Ruins of Azlant (Inactive)

Game Master Nathan Goodrich

CL check: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (5) + 8 = 13

A torrent of stone summoned by Zay smashed into the clockworks. The gravel seems to skirt around the orb-headed creature, though. The soldier resisted its damage. Orb head was protected by SR. Damage fully applied to the tools.

The tool-handed clockwork moves forward before steadying itself. As it does, it fires a projectile at Invandi that quickly expands into a snaring net. It flies wide of him, however, and clatters uselessly against the stone hallway.

Initiative Order:
Aurelian (Red (Soldier))
Tatienne (Green (Orb Head))
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue (Tools))

Aurelian moves and assumed a guard position, ready to dispatch the first construct that gets close to him and his new friends.

Move 30 feet, ready action to attack if an enemy comes in range.
+2 rapier: 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (3) + 14 = 17
Damage: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (1) + 7 = 8

Parry (DC=attacker's roll): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (9) + 14 = 23
Riposte (if parry succeeds): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (6) + 14 = 20
Damage: 1d6 + 7 ⇒ (3) + 7 = 10
Down to 2 panache if Riposte goes off

The clockwork soldier moves forward and raises its halberd threateningly, daring any to approach.

Initiative Order:
Aurelian (Red (Soldier))
Tatienne (Green (Orb Head))
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue (Tools))

I think it's actually Tatienne up, then Green; since we just had Aurelian and Red's turns.

"Come fight like a person, you coward!" Aurelian taunts the soldier.

You are right. I didn't advance the initiative at all when I posted it this morning. Oops.

Tatienne, it is your turn.

Tatienne sprints forward, hefting her spear and waiting for the enemy to approach. They would be harder to hit than the elementals, but no matter; Taty's spirits were buoyed by their recent victory. They would make short work of these clockwork soldiers.

Move forward behind Invandi, ready action to attack when one gets in range of her longspear.

readied attack, buffs, soft cover: 1d20 + 17 - 4 ⇒ (9) + 17 - 4 = 22
damage: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (4) + 21 = 25

The orblike head of the final construct flares to a brilliant green color. As it does, a small spark flies outward from the creature toward you. When it arrives, it explodes!

As your ears ring from the deafening sound, you hear the building's masonry groan and the intent, mechanical clicking of gears coming from the clockwork mage.

Aurelian, Houghton, Invandi & Tatienne each take 30 fire damage (Reflex half DC 14). I checked to make sure the construct didn't need to make a Concentration check or something due to the gravel vortex, but it doesn't...

Initiative Order:
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue (Tools))
Aurelian (Red (Soldier))
Tatienne (Green (Orb Head))

"......ow," Zay says, even if they hadn't been caught in the fire blast. It's sympathy for those who were. "As long as that ball is free to keep doing that to us, that's going to hurt..."

GM, sorry to ask since I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in thread but I couldn't find it on a quick search-- how high are the ceilings, especially in the hallway? Specifically, are they high enough that I could fly over the clockwork soldiers and stay above their reach? Will decide my turn once I have that info

I didn't remember either. The book doesn't give a separate ceiling height for the corridors & says the default in the dungeon is 30'. That seems silly to me, but I'm not going to shrink the dungeon on that basis.

Added a note to the maps in case we forget again.

Also, I've been forgetting knowledge checks on the new clockwork types.

Reflex save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (9) + 9 = 18

Aurelian dodges the worst of the fire.

Reflex vs 14: 1d20 + 10 ⇒ (1) + 10 = 11 Oof, I only needed a 3 lol. Invandi takes 10 fire damage after the Fire Resistance, which I believe is still up?

Flames ripple across Invandi, as if being fed by a small breeze before flickering out. Singed, but mostly protected by Zay's magic, he flings his shield out once again.

"My parents used to argue over whether or not to close or open the windows. This is much worse."

+1 Adamantine Shield Bash vs Blue: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (2) + 13 = 15 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (5) + 3 = 8
+1 Adamantine Shield Bash vs Red, Iterative: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (19) + 8 = 27 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (2) + 3 = 5

There is no fire resistance, sigh. It was all prot from electricity. Sorry. Take it all. :(

Zay zips forward over their allies' heads and over the clockwork soldiers' too, stopping directly above the blue-hued one, up near the ceiling.

"Hey! Ball! Focus on me!"

A quick chant and then a snowflake hurtles towards the orb.

(single move flight as air elly, puts me directly above blue on the map-- I've got my token on the wall so I'm not covering blue, then cast Snowball)

Ranged touch attack vs Orb: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (14) + 12 = 26
Damage, cold: 5d6 ⇒ (3, 4, 3, 6, 5) = 21

(Possibly it's immune to stagger, being a construct and all, but if not, DC 15 Fort or Staggered)

Aren't Constructs and Undead immune to that spell entirely? I'm seeing: "Immunity to any effect that requires a Fortitude save (unless the effect also works on objects, or is harmless)"

I've always read the 'works on objects' part to mean something like the saving throw entry on Disintegrate - as 'Fortitude partial (object)'.

If we want to debate it further, let's move that to Discussion.

Reflex Save: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (8) + 9 = 17
The Kraken Save (improved evasion): 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (20) + 8 = 28

Houghton moves out of the way for the most part and his little squid seems entirely unbothered. He raises his spear and Aurelian feels empowered slightly.

Use ancestor's council on aurelian, +2 to attack/save/ability/skill check made before next turn. Let me know if you guys want me to start doing spells - so far it doesn't seem like we've been that hurt.

oops. Thanks for the correction. HP: 30/60

Taty barely sees the fire coming, and flattens against the ground, grimacing as she can smell her hair singing. Springing back up, she realizes she knows just what this orb thing is - Palankar's Atlas of the Arcane covered them quite thoroughly.

"Clockwork mage! Orb heads allow them to use magic as if by cast from wands. Likely has Scorching Ray, Gust of Wind, Magic Missile, Shocking Grasp spells. Toolhands is a battlefield healer! Self-heals automatically!"

I'll go ahead and take Taty's 1/day take 20 on knowledge arcana here. She can take 10 on the tools as well.

reflex save, buffs: 1d20 + 9 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 5 = 17

Invandi's shield strikes the clockwork servitor at a bad angle and bounces off harmlessly. The angle works precisely to strike at the soldier, however.

Zay's frost spell slams into the clockwork mage, frustrating its defenses against magic. Its metal shell gains a frigid sheen. Looked into it more and I'm not seeing why the whole spell should be negated either. There really aren't many spells that separate the damage component from the rest that way.

Aurelian: make sure you take note of Houghton's blessing.

The servant clockwork moves backwards and begins making repairs to the soldier.

Initiative Order:
Aurelian (Red Soldier))
Tatienne (Green Mage)
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue Servant - bloodied)

Aurelian dives forward and tries to slash the nearest construct.

Acrobatics to try to avoid an AoO (plus derring do!): 1d20 + 14 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + 14 + (1) = 22

+2 rapier (with Houghton bonus): 1d20 + 14 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 14 + 2 = 21
Damage (includes 8 precision damage): 1d6 + 7 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 7 + 8 = 19

Parry (DC=attacker's roll): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (18) + 14 = 32
Riposte (if parry succeeds): 1d20 + 14 ⇒ (2) + 14 = 16
Damage (includes 8 precision damage): 1d6 + 7 + 8 ⇒ (6) + 7 + 8 = 21
Spending 1 panache on derring-do; down to 1 panache if parry (attempt) goes off.

As Aurelian approaches the construct, it strikes downward at him with its halberd, but the swordsman deflects the blow and strikes back at it with his rapier. He follows up that strike with another deft blow, and you hear a grinding of gears as they crash together. Readied action failed to that riposte. Soldier's initiative moves to right before Aurelian.

Initiative Order:
Tatienne (Green Mage)
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue Servant - bloodied & Red Soldier - bloodied)
Aurelian & Tatienne (Green Mage)

The clockwork soldiers refused to engage, so instead Taty sprints forward, stopping behind Aurelian and stabbing with her spear.

attack, soft cover: 1d20 + 17 - 4 ⇒ (5) + 17 - 4 = 18
damage?: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (2) + 21 = 23

Tatienne's strike glances off the soldier's thick hide.

On the rear side of the battlefield, the clockwork mage seemingly responded to Zay's taunts as its head-crystal glowed fiercely again. Five bolts of force launched themselves from its upraised hand to strike the flying druid.

18 magic missile damage to Zay

Initiative Order:
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue Servant - bloodied & Red Soldier - bloodied)
Aurelian & Tatienne (Green Mage)

Invandi tosses his shield while sprinting forward. Grabbing it back out of the air, he sets it a defensive wall aside Aurelian Fache.

+1 Adamantine Shield Bash: 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (15) + 13 = 28 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Bull Rush vs CMD: 28 = 28

Houghton moves up behind Ivandi and stabs at one of the clockwork soldiers.

Longspear (don't forget soft cover if applicable): 1d20 + 13 ⇒ (1) + 13 = 14

But he misses as his spear clanks against the ground.

"Owww. Okay I'm keeping this thing busy until you guys dispatch the others," Zay-the-cloud sighs, and zips through the air with the greatest of ease, flying at ceiling height until diving to circle around the clockwork orb-head. As Zay goes, some of the tattered cloud holes from the magic missile impact heal.

Casting cure light on myself, then flying to my new position on the map. I have enough move and flight manueverability that I should be able to bank and fly around the orb-guy without provoking. I'll remain 5' feet up, but currently threatening the orb-clockwork, for what little that is worth.

Heal: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6 Sounds about right.

Invandi's shield strikes the clockwork soldier but fails to drive the construct backward. Houghton's attack goes wide while Zay attempts to keep the clockwork mage distracted.

The servant makes some emergency repairs to the soldier before scurrying off in the direction of the clockwork mage.

The soldier continues to press its attack, attempting to hold the line for the mage unit.

First attack is against Aurelian & is a critical threat off a 20. Confirmation roll is 34. Damage is 22 for a hit & additional crit damage is 48. I checked Aurelian's quick stats & I don't think it kills him but it is really close. I don't think his parry can touch a result that high but if I'm wrong & he wants to attempt a parry I'll allow it.

Second attack is vs Invandi & misses with 24.

Initiative Order:
Aurelian & Tatienne (Green Mage)
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue Servant - bloodied & Red Soldier - bloodied)

Pressing again, Juliet lashes out with her spear. She'd need to down this soldier soon, or Aurelian may be the next of her companions lost.

"Zay!" Taty yells, her voice high with adrenaline, "We need you here!"

attack, buffs, soft cover: 1d20 + 17 - 4 ⇒ (13) + 17 - 4 = 26 30 if no soft cover due to Aurelian being down.
damage: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (1) + 21 = 22

attack, buffs, soft cover, iterative: 1d20 + 17 - 4 - 5 ⇒ (13) + 17 - 4 - 5 = 21 25 if no soft cover due to Aurelian being down.
damage: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (3) + 21 = 24

Tatienne's spear strikes break through the soldier's armor and the second blow knocks it backward, skidding toward the fountain before it stops moving.

The crashing defeat draws the attention of the clockwork mage, however, and its orb head glows again brightly as two streaks of fire lance out toward her. Both attacks hit touch ACs in the 30s. The first ray does 10 fire damage & the second does 16. This is a supernatural ability so it doesn't have to cast defensively. Those were ranged attacks, however and the mage provokes once from Zay to do it.

Initiative Order:
Aurelian (bleed out) & Zay (opportunity attack) - no need for Houghton & Invandi to wait for this
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue Servant - bloodied)
Aurelian & Tatienne (Green Mage)

AOO: 1d20 + 12 ⇒ (1) + 12 = 13 Naturally.

Zay-the-cloud whiffs. The cloud hisses in frustration.

(Will let Houghton/Invandi take their turns first, as it may impact what I do)

Sorry, back to posting. My last parry was a 32. BUT! Looking back, it looks like I didn't account for my bonuses from cat's grace and good hope. That would make it 36! So maybe that is a success and I would have parried the crit?!

That 32 result was expended when the soldier attacked Aurelian with its readied action.

Oh, dang. Then I'm definitely unconscious.

Aurelian bleeds. Fortunately, he bleeds very slowly. Unfortunately, that's because he has almost no blood left in his body.

Stabilize?: 1d20 + 3 - 12 ⇒ (17) + 3 - 12 = 8

Houghton quickly retrieves his wand of healing, and taps Aurelian with it.

clw wand: 1d8 + 1 ⇒ (2) + 1 = 3

Houghton then steps on top of Aurelian, as if to protect him, and the little octopus falls to the ground with a damp *splorch*. It then expands dramatically, looking strong and fierce. "We may go down, but we'll go down fightin' lads and lasses, all of us. Even The Kraken here." It waggles its tentacles and then raises itself up proudly, looking positively giddy to be getting into a scrap.

Draw wand, clw on Aurelian. The familiar stays in the same space and uses a standard action to become medium-sized. I drew a blue ring on the map. Make sure to check its stats on my alias!

"We're not dead yet," Zay burbles as a cloud. They abandon their attempt to start cornering orb-head, and start flying back over to the others, seeing that Aurelian still lies very quiet-and-still after Houghton's attentions.

Fly back over to the new position (above the square with Houghton). I have enough move to fly to avoid two AOOs, but will provoke from Orb Guy.

Aurelian is stiill down, but Taty also looks badly hurt.... Zay performs some unhappy mental triage, and touches wispily at Tatienne first.

CMW, Tatienne: 2d8 + 7 ⇒ (3, 7) + 7 = 17

Still need actions from Invandi, but we'll muddle along for the moment.

One of the mage clockwork's four arms strikes out at Zay as he whisks off to give support to Tatienne, striking the cloudlike druid. Attack result is 37 for 4 damage.

The servant clockwork continues its work furiously, welding closed the damage from Zay's earlier snowball.

Initiative Order:
Invandi, Aurelian & Tatienne (Green Mage)
Houghton, Invandi & Zay (Blue Servant - bloodied)

"Ow!" Zay mutters.

Watching the party take its hot beatings and turn towards mitigating the damage, Invandi trudges across the marred terrain. He picks his path carefully until he can clumsily splash through the fountain in an attempt to get provide separate targets to the orb.

Double move through difficult terrain along the wall (to avoid AOO), through the fountain. Extra five foot of base speed from Like the Wind will be helpful here.

Taty skirts in front of Houghton and then along the other wall, opposite of Invandi. She was too hurt and it was too dangerous to risk an attack from the repairing construct to get at the mage, but she'd be able to get to it soon enough. In the meantime, maybe she could finish off the healer.

Move 20', attack healing robot.
attack, buffs: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (11) + 17 = 28
damage: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (7) + 21 = 28

Tatienne's spear bursts through the back of the clockwork servant and its gears grind to a sudden halt.

Predictably impassive at that development, the clockwork mage's head glows brightly once more as it gestures toward Tatienne. Another pair of flaming bolts streaks out toward her. One goes wide and impacts with a tortured noise against the stonework behind her. Natural 1 for the first bolt. The second hits touch AC 24 for 9 damage.

That provokes from Invandi. We're down to one enemy, so we don't need initiative waiting anymore. Everyone can act!

"Good job, Miss Talbot!" Zay-the-cloud cries. The healing mists start reaching towards the downed Aurelian.

"Mister Harley, I'll get Mister Fache up."

(Delay until Houghton gets to go since he will (I assume) move-- not that you have to, Houghton, if you need to do other things with your actions-- but then tap Aurelian with a CMW.)

Cure MOD: 2d8 + 7 ⇒ (2, 7) + 7 = 16

"You're not dead yet, Mister Fache, just very perforated."

Aurelian blinks and groggily reaches for his sword as he tries to get his bearings.

"Aurelian Fache has them right where he wants them," he says, ever irrepressible and confident.

Sword in hand, he crawls back behind Houghton, so he can stand and finish this foe.

Houghton and the Kraken move up a little bit, and Houghton casts a spell on the octopus.

Cast Shield Companion on The Kraken and both move.

Snarling, Tatienne, moves forward, her feet slipping in the rubble. Lifting her spear again, she aims for the last clockwork creature's chest, and shoves her spear with all her strength.

Move one square (costs two squares so no step), attack.

attack, buffs: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (8) + 17 = 25
damage: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (8) + 21 = 29

Was trying to wait for Invandi, but I don't think he'll be able to either take down the enemy or stop its next action so I'll post now.

Tatienne strikes the clockwork creature hard as the rest of the party moves forward to fight it. In response, it raises one of its four metallic hands as its orb head glows again. Five bolts of light streak into Tatienne. 18 Magic Missile damage

Invandi can take an opportunity attack & act twice. Everyone else can act once.

Aurelian stands up and staggers off the wall as he prepares to rejoin the fight.

Move action to stand, but can't get in and do anything this round (even if I wouldn't like just die anyway), so going to just move out of a direct line, just in case.

The Kraken slithers up, and attempts to tentacle the clockwork wizard!

tentacle: 1d20 + 9 ⇒ (5) + 9 = 14

But The Kraken is unable to find purchase.

Houghton sighs and tries to stab out with his spear.

longspear, divine favor, power attack: 1d20 + 13 + 2 - 2 ⇒ (12) + 13 + 2 - 2 = 25
longspear damage, df, pa: 1d8 + 9 + 2 + 6 ⇒ (3) + 9 + 2 + 6 = 20

Previous Round, Sorry team.
Having positioned himself, Invandi does the best he can against the machine-thing.

+1 Adamantine Shield Bash: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (11) + 11 = 22 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7
Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (4) + 7 = 11 for Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (5) + 2 = 7
+1 Adamantine Shield Bash, Iterative: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (2) + 6 = 8 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4

AoO
+1 Adamantine Shield Bash: 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (5) + 11 = 16 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (4) + 3 = 7

Current Round
Invandi takes a breath to examine the terrain and gracefully steps down from the fountain and slides to a flanking position with Tatienne.
Swift Action - Martial Flexibility - Nimble Moves, 5ft step
+1 Adamantine Shield Bash: 1d20 + 11 + 2 ⇒ (3) + 11 + 2 = 16 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (1) + 3 = 4
Unarmed Strike: 1d20 + 7 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 7 + 2 = 18 for Damage: 1d8 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
+1 Adamantine Shield Bash, Iterative: 1d20 + 6 + 2 ⇒ (19) + 6 + 2 = 27 for Damage: 1d6 + 3 ⇒ (3) + 3 = 6

Plunging her spear into the clockwork mage again and again, the world flickers and fades with each exertion. She couldn't take much more - it was either she or it.

attack, buffs: 1d20 + 17 ⇒ (4) + 17 = 21
damage?: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (3) + 21 = 24

iterative attack, buffs: 1d20 + 17 - 5 ⇒ (7) + 17 - 5 = 19
damage?: 1d8 + 21 ⇒ (8) + 21 = 29

"We seem to get hurt a lot," Zay says with a sigh, and zips after Tatienne to reduce a bit of the damage she just took. "Mister Fache, just-- take a breath for a moment, alright? Er-- fix your hair, maybe?"

Zay hopes that's more acceptable to the swordsman's sense of daring than to imply that he looks like like one stiff breeze might knock him over.

CLW Tatienne: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (7) + 5 = 12

Sorry, I apparently had hallucinated a post. I am basically out of offensive spells so just healing for lack of anything better to do.

Invandi's efforts to attack the clockwork mage are frustrated by its surprising skill in combat. It uses its multiple arms to great effect, catching the edge of his shield before the adamantine bulwark can connect with it and otherwise deflecting his blows. Covers the first round of Invandi attacks & the opportunity attack. Nothing going on beyond high AC, mechanically.

The Kraken moves up to the mage and attacks it without success. Houghton's follow up spear manages to catch the creature squarely, denting its center breasplate.

After moving to flank the creature, Invandi's attacks continue to be deflected, but he finally manages to overcome the clockwork's combat manipulations with his shield, scoring a hit on the mage's body.

Clockwork is bloodied now.

Tatienne is shaken by the force blasts from earlier and both of her spear thrusts miss the machine attacking her.

Repeating its earlier actions, the machine continues to blast away at Tatienne with magical bolts. 18 more Magic Missile damage to Tatienne. If I read our posts right, that leaves her with 1 hp after Zay's heal.

Everyone can act!