As Min dashes out of the portal in the tapestry and around the column, he feels the sick sensation of cold steel slicing past his armor and into his flesh, and turns to see a seventh wolfguard materialize out of invisibility, with a mix of blood and poison dripping off his blade. Min's fury is such right now that the poison doesn't even have a chance to get a foothold in his body, and he feels no ill effects from it at all. Eyes wide with frustration, the wolfguard slashes the Tuathan a second time as he rushes away from him to shoot Brook's attacker.
"ZHOSK!" The baron thunders. "I think if you consider the matter, you will realize that your best course of action is to just relax and do nothing." To everyone's horror, the big charismatic orc gets a far-away look in his eyes, his arms go slack, and he stands there staring into space, just like Belsarious. The baron's flaming body then turns to face Captain Lamorak. "Shut up, you! Who the hell are you to come to my city astride a chicken and presume to tell me, the GREAT ORMIR what to do? I will crush you as I have crushed all would-be usurpers! Prepare to die, errand-boy of Izmir!"
Livain fires off another round of arrows and hears the sound of a body falling as the hidden sniper collapses from the most recent barrage.
As the wolfguards draw their bows to fire, they underestimate the monster's reach, drawing his ire.
He strikes at a wolfguard before him, crushing him under a heavy fist.
The other is luckier, managing to sidestep the creature's furious blow.
CURRENT HP: 71 (86%)
CONDITION: Nominal, 2 points Con damage
AC: 25 (+7 armor, +5 shield, +2 Dex, +1 Amulet)
Instant Armor
Bulls Strength
Stepping through the hanging, Sir Justahl is brought up short by the confusing action. The noise, shouting, clash of arms... and the Dragons!
Justahl was astonished. When that elf who helped in the prison termed his unit the "Skynights", he had assumed it was metaphorical!
But... Cassandra was surely in danger here. Looking around, he hoped those similar uniforms as the elf were allies. He strode forward...
"My Lord Baron! My Lady bids me to bring you the blessings of the Inheritor!"
[Swift act.] Target him for a Smite Evil. Already glowing, the knights aura blazes with silver fire [add +5 deflect to AC, making his AC30]. The warhammer swings through the air like a meteor to impact the Baron.
Warhammer charge smite power attack: for a possible crush damage (ignore any DR if evil). Add axiomatic damage if target is chaotic.
Warhammer power attack: for a possible crush damage. Add axiomatic damage if target is chaotic.
Min gives a grunt as the blade digs into his flesh, as he staggers from Lins mental cry, he gives the Wolfguard an icy glare as he speaks. "Your next." He continues forward then to help Brook.
Readying his sling, the boy steps back against the pillar, letting fly with 2 daybreak bullets at the baron.
The glowing projectiles fly wildly, missing Ormir completely.
After smashing the wolfguard archer, another's arrow finally takes the huge beast down, and he collapses to the floor, blood matting his fur and arrows sticking from his thick hide.
@Maiathreen:
N.B. to everyone:
Karthan: 24
Kelne: 22
Gray: 20
Belsarious: 19
Jorzan: 18
Wolfguards: 17
Min: 15
Damian: 14
Baron Ormir: 13
Boy & Monster: 12
Justahl: 10
Crazy Lenny: 8
Lin: 7
Baron Ormir stats:
AC:24/18/19 HP: 109/120
Saves: F/R/W 14/12/13
CMD: 25
Urban Wolfguard Stats:
AC:20/14/20 HP:65
Saves: F/R/W 7/10/1
CMD: 24
Crazy Lenny stats
AC: 19/13/12
HP: 45/45
Saves: F/R/W 6/8/4
CMD: 18
As Sir Justahl steps out from the portal, another invisible wolfguard swings with a poisoned blade but this one misses wildly, both swings careening off the wall and marble column, and the impact causes him to become visible, lose his balance, and fall to the ground in a clumsy heap just a short distance from Jorzan.
The Baron yells with pain as Justahl's hammer lands, smashing his undead body. "Oh, the Inheritor. That b@#%!. You Izmir bastard orphans always come trotting around here invoking her name. Well, you'll be one more I send to the front lines as a zombie!"
The cackling, floating alchemist flies over behind the open doors of the Promenade and hurls a bomb at Captain Lamorak but the missile misses badly and tumbles off behind the cavalier, exploding on the ice and melting some of it, but also shattering a dozen of the frozen foot soldiers, exploding them into millions of pieces. "Hahaa! Oops!" cackles the floating madman.
AC:: 25 (24 because of Fatigue)
HP:: 51/69
Ability Damage: so far -2 str
Modified Stats: STR 14 +2 DEX 12 +1
(Fatigue+str damage reduced STR from 18 to 14, Dex is reduced from 14 to 12 due to fatigue)
CMD 24 (28 vs. Trip)
F/R/W:: +7/+6/+7 (Normally +7 on all 3)
Darkvision 60ft, Scent
Immune to Sleep, Cold, Paralysis
1 rounds left until breath weapon is usable. 3 Rounds of Fatigue Remaining
+1 to hit/damage and against charm/fear, Devotion makes her bonus against enchantment upto +5.
As Min's attack caused the wolfguard to stumble, while grasping the arrow protruding form his rump, it gave Lin the opening she needed. the Wolfguard soon found himself caught by an avalanche of silver sales, gnashing teeth and the magically imbued claws of a silver dragon tearing into his tender flesh. As the man staggered beneath the savage onslaught Lin looked up at the other Wolfguard attacking Sarish and gave a powerful roar. No words could describe the anger these fools had summoned from within her and if they continued to focus on the weaker of their party, they would die by her claws in short order.
Kelne continued his advance in silence, makng directly for the burning form of Ormir. If they could bring him down, that would most likely put the others on the run.
On Karthan's turn, even though he's Dominated and staring slackly into space, the fire he lit on the baron continues to burn...brightly.
Round 2 of 8.
(I have no idea if Protection From Evil is still up, but I'm assuming not given the time spent getting Kevin out.)
Maiathreen takes one step back qndo pulls out his wand and creates an explosion inside the smoke. "Well if he won't play fair then I won't either..."
As Lin makes her move against the wolfguard that cut Brook, there is a whooming *CRACK* from the east side of the Promenade and the doors are smashed open to reveal Livain and Aylaeth and Tora'an, the latter two having kicked the doors down. Maiathreen is brandishing a wand of Fireball up in the northeast corner of that ballroom. There are bodies everywhere.
Cassandra suddenly cries out "KEVIN! NO! OH NO!" as her brother steps out behind Sir Justahl and looks wide-eyed about him at all the carnage. "Cassandra, I-uh, I..." stammers the young boy.
The baron looks positively gleeful. "Oh isn't this adorable. A reunion! Well, 'Cassandra', watch what your brother can do now! Kevin, slay these meddlers who dared take you out of your nice, safe gemstone home!" Kevin hunches and gets a feral look on his face, then turns to Jorzan and Gray and hisses terribly, his lantern-yellow eyes glowing and his fangs glistening with thick saliva. The baron laughs. "HAH! HAH! HAH! HAHAAAA!!!"
Karthan remains bent to the Baron's evil will, but Kelne moves speedily across the icy ballroom floor, ignoring the crazed alchemist and heading directly for Ormir, who turns to face his countryman. "Kelne! So you are here! Such nerve you have. It's a shame I have to kill you but I've no doubt you'll be even more useful to me undead than alive. Aheheheheh."
Consider, the Summoner cannot use his spell-like ability to Summon Monsters while the Eidolon is summoned, whether it's conscious or not. At the same time, the Eidolon is not dismissed until it is actually dead. Plus, if they are dismissed any other way except because of death, next time they are summoned, they return with same amount of hp. Then there's the nerf on the Life Link ability making it close to useless unless the Eidolon takes a big enough hit to put it over its CON score.
So where does that leave the Summoner? They have an unconscious Eidolon on their hands, which is not very likely to be actually slain, because what enemy is going to intentionally keep attacking/damaging an already down foe when there are other active foes present? On top of that, even though the Eidolon is out of the fight, the Summoner still cannot summon other monsters because the Eidolon is still present. And even if the Summoner dismisses his Eidolon, when he re-summons it, it will appear still unconscious with negative hp. Plus, with the unconscious negative hp Eidolon that is not taking any more damage, the Summoner cannot even use Life Link because the creature has not yet taken enough damage to send it back to it's home plain. Seems to take an unnecessarily big bite out of the class ability and power level, no?
IMHO, it makes more sense that since the description goes out of the way to say that the creature is not dismissed until it is reduced to a number of hp equal to or greater than its CON score means that it does not go unconscious when in negative hp and can keep fighting until right up until it is dismissed- similar to Orcs and their Ferocity. Then when they reach their Con score in negative hp, that's the Life Link would kick in, should the Summoner decide to use it, to keep the Eidolon around. Then, if it is still slain/dismissed, when summoned back again, it comes back with half it's normal hp.
IMO, the description for the creature and the Summoner abilities need to be re-written a bit.
EDIT: I did just see an interesting idea that the only way to keep the Eidolon awake and fighting when it's in negative hp is to give it the Diehard feat. Seems unnecessary to me, but I can see the logic in it.
Ya, it seems like they tried to make a fix from the Beta but only went half way or something.
And yup, casting the spell should work as you say. I was just addressing the problems with the class and ability itself. Meanwhile, poor noble, furry, monster. :(
DM
Can I spend a hero point to attempt to break the domination?
Gray takes a 5 foot step south to stand next to the boy and begins to read his scroll of searing light.
Gray begins reading the scrolls as divine power surrounds him he aims the scroll to the Baron. As he finishes his words a ray of burning light streaks to the Vampire.
The bright light hits the Baron in the chest burning him deeply with holy energy.
Gray silently watches the vampire to see what he does next.
Karthan: 24
Kelne: 22
Gray: 20
Belsarious: 19
Jorzan: 18
Wolfguards: 17
Min: 15
Damian: 14
Baron Ormir: 13
Boy & Monster: 12
Justahl: 10
Crazy Lenny: 8
Lin: 7
Baron Ormir stats:
AC:24/18/19 HP: 109/120
Saves: F/R/W 14/12/13
CMD: 25
Urban Wolfguard Stats:
AC:20/14/20 HP:65
Saves: F/R/W 7/10/1
CMD: 24
Crazy Lenny stats
AC: 19/13/12
HP: 45/45
Saves: F/R/W 6/8/4
CMD: 18
Will saves
A sweat breaks out on Belsarious's forehead, beads of it running down his face. Clearly he is struggling with something, but it's not clear what. He remains still, though his face is pained.
"Your sins have caught up with you, Ormir," Kelne responded grimly, "Today you die."
Turning at the sound of Cassandra's cry to where he terror stricken gaze rests, upon seeing the change overcome Kevin Jorzan's eyes widen in a complex mixture of horror for the boy and his sister, heartbreak that they should have to experience this and rage towards the one responsible for it all, the vile Baron. Not wanting to harm the boy but also not wanting him to harm himself or his allies, Jorzan whips out a tanglefoot bad and smashes it over the transformed young lad.
Ranged Touch attack:
Bag good for: rounds
Activation: To activate a scroll, a spellcaster must read the spell written on it. This involves several steps and conditions.
Decipher the Writing: The writing on a scroll must be deciphered before a character can use it or know exactly what spell it contains. This requires a read magic spell or a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level). Deciphering a scroll is a full-round action.
Deciphering a scroll to determine its contents does not activate its magic unless it is a specially prepared cursed scroll. A character can decipher the writing on a scroll in advance so that she can proceed directly to the next step when the time comes to use the scroll.
The sticky goo of the tanglefoot bag gets all over kevin, slowing him down tremendously. He glares at Jorzan with renewed hatred, hissing through bared fangs, and slowly plods towards the rogue, fighting the goo every step of the way.
A creature that is glued to the floor (or unable to fly) can break free by making a DC 17 Strength check or by dealing 15 points of damage to the goo with a slashing weapon. A creature trying to scrape goo off itself, or another creature assisting, does not need to make an attack roll; hitting the goo is automatic, after which the creature that hit makes a damage roll to see how much of the goo was scraped off. Once free, the creature can move (including flying) at half speed. If the entangled creature attempts to cast a spell, it must make concentration check with a DC of 15 + the spell's level or be unable to cast the spell. The goo becomes brittle and fragile after 2d4 rounds, cracking apart and losing its effectiveness. An application of universal solvent to a stuck creature dissolves the alchemical goo immediately.
@Maiathreen: there is a scream of pain from somewhere in the smoke cloud, then the sound of running feet, going up the stairs. You and your wife now stand in a 100'x100' ballroom filled with bodies.
Maiathreen hears the sniper running off and feels Servais' bloodlust but is able to resist and prepare to join the main fight.
Activation: To activate a scroll, a spellcaster must read the spell written on it. This involves several steps and conditions.
Decipher the Writing: The writing on a scroll must be deciphered before a character can use it or know exactly what spell it contains. This requires a read magic spell or a successful Spellcraft check (DC 20 + spell level). Deciphering a scroll is a full-round action.
Deciphering a scroll to determine its contents does not activate its magic unless it is a specially prepared cursed scroll. A character can decipher the writing on a scroll in advance so that she can proceed directly to the next step when the time comes to use the scroll.
I guess the part that sticks with me is where it says "must be deciphered before a character can use it or know exactly what spell it contains", because, if we bought that specific spell/scroll, wouldn't we already know exactly what spell it contains? If so, then why would we need to decipher it again to find out what we already know- that it's a scroll of searing light, which is what we bought.
Just seems wierdly redundant...but maybe that's just me?
Also, this has never come when up we've cast from scrolls before. For example, just a round or two ago Karthan cast See Invisible from a scroll and it only took one round, hence my confusion why it takes Gray two now?
And w/r/t the scroll rule, I think you're misinterpreting it. The line doesn't say "You have to use Read Magic or know what the spell is in advance in order to cast it." What it's saying is "You have to use Read Magic in order to know what it is, or to cast it." Big difference. I don't think it matters if you know what the spell is. I can show you a sign written in arabic or something and tell you "that means 'this way to the WC'", but that doesn't mean you can read it yourself. Even later, you could see the sign and know what it means by recognizing the shape of the letters, but you still couldn't read it. Therein lies the difference.
Anyway, this is all totally beside the point. The point is; nowhere in the rules I quoted does it say anything about reading a scroll in one round EXCEPT where it notes that if you deciphered it beforehand, you can do so. I mean, you gotta realize, man, I don't really give a shit whether it's a round or two rounds, but two is what's in RAW, so that's what I'm going to go by going forward unless you can give me a clear indicator (page number, forum thread, etc.) that there's another way, or that it's not what is intended.
Maiathreen hears the sniper running off and feels Servais' bloodlust but is able to resist and prepare to join the main fight.
Brook and Sarish both bear down, the young boy heartened by Lin's brave and desperate charge and the cloud dragon just plain furious at being attacked. Sarish rears back and unloads a line of lightning from his maw, shocking his opponent, though the man was quick enough to avoid the worst of the damage. Brook's sword stroke, unfortunately, goes wide.
As the doors come down with a shattering boom and land on poor Monster's unconscious form, the wolfguards all pause for the briefest moment as if listening to something, then unleash a rain of Enhathladi arrows on all present. Backbarb and Sleep arrows rocket around, pinging off armor and walls. Some of the wolfguards pivot quickly around to fire at Livain and Aylaeth, the newcomers, in hopes of putting them off-balance right away. The two who attacked those coming out of the tapestry drop their swords and take up their bows to fire at Sir Damian and Jorzan. The one nearest Kevin growls in frustration at the tiny vampire; "Dammit kid, get out of the way!" and then backs up to get a clear shot. Aylaeth, Jorzan, and Sir Justahl all get hit.
The wolfguard attacking Sarish misses terribly, perhaps still frazzled from lightning, but the other sword-wielding wolfguard lands a hit on Lin and then, with a quick slice, he drops poor brave Brook to the ground. The boy falls with a clang to the floor, where he lies still as stone. Sarish roars and Cassandra screams in fury and sorrow.
The wolfguard reaches out with a sneering chuckle, clearly intending to grab the young seer next.
Wolfguard 1 (AC20/24, Full Concealment from Promenade but not ballroom):
FAA vs. Aylaeth
Wolfguard 2
FAA vs. Livain
Wolfguard 3
FAA vs. Jorzan
Wolfguard 4 (AC20/24, Full Concealment from Promenade but not ballroom):
FAA vs. Justahl
Wolfguard 5 (AC20):
FAA
vs. Lin:
vs. Brook:
Wolfguard 6 (AC20)
FAA vs. Sarish
Crit fumble cancels hit
Wolfguard 7 (AC20):
5' step to N-4
Free: Drop sword
MA: Draw bow
Fire at Damian:
Wolfguard 8 (AC20):
5' step to M-5
Free: Drop sword
MA: Draw bow
Fire at Jorzan:
confirm Crit on Jorzan:
DC24 confirm Crit fumble vs. Livain:
Sarish Breath Weapon vs. WG6:
WG6 Reflex save:
Brook short sword vs. WG5
Karthan: 24
Kelne: 22
Gray: 20
Belsarious: 19
Jorzan: 18
Wolfguards: 17
Min: 15
Damian: 14
Baron Ormir: 13
Boy & Monster: 12
Justahl: 10
Crazy Lenny: 8
Lin: 7
Baron Ormir stats:
AC:24/18/19 HP: 109/120
Saves: F/R/W 14/12/13
CMD: 25
Urban Wolfguard Stats:
AC:20/14/20 HP:65
Saves: F/R/W 7/10/1
CMD: 24
Crazy Lenny stats
AC: 19/13/12
HP: 45/45
Saves: F/R/W 6/8/4
CMD: 18
AC: 22 (1 Mirror Images left)
HP:48/61
F/R/W: 7/10/6
CMD: 26
Buffs: Mirror Image (1 Image left), Resist Cold 10, Resist Acid 20, Immune to Sleep
+1 to hit/damage and against charm/fear. (I'm applying Damian's Bardic ability now that Min has been outside the portal long enough to benefit from it.)
As Brook fell Min froze, every muscle in his body tensed with the thought he maybe watching another child die. For a moment he was back in the snowy pass, children and young adults armed with longspears littered the snow, some still breathing and others bleeding out as the white snow hungrily soaked up their last moments of life. Min raised his bow just as he had on that day and prepared to end the life of his enemy as he swore to do. Not again, not ever...
The Wolfguard barely had time to cry out as the first thistle arrow separated his spine with a sickening crack as it hammered into him. As his legs went limp Min adjusted his aim slightly just as he started to fall, the second thistle arrow hammered into the back of the man's neck moments after the first. Which left the wolfguard falling, unconscious and bleeding out. Just as he hit the ground, Min passed a critical eye over his companions injuries and the young ones, his gaze missed nothing before it fell upon the Wolfguard and the loud mouthed Baron.
--->
--->
As he stood his ground he spoke calmly in Tauthan to Lin. "Irecw illa celv illa aey nyill..." Please Brook, don't leave us yet...
Lin gave a loud growl as she understood him and turned her rage filled eye on the pests to her left, she used her bulk to block their view as the large Forgelander came running alongside her.
"Hold as long as you can..."
At the exact moment Jorzan screams in pain as two arrows strike him, one into his leg and the other tearing through the flesh of his left arm, his shadowy other self emerges from the tapestry. Seeming to grow even darker in it's wrath, it immediately attacks the closest wolfguard which had fired on Jorzan. As the northerner's face pales in fear Zan reaches it's cold hand directly into the wolfguard's heart, sucking out his life force, causing him to be slower and more clumsy.
MA: To O-5
Touch Attack Wolfguard 8:
Dex Drain:
Gray's magic blasts out and hammers into the Baron, eliciting a surprised bellow of pain from the pompous vampire lord. "You son of b!@#&!" he shouts at Gray. "You corpse-sucking cur! If you're that eager to die, then fine; you're next!" He seems utterly unconcerned about Min's destruction of one of his wolfguards, but that is hardly surprising at this point.