cynarion's Carrion Crown PbP

Game Master cynarion

I find it hilarious that most of us have basically started ignoring the zombie, lol.

Still watching the water, Karrik lifts the blade once more into both hands, ready to bring it down hard should anything enter his reach.

"First person who identifies whatever this is should call it out... I hate not knowing."

Hold position, and ready an attack against the first enemy who steps close enough.
Scimitar (two-handed) 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22 <--- CRIT?
---> Damage 1d6 + 6 ⇒ (6) + 6 = 12
---> CRIT CONFIRM 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (13) + 4 = 17.
---> TOTAL DAMAGE 12 + 1d6 + 6 ⇒ 12 + (4) + 6 = 22.

It would also be hilarious if Karrik killed this thing in one hit :D I doubt we are going to be that lucky though.

It would also be hilarious if Karrik killed this thing in one hit :D I doubt we are going to be that lucky though.

I personally would appreciate meeting a credible threat. Sometimes it's nice to crit everything to death, but good lord, sometimes I look forlornly at cure light wounds and protection from evil and wonder when I'll get to cast either. :P

Yea, agreed. I just find all this crit death to be amusing, lol.

Theron Adrezi wrote:

It would also be hilarious if Karrik killed this thing in one hit :D I doubt we are going to be that lucky though.

I personally would appreciate meeting a credible threat. Sometimes it's nice to crit everything to death, but good lord, sometimes I look forlornly at cure light wounds and protection from evil and wonder when I'll get to cast either. :P

You'll get your chance, my pretty... Mwahahahahaha!

: D

D:

:D

As a heads up, was pulled into an all day meeting/vendor dinner today and suspect tomorrow will be similar. So if I don't post, let's assume I use my readied bomb on the Submersed Threat as long as I don't determine it's immune to fire damage and of course if I have a clear shot.

Bomb Throw:1d20 + 5 + 1 + 1 ⇒ (16) + 5 + 1 + 1 = 23 (taking into account being within 30 ft, bless, and inspire courage; subtract as necessary for range increments.)

Damage:1d6 + 4 ⇒ (3) + 4 = 7

Thanks Septimus! Most helpful. : )

Dragomir waits to belt whatever comes out of the water.

If attacking
1d20 + 5 ⇒ (19) + 5 = 24 Damage 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (2, 5) + 6 = 13
If crit chance
1d20 + 5 ⇒ (14) + 5 = 19 Damage 2d6 + 6 ⇒ (2, 5) + 6 = 13

OMG - I am ROCKING IT

<sigh> Something tells me I will have to find tougher pets. ; )

Will work out what happens where and when later tonight. : )

Awww... give it the Advanced template, up the CR, and max the HPs. We need a proper battle and those 600+ XPs to 2nd level aren't going to magically appear. :)

In all fairness its just be a run of obscenely good luck on my part - and lady lucky? She's a fickle b!tch... I expect to eat a few of these crits later.

In all fairness its just be a run of obscenely good luck on my part - and lady lucky? She's a fickle b!tch... I expect to eat a few of these crits later.

Whoa! Don't say that where Lem can hear you. :-)

Hey folks. Had some work to do tonight, so you will have to wait a while for me to get to posting. Sorry!

Lol, this thing is going to take like 60 damage before it even gets to act, and we're all at level 1 XD I'm starting to see the difficulties in creating a fight for a group of 8.

Well, to be fair, I think our crit rate is approximately 75% group-wide right now, so it's not necessarily a usual situation here.

Making a challenge for us is generally going to be sending more mosters after us, not bigger ones. And simply doubling that number for a group of 8 doesn't always work. Bless and Inspire Courage alone affect the whole group, and even if two of us spend a round doing one each, that's not alot of actions spent for a huge gain. Alot of times when dealing with creatures you might wanna triple the numbers if they don't have access to similar buffing magic that we do.

Then you swamp the party with Action Economy - and if there is a bad run of luck its easy to TPK... My fix for big parties is maxing the hitpoints and then looking at adjusting either the number or the monsters themselves

What you are missing is the fact that IT is a 9-Tentacled River Octopus Wraith (Ginormous sized)... Cyn just needs to max its HP and it'll take a trebuchet to dent it.

The funny thing... Dragomir did all that and I don't think he even included Bless or Inspire in his calculations ;)

So I get MORE damage? Sweet - How much?

So I get MORE damage? Sweet - How much?

You get a +1 damage from Inspire Courage... I THINK that gets multiplied on a crit too. You also got +2 to both the attack and confirmation rolls from Inspire and Bless. So yea, not a huge difference, but it will make the crater a bit larger ;).

But you're totally paying for our dry cleaning from the whatever it is splatters.

Ok, ok, I'll stop doing so much damage, guys. What? ;-) You know how kickers are always the high scorers in the NFL because they get FGs, plus the extra point any time anyone gets a touchdown? I wonder what my damage output has been so far from Inspire Courage. Of course, an attack that hits due to inspire courage when it otherwise would have missed, 100% of that damage should get credited to me. I call upon Septimus to do the math, hehe.

It looks like Karrik forgot the Inspire/Bless as well, so that's another 2 points of damage on the thing :D

Of course, an attack that hits due to inspire courage when it otherwise would have missed, 100% of that damage should get credited to me.

Desna is gonna have your left teste for lunch, Lem. First, you were attributing every victorious blow to Desna alone... NOW you are taking the credit for the powers she's given you? tsk tsk tsk Better start working on your backup character. I think ol' Dezzie is gonna pull the rug out from under you, sinner!

Lem Longbarrow wrote:

Of course, an attack that hits due to inspire courage when it otherwise would have missed, 100% of that damage should get credited to me.

Desna is gonna have your left teste for lunch, Lem. First, you were attributing every victorious blow to Desna alone... NOW you are taking the credit for the powers she's given you? tsk tsk tsk Better start working on your backup character. I think ol' Dezzie is gonna pull the rug out from under you, sinner!

:-)

All right, time for me to face the music. I'm just glad Theron hasn't brought out the big guns and used detect magic yet. ; )

As many of the party gather at the edge of the pond and steel themselves, the churning water abruptly stops. The pond becomes placid again...and then a shape erupts from the water in a cloud of spray. At first, it's hard to see what it is, as the water droplets slowly settle, but then the shape resolves itself into some sort of small winged dragon-creature, made of bone...or is that bones, plural?

The creature seems to be made up of thousands of bones--open-mouthed skulls where its eye sockets would normally be, wings made of femurs, a muzzle formed of phalanges. Glowing blue-grey discs of eldritch energy rotate slowly at every joint. The creature beats its fleshless wings as it floats ponderously above the water--and then it lifts itself further as it angles in for a charge.

Some less flowery description: the thing is around 7 feet long, making it Medium, it has no reach, and if you want to know what it is, you will need to roll Knowledge (arcana) and Knowledge (religion).

Three characters are right at the water's edge: Dragomir, Rose and Karrik. 1d3 ⇒ 3 Karrik it is. The other two can take 5-foot steps to get into combat.

The beast plummets toward Karrik, who stands ready with his scimitar held high above his shoulder. As it comes in, Theron looses his arrow, which tinks off the creature's bony carapace before twirling to plunk into the water of the pond, a handful of metacarpals following it. Septimus lobs his bomb as well, which crashes into the creature's nose and for a moment, the fireball obscures it, but it soon comes out the other side and continues its charge.

And then, it lands.

Karrik brings his scimitar down in a two-handed chop even as he pirouettes out of the path of the creature's charge. The creature's momentum combined with Karrik's strong grip mean the scimitar slams hard into the beast's right wing. Karrik manages to keep his grip as the scimitar vibrates in his hands, and the creature goes down in a tumble of bones. For a moment, it looks as though it may be defeated...but it hauls itself up again and silently stalks toward the half-orc. The rotating discs around the thing's right wing joints flicker and then vanish--and the wing collapses, the bones falling into piles on the ground below.

Which is when Dragomir and Rose launch themselves at it from the other side, bringing their weapons down upon the creature. Rose's longsword flicks out again and again, until the creature's other wing collapses, and then Dragomir, bellowing, brings his mighty blade down in a crashing blow straight across the creature's neck. The creature is slammed to the ground, and one by one the other discs flicker and disappear, until the once-formidable beast is reduced to a pile of inert bones.

###

This makes it Lem and Walter's turn--and Raj still has a standard action readied. I think I will roll the zombie's Strength check in advance...

Zombie Strength check: 1d20 + 0 ⇒ (19) + 0 = 19 Huzzah! Just in time to be vivisected! ; ) Walter, Lem, assume the zombie has freed itself when you take your turn. It falls prone in a square 5ft. from Raj. I know this is out of sequence but I think the zombie's fate is a foregone conclusion, so let's just get it over with. : D

Rajuna's jaw drops at the destruction rent upon the strange drake. So surprised is he, he almost misses the zombie falling into his lap. His blows are less well-timed than he'd like - the first glancing harmlessly off the creature's skull.

FREE: 5' Step
STAND: Readied Attack

I'm assuming I can two-weapon fight on a readied Standard Action and that I get no flanking or precision bonuses. I'm blaming fickle Desna for these rolls!

Yup, that's one hit and one miss. The zombie's AC vs. melee is currently 13, or 21 vs. ranged (it is prone).

###

Walter, Lem, have at it. : )

###

Enemy Health Levels
Zombie: Healthy---Bruised---Wounded---Near Death---Unconscious---Bleeding Out---Dead
Bone Drake: Healthy---Bruised---Wounded---Near Death---Unconscious---Bleeding Out---Dead

@ Cyn - get out of my brain!

Lem unflinchingly watches the monstrosity rise from the depths, fearlessly following its movements with his eyes as he clutches his holy symbol. When the creature is crushed to dust, the priest gives a nod of satisfaction to his friends, then gazes skyward.

You see, Raj? Luck is on our side! he exclaims, turning to the knife-wielder. But Rajuna is already slashing at the zombie that recently freed itself from the vines.

Lem gives a start, then hurries over to cast a benediction on Raj.

Luck be with you, he says, then raises his voice to the others. Well struck, friends! The gods themselves curse these unholy creatures as anathema--they lend their might to ours, as a mighty waterfall to a river. Let us wash these undead terrors from this plane of existence!

Well done, guys! Move: Behind Raj (put him in between me and the zombie, hehe). Standard: Cast Virtue on Raj. Free: Inspire continues, rounds remaining (6/7)

@ Cyn - get out of my brain!

Shan't. It's quite comfy in here. ; )

Noticing the zombie had finally come loose, Walter approached it and hefted the longsword in his hands. He raised it shakily above his head, and with less of a downwards chop and more like a mighty shrug, he dropped the heavy blade onto the creature.

Attack - 1d20 + 0 + 4 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (15) + 0 + 4 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 17
Damage - 1d8 + 0 + 1 ⇒ (3) + 0 + 1 = 4

He yanked the weapon, intending to stumble back-- only trying to delay it, not finish it off-- but it caught on the creature and he took a moment to pull it free.

Move to approach, two-hand for no benefit, attack.

Noticing the zombie had finally come loose, Walter approached it and hefted the longsword in his hands. He raised it shakily above his head, and with less of a downwards chop and more like a mighty shrug, he dropped the heavy blade onto the creature.

Attack - 1d20+0+4+1+1-4
Damage - 1d8+0+1

He yanked the weapon, intending to stumble back-- only trying to delay it, not finish it off-- but it caught on the creature and he took a moment to pull it free.

Thats my boy! Good job!... Now... the trick is to NOT get hit in return.

The zombie moans as Walter's blade slices across a thigh, cutting through the ragged pants it still wears.

It moves to haul itself to its feet, but not before it is attacked again...

###

I'm gonna save myself most of the rigmarole for this round, but:

ROUND 6 BEGINS!
Everyone has a free whack at the zombie (it's last in initiative order). It has AC 13 in melee still (AC 21 vs. ranged). Stop when you've done another 6hp of damage; it'll be dead permanently then. : )

And if all eight of you can't finish it off, those in melee can try again as it will provoke an attack of opportunity when it stands up on its turn. ; )

Having seen the gruesome damage his companions have dealt out left and right in short order, Septimus holds his bomb in reserve and lets the group have at first before deploying such a precious resource. Conservation of reagents is, after all a most overlooked skill in the laboratory.

At this rate you could go whack it with a stick. Heck, Walter found a rock earlier. ; )

Glory!

Noticing it rising, Walter tried to flat-blade it with the longsword in a moment of panic. "Argh!"

Attack - 1d20 + 0 + 4 + 1 + 1 - 4 ⇒ (14) + 0 + 4 + 1 + 1 - 4 = 16

Damage - 1d8 + 0 + 1 ⇒ (1) + 0 + 1 = 2

He stumbled backwards after his glancing blow, holding the sword less like a weapon and more like a gardening tool.

Attack, five foot step back, free action to be so non-proficient that you can tell just by looking at me.

"You see, Raj? Luck is on our side!"

Raj gives a sharp laugh as both of his blades skitter off the zombie's armor. "Really? If this's Desna's favor, I'm better going without."

STAND: Fangs

Nice hit there lad, he calls as Walter belts it a second time.

Dragomir swings rather negligently at the shambling corpse.

1d20 + 5 ⇒ (15) + 5 = 20
2d6 + 6 ⇒ (6, 6) + 6 = 18

That should do it...

Rajuna watches the big warrior annihilate the zombie. He wipes his blades clean on his boots, swiping at an acidic scuff mark, before sheathing one blade loosely in his belt. He reloads the other in his arm-sheath. Raj nods at Karrik, "You owe me a pair a boots."

He turns his attention to the destroyed zombie, searching carefully through its remains for anything of use, of value, or that will identify the gnome.

Perception 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22

Walter's longsword opens a surface cut on the zombie's arm as it pushes itself to its knees, while Raj's blows glance off its armour.

Then Dragomir beheads it with a brisk swing. One of his hands comes off his massive blade before it's even halfway down.

###

All threats eliminated. Good job!

All threats eliminated. Good job!

Battle XP

TOTAL XP PER PC: 300

You all gain 300 XP.

Running Total: 1,635 XP