieking spirits, eager to suck the life force from the evil outsider.
The spiritual swarm that lurk within the Reaver flies forth. But it is suddenly stopped, halted in mid-air by an invisible field of force. A darkness, perhaps one far greater than that within Hurgah, commands the totem swarm to leave and it scurries back to Hurgah in disgrace.
Suekahn turns and eyes the Reaver, letting him know who among them is the vessel with the greater power within.
-
Ah! He is still flat-footed. Nice catch - you have spared Karek then - no need for that Fort save.
-
Even better, it is an immediate action, so Gandel will have his full turn when it comes up.Yeah. Nobody else has gone yet - I'd say Gandel can get it in - good thought. You may well recall this, but just in case, Gandel has a magic item that further enhances his gallant inspiration.
But seriously, you guys are killing all my flavor text with these retcons! : )
Seeing that Hurgah's mighty slash will be intercepted, Gandel calls upon his natural arcane talent to assist the warrior by guiding his weapon for a sure strike.
Gallant Inspiration
The final piece of unclaimed Star Tribe jewelry is a delicate yet intricately-fashioned mithral ear wrap depicting a unicorn hippocampus - a mythological sea creature with the foreparts of a unicorn and the hindquarters of a fish, its forelegs ending in splayed fins rather than hooves. The piece is fashioned to be worn on the left ear, with the creature perched atop the ear facing forward and its tail fashioned to wrap gracefully down and around the outer curvature of the ear to hold it in place.
Gandel marvels at the ear wrap's craftsmanship for several moments before placing it upon his ear. He is pleasantly surprised when the piece magically shrinks to fit his ear.
But it does more than just shrink, as it turns out:
- When Gandel casts gallant inspiration he may re-roll all ones on his d4 rolls.
- In addition, if Gandel casts gallant inspiration to augment an attack roll and Gandel rolls an "8" (4 and 4) on his first roll, before re-rolling any 1’s, if the augmented result scores a hit, the attack roll is further automatically treated as though it were a “threat”.
- A roll to confirm the critical can then be made (by the person who made the original attack). Gandel can automatically roll 2d4 (re-rolling any 1’s) to augment that confirmation roll as well. This does not require an additional casting of gallant inspiration .
And that is Quisquatl, ear-wrap of the Star Tribe, the eldest tribe of the janni of the Osirion desert.
Donkor's action will be up momentarily.
Dang nab it! I'm "0h" for Two on flat-footedness in the span of a day. I gotta get more sleep. But on the bright side, I no longer have to write a new post about Hurgah's axe being redirected.
On to the unusually speedy Donkor then (and then Moonpate)
In light of all of the action snafus going on, Donkor decides that the best thing is to let the Dune Squad have more of them!
Donkor casts Blessing of Fervor.
Each round, each member of the Dune Squad gets an option to do one of the following:
Increase its speed by 30 feet.
Stand up as a swift action without provoking an attack of opportunity.
Make one extra attack as part of a full attack action, using its highest base attack bonus.
Gain a +2 bonus on attack rolls and a +2 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves.
Cast a single spell of 2nd level or lower as if it were an enlarged, extended, silent, or still spell.
Hal chooses +2 bonus to attack and AC this round.
. . . Donkor casts Blessing of Fervor.
-
This happens!
Moonpate's eyes widen in shock and surprise at what the old man has transformed into.
If allowed: Knowledge (Planes) check:
The Pate will backpedal straight south as much as he can move and still be able to cast a spell. He will begin casting Summon IV, to bring forth a mighty celestial champion Tesem el-Kep, Hound Archon of the 4th Apuat Light Division.
The Pate will backpedal straight south as much as he can move and still be able to cast a spell. He will begin casting Summon IV, to bring forth a mighty celestial champion Tesem el-Kep, Hound Archon of the 4th Apuat Light Division.
-
The Apuat has got be easily one of my top 10 favorite light divisions of the upper plains! How did you know?As always, as a summoning fan, I remind you that Moonpate isn't held to his choice, he can change it to a different selection when his turn comes up next round. But with an option like Tesem el-Kep why would you want to?
One day we'll have to make a complete listing of all the Moonpate summons we've enjoyed.
Anyways, with two level 4 spells firing off within the first 6-seconds, I am glad to see that the Dune Squad is not futzing around with a major foe I've been foreshadowing since. . . (quickly checks) March 16, 2011.
If allowed: Knowledge (Planes) check. . .
-
It is!Assuming, the monstrous visage before him is not yet another layer of deception, Moonpate is looking at a ghaolshoton:
"Ghalshoaton are devils. Known for their cruelty, physical power,
and hideous curses, they are also terrifyingly intelligent
and devious. History mentions several evil pharaohs with
ghalshoaton minions, and these shapechanging devils
also appear in many folktales from ancient Osirion. They
enjoy bartering for mortal souls and murdering those that get in their way."
-
Not sure exactly what you meant here, but Gandel wasn't able to get that spell off, thus far. If you meant Donkor's divine fervor there is no bonus for Knowledge checks with that particular spell, but Moonpate can still select one of the options Karek wrote out above. It looks like the AC and Reflex save bonus might be of benefit, for example.The Pate will backpedal straight south as much as he can move and still be able to cast a spell.
-
It's a full-round action (a spell with a 1 round casting time) so that will work out to be only a five-foot step in. But every bit helps, I am sure.
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
"Now you shall instead serve me, as the next in my count!. . ."
-----
(hit)
(applies)
(miss!)
(n/a)
(hit)
(applies)
(hit)
(applies)
Wow! Those were some terrible rolls. not a single die above the 50% mark on any of them. Hal, are you behind this?
All told that's a total of 25 points of damage (plus possibly poison). but Karek's DR will reduce that to 22.
-----
The fiend vents his anger on Karek, shredding away at his armor, shearing it into pieces so that he can spill the mortal blood pulsing underneath.
Karek, however, appears not to take notice, far more intent on lining up an angle for his next thundering swing.
With a final attack the massive beast leaps towards Kogan--
--and vanishes!
-----
Rage 1/19, HP 92, AC 18, etc.
Cast Bear's Endurance +4 to Constitution granting a +2 to Fortitude saving throws and +16 HP. Total HP = 76.
[dice=Karek's Raging Fortitude Save against Poison]d20+14
Hurgah roars as he scans the room for signs of the vanished devil.
Oh dear - it looks like my second Suekahn post has been eaten.
(Or I just neglected to hit send last night)
Fortunately, it will not change anything.
Here's the short version of the post:
In addition to Suekahn's attacks above, everyone also needs to make me a DC 20 Will save. Yes, even Xerissa secured around the corner.
In addition to Suekahn's attacks above, everyone also needs to make me a DC 20 Will save. Yes, even Xerissa secured around the corner.
DC 20 Will Save:
Will Save DC 20
Wlll Save DC 20
[dice=Karek's Raging Fortitude Save against Poison]d20+14
-
He cut that pretty close though - he owes it to his dwarven ancestry on that one. or possibly Raging Vitality.
Cast Bear's Endurance +4 to Constitution granting a +2 to Fortitude saving throws and +16 HP. Total HP = 76.
-
Morgrym feels the warmth of flame burning through his veins, feeding him strength.