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Maxim nods in agreement at Ryan's assessment;
"Tell me 'bout it. Iffen I'd know we we're goin' to be all diplomatic an' stealthy like I'd have packed accordingly..."
At the gutteral butchering of Smoking Eye in dwarven, the gun-mage scowls;
"What in Nine Hell's is The Smoking Eye? Hope it ain't a forbodin' o' that Beholder or such..."
Like JJ and Juraan, the dwur becomes much more wary of their surroundings;
:
As JJ advances climbing up the site stairs, bolts start flying from the fish eye closets in the first floor over the ranger.
Marigold is able to sight the Kuo-toa just as they lean over the windowsill of the two eyes. Will she be able to do something to deflect the arrows from harming the young man as he is focused on starting his exploration of the ancient structure?
The Kuo-toa attempt to hide themselves after the attack, but you can easily spot them all. All of you but Kikinnin, who saw only 3 Kuo-toas instead of the 4 you all others saw.
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Without answering any further question, and unless violence is used against him, the ferry frog-man paddles then off back into the mist leaving the group alone in the stairs.
Kikinnin steadies himself as he awkwardly climbs from the canoe. He debates saying something in Dwarven when the ferry-frog utters two of his Tongue's words, but decides better of it.
AC = 23, 27 with Total Defense
HP = 74/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Total Defense
Kikinnin bolts up the stairs, bringing his shield up, and bringing himself in front of the boy, who still manages to get stuck several times, despite his new frilly chain.
"Uh, I think you found them out. How's that elfish make of armor holding up? You still feel like dancing?"
Likewise Ryan raises his shield trying to cover the professor and Marigold as they move up the stairwell "Let's go people out here we're sitting ducks. Maxim, time for your own version of a smoking eye."
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"Ouch, We Are Not Fish!" he shouts up at the archers, as he makes for the doorway into the building.
"And no, I am not in the mood for dancing. I'm not sure that chainmail is the most effective defence against arrows. All the holes seem to let the points through."
Surprise Round
As she spots the creatures taking aim at JJ with their crossbows, Marigold utters a cry of alarm and flings out her hand without really even thinking...
______
Round 1
Painfully aware that they're at quite the disadvantage due to height and the awkward terrain, Marigold calls on Sarenrae's blessing for them all in order to even the odds a bit before hustling up the stairs after the others.
______
0-Level: Detect Magic
1st Level: Disrupt Undead, Magic Missile, Magic Weapon & True Strike
2nd Level: Bull's Strength, Glitterdust & Knock
3rd Level: Lightning Bolt & Tongues
Grim set as the ambush is sprung, Maxim raises his finger "gun" at the sniping frog-creatures;
"Magische raket!"
Twin bullets of energy streak toward a hidden foe;
:
Maxim then heads up the stairs to support the others...
"Ain't sure what Smokin' Eye I got Taskerhill! Watchin' Surabar get peppered ain't cause for a stogie!"
Shaking his head Ryan replies
"That wasn't what I meant but that'll do. I was talking about that pair of hog-legs you wear at your waist!"
waiting for the professor, Ryan moves up the steps with him to cover
Maxim flashes a grin;
"Ain't got the range... Once I'm closer I'll let 'em spit fire an' lead!"
Marigold quickly raises his hands and creates a faith shield that deflects one of the bolts coming for JJ.
Kikinnin moves up the stairs while looking attentive for any incoming bolt.
JJ looks into the protection of the structure entrance finding a couple of corridors and a massive door.
Marigold casts prayer, improving the party chances.
Maxim casts a spell and two magic missiles fly over to the fish eyes bursting one of the kuo-toa guards.
The Kuo-toa shout something to one another "Kei te he ruuku! Whakamatea ia te tuatahi!"
"There is a wizard! Kill him first!"
The guards reload their hand crossbows and shot, this time on Maxim.
Two of the bolts get on him, one stabbing at his chest, into the dwarf's lungs.
Ryan moves close behind the dwarf.
Wary of further traps, JJ approaches the intersection and cautiously peers around the corner.
"What are they saying? Do they think we are attacking them? Attacking us is a sure fire way to have that happen."
The paint on the humanoid fresco is much fresher than the other frescoes, which are starting to crack and peel.
AC = 27, Total Defense
HP = 74/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Prayer
"Hey, Bror, you might want to squirrel up behind the metal, and make yourself less of a target." Kikinnin tries not to move too far forward, allowing Maxim to catch up, and gain some cover.
"Only so much you can suck in your gut, eh? You learning any magics that would make you a harder target?"
"Pictures to the left and right, and stuff on the floor. Maybe a trap, or just a warning device if it makes a sound when it breaks..." says JJ describing the scene ahead.
Cautiously, and trying to avoid the porcelain, JJ slips to the left.
Unable to offer much in the way of ranged push-back against the crossbowtoa, Marigold hustles up the stairs as quickly as she can which is still much slow than she'd like.
______
Smarting from his peppering and the potential folly of a frontal assault on a city, Maxim hustles up the stairs, huffing and puffing as he goes...
At the summit the gun-mage shoots his fellow dwur a hard look;
"Don't need no magik for soaking up the steel bror. That's what you an' Surabar are here for..!"
As soon as the ambush starts, Juraan casts a spell to get an advantage:
« פאַרשווינדן » . .
And then moves up stealthy-like:
Juraan continues moving with stealth …
… and tries to get a good look at where the Kuo-toa snipers are
He whispers to Marigold:
"I'm beside you. I'm trying to find a good place to hit them back."
when Juraan disappears as Ryan calls for him to get up the steps, Ryan shrugs and shakes his head, as he runs up the stairs himself. using agile feet to ignore difficult terrain - use 1/6
Agile Feet (Su): As a free action, you can gain increased mobility for 1 round. For the next round, you ignore all difficult terrain and do not take any penalties for moving through it. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
The party moves up the stairs as fast as possible.
Two of the kuo-toa shot again at Marigold and another at Juraan.
Both bolts are deflected by the heroes' armor.
The other two let their crossbows fall and jump over Marigold and Juraan while drawing their tridents!
The impact is strong but they do damage to end up on foot after hitting Marigold and Juraan.
The ratty tapestry moves away and four Kuo-toas appear from behind. You can see surprise in their faces and a trident in their hands.
AC = 23
HP = 74/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Prayer
Kikinnin sees frogmen just far enough way to make it unwieldy to move towards them, while behind him, a little gap, with the high ground, presents itself. He moves alongside Maxim, and tries to cuff the Green breathing down Marigold's neck.
"This is going to get squishy, real fast. At least we have a narrower run, otherwise we're about to be swarmed on all sides."
"Eep!" Marigold squeaks in surprise as two of the kuo-toa suddenly leap down upon herself and Juraan. With her position on the stairs precarious, she has little choice but to drop her longspear and draw her dagger as she attempts to stab her attacker.
______
JJ steps forward, with his two swords flashing his anger at the unprovoked assault on him and his friends.
"You started this."
"There are a lot of the fish me here...
As the Kuo-toa attack JJ from behind the tapestry, Ryan moves up to support the swordsman.
Continuing against green
Surprised that he was still hit after vanishing, Juraan steps back (5 ft diagonally) and casts a spell:
« მჟავა სფერო » . .
And places a burning sphere of acid on one of the Kuo Toa (yellow)
As the kuo-toa rearguard drop in, Maxim shifts forward and draws his pistol .
"Agreed bror. Once we drop these two I'll augment your strength again... I've a reckonin' your be needin' it!"
The dwur turns to level the firearm at the fresher of their ambushers , smiling in grim satisfaction as Juraan brings magical fire to bear on the creature.
Maxim imbues the weapon with an essence of magic and pulls the trigger;
:
:
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Kikinnin profits his height advantage to deliver a strong swing of his axe that opens a wide gash in the green kuo-toa!
Profiting the dwarf's distraction, Marigold quickly stabs the same frog-man with a dagger.
JJ moves around the corner and stabs in the ribs the first kuo-toa he finds.
Ryan moves to the front in support of his companion and smashes in the head of the other kuo-toa.
The yellow kuo-toa jumps to the side avoiding Juraan's acid sphere. The professor pops-up suddenly appearing in the middle of the stairs.
The detonation of Maxim's pistol reverberates on Bhal-Hamatugn's entrance, while the Kuo-toa in front can do nothing to avoid the bursting bullet that opens a big wound in his back.
The two remaining kuo-toas in the eye closets, let their crossbows fall and jump over Marigold and Juraan while drawing their tridents. The crash is terrible, injuring them. One of the frog-men falls prone to the stairs after hitting Marigold.
The kuo-toa in the stairs abuse in Marigold attacking her with all their tridents.
One of the tridents pierces through the armor into the stomach of the halfling while the other opens a wound in the left leg.
"Ko te taitamariki kei te tino maramara!" screams one of the kuo-toas before all of them start attacking JJ.
One of the tridents opens a small wound in JJ's left arm.
Both Kuo-toas set their shields in place to protect themselves from the aggressors.
The two in the back attempt to tumble through JJ and Ryan!
JJ pushes back the first one, whom is unable to avoid oppotunity attacks from the couple of Cauldronites!
But the other one profits the moment to surpass Ryan and avoid JJ's opportunity to attack him.
The successful Kuo-toa moves behind JJ and tries to sneak attack the younger man!
But he is out of balance after tumbling past Ryan and just hits the floor with this trident.
The unsuccessful one, attempts to Intimidate him! "Haere ki te mate!"
But after being battered by Ryan and JJ, there seems to be fear in his voice.
Ryan joins JJ in catching the first Kuo-toa coming thru the breach, unfortunately it opens up a channel for his partner to squeeze by
vs failed acrobatics attempt
We're getting tagged here and there but I can't channel without healing those we've already hurt
They weren't big but there were starting to be a lot of them, taking a step back to try and catch all of them Ryan cries aloud "Abadar malo vobis".
As more of the Kuo-Toa appear, Maxim holds position calmly reloading with an alchemical cartridge , as he shifts sideways
The gun-mage levels his pistol at the same target , before imbuing the weapon with an essence of magic and firing;
:
:
:
:
The gun-mage then calmly reloads his pistol
AC = 23
HP = 74/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Prayer
Kikinnin maintains his place at the top of the stairs, looking down on Green, and taking a measure of the creatures' hale health. When his single swing fails to filet the fish, he tries again.
"You holding up alright, Miss Marigold? I wouldn't have thought they'd attack from below, but I'm wrong more often than I'd like to be."
"Now, now. No rush" says JJ as he attacks the frog-man who tries and failed to get past him.
He then turns his attention to the creature behind him, knowing full well that being surrounded is not where he wants to be!
Will attack the one behind first, and then the one in front if it goes down
attack rolls
damage rolls
Caught between a rock and a hard place, Marigold has little choice but to step back down the stairs and next to the now-visible Juraan. Though she knows it might cost her, she attempts to conjure forth another small ball of fire to burn the kuo-toa that threaten to surround the two of them!
______
Ryan catches the Kuo-toa on his bold move, but JJ misses by just a few inches.
The cleric makes his Abadar sign up and shouts with power. A burst of energy takes everyone around, unblessing Abadar's enemies!
Ryan feels most of the Kuo-toa are affected by his spell!
Maxim shots again at yellow, and once more, he pierces the frog-man's armor with his bullet, lodging deep into the lung!
Kikinnin swings axe, and he gets once thanks to his flanking with Marigold! The kuo-toa seems barely managing to stand on foot.
JJ stabs the kuo-toa in front, his sword going close to the creature's heart! It somehow manages to survive and block the other attacks with his shield.
A voice raises from the eastern passage "Yes! Hit them! End them!"
Marigold steps back and raises her hands sending forth a comet of burning stars over the Kuo-toa in the stairs!
The explosion is so potent that it sends both to the floor burning. They remain unconscious in the floor once the flames disappear.
The prone kuo-toa stands up in front of Marigold . It then steps behind her and makes a signal for his companion to help bring revenge to the halfling!
They both fail, finding Marigold is protected by sacred energy all around her.
Meanwhile, the kuo-toas inside Bhal-Hamatugn try to collapse JJ under their share number.
The ones flanking him stab the young man in the back and chest, moving their tridents in terrible ways, deep deep into his lungs.
The other ones also attack him, one is deflected by JJ's new elven armor, but the other goes directly to his heart. Fortunately Ryan's saving shield appears miraculously blocking it in the air!
Shoving the weapon bound for JJ aside , Ryan tries to follow up with a hit of his own to the kou-toa with green gear.
Blue light spills from JJ's wounds as his heartblood pumps red and crimson over the floor.
Desperation shows on his face, as his swords strike out at the creature that tumbled past him. He scores a couple of hits and tries to get out of the mess he is in.
attacks
damage
Crt confirms
Bonus crit damage
Juraan casts another spell, seeing two kuo-toa in front of him collapse lets his flaming sphere finish off the one fish men (yellow).
And then casts another spell:
« სიმძიმის მშვილდი » . .
⋮
Seeing the two new kuo-toa making making a painful entry and hurting Marigold, Juraan steps back (5 ft).
He moves the acidic flaming sphere to attack the fish man behind Marigold (White):
And also looses an arrow at the same fish man (white) for good measure.
As the clamour of battle further up the corridor attracts his attention and Maxim pivots bringing his loaded pistol to bear on the overspilling Kuo-Toa .
"Got yer back Surabar! Move clear iffen ye need to lad!"
The gunmage shifts toward the new foe as he enchants his pistol .
He levels his hand-gunne and fires :
:
:
AC = 23
HP[/b = 74/74
[b]Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Prayer
Stuck in the middle, Kikinnin looks back and forth between vulnerable Marigold and foolhardy JJ. He figures he can reach both, but a trip down the stairs to support the halfling girl might make it more difficult for him to get back to JJ in time.
"The boy looks close to keeling over, Ryan. You able to mend his wounds a bit, so he can remain standing a while longer?"
Looking her over, the black-beard realizes that the boy is in far worse condition. He moves forward to engage with Black. He swings a little less accurately for his frustration.
Marigold attempts to swipe at one of the remaining kuo-toas as it tries to step behind her, but her reaction times are slow and the swing easily misses!
As Juraan focuses his attention on the kuo-toa that had stepped behind her, Marigold falls further back down the stairs and attempts to take Red out of the equation...
...as a blast of color suddenly erupts from her fingertips!
______
Ryan fails to hit with his mace, while Kikinnin comes at the help of the group and cuts down the black one in combination with JJ.
JJs attacks also fights the Kuo-toa back, dropping green.
Juraan's sphere burns red, as yellow is already dead, then the white Kuo-toa avoids its own turn. He strengthens his bow, but the arrow fails when he tries to avoid harming Marigold.
Seeing black already collapsed, Maxim shots and brings down the red Kuo-toa. The frog-man falls and rolls on the stairs.
Marigold casts a spell the remaining kuo-toa resists before turning back on her!
But Marigold successfully avoid him.
The last guardian tries to firmly defend his land, but he fails to hit JJ with his trident.
Ryan steps up into the breach to help take some of the pressure off JJ.
AC = 27, Total Defense
HP = 74/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Prayer
Kikinnin looks about the floor, a little put off that their initial encounter with the Kuo Toa degenerated into violence so quickly. When he moves up enough to identify the owner of the voice, he addresses it.
"Hey now. We are not welcome, I understand that. But you've got a voice that we can understand, and you could have told us to leave, instead of insisting on our heads."
Seeing one of the frog-men still standing, he moves in front of it, allowing it a chance to stab at him if it's not too tired, but not before raising his shield, and demonstrating to the voice that they're not complete savages.
"You going to tell your frog friend to stand down, or are we forced to fell him ourselves?"
Juraan moves the acidic flaming sphere to attack the remaining fish man (White):
And moves up the staigs some and looses another arrow at him.
Tired of apparently being a prime target of the kuo-toas, Marigold scowls and attempts to simply shank the one remaining target that she has since her magic apparently doesn't work on them.
______
JJ, bleeding badly is less forgiving than Kikinnin and smashes at the frog man in front of him. Albeit with the flat of his swords.
As the others converge on the remaining frogman, Maxim uses the opportunity to reload his pistol with bullet and powder
He then moves toward where the voice emanated from;
"Who we talkin' with here? You got a name?"
Ryan and JJ press on the remaining kuo-toa inside the structure without much success, although JJ scores a hit on it.
The kuo-toa looks with fierce savagery at Kikinnin while the dwarf tries to speak.
Juraan's sphere is dodged by the kuo-toa, while his adjustment to not harming Marigold makes Juraan's arrow to fail as well.
Marigold swings his mace but fails to land it on the Kuo-toa.
Maxim reloads his gun and moves further in.
"Yeees! Help me! There are more frog-ones, help me quick!" you hear a voice coming from past the portcullis at the East.
Without considerations for talking the two remaining kuo-toa fearlessly try to push you away from Bhal-Hamatugn.
JJ avoids the trident but Marigold is stabbed by the trident in her shoulder.
"I'm coming Marigold!" calls out JJ, completly forgetting in the stress of combat that she won't understand him.
Giving up on trying to take a prisoner, JJ stabs trying to finish the battle fast.
AC = 23
HP = 74/74
Weapon Equipped = +1 Dwarven Greataxe
Condition(s) = Prayer
Kikinnin steps into flank with Ryan, and gives Blue a whack, setting himself to the task of ending the immediate threat to his friends' well-being. A shame there's no talking to these... these... denizens...
The black-beard takes a look around the current room he occupies, wary of new frog-folk showing up late to the welcoming party.