Can Moon trace the trajectory of the attack and find the assailant?
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He can definitely trace the trajectory, but it just leads up towards the direction of the setting sun. He doesn't see anything there.
Sooron continues praying fervently to his goddess.
Figures - I put down the intiative and the page turns. Let me try again!
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Karek and 'the whip': 9+ (holding a readied action)
Master Soan: 9-
Troops in the now less than exceedingly far distance: 7
Moonpate and Noorulahn: 6+
Hurgah: 6 (holding a readied action)
The troops in the distance continue their dash closer. As they spill over the next dune like a waterfall, you can see that several in the front are now hoisting banners topped with spears. The first is the great golden Scarab Beetle, the symbol of the nation of Osirion. The second banner depicts the outline of a raging fire, encircled with arcane symbols. The third contains a golden oasis with a sphinx flying overhead.
The second banner is the banner of the Ruby Prince, the Forthbringer. It is common for soldiers of Osirion to invoke the symbol of their monarch before battle.
The third banner is for a wealthy noble family of Sothis, the Oans. It is the banner of the family of the Exemplar Khymrasa.
The second large grouping of soldiers, which trails the first a little more slowly, has begun firing a few arrows. The shots are range finders. The arrows all land short. But tactic is worrisome; they will soon mark the Kurgentate as in range.
Meanwhile, Noorhlan continues his sensor sweep, combing the area with his holy light.
“There is a cadre of Asmodeans skulking in the sand," he calls out in his perfect voice. "They are fanning out. I think they are attempting to encircle north to cut off a retreat. I see at least three.”
“I do not see the Bezekiran though. Beware! I’ve lost him.”
“Potentate: there is a human mana-wielder enshrouding himself against the sun. He’s casting!” The lantern archon fires off a pair of rays to highlight the angle and direction of the threat to the west. Falling far short, the rays are not so much an attack as they are an attempt to point the target out.
Meanwhile, Noorhlan continues his sensor sweep, combing the area with his holy light.
“There is a cadre of Asmodeans skulking in the sand," he calls out in his perfect voice. "They are fanning out. I think they are attempting to encircle north to cut off a retreat. I see at least three.”
“I do not see the Bezekiran though. Beware! I’ve lost him.”
“Potentate: there is a human mana-wielder enshrouding himself against the sun. He’s casting!” The lantern archon fires off a pair of rays to highlight the angle and direction of the threat to the west. Falling far short, the rays are not so much an attack as they are an attempt to point the target out.
Open only on a successful DC 10 Knowledge (Nobility) check:Open only on a successful DC 20 Knowledge (Nobility) check:
Knowledge (Nobility) check:
Karek flexes his hammer, anxious for targets. Masder Moonbade. Ged da golem working again. We cannod sday here. Karek glances north, and then at Hurgah. Monks, or mound?
Karek flexes his hammer, anxious for targets. Masder Moonbade. Ged da golem working again. We cannod sday here. Karek glances north, and then at Hurgah. Monks, or mound?
"Beware! There is an invisible caster above us and monks moving to encircle us from the north. And soon we will be in shooting range of those troops. I agree, Master Karek, we must get out of here quick."
Moon will command the golem to stand. If we can get into the palanquin and hold on while he stands up that would be preferable, otherwise we will have to climb up. I assume Moon will go first. The idea will be to head north-east at maximum speed (double time I guess), essentially towards the road to Sothis. When the time comes, if needed, the plan will be to dim door all of us to the max range, preferably behind the eastern most or northern most mound, and then Moon will cast his Summon II (if feasible time-wise) to call forth a horse to help us bugger out quicker. Any modifications or objections from my stalwart/crazy companions (we must be crazy to put ourselves in this predicament)?
Knowing full well they pretty much already have, Karek says, We mus nod led'em surround us.
Hurgah snorts, and grips his axe tighter, prepared to surrender himself to his battlerage once again.
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You are correct on all counts.
Yes, you can use a readied action to counterspell - indeed you normally have to (unless say you have a kick butt magic ring).
Yes, you would use the scroll's caster level as your caster level (likely level 5) which make success a bit tougher than normal.
Once again, I play right into your hands. . .
Moon will command the golem to stand. If we can get into the palanquin and hold on while he stands up that would be preferable, otherwise we will have to climb up. I assume Moon will go first. The idea will be to head north-east at maximum speed (double time I guess), essentially towards the road to Sothis. When the time comes, if needed, the plan will be to dim door all of us to the max range, preferably behind the eastern most or northern most mound, and then Moon will cast his Summon II (if feasible time-wise) to call forth a horse to help us bugger out quicker. Any modifications or objections from my stalwart/crazy companions (we must be crazy to put ourselves in this predicament)?
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Yes, Karek, Hurgah and Moonpate could grab the top of the rope ladder or perhaps even the lip of the palanquin and simply be lifted up as Moonpate orders the palanquin golem to rise. That would look pretty cool too.
The downside is Karek and Hurgah would have to end their readied actions to participate. And it would mean Moonpate is not digging out his scroll and readying dispel magic for a counterspell.
Ordering the golem up is a free action, but boarding is not. A full-round action would let you rise up with the golem and then allow you to stand where you want on the palanquin - faster than climbing up the rope one at a time. Seems we've got a situation where folks are considering a couple of different options.
What'll it be? All aboard? Or stand ready for assault? Hmmmmm.
Not seeing the affirmative response he had hoped for, Sceptre shrugs his shoulders and motions to the monks. He rises, preparing to leave.
Sooron continues praying fervently to his goddess.
Sceptre doesn't look back as he walks away. Donkor thinks he mutters something about getting a move on before the trail on the Reaver goes cold.
The next thing Donkor feels is the neurons in his brain explode with pain. Then everything goes black. He thinks he can still hear the eternal voice of his goddess but it's all so very . . . far. . . away.
Moonpate calls out with his mind and orders the giant unmoving statue in the sand to rise. The great golem suddenly twitches and then bends to make for its feet. As it rises, it carefully positions its square palanquin base directly over its head.
An instant later, the gigantic hand of Hurgah lunges for the top of the rope ladder, grasping a fistful of rope and wood. Moonpate leaps on Hurgah grabbing hold of his shoulders, just as the golem begins to ascend. Hurgah and the Potentate fly upwards with it. A split-second later, Karek leaps upwards and hooks his hammer over the lip of the palanquin, just in time. He then swings hiss stubby legs over the side.
There is a shower of sand as the golem reaches its feet and a million granules cascade off its stone-chiseled body. A moment later the golem is standing once again, facing north, the palanquin carefully balanced over top of its head.
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Skyward spellcaster (?)
Encircling Asmodean Monks (?)
Master Soan: 9
Approaching Troops: 7
Moonpate, Noorulahn, Hurgah and Karek (and whip): 6
A second tear-shaped jewel streaks from the westward sky, striking the palanquin top just as the Kurgentate clamors aboard. As soon as it hits it explodes in a conflagration of devastating fire!
Gandel, Hal and Breach reach the final dune that separates them from the largest tent in the tent cluster. (Welcome to area "C"!) It is a massive tent, perhaps 80 feet in length and at least thirty feet high at its center point. The canvass is a dull grey, but thick and heavy. You pity the person who had to transport such a gigantic canvass across the desert to this place in the middle of nowhere. The malodorous scent that wafts from the tent and surrounding area confirms your suspicion that you are probably looking at a stable. If so, there may well be many camels or horses inside.
Looking to one another, the Infiltration Team knows it is time to make its attempt to slip inside. They will though have to cross an open ground of approximately 50 feet. Right now, the way looks clear, but from their surveillance, they well know patrols are at least occasional. In addition, every so often a worker seems to come and go from the tent.
In the distance to the north a fireball explodes, surely capturing the attention of everyone for at least a mile. You may never get a better opportunity. It's now or never.
(Hopefully that fireball was a casting of Moonpate and their comrades were not actually on the receiving end. I mean that would be bad.)
Hal grimaces at the fireball but knows there is little he can do except to assume that his companions are well.
Hal tries to picture the dark caverns of his home and summon the perpetual night that cloaks him while he stalks the halls of his forefathers ignoring the fact that he is in a burning desert in the middle of the day attempting to duplicate the same success at stealth in these less than optimal conditions.
Stealth -
- fail!
"Hope that's us on the winnin' side. Time to go." Breach says mostly to himself, as he follows in step behind Halstadt.
A second tear-shaped jewel streaks from the westward sky, striking the palanquin top just as the Kurgentate clamors aboard. As soon as it hits it explodes in a conflagration of devastating fire!
Moonpate sees the streaking spell and immediately knows what is about to happen. He instinctively crouches behind the chair, pulling his cloak about him and hoping the aim of the caster is off just enough to keep him from being roasted like the fat goose he imagines himself to be right now.
Reflex save:
The arcane explosion creates a sudden spheroid around the palanquin, wrapping it in white hot tongues of flame. Or is it white cold? Rather than burn your flesh away, the fire produces a strange dizzying sensation as though carefully wrapping you in a comforting blanket, calling you to sleep. Before you can blink, the fire is gone, leaving the palanquin without a trace of a scar.
The arcane explosion creates a sudden spheroid around the palanquin, wrapping it in white hot tongues of flame. Or is it white cold? Rather than burn your flesh away, the fire produces a strange dizzying sensation as though carefully wrapping you in a comforting blanket, calling you to sleep. Before you can blink, the fire is gone, leaving the palanquin without a trace of a scar.
6d6
Merciful indeed! Moon has 4 points left! He will obviously spend his turn drinking his last Cure Mod potion and will call upon Noorulahn for divine Aid. Thanking the elements that he is still alive and with his eyebrows intact, he will command the golem to make all due haste out of here!
Gandel spares a glance at the distant explosion and offers a silent prayer to Cayden Cailean to keep Moonpate and the others safe. The halfling scholar then hunches down, attempting to be even smaller and inconspicuous as he follows the dwarves into the encampment.
Karek shakes his head. That's always the spell they turn to, he thinks to himself. I should get a ring. Acting quickly, he ducks low and takes shelter behind the throne.
As the sun drops low in the dunes, Hal, Breach and Gandel scramble across the open stretch and roll under the lip of the canvass of the large tent, forcing their way inside. As best you can determine, you have not been seen. Things here are quiet.
Inside the tent is a series of stalls honeycombed around a central open area. This wider, circular open area is loaded with sacks of grain and camel feed.
There are though, not just camels here. Many of the individual stalls instead house gigantic bugs equipped with harnesses. For now, the six-legged shelled creatures appear docile, milling about their stalls, slowly picking away at the sandy floor with their pincers.
You estimate there are at least a dozen of the giant red-eyed bugs. There are also perhaps two dozen camels and maybe a small handful of desert horses, none of which are the ones you left behind in the Master Camp on your previous trip to the dig site. There is, I am afraid, no sign of Binky either.
There are human labourers here as well. There are four men asleep in the tent center. They have made temporary beds out of grain sacks. Two more are awake. They appear to be playing some kind of Osiriani dice game. It involves dice carved from ivory rolled from a cup as well as positioning interlocking ceramic tiles on the ground. They do not appear to have noticed you. It is rather dark in here; by design, the thick canvass is providing the animals here with an added measure of merciful shade. You see no sign that they carry weapons. There is though a gong in the center area, which may function as an alarm.
Having just snuck inside underneath the canvas in-between a pair of large wooden stakes, all three of you are now inside an individual stall built of wood and rope. There is a camel here – a rather smelly one at that. The dromedary camel is a bit upset at having its personal space intruded by three strangers. It is uneasy and stamps its foot. You fear it could begin making noise.
The massive tent has two actual door flaps—one on the north side and one on the south. Both are currently closed. You have just snuck in under the east side of the tent at the approximate mid-point.
"Well it appears we 'ave walked into it, lads. Please tell me either o' ya can calm this beast. Else, we won't be hidden for long. He don't look to happy 'bout us takin' up his space. Either that, or we best keep movin'," he suggests.
"Can you handle these beasties Gandel? I fear I'm out if my element here. Though I do have an idea".
"Umm... I'll try..." Gandel whispers in reply, not sounding terribly optimistic.
"There now, camel... Just calm down... There's a nice camel..." Gandel whispers soothingly to the camel, weaving a touch of bardic magic into his words in an attempt to fascinate the beast.
Gandel continues to whisper in a soothing tone as he quietly informs Breach and Hal about the nearby ankheg Build Beasts.
Karek shakes his head. That's always the spell they turn to, he thinks to himself. I should get a ring. Acting quickly, he ducks low and takes shelter behind the throne.
d20+3+2
Is that +2 representing a bonus for cover? Or is it something else that I've missed?
If it's a Reflex bonus from cover, I've got bad news. You wouldn't be able to visualize this, but with the angle and spread of that fireball there's only enough room, a single square, for one person to benefit from cover. You could in theory double-up in that square but you would have had to have known it was coming. Unfortunately, Moonpate was the first to the chair square so he got the bonus, which, also unfortunately, did not assist him.
"Umm... I'll try..." Gandel whispers in reply, not sounding terribly optimistic.
"There now, camel... Just calm down... There's a nice camel..." Gandel whispers soothingly to the camel, weaving a touch of bardic magic into his words in an attempt to fascinate the beast.
I actually think this would work in theory, fascinate affects creatures and isn't language dependent. The only issue is that it definitely has an audible component - it would give your position away to everybody in the tent which I suspect is counter-productive to what I think you are trying to achieve.
His soothing words might be represented by a Handle Animal skill check. Handle Animal is a Charisma-based skill which can be used untrained. (Where's the party druid when you need her?) Maybe Gandel could even pick up an 'Aid Another' from someone else. It's possible Gandel might even soothe the beast without having to pull out the magic.
I'll tell you what: if you elect to burn off a use of bardic performance, I'll give you a +4 circumstance bonus to your Handle Animal check, representing the use of a silent fascinate (Gandel does the hand motions only so the magic doesn't quite kick in, but it's still kinda fascinating to watch).
This is risky though, if Gandel fails, the camel is poised to make quite a disturbance. There's always Breach's suggestion that you skedaddle immediately.
"If you've a plan, Morgrym, then be out with it, lad! Otherwise, we need ta find an area that doesn't bear a beast in it. If Gandel can't calm this one, and fast, we might as well invite ourselves over for supper." Breach attempts to search for a better hiding place. One that doesn't include some form of creature in it.
"Tis a plan for later, Gandels knowledge has convinced me that we gave seen enough here for now. Let's move to the next objective".
Not feeling very confident in his ability to handle animals, Gandel agrees with Breach and Hal to move on quickly from the camel's pen.
Don't be sorry - that should have been obvious. (Racial! Of course!)
Good to see your choice of race has spared you some damage at an important time.
Merciful indeed! Moon has 4 points left! He will obviously spend his turn drinking his last Cure Mod potion and will call upon Noorulahn for divine Aid. Thanking the elements that he is still alive and with his eyebrows intact, he will command the golem to make all due haste out of here!
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This is only a minor distinction, but one that might make you feel better: Flamethrower is right (as usual). Technically, Moonpate still has 22 hit points left and 18 points of non-lethal damage. If his current hit points fall below 18 (i.e. 4) he will fall unconscious.
A cure of say, for example, 7 points of damage would increase his hit points to 29 and lower his non-lethal damage to 11.
Also on the good news front, non-lethal damage heals at a rate of one point per minute (10 rounds).
My question is: does Moonpate actually have a cure moderate potion left? How many did he have? I thought he used it up when he escaped the Master Camp with Hurgah and only had one then. You will know better than I, of course.
Hurgah reaches into his pack and withdraws his last potion of cure moderate wounds.
"Here, Moonpate. Drink. Heal. We must continue the fight."
"If you've a plan, Morgrym, then be out with it, lad! Otherwise, we need ta find an area that doesn't bear a beast in it. If Gandel can't calm this one, and fast, we might as well invite ourselves over for supper." Breach attempts to search for a better hiding place. One that doesn't include some form of creature in it.
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Breach cranes his head around the stall. He thinks he can identify four, perhaps five stalls which are empty. The closest is over twenty-five paces and would take you closer to the central hub where the workers are relaxing. It could be possible to get there unseen. The workers do not look particularly alert and it is rather dark. On the other hand, there's a lot of jumpy animals about.
Not feeling very confident in his ability to handle animals, Gandel agrees with Breach and Hal to move on quickly from the camel's pen.
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Where to? It would be easy to lift the tent's outer canvass and crawl outside, if that's what you meant. Or perhaps to the empty stall identified by Breach?
My question is: does Moonpate actually have a cure moderate potion left? How many did he have? I thought he used it up when he escaped the Master Camp with Hurgah and only had one then. You will know better than I, of course.
Gandel slowly backs away from the camel and motions for the dwarves to head to the nearest empty stall. "I'll lead the way," he mouths silently as he steps into the shadowy passage.
Breach nods in agreement, then waits for Halstadt to step in behind Gandel, so he himself can fall in at the back.