While the others poke about the room, Aeron goes over and kneels down by the two fallen crusaders. Awkwardly, he composes their hands on their chests. Looking over to Adalric, he waves the man over.
"We have another pair of fallen brethren. I don't know the ways of the Inheritor. Would you say something to guide them on their journey."
Orlando efficiently cleans his blade, sheathes it and recovers his crossbow.
That done, he joins in the searching of this place.
Nodding to Aeron, Adalric kneels before the fallen crusaders, presents his holy symbol, and begins to pray.
"Brothers, as so many before you, you have fought for the just and the right, and have fallen for your - our - cause of Iomedae. But Justice will honor you and everyone who dies serving the greater good of Iomedae, the Inheritor.
"For everyone who falls for the cause of justice and valor, we who remain have to fight harder to honor them, for even with death, not all is lost. The righteous shall return. And even when great Aroden, the Last Atzlanti, died, did Iomedae despair and give up? No! She, the Inheritor, took up his sword to fight on!
"You may have died, Brothers, but we will continue the fight. And even should we fail - the judgement shall hit those villains even harder! And this shall be our vow: we will bring the Justice of Iomedae down on these fiends, and we shall not rest until we have purged them from this place or died in the attempt!
"Hail Iomedae the Inheritor!"
When he rises again, his eyes glow with a fiery passion. He looks to his comrades. "Are we finished here? There is work to be done."
Varn leaves the Iomedeans to their task of honoring the dead and joins Raven in searching the area to check is any items remained unbroken... "Such wanton destruction... Why would any mortal willingly submit to such overlords."
When all is accomplished, Orlando will lead the way back to the door they had bypassed.
He listens carefully at the door.
When his companions are set, he will fling the door open and step out of the way.
The paladins gear and the contents of the shelves were all thoroughly wrecked but a single +1 Adamantine morningstar survived apparently it was too thought for the demons to damage.
Tessai follows Orlando to the next door over, and stands ready for when it is opened.
"Let's keep pushing onwards."
You enter another much larger chapel to Iomedae and it's even worst than the smaller one from before.
Blood and filth smear floor of this long room. Six white stone statues of famous heroes line the hall—each clawed, bloodstained, partially smashed, or otherwise defaced. At the far end of the hall, a raised dais holds an upturned alabaster altar. Sitting atop the upside-down altar is a hideous mass of severed limbs that have been stitched together into a vile monstrous insectoid shape. Before the dais, the bodies of sacrificed civilians are piled up.
A group of dretch a line up forming a wall and a Tiefling and an orc stand at the back near the altar. You quickly recognize Vagorg but the Tiefling is new to you.
"I don't know how you made it this far crusaders but your road ends here, now you face Othirubo master of alchemy!"
"I know this lot! They're the ones who ruined my ambush on Irabeth! I have a score to settle with you!" says Vagorg.
They were expecting your arrival and are already prepared to strike.
Round 1 - Init 10
Varn is slow to react to the warning of threat from ahead; however, he immediately begins to cast a defensive spell upon himself. As he speaks the elf begins to shift and the hard edges of his body soften and blur, making it more difficult to maintain a solid vision of the wizard.
Blur - 4 minutes (3 turns, 10 rounds)
Round 1____________
Move:
Orlando will assume a Fighting Defensive stance (AC now 21), dive into the room and roll into position at (J,1).
Standard:
He will fire his crossbow at T1.
for a possible piercing damage.
He will then drop the crossbow and draw his sword.
ok so enemies up first
Othirubo drinks a vial and moves up to behind the Dretch.
Vagorg launches a fiery ray at Tessai
The Dretch hold their positions.
Your turn, post in any order.
Varn is casting blur and Orlando moves in and fires his crossbow at dretch 1. The attack hits but does no damage. (I assume the bolt is not cold Iron)
Round 1
"Making a hole!"
Varn enters the room and takes a quick glance at the layout of their enemies... His eyes catch upon the grotesque idol and he stops a moment. "Time to even the battlefield, fiends! Your eyes may be able to see in darkness, but not even you can pierce my mists. Know the fear of the righteous!"
Varn's fingers and hands dance while he speaks while suddenly a dark, thick mist begins to form behind the line of dretches... Within seconds Vagorg, Othirubo, and the dretches are enveloped within a cloud of images and figures that are terrifying to behold to the demons and cultists. All of Varn's companions see terrible figures moving within the cloud as it billows... He turns to his friends. "Form a line!"
Raven moves to J2 and fires a cold-iron arrow at one of the dretches (D1).
Adalric enters the room and spends a moment assessing the battlefield.
Orlando moves in and fires his crossbow at dretch 1. The attack hits but does no damage
Aeron charges the fiendish line and strikes the middle demon (dretch 2) with a powerful blow downing the demon in a single strike.
Varn unleashes his spell obscuring the temple and making only the dretch visible to the group.
Raven shoots one of the dretch and his for 6 damage.
Protection from evil on Tessai.
The two Dretch attack Aeron impeded somewhat by the pillars.
Dretch 1
Dretch 3
Vagorg moves into the place of the fallen dretch his skin having taken on the texture of stone. He doesn't attack just yet.
A smoking vial comes out of the smoke and lands in the square Varn is standing it explodes dealing 7 damage to Varn, Aeron, Tessai and Orlando. Reflex dc 14 to take 4 instead.
Your go again.
Varn spots the smoking vial as it hurtles towards him, he is able to dodge slightly to avoid most of the damage; however, the impact still jars his body! The wizard grits his teeth against the pain as he moves his hands around in arcane gestures... "You like playing with fire? I have fire for you!"
Heat waves begin to distort the air around Varn's hands as a hot, bright white glow begins to build around his fingers. He completes his incantations and points his finger at Vagorg as a ray of white hot flame shoots around Aeron!! After completing his attack, Varn steps back away from the line of enemies to allow his more martial friends to join the fray.
The ray strikes Vagorg who grimaces in pain.
Saves!
These pillars are three feet across, so they don’t occupy a whole square. A creature standing in the same square as a pillar gains a +4 cover bonus to Armor Class and a +2 cover bonus on Reflex saves. You are however counted to be squeezed because of the limited space,
You can squeeze through or into a space that is at least half as wide as your normal space. Each move into or through a narrow space counts as if it were 2 squares, and while squeezed in a narrow space you take a -4 penalty on attack rolls and a -4 penalty to AC.
So all in all you get -4 attack and +2 reflex for standing in the square with a pillar.
Round 2
"Hey! You're in my hole!"
Round 2____________Init 16
Move:
Orlando moves to (G,3), shifting behind the pillar.
"Dammit I can't see!"
Standard:
He lashes out at the Dretch (D3).
for a possible slashing and cold iron damage.
Normal attack.
Seeing the majority of the party is injured, Adalric presents his holy symbol and unleashes a wave of healing energy.
Raven fires again at the same Dretch (D1) still using Cold Iron to best effect.
Aeron lands a solid strike on Vagorg and his magic skin protect him from some of the damage.
Orlando fails to connect.
Healing from Adaric heals everyone 8.
Raven shoots and deals 9 to dretch 1.
Missing Tessai.
Tessai shakes away most of the damage of the explosion then,squeezes past the pillar to attack one of the Dretches, swinging Radiance as best as she can.
Tessai cuts down Dretch 1.
Another bomb comes over Vagorg heading towards Varn but the main is off and it lands in H3 instead.
Varn, Aeron, Orlando and Alderic take 7, reflex 14 for half.
Vagorg cast defensibly scorching ray targeting Varn.
Vagorg attacks Varn using his weapon's reach to get to him.
The last dretch attacks Orlando but Orlando avoids the blows.
Vagorg will move up to F1 and attack Orlando.
attack: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (20) + 7 = 272d4 + 4 ⇒ (3, 2) + 4 = 9
confirm crit: 1d20 + 7 ⇒ (7) + 7 = 142d4 + 4 ⇒ (4, 4) + 4 = 12
miss chance (less than 20 misses): 1d100 ⇒ 29
"You cannot stand in the Inheritor's blinding light, wretch!" - Tessai shouts as the dretch goes down under the might of , eyes narrowing as Vagorg steps in front of her - "We meet again DOG! This time you will not slip through the cracks"
The swing is strong, as the mighty longsword traces the air with massive strength, but it fails to connect.
Ok actions for the round needed for Varn, Aeron, Orlando, Alderic and Raven.
Round 3____________Init 16
Move:
Irritated with being hit by Vagorg, Orlando steps to (F,2), shifts to a normal stance and feints with his cape.
"Let us dance a little closer then, shall we?" Orlando said as he smiled.
Standard:
He lashes out at Vagorg(F,1].
for a possible piercing, precision and cold iron damage.
. Not concealed from view.
Round 3
Not able to see anything in the mist, Aeron attacks the spell caster in front of him.